Last week in pictures

Last week was a week of wonderful feasts and an amazing astronomical event. Here is our week in pictures.

~Super Blood Moon~

Last week was also the beginning of BigBoy's foray into altar serving...

He's the one snuffing out the candle that's twice as tall as he is!

This week is one of my favorite weeks in the liturgical season, but it also sneaks up on me just about every year. This year, Miss Cupcake became aware of feast days and quickly picked up on the concept of special feast day treats. After Michaelmas, she pretty much woke up every day asking what special treat we were making that day. A quick recap...

~Feast of St. Michael~

Blackberry Jam for Michaelmas... the Smuckers turned out to be the favorite in the blind taste test.

~Candy Roses for St. Therese~

OK, this is a real rose. Not candy.

 Candy roses made with her big sis, Rain. 

~Angel Kisses for the Feast of the Guardian Angels~

These are just a simple meringue cookie recipe, not the pepperminty ones I made last year. I made some with M&M's inside and some with crushed peppermint sticks sprinkled on top. 

~Wolf's Paw Cookies for St. Francis~

Left over chocolate chip cookies were turned into Wolf's Paw cookies using some melted chocolate and white chocolate chips. Rain made these to celebrate St. Francis, her Confirmation saint. 

Reading a story about St. Francis with Sunshine 

Cupcake's new glasses came in. She tells me she's seeing better and I'm hoping that the convergence we were seeing will go away. Personally, I think she looks just so darn cute in her glasses. Like a teeny, tiny little librarian. 

Our Lady of the Rosary is coming up this week. If you are looking for some coloring pages, you can find them here. 

How we do St. Lucy Day...

{Coloring Page Reminder}

Heather over at Audrey Eclectic is having a St. Lucia Day blog procession. Have you seen her amazing artwork? I'm trying to decide between 2 or 4 or 10 of her pieces because I love them all so much. Here is a little peek at our celebration.

St. Lucy Day was never a tradition in my family or my husband's since neither of us are of Scandinavian descent, but I bought a Lucy Wreath (with a matching one for her dolly) when my oldest daughter, Sunshine, was only a few months old and we've been enjoying this special day ever since. 

I made my own wreath for daughter #2, Rain, also with a matching dolly wreath. Look at how tiny they were!!! This year, they opted not to wear their wreaths but instead, passed them down to Cupcake.

Our St. Lucy Day always includes dressing up for the girls, bread or cinnamon rolls with candles, decorations, books and waking everyone up early for breakfast. We've never done the bringing food into the bed, rather, the girls simply wake everyone and call them to the table for breakfast. I think those Scandinavians probably stayed in bed because it was warmer there than anywhere else! (The cold never bothers us here in Texas!) Today, we will put lights on our tree and then go looking at Christmas lights tonight.

So, that's our tradition. 15 years going strong and beloved now by the oldest and youngest ones alike. Just this morning I promised to make Lucy Wreaths for all of my future granddaughters and my girls squealed with delight!

Lord, may the intercession of Your Virgin and Martyr, St. Lucy, help us so that, as we celebrate her heavenly birthday on earth, we may contemplate her triumph in heaven. Amen.

Happy St. Lucy Day!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

{Etsy shop update… SOLD OUT :: I had intended to continue taking orders until tomorrow but I am sold out of most of my supplies and I won't have a chance to restock anytime soon. If you placed an order in the past two days, I will still be able to fulfill your order and have it mailed out by Monday at the latest. Check back during Lent if you'd like to place an order for Easter.  Thanks so much.}

It's the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe today. We've been celebrating like this for years. The littlest ones (and some of the bigger ones) love decorating the table cloth with pretty star stickers so that it resembles Mary's starry mantle.

I found this lovely little candle at a local store. Cupcake loves that it's pink! We will enjoy some Aztec Hot Chocolate for an after dinner treat. I'm thinking we will try either this recipe or this one. You might also enjoy this coloring page  I made many moons ago. Cupcake is not big into coloring just yet. And, of course, offer a prayer for the unborn.

We will be reading Cupcake's favorite OLG book… it's a pop-up. Who doesn't love a pop-up? In fact, she's been "loving" it so much, I might need to order another copy. Pop-ups are no fun when they only flop-up.

It doesn't take much to celebrate a feast day. Food, books, a special decoration and the "why" shared with your kids. It's what this online Catholic community has been sharing with each other for years to encourage each other to celebrate feast days and make new traditions. Don't let anyone make you think it's some new innovation or some difficult thing accomplish. And for Pedro's sake, don't fall for shameless self-promotion gimmicks. Do what works for your family. That means some families will do more and some will do less. It doesn't matter. Just do something. Enjoy this special day!

Over at Catholic Cuisine

Hi there! Didn't mean to step away for a break. I don't really have a good reason, except… life. Anyway, just wanted to point you over to Catholic Cuisine where you can read about our plans to celebrate the feast of Saint John Paul II today (and Miss Cupcake's baptismal anniversary) with a delicious Polish meal of kielbasa and cabbage served over mashed potatoes and Piernik for dessert, a spiced honey bread which made my house smell amazing when it was baking this morning.

John Paul II, we love you! Please pray for us.

Feast Day Round Up

It's been a busy week with some major feast days to celebrate. Our celebrations used to be more elaborate, but as my kids have grown older, they've become more subdued.  I think that's only natural, but sometimes I feel guilty about my littler ones. Are they missing out by not celebrating the way we used to? I think I need to try to make a few things a little more festive, but I like this more relaxed pace too. It's such a balance, isn't it?

September 29th (Michaelmas, Feast of the Archangels, The Professor's Confirmation saint)

Blackberry jam spread on homemade bread

This is some Blackberry Cobbler jam that I ordered for Sean a while back from the winery that we visited on our honeymoon. The kids prefer plain blackberry jam.

October 1st (Feast of St. Therese the Little Flower, special friend of Sunshine's and Confirmation anniversary for Sunshine and The Professor)

Pumpkin Cupcakes with super easy Frosting Roses

My babies 6 years ago.

October 2 (Feast of the Guardian Angels, special friends to all of us)

Angel Kisses (peppermint meringue cookies)

October 4th (Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Rain's Confirmation saint)

Pot Pie Soup over at Catholic Cuisine… Rain is going to spoil us with some of her Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread today!

Santa Lucia

Happy Feast of St. Lucy! For little Miss Cupcake, it's all about the candles! But don't even think about putting something on her head. M'kay?

And if you are looking for a coloring page, you can find them here.

O God, our Creator and Redeemer, mercifully hear our prayers that as we venerate your servant, Saint Lucy, for the light of faith you bestowed upon her, you would increase and preserve this same light in our souls that we may be able to avoid evil, to do good, and to abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and of sin. Relying on your goodness, O God, we humbly ask you, by the intercessory prayers of your servant, Saint Lucy, that you would give perfect vision to our eyes, that they may serve for your greater honor and glory and for the salvation of our souls in this world, that we may come to the enjoyment of your unfailing light of the Lamb of God in paradise. Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear our prayers and obtain our petitions.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Things are going to be busy around here as we dig out from the ice storm that has crippled our area since last Thursday, try to replenish supplies from stores with empty shelves (along with everyone else) and try to get life back to normal, but I wanted to show you this beautiful cake that I made for the feast day today. It's a White Chocolate Cream Cake and the frosting is sublime! You can find the recipe over at Catholic Cuisine.

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

Patron of children, archers and thieves…

pray for us.

 The children requested mint chocolate muffins for breakfast. I couldn't help but decorate them a little. Just for fun!

{Affiliate links below}

They awoke to find their shoes filled with chocolate coins, Hershey bar Saints, cocoa packets with candy cane stirrers and a few other little trinkets like hand sanitizers and aftershave lotion (for the oldest).  Plus, this darling Christmas Angel for Cupcake who has recently fallen in love with all things Playmobil, especially BigBoy's little kittens. 

They each received a new Christmas book too:

Stable in Bethlehem for Cupcake, Bambinelli Sunday for BigBoy, The Stable Where Jesus was Born for Shortcake, The Christmas Cat (Sunshine is my Tasha Tudor fan!) and Christmas from Heaven: The True Story of the Berlin Candy Bomber for The Professor

Good idea, guys, asking a saint to help you find they way to Jesus! No, Balthazar, that is not the Baby Jesus you are looking for.

O good Saint Nicholas,

who brings joy to children,

put in my heart the spirit of childhood,

of which the Gospel speaks

and teach me to sow happiness around me.

You, whose feast prepares us for Christmas,

open my faith to the mystery of God made man.

The children are finishing up some school work and are picking out some St. Nicholas/Christmas shows to watch later. And even though it's not Christmas themed at all, I'm thinking I'm going to watch my favorite Leverage episode later on… The Miracle Job {affiliate link}. If you've never seen it, it's one of the better portrayals of Catholics and Holy Mass on secular television I've ever seen (not perfect, but not bad).

Simple Celebrations :: Cinnamon Toast St. Martin Snacks

Today is the feast of St. Martin and a wonderful day to remember the light of generosity that St. Martin exemplified. It's also a day to remember our veterans and their families and their generous and brave hearts. St. Martin, patron of soldiers and of the poor, once came upon a beggar and having nothing to offer the man, he cut his cloak in half and gave it to the man.

I was asked by a sweet friend what our plans were today. My first thought was horseshoe cookies. But then I remembered that we have a Golden Birthday coming up on Wednesday and tried to think simpler. So, I came up with a super easy treat that my kids thought was kinda clever. I bet you have all of the ingredients in your kitchen right now and it's so easy your big kids could do it themselves if you don't have time.

I preferred the version on the left since it was also in my mind that St. Martin met the beggar outside of the city gates as in this story. But Sunshine suggested turning it upside down to make a horseshoe shape. Either way, it works. 

You make a simple piece of cinnamon toast however you want to do it. We prefer the toast then butter then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar version. It makes it crispier and that's how we like it. But you can do the butter, then cinnamon sugar then toast in the oven method too.

Next, I used a very specialized tool to cut out the cloak shape… 

my cheese grater.  Hah!

Really, anything oval shaped will work and if all else fails, just take a knife to it.

You want to cut out a shape like this. This is your cloak and the top part can now be your gate or your horseshoe, you decide. 

Gates and Cloaks Cinnamon Toast 

(or Horseshoes and Cloaks if you like)

Serve it up, let your kids cut the cloak in half (or score it for littler ones and let them rip it in half) and tell them the story of generous St. Martin. Better yet, read them this poem!

Happy Martinmas!
P.S. Don't forget your St. Martin Coloring Page!

Feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (yesterday)

Ever since last All Hallows Eve, BigBoy has been developing a devotion to Sts. Cosmas and Damian. He thinks he might even choose one of their names as a Confirmation name someday... or St. Patrick. He's not totally sure. Anyway, he asked if we could celebrate their feast day yesterday and I thought it was a great idea... until I tried to come up with an idea. Totally blanked! Thankfully, Jessica made a suggested that sounded good and that's why we had *Double Chocolate Muffins (get it... double chocolate... because they were twins!) to complement our breakfast-for-dinner or "Brinner" as we call it around here. (Yesterday was also orthodontist day and scrambled eggs are easy on the sore teeth.) 

We read (from Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) {affiliate link} BigBoy's favorite story about these twin saints (and favorite illustration, courtesy of Mr. Ben Hatke) and enjoyed our soft, easy to chew muffins!

*Updated with link to the recipe I used. I used butter, not canola oil.

Catholic Jackpot!

I posted on FB that I felt like we won the Catholic Jackpot this morning. After reading Father Jerabek's post on Friday, we also felt it would have been so nice to have the Mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin today. And then at Mass this morning, the Cistercian's processed in (the "Father Parade" as BigBoy used to call it) and low and behold, the main celebrant, Fr. B., was wearing the Marian vestments! As he explained, all of the Cistercian churches are dedicated to Our Lady so today's feast is a Solemnity for them. So, we got the Mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary today!

Father's homily was amazing. He talked about the different practices that other countries had for celebrating today. In France, the wine growers had their best bunches of grapes blessed. In Austria, they gathered up extra food to give to the poor and the animals were led through town in a kind of procession as they were removed from their high grazing areas to the low valleys for the winter. I hadn't planned on a big celebration today, but considering the command to celebrate that Fr. B. gave us, we opted to pick up a special treat. A blueberry muffin for the one person in the family who really likes them. And....

...a new flavor of BLUE Bell Ice Cream! Chocolate ice cream with a swirl of creamy peanut butter! Yum! Hey... it's says "BLUE", right?

And if you'd like to listen to a musical version of today's Gospel reading, click play.

Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart Cookies

On the Feast of the Sacred Heart, the kids decorated cookies and then we enjoyed some time at the park before dinner. It has not been nearly as hot as June usually is here and we are enjoying our outdoor time. (Hence the lack of blogging!)

 We are always inspired by Jessica. My kids had so much fun decorating these cookies based on her Catholic Cuisine post. They want to try a cookie story quilt next!

Dragon Cupcake Cake for St. George

 It's part of my job, as mommy around here to remember that just because I don't feel great (still hacking up the occasional lung) and the littlest doesn't feel well (ear infections) and the biggest kids have kind of moved beyond fun food and celebrating feast days with crafts and games that the middle kiddo, who straddles the line between big kid and little kid because he looks so big but is still little at heart, might still want to stab a dragon.

I thought these candy melts were too big for a nose but the white chocolate chips were too small. I should have piped some circles of in between size, but I was too lazy.

With a cold front blowing in dropping our temps by 20-30 degrees, I did not want to head to the store with the baby to get supplies to make one of our traditional Dragon Cakes, so I decided to see what we had in the pantry. We had a gluten free chocolate cake mix, candy melts and the makings of this frosting which tasted good but could have used more powdered sugar to set up better.

I drew out a quick sketch of what I had in mind. This gluten free cake mix only makes one round, or 12 cupcakes, but I managed to get 15 out of mine. I don't know how. The only thing I changed was substituting greek yogurt for the water to make them more moist.

I used the candy melts to make eyes, spikes, claws and a nose. Total decoration time: 30 minutes (not counting the time it took to bake the cupcakes and let them cool). It's not what I'd call pretty, but my BigBoy can't wait to hack into it, and that's really what counts!

 

Simple celebrations: Bl. John Paul II

How excited are we to get to celebrate today? Very!!! But nobody is in the mood for a treat so we will save our Kremówka Papieska for another day. We did read over the Office of Readings for the day. Right now, our JPII roses are blooming like crazy and are producing the biggest blooms we have ever seen. This is a picture of Shortcake's hands holding the biggest blossom...