Kudos for Catholic Cuisine's Blog

For anyone who hasn't seen my previous posts raving about the Catholic Cuisine's blog, I'd like to give my ringing endorsement to them again. Here is the link for the November ideas for Catholic ways to celebrate saints and feast days with food.
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2009/11/recipes-for-november-month-of-holy.html

I highly recommend you check them out and plan to celebrate some of the feasts in November with these great meal/snack ideas. God bless.

Catholic Conference in Vandalia, Illinois

We attended the annual Catholic Conference, Celebrate the Faith, in Vandalia, Illinois again this year. We've been going every year for at least the last 9 years. It is always a very wonderful experience. I feel like we are visiting family every time we go there... and we are, our Church Family. The speakers are always very orthodox and inspiring, both in what they say and in how they live out their vocations. This year the line up included Msgr. Stuart Swetland, S.T.D., Fr. William Casey, C.P.M., Fr. Emmerich Vogt, O.P., Chuck Neff, Marc Eckel of the Splat Experience, the Apostles of the Interior Life, Matthew Baute, and Annie Karto. I was very impressed and inspired by all of them.

I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I would have liked to, because I was so busy holding little Elias. He was an attraction in and of himself. Nearly everyone was oohing and aahing over him and asking "how old is your baby?". I think little Elias was able to spread some of his own joy every time I let someone else hold him. There was one lady in a wheelchair who held Elias. She was so thrilled to be holding a newborn that she had a smile on her face from ear to ear. I came to find out later that she was recovering from a liver transplant. You could tell that she was extremely grateful to have "a new lease on life", as they say.

Our Sorrowful Mother's Ministry is a lay apostolate that offers healing retreats throughout the year, as well as, the annual conference. If you or anyone you know is in need of this blessing, check out their website for more information. http://www.sorrowfulmothersministry.org/

During the weekend they also had a benefit lunch and dinner for a wonderful man who is fighting leukemia. He is the father of 8 wonderful children and they have been a staple at the Catholic conference and retreats. Thanks to so many peoples' generosity, they were able to raise $4,000. If you or anyone you know would like to help this very humble family, you can donate through the osmm website. God bless.

Trick or Treating at The Nursing Home

The kids enjoyed trick-or-treating today at the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing home. Our homeschool group has been going there for an early and safe trick-or-treating experience for many years now. My kids have come to look forward to this wonderful experience. The residence seem to really enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes. Today was also little Elias's first time dressing up. I was at a loss for what to put on him. I've never had a baby this small for Halloween before. I finally just decided to throw something together. All I could come up with at the last minute was a Winnie the Pooh costume. It was rather homely looking, but I think it did the job. It was the shirt off of a stuffed toy Winnie the Pooh, a yellow sleeper turned around backwards, and a pair of yellow pants rolled to look like a hat with ears. Not bad for a free, home-made costume.

This was such a good way to let the kids celebrate and have fun dressing up. The residence seemed to have just as much fun watching the kids and listening to them say "twick an tweet" and a funny little "fank you". Of course that dialogue mostly came out of our little kitty cat's mouth. The others have learned to pronounce their words properly. At any rate,

I was very glad that the kids were so polite and appreciative of what they received. They even went back and told many of the residence thanks again. It made me very proud.

Visiting Some of the Cousins

This weekend we took our first 2 hour drive with the baby to visit some of the cousins up North. We visited first with Dear Hubby's sister and two of her three kids. The girls were all in heaven playing with their cousins' toys and playing ring-around-the-rosie. Aunt Anna finally got to see little Elias and hold him. He was charming and promptly fell asleep on her. Her sweet little boy didn't mind a bit and was happy to sit upon Dear Hubby's lap while Mommy held the baby.

After a short visit with Aunt Anna, we went to see my brother's family and their brand new baby, Michael. By brand new, I mean brand new! Michael wasn't even a full day old yet when we saw him. The kids were thrilled to see their cousins and meet their newest little cousin. Of course, my oldest son was very happy to see that he has another boy cousin. Things are starting to even out now on the boy to girl ratio. As of right now, my parents have 9 grandbabies---5 girls and 4 boys. We are so thankful that all 9 are happy and healthy.

Squishy Cookies, Pacie Kid, and Dip Girl

Some days I get ambitious and we do some "fun", yet educational activities. Many times, the activity directly relates to cooking or baking so the kids can practice measuring and using fractions.











This week we made, what I like to call, squishy cookies. You put all the ingredients in a LARGE bowl (the bigger the better for kids). Then you let the kids take turns squishing all the ingredients together. The longer they squish and "play" the better the dough mixes. I found the original recipe and idea for this activity in "The Preschooler's Busy Book" by Trish Kuffner. I have modified the recipe to add some more flavor and texture to our cookies. Here is the recipe I used:


Squishy Cookies

3 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups softened butter
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chocolate or butterscotch chips (stir in after the kids are finished squishing the dough.)


When done squishing and stirring in the chocolate chips, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Bake these on an ungreased cookie sheet for 12-13 minutes.


I used aluminum foil covered cookie sheets. I have found that it is easier to remove the whole sheet of aluminum foil (hot cookies and all). I let the cookies cool for a minute or two before letting the kids take them off by themselves. After a minute or two the foil is cool enough that you don't need to worry about the children burning their arms on the hot cookie sheet. It also makes for a much easier clean up, which I make the kids do. Isn't clean-up just as much a part of cooking as making the mess?

The kids had a really good time and it was something they all could do together. They especially liked putting on the aprons and acting like real chefs. Surprisingly enough, they enjoyed measuring things out and putting them in the bowl more than squishing the dough.


Pacie kid
Out of all of our six kids, we've never had a pacie kid...until now. Our little man, Elias, seems to want to do nothing but suckle all morning and most of the evening. Even when I know he isn't hungry he just wants to nurse...and he usually does until he makes himself sick and spits up for a long time afterwards.


At the grocery store the other night, I knew he wasn't hungry, but he kept fussing as I was finishing up the shopping. The only thing that satisfied Elias was to let him suck on my finger. I kept thinking, how clean can my finger really be, even though I had just washed them? I broke down and bought him a pacifier, fully expecting that he would spit it out like all the previous had done. To my surprise he took it and was quiet all the way home from the store until I could nurse him to sleep. So, I guess we have a pacie kid on our hands.

Dip Girl

Here is the latest adventures of our "Dip Girl". R is constantly getting into sour cream, veggie dip, chip dip, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, etc. I know I've posted previously the pictures of her on the table covered in sour cream or dip of some sort or another. Here is yet another example of her obsession. This time she finished off the veggie dip that I had in a sour cream container. By the time I saw her with the spoon in hand, it was too late. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. Or at least, I hope it does and soon.

More Photos of Elias

Gina, a good friend of mine, is practicing to become a professional photographer. Gina came over last Friday to get some shots of Elias. He is one month old in these photos. I think Gina did a fantastic job!

Jack-o-lanterns Teach Kids About Christ

Of course, this time of year we see pumpkins all over the place. Many of them are carved into the shape of jack-o-lanterns. My kids have enjoyed carving some of their own the past two years. However, I don't like the overly secularized versions that look really scary. We tame ours down a bit and make the event a teachable moment for the kids.

About three years ago, I received an e-mail telling of the wonderful Christian meaning behind a jack-o-lantern. If I still had it, I'd post it here, but alas it was deleted long ago. However, the gist of the e-mail was that we are like the pumpkin who is ready to be picked and has fully ripened and matured (this is when we arrive at the age of reason). We, like the pumpkin are full of pulp and seeds, icky and squishy (this is due to our personal sins). The pulp and seeds need to be removed before the carving can begin (this is the sacrament of confession which allows God to remove and forgive our sins). Then we can carve the pumpkin into a smiley face (this is God's grace coming to us and God fashioning us into a new creation). We are happy to receive God's grace and joy fills our hearts, so we too smile. The candle is placed inside the jack-o-lantern (when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, the Light of the World comes to dwell within us). When you look at a jack-o-lantern on a dark night, you can see the light radiating from within it and the whole face glows. When we are in the state of grace, we shine for all to see, especially in our secular world where there is so much darkness. The kids thought this explanation was really cool to hear as we were scooping out the pulp and carving our jack-o-lanterns.

Here are a few pictures of our jack-o-lantern fun.

We also cut up some pumpkins and made pumpkin bread. I guess those pumpkins could represent the martyrs who died for their faith. LOL!

Another really cool way to make those pumpkins evangelists for Christ, is to make a saint-o-lanterns as described by another blogger. Check out the Catholic Cuisine blog for some really AWESOME examples for the older kids to carve. These would be especially great to celebrate All Soul's Day or All Saints Day. Maybe we'll try our hands at these when the kids get a little older. Here is the link: http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2009/10/saint-o-lanterns.html