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by Jessica | Dec 29, 2022

A Trip to the Ocean

Mar 28, 2011 | Pacific Ocean | 3 Comments

Last weekend (a week ago) we had so much fun at the coast. We headed over with our friends, who ended up having a few extra days to visit before moving out of state. It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them before they left. We miss them already!!

On Saturday night, the feast of St. Joseph, we all went out for Fish and Chips at a great little restaurant overlooking the ocean. The service was amazing. I don’t think we have ever been served so quickly. I think the fact that we had 10 children with us, all between the ages of 1-10, had the restaurant a little bit nervous… In fact, Erica overheard two women say “It must be a party. . . or something!” 🙂 Of course the kids were great and dinner was delicious!

The weather was not the best, but it did clear up for a little while on Sunday afternoon and the Dads took 9 of our 10 children out on the beach. . .

… Rose stayed behind and was quite content with feeding the birds her animal crackers.

Eventually Erica and I joined everyone out on the beach, while the Dads headed back to the hotel with a few of the younger ones.

The boys are such going to miss one of their best buds…

And, of course, the girls will miss “Branch” and “Blossom” too!

Due to the extra high tides and hazardous waves, the kids stayed back from the water. After lots of begging, we finally let them carefully touch the foam.

Well, my little computer break is over this morning and I need to get back to work. I hope you are all having a great Monday! You can see a few more pictures over at A Family Treehouse!

Seven Quick Takes :: Birthday Edition!

Mar 25, 2011 | Happy Birthday | 3 Comments

Yesterday we celebrated a birthday in our home!

Here are Seven Quick Takes from the day:

~ 1 ~

Hubby woke up to Chiquita giving him the birthday card she had illustrated for him. We weren’t sure what to think of the plane flying in the pitch black sky “over the ~~mountains~~ hills” . . .

The other children stuck with more traditional birthday cards…

…and Rascal even made a couple fighter planes out of modeling wax.

In the meantime, I worked on baking the cake. I made the Mom’s Layer Cake (recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor) with a Chocolate Mousse Filling and Chocolate Ganache on top. Yum!

~ 2 ~

Patiently waiting for Daddy to arrive home from work…

~ 3 ~

My Dad and Brother helped me get an amazing deal on a great set of tools to give Hubby as a gift. And, of course, the children all loved giving their Daddy the cards they had made for him.

~ 4 ~

Snuggles had so much fun playing with the box from Daddy’s birthday gift!

~ 5 ~

It took a little while to light all 38 candles! I never have cared for the number candles, and insist on using the correct number. Sorry honey! 😉

~ 6 ~

I wish this picture wouldn’t have turned out blurry, I love it!
(I was using a slower shutter speed without the flash…)

After Daddy blew out the candles, Snuggles quickly jumped up to help him with the two he missed.

~ 7 ~

It’s always so much fun to take all the candles back out of the cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! WE LOVE YOU!

{this moment}

Mar 25, 2011 | Happy Birthday | 7 Comments

March 24th ~ “Happy Birthday Daddy!”

{this moment} – A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. To see more visit Soule Mama.

Under Attack

Mar 24, 2011 | Just for Fun | 7 Comments

I’m starting to think that maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to teach my children how to make Popsicle Stick Grenades yesterday… I tried, but I just couldn’t keep this idea to myself, after Beth shared a link to the instructions.

My boys have been having a little too much fun! Their latest creation is a “Popsicle Stick Bomb” – made by very carefully tying a whole bunch of “grenades” together with a shoelace and then swinging it towards ~~mom~~ the moving target. I think it is time to set some “Grenade Free Zones!” 🙂

On St. Patrick’s Day

Mar 22, 2011 | St. Patrick's Day | 4 Comments

I did say that it might be awhile before I was back to post pictures, but I really didn’t think it would take until ~~Monday~~ early Tuesday morning! It’s been just a little bit busy around here. 🙂

Since I am still up, waiting to change over the laundry, I thought I would upload a few pictures starting with Rose picking out the marshmallows from her first bowl of Lucky Charms – a ~~breakfast~~ “family tradition” that my children insist on each year for St. Patrick’s Day!

My boy’s really enjoyed making Shamrock Cinnamon Rolls to go along with our breakfast…

…and while I was busy preparing our Irish Beef and Guinness Stew for dinner, the boys did a great job putting together our Irish Flag Veggie Tray.

For lunch we had Shamrock ~~Toasties~~ Pizzas. . .

. . . and then the kids all worked on some coloring pages of the Life of St. Patrick while we waited for their friends to arrive.

We were so excited that Erica and her family were able to spend a couple nights at our home, and that we were then able to join them for an overnight trip to the coast. What a blessing to be able to spend sometime with their family before they leave this week to move Down By the River. . . or somewhere like that. 😉 What an adventure they have ahead of them! Thanks to one last change of plans, I picked up the three oldest treekids late ~~this evening~~ last night to spend the night one last time before they fly out on Wednesday morning. My children are going to be so excited when they wake up and find their friends here in the morning!

On the Feast of St. Patrick

Mar 17, 2011 | St. Patrick's Day | 2 Comments

Hail, glorious Saint Patrick! We honor thy name,
Tho’ Erin may claim thee, the world knows thy fame.
The faith of our fathers is our treasure, too.
How holy the thought, that they learned it from you.
Thru crosses and trials its fire burns bright,
they show us the way, and the truth, and the light.
Great Saint! Intercede that we always may be
devoted and loyal, true children of thee.
Our love and devotion be ever like thine,
our thought be of Jesus, our heart be His shrine.
And when to the end of life’s path we have trod,
be near us great bishop, anointed of God.

It’s been a fun morning, complete with magically delicious cereal and shamrock cinnamon rolls! Right now I am printing out some Life of St. Patrick Coloring Pages while my little ones watch our St. Patrick DVD.

Later this afternoon the kids are planning on reading some of our books and making a few treats, while I bake some Irish Soda Bread and prepare our Irish Beef and Guinness Stew. Yum!! I’ll be back sometime with pictures, but we have company coming tonight, and they may end up staying until tomorrow, so in the meantime. . .

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear Father-in-Law and Brother-in-Law!

Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Orderliness

Mar 15, 2011 | Little Flowers, Little Flowers Wreath III | 7 Comments

On the last Friday of February we had our 4th Little Flowers Girls’ Club meeting for Wreath III. I was so busy preparing for the upcoming birthday party we were hosting, that I never did get around to posting any of the pictures from our meeting! It was based on the virtue of Orderliness and St. Zita, and we were so blessed to have one of our dear local priests come and give the talk to the girls. Father was able to stay afterwards to visit that night, have dinner with our family, and learn how to play our favorite board game!

Here is a quick overview of our meeting:

~ Coloring Pages ~

The girls had a couple options for coloring pages:

St. Zita from Curmudgeonry

and St. Zita from Catholic Artworks Faith Keepers Combo CD

Orderliness Memory Verse Copywork (created with Startwrite)

~ Notebook Pages ~

We read the story of St. Zita from the Teacher/Member Guides and Amy also read some of The Saint Maid of Lucca from Legends and Stories of Italy to the girls as well. (This lovely story was written in 1909 by Amy Steedman and you can actually read/print out a copy online.) Then the girls put together their scrapbook/notebook pages, I used the memory verse for Orderliness, a couple quotes from the Bible, an image of St. Zita, and a couple images of cranberries. You can download my document here.

Here is a picture of the sample page I created:

Here are the girl’s completed pages for “Orderliness”:

~ Craft :: Adding to our Wreath III Virtues Apron ~

FOR INITIATIVE:

IRON or SEW ON A RECIPE CARD WITH A FAVORITE RECIPE :: Initiative – enterprise: readiness to embark on bold new ventures, first step: the first of a series of actions

For this meeting the girls focused on organizing their notebooks, if needed, and adding to their Wreath III Virtues Apron. We ran out of time at our last meeting to add anything for the virtue of Initiative, so they all made Shrinky Dink Recipe Card Buttons, so they can “take the initiative” and prepare a snack sometime at home. Here is the document that ELM created for our group (each 8×10 sheet can make four recipe cards).

The girls each colored in the Black-Eyed Susan, the flower for initiative. Then, after cutting them out, and punching a couple holes in each corner, we placed them in the oven according to the directions. We thought we had some major fails, but after returning our “destroyed” recipe cards, and flattening them with a metal spatula as they re-melted, they actually ended up turning out!

Each of the girls will (hopefully) take the initiative and sew the recipe cards onto their aprons at home.

FOR ORDERLINESS:

FOLD UP BOTTOM OF APRON TO FORM A POCKET :: Orderliness – the quality of appreciating method and system, a condition of regular or proper arrangement

To create the pocket, fold up the sides of the apron and secure with Iron-On Adhesive. For two pockets, you can also add a strip of adhesive in the center of the apron as well.

~ Lesson ~

It was such a blessing to have Father come and give a talk to the girls! They all loved listening to him, and even the boys (my oldest two, and ELM’s oldest) also listened in to his great talk.

Father spoke to the children about St. Martha, St. Benedict and the Rule he wrote for his order, and Self Discipline. He also said that we must still be charitable. For example, we can’t refuse to help another out of a desire to be orderly all of the time. He quoted St. Martin de Porres, who valued charity more than any other virtue in the religious life and never refused to help another, who said concerning a very dirty poor man to whom he had given his bed:

“Compassion is preferable to cleanliness: with a little bit of soap I can clean my bed, but think of the flood of tears I would require to clean from my soul the stain that harshness against this unfortunate would leave.”

Father also spoke about how the virtue of Orderliness leads to Beauty and Peacefulness in our homes. And that through setting our homes in order, and prioritizing the most important things in our lives, we can live life with purpose and meaning. Overall it was so inspiring, and not just for the children!

~ Snack Time ~

Since the “flower” for this virtue was cranberry – “a working flower” – the girls helped me make Sugared Cranberries, to decorate our Cranberry Muffins.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find fresh, or even frozen, cranberries this time of year?! After calling almost every store in a 30 mile radius, I was able to find some frozen cranberries. They were fun to make, but next time I think we will just stick with a bag of Crasins!

Hint: If you decide to make your own “superfine sugar” with a vitamix, only blend it for a second, or you will end up with powdered sugar! 😉

To make our Cranberry Muffins, I used a package of Yellow Cake Mix, replacing the water with Orange Juice and added 1 cup of frozen cranberries and 1 cup of white chocolate chips.

We topped them with some Cream Cheese Frosting and the Sugared Cranberries, and served them with some Sparkling Cranberry Juice.

St. Zita you loved the Lord your God as a servant girl you worked and organized. Through time people saw your saintliness, help us through work to sanctify our lives.

St. Therese, the Little Flower, pray for us!

The Nun Run :: 5K (Run/Walk)

Mar 15, 2011 | Nun Run | 10 Comments

This past Saturday, March 12th, was the 2nd Annual Nun Run 2011. After being invited by Lena, to join her “Shadow Team” named All FOR!, I decided to sign up despite my current lack of fitness. (I spent last fall on crutches due to an ankle injury, and I haven’t exercised much since it always hurts afterwards…)

I opted for the 5k after finding out that is only equals 3.10685596 miles, and that I didn’t need to run the whole 5K, walking is allowed. I thought about driving down to the track, but I can never seem to remember how far I have walked, so I decided to stick with our road – which is exactly 3 miles to town. At that point my boys asked to go with me and were very excited about the prospect of actually running/walking to town! Little did they know that we would run, jog and then walk the first mile, before they were asked to carry me the rest of the way to town. 😉

It was so much fun to “see” our road in a whole new way, despite the rain and all the barking dogs (the main reason we have never walked it before). Thankfully we weren’t attacked by any dogs and only one person stopped to ask if we needed a ride!

Here are some pictures of our “route” starting just down the road from our home:

1 mile down, 2.1 to go!

The first mile was most definitely the hardest. At that point I thought I would never make it to town. . .

We were so excited when we made it to our final mile marker… Only another 1.1 miles left to go!

Yes, I did tell Captain not to wear rain boots. I think he (and Rascal!) was wishing he would have listened to me.

We left our home at 10:03 and finished at 10:56 = 53 minutes

The extra .1 of a mile took us right to our little local bakery… Since it is Lent, we decided to walk around the corner to the pizza parlor and order breadsticks while we waited for Hubby to pick us up. Overall we had a great time, and even though my legs are still super sore, my ankle is just fine.

You can see everyone else’s (much more impressive) results

over at JoyFilled Family.

Way of the Holy Cross

Mar 13, 2011 | Crafts, Lent, Stations of the Cross | 13 Comments

We adore Thee, O Lord, Jesus Christ, and bless Thy Holy Name.

(Stations of the Cross Grotto Kit available here.)

Because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Crafting our Stations of the Cross

Mar 12, 2011 | Crafts, Lent, Stations of the Cross | 17 Comments

Yesterday afternoon the kids and I finally started putting together the Stations of the Cross Grotto Kit that I purchased a couple years ago. After taking everything out of the box, and seeing just how many popsicle sticks were included, I nearly packed it up for another year… I’m so glad that I didn’t!

We started with the first station, putting it together from start to finish…

… including all the pretty little gemstones.

After that, we decided to make the rest at the same time. Each of the kids choose two stations to assemble, while I worked on the remaining five. This really speeded up the process! I did do all the cutting, but the kids were able to glue together the popsicle sticks, add the Station names and numbers, and help put the 3-D Dots for each layer of the beautiful pictures.

We worked on them yesterday afternoon, and then again after dinner, finishing everything except for the gemstones before bedtime.

The girls and I just finished adding the rest of the gemstones and I was hoping to post pictures, but for some reason I can’t get my digital card reader to work… (I’ve never had this problem, and I am hoping that I don’t need to buy a new one.) I guess I will have to come back later to show you the finished results. They turned out lovely!

Update: You can see our completed Stations of the Cross Grottos here.

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Sean & Jessica, Captain-25, Ranger-23, Twinkle Toes-22, Chiquita-20, Snuggles-18, Rose-15, Bud-13, Grace-8 and Joy-6 (blog nicknames)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

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Prayer of Mothers

Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.