A Christmas Gift

Alexa got a new apron for Christmas.  I made it for her.  I guess you could say I cheated.  Okay, I cheated, bigtime.  It was an already sewn, denim apron.  I just "customized" it for her, but she appreciates it like I sewed every stitch myself.

 She couldn't wait to try it out.  So for the Feast of Saint Agnes, she and I made a vanilla cake together. 

Nevermind that it was from a box.  She still cracked the eggs (which was hysterical to watch because she was so grossed out by the "gook" inside), and measured the oil and water.  She mixed it all up with the beater and  helped me pour it into the pan. 

We went a little "fancy" with the bundt cake pan.  It turned out to be a pretty, tasty cake. 

We made a glaze from scratch using vanilla, milk and powdered sugar.  We kinda guessed with the measurements on that.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some snowflake sprinkles were added for a finishing touch.

 I thought that was the finishing touch, but apparently Alexa decided it needed some color and pizzazz and glammed it up a bit with green sugar sprinkles when my back was turned.  "Now it's finished!" she declared. 

It was almost gone by the end of our Teatime.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

We managed to save some for Taylor.

I've missed these relaxing Afternoon Teas.  And so have the kids, apparently.  Of course who am I kidding?  They are crazy for cake.  They like hearing an interesting story or two about a Saint, but everything is better with cake.

We didn't do a craft with this Teatime.  I was trying to keep it low key.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much Evan remembered about Saint Agnes.  I have been reading to him every day....one Bible Story and one Saint Story, but I wasn't sure just how much he was retaining (or even paying attention).  The girls each knew a bit about her, too, so we discussed her heroic life during the Caketime.....I mean, Teatime.  ;)

Alexa's handmade (....ahem....) apron held up very well, and she can't wait till we bake again!

Have a pleasant week, everyone!
TTFN
~Tina

Looks Like a Good One

I am looking forward to seeing

There Be Dragons.

Hmmmm....we'll have to work out a date night in the not-so-distant future. :)

Check out the trailer and you'll probably planning your own date night.

TTFN

~Tina

World Tour With Alexa

First Stop: CANADA

This was Alexa's final week studying Canada. She did a great job on her Travel Brochure, and did an informative presentation about everything she learned. Alexa was dressed as Blessed Kateri for the presentation, because Bl. Kateri was from Canada. Tour a Country is in CHC's Lesson Plans for Third Grade . They provide you with a complete Social Studies course. It's really fun and an interesting, organized (and not overwhelming) way to learn about different countries around the world.

(She wanted one picture without her glasses, since "Bl. Kateri didn't wear glasses", as she pointed out to me.)
On Monday, we leave Canada. Next stop.....India!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

TTFN

~Tina

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

I'm a day late posting this, but still want to acknowledge that yesterday was the feast of Padre Pio. He is one of my favorite saints. I can't exactly explain why, but I just look at this picture and wish I could have met him. He has such a gentle, humble, kind look on his face in every image I've seen.

Gracious God, You blessed Padre Pio with the five wounds of Christ Crucified, making him an inspiring witness to the saving love of Jesus in our world, and a powerful reminder to us of Your infinite mercy and goodness.

Through the heavenly intercession of St. Pio, I ask for the grace of...... (here state your petition). Help me, O Lord, to imitate Padre Pio's devout faith, prayerful holiness, patient forgiveness and loving compassion toward others. Amen.

Our Advent Traditions

I thought I would take some time to write about our family Advent Traditions. They have developed over the course of our marriage and the raising of our children, but some of the traditions go back to our childhoods. And we enjoy sharing those with our children.

One of Alexa's favorite Advent traditions was started a couple of years ago. It is an Advent chain. I saw a similar idea over at By Sun and Candlelight. (Can't seem to link to it right now..argh). Anyway, I write out some fun activities onto strips of colored construction paper (purple for all weeks except the 3rd week, which is done in pink). I tape/staple those together as links, only one week at a time. The kids take turns, usually after lunch, tearing off and reading the words describing that day's activity on the inside of the link. They, especially Alexa, get so excited about it. I only write these out one week at a time, because plans sometimes (MANY times, actually) have to be changed at the last minute for some unforseen reason. We've had a lot of fun with this. The activities can be very simple and still be fun. Actually Alexa prefers the ones where we do something cozy at home.

I begin this process by checking local festivities in our city, along with the library, co-op events, and fun activities our church is putting on. I also put Skylar's BD party on the calendar right away, before anything else. So once these big events are written in, I fill in the other days with smaller, simpler ideas.

Here are some of the bigger, "away from home" activities for us this year:

• Saint Nicholas Day, celebration of saints (put on by a local Catholic school)
• Gingerbread House Decorating Party (put on by co-op friends)
• Old Town Christmas Carol Sing-Along and Tree Lighting Ceremony
• Christmas Parade
• Advent Carols performed by our church choir and handbell choir
• Train Show in Old Town (this is followed by a stroll through the streets of Old Town to see the decorations, and hot chocolate when we get home!)
• A trip to the movies to see The Princess and the Frog (shhhh!)

There have been other things in past years, such as puppet shows at the library, or having a mini Christmas party with friends, or riding the Santa Train. And some of the outdoor activities are dependant upon the weather, too.

Some of our simpler and (mostly) Stay at Home Advent Activities include:

• Candy Cane Day ( read The Legend of the Candycane and make Peppermint Bark together as gifts for friends, and sip minty chocolate cocoa)
• Decorate the tree.
• Mom gets out most of the Christmas books and we read as much as we want together and drink hot chocolate.
• Read Night Tree by Eve Bunting, then bundle up and go into the yard and decorate our own trees with birdseed, suet and homemade bird feeders.
• One day, early in Advent, I bring in all the Nativities (our good set for the mantle, the Playmobil one for the older kids and Evan gets the Little People Nativity).
• Decorate for Advent....get the wreath out, change the colors on our family altar, etc.
• Make Christmas cookies for neighbors and to take to the Grandmas.
• Make candy and fudge...Yummy!
• Read The Legend of the Poinsettia, then make poinsettia clothespin fairies. We could turn this into a teatime (just might do that)
• Take a winter walk, after the Winter Solstice, and collect some things we find for our nature shelf.
• Stop and get donuts after Mass on Sunday.
• Watch certain favorite Christmas movies, either on TV or from our collection. I try not to let them watch too many Christmas specials, because it can get old....really fast.
• Watch the Juan Diego DVD that we own (link is in my sidebar) on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Make an ornament, or bookmark to remind us of this feast day.
• Read Country Angel Christmas by Tomie DePaola and make little paper angels and enjoy some delicious angel food cake along with a cup of hot tea!
• Decorate the outside of the house.
• Create Christmas gifts from crafts, as we listen to Christmas Carols.
• Take a tag off of the tree at church and purchase a gift or two for someone in need.
• Go to the grocery store to purchase rice, beans, pasta, etc. to donate.
• Watch Polar Express, stopping half way through to enjoy hot cocoa (just like in the movie).
• Have a Classic Claymation Christmas Night (very nostalgic for mommy and daddy). Watch a double or triple feature as we enjoy loads of popcorn.
• Present wrapping day!
• Teatime for St. Lucy. Roll homemade beeswax candles! Even young children can do this. And they make neat gifts, too.

I could probably go on and on and on....but I need to get to bed. If you have any ideas of your own, please feel free to leave a comment. My kids are always open to new fun things being added to our Advent chain. :)

May you have a very blessed Advent season.

TTFN

~Tina

May, The Month of Mary

On Mother's Day, I changed our family altar to honor Mary, our Mother. I used a piece of dark blue fabric that has simple, little light blue tulip shapes on it. I placed our statue of the Blessed Mother on a raised candleholder that I put under the fabric. Then, I got our a prayerbook that has Marian devotions in it, and placed it on the side. There was a plastic blue rosary on the other side, but this morning I found a light blue cut glass one. I needed a delicate candleholder, but couldn't find what I was looking for it my "stash". So I made one, very simply. I took an inexpensive, plain glass candle holder, and wrapped it in sheer, light blue ribbon, then tied it. Then, in my Liturgical Year Boxes I found some dainty ribbon craft flowers. I just wired those around the knot in the ribbon, placed a tealight inside and that's it. So simple, but it turned out pretty nice, I think.

We are doing many activities in honor of Mary this month, too. Tomorrow, for the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, I'm planning on having the girls do some coloring sheets of the blessed mother. I'm also going to take advantage of all the flowering plants in our yard. The girls, and possibly Evan, will make vases out of the little Danimals containers. They are the perfect size for mini bouquets and are a neat shape, too. I haven't figured out exactly what they'll use to decorate these cups, but I think it will be cute. Then they'll pick the flowers to put in their vases, and place them on the altar.

Alexa, Sky and I played Mary Match earlier this week. They really enjoyed it! And Evan and I will use his special little box in honor of Mary to honor her a little later this month. At some point I plan to do a Teatime in honor of the Blessed Mother, too. It might even be tomorrow, depending on how things go. ;-)

I'll try to keep you posted on our activities this month, and I'd love to hear your ideas, too. So feel free to leave me a comment sharing what you do to celebrate Mary, in this beautiful month of May.
TTFN

~Tina

Weekend Highlights

On Friday, we had our co-op. The kids always enjoy that. Friday afternoon, my dad and his wife came to stay for the weekend. We had such a nice time.

There were pillow fights.

And wrestling around.

Snuggling and watching movies together. (My dad with Skylar)

(Skylar and Alexa with Linda)
And Buttons loved watching the squirrels in our backyard. The children woke up on St. Nicholas Day with surprises in their shoes.And they received their Christmas gifts from Dad and Linda, too, since we don't think we'll get to see them again at Christmas. Each girl was quite happy with their new attire.

And anyone who knows Evan knows how much he loves Cars, so this "light up" jacket was a hit!

We stayed indoors almost the whole time they were here. Who wants to venture out into the cold when you've got all you need right here?

And as an added bonus, it snowed Saturday night!

We loved watching it from inside as we enjoyed a pizza dinner. (Although Skylar would have been quite happy about going out into the snow and playing.....even in the dark!)

Sunday morning, they had to head for home, and we had to get ready for Mass. We said good bye and gave lots of hugs. We hated to see them go, but it was such a wonderful visit.

After Mass, in the afternoon, the children and I went to a local St. Nicholas Day Festival. Here's Alexa with St. Nicholas, himself!
And they had a craft table, where Alexa made a lovely angel ornament.
This was all the closer Evan was willing to get to St. Nicholas. He would take tiny baby steps forward, then back away. It was so cute.
I saw Skylar here and there when we were at the festival. It's all in one big gym, so I can usually see her from wherever I am. And I'm such a worrier, I look around for her every 5 minutes. She had a blast playing games and winning lots of prizes! She won holy cards, 2 rosaries, saint medals and lots of candy. She participated in this pinata game, too, but it's hard to see her in this crowd of children .This Saint Nicholas Day gathering has become a bit of a tradition with us. The children look forward to it every year.

And yes, I finally did it! I got out my Advent wreath. I feel better now.
Hope you are having a blessed Advent.

TTFN

~Tina

Preschool Liturgical Year Boxes~ (Part 2) ~a Safe Candle Craft

Some time ago I started making these liturgical year preschool boxes . I keep trying to come up with some more interesting things to go into the boxes. Evan is only 2, so I don't plan to do too much with them this year, but I want them ready for next year.

The most recent thing I came up with is this.....

Evan has a strong interest in my candles. I really have to watch him around them. So for our mini prayer time together (just Evan and I), while he explores his LY box, I thought he might like a safe candle to use in a candle holder he makes himself. I purchased the battery run tealites at the craft store. Then I purchased clear plastic cups.

I got out my collection of religious stickers and just let Evan have fun with it. For this one, I let him use whatever he wanted from my assortment. This candleholder could be used for ordinary time. So, once I find time to make his Ordinary Time box, we'll put the candle holder and battery tealite inside.

I have stickers with different images of Mary on them, too. I'll get them out next time for him to make a candleholder for his Marian box.

So far, the Marian box is the only one I've painted and decorated, which, as I've said before holds a Mary Matching Card Game, a small statue of the Blessed Mother, a plastic rosary, a wooden Mary figure and a paper doily.
If you want to make these candleholders with an older child, there are more options in how you could create them. Bits of tissue paper, glitter glue, and nail polish would give them a fancier look. But with Evan being only 2, we are going to stick with stickers this year. It still looks lovely, even in the dark.

And it becomes a mini-altar when I put the cover of the box, with Mary's image on it, behind the candle. We set it up like this and prayed for a couple of minutes together. We talked about the Rosary, as he held it in his hands. For now we explore the box together, every once in a while, so that it's special every time. At this point we just do a short prayer, and practice making the sign of the cross. Then we discuss what's in the box. He's at least getting familiar with the names of the items and learning to honor Mary.

I have items put aside for the Saints box and the Ordinary Time box. I still need to get things for the Advent and Lent boxes as they become available in stores. Plus I have a few more homemade ideas floating around in my head.

I'll keep you posted as inspiration strikes (and time allows)!

And if you have any ideas for additions to these boxes, please let me know!

TTFN

~Tina

Teatime with Angels

This past week in the Church, we celebrated the Feast of the Archangels and the Feast of the Guardian angels. Although they are two separate feast days, we celebrated both together with an Angel Day Teatime, due to our lack of time.

Taylor makes the treats for us using this recipe from Family Fun. Last year she made the santa hats for St. Nicholas Day, and this year she made them (minus the red sprinkles and in a different shape) as angel kisses for our celebration of angels. They are so good (and addictive). We both agree that next time, she'll make double recipe.

While we ate and drank, we discussed the Archangels and the roles they have played in our history. Then I read some guardian angel stories found in these books.

Then the girls used guardian angel holy cards, paper doilies, stickers and crayons to make pages for their Liturgical Year Notebooks. They get so creative with these.

ALEXA'SSKYLAR'SAnd they also worked on Michael the Archangel Coloring Pages created by this talented woman.

Well, it is a beautiful Fall day here, but unfortunately for us, 3 out of 4 children are sick......just colds, though, but Evan's is making him pretty miserable (and demanding) much of the day. I'm hoping we are through the worst of it.

And John is off, in search of a new car. I'll let you know what he finds!

Have a pleasant Sunday afternoon!

TTFN

~Tina