Roasted Tomato Salsa

Fresh roasted salsa for chips, huevos or quesadillas!

Every year it is the same story.  The garden is planted and you patiently wait. You wait and wait and wait.  Then BAM! Your garden goes from barren to a super abundant crop overnight.  Suddenly you look and notice quite a lot of red poking out of the garden.  Remember those extra tomato plants you planted because you were sure you would eat all of them?  Now here we are, after the first couple weeks of harvest, and you have run out of ideas for fresh tomato recipes.

Too many tomatoes?

What should you do?  Give them away?  Maybe.  Maybe just a couple.  No way!  How can you bear to give up those juicy, deep red tomatoes you worked so hard for?!?  Forget giving them away.  There is another way to enjoy all the fruit of your labor.

Make some supremely delicious salsa instead!  I love roasting all vegetables and tomatoes are really extra good when carmelized under heat.  When you put these tomatoes in the extra hot oven, the tomatoes suffer a fast and hot kind of char.  Your tomatoes will look kinda bloodied, like they got beat up in a fight.  It was a delicious fight though.

This recipe will require your tomatoes, some pepper and onion, some time and then you will have some real roasted salsa you'll be proud to share with family and friends keep and eat all yourself.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

• Approx 4-5lbs tomatoes, cut up. I use whatever is ripe.
• tomatoes that are extra seedy or pulpy should have that part discarded
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 Pasilla or Anaheim chiles, fresh
• 2 jalapenos, fresh
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 bunch cilantro, rough chop of tops only
• Juice of 2 limes (fresh please!)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place your tomatoes and onion on a piece of parchment or a Silpat on a half sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil to coat, but do not drench.  Add approximately 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper and hand mix together. Place both Pasilla or Anaheim peppers on tray and one of the jalapenos.

Roast for 30 minutes and turn peppers over and roast an additional 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and discard onion skins.

Place peppers in large gallon zipper bag and close to steam the peppers.  After 10 minutes, remove peppers and the skin should fall right off.  Rinse seeds and stem away under water.

Place tomatoes, onions and all juices, along with peppers into food processor.  Pulse for about 10 secs at a time for a total of 30 seconds.

Finely dice remaining fresh jalapeno, remove veins and seeds.  Add to food processor along with juice of two limes and cilantro.

Pulse for 10-20 more seconds.  Check seasoning and add more salt/pepper if desired.  This salsa will thicken up a good deal overnight.

Best to eat after sitting for a few hours...with chips...and a cerveza.

Makes 3 (16oz) jars of salsa!

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Palm Springs: Our First GF Vacation!

Road trip - GF style!!!

We did it!!!  I am happy..no wait...I am THRILLED to report we took our first gluten free vacation and it was a success!  I wish I could tell you the stress I had about it.  We weren't going to the Sahara or anything exotic, but it was the first time we left the home area and we did it.  We were able to go and enjoy ourselves, and even eat out wonderful things for our little Z.

It was an adventure I definitely had to prepare for.  I spent weeks on Yelp and other review sites, looking for appropriate restaurants that served appropriate gluten free food.  And by appropriate, I mean not some fancy four star restaurant that would cost us $40/plate.  We are a working family of five, thank you!

First things first!  I booked a room at the Palm Canyon Resort.  I chose the resort because it had a full kitchen that we could use for our breakfasts, snacks and a lunch if needed.  Knowing that I could bring safe snacks, cereal and other food made planning the easier.

This resort was a perfect choice for our family.  Spacious rooms with a full kitchen, balcony and a really comfy bed made this place a must-stay for our next trip

Kicking it poolside at the Palm Canyon Resort

Family fun at the pool

Two slides at the resort - the kids loved the small one

The big slide was FAST and fun!

I went ahead and planned that we would arrive in town and have lunch before going to the hotel.  I also planned on dining out for dinner each night.  Knowing exactly how meals I needed to plan for was really helpful.  We wanted to eat casual lunch on Friday, pizza for dinner Friday night and then we wanted to eat on the top of mountain of the Aerial Tram on Saturday night.

Friday afternoon, we pulled in and went straight to Sherman's Deli.  I found Sherman's Deli on Yelp and was so excited that a real New York style deli had a gluten free menu available!  Although no menu was available on-line (HINT HINT, GET ONE), I did call ahead and learned all the meats were GF and they also offered GF bread AND pastries!

Sherman's Deli is a GF favorite

Once we arrived, everyone there was so nice.  Our waiter was very knowledgeable and great at answering any questions we had.  My little Z was going to have a sandwich, but then learned they serve breakfast all day and insisted upon getting eggs, bacon, potatoes and GF toast!  She was so happy.  I was thrilled that I could order a real club sandwich on GF toast too.  Seriously, this sandwich is one of my most fav things in the world and I hadn't had one in over eight months.  Lunch was phenomenal.  The absolute topper was buying GF berry rugaluch, GF chocolate chip cookies and GF peanut butter cookies.  All pastries are packaged, sealed and stored separate from the other baked items.  There was also a beautiful 4 layer GF chocolate cake that we almost bought. (too full from lunch)  It was in the case and covered to protect from cross contamination.  That seriously brought a tear to my eye.  Bravo Sherman's Deli!  Bravo!

These little babies were outstanding! Love rugaluch!

For dinner, I had decided on Bill's Pizza.  This was another Yelp find and I loved the positive reviews for their gluten free crust.  Unfortunately it was a very busy Friday night and the service was extremely slow.  The pizza took almost an hour to get.  Despite this, I have to give Bill's Pizza some serious credit.  We had some GF pizza and some regular pizza, and it was all extremely delicious.  I had a couple of slices of the pizza-of-the-day and a small antipasto salad, and it was tasty!  Everyone (there were 5 adults and 7 kids) thought this pizza was some of the best we have ever tasted!  Now we know why they are so busy!!  Lesson learned.  Next time we go to Palm Springs, we are ordering early.  And yes, Z loved her GF pizza.  She had leftovers for lunch the next day and still thought it was awesome.

On Saturday, we wanted to take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and eat at the restaurants at the top of the mountain.  I had some trouble getting through to someone who could help and it took a couple of phone calls.  When I did reach a manager, he was extremely kind and told me that the chef would help with anything we needed once we arrived.  

We had a few - I mean A LOT of kids for the tram!

Do they look nervous?

So we arrived at the loading station and entered the round aerial tram.  It was awesome.  Everyone really loved the rides up and down.  It is a fast, ear popping ride that gives you breathtaking views of the valley floor.  We went at sunset and it was beautiful.  We also loved that it was 30 degrees cooler than the bottom!  We went from 102 degrees to 72 degrees in just 10 minutes!

My goofy, wonderful kids

Once we walked around admiring the views and taking in the scenery, we walked over to the Pines Cafe, located inside the station.  There is a full service restaurant as well, but we decided that we had too many little kids to sit through a fancy dinner.  The chef came out and was so nice to us and Z.  He went through every item that was GF safe or not.  Unfortunately, none of the prepared salad dressings were gluten free, but the chef happily offered to create one for her.  She loved the vinaigrette he prepared and ate all of her salad (unusual for her!)  There was plenty of food for her to chose from and we were appreciative of the time he spent making this experience a pleasant one for all of us.

Feeling ok on the thrilling ride up

Beautiful scenery behind us

View from the top - breathtaking

That's the view....straight down!

The rest of the weekend we spent at the pools at the resort.  There was a smaller kid area pool with the two slides, and the larger adult area pool.  There were also two spas and a poolside bar for drinks and food.  The resort had a lot of activities for the kids too.  The girls stuffed some magical animal friends poolside and the kids even got to make their own tie-dyed t-shirts too.  I was really impressed with the friendly staff, especially when I had to make a noise complaint on our boisterous neighbors.  We never heard from them again after we notified staff.

The kids did most of the work for the t-shirts

Stuffing their new friends

Game room had pool tables available too

At the end of the weekend, we hated to go so we stopped by Sherman's Deli one more time before heading home and picked up some extra cookies for the ride home.  It was a great first time trip and we found a few more places we want to try next time we return.  Thank you Palm Springs for the gluten friendly hospitality!

Lemony Potato Salad

Our first 4th of July as a gluten-free family had me worried about what we would be having to serve at our family BBQ.  I know proteins are safe and perfect for grilling season, but what about side dishes?  I soon realized I had nothing to fear, since potatoes are gluten free naturally, all of my favorite potato salad recipes are already GF too!  Hooray for us!

Light, lemony and just creamy enough to satisfy

I wanted a perfect easy side dish to serve and decided that a light homemade potato salad would do the trick.  No heavy mayo stuff today.  I thought about a fresh potato salad, which led me to lemon.  A Lemony Potato Salad, no mayo.  I loved the idea, but missed the creaminess of the mayo!  No problem!  Instead or creamy fat-laden mayo, I went straight for the perfect mayo substitute, nonfat greek yogurt.  It is the perfect substitute.  It is thick and creamy like mayo, but no fat!

I also added a helping of extra virgin olive oil to balance with the lemon flavor and add some good healthy monosaturated fat.  If you are having company, this recipe should serve eight people easily.  If you are having just family, go ahead and cut it in half.  Enjoy!


Lemony Potato Salad

• 3lbs baby Yukon potatoes, rinsed 
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3T. fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbl nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped green onions (green tops only)

Directions:  Cut potatoes into bite size pieces, place in large pot.  When done, add enough cold water to cover, add a heaping pinch of salt and bring to boil on stove.  Boil until fork tender, around 10minutes.  Please check your potatoes after 7 mins!
Drain in colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and place in large nonreactive bowl (no metal).
Whisk together your olive oil, lemon juice, yogurt, salt and pepper and pour over potatoes.
Mix well and taste.  Add any salt and pepper if needed and finish by folding in green onions.

Best to make and let sit for a few hours, but can serve immediately!

Summer Bucket List

HELLO SUMMER!

Every summer it seems we "forget" to go do or go see one some of our favorite summer activities.  July starts and before we know it, BAM we missed something.

This year, I got the kids together and we created our very own summer bucket list.  We thought of all of the usual things we love to do, like the beach, camping and going to water parks.  Then we thought of new things we want to try like visit the shuttle, go to the mud adventure park and go up in the Great Park Orange balloon!

We are planning more hikes with Milo the dog!

In total we listed about 20-25 things we hope to do this summer. With all of the "Things To Do" lists that are coming out this month, it is the perfect time to pick what you want to do and make your own Bucket List for the fridge.  Kids love helping to make this list and really love seeing the progress as you cross off more and more.

How about a sunset dinner?

I can't wait to see how much we really get done this summer.  The schedule is already packed, starting with the day after school through the end of August.  While we have many things scheduled, the list will actually help us on those lazy days of summer too.  Just when my kids get ready to say they are bored, they can pick a hike up the canyon or a bike ride through the harbor to keep occupied.

We are sooooooo ready for summer!

We All Stumble Now and Then

She is so strong!  Inside and out

I have really been feeling frustrated lately regarding my daughter's Celiac.  See, she wasn't the most varied eater to begin with, and everything she loved was full of gluten.  We have replaced many items at home, but outside the house?  That is a different story.

It has been around 7 months since we eliminated gluten and for the most part, she has done really great.  Now that time has passed and she has been feeling good for so long, she is starting to really miss her favorite things.  I think it might have been easier if she had never known how good real pasta, bread and tortillas tasted.

I took the girls to Costco this weekend and it was kind of a disaster.  Every other step we took we ran into vendors giving out food she could have.  Want some bread dipped in pasta sauce?  How about a chimichanga?  Wanna try these crackers?  The poor thing not only saw them, but she could smell many of them.  She is so protected at home and this was an all out assault on her hunger senses.  Imagine being on a diet for seven months and then having people put it right in front of your face and basically offer you everything you had missed.  It finally hit her.  She hugged me and whimpered, "I just want to eat what I want.  I want it"  

That was it.  We hightailed it out of there.  I could have kicked myself for putting her in that position.  I know people will say that she has to learn and she has to get used to it.  But you know what?  She's SEVEN!  Do you remember being seven?  Would you have gracefully and completely have given up every food you loved as a kid without complaint?  I don't think so.  I know I wouldn't have.

And now she has an invite to a classmate's party.  With pizza and cake.  More things she can't have and will feel self-conscious about.  I know I can't shield her from everything forever, but after this last incident I am not sure she is ready.  Or maybe I am not.  Yes I know I can make "substitutes", but it really isn't the same, is it?

All kids with Celiac and food allergies deserve so much more than the screwed up immune system they have.

Memorial Weekend Walk

We took a really beautiful hike asking the San Clemente Beach Trail this morning.

Sure, it was crowded with joggers, moms with strollers and plenty of other dogs, but it was still very enjoyable.

Poor Milo, the trains scare him and they kept blowing their horns right next to the little guy.  We'll be sure to be careful with him next time we go.

Bella Monica Gluten Free Pizza

We are still on it quest to find an affordable, yet tasty gluten free frozen pizza.

All of the pizzas we have tried so far have been uneven to say the least.  Coughing up $12.00 for a pizza that tastes like cardboard is something I wish to avoid from now on.

Fortunately, last week I was walking through my local grocery store and spotted these gluten free pizzas from Bella Monica.  They are a personal size and were priced at $4.99 each!  That was enough for me to try them.

My daughter loved her cheese pizza.  It was a little too much food for her.  Surprisingly, she asked us to save the leftovers so she could enjoy it the next day!  She has never asked that before!

Cheese pizza for the little princess

I really enjoyed the Spinach & Feta pizza.  It was wonderful to have a non-meat option and feta is one of my favorite cheeses.  The toppings were delicious.  It did bake up looking quite nice.  The crust did get golden brown.  The crust was a tad bit chewy and stuck in the teeth just a bit.  Despite the chewiness, overall this is the best frozen pizza we have tried!

Spinach & Feta for me

My husband equally enjoyed his pepperoni pizza.  He loves meat pizza and it would be great to see a meat lover's option from Bella Monica in the future.

Pepperoni for the hubby

We were impressed with the quality of these pizzas.  We also loved the price, which is less than half of those other gluten free pizzas we have tried.  While we won't have these on a weekly basis, we now have a nice option when the rest of the family is in a mood to stay home, watch a movie and eat pizza.

We loved all three

The Joy Of Unmixed Martial Art

We have been so fortunate to be involved in a really wonderful local karate school for the past few years.  My middle child had not really found her "thing" as far as sports.  She loves athletics, but was not interested in soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc.  When we found the Shoshin Karate School, we knew she had found something she could really be passionate about.

Making friends and having fun are part of karate!

Traditional karate is not as flashy as some martial arts, and it certainly is not the loud martial art where kids are running and screaming while flailing their arms.  No, Shotokan (traditional) karate is about form, movement and discipline.  That might not sound exciting, but it is a beautiful martial art where strength and balance are as important as will power.

These classes are broken up into three parts.  First they work on drills, next early non-contact sparring and finally they practice kata.  Katas are individual practice routines that you can probably compare to a memorized dance, but uses karate forms instead.  The katas are important.  They teach a student to strive for perfection, to be aware of each movement of their body and not "just go through the motions", but feel the motions and understand the purpose of each one.

As my daughter has learned and tested in her belts, she has grown a sense of pride and self confidence that I didn't know existed inside of her.  She is a different kid in the studio.  She exudes a certain air of humility that is mixed with a self assuredness.  She is stronger than I knew, she is faster than I knew and she is not scared of anyone in that studio.  She holds her own, whether she is practicing with another same age student or advanced black belt.  Here, students compete with themselves to learn and do better and all students support all other students.  We love the sensei.  He knows how to pull the very best out each student.

It has been a beautiful experience and one that I am proud to promote.  Come by and try this fun (yes it is fun!) traditional karate.  It is held in a BEAUTIFUL studio that is located behind Fluidmaster in San Juan Capistrano.  You can contact Sensei Johnston at 949-728-2611.  www.shoshinkarate.org

Classes are for adults AND kids!  Starting at $80/month!!!

Delgado Canyon Trail

This morning, Milo and I took a quick walk into a local canyon.  He loves his walks and I am trying to do as many different ones we can.

So far we have done trails by the harbor, hills of San Clemente and a lovely one by the new dog park in San Juan Capistrano.

I hope to finish this trail in the near future, it is really nicely maintained.

Park May 2014

Spent a lovely afternoon at the local park.  Love spending time with my kids.  Gotta do it while they still want to hang out with me!

The Biggest Mistakes You Are Making With Your Sunscreen

Protect Your Kids From Skin Cancer!

We are at the tail end of a terrible heatwave and we are only in May!  Thanks to the heat, we have let the kids start swimming in our pool and we know plenty of other families heading to the beach and local swimming clubs trying to cool off.

I have always been extremely careful with my kids and active in their prevention of sunburn.  We have many family members with skin cancer who were sun-worshippers using baby oil for sunscreen back in their younger years.  While we have come a long way, we still have to start using modern suncsreen properly.

There are many mistakes we do when using sunscreen, and as a mom and a consumer, I want to use it as effectively as possible.  Here are some tips for using that sunscreen and protecting your kids and yourself.

Hooray for summer!

1 - Apply sunscreen at least 15 minutes before getting into any water.  

This is really the most important tip, since I see it as the one most often made.

If you are going to the beach, apply it at home.  Hitting a water park?  Apply it home.  If you swim at home, get the kids ready, apply it and set the timer for 15 minutes.  Get the idea?  Wait, wait, wait!

Many times we go swimming or a water park and see moms calling and hog-typing their kids for the few minutes it takes to apply to the sunscreen, only to see the children rush and jump right into the water and witness the "oil slick" left behind.

If you have ever used a sunscreen and it "didn't work", it is most likely because you didn't wait before getting it wet.  TRUST ME.  Just do it before getting in the car and you kids can jump right in as soon as they get there!

2 - Sunscreen goes on anything that is exposed to the sun  

We have all forgotten those little areas that can get sunburned before. Some of the most common areas we forget to put sunscreen on include:  top of the ears, back of the neck, scalp where part in hair is, under arms and my favorite....the top of their feet.  

3 - Reapply it, even if you have to drag them out  

After two hours, most kids will have to take a break for a snack or at least the restroom. (unless they are pool/ocean as a casual restroom)  Get them out and dried off and before they eat their snack, reapply the sunscreen and let it set in while they eat their snack and get rehydrated.  Even the best sunscreen can't go more than two hours after being in the water.

4 - Use sunscreen that hasn't been compromised

You know that bottle of sunscreen that has been sitting in your car since last summer?  Yeah....that needs to be thrown out.  The chemicals in sunscreen degrade when exposed to high temperatures.  So your car, heating up over and over again, is a sunscreen killer.  Throw it out.

Hint: Keep your sunscreen cool when you go out.  If you go to the beach and you take a cooler, you can keep it in the cooler. Bonus!  It will feel delightfully chilly when you use it!   

You should also toss all of the sunscreens at home from last summer.  That time factor also degrades sunscreens and makes them less effective.  

5 - Use The Right Sunscreen

The SPF factor can be confusing.  The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends anything SPF30 or higher with both UVA and UVB protection for enjoying the water.  While I usually use a SPF45, anything above a SPF50 is not really going to make much difference.  So don't fork over more money for a SPF70 or SPF 75.
I was a fan of more natural zinc oxide based sunscreens for years, but they are very expensive and we can use a tube in two days in our family.  As a compromise, I use the more commercially available spray for the limbs and torso and the zinc oxide based sunscreens for the face and neck areas.   

If you can find Blue Lizard Sunscreen, I highly recommend it.  It is a family favorite!

Stay safe this summer!

Product Review: Northern Chef Gluten Free Shrimp & Cod

My daughter's favorite food in the world is shrimp.  She loves it grilled, sauteed and she loved it breaded.  I have been able to make our own breaded shrimp, but I have missed the ease of a pre-breaded shrimp over the last year.

Imagine my happy surprise when I found these bags of Lightly Breaded Shrimp and Lightly Breaded Cod with the words "gluten free" on them?????  I found them in my local Stater Bros. and I couldn't believe it.  

Oven ready and totally gluten free

After taking the bags home and preheating my oven, I poured the amount I wanted for my kids on a lined baking sheet that had foil on it.  The shrimp were impressively large and were "lightly breaded".  I very much dislike heavy breading that masks the taste of the shrimp, so bravo for the description matching the actual food.  The cod was also just lightly coated and came in 2" chunks or larger.  

Once cooked, these little babies were ready for lunch.  My daughter loved the shrimp.  I tried a few pieces and was impressed.  Juicy shrimp with a crispy light coating and it even comes with its own cocktail sauce.  

The fish was delicious, or at least I think it was.  My son inhaled it so quickly I only got a small morsel.  When I asked him about, he said he liked it but next time, could I make more?

These bags of frozen seafood are absolutely perfect for keeping in the freezer for those nights you come home late and need a quick, hot meal.  This can easily be paired with a salad, some roasted veges and some rice and you can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes!

Dodge the Draft

Just when you think you can hear a more ridiculous story about the culture of today, I happened upon this little gem coming out of our local Newport area.

 High School Boys Hold "Draft" To Pick Prom Dates

Ok, really?  Really?  REALLY?!?!?!?

I feel as if asking this over and over will make it somehow make sense to me.  Gathering a bunch of guys together to publicly "draft" which girls will be asked by which guy is something that is happening (and not in an Adam Sandler movie)?!

There are, apparently, several students AND parents who do not get what the big deal is.  What dad wouldn't want their son to pick his prom date like he was picking cattle stock at an auction?  And what mother can't wait to meet her son's prom date? Even if it wasn't his first choice, because that girl was already "off the board".

Several protest the notion that this is happening with any sort of objectifying of the teenage girls.  I'm assuming then that girls were ranked by their GPA, charity work and overall good manners, right?  No one factored in things like boob size, propensity to "have a good time" and/or what rank they were on the social ladder?

The craziest part of this is that it has been happening FOR YEARS.  Generations of teenage girls have allowed themselves to become participants (willing or not) of this extremely mysogynistic draft.  There have been dozens of classes of high school boys who have spent hours calculating a potential girl's WORTH into a formula for ranking.

What of the girls at the bottom of the draft?  What of the girls who find out their worth according to the order in which they were taken off the board?  I find it hard to swallow that this kind of behavior is even happening in our area.  Wasn't Orange County supposed to be progressive?

Can these parents and students tell me that all of these female students were happy to be in the draft?  That is really "hurts no one"?  It is extremely distressing.  I am spending years developing my girls to be proud of themselves.  To value themselves for who they are.  To know that their virtues and values will always be the most important thing.  That God loves them just as they are.  The last think I want to see is them devalued into a piece of meat to fight over.

With that in mind, I would like to address the female students at Corona del Mar High School.

Dear CdM female students,
Your high school career is something that you have worked hard for.  Your parents and yourself have spent hours on your education to better yourself and your future. 
Proms and social events are an important part of your high school experience.  With that said, they are not a good enough reason to literally sell yourself out and attend the event knowing that you were objectified and ranked by a group of teenage boys.  Yes, boys.  Boys are fun, but they are no judge of you.
Look around at your female classmates.  They should not be viewed as your competition.  They should be viewed as your sisters.
Too many girls grow up to be women in mindless and endless competition.  From the parties they host, to the weddings they have, how they look pregnant to how they deliver their own child.  Girls who grow up to be competitive women compare and complain about how another woman feeds her child, takes care of her family or what gym she joins.
Do not give into this now.  Refuse to be placed into another pointless competition.  Value yourself.  Value integrity.  You are more than a simple ranking.  Find the courage to tell someone "no" and find a friend or two or three to attend your prom without dates. 

This draft benefits no female at your school.  Dodge the draft.  

Weekly Menu for 1st Week of May!

Yesterday was another milestone for our family as our youngest daughter received her First Communion.  It was a picture perfect day that was spent with loved ones and we feel truly blessed it went so well.  I'll have an post later with a mess of pictures.

Time moves on and we need to spend some time today on the everyday things. So first things first, here is this weeks menu:

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Sunday
Braised Chicken with Tomatillos
baked potatoes

Monday - Cinco de Mayo!
Grilled shrimp made into tacos
Mexican rice
Fat free refried beans

Tuesday
Arroz Con Pollo (chicken with rice)
Green salad

Wednesday
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
gluten free noodles
sliced tomatoes

Thursday
Bubble Pizza
Green salad

First Communion Rehearsal

Our youngest is about to have a wonderful and special event in her life, her first Holy Communion.  As Roman Catholics, this sacrament is another step closer for to be fully initiated in our Church.

Last night we went for rehearsal and it filled me with joy to see the other 50+ children who were so excited to be part of this event.  This is only one group out of four groups this year! 

Super bonus for Z.  Since she has Celiac, she has to consume a special host that is very low gluten, and therefore she gets to be first!  Never thought that would be an advantage!

Her service is on Saturday and we are excited to see her fully participate in mass with us.