the eye of the storm

Well, not really "the eye of the storm."  This was just a band of mini-storms that rolled through one day.  But it felt like the eye of a storm!  Everything was calm and beautiful at our house, but very black to the north of us.  In spring this is very beautiful:  the vivid lime green growth here where we are, and then the darkness just a mile away.

We also turned on the TV to see the weather reports.  They mentioned "Midway" and "Scholls," which never happens!  It wasn't a big deal, really, just some showers and hail, but it was right at rush hour and it was a slow news day.

The kids liked how the white smoke from the
neighbor's burn pile looked, against the
black clouds.

Clear skies on one side…storm on the other.
(You can see the pretty pink cherry trees on
the left--I love those trees!)

Cutie Patootie

March, in photos

After coming home from our week at the coast in early March, we continued with lots of fun adventures throughout the month (would you expect anything less from us?):

St. Patrick's Day park visit with friends...

...and a stop at Burgerville for lunch.

Anemones in bloom

Math Expo at St. Matthew School--it was so nice to be invited
to attend!  The 6th grade students gave "sales pitches" on
company stocks they wanted us to "buy."

7th grade students designed houses using
software.  You can tell Celeste was excited
to be here.

Finally got around to having Gary from Gary's Mustangs
out to look at my '66.  We're thinking about fixing it up!
(Well, paying someone else to fix it up, I mean.)

Penance and Popeye's…makes going to confession fun!

Fr. Juan's birthday party 

Fr. Juan got lots of socks and underwear (to donate to
a Portland homeless center!).

I love how Celeste fell asleep here.

Tulips that the kids planted with grandpa

My friend Rosina and I run the homeschool
group's annual Builder's Expo. Gemma really
got into it this year!

The Expo is half expo and half social.  ;o)

Happy baby with a great big sister

Check Bunny's blog for her most recent Beach Week post!

St. Matthew Auction

Last month Marcus and I went to the St. Matthew School auction, held on the Nike campus.  This is a VERY fun annual event that we LOVE supporting!  Even though I don't send my kids to the school, I have a very high opinion of it and a lot of my friends send their kids there.  Before Bunny was born I was even employed by St. Matthew School, and  it was my favorite post-marriage, pre-babies job.  :o)  

We sat at a table with my homeschool friends Lisa & Michael, Sterling & Michael, and Deidre & Kevin, along with grammae and papa:

Michael & Lisa (they will be sending their boys to St. Matthew
next year so I am excited to live vicariously through them.  ;o)

Sterling & Michael

Deidre photo-bombing Papa and Grammae

Kevin loves babies!!!

Celeste was voted "Cutest Baby"
(She was the only baby…it was adults-only,
but we figured she could fly in under the radar).

Grammae always seems to do well with "Heads
or Tails"

As expected, it was a fun night!  The Nike campus is beautiful and there was lots to bid on.  Marcus and I "won" a set of 9 tickets to a Hillsboro Hops game (baseball) compete with tailgater and a behind-the-scenes tour.  We also bought some miscellaneous items at the silent auction.  It's so fun to make donations AND get some great stuff in return!

SunDin--galumpkes

This last Sunday we had a wonderful Sunday Dinner of grandma H's spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread, with Texas Sheet Cake for dessert (or as Patty would call it…Sheet Cake) (Marcus' joke).

I didn't take a photo journal of that meal, but I did of another Blast from the Past feast for a SunDin last month:  grandma H's galumpkes!

All rolled up and ready for the oven.

Galumpkes are stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce.  They simmer for half the day to a delicious result.  We all LOVE galumpkes!

This is one of my treasures.  If the house is on fire…this is
what I would grab on the way out.

Grandma had a meandering way of writing recipes.

Grandma would make galumpkes for her Polish husband.  She herself was German/Italian, hence the spaghetti sauce recipe mentioned earlier.

For dessert we decided on Cinnamon-Swirl Coffeecake.  It is our friend Marc's recipe (the trumpet player from church, and half of "Marcus & Marcus" of brunch fame).

When I'm baking, you can expect a certain redhead nearby.

Marc's recipe from an old Email

Patiently waiting for the cake to bake.

Time for the drizzle!

And time to dish up!

YumYumYum

Swirled to perfection.

Having a special meal on Sundays has been a highlight for us.  Many thanks to Patty for being so encouraging of the tradition on her blog.  

What have YOU been having for Sunday Dinner recently??

tired baby!

Celeste is SUCH a good, mellow baby!!! 

normal scene:  She is tired…so she just falls
asleep where she is.

What a little angel!

Easter activities

On Saturday we went to St. Matthew for their egg hunt, sponsored by the mom's group:

Seddy had like 3 big kids helping him…does it look like
he really needs help at this hunt?

Gemma did well too!  She ended up re-hiding
some of her eggs for a few kids who came late.

The egg hunt is held in conjunction with the Bake Sale.  Last year we didn't do either: I opted out of baking for a year (I was pregnant and overwhelmed, and this year…well, I'm still overwhelmed but at least I'm not pregnant) and the mom's group didn't host an egg hunt.  It was good to have a break, and we were ready for this year's activities!

Bunny wanted to make baklava for the Bake Sale.  All proceeds go to the Altar Society.  Her baklava plates sold for a total of $32!  (The best part: we got to keep the "ugly" end pieces to ourselves!)

Other Saturday activities include finding suitable clothes for the kids, ironing said clothes, and doing chores so I can take Easter Sunday off.

On Easter day the kids get dressed and go downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny left for them!  Then we have cold cereal for breakfast and make our way to Mass.  Normally Mass is at 8:30am but on Easter, it's 9am.  We still needed to leave at 8am since Bunny and James were altar servers and Marcus was a lector.  Here's some pics:

Easter morning--finding their baskets

Celeste and her godmother

All 5 cousins were serving!  (Bunny did the
incense, a new thing for her.)

Our annual family portrait  (I set the camera up this way so
I could crop it into a "portrait" orientation thru Costco.)

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter!