All Saints Day Festivities

We had a wonderful time celebrating All Saints Day at the local parish with two other large homeschooling families. The kids all dressed up like a saint, we attended morning Mass, and then went over to a class room for some activities. We were very fortunate that Grammy and Paw-paw were even able to come with us.
All the kids did a great job sharing some information about the saint they were pretending to be. At the end of the morning we prayed the litany of the saint while taking a walk through the cemetery. We also shared some delicious snacks and candy. I think all the kids really enjoyed themselves...and they looked so cute!

Science Club Field Trip

As an archeology field trip we went to an 1800's farm along the Ohio river to learn how archaeologists are still digging up the past. The kids were able to do a little digging of their own and learn about making bricks. The day was warm and sunny, yet very windy. We had a good time learning about history and science.

It was St. Patrick's day and the whole group was dressed in green for the occasion. It was rather cute to see all the kids wearing varying shades of green.

After our field trip we had our own little St. Patrick's Day celebration at home with lots of green!

St. Lucy's Feast Day

The feast of St. Lucy comes every year on December 13th. We have read about St. Lucy (sometimes called St. Lucia) in the past, but never really "celebrated" the feast day. I read about some of the traditions associated with her feast day on catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/. I love that site!

This year we did some of the more traditional celebrations. We read about her, ate cinnamon rolls, and had hot tea. The kids had been asking about having a "Pajama Day" for quite some time and I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to do that, since the feast is traditionally celebrate in the morning. We just carried that theme throughout the day. We even ate "breakfast for lunch" as my kids call it when we have scrambled eggs and toast for lunch. The kids said it was one of the best days of school all year...until a few days later when we had an ice storm and they got to go outside for science class observations!

Our St. Patrick's Day

Here is how we spent our St. Patrick's Day. We read the story of St. Patrick, attended the noon Mass at our parish, had a picnic lunch at a nearby park, and ate a very "green" dinner with Daddy. Here is a list of some of the green things we ate: jello, green beans, mashed potatoes, milk, beer, frosting, green ice cream, pickles, and lettuce. Of course, we all wore green, as well. It was a very festive day in the midst of our Lenten season.

Candlemas Day 2010

Here are the few little activities we did today to celebrate Candlemas Day, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (which is also the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary). We started last night making our royal icing "flames" for our edible candles. Here is the royal icing recipe I used:

2 egg whites

2 tsp. lemon juice

3 cups powdered sugar

food coloring

When the "flames" were hardened and dry this morning, we assembled our "candles" using Little Debbie's Strawberry shortcake rolls (yummy!). We cut the snack cakes in half because they were too tall to stand up by themselves. Using the remaining royal icing, I made the snack cakes look like they were dripping wax and then inserted the frosting "flame". The kids seemed to enjoy these "candles" better than last year's treats. We will probably do this one again next year.

Our home school group was invited to attend a neighboring parish's celebration of Candlemas. First, Father blessed the candles, then we processed to the church. Along the way, the kids held candles. We stopped to pray and recite a psalm response at each corner of the church. The older kids did great. However, things went terribly wrong with the little ones. R singed her eye brows and dripped hot wax on herself repeatedly, while B started to burn the pew in front of us once we got into the church. At that moment, the baby started to cry, needing to nurse, and my cell phone rang! Note to self: Do NOT let anyone under age 6 hold their own candle next year and remember to turn off the cell phone!

Despite the difficulties initially, the rest of Mass went much better (once the candles were extinguished). Father's homily was great. He did a wonderful job speaking to the kids about the importance of this feast and the reasons for the use of candles throughout the Christmas season and as a powerful symbol for Christ. Father also spoke about other culture's traditions related to Candlemas. Though, it didn't go as smoothly as I'd like, we probably will do it again next year. After all, I am a glutton for punishment. Only during times of trial, do we fully rely on God . I know that I never would have made it through that Mass without some Divine Assistance.

When we arrived home, we prayed our Chaplet of Divine Mercy and then made more edible candles. This time out of Starburst candies. Once you get the candies warm enough, they become similar to play dough. It was a very good lesson in following directions and sculpting. Overall they did very well at listening to my instructions. This was the one time I didn't mind them playing with their food.

I hope you enjoyed our pictures. God bless.

Upcoming Candlemas Day Ideas

Candlemas will be here soon, Feb. 2, and it is time to celebrate the Presentation of the Lord. (Remember, it is the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary.) Here are some great ideas to think about using in your home. Check out this blog: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/
Check back later to see which of these neat ideas we were able to use in our celebration. God bless.

Christmas at the Copper Corral

Here are some pictures of our Christmas traditions and gatherings. The first few are of our short gathering with the great grandparents and some of my husband's extended family on Christmas Eve night. Most of the pictures are of Christmas Day.

On Christmas morning we attended Mass, visited the nativity scene afterwards to sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus, and then get our picture taken with Him. After Mass, we went home for a quick lunch and then Dear Hubby read the Christmas story to us all. It was always a big production in my family when baby Jesus is finally placed in the manger on Christmas day. The kids each got to process with a baby Jesus while singing “Silent Night”. Now as a mother, I’ve tried to do this with my own children before opening presents. This year my brother and his family were visiting and shared in this tradition. It was really neat to see all nine kids (ages 9 to 2 months) lined up in age order processing with their baby Jesus. Makes me want another six! LOL! Things were a little chaotic at times, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. We had a very blessed Christmas!

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about families and family size. A friend of a friend just adopted a little girl. Friends of ours are expecting twins and this will mean that they will have 7 kids under the age of 6 when the twins arrive. I have no doubt that God will give them the strength to fulfill this monumental calling to be parents of so many little blessings. Some other friends of ours just had their 8th child. She was born with some physical problems, but after a surgery or two she should be fine for the most part. Maybe it is the inspiring examples of these three families, or just this time of year when we gather together with family, that makes me think about the importance of having the children God asks us to bring into this world.

Today is the feast of the Holy Family. I realize that nobody’s family will ever be perfect like that of the Holy Family. No parents can compare to Mary and St. Joseph. However, the generosity of those who say yes to God and lovingly accept another child into their family (whether through adoption or natural means) is inspiring to me. Pope John Paul II said that the best gift you can give your child is another sibling. I don’t know if we will be able to have any more children, but I am open to however many children God is calling us to bring into our family. What a better gift to give this time of year, than the gift of life!

Little Eli at 3 months old. He is oh, so sweet! I just want to kiss him everytime I see him! He looked so cute in his Santa hat.

Playing, Portraying Saints, and Painted Fish

We've been really busy doing all sorts of field trips and fun activities. Here are a few pictures from some of them.

This one is of the kids with another homeschooling family after a science field trip. We met them at a local pizza/arcade place. The kids had a good time running around and climbing on everything in sight.

These are some of the kids at our All Saints Day party and First Friday activities. B was St. Bridget of Sweden, and C was St. Cecelia (Though, I don't think they had blue plastic flutes back then, lol.)

This one is of our trip with to Mother of the Redeemer Farm near Bloomington, Indiana. We took the whole family and two of our friends with us. We were able to attend the First Saturday Mass, adoration, and confessions. I think the kids enjoyed the hill and the gift shop the most, though. Thank goodness, it was a very warm fall day and they could run around between activities.

Today we were invited by a homeschooling family that lives near us to meet a master fish printer, Mineo Ryuka Yamamoto from Japan. We went to their home to see some of his work. Mr. Yamamoto also taught us how to print a sea scallop. If you want to see more of his work, check out his site http://www.gyotaku.ca/ It is not everyday that you have an internationally renown advanced gyotaku artist in your neighborhood. It was really neat to see his work! The kids were very impressed and so was I.

To see the other homeschooling family's blog and more pictures of our lesson with Mr. Yamamoto, go to the following site: www.journeytotherese.blogspot.com/