A Mother's Day Crowning and More

I have been informed that it takes months to post our little adventures. Months! Well, there may be some small kernel of truth to that bold statement. Thus, as a Mother's Day present to my own mother, here are photos from the very day they were taken.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was quite a day for my Gracie Girl. She not only crowned Mary at the beginning of Mass, but also made her First Confession as well. She has been practicing her prayers diligently and rehearsing the order with Stephen. She read through all of Catechism lessons and thoroughly anticipated the day. Now, she has a pristine soul, ready for her First Holy Communion next week. 

After Mass, we headed over to a fellow parishioner's lovely home for brunch. I am always a little hesitant to take my crew to an adult celebration, but they all behaved admirably and I was even able to talk to another grown up for a bit. What a treat! That doesn't happen very often. :-)

One of our family traditions is that after First Confession, the little penitent receives a double scoop of ice cream from an ice cream parlor. This is quite a treat and everyone is thrilled! We headed off to Baskin' Robbins for cones on this hot day. Gracie chose mint chocolate chip and chocolate swirl. Hmm, that was a lot of ice cream, so she generously shared with Marie Claire. Marie had been eyeing her cone from the moment Grace sat down. We sat and laughed and enjoyed our beautiful day together.

Our Lady of Lourdes GF Treat

I woke up Monday morning to the news that Pope Benedict had resigned from the papacy. After I cried, remembered to pray, and gathered up my little ones to tell them the news, I had to ready everyone for a party. As it was the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes and I needed a gluten free treat to help keep my kids away from the other tasty pastries, I made the grotto. This time, however, I used popcorn because that is what was in the cupboard. Elizabeth Foss inspired me with her popcorn snowballs. Let me tell you, big and little ones demolished this treat. The three-year-olds just stood around taking little bits like Hansel and Gretal. It's truly delicious and easier to mold that rice crispies! We will definitely make this version in the future.

RECIPE

3/4 Cup of Popcorn

2 TBS of Coconut Oil

1 Stick of Butter

1 Bag of Marshmallows

1/4 t of Salt

I pop the corn on the stove in the pot. If you let the pot heat first, without the oil, there will be far less smoking and time spent shaking the thing. Also, coconut oil can take much higher temperatures and is delicious. Throw a couple of corn kernels in to see if they pop right away, if so, toss the rest in, put the lid on, and shake until the popping sounds slow way down. Transfer to another bowl.

In the same pot (I don't like to do dishes) melt the butter, toss in the salt, then melt the marshmallows. You know how to do this, right? Stir all that popcorn back in until it is well coated. Using well greased hands, mold warm yummy goodness into your grotto. Really press everything together. Try not to eat too much during this step! I used a jar to prop up the roof until it cooled. 

Add a little statue of Mary and a decoration or two. Easy!

Pentecost and Then Some

First we'll start with the 'Then Some'

Garden of the Good Shepherd, Week 3

Yes, I know this is really old news, but since it tickles my children to look through the photos of what we have done, I'll post away. :-)

Menu:

Sun Pizza

Meringue Wind

Yogurt Raisin Hail

Blueberry Spritzer Rain

Zucchini Lightning

Rainbow Fruit Salad

Coconut Jello Cloud

Garden of the Good Shepherd, Week Four

Menu:

Apple Boat

Pretzel Mast

Turkey Sail

Pretzel Net

BBQ Sauce 

Gold Fishes

Hot Dog Leviathan

On to Pentecost because, well, that's as far as we got with the Garden this year. Now, in my defense, that is 100% more than we did last year, so next year we'll aim for yet another gain in Easter joy productivity. My children were a wee bit disappointed at our lack of progress but I put this great spin on it: we'll have have more surprises for next year. Ta-da!

Everyone looks eagerly forward to Pentecost because we have celebrated this beautiful holiday for many years now. The routine is expected to be followed, from the doughnuts to the cake and ice cream to the rousing game of 'Fire, Fire, Who's Got the Fire?'

All the children dressed in white for Whitsunday except Marie who was a vision in red. Nanna made the sweet matching dresses for the girls on Mother's Day when they were the May Queens. I'd post pictures for that one too, but I forgot the camera. It was lovely and my girlies love to crown Mary.

 After Mass and doughnuts, everyone pitched in to make festive decorations for the dining room. Fire was the focus, with tongues of fire on every wall. The chandelier supported the Gifts of the Holy Spirit mobile, while the little girls made posters with the Twelve Fruits of the Spirit. Dominic even made a birthday cake for the Church.

Little boys loved being the 'Might Wind' and kept those flames moving!

Menu:

Holy Spirit Chicken and Gravy Open Face Sandwiches

Tongues of Fire Salad

Just Because Apple Slices

Blessed Trinity Yogurt Pretzels

Strawberry Cheesecake Birthday Cake

Pentecost Ice Cream Bars

 Everyone sang Happy Birthday before the Mighty Wind descended...twice.

 Finally, we ended with 'Fire, Fire, Who stole the Fire?'

Gracie laughed and laughed until she rolled on the floor.

What a blessed day! How I love the gift of our Church's feast days!

Happy Pentecost
For more ideas, please visit Catholic Cuisine

Epiphany Care Package

Last year I made Saint Nicholas Day gifts for my far flung family. Since it was such a hit (well, at least that's what they told me ;-) I decided to sent them an Epiphany party. 

**Included in the Kit**

** A letter inviting them to celebrate the 12th day of Christmas

** A beautiful print of the Three Kings

** Myrrh incense with a little background information from Wiki (just a few facts, not the whole article)

** A note about feasting and our family friendly baking with links to Catholic Cuisine, Shower of Roses, and Catholic Icing for inspiration

** A recipe for King Cake

** A baby Jesus, of course

** Instructions for a home blessing

** Blessed Chalk

** Jewels and crown to decorate

** A few coloring pages from the Internet

** Gifts of gold chocolate coins and peanut butter cups

** Follow the Star cookies

A few more ideas for Celebrating from Christmas to Epiphany

* Move your Wise Men around the house each day with them getting closer and closer to the Christmas Crib for their big arrival on Epiphany. The kids can wake up each morning and find the travelers.

* Leave up all the decorations for the full 12 days (That one is hard for me!)

* Act out the arrival of the Wise Men with capes, crowns, and gifts

* Save a present to be opened on Epiphany

* Sing 'We Three King of Orient Are'

* Go to Mass on January 6th

Books to Read

The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola

The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola

The Last Straw by Fredrick H. Thurry

And then your children can pretend to be Hoshmakaka, the camel!

All Saints Day

After hustling in at the last minute to the All Saint's Day celebration, the children processed around the yard while everyone recited the Litany of the Saints. Then, after Mass, all the children hurried to get in line for the guessing game, What Saint am I?

Olivia dressed as St. Brendan the Navigator and put together a complete skit for everyone participate in. Collette was the whale, Quinton was the fire belching volcano, and Grace was the Indian in paradise. It was quite fun to watch and garnered quite a few laughs.

Quinton was thrilled to learn from one of the Norbertine priests that his namesake was a Roman saint martyred on October 31st. So, of course, he was Saint Quintin for the feast day celebration.

Archangel Gabriel

Collette wasn't sure she wanted to dress up this year as she does not like speaking in front of others. I convinced her, with the help of some new angel wings, to dress as an Archangel. She chose Gabriel. The outfit had a little horn to help with the authenticity but it was mislaid almost immediately. Oh well,  even without the horn she progressed to the front of line and actually asked everyone to guess. This was a significant milestone for her. Hurray!

Blessed Kateri Tekawitha

Now for Gracie: I wish I had had a video camera trained upon her! She has never spoken before either so I was surprised to see her in front of the microphone as well. Apparently, the whole experience was a little overwhelming for her because she immediately burst into bouncy nervous laughter. She bounded up and down, squealed, and smiled so big that everyone just had to join in with her. Finally, she managed to throw out a nervous, "Do you know who I am?" Giggle, giggle.  My pictures do not do her justice as she had calmed down by the time I shot the first photo. I think we were all caught off guard!

Dominic was the Archangel Michael. An angel with a sword- perfect. I had to take pictures a soon as we arrived because he had completely stripped out of his outfit by the time Mass was finished. In fact, I had to admonish him to keep his own clothes on. I guess once he gets started, he wants to finish the job. 

I spent most of the celebration asking, "Have you seen Xavier?" 

Xavier cruised through the garden paths, played in the generous playroom, and ambled about without a care in the world.

I believe he could be dressed as Saint Mischievous. Thank goodness for all the moms (and dads) who willing held Marie Claire while I tracked him down for the 100th time.