Small Successes :: November 12, 2009
I charged the battery on our video camera (it has been dead forever!) and finally captured a bit of Snuggles adorable personality last night on video. It was so much fun and he kept the whole family laughing all evening!
We celebrated the feast of St. Martin of Tours, also known as Martinmas Day, last night. Here is a picture of the Lanterns the children made. “L” is for Lantern you know, and it is L week around here! 😉
Studying Mercury
Last week the boys finished up their study of Mercury in Apologia’s Exploring Creation With Astronomy
The Lapbook from Knowledge Quest has been a great addition to the program as well. (I purchased our copy from Rainbow Resource.)
The boys were very excited to see the new pictures of Mercury that were just taken by the Messenger! Thank you Nasa, for the perfect timing of this mission!! 😉
The final assignment for Mercury was to create a Salt Dough Model. So much fun!
The “Lava” assignment is perfect for “L” week!
Wordless Wednesday
Only 2 1/2 Weeks…
I now have ours, thanks to my mom! I called her a couple weeks ago and she happened to be heading out of town for a weekend retreat at a Monastery. I remembered that she had purchased her own Advent Candles (made by the Monks) there last year, so I asked if she could look for some for us, since I had not found any yet this year. (I’ve even been watching for them all year long since I prefer pillar candles to the tapers for our Advent Wreath.) Aren’t they lovely!?!
I sure wish our local stores would carry a wider selection of candles… Every year it proves to be such a challenge. Anyhow, I’d love to hear where you all have found your Advent Candles, this year or in the past!
A “Bun in the Oven” Dress Game
To play: Pin an adorable handmade dress on each guest as they arrive. Each guest will wear the dress for the length of the shower. At some point announce that everyone is to open up the back of their dress. All dresses are stuffed with cotton to make the “belly.” The winner is the guest who has the clay “Cini-Bun” (I used a button) inside.
Object of the game: To be the one with the dress with the clay “Cini-Bun”As each guest arrived they were able to choose a little handmade maternity dress to pin on. One of the dresses included a button (or rather “Bun in the Oven”) and at the end of the shower.
Instead of purchasing the handmade pregnant momma dresses, I decided to try and make them myself, and they were actually very easy to make, and so cute pinned on to each guest. (I very much preferred them to the diaper pin games, where you can’t say some word or another, or cross your legs, etc…)
Supplies:
- Felt in various colors
- hot glue gun and glue
- cotton to stuff dresses
- mini white bows
- small safety pins
- 1 button
Directions:
Cut dresses out of the felt. I made the dresses out of one piece of felt, using a little template I made out of cardstock, and then folding the back over.
Hot glue around the sides and bottom and fold over. (This leaves a little open pouch in the back of the dress.)
Hot glue the mini white bow onto the front of the dress.
Stuff dress with cotton and close with a safety pin.
Place 1 button inside one of the dresses for the lucky winner to find.
A “Bun in the Oven” Baby Shower Favors
I had so much fun making the favors for Erica’s Baby Shower. When I was looking for ideas online, I ran across packages of Muffin Mix for sale, and decided to make something similar…
Supplies:
- Yellow Cake Mix (I was able to make 9 favors from each box)
- Brown Sugar
- Pecans
- Cinnamon
- Clear Baggies and Ties
- Snack Baggies
- Labels for Topping Packets
- Colored Paper Bags
- Coordinating Ribbon
- Colored Paper & Card Stock for printing tags and labels
- Hole Punch and Scissors
1/3 cup yellow cake mix
Add the following into a separate baggie, seal & tie off, label as Topping Mix:
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp finely chopped pecans
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Attach Tag:
Empty Cake mix into mug.
Add 2 tsp Oil, 1 T. Water, 1 Egg White, whisk well.
Sprinkle topping packet on & cook on high in microwave for 2 minutes.
A bun in the oven
Such great joy
Will it be a girl?
Or will it be a boy?Only time will tell
Whether we’ll need pink or blue
We know we’ll be ready
Thanks to you!
After placing the Mix and Topping in the bag, I punched a couple holes, added the ribbon, and that was it! They were so easy, even I could make them!!
Aunt Bridget’s Egg Bake
One of the dishes I served at the Baby Shower was my Aunt Bridget’s Egg Bake, although I modified it to fit a 9×13 pan instead of a 6×10. I made it the night before the shower, since it is suppose to sit overnight and popped it in the oven in the morning. (I was SO excited when I realized, for the first time, that I could fit BOTH pans in my small SUPER OLD oven!! Yay!!)
Since I was asked to share the recipe in the comments, here you go:
Ingredients:
- 12 oz brown and serve sausage cut into quarters
- 7 slices bread pulled apart
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 7 eggs – slightly beaten
- 3 cups milk
- 1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- 6 oz diced chilies (I think I actually used 11 oz which made for lots of chilies)
Directions:
Place bread pieces in bottom of buttered 9×13 baking pan. Add sausage and sprinkle with cheese, reserving a small amount for the top. Combine eggs, mustard, milk, and chilies. Pour over cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
A “Bun in the Oven” Baby Shower Brunch
“Bun In The Oven” Baby Shower Favors
It was so much fun hosting this shower for Erica!! I am so excited for her and her family as they get ready to welcome their new little one in the next few weeks!!
All kinds of Roses!
As I mentioned in my daybook, when Angela and her daughter arrived this past Friday for an overnight visit to attend Erica’s Shower, they arrived with LOTS of Roses!!!
How on earth did she know how much I LOVE roses?! 😉 Anyhow, I just HAD to share a few pictures…
First there was a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of White Roses:
Then there were a couple spiritual bouquets of Chocolate Roses for the girls, for giving them their room for the night:
But my favorite was the Bouquet of Baby Clothing Roses for our baby girl!!! I’ve never seen anything like it and am seriously amazed at the creativity!!! Isn’t it so neat!!??!! I don’t know if I’ll ever actually be able to take it apart to actually use the clothing… though I would love to see how it was put together!
My Daybook ~ November 9th
Outside my window… Burrrrrr!!!! It is freezing out there!
I am thinking… how nice it was of hubby to get the fire going for us this morning!! It is so nice and cozy in the living room right now.
I am thankful for… all of the wonderful friends that came over to celebrate the upcoming birth of my friend Erica’s baby this past Saturday!
I am wearing… a silver BellaBand
I am remembering… my babies, Christopher and Gabriel. November is always a very difficult month for me (they were both born/miscarried on Nov 24th, of different years, and Christopher died on the 25th), but, thanks to God’s grace, this year seems to be so quite a bit easier than in the past.
I am going… to go to the post office this week, FOR SURE. I have 6 packages that need to be mailed, and I finally have them all ready to go! While I am there I think I may pick up stamps for Christmas Cards/Baby Announcements. It is coming up fast!
I am reading… The Christmas Promise
I am hoping… to finish up my Christmas shopping this week. You’d think, since I started this past summer, I’d be done by now, but I still have a couple things to wrap up. 😉
On my mind… Advent. It begins in less than 3 weeks, and I still have lots I’d like to finish before then. I do have my Advent Candles though!!! Wahoo!!
From the learning rooms… the boys finished making their salt dough models of Mercury and are now moving on to learning about Venus. I have a few pictures to post, but not sure if I’ll be able to find the time or not… The girls finished up K week, though I did Keep it Simple! I was busy enough last week with planning the baby shower to have much extra time for lots of fun activities. We did do a couple though, which I’ll share soon. This week were on “L” and they’ll be learning about Lilacs, Lavender, Lily-of-the-Valley, Ladybugs, Leaves, Lanterns, and St. Lucy.
Living the Liturgical Year at Home… We’ll be making Lanterns for Martinmas day! I haven’t decided which we’ll be making yet, there are so many ideas to choose from including Charlotte’s, Anne’s, Tracy’s, and Dawn’s.
Noticing that… despite having no complications, I seem to have so many more “aches and pains” with this pregnancy, now that I am over 30! How can a couple years make such a difference!?! lol!
Pondering these words… taken from the book I mentioned above… I can really relate, especially this year…“It’s a terrifying thing to give your heart to that small band of people around you, knowing that relationships can be messy and that someday your heart may be broken and you’ll come undone. That’s the riskiest part of this human journey. In the past year, I think I’ve finally learned that there are some things that God doesn’t want us to forget so He allows us to go back to those memories–not daily, but on occasion–and remember. It’s in those moments we discover that somehow, some way, God entwines both remembering and forgetting and shapes them into beauty, something that actually makes sense of the mess in our lives. I still have a hard time understanding that kind of grace, and although there are days when I feel unworthy to accept it, I do. If I didn’t I’d go crazy. We all would. ”
From the kitchen… Lots of Leftovers from the Baby Shower. (Perfect for “L” week, right?!) I always make way too much food!
Around the house… Roses! I never imagined back when I named this blog, in honor of St. Therese, all the roses I would receive as a result!! Angela and her daughter drove quite a long ways to attend Erica’s shower on Saturday, so they stayed overnight Friday. When she arrived she showered us with Roses of all kinds, beautiful real roses, chocolate roses, and even roses made from BABY CLOTHING!! I’ll have to post a few pictures soon! Thank you Angela!!
One of my favorite things… Roses!
A few plans for the rest of the week:
- Tuesday ~ Bunco!
- Wednesday ~ OB check-up with my midwife
- Thursday ~ Little Flowers Meeting
- Friday ~ Well Child Check-ups for all FIVE of our children
A Picture thought I am sharing:
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