In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti...

Yesterday afternoon I heard praying and singing coming from the girls' bedroom and found all seven of our children (ages 13 down to 1) playing "Mass!"

My mom saw the picture above (posted from Instagram to Facebook) and called to ask if it had been staged. No, it was not staged!  If it had been staged I would have given my oldest daughter a sweater to cover her shoulders, grabbed the girls' Mass veils from the van, and brushed everyones hair! ;)  They did this completely on their own, without any encouragement or help from me. 

It brought tears to my eyes to see that this was the way the children had chosen to spend their afternoon, after I had asked the older ones to watch the little ones while I was busy catching up on some computer work and preparing to paint.  The Mass kits hadn't been pulled out much this year, but when I showed the pictures to my husband last night he pointed out that last weekend, while we were traveling, we had attended two very beautiful Masses (A Baptismal Mass on Saturday and a Solemn Pontifical Mass on Sunday that was part of the William Byrd Festival), in two gorgeous churches, celebrated by two different bishops. The beauty and reverence of the Masses did indeed inspire our children.  

After snapping that first picture (from the back of the "church" with my phone) I was asked to join them for the rest of Mass.  I did, but first I ran to grab my camera.  It was all so sweet!   I sure wish I would have video recorded, especially a little of their singing before they knew I was listening... After that it wasn't quite as dramatic!

The top bunk was used as a "Choir Loft" for the "Monk" who came down to chant the readings. 

 

Yes, there was a little confusion in the "congregation" on whether to stand or kneel following the Agnus Dei...  We have been attending a mix of Norvus Ordo (our usual local Mass) and Extraordinary Form Masses (we've been recently blessed with one EF Mass a quarter in addition to our occasional trips to the coast for Mass), and the postures at different times of the Mass have been a little confusing for the younger children.   Even though the "general norm" is to kneel following the Agnus Dei, our (recently retired) last archbishop "determined otherwise."  We usually kneel (at least when we can) and hope that our new Archbishop will make this the "norm" for our diocese!  We also continue to pray for more frequent Latin Masses... 

We were out of Rice Crackers, but the kids found some leftover Banana Chips in the snack bag from our recent trip.

So many precious moments... 

... perhaps all this extra practice will help our little man behave a little better the next time we attend Mass!  ;)
He tried to escape during the recent baptism.

"My dolly came to Mass too, 'cause we both made our First Holy Ta-mmunnions!"  

Miniature Mass Set (older version) and Red & Green Vestments (no longer sold) from Our Father's House 
(the older boys were given these in 2005) 

Homemade Grey Cassock 
 Grey Hood from The Fig and Thimble

Folding Book Stand (similar to this)

My Golden Children's Bible

New... St. Joseph Children's Missal with Hymns (1965 edition)

Family Prayer for Vocations

O Divine Jesus, Who has taught us to pray to the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest, be pleased to raise up many holy Priests and religious to work according to the intentions of Your Heart and to procure by their ministry the salvation of souls and the glory of Your Father. And if it should please You, O Lord to choose one such from our family kneeling before you at this moment, we thank You with all of our hearts on this earth and for all eternity. 

Amen.

Mary, Mother of all Vocations, Pray for Us!

Our Goddaughter's Holy Sacrament of Baptism

Our beautiful new goddaughter on her Baptismal Day - August 17, 2013

Loving God, Creator of all good things,

Thank you for the gift of life given to our goddaughter.

What a privilege it was for us to stand as witnesses for the Church

when our goddaughter was washed in baptismal waters.

Lord, help us to be faithful to you all the days of our lives.

Our older boys were honored to serve at the altar for the Baptismal Mass, which was also a 10th Anniversary/Renewal of Vows Mass for our dear friends.  We had missed their actual wedding 10 years ago since I was on bedrest with our oldest daughter. 

As our goddaughter grows in age and faith,

enable us to be a good example for her 

of how to live as a follower of Jesus.

Rose loves her godparent's new baby, her brand new godsister!  

Through our love and concern, in moments of joy and sorrow,

allow us to reveal your loving face, O God.

We pray this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I ended up helping with all the food for the party and was so pleased that their Costco had a beautiful white cake on Saturday morning.      I had also happened to pack along a candy cross "just in case" to use as a cake topper.  Perfect! 

I ran out of time before our trip to order a Baptismal Blanket, which ended up being just fine since another blanket (the one used for her five older siblings) was going to be used anyways.  Instead we gave our goddaughter a Sacramental Certificate and Pink Rosary Roses as a little baptismal gift. 

Deo Gratias! 

Celebrating the Assumption

Rosary Album: A Visual and Scriptural Meditation of the Rosary, an Easy and Devout Method of Reciting the Rosary is pictured on the left and a page from The Life of Mary for Children is on the right. 

Who is she ascends so high,

Next the heavenly King,

Round about whom angels fly

And her praises sing?

All ready for Mass with one of her favorite bags... (Thank you Miss JenniferAnne!!!)

... wearing her pink veil, and making sure to tuck her "My Little Prayer Book" inside.

Who is she adorned with light,

Makes the sun her robe, 

At whose feet the queen of night

Lays her changing globe?

Mary by Demi, Rosary Album and The Life of Mary for Children

This is she in whose pure womb

Heaven's Prince remained;

Therefore in no earthly tomb

Can she be contained.

Heaven she was, which held that fire,

Whence the world took light,

And to heaven doth now aspire

Flames with flames t'unite.

Heavenly Assumption Parfaits... 

... you can find the recipe at Catholic Cuisine! 

She that did so clearly shine

When our day begun, 

See how bright her beams decline:

Now she sits with the Sun.

Snuggles definitely takes after my Dad... (Yes, that is my Dad's trademark silly face!) There's a real smile! Silly boy. 

Sir John Beaumont (1583-1627)  

Excerpt from Maiden & Mother: Prayers Hymns, Songs and Devotions to Honour the Blessed Virgin Mary

Update:  I just found additional copies of the Rosary Album Booklet available at the National Shine for a much better price.  We were given two copies, one for the boys and one for the girls, from Sean's youngest brother. 

It is a beautiful book! 

Celebrating the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe

Today was the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe!   Our day was rather busy, but when Charlotte posted a link to her St. Maximilian Kolbe coloring page, I just had to print out a couple copies for our little ones.     They had so much fun coloring their pictures of St. Maximilian Kolbe for the first time... 

...while the older children read St. Maximilian Kolbe: The Story of the Two Crowns!

As you can see, Rose seems to have a very different style when it comes to coloring than the rest of her siblings!

(Here is a link to pictures of our four oldest coloring this same coloring page on August 14, 2009.) 

Thank you Miss Charlotte! 

"There will be sufferings, temptations; perhaps you will be haunted by discouragement... learn to be ready for the greatest sacrifices... do not desire extraordinary things, but simply to perform the will of the Immaculata..." 

- St. Maximilian Kolbe

Video Highlights From Our 3rd Latin Mass

Here are some video highlights from our 3rd Quarterly Extraordinary Form Latin Mass on August 4th. 

Our 4th Mass is currently scheduled for October 6th!

Video Credit: Marc Salvatore 

Summer Daybook :: August 13 and 14, 2013

*I started this daybook yesterday morning, but it took me until today to finish... It's been a little busy!

Outside my window... 
Sunshine and Sunflowers!  We have been enjoying the (moderately) clear skies the past few days, but it looks like the smoke will be a problem again beginning on Wednesday.

I am thankful... 
that Sean was able to take Sunday off and has a break from the fires this week.  He has a project that needs to be caught up at his regular job, which will take all of this week, then he will probably return to the fire lines next week.  He is still working extra long days, but thankfully he has been able to get a little more sleep.

I am thinking...        

about paint colors.   I picked up a gallon of paint last Saturday for the three walls surrounding our fireplace.  I thought it was going to be perfect (how could it not be with a name like "October Mist"?) and I do love the color, but it just doesn't look good on those particular walls...  It's been hard to get an accurate picture of the color, but here are two that seem to be the closest, taken at different times of the day.

Morning Picture - Paint looks lighter

Afternoon Picture - Paint looks darker (and so does the whole house) but this will give you an idea of how it looks

It just doesn't seem to match the stone, and I also don't like the combination of the Cream (Yellow) and the Green.  It all looks too pastel to me.  I'm thinking either a much darker sage green, a mushroom color, or maybe one of the darker colors from the stone might look better (but I also don't want to make the room too dark)... Any suggestions? 

Learning all the time... 
This past week I had a call from the principle of the local Catholic school offering our family a very generous scholarship for our children to attend this coming school year.  The school is small (many of the grades are combined) and, if I had to put the children in school, it would be our best local option... And yet the thought made me so sad.  Home Educating is such hard work, but I do love it.  I love having the children home, I love being able to customize our curriculum to their learning styles, and they love homeschooling too.  Plus, what would I have to blog about if we sent them to school! ;)

Celebrating the liturgical year... 
the feast of the Assumption is this Thursday!  We will be attending Mass and then enjoying some delicious Assumption Parfaits after dinner.

From the kitchen... 
we came home from town this afternoon to discover a fun package that had been overnighted from dear friends in the midwest.  These amazingly yummy sugar cookies reminded us all immediately of our last visit and tide-pooling.  Come back soon, we miss you!!!

I am working on...
projects around the house.  I hope to finish before school starts. Is it possible?  Probably not...

I am creating... 
color coded checklists!  I have the oldest two boys' lists completed... Just three more grades to go! I am already starting to feel so much more prepared for this coming school year, which will begin on September 3rd.

I am going... 
to be a Godmother again, for the 10th time!  We are all so excited to be able to make the trip north this weekend to attend Rose's Godparents 10th Anniversary Mass and Celebration, which will also include the baptism of their newest little girl who was born last month!  We missed their wedding 10 years ago, since I was on bedrest while pregnant with Twinkle Toes that summer.  It is going to be such a fun weekend!

I am hoping... 

that I have a chance to make some zucchini bread this week.  Does anyone have a favorite recipe?

I am praying... 
for more rain, minus the thunder and lightning, and for the safety of the firemen.  We are also praying for some dear friends who could use extra prayers.

I am reading... 
Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing.  I preordered this book awhile back, to save for the feast of St. Nicholas, and it arrived this afternoon!

Pondering these words...
from today's page in Small Steps for Catholic Moms.  My copy is out of print but it has recently been republished by Ave Maria Press and can be pre-ordered for 24% off at the moment!

"I must anticipate the desires of others...show that we are much obliged, very honored to be able to render service. The good Lord wants me to forget myself in order to give pleasure to others."

St. Therese of Lisieux

I am listening...  
to Knee Deep!  It gets us dancing and singing along (and wanting to jump in the van and head to the ocean!) every time the smokey skies start getting to us.  ;)

Around the house... 
My mom and dad came over last week to help me hand some curtains in the living room (they match the ones in the dining/family room and were on clearance!) and a couple weeks ago the boys helped me switch around the couches.  It was quite the challenge getting them through the kitchen, but after flipping them upside down we were able to make it work.  Once we settle on a color for the accent walls we hope to find a chair in coordinating colors, as well as a new fan, table, and a couple lamps.  In the past our focus has always been on remodeling and adding on to our home, it's been fun to put a little more thought into furnishing and decorating lately.

One of my favorite things...  
home educating our children.  And color coded checklists! ;)

This week's plans...

Swimming Lessons, haircuts for a couple of the girls and I, finish creating the color-coded checklists,  Mass on the feast of the Assumption, and then head out of town for a fun-filled weekend with friends!

A little peek at my day...

A New Hairstyle for Rose!