7QT: St. Joseph, St. Patrick, and Gaelic and Garlic Kids

 Happy happy St. Joseph's Day!!  A great feast day in the year of St. Joseph means you better celebrate and eat all the Lenten things you gave up and it's a Meat Friday.  Woohoo!

1)

Do you know that I looooove St. Joseph so much, but I had five boys and named nobody Joseph for either first or middle names?  Mea culpa.  By the time our sixth boy was born, we knew we had to use Joseph and hence our little bundle of joy: Brendan Joseph.

He had to stay home yesterday because he was a close contact in preschool (he tested negative) and he was very excited to help me juice an apple to drink.  "I won't tell the other kids because I don't want to be bragging".

2)

Speaking of juicing, I am so loving my juicer and my celery juice every morning, but I do mix it with a green apple because the taste of pure celery juice takes some getting used to.  I make the juice the night before, put it in this glass bottle, and grab it in the morning.  It makes me feel healthy and energized and starts the day out right.

3)

Has your Easter Bunny been shopping for baskets yet?  I keep collecting items here and there and was excited to receive this book for the kids from Sophia Press:

It tells the tale of the good thief who died next to Jesus on the cross.  I had never really thought of his back story, and this tale was very interesting but a little scary/violent for the wee folks.  I mean, all Disney movies involve someone dying, so I guess it's not too bad and maybe I'm too sensitive.  The good thief runs into Jesus as a baby and spares the life of his family before meeting him again on the cross.  In the end, even though he has a rough life and makes a lot of bad choices, he ends up winning eternity because he believed Jesus was God and was sorrowful for his sins.  The message of hope there is powerful and The Thief Who Stole Heaven is a beautifully illustrated book to read leading up to Easter.

4)

Andrew's first football game (ever) was Friday night and he kicked the extra points for the Varsity team, and he made three out of four!!  He was even mentioned in the paper, though they reported he made 2 out of 3, he'll take it!  The next morning he played in a Freshman/Sophomore game and tackled a bit which mama no likey.  He has another game tomorrow morning, and this football mom thing is kind of exciting!  Poor Phil is sick of explaining all of the rules to me already :)

Andrew is #24 going down in the middle

5)

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with an Irish breakfast for dinner (bangers, eggs, potatoes, and Irish bread) with shamrock shakes for dessert.

  The younger kids were telling their teachers and friends on the days leading up to St. Patty's that we were going to McDonald's to get shamrock shakes as if they were going to Disneyworld.  They don't get out much ;)

6)

Declan had a growth spurt!

In other growing news, Eamon had his bone age test and it was determined that his bones are age 13 even though his chronological age is 14 years 5 months.  That discrepancy is not big enough to cause concern, unless he stops growing.  Basically, he is a late bloomer like his parents were and we turned out fine!  His pediatrician says he is right on the verge of a growth spurt, in her opinion, so we are all relieved.

7)

We're celebrating the Italian side of our kids' heritage (Phil is half Italian!) for St. Joseph and having chicken parmesan and tiramisu for our feast tonight.  I can't wait!  Gaelic and Garlic kids are lucky with so much to celebrate this week.  I'm not sure why the Italians got to claim St. Joe but give me any excuse to eat homemade tiramisu and I'll take it.

Have a wonderful solemnity and start your Easter shopping this weekend!  

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