Medieval Castle Cake & Brave Knights Cupcakes

Yesterday we celebrated Snuggles' 9th birthday! He requested a Knights & Dragons theme and asked if I could please make him a castle cake this year. 

At first we thought would wait until his older brothers get back from summer camp later this week to have his themed party, but at the last minute we decided to just have the celebration on his actual birthday as always and just save his brothers some cake. So, early yesterday morning, I loaded up the car and we all drove to the store for the rest of the supplies! 

I wanted to keep it a little simpler than the last castle cake I made, and preferably with a little less food coloring. I combined and/or modified some ideas I had seen online (I pinned them here) and was very happy with how the cake came together!

Here is what I ended up using: 

• 3 - packages cake mix + ingredients
• 2 - 9x9 baking pans
• 2 - 6" round baking pans
• baking spray
• Chocolate frosting
• 4 sugar cones
• gold color mist (I already had gold and silver in the cupboard and we decided that the gold looked the best)
• 2 Chessmen cookies
• 16 Chocolate Creme Oreo cookies
• 1 KitKat
• 24 KitKat minis
• 2 pretzel sticks
• candy rocks (optional) 
• Knights & Dragons Toob (optional) 

I baked one box of cake mix in each of the 9x9 bakers and split the third cake mix between the two small round pans and 8 cupcakes. 

I purchased this darling Brave Knights Cupcake Kit and used 8 of the cupcakes cases and eight toppers, saving the rest for another time. 

After the cakes and cupcakes had cooled I trimmed the tops of the cakes and flipped over one to place on the top of the other.

I decided to cut a small half circle out of each corner of the square cake for the cookie/cone towers.

I placed the 2 small circle cakes on top of the square bottom and frosted the cake with a layer of chocolate frosting. I popped it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to seal in all the crumbs while I sprayed the cones and Chessmen cookies with some gold color mist. 

I added a second layer of frosting, smoothing it out the best that I could (I stink at frosting cakes), and then placed the Oreos and Gold Sugar Cones in each corner. 

I placed the two Chessman cookies, pretzel sticks, and KitKat at the front of the cake to create the doors and drawbridge, and then finished the cake with some KitKat minis around the top edges of both cakes. 

The birthday boy took care of the rest, adding the Knights & Dragons! 

I'll be back soon with the rest of the pictures from his Medieval Knights & Dragons birthday party! 

You can scroll through our past cakes and birthday parties here. 

The 2016 Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference

After declining invitations for years, I was convinced to step (jump!) outside of my comfort zone and offer a couple workshops at the 2016 Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference. 

 Please keep me in your prayers!

If you are in the area, come say hello. I'd really love to meet some of you!

Visit their website to register and be sure to follow the Facebook page for updates.

Meet the Masters :: Joan Miró

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, 
like notes that shape music." ~ Joan Miró

Joan Miró is the third artist featured in Track C. We initially skipped over him and moved ahead to study Rembrandt, but ended up going back to complete this unit study last month as well. 

We used the lesson for ages 10-Adult, and only my oldest four completed this particular unit study, while the youngest three continued reading a book they had been enjoying.

Before I get back to the older kids art project, here is one more picture from later that afternoon, after they had finished watering the garden. The Making of a Knight was one of Snuggles' favorites from this past school year.  Rose pulled out one of her favorite pop-up books and Bud pulled out one of their knight costumes and his sword. ♥

.: Master Artist Introduction :. 

Joan Miró ("Juan" mee-ROE)

Spanish Painter (1893-1983)

Anything is possible in the dreamlike, imaginative world of Surrealist Miro! For this Spanish artist, feelings were more important than realism. His imagination gave him a magician's touch of changing the nature, size, and meaning of whatever he came across in real life.

Art Activity Emphasis: Abstract, Surrealistic Shapes

Media: Paper Cutouts and Markers

Vocabulary: Surrealism, Mood, Abstract, Shape, Overlap, Squiggle, Line, Foreground, Background, Contours, Still Life

.: Art Supplies :.

One 12"x18" sheet of newsprint (placemat)
Three 6" x 9" pieces of construction paper in the following colors: 1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow

One 12" x 18" sheet of white construction paper
Paper towel
Black Markers (extra-fine pointed tip) 
Red or Blue (we used Blue or Yellow) powdered tempera paint and Cotton balls (Sprinkle 3 small shakes on each sheet of newsprint at the appropriate time during the lesson.)
Pencil
Scissors

Glue

.: Practice Technique - Abstract Shapes, Overlapping Shapes and Lines, and Abstract Drawing  :.

.: Art Project - Surrealistic Artwork :.

"Would you like to use your imagination even more and think up a title for your artwork?" 

Charlie Brown Garage Sale by Captain

Stargazer - "A Mixture of Confusion and Madness" - by Ranger

In the Clouds by Twinkle Toes

Catch of the Day - "Peaceful and Exciting" - by Chiquita

You can scroll through all of our completed Meet the Masters unit studies here
or listed by tracks and units here.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life with Like Mother, Like Daughter. ~

{pretty}

We had so much fun celebrating my {pretty} little sister's college graduation last weekend!  

From her Facebook post: 

What a journey.

It all began with a half scholarship to University of Dallas in Texas starting out as a biology major in pursuit of physical therapy. 

After a year of liberal arts classes, amazing friendships, working at the coffee bar, I was lucky enough to study abroad in Rome for a semester. During this time I was able to SOMEHOW by the grace of God manage a 3.8 GPA AND travel to 5 additional Countries! Upon returning from Rome, I decided that University of Dallas was too far from home and didn't have the exact college program I wanted. 

I transferred to Oregon State University and changed my major to Exercise Sport Science. I am more than grateful that I took the risk of living with my best friend. Together we took some of the most challenging and amazing classes including Chemistry and Anatomy ;) 

I was able to pay the majority of my schooling thanks to babysitting and waitressing at amazing places like Flat Tail and the Corvallis Country club. Thanks to also working at Coffee Culture I was able to stay caffeinated and energetic in my classes after I FINALLY changed my major to Public Health- Health Promotion/Health Behavior. 

After 5 years of travel, education, friendships, and the NEWMAN CATHOLIC CENTER (my foundation in Corvallis), I finally got my Bachelor's of Science =)

Excited to see what God has in store for me next. 

-Deo Gratias.

{happy}

The kids were very happy to be playing a game of kickball at Grandpa & Grandma's with so many of their aunts and uncles! 

{funny}

My amazing parents with 8 of their 12 children. I love my {big, crazy & definitely funny} family!

{real}

Homeschooling definitely has it's perks, along with occasional complications... Last week the boys received their Varsity Letters for golf. This afternoon we picked up their Varsity Letters for ice hockey. Now they will have to decide which high school's letterman jacket they'd prefer, because they are way too expensive to buy two of each! #homeschoolproblems 

#twolettermanjackets #varsityasfreshmen

Celebrating the Saints :: Saint Germaine

Today, June 15th, is the feast of St. Germaine Cousin, a French saint who was born in 1579.

"From her birth she seemed marked out for suffering; she came into the world with a deformed hand and the disease of scrofula, and, while yet an infant, lost her mother. Her father soon married again, but his second wife treated Germaine with much cruelty. Under pretence of saving the other children from the contagion of scrofula she persuaded the father to keep Germaine away from the homestead, and thus the child was employed almost from infancy as a shepherdess. When she returned at night, her bed was in the stable or on a litter of vine branches in a garret. In this hard school Germaine learned early to practise humility and patience. She was gifted with a marvellous sense of the presence of God and of spiritual things, so that her lonely life became to her a source of light and blessing. To poverty, bodily infirmity, the rigours of the seasons, the lack of affection from those in her own home, she added voluntary mortifications and austerities, making bread and water her daily food. Her love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and for His Virgin Mother presaged the saint. She assisted daily at the Holy Sacrifice; when the bell rang, she fixed her sheep-hook or distaff in the ground, and left her flocks to the care of Providence while she heard Mass. Although the pasture was on the border of a forest infested with wolves, no harm ever came to her flocks." - Catholic Encyclopedia

We spent a little time after lunch this afternoon learning more about this inspiring saint whose body still remains incorrupt and can be seen in the Church of Pibrac, France.

.: STORY TIME :. 

Saint Germaine and the Sheep by Eva K. Betz

.: COLORING PAGES :. 

Saint Germaine Coloring Page • Stockmar Beeswax Stick Crayons

Last night I purchased, downloaded, and printed this beautiful Saint Germaine coloring page from Stella Marigold Art. You can find it over at Etsy here.  The kids colored while I read aloud the story of Saint Germaine and the Sheep.

.: SNACK TIME :. 

Using supplies I already had on hand, I came up with "Saint Germaine's Flock of Sheep Cupcakes" for an afternoon treat! I posted the details and directions over at Catholic Cuisine.

They didn't turn out anything like I originally envisioned this morning (I had to improvise since we didn't have any mini-marshmallows or tootsie rolls) but I loved how they turned out!

(Note: I substituted the pink heart with a white heart on the 8th cupcake for our daughter who is allergic to some food colorings.) 

.: PRAYER :. 

Saint Germaine, look down from Heaven and intercede for the many abused children in our world. Help them to sanctify their sufferings. Strengthen children who suffer the effects of living in broken families. Protect those children who have been abandoned by their parents and live in the streets. Beg God's mercy on anyone who abuses children. Intercede for handicapped children and their parents. Saint Germaine, you who suffered neglect and abuse so patiently, pray for us. Amen.