70 Pounds of Crawfish on My Porch and Other Amusements {7QT Friday}

- 1. -

Expressions

George, our child of a thousand expressions.  One of these days I'm going to dedicate an entire post filled with pictures of this guy's facial contortions. He really is quite gifted.  Given the fact that his every thought and feeling is clearly defined for all to see from the neck up, I can't imagine him ever raking in the cash at a poker table, but Broadway seems like a strong possibility.  

On Sunday, George begged us to let him keep one of the crawfish that we bought for the boil as a pet.  We had our own squeemish expressions over his request, and after rejoicing over our reluctant consent, George promptly named his new friend Rocky.  Because, he said, "Rocky is tough like a crawfish, and every year I can keep one crawfish from the bunch and name it Rocky. Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5 - just like the movies (none of which he has seen, but whatever, we're rollin' with it).

- 2. -

Crawfish

If you were here last week, you may remember me mentioning something about a Feast of the Divine Mercy party cancellation due to a big fire that erupted at a dairy where my husband and his father were attending to some business.  Without going into detail, I'll just say this: It was bad, very bad. Steve called with the news on Wednesday saying he most likely wouldn't be home until Saturday or Sunday due to his need to manage damages at the dairy.  I was so very thankful that no one was hurt, and maybe just a little bit sad that we would have to cancel the Divine Mercy/John Paul II crawfish boil party that we'd scheduled for Saturday night.

Sometime on Friday, my honey called to inform me that he had forgotten to cancel the order for the crawfish, and that UPS would be delivering them first thing on Saturday morning. 

70 POUNDS people, 70 POUNDS!! Imagine that in beef, what is that, like half a cow??? 

I really don't want to roll this post into a pregnancy pity party, but I'm going to for just a second. First things first, I am sa-woooolllleeeennn (swollen).  Feet hands and everything in between always retain more water than the Gulf of Mexico the last month of every pregnancy.  So, between trying to care for 5 boys by myself, homeschool, and ignore the contractions I'm having while scraping unmentionables out from beneath the appliances (nesting is a bit out of control) I now 

had a boatful of crustaceans sitting on my porch.

You would think that the buckets of tears I cried last week over missing my husband, having to cancel the party and the ballooning state of my flesh would have alleviated some of the swelling, but no, comfort is not in the cards these days.

Steve staggered in late Saturday afternoon, exhausted and we just stared at each other, then the crawfish, then each other, then....well we fell asleep. 

What did we end up doing with the 70 pounds of seafood??...

Despite being utterly exhausted, we decided to just cook 'em up anyway, all 70 pounds, and then we enlisted our family and neighbors to come to help us eat 'em.  To our surprise, they were awfully tasty! So tasty that next year we will be hosting our first annual Divine Mercy crawfish boil party, barring any fires or other major catastrophes, that is.

- 3. -

Deliciousness

{Printable Recipe}

This is the cake that I had planned to serve at the Divine Mercy/John Paul II party.  I made two of them ahead of time, since they stay fresh in the fridge for a few days, and we ate both of them, oh, you know we did!  I remember my mom making this cake for bridal showers and other special occasions when I was younger, and I always thought it was so pretty with it's colorful stripes, cool creamy topping and sweet petite garnish.  If you would like to try the recipe, you can find it right here.

- 4. -

Track & Field

Yesterday was Ben's last track meet for the season. I can honestly say that I'm a little sad that the season is over.  Our family has had so much fun being together outdoors, watching all of the events, and socializing with the other wonderful families who's kids attend our small school. Ben's events were the high jump, 100m hurdles, 800 and 4x100 relay.  He had a fun, rewarding season and won a few medals too!

- 5. -

Weekly Funny

I can't help sharing this.  You know, sometimes people try to be funny about parenthood, and honestly, they're just not. funny. at. all.  But, this guy is. And, I love that he not only makes me and Steve laugh, somehow his humor also helps us to feel like we're not really drowning in an ocean of spit up and diapers all buy ourselves. Thanks, Jim.

- 6. -

One More Quote

Like many parents, Steve and I like to spend a good deal of of our time together talking about the funny things our kids say or the sweet or ridiculous things they do, because remembering helps us to get over the little behavior bumps in the road and relish the goodness of our boys.  

The week before Easter, Steve's mom asked the boys which apostle they would choose to be if they could be any one of them. When it came time for Andrew to answer, he matter-of-factly said, "I'd be Judas." (Uh, okay?) Of course Granny was curious to learn his reason why, and so Andrew simply explained, "Well, if I were Judas, I would change history because I would choose a different path than he did."

Right. Not John, John the beloved, whom Jesus says he loves. Nope, Judas, the betrayer, the shameful, the lost.

I would change history.  Wise words from an 11 year old boy has us pondering our daily decisions, the sincerity of our efforts toward living a life of virtue, the ways in which our choices affect others, how each of our life stories are written with decisions and actions that we can't take back, and how we will be remembered for those decisions.  

- 7. - 

Something Lovely

{Visit Melissa's Website!}

On Monday, I'll be giving teaming up with Melissa, the owner of Full of Grace Divine Designs jewelry, who will gift one of my lucky readers with a piece of her beautiful, handmade jewelry for a giveaway I'm hosting in honor of Mother's Day.  We hope to see you here next week where you can sign up for a chance to win!

Have a fantastic weekend, my friends!!