April Fools

After being inspired by Pinterest I set out to make an April Fools dinner my kids wouldn't forget.  We started with cupcakes.  They were SO excited!  Giggles stared at them for a minute and said, "That's not frosting, is it?"  I just let her try it.  She and Spunky figured out pretty quickly that it was really meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Little Calico dug right in with no comment, so I guess two years old is too young to know what food is supposed to look like.  Bubba had the best reaction of all.  He had the biggest smile on his face until he took his first bite.  Poor kid.  It took him forever to get around to eating it, but once he did he seemed to like it pretty well.  I've always made pizza-flavored meatloaf because my kids prefer it.

After eating cupcakes it was time for our dessert: grilled cheese sandwiches!  The kids were on to me by this point.  They loved the toasted pound cake with yellow frosting.  It really looked convincing. 

We've never had any April Fool's Day traditions before this, but I think this one is going to stick.  It's just too much fun!

Repentance and Reflection

I grew up Baptist.  That's all I've ever known.  And if someone had ever told me I'd be observing Lent someday I would have laughed.  Doesn't everyone know that's a Catholic holiday?!  Yet I feel drawn to this time of repentance and reflection.  What can I sacrifice to grow closer to Christ? 

I felt it would help me to be accountable if I wrote about this, even if no one else reads it, but I've decided to completely cut out desserts of any kind for the next 40 days.  (If you know me, you know that's a big deal.) I'm not entirely sure about fasting because I will be running and training again soon, and I need to research that some more.  I will be limiting facebook to just responding to messages I receive through email.  As a way to grow closer to Christ, I've also decided to memorize the sermon on the mount.  Ann Voscamp over at A Holy Experience has shared some lovely scripture memorization cards for this and a plan that takes the rest of the calendar year.  I hope to memorize it a bit quicker, but we'll see.  :)