Say Cheese!
On Friday morning we met Father T., as well as his visiting sister and her family, at a local creamery (before continuing on to the chocolate factory) for a field trip!
Even though they were not making cheeses (at least not on the other side of the viewing window) at the time, the plant manager/head cheesemaker came out and gave us all an excellent presentation. He explained the whole process in which they create their Worldwide Award Winning Handcrafted Artisan Cheeses!
First he explained how the milk comes from a local farm that the creamery works with exclusively. The cows are fed a grass-based diet, so that the flavors of their milk reflect such freshness. This is the first (and very important) step in their handcrafted process with has been resulting in both nationally and internationally recognized cheeses. He then went on to tell us all about the actual process of making cheese, once the milk arrives at the creamery:
After the presentation, my children all enjoyed tasting some of the cheeses. Despite all the awards, they just didn’t want to taste the
It really was a great field trip, but I have promised my children that our next one will not involve “Moldy Cheese or Spicy Chocolate!”
On the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
O Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, prince of theologians and guide of philosophers, bright ornament of the Christian world, light of the Church and patron of all Catholic schools, who has wisdom without deceit and did impart it without envy, pray for us to the Son of God who is Wisdom itself, that, by the coming of the Spirit of Wisdom, we may understand what you have taught and imitate what you have done, and that being made partakers of the wisdom and virtue in which you, while on earth, did ever shine, as the sun, we may last enjoy with you in heaven their sweetest fruits, praising the Divine Wisdom through endless ages. Amen.
Yesterday was the feast (on the new calendar) of St. Thomas Aquinas. It was a busy, yet fun-filled, day for our family, and we were very blessed to be able to spend most of it with Father T. and his visiting sister and her darling family! The morning started with two field trips: one was at a creamery and the other at a chocolate factory. Then we attended Father’s noon Mass before heading home for lunch, some school work, and to get ready to have them all join us for dinner.
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Patron of Students and Catholic Schools,
Pray for Us!
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!
0 Comments