Note to Self:
The next time you go on a field trip to an Artisan Chocolate Factory, it might be a good idea to turn any backwards signs around BEFORE giving all of your children a sample. . . Oops!
{this moment}
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find.
Small Successes :: January 27, 2010
I haven’t posted Small Successes since last November, but since I didn’t have time for a Daybook this week, I thought I would post these instead.
I spent some time on Saturday working on a new header for Catholic Cuisine. I have received quite a few complaints about the layout this past year – some people are not able to see the sidebars, others would like the posts to have a white background for easier printing, etc. It isn’t that hard to change the actual template, but the problem was that the header which is currently being used is part of the actual template and cannot be transfered to another blogger template. I did not want to hire/pay someone to create one for the blog… (Catholic Cuisine is a free site and we have never looked for sponsors or have had paid advertising on the blog. Some posts do contain affiliate links, which pay a percentage if a purchase is made after someone clicks over, but that very small amount is the extent of any “income” that is generated from the blog.) Anyhow, at the suggestion of a friend, I spent Saturday evening over at Picnik (what a fun site!) trying to create a new header, using a painting of The Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandaio. I thought it turned out nice, but I am still nervous about actually making changes to the blog – it has been the same since I first created it back in 2008… So, I thought I would give you all a sneak peek here first. I’d love to hear whether or not you like it… 😉
The weather has been beautiful this week! Mostly sunny, with highs around 55˚… It is still chilly, but nice enough to go outside each afternoon. On Monday the kids and I worked on cleaning up our yard and then I even took the initiative to figure out how to fire up Hubby’s leaf blower, after filling it up with gas, to clear all the fallen pine needles off the driveway. It’s hard to pull start a leaf blower!
off the floor and into their armoire. The girls are loving being able to leave their toys all set up and just close the doors so their sweet little sister can’t get her hands on all of it when she sneaks into their room. 😉
Wordless Wednesday
On the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
We are enjoying an absolutely beautiful day here and will be headed outside to enjoy the sunshine soon! Before we go, here are a few ideas for today’s feast day:
Read:
- St. Paul the Apostle
by Father Lovasik
- The Adventures of St. Paul
by Oldrich Selucky
- Saint Paul: The Thirteenth Apostle (Encounter the Saints) by Mary Lea Hill
- The First Christians
by Marigold Hunt
- Saint Paul the Apostle: The Story of the Apostle to the Gentiles
by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
Coloring Pages and Activities:
- St. Paul Coloring Page from Waltzing Matilda
- A Very Determined Man: A Story of St. Paul – PDF Download
- Saint Paul COMIcolor Saints – Purchase from Pauline Media
- St. Paul Crossword Puzzle – Online Printable
Other Resources:
- St. Paul the Great Evangelizer Faith Folder
- “Paul’s Missionary Journey’s” from New Testament Lapbook
- Food Suggestions for St. Paul the Apostle at Catholic Cuisine
Once Upon a Time…
Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Initiative
Yesterday afternoon we had our 3rd Little Flowers Girls’ Club meeting for Wreath III, on the virtue of Initiative. A few of the girls weren’t able to make it this month, so we only had 5 girls attend. (Actually we had 7 if you count Rose and Sweet Pea, who was wearing her adorable new Milo Vest!) Nevertheless, it was a great meeting and we are already looking forward to our next one, which will be based on the virtue of Orderliness / Organization. Hummm… Let’s see if I can actually take the initiative and get the rest of the year planned out and organized before then, rather than waiting till the last minute like I did this month! 😉
After our lesson/discussion on the virtue of Initiative, and reading about St. Margaret of Scotland from More Saints: Lives & Illuminations
(The yellow scanned in a lot brighter than the original “Golden Yellow.”)
- Card Stock
- Chore Chart Printout (If you would like a copy, you can download my Word Document here, though you will have to modify the fonts, using ones on your computer. Or here is PDF option, with the name spot blank.)
- Glue Sticks
- Laminator and Laminating Pouches (I have the Purple Cow Laminator
from Costco and have loved it so far, but the Scotch
one on Amazon has better reviews.)
- Magnetic Dry Erase Markers
(They are actually cheaper at Amazon then what I paid locally, though it doesn’t look like they have the best reviews. Another option would be to attach a piece of velcro to any dry erase marker and to the chart.)
- Magnet Strips (or old refrigerator magnets)
Black Eyed Susan Chocolates and the options of green mint meltaways, green color mist and/or green glitter gel. 
I wasn’t sure about the chocolate “Black-Eyed Susan” flowers I had made at first, but they sure looked cute on top of the cupcakes and the girls loved them!
pray for us!
A Special Treat for the Feasts of St. Agnes and Our Lady of Altagracia
After having a fun afternoon of crafts and snacks yesterday, in honor of today’s feast of Our Lady of Altagracia, I didn’t have plans for any “extra” activities today. However, since I ended up having leftover Orange Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (from my Little Flowers Meeting this afternoon), and after seeing Charlotte’s beautiful new St. Agnes Coloring Page (whose feast day is also today) pictured in front of an orange tree (how perfect is that?!) I decided to let my children decorate the cupcakes as Lambs (a symbol of St. Agnes), to enjoy after dinner while coloring the picture!
{this moment}
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia
As I mentioned earlier, this afternoon we made a couple crafts and had a (tea-less) Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia, inspired by yet another one of Alice’s amazing Liturgical Teas. This one is is based on the Novena prayer to Our Lady of Altagracia, which was translated by Helen from the original Spanish!
“Our Mother’s Hands” Stained Glass Windows
For this activity, the children all created “love notes” to our dear Mother Mary. I gave them each a large red heart shaped doily (I picked up a pack of 16 from the Dollar Store), a smaller white heart cut out of copy paper, and a pile of stickers.
1. Oh sweetest Mother of Altagracia, all pure and Immaculate from your Conception! We beseech you to bless us, your children, with the grace to love the purity you practiced and to preserve the innocence of our children. Hail Mary…
2. Oh sweetest Mother of Altagracia, admirable model of Christian mothers and wives in the humble house of Nazareth, we beseech you to bless our homes, making them flourish in the holiness of matrimony. Hail Mary…
3. Oh sweetest Mother of Altagracia, you received into your arms the Holy Infant who died for us on the Cross, we give you all of our sufferings, so that at the hour of our death we may die with the name of Jesus on our lips and in our hearts, and fly to heaven with the help of your maternal arms. Hail Mary …
“The Novena specifies the three graces we request from Our Lady, and the menu offerings of the tea reflect them in a simple way.”
1. Love of Purity ~ White ranch dip represents purity and will go well with the vegetables in the next menu offering. This reminds us of the perfect purity of the Holy Family.
2. Home Blessing ~ This next offering reminds us of the humble home of the Holy Family in Nazareth, and we ask for a shower of blessings upon our homes, making them flourish in the holiness of matrimony. Since Our Lady of Altagracia is patroness of the Dominican Republic, Alice suggests “we remember “Home Blessings” with produce that grows in this, her chosen homeland: snap peas or pea pods. When you break open the side of the pod, the peas inside look like a family in their house. “
3. Maternal Arms ~ In the last supplication we ask for the grace of flying to Heaven with the help of Our Lady’s maternal arms. For this offering Alice suggests serving small twisted pretzels. She says, “The original German pretzels were meant to represent arms crossed in prayer, but I think they would make a wonderful maternal embrace for these purposes”
For a delicious dessert in honor of Our Lady of Altagracia, Alice suggests serving caramelized bananas over coffee ice cream since the chief exports of the Dominican Republic are coffee, sugar and bananas.
Directions: To carmelize the bananas, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the bananas in half and sprinkle with butter and brown sugar. Bake about 7 minutes or so. If this is too difficult, use plain ripe bananas over coffee ice cream–or even vanilla ice cream with bananas and a drizzle of coffee syrup.
The next treat I made was a crown of stars for the “beautiful lady with golden skin and a crown of stars.” ~ excerpt from A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia
. 
0 Comments