Shower of Roses

Celebrating Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church

2013-05-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,

And in our hearts take up Thy rest;

Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid

To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O Comfort blest, to Thee we cry,

Thou heavenly gift of God Most High,

Thou font of life and fire of love,

And sweet anointing from above.

Praise be to Thee, Father and Son,

And Holy Spirit, with them one;

And may the Son on us bestow

The gifts that from the Spirit flow.

We had so much fun teaching Bud how to blow out those candles!

He was so cute, even if he couldn't manage a "mighty wind" and wasn't sure what to think of all the smoke... Here are a couple quick videos of his attempts:

And while I am posting videos (and since it only took 5 minutes to upload, after switching internet providers last week, versus all night like the videos I've posted in the past!!!) here is another one of Bud walking around (for the first time outside) yesterday after Mass. Taking away the Wheely Bug (it has it back now) was just the motivation he needed to start walking.

It was such a beautiful day! We attended the late Mass, which ended up being our parish's First Holy Communion Mass. The girls were very excited to be there to see some of their little friends from Irish Dancing receive Our Lord for the first time! I did have plans to make a 12 Fruit Salad and 7 Layer Bean Dip, but ended up just making a cake and my mom's potato salad to go along with the burgers that Sean grilled. The highlight for the children is always blowing out the candles anyways!

I hope you all had a blessed Pentecost Sunday!

(Cake Symbolism and Celebrating Pentecost link-up at Catholic Cuisine)

Bargain Priced Books Illustrated by Gennady Spirin

2013-05-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

I've always admired the beautiful illustrations by Gennady Spirin in our copy of We Three Kings. When I ran across a couple more of his books on sale for 71-72% off I ordered them to stash away for next Christmas. Here are the links in case anyone else is interested:

The Twelve Days of Christmas (Hardcover) by Gennady Spirin is just $4.91.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Hardcover) by Gennady Spirin is just $5.00.

Also, for those who still haven't ordered a copy of Angels and Saints at Ephesus, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Angels are running a Pentecost Special right now on their website! If you buy 1 or more copies of Angels and Saints at Ephesus they will send an additional copy for free! Here is the link. This sale is effective until midnight (CDT) on Sunday, May 19, 2013.

I pray you all have a blessed Pentecost Sunday!

Seven Not-So-Quick Takes :: Our School Year in Review and a Few of Our Plans for Next Year

2013-05-17T10:51:00.001-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time the past couple months making plans for our next school year, deciding which programs we will continue and where we will be making changes. Here is the link to our original Curriculum Plans :: 2012-2013.

— 1 —

Let's start with Language Arts... So far we have loved everything we have used from the Institute of Excellence in Writing! The oldest three just completed (yes, completed!!!!) the Student Writing Intensive, Level A and it has helped them incredibly with their writing. Next year we will either move on to either the Continuation Course or perhaps the Ancient History Themed Writing Course to go along with our history studies. Or maybe a combination of both? I haven't decided yet.

We have also completed Latin, Handwriting, and Vocabulary for the year. (Prima Latina was a little too difficult for my 2nd grader, so we dropped it early in the year.) We will also continue with Fix It! and all the children have been working on memorizing poems from Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization.

Phonetic Zoo and All About Spelling continue to be the perfect spelling programs for our family. The oldest two are currently working on Level B of the Phonetic Zoo and Twinkle Toes is in Level A. Chiquita will spend another year using All About Spelling before she moves on to Phonetic Zoo as well.

Snuggles started the year with the Alphabet Path and the writing portion of Primary Arts of Language. I was so happy with PAL that I purchased the reading portion as well. Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep up with all the extra fun activities for him with the Alphabet Path, but between the Primary Arts of Language and his Math he has continued to learn so much each week. I am still hoping to add my posts from C and D weeks soon and then return to the Alphabet Path over the summer and continue next year as I originally planned.

— 2 —

Moving on to Math... Bleh! As much as I have loved it in the past, I am not happy with Teaching Textbooks...

I've mentioned before that last year we enrolled our children in a local Charter School. The benefits of the Charter School, in addition to still being able to choose my own curriculum, have been that I have an "Educational Specialist" (who is a Catholic friend of mine) come to the house each week and spend one hour working with each of my children enrolled (5 hours on Thursdays, which has greatly helped keep me on track). I receive an "allotment" that can be used towards purchasing some of our curriculum, paying for music and sports, or used towards extra tutoring, etc. Some of the "drawbacks" are that I have work samples and reports to turn in for each quarter and we have extra testing throughout the year. (When we were exclusively homeschooling we were required to test in 3rd grade, 5th grade, etc. Not every year.)

Anyways, back in March my oldest three children had to take the state tests. It didn't go well. My oldest (who struggles with Auditory Processing Challenges and is currently a 6th grader) failed both tests - Math and Language Arts. Our 2nd son, who is in 5th grade, passed the Language Arts and Science, but failed Math. Our oldest daughter in 3rd grade passed both the Language Arts and Math, but just barely on the Math. (I thought for sure she would "exceed" since she is nearly a year ahead in Math.)

Over all it wasn't too bad - collectively they passed 4 of the 7 tests they were given. I felt a little better once I had a chance to see how the whole school had tested. Twinkle Toes (who I thought would exceed expectations) was the only student who passed the 3rd grade Math test. The boys, did not pass the math tests, but only 16-19% of the students in their own grade levels actually passed. (Many of the students in the charter school also use Teaching Textbooks for math.)

Is it the test? Or is it the programs being used to teach Math? I've been spending many hours the past couple months trying to figure it all out. I've been talking to friends, comparing programs, and reexamining my decision to continue with Teaching Textbooks.

If you asked me a few months ago I would have told you that I love Teaching Textbooks. Originally I switched to Teaching Textbooks out of necessity. With a large growing family and babies arriving every other year I just wasn't able to keep up with the other programs we had been using. I figured that the math they would get with Teaching Textbooks was most likely more than they would have been getting with me each day... It really did help get me through some challenging times. Yet, now it seems that it has given both myself and the children a false sense of accomplishment. How can the kids score 90-100% on all their lessons and then fail standardized tests and placement testing for other programs? And it isn't just the tests (I'm not a big fan of the tests to begin with) there are so many concepts that they just haven't learned or do not understand.

Last month I hired another tutor (a friend of mine who has been teaching High School Saxon for the past 6 years) to start working with my older boys for Math, to prepare them to retake the test, and we started realizing just how far behind they are from Saxon Math. Even after a couple months of tutoring and lots of extra studying the boys still were not able to pass the math test on the second attempt, though both of their scores did increase and Rascal "nearly met" the requirements.

All along I've been under the impression that Teaching Textbooks is a little behind and have been trying to compensate for that by having them try to get ahead in the program. (Chiquita just started TT 4 at the end of 2nd grade and Twinkle Toes should finish TT 4 soon.)

My long term plan has been to switch back to Saxon for High School. We have a co-op here that I hope to join for a few subjects, which uses Saxon. After discussing it with the boys' new math tutor, and having her compare programs, we realized just how much Teaching Textbooks is missing. It seems to start out about 1/2 year behind or so, but by High School it seems to be about 2 years behind!

Needless to say we will be switching back to Saxon next year, at least for the oldest two. After taking the placement tests my soon to be 7th grader (who just completed TT 6 and has been tutored with Saxon to help catch him up the past couple months) will still be going back to Saxon 7/6 (6th grade math). My plan is to put both boys in the same level together and have a tutor come once a week to help with any challenging areas.

I still haven't decided what to do with my girls. Twinkle Toes, who is going into 4th grade could move right over to Saxon 5/4. This would probably be the ideal thing to do for her. Chiquita who is just completing 2nd grade will probably continue with Teaching Textbooks 4 and move on to Teaching Textbooks 5, keeping her ahead a couple grades until we are ready to switch her back over to Saxon as well. Decisions, decisions...

As for Snuggles, he has been using Singapore Essential Math which he has enjoyed. I never did get to much Calendar Work with him and he definitely needs some practice there... (That is one thing I've missed from the Elementary Saxon books! I'm actually considering going back to Saxon 1 with him next year, now that I've sold all my old books! lol I think he'd really do well with the program.) I've also been happy with Times Tales, as well as a couple math apps recommended by Charlotte: Speed (definitely a favorite with my kids!) and Dragon Box. For next year I am also planning on purchasing the actual Speed Card game for the children to play against each other as well, since they enjoy the app so much.

— 3 —

Maybe it was because of the accident in the fall, but we were all ready for a change from Exploring Creation... The older boys were also ready for something a little more challenging to prepare them for High School so we switched them half way through the year to Concepts and Challenges in Science Book 1. They have just completed the sections on Biology and Chemistry. I have been very happy with this change and they will continue using this series next year. (Note: If anyone out there has hardcover versions of Concepts and Challenges in Science Book 1, 2, or 3 that you are interested in selling please contact me! These books are so hard to find...)

The girls are still working on completing Exploring Creation With Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day and their Notebooking Journals, but I will be switching programs for them next year too. At least for now... We will probably go back to the Exploring Creation Series again at some point.

Anyways, I just purchased Focus on Elementary Chemistry and Focus on Middle School Chemistry for next year. I have a few more pictures to share, but you can also read more about these books on the publisher's website Real Science 4 Kids or at Emmanuel Books.

— 4 —

The boys are still working on completing our American History Studies for this year. You can see our Election Study here and I still need to post the pictures from our Civil War Unit Study. The boys have also nearly completed their Industrial Revolution to the Great Depression Unit Study. So that just leaves World War II which we might try and study over the summer going back to Ancient History in the fall.

The girls have also continued to enjoy their American (Girl) History studies! I still need to post pictures of their Kirsten and Addy Lap Books and they are currently working on Samantha and Kit.

— 5 —

Everyone has completed their Maps Charts and Graphs workbooks and I've already ordered the next in the series for the fall. We've also continued to make very slow progress through our State-by-State study. Whenever things get too busy this is the first to get set aside...

I'm sure the kids will all want to continue making their way through the states, but next year I'd like to move on to World Geography. That reminds me of a question I have for all of you... I'd love to hear any thoughts you all have on Classically Catholic Memory. Has anyone used in in a home setting, and if so how have you liked it?

— 6 —

In addition to our usual Baltimore Catechism studies, the children all just about finished with their Living In God's Church textbooks and their various assigned stories from Young People's Book of Saints, Golden Legend of Young Saints, Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls, and More Tales for Boys and Girls.

The highlight of the year was definitely the election of our new Holy Father and our Papal Lap Books!

— 7 —

Throughout the year we have studied a couple composers, though piano lessons needed to be put on hold for now, to spend the funds (from our charter school allotment) on extra tutoring. We also had to take a break from organized sports. On the plus side it left lots of family time and afternoons and weekends spent playing outside in addition to a couple little road trips. It has been such a great year!

The other things we weren't able to get to included Blue Knights and Little Women Hospitality. It is so much harder to "make the time" when it's not done in a group setting. I am thankful that we were at least able to still have a Mother-Daughter Tea Party! I'm still considering if I want to coordinate actual groups again next year or not... We'll see.

I've been trying to get all my plans for next year finished by the end of the month and start creating new color-coded checklists for next year. The checklists were such a blessing and really did help keep us on track!

I may not have gotten to everything I had originally planned, and we may be struggling in a couple areas, but over all I think it was a very productive and successful school year.

For additional Quick Takes visit Conversion Diary.

Benedictines of Mary Angels and Saints at Ephesus Debuts At #1 Classical Traditional Chart

2013-05-16T12:06:00.001-07:00

Praise the Lord all ye Angels: A Hymn to all His Saints ~ Psalm 148

Have you ordered a copy of Angels and Saints at Ephesus yet? I've been listening to it all week, since my husband gave me my own copy for Mother's Day! Please consider purchasing a copy (it makes an excellent gift for family, friends, and even to give to teachers as the school year ends!) or sharing the link. Let's help keep them at the top of the charts!

Atlanta, GA, May 15, 2013 – ANGELS AND SAINTS AT EPHESUS from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s Classical Traditional Music Chart. The album also earned the No. 2 spot on Billboard’s new-artist “Heatseekers” chart, which encompasses all music genres.

ANGELS AND SAINTS AT EPHESUS topped a group of classical albums that includes Fifty Shades of Grey: The Classical Album and Downton Abbey: The Essential Collection.

“This is an unprecedented accomplishment for an artist, a group of Contemplative Nuns, this devoted, hidden prayerful group who do not tour and remain close to their Benedictine Rule of Life,” said Monica Fitzgibbons, co-founder of De Montfort Music. “We wish to thank all of those who have generously taken the time to help shine the spotlight on this incredible music. The Sisters also thank all those who have come out and supported this music. This generosity has allowed the Sisters to maintain their hidden life of prayer and sacriﬁce for Priests and for the whole world. We thank you in advance for continuing to help spread the word about this most important heavenly masterpiece.”

De Montfort enlisted nine-time International Grammy® winning producer Christopher Alder, who hails from Germany and two-time Grammy® winning engineer Mark Donahue to record and capture the Sisters in their contemplative environment singing all of ANGELS AND SAINTS AT EPHESUS.

“The Benedictines of Mary have again created a beautiful recording to connect us to the oldest traditions of European monastic chant and hymns,” remarked Costa Pilavachi, Senior Vice-President, Classical A+R Universal Music Group International.

The full track list for the album:

1. O God of Loveliness
2. Te Joseph Celebrent
3. Christe Sanctorum
4. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
5. Duo Seraphim
6. Veritas Mea
7. Jesu Dulcis Memoria
8. Lorica of St. Patrick
9. Est Secretum
10. Virgin Wholly Marvellous
11. Laeta Quies
12. Ave Regina Caelorum
13. A Rose Unpetalled
14. Emicat Meridies
15. O Deus Ego Amo Te
16. Jesu Corona Virginum
17. Dear Angel Ever at My Side

The album was released May 7, and a 30-minute special on the making of the album began airing on EWTN the week of May 5.

This is the second album from the Benedictines of Mary that has reached No. 1 on Billboard Magazine’s Classical Traditional Music Chart. Last November and December, the Sisters’ debut album, ADVENT AT EPHESUS, with De Montfort Music/Decca, spent six weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Classical Music Chart, and the Sisters ended up as the #1 Classical Traditional Artist of 2012, according to Nielson’s Soundscan.

ADVENT AT EPHESUS rejoined Billboard magazine’s Classical Traditional Music Chart this week, coming in at No. 15.

About the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

Founded in 1995, The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, are a young, monastic order of Sisters. The Sisters sing together eight times a day as they chant the Divine Ofﬁce in Latin.

I love all the songs on the CD! O God of Loveliness is a Poem composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori, Te Joseph Celebrent is the Vespers Hymn to St. Joseph, Spouse of Our Lady, from his feast on March 19th. Christe, Sanctorum is the Lauds Hymn for the feast of St. Michael the Archangel on September 29th. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is the Greek Seraphic hymn in honor of the Holy Eucharist. The lyrics of Duo Seraphim are chanted in the 12th Responsory for Sunday Matins. Veritas Mea is the offertory chanted on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Jesu Dulcis Memoria is a hymn written by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Lorica of St. Patrick is an excerpt from St. Patrick's famous "breastplate." Est Secretum's lyrics are words of the Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia (patron of musicians) to her husband, St. Valerian, chanted at first Vespers of her feast on November 22nd. Virgin Wholly Marvelous is a marian hymn by St. Ephraem the Syrian. Laeta Quies is chanted at Mass on the feasts of the death and translation of the relics of St. Benedict, founder and Father of the Benedictine Order. Ave Regina Caelorum's lyrics are taken from the Compline antiphon of Our Lady of the Angels, chanted between the Purification (February 2nd) and Easter. A Rose Unpetalled (one of my favorites!) is a poem of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, set to original music. Emicat Meridies is chanted at Mass on the feast of St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict and Mother of Benedictine Nuns. O Deus Ego Amo Te (you can listen to it below) is taken from a prayer written by the missionary St. Francis Xavier. Jesu Corona Virginum is the vespers hymn of the Virgin Martyr St. Agnes, whose feast is January 21st. And Dear Angel Ever at My Side (another favorite of mine) is to the Guardian Angels, sung on their feast on October 2nd. Every song is simply beautiful and inspiring!

Angels and Saints at Ephesus, the Benedictines of Mary's new CD

in honor of all the Angels and Saints, was released on May 7th.

Please help support the sisters by ordering a copy today!

It is also available directly from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: 2013 State High School Golf Championships

2013-05-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Yesterday, thanks to my dear husband who ~~has been spoiling me lately~~ took a day of annual leave to stay home with all our little ones, our oldest two boys and I were able to take a road trip with my dad to meet up with my mom and watch the final day of my youngest two brothers High School Golf Championships at the State level!

Even though Kevin and David have been playing golf for years, this was the first time I had ever been able to watch them play! It was so much fun!!

The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect day to walk the golf course.

{happy}

My boys were so happy to be able to take the day off school and cheer for their uncles!

{funny}

After landing in yet another bunker, the boys thought it was so funny when Uncle David told them that he was "going to see how many times he could hit the bunkers!" He continued on to land in a few more, but I was always so impressed at how well he could get the ball out of those things and right on to the green.

As for the hair? Well, thankfully, that was actually just a hat that their whole team and coaches (except for Kevin who only put it on for the team photo) wore during the tournament, and not a "new look" for that Godson of mine... Whew!

And NO, Captain, you may not trade hats with your uncle! I think your Dad would like it even less than Grandpa! ;)

{real}

I was so proud of both my brothers. Not only are they excellent golfers, but they have such great attitudes and have become such great young men. Kevin may not have won 1st place at State, like he did last year, but he still placed 2nd (Way to go, Kevin!!) and is also headed to college in the fall on a full 4 year scholarship for golf!

The High School team they play for (homeschoolers in our state are welcome to join the local public schools for sports) also placed 2nd - setting another new record for the school!

Great job boys! I look forward to watching you play again in the future... And maybe one of these years you can take that ~~old~~~~est~~ favorite sister of yours out and teach her how to play too! ;)

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

On Mother's Day

2013-05-12T14:37:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all my dear visitors here at Shower of Roses. I hope you are having a lovely day! My husband and children surprised me with pretty flowers and the sweetest handmade cards! (Oh! And even my own copy of that brand new CD! Yay!!) Like last year, the children painted little flower pots at the store while Sean and I shopped for garden plants yesterday afternoon. They were all so excited to show me their creations early this morning! Thank you God for blessing me with such a wonderful family!

O Good God, we thank Thee, that Thou hast given us children, made them heirs of heaven by holy baptism, and entrusted to us their training. Penetrate us with a sense of responsibility; assist us in the care of their health, but especially in the preservation of their innocence and purity of heart. Grant that we may teach them early to know and serve Thee, and to love Thee, with their whole heart. Grant that we ourselves may carefully avoid all that we must forbid them, and may assiduously practice all that we should inculcate to them. We commend them, O God, to Thy paternal care and to the guardianship of Thy holy angels. Bless, O heavenly Father, our little efforts! May our children's advancement in years be to Thy honor, and may they persevere to the end! Amen.

~ Prayer of Mothers for their Children, Mother Love

Our 2013 Annual Ascension Thursday Picnic

2013-05-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day yesterday so as soon as Sean got home from work we grabbed a blanket and climbed the hill behind our home for our annual Ascension Thursday picnic dinner.

.: Our Picnic Menu :.

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Chinese Chicken Salad

(It is traditional to eat some sort of bird since Jesus "flew" to heaven.)

Strawberries

(The fruit represents Christ, the first fruit of all men.)

Cream Puffs

(Symbolizing the clouds that were in the sky.)

Sparkling Grape Juice

(Chosen for the "rising" bubbles.)

Between the Ascension Pancakes and the Cream Puffs, Bud was enjoying all sorts of new treats yesterday...

It was such a nice and relaxing evening! We are all looking forward to more family meals outside this summer!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

2013-05-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

It has been a busy week, including a trip to the pediatricians following a little accident involving Hockey Sticks and Chiquita's thumb, but the good news is that she is feeling much better, it doesn't seem to be broken or fractured, and the weekend is finally here! Who else is ready for summer? ;)

{pretty}

The feast of the Ascension has been transferred to Sunday in our diocese, but we attended Mass anyways. It was a bit of a challenge to get myself and all seven kids to an early Mass, but I am so glad we made the effort. After Mass we came home and enjoyed Ascension Pancakes for brunch.

The Pancakes represent the earth on which Jesus walked, fresh strawberries represent the blood Jesus shed, chocolate syrup represents the roads Jesus traveled, whipped cream represents the clouds into which Our Lord ascended, and sprinkles represent the sweetness of life in heaven!

This year I just used a pancake mix along with homemade whip cream. (I still love my ISI Easy Whip just as much as ever. I didn't add any sweetener to the cream this time, since we already had the chocolate syrup and strawberries, and it was still so delicious!)

{happy}

It was so much fun to watch Bud enjoy Ascension Pancakes for the first time!

Of course, the big kids all still enjoy them too.

We are also very happy that our school year is coming to an end, and we've already completed a few subjects. This week it was "Teacher Appreciation Week." As part of our homeschool charter school we have had a "teacher" (my Catholic friend Kathleen!) tutoring the 5 oldest for 5 hours on Thursdays. (We just had another friend start tutoring the older boys for Math on Tuesdays as well. Hopefully they will both be able to continue next year.) It has been an incredible blessing!

At first we were going to make her a bunch of little gifts, like we did last year, but decided to go with a copy of the brand new Angels and Saints at Ephesus CD instead. She loved it!

{funny}

Chiquita loves All About Spelling. She is getting close to completing the 2nd level and will move on to Level 3 and most likely Level 4, before switching to The Phonetic Zoo like the older children. Recently she has been practicing segmenting words and labeling whether the segments are closed or open syllables.

She has been our most self-motivated child when it comes to her school work and writing. I am always finding little letters, cards, and stories she has written around the house and she is constantly journaling. One night this week we had a little "Spelling Bee" with the older children just for fun and Rascal won. Chiquita included that in the card she made for Kathleen, who also does a spelling lesson with her each Thursday. She was very proud of it and wanted me to take a picture. Looks like we need to add the words "won/win/winner" to her spelling list. ;)

{real}

Please tell me I'm not the only mom who stands there in the toy isle and tries to figure out what is inside those ridiculous blind bags of Lego Minifigures! I always feel so silly!! At least I'm getting better at identifying them through the packaging... I actually came home with the Revolutionary Soldier and Roman Commander minifigures I was hoping to find from the newest series, and not a Rocker Girl and Hippie like last time.

The boys were so excited to discover that there was already another new series out, and it was just the ~~bribe~~ motivation they needed to go back and finally complete their Civil War Lap Books. ;) I'll try and post pictures of the completed Lap Books soon. They turned out great!

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

The May Magnificat {and Giveaway Winners!}

2013-05-06T17:31:00.001-07:00

The May Magnificat

MAY is Mary’s month, and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season—

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?

Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?—
Growth in every thing—

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature’s motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind

With delight calls to mind

How she did in her stored

Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this:

Spring’s universal bliss

Much, had much to say

To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple

Bloom lights the orchard-apple

And thicket and thorp are merry

With silver-surfèd cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes

Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes

And magic cuckoocall

Caps, clears, and clinches all—

This ecstasy all through mothering earth

Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth

To remember and exultation

In God who was her salvation.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (1844-89)
from Maiden and Mother: Prayers & Hymns to the Blessed Virgin Mary Throughout the Year

The Winners of the May Day Giveaway in Honor of Our Queen and Mother are:

scmom (Barbara) - "What a lovely drawing! All very nice gifts. I post every day in May for Mary...one small thing I can do for love of her."
Joy Beyond the Cross - "I love, love, love all of these beautiful items. Thank you so much for the opportunity to win! God Bless!"
Melody - "I sure would love to win any of these. :) Happy May! Ave Maria!"
montanamama90 - "I would be so happy to win any of these! ~Kaylyn"
Kerry - "How thoughtful of you, Jess. What a lovely giveaway. Please enter me."

Congratulations to you all! I'll be emailing you soon for your mailing addresses.

Thank you again to Angie at Jesse Tree Treasures and to Krista for sponsoring this giveaway!

Mary, Mother of the Church, Pray for us!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

2013-05-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Last weekend we spent most of Friday and Saturday deep cleaning the girls bedrooms. After we had finished, and after a bike-ride with the older boys, I took the girls out for dinner!

It was a gorgeous day, so I choose to take them to a restaurant on the river. I had been there before, but it was a first for the girls.

{happy}

We had a 30 minute wait, since I asked to sit on the deck overlooking the river, but that gave us plenty of time to walk around and explore!

They were also very excited to be able to choose something off the children's menu (usually when we all eat out Sean & I choose a couple meals off the regular menu for them all to share). Twinkle Toes choose the hamburger with fries, Chiquita choose the grilled cheese with Salad, and Rose asked for the Grilled Cheese with FRESH FRUIT! "I LUV Fruit-uh!" Yes, she sure does!

After dinner we walked around some more before heading to the store to pick up popsicles to share with the boys, and then home. It was such a fun evening, and so nice to spend some special time with just the girls.

*For those that have asked on Instagram, Twinkle Toes skirt (and Chiquita's as well) were both hand-me-downs from a friend. Twinkle Toes' is the Sunflower Fields Yellow Skirt from Gymboree in 2007. It is so comfortable and cute, and can still be found on ebay. (Or scroll here for other sizes)

{funny}

While we were walking around after dinner, none of us noticed this goose standing on the pillar, until I saw him hiss and nearly peck Twinkle Toes on the head as she walked by! It was then that I noticed the older couple standing nearby laughing and enjoying watching the aggressive goose react to everyone who passed.

Shortly after taking this picture, a young man walked by talking on his cell phone and the goose came within inches of getting him too. We did try to warn him, he was too distracted.

{real}

My post on Facebook Sunday night:

We may be out of sandwich stuff, but at least Sean will have his favorite cookies for lunch tomorrow! #mustgoshopping

Yes, I probably should have been grocery shopping on Saturday, and we ended up having some pretty interesting meals the first few days of this week... Thankfully I was finally able to make it to town on Wednesday. And that silver pot in the background? Well, it has been sitting on my stove since Holy Saturday, filled with onion skins. I'm still hoping to get around to naturally dying some Easter Eggs. There is still time, right?! ;)

We also had a very unhappy critter (a large grey squirrel) stuck up inside our car on Saturday morning. I'm pretty sure our cat chased him up there, and he was squeaking like crazy for a couple hours. That was an interesting call to animal control... They said they would call me back, and never did. Thankfully he finally was able to escape.

And poor little Bud has been missing his Wheely Bug... I hid it last weekend, in an attempt to try and encourage him to start walking more often. Who needs to walk when you can just cruise around the house all day?! It has already made a difference, but he sure misses his wheels...

Here is a little glimpse of him in action... My favorite part is his spin to a stop at around :35!

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

May Day Giveaway in Honor of Our Queen and Mother

2013-05-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,

Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May...

I love the month of May! Summer is right around the corner, our school year is coming to an end, and the whole month is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary! (You can find some of our past feast day celebrations during the month of May in the archives.) I finally made it to town this afternoon for groceries (we have been out of pretty much everything) and picked up a small bouquet of flowers for Our Lady. (My statue isn't included in the giveaway, but you can find it here.) I pulled out my old, but favorite, Handmaiden of the Lord CD (a gift from my husband years ago) to play this month, and I also keep finding myself humming Queen of the May. Mother's Day is coming up and I thought it would be fun to start the month with a giveaway - or five... The following items have been generously provided by Krista and Jesse Tree Treasures in honor of Our Blessed Mother.

#1 - The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
sponsored by Krista - Thank you Krista!

"The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a shorter form of the Divine Office in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has long been the Church’s daily liturgical prayer to Our Lady, and these hours of praise have been used by Priests, religious and the laity throughout the centuries. Lay people used to flock to the great Cathedrals to publicly recite The Little Office during the Middle Ages, and during the great persecution, when the practice of the Catholic Faith was illegal, the Little Office was highly recommended by the Church."

Read more here...

#2 - Mary "Treasured all these... pondering them in her heart"

#3 - "Be a Son-Flower"-Follow the Son
#4 - Chosen
Inspiring Women of FAITH Necklaces
sponsored by Jesse Tree Treasures - Thank you Angie!

"These unique pendant necklaces are a beautiful witness of faith. Each one is named after a woman of the Bible and a quality she possessed or portrays a quality of a woman of faith. The necklaces are set in a silver pendant tray and come with an adjustable clasp chain. They are beautifully packaged in a coordinating organza bag. Each necklace also includes an inserted card that lists the name of the necklace and related scripture verse."

#5 - St. Therese the Little Flower Daily Journal
I purchased one of these for myself and purchased an extra for one of you!

"Many spiritual directors recommend daily spiritual reading, followed by meditation and simple journaling of thoughts and inspirations. Journals become a record of our walk in the spiritual life. This Saint Therese the Little Flower Catholic Journal was designed specifically to guide you in the practice of journaling. This high-quality lay flat wirebound journal provides ample space to write and is filled with illustrations and inspiring quotes from Saint Therese the Little Flower to guide you on her "Little Way". Also included are how-to tips to begin constructive journaling; not simply putting thoughts and feelings on paper, but directing them to help you make truly virtuous choices!"

[Update: I purchased these Journals from Casa Maria Bookstore when ordering the Mananitas CD for Chiquita's birthday. They are also offered at an incredible price from Tan at the moment, even with the shipping charges it is still less expensive than the Amazon price. I'm considering ordering a number of copies to use as prizes for next year's Little Flowers Mother Daughter Tea Party.]

If you would like to be entered in the drawing for a chance to win one of the above items, just leave a comment on this post before Midnight (PST) on Sunday, May 5th. Also, please leave your email address, or have it linked in your profile, so that I am able to contact you should you win. I will update this post with the winners on May 6th.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

scmom (Barbara) - "What a lovely drawing! All very nice gifts. I post every day in May for Mary...one small thing I can do for love of her."
Joy Beyond the Cross - "I love, love, love all of these beautiful items. Thank you so much for the opportunity to win! God Bless!"
Melody - "I sure would love to win any of these. :) Happy May! Ave Maria!"
montanamama90 - "I would be so happy to win any of these! ~Kaylyn"
Kerry - "How thoughtful of you, Jess. What a lovely giveaway. Please enter me. My email is ..."

Congratulations to you all! I'll be emailing you soon for your mailing addresses.

We know very well that the Blessed Virgin is Queen of Heaven

and Earth, but she is more Mother than Queen.

~ St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Catholic Daily Planners and the Church Calendar

2013-04-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

One of the frequent questions I am asked is how I keep track of the upcoming feast days, and whether or not I have a favorite planner.

Just the other day Annie left the following comment on my Keeping Track and Making Progress {Daily Checklists and Planners for the School Year} post from last year:

This post was very helpful to me! I switched to the checklists midyear, and it was so much easier. Thank you! I'm looking for a new calendar to keep track of feast day celebrations. Do you have a preference between the Tan one and The Catholic Daily Planner now that you've used both?

Since I actually just ordered a couple new planners for the next school year, I thought this would be a great time to revisit the topic and try to answer Annie's question.

When I recommend a Catholic Planner I always suggest either the Saints Calendar & 16-Month Planner published by TAN (I've been using this calendar for many years) or the Catholic Daily Planner by Michele Quigley (I just purchased my 3rd annual planner).

Last year I was also given a review copy of the Holy Simplicity Planner (I blogged about it here.) but after discovering that the publisher practices *Sedevacantism and the planner follows the General Roman Calendar of 1954 (which is currently used by the Sedevantists and is not the current calendar used by Traditional Catholics in good standing with the Holy See) I removed the links from my blog and can no longer recommend the Holy Simplicity planner in good conscious.

*Sedevacantism (derived from the Latin words sedes or "seat", and vacans or "vacant") is the position, held by a minority of Traditionalist Catholics, that the present occupant of the papal see is not truly Pope and that, for lack of a valid Pope, the see has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. A tiny number of these claim the vacancy actually goes back to the death of Pope Pius X in 1914. Sedevacantists believe that Paul VI (1963–1978), John Paul I (1978), John Paul II (1978–2005), Benedict XVI (2005–2013), and Francis (2013–present) have been neither true Catholics nor true Popes, by virtue of allegedly having espoused the heresy of Modernism, or of having otherwise denied or contradicted solemnly defined Catholic dogmas. Some of them classify John XXIII (1958–1963) also as a Modernist antipope. Source: Wikipedia

My family is Catholic. While I agree that there are problems to resolve within the Church, Vatican I reminds us that we won't be left without successors to the throne of Peter. As much as I wish we had more frequent access to Traditional Latin Masses (approved by the Holy Father), I am very thankful that we still have all the sacraments, and trust that the Pope, Bishops, Priests, and Masses we have are valid. When choosing a Calendar to help my family follow and celebrate the liturgical year at home it is important for me to know that the one I am using does indeed follow the currently approved Church Calendar, whether it is the New (Novus Ordo) General Roman Calendar or the (Traditional/Extraordinary) General Calendar of 1962 (used, with permission, by the FSSP and other Traditionalists in good standing with the Holy See).

Now that I've become aware of some of the issues with other "Catholic" planners I very much appreciate that both the Tan Saints Calendar and Michele Quigley's Catholic Daily Planner both very cleary state the current Church Calendars on which their planners are based, and do so throughout the planners.

Saints Calendar: This Saints Calendar and Daily Planner - 2013 includes both the New or Novus Ordo Sundays and feast days, and the Traditional Sundays and feast days (as of 1962). These latter are observed when the Traditional Latin Mass is offered. The Novus Ordo Sundays and feast days, which date from 1970 or later whenever they differ from the Traditional ones, are designated: (New). The Traditional Sundays and feast days, most of which go back centuries, are designated: (Trad.). Also included here are any feast days which no longer appear on either the New or the Traditional calendar (as of 1962) - such as the feasts of St. Philomena, St. Dismas (the Good Thief), St. Tarcisius, St. Gemma Galgani and St. Dominic Savio; these Historical feasts are designated: (Hist.). It should be noted that there was some moving around of feast days even before the New Calendar was introduced in 1970. For example, St. Catherine of Sweden is shown in March 22 in a 1931 edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints but on March 24 in a 1956 edition of the same work. In this calendar, the date in parentheses after the name of a Saint is the year of the Saint's death.

Catholic Daily Planner: It is built on the standard guidelines of both the Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI in 1970 used in the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite and the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 used in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, as well as the particular calendar for the United States of America. It does not represent all possible variants.

Anyways, back to Annie's question... Do I have a preference between the Tan and the Catholic Daily Planner now that I've used both?

This is really a tough question for me to answer since I do (and plan to continue) use both planners each year! My husband's mother always gives us each a copy of the Saints Calendar for Christmas, and I use it for the Calendar Year (Jan-Dec). I also purchase a copy of The Catholic Daily Planner to go along with our school year (July-August) though I do believe Michele also sells a Calendar Year version as well.

Since I've been using the Saints Calendar from Tan for so long, it is still my preference for planning our Saint Day Celebrations. I love that it includes the New, Traditional, and Historical Feast Days for every day of the year. I love that it highlights a saint each week. It also includes lists of all the Saints' Days & Non Moveable Feasts, Patron Saints, and so much more. This planner sits on my desk year round and is the calendar I reference when I am working on organizing the archives at Catholic Cuisine, writing my submissions for the Quiet Moments & Celebrate section at Catholic Digest, or planning our own family feast day celebrations. (You can see some sample photos in this post. The Saints Calendar is currently sold out for 2013.)

There are also some things that I really love about the Catholic Daily Planner! There are pages to include Personal Information, Friends & Contacts, and even a Web Log to easily remember all your favorite websites and blogs (like Shower of Roses, right? lol)! Since it does not include a featured saint for each week, there is more room for recording our daily plans and activities. There is a 5 page section with Daily Prayers and inspiring quotes included throughout the planner. I also love that it includes the Papal Prayer Intentions for each month!

You can also customize the Catholic Daily Planner with your choice from a number of lovely cover options. You can also choose between a Full-Size or Half-Size Planner, and you can add optional Lesson and/or Menu Planners to the back! In the past I have always chosen the cover option 3LI (Bouguereau's L'Innocence), which is definitely my favorite, but this year I went with 5AG for a change. They are all beautiful! I also prefer the Half-Sized Planner, which can easily fit inside my purse, since I do use it to keep track of all our appointments and extra-curricular activities. And even though I have added the Menu-Planner in the past, I think the new separate Full-Size Menu Planner will be perfect for me.

In summary, here is what works for me:

Saints Calendar & 16-Month Planner (for all Feast Day Celebrations and Plans)
Half-Sized Catholic Daily Planner (for all Appointments, School Plans, etc)
Full-Sized Menu Planning Booklet (Menu Planning)
Color-Coded Check Lists (Lesson Plans & Goals - Mom)
Weekly Check Lists (Lesson Plans - Children - We've tried other lessons planners in the past, but always come back to our own modifiable weekly check lists.)
Magnetic Saints Calendar (Feast Day Calendar Magnets for the children, based on the 1962 calendar)

I really don't think you can go wrong with either the Saints Calendar or the Catholic Daily Planner. They are both excellent planners which I highly recommend! Hopefully the above descriptions will help you decide which is the best fit for you and your family.

Altar Boy Resources

2013-04-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

As promised last year, my husband did write a post on Altar Boy Resources!

You can find it over on his personal blog, Unam Ecclesiam.

You can also see all the pictures from our Second Latin Mass on Facebook.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

2013-04-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

That checker at Trader Joes the other night was an excellent salesman! In addition to the Cheese Blintzes in my basket, I ended up coming home with a jar of Imported Lemon Curd and a bag of Organic Frozen Raspberries as well. YUM!!! And, yes, I did share them with all the kids... There were only 6 in the box and 8 of us at home, which thankfully kept me from eating the whole box! ;)

I also made these Coconut Creme Caramel Brownie Bites, after digging through the cupboards last Sunday trying to come up with a dessert to bring to the Potluck we were hosting after our second Latin Mass! They didn't last long and I was told that they were really good.

{happy}

Chiquita was more than happy to share her new books, which she received on her birthday last Saturday, with her big sister. Twinkle Toes ended up reading the whole series before the weekend was over!

And during the birthday breakfast, as Rose slid a barstool across the kitchen floor and over to the island so she could climb up and get her 3rd or 4th piece of melon, I said "Wow! Somebody really likes cantaloupe!" She turned with a big grin and said "YES!!! I DO!!! I LOVVVE IT!!!!"

She was one happy, and apparently very hungry, little girl!

{funny}

The weather has been just beautiful all week and we have been spending lots of time outside enjoying the fresh spring air. Bud especially loves the swing!

"AAaaaahhhhhh!" aka "Look at me, everybody!!!"

{real}

Do any of you ever relight the candles on birthday cakes? Our older children always love having us relight them (when we are celebrating with just our family) for the little ones to blow out too.

You can see all the other pictures from Chiquita's "Josefina" Birthday Party here.

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

Please Pray for the Soul of Neumann Press Founder

2013-04-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Dennis McCoy, founder of The Neumann Press.

Our family has been so blessed by the books from Neumann Press - the precious baby records (reprints of the one my husband had from his own childhood!), traditional coloring books our children love, the gorgeous hardcover copy of Sermons of the Curé of Ars we read often at dinner, and so many other inspiring and beautiful Catholic books they have reprinted. We've slowly been collecting them all to share with our children.

May God reward him greatly for his dedicated service in promoting and spreading the Catholic faith!

Réquiem ætérnam dona ei Dómine;

et lux perpétua lúceat ei.

Requiéscat in pace. Amen.

Saint George and the Dragon :: A 3-D Sugar Cookie Story Quilt

2013-04-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

IN THE DAYS when monsters and giants and fairy folk lived in England, a noble knight was riding across a plain... ~ Saint George and the Dragon

Even though it ended up being a two day project (we started the cookies yesterday, before I left for a night-out with friends, and finished decorating them today after our new math tutor left), the kids all really enjoyed creating another Sugar Cookie Story Quilt in honor of the feast of St. George!

They went with pretty much the same design as last year, with a few changes. Mainly they just wanted to make this year's cookie quilt 3-D by standing up the Castle and Dragon, and adding St. George!

A couple lightning bolts "glued" on with melted candy completed the "huge flames that covered all the heavens with smoke and brimstone so that the knight was forced to retreat to save his body from the scorching fire."

And I loved how "St. George" really made sure that fire-breathing dragon "would stir no more..."

Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. ~G. K. Chesterton

Happy (belated) Feast of St. George!

Feliz Cumpleaños Chiquita :: A "Josefina" Birthday!

2013-04-23T11:19:00.002-07:00

On Saturday we celebrated Chiquita's 8th Birthday! This year she requested a Josefina themed birthday party. I hadn't been feeling well all of last week, and was overwhelmed from way too much paperwork, other commitments, and a 12 year old boy who had been sick all night Friday/Saturday morning. Thankfully I had put a little thought into her birthday weeks ago and had supplies and a few activities planned to make sure she had a special day, even though we kept the celebration simple and to just our immediate family.

Chiquita was given Josefina, her very first American girl doll, for Christmas in 2010. This past year the girls also completed a Unit Study and Josefina Lap Book. And last Christmas Chiquita received a dress-up clothes to match Josefina! The first thing Chiquita did when she woke up was put on her Josefina outfit!

.: Las Mañanitas :.

mañanitas (may-nyah-NEE-tahs) - a traditional song sung to wake someone in the morning on a special day ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

Usually I try to have a cake baked and decorated the night before, for the children to discover when they wake up in the morning, but Friday night Sean and I were out late (He had choir practice for our Latin Mass and I needed to run a few errands. Afterwards we went to every store in town trying to find a bike for the birthday girl.) so early Saturday morning we got up early, wrapped a few gifts, placed some flowers on the counter, along with a coffee cake and melon for breakfast. We then "woke up" the birthday girl singing Las Mañanitas! I purchased a beautiful Mañanitas CD from Sister Servants which we played all morning.

We sing songs for your feast day, which were sung by David, King,

Now we sing them in your honor; Of all your beauties we sing,

Awake now, my love, awake now, the dawn has already flown;

hear the little birds are singing, the moon's already gone home...

Along with the Coffee Cake and Melon the birthday girl also enjoyed New Mexican Hot Cocoa!

Esteban and Mariana brought a wonderful gift. It was a melon that had been buried in sand since last fall's harvest to keep it fresh. When Josefina thanked her, Mariana said, "It's not much, but my heart goes with it." ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

Tia Dolores had made a special fancy loaf of bread.

~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

Twinkle Toes made sure to add a Statue of St. Joseph to the decorations for her little sister.

"The morning song was only the first surprise in a day full of them. Ana made cookies called bizcochitos for everyone to eat before breakfast. At morning prayers, Francisca showed Josefina how she'd decorated the family altar with garlands of mint and willow leaves and how she'd surrounded the statue of San Jose, the saint Josefina was named for, with white wild lilies and little yellow celery flowers. Clara, who liked to be practical, surprised Josefina by helping with her chores." ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

.: Memory Boxes :.

The girls had also been saving the Memory Box Craft Kits they received for Christmas to paint on Chiquita's birthday!

"Papa had given her a little wooden box of Mama's. Josefina called it her memory box because in it she kept small things that reminded her of Mama, such as a piece of Mama's favorite lavendar-scented soap." ~ Meet Josefina

The girls had so much fun painting their own little wooden memory boxes!

Rose didn't want to be left out of the painting fun... I ended up finding a wooden egg for her to paint. She painted it pink, of course, and has been carrying it around ever since!

.: Snake-Bite Calzone :.

Then everything happened so fast it was a blur. The snake gave a menacing rattle. Mariana threw the rock at it and missed. The snake whipped its head around, shot forward, and struck Mariana on the arm with its fangs." ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

Shortcake had suggested incorporating a snake into our party, and Charlotte found me a recipe from Kraft for a Snake-Bite Calzone! Of course I needed "a five year old boy and a three year old girl" to help make a special lunch for the birthday girl! ;) The prefect distraction for my two "helpers" while the girls finished painting their memory boxes!

Rose wasn't sure she was interested in eating "snake" for lunch... even if it does taste like pizza!

The birthday girl, on the other hand, thought it was perfect!!! And the boys? Well they said next time we need to make 4 or 5, not just one. It was GOOD!

He handed her something that looked sort of like a shell. It was rattles from a rattlesnake. "I've saved these since I was a boy just your age," said Papa to Josefina," to remind me of something I was proud of. Now I am giveing them to you, because I am proud of you." ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

.: Spanish Appetizers :.

There were meat turnovers, and fruit tarts, and candies fruit that looked like jewels. ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

Thankfully I had picked up lots of appetizers (which helped make up for not having enough Snake Calzone) at Costco including Mini Chicken Tacos, Beef Taquitos, and Chicken, Pepper Jack and Jalapeño Empanadas, with Chips and Salsa.

.: Spanish Songs and Games :.

"Popular pastimes from Spain included singing games such as La Vibora de la Mar (The Sea Serpent), which is similar to London Bridge, and guessing games such as El Floron (The Flower), which is much like Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

We choose a few games from The American Girl's Party Book. This book is out of print, but we were able to purchase a copy for pretty much the cost of shipping. We choose a few Spanish Songs and Games to play outside on our beautiful spring day!

El florin (el flo-ROHN), or The Flower

One player is the Guesser. The other players sit in a circle holding their closed fists out in front of them. The Guesser closes her eyes. One of the players hides the floron - a flower blossom or other small object - in her hand. Then players chant the lines below as the Guesser tries to guess who has the floron. If the Guesser is correct, she and the hider switch places.

The flower goes in the hands,
And in the hands it has spoken.
Guess who has it, guess who has it,
Or be taken for a fool!

It look a little while to explain the concept to our little Rose! When Chiquita opened her eyes the first time and I said "Ok, who do you think has the flower?" Rose immediately forgot about keeping her fist closed and pointed to Snuggles hand shouting "HE HAS IT!" to Chiquita! Lets try that again...

The Rainbow

Players choose a home base. One player is the Angel. The other players are the Rainbow. They each think of a color to be - without saying their color out loud. Then the Angel calls out a color. When a player's color is named, she runs for the base while the Angel tried to catch her. If she reaches the base before the Angel, she chooses another color and rejoins the rainbow. If the Angel catches her, that player is out of the game.

The Sea Serpent

This game is much like London Bridge. Two players hold their hands up high to form a bridge. The other players form a line, each holding onto the waist of the player in front of her. The line weaves under the bridge like a sea serpent as the players chant the lines below. At the next-to-last line, the players forming a bridge drop their arms to catch a player. Gently they rock her back and forth. Then the game starts again.

The sea serpent we like to play
To have fun, to have fun.
Under the bridge all on a track,
Children in front go faster and faster.
If you don't follow, you'll stay back,
Back, back, back, back.

.: Birthday Gifts :.

"Josefina swirled the shawl around her shoulders and looked behind her to see the brilliant embroidered flowers and the slippery, shimmery fringe on the back. She fluttered the fan and felt very elegant indeed." ~ Happy Birthday, Josefina!

Chiquita was so very excited to open her own very beautiful shawl sent from her madrina!

She also loved the birthday card her padrino had mailed to her!

She also received a couple new outfits for summer, the set of Kit Books, the set of 4 American Girl movies, and her first very own bicycle!

.: Josefina's Leather Pouch and Flowers :.

"She walked across, picked the primroses, and tucked the stems in her pouch. She let the yellow flowers stick out so that they wouldn't be crushed." ~ Meet Josefina

The birthday cake was inspired by Collette, and based on Josefina's Leather Pouch and Yellow Evening Primroses! I posted a tutorial here: Josefina's Primroses in a Pouch Birthday Cake

Even though the cake was one of the easier cakes I have decorated, I was so happy with the results, and so was the birthday girl! It turned out so pretty, and looked just like Josefina's pouch.

We love you Chiquita! Happy Birthday!

Josefina's Primroses in a Pouch Birthday Cake

2013-04-21T12:41:00.002-07:00

"She walked across, picked the primroses, and tucked the stems in her pouch. She let the yellow flowers stick out so that they wouldn't be crushed." ~ Meet Josefina

Yesterday we celebrated Chiquita's 8th Birthday! This year she requested a "Josefina" party theme... After a busy week, I was exhausted and still not feeling well on Friday so we actually picked up a "Caramel Tres Leches" cake at Costco as a back up to the cake I had originally planned on making. Thankfully Saturday morning I was starting to feel a little better and managed to pull together her requested theme!

I'll be back later to share the rest of the pictures from her special day, but first I wanted to post pictures of her cake! The cake was inspired by Collette at The Art of Being Mama. Collette was kind enough to answer a couple questions for me and I was so very excited with the results and happy with how quickly the cake came together. So was the birthday girl! :)

Supplies:

2 - 9" Round Cakes, baked and cooled
1 can Chocolate Frosting
1 can Milk Chocolate Frosting
1 can White Frosting
1 Werher's Caramel Candy
Yellow Citrus Gum Dropsy
5 Orange Gobstoppers or Sixlets
Green Gum Drops or Spice Drops
Green Apple Twizzler Pull-n-Peels

Starting with 2 - 9" round cakes, I trimmed the tops to make them level and then stacked them on top of each other, filling with extra frosting, flipping the top cake over so the flat bottom side left a smooth flat surface for the top of the cake. I then cut one end off to create a flat edge to the purse. Using the scraps to create a flap, I added one of the cut sections to the top. I wasn't quite happy with the size of the flap so I trimmed some of the remaining cake to add to the flap as well. (This worked out fine covered with frosting.. At least until I tried to place the candles along that edge!)

I mixed about 1/2 a can of white frosting into a full can of Milk Chocolate frosting (which is already lighter than the regular chocolate frosting) to create a light brown. I then frosted the whole cake with the light brown frosting. Using a Pampered Chef Cupcake Decorating Bottle and tip (similar to this set) I piped on the darker chocolate frosting to create the leather stitching around the edge (going back and adding a loop for the button and the tie after I had finished creating the flowers).

To create the sprig of yellow evening primroses I cut the yellow gumdrops in half to create the flower petals with an orange Gobstopper in the center. The stems were made with strips of Green Apple Twizzler Pull-N-Peels, and the leaves were made with green spice drops cut in half diagonally and then pinched into a leaf shape.

Feliz Cumpleaños Chiquita!

Our Annual Little Flowers Mother-Daughter Tea Party

2013-04-18T11:14:00.001-07:00

On Saturday afternoon we had our 5th annual Mother-Daughter Tea Party! (You can find pictures from 2009, 2010, 2011-which was a Marian Tea followed a few months later with a birthday party, and 2012 in the archives.) Since we have been taking a break from Little Flowers this year, having completed all four wreaths, I wasn't planning on having another tea until a dear friend offered to host it at her home the day after her own daughters Mother-Daughter Tea Party, leaving me to just coordinate the guests, food, servers, games, prizes and favors! It was so incredibly generous of her and her home was decorated beautifully! Honestly I don't know how she did it, hosting a 3rd large tea party immediately after my groups... May God bless you and reward you, Stasia!

This year I did ask for a small donation of $5 per family, to help offset the cost of a little hostess gift and tips for the servers. I provided the napkins, favors, games, and prizes, Stasia kindly provided her home with all the decorations, tea, sugar, cream, lemon slices and place cards, and each of the other moms was asked to bring one or two of the menu items for this year's Four-Course Tea.

As always we asked all the guests to wear "Victorian Attire" and required Hats and Gloves.

There were extra hats and gloves available at the door.

As we waited for all the guests to arrive the girls enjoyed playing Bocce Ball and then we quickly took a few group photos. Our tea then began with a prayer:

~ Tea ~

~ The First Course ~

After filling all the teacups the servers brought out bowls of Tomato Basil Soup for our first course this year. Some of the girls loved the soup, others did not, but I thought the soup was a great addition to the tea party!

Following our first course we had a Mother-Daughter Cupcake Puzzle Race while the servers cleared the soup bowls and prepared for the second course.

~ The Second Course ~

Our second course this year included various sandwiches and appetizers. It was all delicious, but my favorite was the yummy little Cherry Tomatoes cut in half and filled with a piece of mozzarella and basil. Yum! Thankfully none of the other little girls at my table wanted any, so I was able to have plenty! ;) They did, however, polish off all the little sandwiches.

Following this course we all headed outside to dance around the Maypole!

~ The Third Course ~

Our 3rd course this year was the Grapes, Strawberries and Scones with Cream, Lemon Curd and Jam! In past years this has always been our first course, but we switched it around since this course always seems to make a mess out of the plates. It worked out very well, having it after the sandwiches this year.

Following this course we played another Indoor Party Game, Little Flowers Bingo!

~ The Fourth Course ~

Our 4th and final course this year was the desserts. One of the mom's brought little brownies, another brought gluten-free samoas, and another brought lots of tea type cookies which the servers stacked into towers!

This course concluded our tea and the girls all went outside to play The Game of Graces while the moms helped clear and re-set the tables for the tea party that was following our own.

~ Party Favors ~

In addition to the prizes from the games, each guest was also sent home with a party favor.

It was such a beautiful day and I am so grateful for the opportunity to create these special memories with my girls!

St. Therese the Little Flower, Pray for us!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

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~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

I think colored pencils are so pretty! I especially love them when they have fun names, like "peacock" and "golden beak!" This extra thick set is the Gold Birds Metallic Pencils from eeBoo, and is what Rose has been using to color her Easter Coloring Page.

{happy}

The big girls were very happy that we were still having our annual Mother-Daughter Tea Party, even though we completed Little Flowers last year.

The boys were also very happy to serve for the tea, once they found out that three of their friends were willing to help as well. The $5 tips they each received were definitely an added bonus!

I heard one of the boys say "We can each get a new mini-figure!!!"

Yes, they were very happy, and they did an excellent job!

{funny}

The weather has been crazy this week! On Monday we had grey skies... Rain... Hail... Snow... More rain... Blue Skies... Sunshine... Grey skies... More hail... and then the blue skies came back. It is sunny (yet still a little chilly today) but thankfully the blue skies are back. I'm hoping they will stick around! I'm so ready for summer.

The kids did enjoy the hail and all ran outside immediately before I caught them and told them all to "GET BACK INSIDE!!!" Thankfully it wasn't damaging hail, but still!

Later we discussed hail, and all the potential hazards... ;)

{real}

Where is this poor little boy's momma?! He fell asleep half way across the tile floor while I was making pizzas for lunch last Friday afternoon for the kids and our visitors. Poor baby! I wasn't going to take a picture (proof of what a awful mom I am sometimes!) but my friend insisted. Don't you just love the drool and his little toes tucked under his bottom. And that little bruise on his forehead? Well, he has started banging his head on whatever is closest (including that hard tile floor) when he is upset or doesn't get his way... I've never had a baby do that before!

In my defense, he doesn't usually fall asleep on the floor.

I posted proof on Instagram the other night... ;)

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

Indoor Tea Party Games

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In between each course of our tea party, while the servers prepared for the next course, we played party games! I loved all the suggestions that were shared, but since I ran short on time and since we included some new outdoor activities (Bocce Ball, Maypole, and Graces) this year I opted for a couple favorites from last year's tea party: the Cupcake Jigsaw Puzzle Race and Little Flowers Bingo.

.: Cupcake Puzzle Race :.

This year for the Cupcake Puzzle Race, instead of using two 100 piece puzzles and having the girls race the mothers, we used six smaller 60-piece Cupcake puzzles and each family worked together on a puzzle (we did have two girls attending without their mother, so they each joined the groups that only had 2 to even out the teams).

As each group finished I awarded saint medals and crosses to each person!

.: Little Flowers Bingo :.

Our other favorite is Little Flowers Bingo: Flowers & Gems! I had brought a basket filled with 13 prizes (one for each girl) and we played until everyone had gotten to choose a prize. We played various ways - regular Bingo, 4 Corners, etc. Next time I'll have to add a variation that is just the gemstones, or something like that. Anyways, if a girl had more than one Bingo I did have a bag of chocolates for additional prizes.

Well this post includes the last of all the games and activities we had during this year's Mother-Daughter Tea Party! I have a busy day ahead, since we are (finally!) signing papers this evening on our home refinance... Still I will try and pop back in soon to share the last of the pictures from the tea, including all the lovely decorations and delicious food. I hope you all have a blessed day!

The Maypole and our Beautiful Catholic Faith

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"The May-pole is up,

Now give me the cup;

I'll drink to the garlands around it;

But first unto those

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crown'd it"

-Robert Herrick, The Maypole, 1660

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, even though we had a forecast of rain and snow the weather cooperated for our Mother-Daughter Tea and we were able to include some outdoor activities for the girls including a Maypole!

According to wikipedia, a maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost (Whitsun) although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer.

My creative friend, who hosted our tea party this year, made a Maypole with flowers, ribbons, and an umbrella on a stand! How clever is that?! Even though the symbolism of the maypole has been continuously debated for centuries, and no set conclusion has ever been arrived at, Stasia explained to all the girls that she likes to think that all the individual ribbons represent the many different aspects and doctrines of our Catholic Faith, and when weaved together they create something complete and beautiful!

We had 13 girls participating in this year's tea, so she attached 14 ribbons to the "maypole" since an even number of ribbons is needed. (A couple of the moms took turns with the last ribbon.)

Half of the girls encircle the pole in one direction, each holding a ribbon, and the other half face the other direction. To start, one line of girls is to go in first, the other to go out first. To weave the ribbons, a little song can help:

In and out, in and out,

Weave the ribbons tight;

‘Round the Maypole we will dance

To the left and to the right.

The girls alternate between going in towards the pole, and under the ribbon of person coming towards them. Then, they go out away from the pole, raising their ribbon over the person moving towards them.

The girls had so much fun with this activity and it was such a great addition to

this year's Mother-Daughter Tea Party!

The Game of Graces

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One of the games I choose for the girls to play during this year's Mother-Daughter Tea Party was the game of Graces, as suggested by Eliana. It was so much fun!

According to Victorian World, Graces is a game that dates back to the 1830s. It was originally intended as an indoor parlour game, but could be played outdoors as well, and due to its popularity, it often was. It was a two-player game which used two wooden throwing rings, (usually decorated with ribbons), and four catching wands. Each player held two catching wands, one in each hand. The first player would place the rings over the wands which he/she held, then toss the rings, one at a time, to the other player. The winner was the player who had caught the most tossed rings within a set amount of time. It was generally considered a "girl's game" as it was meant to encourage gracefulness--hence, the name, "Graces."

We also read the following from the section on Colonial Party Games in our out of print copy of The American Girls Party Book: Each player has 2 sticks. (Our girls used one "stick" each so that more girls could play at the same time.) Dowels from craft or hardware stores work well. (I used knitting needles.) The players use the sticks to toss a small hoop, such as an embroidery hoop, back and forth. For fluttery fun, wrap ribbons around the hoop and let the ends hang down as streamers. Keep wrapping ribbons until the entire hoop is covered.

Here is the link to additional ideas for Little Flowers Girls' Club Tea Party Games. You can find all our 2013 Mother-Daughter Tea Party Posts here and all Little Flowers themed posts here.

Beginning with Bocce Ball {and a few Group Photos!}

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Despite a forecast of rain and snow the weather cooperated beautifully, even if it was cold, for our Mother-Daughter Tea Party and we were able to enjoy a few outdoor activities! We started with a game of Bocce Ball in the backyard overlooking a beautiful golf course, as we waited for all of our guests to arrive.

"Bocce ball is a game of Italian origin that two to four people can play in the yard, on the beach or on a strip of gravel. Game balls come in two sizes and the goal, in essence, is to roll the large bocce balls closer to the small "target" ball, called the pallino, than your opponents manage to do. In each round, the player who gets closest to the pallino earns a point. It may seem easy, but the game requires precision and patience. Eye-hand coordination is your best asset for winning this game." - Ehow

In the meantime the moms stood around and chatted and the girls peeked through the windows at all the beautiful decorations... They were very excited for our tea to begin.

Once everyone had arrived, and before letting all the girls into the house for tea, we took a few quick group photos!

The Little Flowers

(with a few new friends this year from Irish Dancing!)

Mothers and Daughters

Our whole group with our five handsome servers!

Here is the link to additional ideas for Little Flowers Girls' Club Tea Party Games,

and you can find links to all my past Little Flowers Posts here.

Little Flowers "Maypole" Tea Party Favors and Prizes

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We had such a lovely time at our our annual Mother-Daughter Tea Party yesterday afternoon! I have so many pictures to share that I hardly know where to begin... It is going to be a very busy week, so it may take me a little time to get to it all, but I think I will start with the party favors and then move on to the games before I finish with the pictures from the actual tea.

As always, I created little party favors for the girls. Back in 2009, for our first tea, I gave the girls little St. Therese plaques. The next year I hand-painted little St. Therese dolls for each of the girls. For our 3rd tea I filled white paper "Tea bags" with treats along with Tea Pot Lollipops. And last year I repeated the "Tea Bags" once again along with Pretzel Rods dipped in white chocolate and pink sprinkles.

This year I decided to do create favors similar to the ones I made for the Baby Shower of Roses. I headed to the dollar store to look for favor boxes and after discovering some "marshmallow poles" decided to try and incorporate a "Maypole" theme as well, since we were hoping to have a Maypole activity this year (more on that later).

Originally I planned to make my own chocolates again, but ~~my husband said he'd rather pay for chocolates than wash my candy molds, which I have a habit of leaving in the sink!~~ it was easier to just pick up some at the store. ;)

Favor Supplies:

Pink Favor Boxes with Ribbon (Dollar Store/Baby Shower Section)

Marshmallow Poles (Dollar Store/Candy Section)

Dove Raspberry Chocolates (Pink)

Hershey Nuggets (Silver)

Bubbles (Wedding Supplies)

The Little Flower Holy Card (free download)

They were very easy to assemble and turned out very cute!

I also filled a basket with Bingo prizes...

... and picked up a little rose plant and box of cookies as a very small* thank you for our hostess.

*I feel like I can't thank her enough for sharing her home with us and saving me so much work!

Once again I am fighting a cold/cough and I need to get back to my ever growing "to-do" list, but I'll be back with more pictures from our tea party soon!