Baby St.Hilaire II

We just had our first ultrasound this morning and met the newest addition to our family! Baby is due in mid-October which means that right now I am about 10 weeks along. We are so very thrilled!

I happily present to you Baby St.Hilaire II:

 Have fun decoding the pictures! =)

Can you see the tiny foot and toes? =)

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 21

1. I've been taking a little break from blogging lately. Life has been pretty busy, but I plan on getting back into the swing of things during Lent. I have a lot of ideas for posts, so stay tuned! =)

2. Lessons in the kitchen: My world has forever changed... I was never really sure how to chop an onion. To be honest, I've always been frightened of the slippery layers of an onion - fearing for my poor fingers who could easily be victims of the knife. But all that has changed now, after watching this video on how to chop an onion! (H/T Shelly!)

3. Potential trip: We are still working out the details, but it is very likely that we will get to take a vacation to Florida! Andrew has a one-day conference to go to, and SwingSetMall.com will be covering the costs of this portion of the trip (including his flight round-trip). So we thought it would be a nice way to save some money, since he is going anyway, and make it a family trip. We are hoping to be there for about a week. It will be so nice to have some down time and relax in a sunny place. The trip will be in May right before John's birthday, which means that he will (barely) fly for free!

4. Friends: Several weeks ago we had a delightful visit with our friends Andrew and Molly. It is so refreshing to spend time with our friends. We even squeezed one of our favorite games - Settlers of Catan!

5. Date Night: We went out on a date last Saturday and saw The King's Speech. I know it's been out for a while, so everyone else has already seen it - but it was very good! =) I even found myself Googling more information about the British monarchy. (Funny side note: I just googled the word "googling" to make sure that people say that... haha)

6. Video: Check out this great video to promote Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for college students:

7. St.Hilaire Family Recipe: Here is the recipe for the Soda Bread that we had last night:

• Grease pan - heat oven to 350 F
• Sift together in a large bowl: 4 c flour, 2 T sugar, 3 T baking powder, 1 t salt, and 1 t baking soda
• Add 1/2 c corn oil and mix with fork or pastry blender until fine crumbs form (optional: stir in 1 c raisins and 1 T caraway seed)
• Mix together 1 c buttermilk and 1 egg. Gradually add to flour mixture, stirring until soft dough forms
• Turn out onto floured board
• Knead lightly about 10 times or until smooth
• Shape into ball, place in prepared plan, flatten lightly, and cut a cross on top of loaf
• Brush with corn oil
• Bake about 50 min or until brown
• Cool on a rack

Happy St. Patrick's Feast Day!

John and I went grocery shopping yesterday and we saw our favorite grocery checker there, Annie. She is so fun and we always choose her lane over the others even if there is a wait. John always loves to see her. Yesterday she was wearing a St. Patrick's day headband. John was intrigued, so she let him wear it. I warned John that we had to give it back, and she generously told us to have it - she has plenty more. That was SO nice! Needless to say, John wore it a lot today and got some great compliments from his friends at Mothers' Group this morning.

Here at the St.Hilaire household, we just finished enjoying a yummy Irish-inspired meal: Soda Bread (recipe from Mom St.Hilaire), and Guinness Beef Stew served over a mound of Colcannon. It was delicious and we gave the meal 4 stars (out of 5) - which is very good; we reserve the 5 star for only the finest cuisine known to man (in our humble opinions).

Happy Feast of St. Patrick!

PS. Today is also my conception day too! Thanks, Mom and Dad!! =)