On Easter Day

Easter lilies, Can you hear
What they whisper, low and clear?
In dewy fragrance they unfold
Their splendor sweet, their snow and gold.
Every beauty-breathing bell
News of heaven has to tell.
Listen to their mystic voice,
Hear, oh mortal, and rejoice!
Hark, their soft and heavenly chime!
Christ is risen for all time!

by Celia Thaxter

Wishing you all a
Happy and Blessed Easter!

Our Irish Baby's...

... 1st St. Patrick's Day!!!

Isn't he sweet!?!?

Snuggles also had his second tooth come in today... Top right. Now if I could just teach him to stop biting!

We had a very fun, full day! I was so disappointed that I forgot my flashcard at home today, but Regina had her camera, so hop on over to her blog to see a cute slide show from this afternoon. The kids had such fun playing Bingo, Petting animals, and breaking Blarney Stones.

After our party, since it was late, and we were still in town, I swapped cars with hubby (so he could take the kids home), then Snuggles and I got busy running errands. It took longer than I hoped, but I'm so happy that my shopping is done, and all the kids Easter treats have been purchased!

Today is also my dear father-in-law's AND my brother-in-law's birthdays!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU TWO!

Now, to get those groceries put away...

LOVE-ly Valentine Memories

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!

We had a very fun day! The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! AND, when I made it out to the kitchen, there was a sweet little gift from my hubby! As for me, I gave hubby a copy of one of his favorite movies (on DVD) and a gift card to our favorite coffee shop.

Much to the children's excitement, the birds are coming back and the various animals are appearing more often! Although, the animals are a bit skittish, especially when it comes to Chiquita, so getting pictures of them is not the easiest thing to do, but we did get a couple!

The morning was a bit hectic... I think I kept the kids up too late the night before, so the girls were rather cranky! However, their crankiness didn't last too long, before wearing off...

So, after breakfast, the kids set to work decorating the cupcakes we made the night before. In the meantime, I was surprised with a phone call from a new friend! It was so nice to finally "meet" Ruth!! She is such a dear sweet person! In fact, it really is SUCH a small world. I first ran across Ruth's blog one day as I was browsing through various links. Her post at the time was a video titled Redneck Bobsled. "Hum... I thought, that sounds interesting!" The kids and I watched it a quite a few times, it was SO funny. So, then I had to see just who those "friends" were that Ruth's kids were playing with that day... So I hopped over and found myself browsing through some baptism pictures. Now, I am familiar with the Tridentine Rite since 2 (soon to be 3) of my brother-in-laws are priests in the FSSP, and this particular baptism was done in that Extra-ordinary Rite. So... I was looking through the pictures to see if I by chance recognized the Priest. Nope... He didn't look familiar. HOWEVER, when I looked at the family picture all of a sudden I noticed that the Grandparents WERE familiar!! They were my sister Jamie's mother and father-in-law!!! I was looking at my sisters sister-in-law's blog!! Isn't that cool! Anyhow... It really is a small world! Isn't it?

After the kids were done decorating the cupcakes we set out to deliver some of them to a few friends. This was the first time we have done this, and it was great!! It is so nice to find ways to have your children do things for others... It doesn't take much to add a bit of sunshine to someone else's day!

**The sun was shining SO MUCH, that Capitan had a really hard time smiling! He was trying though!!

After that, we headed to our Valentine Party that Rascal's Godmother out together! At the party, the kids got to decorate even more cupcakes, pet horses, bunnies, chickens and goats, exchange cards and have tons of fun all afternoon playing with their friends.




After the party we headed to town to pick up our heart shaped pizzas, meet up with daddy after work, and then, it was out to Grandpa and Grandmas for a last minute BIRTHDAY PARTY for my not so little anymore BROTHER Scott!!! You just can't NOT have a birthday party on your 18TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!! So, we arrived with the rest of our cupcakes, and the pizzas to celebrate!! Scott was determined to get ALL those candles out and was swinging away with his hand, much to Rascal's enjoyment, once he ran out of breath! I just want to know what he wished for that he wanted so badly!

Happy Birthday Scott! I can't believe you are now 18! I clearly remember the night you were born, coming home from our 4-H meeting to find out that mom was in labor!! Our Valentine's day baby! ;)

While we were at my parents... and since for some reason I never got around to it... my Dad read the children the story of St.Valentine! (Now if I could only find my Catholic Mosaic coloring book... See how unorganized I really am!)


As we were leaving, I was waiting in the car while hubby ran in to grab his glasses, and I was SURE I saw the tree in front of me bloom before my eyes!! Maybe not, but since it is the first bloom I have seen this year, I took a picture anyways!

Can you see it???

Probably not... Here is the same picture, cropped around the darling little bud:

It was even a red bud, just perfect for Valentine's Day! I am so excited! Spring is almost here!!

Creative Cabins

Tomorrow is Abraham Lincoln's Birthday and next Monday is Presidents' Day. If you are looking for a fun craft idea to do with your kids, check out Martha Stewart's Presidents' Day Log Cabin! I think it looks like such fun to make. It is made out of pretzels, and will make a perfect Lenten snack! I am sure my boys will enjoy making a cabin out of something other than Lincoln Logs for a change--although, I have a feeling, they will probably want to do BOTH!

**UPDATE: Dawn has an AMAZING list of ideas to do for Lincoln's Birthday! I am saving it out to use in a couple months when we will be studing Abraham Lincoln in History. Thank you Dawn!

We wish you a...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I meant to post this yesterday... however, it was all I could do to stay cheerful and try to make the children's Christmas as peaceful and special as possible! Thankfully, my dear hubby is home for the rest of this week as well as next, and is currently out picking me up some much needed antibiotics (looks like I have bronchitis once again...) I know I owe many of you emails... I'm sorry! Please say a prayer that I am better SOON!

Many of our plans had to be modified, but, nevertheless, we had a beautiful, Blessed Christmas! I hope you all did as well! Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve:

He was trying really hard to smile! :)

A Christmas Prayer

Let Your goodness Lord appear to us, that we
made in your image, conform ourselves to it.
In our own strength
we cannot imitate Your majesty, power, and wonder
nor is it fitting for us to try.
But Your mercy reaches from the heavens
through the clouds to the earth below.
You have come to us as a small child,
but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts,
the gift of eternal love
Caress us with Your tiny hands,
embrace us with Your tiny arms
and pierce our hearts with Your soft, sweet cries.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

The Legend of the Candy Cane and Recipe

This year, for the feast of St. Nicholas, I am planning on making a Candy Cane Coffee Cake and St. Nicholas Hot Cocoa for Breakfast. I thought I would take a second and share the recipes with you all.

Like the Advent wreath, the candy cane is also packed with symbolism as well:

"According to legend there was a candy maker who wanted to invent a candy that was a witness to Christ.

First of all, he used a hard candy because Christ is the rock of ages. This hard candy was shaped so that it would resemble a “J” for Jesus or, turned upside down, a shepherd’s staff. He made it white to represent the purity of Christ.

Finally a red stripe was added to represent the blood Christ shed for the sins of the world, and three thinner red stripes for the stripes He received on our behalf when the Roman soldiers whipped Him. Sometimes a green stripe is added as a reminder that Jesus is a gift from God.

The flavor of the cane is peppermint, which is similar to hyssop. Hyssop is in the mint family and was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. Jesus is the pure Lamb of God, come to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

So, every time you see a candy cane, remember the message of the candy maker: Jesus is the Christ!"

I just requested the book The Legend of the Candy Cane from the library. It sounds great, and I am looking forward to reading it to the kids... Here is a link to a Candy Cane Acrostic page as well. It would be fun to try and create one with the symbolism of the "Candy Cane".

Now, on to the recipes!

Candy Cane Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake

1 16-ounce package of Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
3/4 cup very warm Milk
1/4 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
1/2 cup Pecans, chopped
3/4 cup dried Cranberries or Cherries
1/2 cup Cherry Preserves
1 tablespoon Water

Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 375°F. For coffee cake, combine hot roll mix, yeast packet and granulated sugar in a bowl. Separate 1 egg white from yolk; reserve white. Add milk, butter, whole egg and egg yolk to a bowl. Stir until mixture forms a ball.

Turn dough out onto well-floured surface. With floured hands, knead dough 5 minutes. Sprinkle additional flour over surface as needed to reduce stickiness. Cover; let dough rest 5 minutes.

Chop pecans; combine with the dried fruit in a bowl. Place dough in center of lightly floured rectangle stone; roll into 12 x 15-inch. Spread preserves in 6-inch strip lengthwise down center of dough to within 1/4 inch of each end; sprinkle fruit mixture evenly over preserves.

Cut 1-inch-wide strips on each side of fruit filling to within 1/2 inch of filling. Lift strips of dough across filling to meet in center, twisting each strip one turn; pinch together in center to seal. Tuck ends up to seal. Lift and stretch one end of shaped dough using spatula; curve to form cane. Cover; let rise in warm place 30 minutes.

Lightly beat reserved egg white with 1 tablespoon water; brush over dough using a Pastry Brush. Bake 20-23 minutes or until deep golden brown.

For glaze, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth; drizzle over warm coffee cake. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into 1-inch slices.

Yield: 15 servings (This is a modified Pampered Chef Recipe)

For the Hot Cocoa, we will just add Torani Peppermint Syrup to our favorite Ghirardelli Hot Cocoa. In the past I have made jars of the recipe found in this post as gifts, and it was delicious! The kids will also each get a candy cane to stir their cocoa with for extra fun!

O good holy Nicholas,
you who brought joy to children,
put in my heart the spirit of childhood
about which the Gospel speaks.
Teach me how to sow
happiness around me. Amen.

—Prayer to St. Nicholas

Video of our All Saints Party

The following is a tribute to the little saints in training. The "All Saints Party" is an alternative to Halloween. It's fun for the kids and teaches them the faith.



This video was just posted on Love to Be Catholic by a friend of ours who filmed our All Saints Party last year (2006) and put together a DVD of the evening. This video was the introduction for that DVD. The DVD turned out wonderful, and my kids all LOVE watching it!

All the kids looked wonderful, but I have to admit, Chiquita looked especially darling dressed as Our Lady of Guadalupe!

You can check out my past posts on our All Saints Parties here.

Our Tree of Thanksgiving

Making our Thankful Tree yesterday was such fun! First the boys headed outside to find a few branches to use and while the girls gathered rocks to fill the vase with. In the meantime I printed off this leaf template and set out the watercolors and paintbrushes. The kids didn't waste any time getting started! :)

They were all very focused on painting the leaves.

Captain was especially concerned with making sure he used fall colors, and lots of them.

After the leaves had dried, they all told me the different things they are thankful for, while I wrote them down. We didn't have enough leaves for all the things for which we are thankful!! Then we taped hung the leaves on our "tree". It turned out great!

Thank you again Meredith for the idea!

Our Cast of Saints

Our All Saints Party was quite a success once again! It just gets better each year! The kids all had such a wonderful time dressing up, carving pumpkins, playing games, and just having lots of fun and lots of sugar!

Saint Magnus - Earl of Orkney

Captain has wanted to be him since he first learned about him after winning a CD titled "The Last Viking" at last years party! Captain & I made the flag of the Orkney Islands to go with his costume. He is also holding an ax, since St. Magnus was killed with an ax.

Blessed Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio
This is one of Rascals favorite saints. We also learned of this saint from a CD story "My Battle Name is Jose Luis" by Glory Stories. Blessed Jose Luis was a Christero and was sentenced to death by his godfather at the young age of 14. I had been a little stressed about putting this costume together (I can't sew and costumes have NEVER been my forte). I went to Walmart to try and find a Mexican flag. I asked the woman... and she looked at me funny and said, "Um... NO." So I came home and saw my felt box. I started to sew, and finished by hot gluing 3 pieces of felt together and adding a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe from one of hubby's old t-shirts. It worked perfectly, and Rascal was THRILLED!

Saint Cecilia ~ Patron of Church Music
Twinkle Toes wanted to be St Cecilia. She loves pink, and St. Cecilia is depicted wearing pink in our Picture Book of Saints. I was trying to figure out how to come up with a miniature harp, but I was able to make one at the last minute. Doesn't she look darling?

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

I had this costume I bought years ago, and it just never looked quite right on Twinkle Toes. However, Chiquita fell in love with it! She is missing her little cross in this picture, but it is still cute. She had such a great time.

Peanut didn't dress up... It was all I could do to get the other kids costumes together... But I couldn't leave him out of the line up... This is a picture of him with his Great Auntie. She stopped by to see the kids! I love this picture!

This last picture is of the whole group! We had a TON of wonderful costumes this year... I'm sure the Saints were smiling!

Oh! And don't forget to check out our "Saint-O-Lanterns" here and here!

We have a winner, or THREE!

The results are in on our pumpkin carving entires! Last year, Hubby and Captain entered a pumpkin they did "together," and they won first place... This year they carved their own pumpkins and each came home with first place in their categories!! Rascal's pumpkin came in second place in his category. (He was in the same category as Captain)

Honestly, I was quite surprised that hubby placed at all! He did make a few revisions to his pumpkin before the competition. (See the picture below.) I think the changes helped quite a bit. Our pastor walked over to the "Adult Carved" table, took one look at "Bernini Columns" and said, "Your husband carved that one didn't he?" Who else would come up with Bernini's Columns?

1st place ~ Adult carved Pumpkins
Carved by Hubby

1st place ~ 8 & Under, Kid Carved, Non-Original Drawing
Carved by Captain

2nd place ~ 8 & Under, Kid Carved, Non-Original Drawing
Carved by Rascal

You can view a couple other pumpkins that placed over at Regina's blog: Mary and First Communion. They were pretty cool as well! I really thought Tug should have won for his carving of Mother Teresa, but then again I thought mine was pretty good too ;-) Maybe next year!

Saint-O-Lanterns

In keeping with our family tradition, we carved "Saint"-O-Lanterns with the kids to take to our All Saints Party tomorrow night. This, however, was the first year that the boys were able to carve theirs by themselves!! (New categories for the contest prompted this.) I was actually really surprised at just how well they did. All I did to help them was to draw the lines on the pictures they drew to show them where to poke holes, and then helped them scrape the few areas that needed scraping!! There were a few times I needed to help them get their knives started as well... But they qualify for "mostly kid carved". Here are a few pictures... I'll let you know how they do!

The cleaning began -- last year they refused to do this... 

This year they had to, if they wanted to carve their pumpkin! ;-)

This is Rascal outlining his design.

 

The actual carving of the pumpkins, hubby joined in once again with another interesting design.

And here are the finished products:

Captain choose to carve the "Last Supper"

Rascal carved "The Birth of Christ"

I used Twinkle Toes pumpkin and carved a ship,
or rather "The Bark of Peter"
(A ship was a symbol of the early Church)

Hubby carved "Bernini's Colonnade" at St. Peter's in Rome

It was quite fun and actually quite a bit easier this year with the boys carving their own!
And I think they turned out pretty good, don't you?