Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch ~ 2010
All Ready for the Pumpkin Patch…
I’ll be back with more pictures soon!
Favorite Catholic Calendars
I am often asked how I keep track of the upcoming feast days, so I thought I would share with you all my favorite calendar and daily planner.
My mother-in-law has been giving Hubby & I each a copy of the Saints Calendar & Daily Planner
Here is the description:
A great aid to sanctify each day! Covers 16 months beginning September 2010. 71 fascinating illustrations and mini biographies – one for every week. Contains both the Ordinary (Novus Ordo) and the Extraordinary (Tridentine) liturgical year,feastdays and Sundays, and historical feasts (such as Our Lady of the Angels, St Philomena, St Dismas the Good Thief). Includes Catholic information such as the days of fast and abstinence, Ember Days and vigils. Alphabetical list of over 700 Patron Saints. With more room to write, monthly planner pages and the same easy to use 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ size.
My other favorite calendar is the Catholic Calendar from Saints Galore Catholic Publishing. (While you are there, check out all their other beautiful products!) However, when Hubby saw the gorgeous calendar sitting on my desk last January, he somehow convinced me to let him have it for his office… By that point, it had sold out for the year, so this year I ordered two! 🙂
Here is the description for the Catholic Calendar:
This beautiful, quality-USA-made, large 12″ X 11″ calendar is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It follows the liturgical year for both the Latin Tridentine (Extraordinary) and the Novus Ordo (Ordinary) forms of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. This calendar features traditional images, seen nowhere else, to honor each dedication of the month. It features the saint of the day, denotes the liturgical color of the day, gives reminders for novenas, includes quotes from the saints, and contains many beautiful and traditional prayers. There is also plenty of room for all your important messages. This calendar makes the perfect gift for anyone!
Not only are they beautiful and inspiring, I love that both of these calendars follow both the Extraordinary and Ordinary liturgical years.
My Daybook :: Oct 20, 2010
Outside our window… the squirrels have been busy! We’ve been enjoying watching them from the windows, in our new dining room, as they prepare for winter.
I am We are listening to… The Story of Bach
I am thinking… about my inbox and how I could possibly get so behind in responding over the past year(s). I currently have just under 200 emails from the past 13 months which I “saved to respond to later.” At what point is it just too late to email back??
I am praying… for the soul of LTC Robert Balwin, his wife (my friend Danielle) and their four precious children. Thank you to all of you that contributed to the Spiritual Bouquet for them. Please continue to remember their family in your prayers.
I am thankful… that the construction is coming to an end. I am finding it SO hard to keep up with school when the contractors, inspectors, or pretty much anyone, is here during school hours.
From the kitchen… creative cooking… I’ve been postponing grocery shopping for a couple weeks now and am coming up with all sorts of interesting meals. I’m hoping that I can make it till next week before I absolutely have to go to the store. I just haven’t had the time while Hubby has been home, or the energy to go with all six children.
From the learning rooms… It has been somewhat of a slow start this year, but we have been plugging away and, despite my lack of planning over the summer, everything seems to be falling into place. I know many of you have emailed and are curious as to what we are using this year, so I will try and post more soon. Real quick, my favorite change this year has been with English/Writing (this was a weak point for my boys on their testing last year). We are now using Writing with Ease
Living the Liturgical Year at Home… Now that we are finally able to sit down and eat all together once again, Hubby has resumed reading a little about the saint of the day each night at dinner. The girls have completed their St. Therese Lap Books and the boys are just about finished with theirs. We are also looking forward to our upcoming All Saints Party!
I am creating… plans for our first Little Flowers Meeting for the year, which will be at my home on Friday afternoon.
I am wearing… warm socks and slippers. It is cold this morning!
I am reading… Small Steps for Catholic Moms
On my iTouch… Words with Friends! Now you know the real reason that I haven’t had much “extra” time for blogs, including my own! 😉
Pondering these words… found in my new book
Our little Rose… is 10 Months old! How did that happen so fast?!? She has been a bit cranky this week, but, if you look close, you can see a third bottom tooth breaking through. Poor baby!
Noticing that… our little Rose had another little tooth break through on the bottom yesterday, which explains her recent crankiness. Poor thing!
One of my favorite things… my dishwasher!!! I am still learning how to use it, and already ruined my favorite bibs (I picked up more asap!), but even still, I LOVE it!! (Any tips on soaps, etc? This is all so new to me!)
A few plans for the week:
Monday :: My Dad & Brother were here finishing up most of the Electrical and we got the final Electrical Inspection!
Next time, Brian (aka my brother), you might want to make sure that no one is in the shower, with their hair completely lathered up with shampoo, before cutting the power to the water. There is nothing like a brain freeze, from the ice cold water that your husband finds in the garage and pours over your head to attempt to get the soap out, to start the week!
Tuesday :: Meet sister (home for Fall Break!) and sister-on-law at the track to walk. Rose enjoyed “visiting” with her little cousin! Also, stopped by library to pick up our books on hold.
Wednesday :: Final Building Inspection. (We are getting closer to being completely finished!)
Thursday :: Cabinet Maker coming back to install knobs and pulls. (Yay!) Hopefully he will have the last couple shelves and the front for the bathroom cabinet, as well.
Friday :: Mass and our first Little Flowers and Blue Knights Meetings for the Year
Saturday :: Trip to the Pumpkin Patch followed by an Ocktoberfest Dinner at our Church
Sunday :: Mass
Somewhere in there we need to squeeze a full week of school, planning for Little Flowers, and (hopefully!) Grocery Shopping!
A Picture thought I am sharing:
Wordless Wednesday ~ Cousins
State-by-State Scrapbook :: South Carolina
our official state tree.
It’s also a symbol on our flag,
respected by you and me.”
. I’ll post pictures soon!Just the Two of Us
It isn’t often that my husband and I get out without any of our children. (It took 10 years for us to have an overnight/weekend getaway!) We are just not very comfortable leaving our children with babysitters, and, since I don’t supplement with bottles, I can never be very far away from my nursing babies. I suppose the nice thing about our rare “dates” is that when we DO go somewhere together without our children, it is usually super special and such a treat!
That said, I wasn’t expecting more than just the nice day we had at home, and cooking meals in our new kitchen, for our anniversary this year. That was truly more than enough!!! Nevertheless, my husband surprised me with tickets to go and see PRIDE & PREJUDICE (just my absolute favorite classic/fiction book!) on stage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival!
Getting ready to celebrate the Feast of All Saints!
Back when our oldest three children were babies (ages 4, 2, and 1), a couple friends and I started organizing an annual All Hallows’ Eve / All Saints’ Party each year on October 31st, as an alternative to trick-or-treating, for our Homeschool Group.
In 2008 I shared a number of posts with ideas and suggestions for costumes, games, food and Saint-O-Lanterns. I’ve been noticing that some of you have been looking for these posts in the archives so I thought I would re-post the links here, since the feast of All Saints is quickly approaching!
- Saintly Costumes
- Saintly Games
- Saint-O-Lanterns
- Fasting and Feasting for All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day
- All Saints Party ~ 2008
- All Hallows Eve ~ 2009
- An All Saints Fair
- Candy Math
(I checked some of the links in the above posts and updated a few that were broken, but, if you notice any others, let me know and I will try and fix them as well.)
This year I am not organizing our party, however each family will be asked to bring one game for the children to play. I’ve been trying to decide what our family will choose for this year, and remembered all the great game and decoration ideas that Anne, at Under Her Starry Mantle, posted last year:
- Early Christian Martyrs Musical Chairs
- Patron Saint Match Relay
- Saints and Symbols Relay
- Pin the… Game for the All Saints Party
- Pinata for All Saints Party
- All Saints Party Decorations
You can also find all sorts of ideas in Lacy’s All Saints Day Link up!
Also, while I was looking back through the archives, we all really enjoyed seeing the various costumes the children wore in the past years. I’ve gathered them all here into one post, and scanned in a couple pictures from our 2004 party!
St. James the Greater, St. Francis, St. Rita of Cascia
St. Nicholas, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Our Lady of Guadaulupe, St. Pius X
St. Maximilan Kolbe, St. John Bosco, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and St. Patrick refused to be photographed!
You can find more detailed posts from each year in the archives…
Our Cast of Saints: 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009
And going way… way.. back!
Here are a couple pictures from my own childhood!
Back Row (Left to Right): Me as St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Jennifer as St. Catherine of Laboure, Sean as St. George, Jamie as St. Lucy, Paul as St. Isidore the Farmer
~ 1997 ~
This year our oldest four children have decided to dress as St. Isaac Jogues, St. John the Apostle, Mother Teresa, and St. Therese. The youngest two are still waiting for mom to pull out the costumes and make a few “suggestions!” undecided!
Stargazing and Spanish Cocoa on Columbus Day…
Fall Baking :: Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookies
Sunday night Twinkle Toes and I decided to bake some pumpkin cookies for Columbus Day. We used a recipe that I had run across last year, over at Wee Folk Art, and the cookies turned out delicious (how could they not with a big scoop of cream cheese frosting on the top!) and everyone (especially Snuggles!) just loved the “pumpkins” on top! Don’t you just love the fall?!
Cookie:
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup oatmeal
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon
optional 1/2 – 1 cup butterscotch chips (if you add chips omit the 1/2 cups white sugar)
Frosting:
1 – 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
optional – if you want to make pumpkins, enough orange food coloring to make a deep orange
optional – butterscotch chips for stems
Mix pumpkin, sugars, vanilla and applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to applesauce mixture. If adding butterscotch chips, mix them in now.
Drop tablespoon of dough on cookie sheet, leaving 2″ between cookies. Depress your thumb into the middle of the cookie. If you thumb is sticking to the cookie dough, dip it in flour first.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minute (until brown). Allow the cookies to cool completely before frosting.
To make frosting, cream all ingredients, except butterscotch chips. For regular cookies, spoon frosting into your thumb’s indentation. If making the pumpkins, use a cookie scoop, and mound the frosting on each cookie. Top with a butterscotch chip for a stem.
Recipe makes 5 dozen cookies. If you are making pumpkins on top of the cookies, you will only have enough frosting for 3 1/2 dozen cookies. (We used the cookie scoop for 1/2, and then made much smaller pumpins on the other half with my cupcake decorator. We were able to decorate all the cookies this way, with a little frosting to spare.)
Note: Since there is cream cheese in the frosting, refrigerate until time to serve.
0 Comments