Happy 3rd Birthday Milo!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little snuggly, cuddly, loveable Milo. I can't believe you are three! (hopefully I'll have a 3 year post up soon!)

We were planning a park picnic with a few friends after Hot Shots, but then Hot Shots was canceled due to wet soccer fields, so we had our friends come over for playtime and lunch - and of course - cupcakes! :) He has had a blast playing with his new r/c car, and a little plane and motorcycle...but mostly the helium balloons are the biggest hit. We are going to the Mother/Son speedway spectacular, the circus and to Grandma and Papa's house this weekend for more celebrating too!

Milo had a fun day. He was thrown off by having a day all about him, since everything is usually about (ahem) our number one child. Milo is such a deserving child, we pray that the Lord blesses him with many good things today and always!

Lemonade Day

Here's our little entrepreneur! We decided to give our lemonade away for free (yeah, we're just not hard-hitting business people over here) - people gave donations anyway, so we asked Dominic what he wanted to do with the money - he wants to give it to the poor box at church. :) (I didn't tell him the neighbors used their money to go out to Maggie Moo's!)

Happy Easter!

Despite an attack of bronchiolitis in the Motekaitis house, we made it down to Houston for Easter to be with my family and it was SO worth losing my voice over. Even a person who isn't having their vocal chords attacked by a virus might lose their voice amongst my family. :)

I haven't had many chances to blog, but we had a very special triduum. We weren't able to attend services this year, but we had our own family footwashing and special meal on Holy Thursday. On Good Friday we said a family rosary together and listened meditated on sacred music (as much as is possible with 3 young children at any rate!) Saturday we dyed eggs, baked resurrection rolls and did our resurrection eggs. And Sunday, Bronius took the boys to Easter Mass (I was home with fever). I felt so sad to miss Mass on Sunday, but I got to watch on EWTN so I did not feel quite so empty.

Uncle Steve SURPRISED us all, he told us he wouldn't be able to fly down from NYC so we were all so happy! We had a skype chat with my sister Sarah and her family in Gainesville, and we got to see Great Grandma too. We had confetti eggs, tie-dyed eggs, an AMAZING brunch and enough Easter candy to send two small children to the moon and back. The kids even squeezed in a (supervised)swim while I napped with Jonas. Dad and Bronius regaled us with their music and it was just so-good to be together. Sadly I got next to no pictures, not even a full family one. There's always next year :)

Thank you Lord Jesus for my family and for our many many blessings. Thank you for loving this world so much and for coming back to save each and every one of us!

Happy Easter!

I can't believe my kids ate that.....

and enjoyed it so much they finished it and wanted more???!!!!

Obviously, I'm shocked. I mean my kids aren't picky eaters - they eat whatever we put on the table, including vegetables, but I did not know how this would go over. Since I'm doing weight watchers for nursing mothers online, I'm looking at recipes that use tons of vegetables and substitutes for starchy carbs, like wheat berries and whole wheat rice pastas and lentils (all awesome, by the way).

My mother in law actually introduced me to spaghetti squash, which is delicious just with marinara and parmesan, by the way. But this cool weight watchers recipe gave it a Greek twist by adding chick peas, scallions and feta. It was AWESOME!!!!!! You'd never guess you were basically having a bowl full of (very flavorful)vegetables!



Ingredients
2 pound(s) raw spaghetti squash
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup(s) scallion(s), sliced
2 tsp minced garlic
14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup(s) canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp lemon zest, freshly grated
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup(s) dill, or mint, fresh, chopped
1/4 cup(s) pot cheese, or fat-free crumbled feta
Instructions
Pierce squash with a fork in several places; place on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave on high, turning squash over every 3 minutes, until tender, about 12 to 15 minutes; let stand 5 minutes. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scrape out seeds. (Or to bake squash, preheat oven to 350ºF. Halve squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place squash, cut side down, in a large baking dish and prick skin all over with a fork. Bake until tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.)

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add scallions and garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes, chickpeas, oregano, lemon zest, salt and pepper; increase heat to high and bring to a slow boil.

Using a fork, scrape strands of squash into skillet with tomato-chickpea mixture. Cook, stirring, until squash strands are well coated; remove from heat and stir in dill or mint. Top each serving with cheese. Yields about 1 cup of squash mixture and 1 tablespoon of cheese per serving.

What's the caption for this?

Strawberries

Okay, so no dice on the wildflower pictures....apparently the drought we are having has not allowed for them to bloom this year, or at least not for long. :(

But we enjoyed our trip to Kings Orchard for strawberry picking, we had a delicious picnic together afterwards and when we came home, we made a fresh strawberry pie from our bounty.

Aren't these photos great? You'd think we were in Southern California or something. Everything is beautiful when you're with the ones you love. :)

Keeping busy in April!

In this edition...

Papa and Grandma visit. We have our first tee ball game. Dominic sleeps on the top of his bunk bed for the first time. Milo eats with chop sticks for the first time. And we build a skyscraper to rival the Chrysler building itself... out of legos! And we threw in a bonus picture of our sweet little cherub Jonas in his bumbo chair for good measure :)

We'll hope to have some wildflower and strawberry pickin' pictures to show soon!

Photo Shoot with Sarah Giles

I hope you weren't getting tired of seeing our faces, because here we are again! :) We highly recommend Sarah Giles of Butterfly Chaser photography, she is amazing with the kids!

Brothers

I could have taken a hundred of these :)

Lettuce

Ms. Danielle and Melissa transplanted some lettuce in our garden. Dominic helped dig the hole and Milo watered the leaves! Now, we wait and see. :) Thanks Danielle and Melissa!

Life in full swing

I had to open with that, since we now have a tee baller in the house! The first game is next week and we're excited - GO PHILLIES! :)We've had 3 practices, and we had our first "opening ceremony" today, which was completely overwhelming...in a good way, I guess? I can definitely see how tee ball becomes a family affair. We are ALL going to have to LOVE it in order to make this work, because it requires a lot of time and schedule juggling.


How on earth am I going to manage all of this with three boys (and maybe more???) I am pre-disposed to NOT like being busy. I prize quiet time almost as much as a bar of dark chocolate. Hmm, which might explain the cavity I had to get filled the other day which coincedentally, actually BOUGHT me an hour of quiet time (save for the noise of the drill on and off). Point is, I was left alone with my thoughts - and I love that, and miss that, and NEED that.

Things just feel intense now. Bronius and I often describe our lives with the image of a candle being burned on both ends. It takes two of us just to get everything done, to manage a household and parent the way we want to parent, and then we work at night too. And of course, we're not getting sleep. Sweet little Jonas must be teething because he's up every hour some nights. So carving out time for us as a couple has been bumped up to priority 1. I miss my husband! I see him all the time, but I never get to talk to him! Seeing friends regularly offers me a lot of encouragement and helps me to stay positive instead of dwelling on my sleep deprivation. It's a small cross to carry, I know.

The kiddos are doing well. Dominic and Jonas are teething at the same time ;) Dominic lost his first tooth and two more will be gone soon. He also got bunk beds in his room and that has been EXCITING! He is taking to tee ball which makes us happy since the violin wasn't quite igniting a fire in him at this point. We want to run with his interests but not over program him so we're learning the balancing act. He is sad that kindergarten will be done in 2 months and he's not the only one!

Milo is going to be three in a month! He is so sweet and cuddly and easy going but the threes are upon us. Definitely seeing a "will" emerging as well as a mischevious streak. He is loving Hot Shots soccer and we spend our days together at music class and story time and the park. I'm soaking up these days with him since in the Fall he begins Montessori school! (eek, which reminds me, we really need to get serious about potty training).

Baby Jonas is a little chubby sweet heart. He is so easy! He likes to sit in the bouncy chair, he loves to be outdoors, and he loves watching his brothers do almost ANYTHING. He's reaching for toys and grabbing things to play with them, and he is starting to do the half-roll on the changing table. I don't see teeth, but I feel them coming. And I pray that some sleep will come along with those teeth. He nurses A LOT...mostly for comfort. But I'll be excited in two months when we can start some real people food!

Lent has been off to a good start. Every day Dominic closes his eyes and picks from the "Lent box" when he comes home from school. Choices include "pick up your brother's room," "read a bible story," "learn about a saint," "give up dessert," "pray a rosary with your family," "sing praise and worship," and other things. When you make a sacrifice or do a good deed, you can pull a tooth pick from the crown of thorns on the table. It is keeping us all accountable. Bronius is singing with SCOLA and enjoying his men's bible study, and I started a bible study with some neighbors on Wednesday nights and it has been SO great for me.

The summer is COMING, and we are making way for it. We are planning trips
(included a half-baked idea to rent an R.V. and drive all the way up to NYC to stay with my brother in the city - I know - we are crazy), gymnastics camp, library programs and hopefully LOTS of swimming. The boys will be sharing the bunks once school is out, and Jonas will likely move to the nursery, so that will either be the best decision we've ever made or the worst. Time will tell!

We are looking for a new home, too. We are trying to stay within Dominic's school zone because he loves his school. But we need more space. Bronius needs a real home office, and I really want a pool so me and the kids don't have to get in the car every time we want to cool off. We're in the middle of de-cluttering and organizing, hence the picture with the sorority girls who came to help us on BIG EVENT. That was awesome! We'll see what happens. We know that what God wants for us will be best, and so we're waiting on Him! Life is good, and God is good, and we are thankful for our blessings.