Many Years Ferdinand!

His expression says it all! He couldn't have had a better birthday surprise. A certain little man has been looking for a proper "boy ballet bag". Well who could believe there was one out there with a penguin centurion on it! Then to discover it was full of not one but 2 wooden battle axes and an wonderful ranger hood (immediately stolen by a certain blue eyed hobbit!) Add a battling dragon topped dish of cornbread and a lovely feast day celebration with fellow Orthodox  home schoolers and all in all it was a lovely day.

BTW since Ive already have several people ask -we got the Penguin bag at Cafe press and the axes over at Friendly Fairies. The card (hand painted!) and hood were from a nice bunch home schoolers at Fig and Thimble.

St. Pat's 1

Our St. Patrick's celebration started with dinner last night. Veggies cooked in corned beef pickling spices and our favorite Colcannon - (potatoes mashed with kale and carrots). It was a little hard for us when becoming Orthodox to contemplate a vegan St. Pat's day. As a child is was the only day besides Christmas we had real butter on the table- it was a HUGE deal to my parents from the parade in the morning to the Guinness Prune beef stew (really!) to the steaming mugs of after dinner coffee. There was nothing vegan or sober about it. Dh and I didn't blink about the idea of a vegan Thanksgiving -not a big deal- but St. Patrick's day sigh...
Well we have adapted;) We transferred a lot of our non-vegan favorites to Pascha and enjoy the time together.

The kids have been making trap plans since the 1st...this years ended up being a 3 level complex but alas...

the leprechauns outwitted us and made quite a mess but left some rainbow filled treats behind...

along with some friends to remember them by!

Ponies in Spring (Briddy guest posts)

One day the ponies decided to go on an adventure.

They started by the snow drops...

and then they climbed the trees...

then on to rock climbing...

and bungee jumping!

Then the ponies gardened...

and tried to make a pony pyramid but it didn't work very well.

They had a wonderful adventure.

The End.

By Iddy Biddy

Slowly Slowly...

As always I planned to jump into Lent running as always we were forced to slow down. The littles woke up on Cheesefare with fevers. The big kids joined dh for Liturgy and that evening I took them to Forgiveness vespers but the next morning they were feverish as well.
A week and half in pajamas has everyone ready to get back into the rhythm of life again.


We haven't been able to attend services so far this Lent but we did manage to make a tasty Lagana Bread for Clean Monday and make a cute little octopus kite to fly. It was a gorgeous day but only Valentine perked up long enough to go outside and fly it. We have also been enjoying the Lenten door calendar.

When our plans for the week crashed with the kiddos I was glad I had put it up...we didn't bother with the magnets we just used thumbtacks as door knobs and stuck it to the cork board (behind Biddy).

Are we keeping busy?

The last few years, between speech and occupational therapy we had 2-4 appointments a week on top of homeschooling and life in general. Since the first of the year that has decreased to 1-2 appointments a month. A grandparent commented on the lack of blog activity and wondered if we were getting anything accomplished. With this new found time were we "keeping busy?" Are we "finally getting school work done?"

Yes, we are busy- too busy to take pictures and too busy to blog :)
so for you dear Grandparent some highlights...

We played in the surprise snow, planted daffodils on St. David's day, watched an enthusiastic Iddy Biddy exhibit before the University gymnastics meet, met the Cat In the Hat, and practiced our cute faces.

We made gluten free oatmeal scones and ate them all at once, and made gluten free jelly rolls and delivered them to friends with a new baby. We learned a new way of writing and made a neighborhood for our number families. We played in an empty fountains and began planing to catch that Leprechaun once and for all.


We began our new month roaring like lions and gathered pussy willows in the blustering rain. We read about the Trojan horse and brandished swords in the living room. We made some funny new friends that wave when the door opens and began preparing for Great Lent. So yes we are busy and the biggest surprise is that now that we are not sitting around in waiting rooms we are getting lots of "school work" done too! So dear Grandparent please breathe easy!

St. Gerasimos