A day of rest...........

The joy I find in home making is a blessing I am thankful for.
It is the little things that bring a smile to my face as I go through the day
Today as every day when I do a lot of preparing to cook just reminds me how I love this life.
If there is one aspect of home-making I love, a particular it is cooking
Being in the kitchen with my children, often daughters and younger children.

So today being a rest day I felt very happy to be in the kitchen baking chicken to go into the pot of vegetables we were preparing for chicken soup.
Adding the next lot of flour to the sour-dough starter.
Preparing the next lot of yogurt and kefir
Then I started the soaking process for Muffins and Buttermilk biscuits, these will be finished tomorrow.
While this was happening we were adding the last ingredients to the tomato sauce so it could simmer away through the day.

 Perhaps you are thinking this is not a rest day. This is not what you should be doing on a Sunday, the Lords Day.
Perhaps you are right : for you.
However for me this is a rest day, a day I get to do those things I enjoy without the pressure of weekdays and time schedules to work to. Knowing we have lessons to work on, chores to do and other day to day essentials.
Sunday is a day to totally be at peace with what I choose to do with the day, thankful to God that I am given this day to love Him and still be happy in my creative endeavours.
So I love a day when I can indulge in MY rest and recovery options. In fact I do not think of these as work but as an opportunity to shower those I love with the fruits of my love, and thankful I have the opportunity to do so.

Obviously by now it must be lunch time so to keep things simple today we made Peach Yogurt Smoothies a variation on our Banana Yogurt ones we have been enjoying.

After feeding and rocking our baby to sleep I then went up to the loft to work on my sewing projects, this didn't  go for long though as he soon woke up. However it was interesting to see that some of the children brought up their projects (reading, puzzles, painting and sewing) to the loft just to be in the same space with me.

Next up was playing Uno with my sweet Moran and her Daddy. She has really discovered card games and wants to play all the time.
The children really enjoy this day as well, a day when they can catch up on reading, perhaps play a board game or other games. I also admit to letting the older ones play some computer games, this for me is a huge thing as I monitor this VERY tightly.
Interestingly enough the older children have found a lot of fun in the fame Twister over the last couple of days. It is delightful to hear them playing this together and enjoying the simple and yet memorable fun this game can provide

Then I wanted to print out an embroidery pattern to work on while giving my younger girls reading lessons during the week so I found this Sunbonnet Sue pattern to do.
I adore Sunbonnet sue and some years ago our Autumn embroidered one for me. I haven't done a lot of embroidery lately and just really felt the desire to follow this up in my free time.
So I look forward to working on this next week and I am trying to decide whether to do a whole group of them or individual ones.

As we had dinner all prepared it was a very easy evening and due to the simplicity of the meal we had a rare treat for sweets, something I call Banana Cream.

So very tasty and delectable:
Whipped cream with sliced banana on top with a drizzle of honey and sprinkle of nutmeg.

As Stephen, Rogan and Saxon went to the evening Mass (we others had been to Vigil Mass) I received a phone call after Mass to say Saxon had sprained his ankle, again, for the third time in a few months, and needed some TLC when they got home.
So love, due care and attention were administered for our poor boy.
However another opportunity to really love and serve as I know our Lord would want  me to.

Of course chatting to our older boys is always a pleasure and I am blessed that we can do this on a daily basis. I love sharing what they have done and telling them the ordinary things we have done in our family and how much we miss them still.

With joy like this to behold today as well as every day I really love to look into the faces of those I love and receive the love and joy that is there to be taken.

May you all have had a most blessed Sunday as I have had.

Blessings to you and your homes,