Happy St. Nicholas Day!

The girls put their shoes out last night before bed, in hopes that St. Nicholas would fill them with some treats!

Now, you may be wondering why they left their shoes out on the 4th instead of the 5th, since the 6th is St. Nicholas's memorial. Well, the Church tells us that Sundays always supercede other feast days (except for solemnities), so we decided to move the feast day up a day. Besides, it was easier to celebrate it on Saturday! But this way, the focus remains on Jesus and His sacrifice on Sundays. For Catholics, every Sunday is like a mini-Easter.

Caroline got chocolate coins, some nuts, a new St. Nicholas holy card, and a St. Nicholas book. Cecilia got chocolate coins, a fruit leather (she is obsessed with these lately!), an orange (also obsessed with oranges), and a sweet Advent/Christmas board book. I highly recommend this book - its sweet, rhythmic rhyme is captivating to Cecilia. Great book for toddlers! It also has a chicken that looks just like our barred rocks, although Cecilia decided it was 'Lorpie, the one Australorp chicken. St. Nicholas also used our printer to print out a few coloring pages of himself.

See how thrilled she is with her orange?? Strange child, hee hee. It's like Marge Simpson with potatoes... "I just think they're neat!"

reading their new books

Okay, so you probably can't tell in this photo, but it was snowing!! Okay, Northerners, go ahead and make fun of us. At least we didn't rush to the store to buy milk and bread! Of course, nothing stuck, but it was neat that it was snowing on St. Nicholas Day!

Cecilia takes her first taste of chocolate (other than the tiny bite of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream Uncle Tim gave her last week)... even though there was nothing special about their ingredients, I felt better mentally that the chocolate coins had come from Trader Joe's...

Our breakfast table decked out with holy cards, our crafts, and our cute little wooden St. Nick from Jessica. Daddy made waffles for breakfast - yum! And Cecilia got to eat her orange.

Cookie time!! This was our third year to make St. Nicholas cookies using a traditional German cookie recipe. They are similar to Swedish gingerbread - thin and crisp and buttery, yum!! The girls donned aprons and "helped" - meaning that Caroline used the cookie cutter a few times and otherwise, they rolled and cut and smooshed their own little dough pieces. This is an egg-free recipe, making me feel better about them handling the raw dough!

Caroline had this expression on her face in every cookie-making photo I took...

Licking the beaters after I made royal icing... ick. Who likes the taste of plain, wet royal icing? Not me!

And here are the cookies. I tried a few different styles:

this one with a "w" shaped beard

this one with a more realistic-looking beard

and this one with no beard

Which do you like best? I can't decide, so I made several of each design!

Caroline shows the cookies off before bed!

I used the stickers from St. Nicholas Center to make tags. And here they are, all wrapped up and ready to give away secretly tomorrow morning! Well, maybe not secretly for a few who read this blog and will receive them... oh well!

Happy St. Nicholas Day to all!

First Week of Advent

Lots of goings-on here in our first week of Advent! Here's what Caroline and Cecilia have been up to:

~Our First Week of Advent 2009~

We made this St. Nicholas craft. Cecilia wanted Caroline's, so I made the one on the right for her. I can't help but think of Ronald McDonald when I look at Caroline's. :)

We got a package in the mail several weeks ago that had a sticker of St. Nicholas on it - Caroline was convinced it was from St. Nicholas! I had ordered a cookie cutter and some stickers from the St. Nicholas Center to use when making cookies or his feast day. I told Caroline we could open it at the beginning of this week, "in case it is something for us to use for his feast day." Strangely, she has been insisting, "I know it is not really St. Nicholas who leaves things in our shoes - he's in heaven! I know it is the parents!" Bah-humbug, huh? Well, after celebrating St. Nicholas Day today, she told Chris that she thinks it is really St. Nicholas and the parents.

We shopped and wrapped our gifts for the Angel Tree this week. Caroline helped me pick out socks, underwear, a jacket, and pajamas for another four year old girl, and we also got her a baby doll. Cecilia didn't really get it, but we also chose some clothes, pajamas, diapers, and a stuffed doll for a one year old girl.

I attempted to wrap the gifts with the girls... ha! They much preferred going through everything in the wrapping paper box! We will deliver the gifts to the church tomorrow when we go to Mass.

Our manger is being filled with straw to make a soft place for the baby Jesus to lay. The girls have been putting in straws for doing good deeds. Again, Cecilia doesn't really get this completely, but I give her a straw when she helps me with something (like putting a fork on the table) and if she does something nice for Caroline (gives her a toy that she wants to use).

Our Advent wreath on our poster has one candle lit this week. Our Advent wreath has been out and lit each evening at dinner, and we have been saying our St. Andrew Christmas Novena each night after dinner.

Here is our monthly altar on the china cabinet ledge.

We went to Eucharistic Adoration on Friday (our parish has it the first Friday of each month), just for about 10 minutes or so... the girls did a great job! It was totally silent, of course, and they knelt before the Blessed Sacrament, they whispered or were silent, they said a few prayers with me, and then Caroline said her own prayer (while instructing Cecilia how to say her own prayer: "Cecilia, say, 'We love you, Jesus.'"). Then they looked through a few books on St. Nicholas and Mary, and they colored these appropriate coloring pages. While the colored pencils being used on paper against a wooden pew in a completely silent church probably made a little noise (and the brief argument over the blue pencil!), I am hopeful that it didn't bother any of the other three people in the church... and if it did, we were gone after just a few minutes anyway. The girls were there with Jesus, and I think it was a nice way to begin our Advent.

Here is our "Look Around the Stable" activity from the first week: the girls glued in straw, rocks, dirt, rope, a jug of water, a candle, and they colored the beams of the stable. Next week we begin adding animals and some other objects. We have been doing this during our Circle Time.

Our nativity Mary is on the radio in the living room with a random angel (er, I mean Gabriel... just ignore the cymbals. Our nativity didn't include an angel!)... she is being told that she is to have a baby, the Son of God.

And here are our animals waiting in the stable. Just hanging out... Joseph is also on the radio but on the opposite end from Mary (the angel will visit him the second week!), and the wise men are way over on the china cabinet. They will begin to make their journey on Christmas Day!

We are gearing up for our second week of Advent - lots of feast days this week, and a busy week for us as we have things scheduled Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday... have a blessed second week of Advent, everyone!

Our Calendar

I have mentioned before how I am making saint magnets to place on our magnetic calendar. Here's a photo of how a month looks when it is complete. Each day, Caroline (and sometimes Cecilia) puts up the date magnet and the saint, if there is one that day. The saints are put up according to their feast days on the New Calendar of the Catholic Church. The saint stickers were for the Traditional calendar, making a bit of work for me... but it has been fun.

Here is a close-up. You can also see how we have cut out a tiny strip of paper with a priest's name on it and stuck it under the date magnet (I left a little extra strip of the paper to the right of each name and that part is under the date magnet). These names are from a list of diocesan priests which our archbishop has published so that we can pray for a priest each day during this jubilee Year of the Priest. The calendar hangs by our dining room table, so it is easy to refer to it each evening when we say our Prayer for Priests before dinner. Our dowel rod priest also sits nearby, making it easy to change the estments according to the day. For instance, today was the Memorial of St. Andrew, Apostle - since he was a martyr, the priest's vestments were red today.

Thanksgiving 2009 in Photos

Helping Gramma in the kitchen (okay, so she is making meatloaf here on Wednesday evening and not Thanksgiving food yet, but Cecilia enjoyed "helping" anyway!)

Hanging out with family... Grampa and Uncle Tim (and Gabby... is she a relative? Honorary Aunt, maybe?)

Helping Gramma set the table for the Thanksgiving feast

Caroline's pumpkin turkey centerpiece

Young musicians

The food! Turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce (both canned and homemade!), stuffing (both in the bird and baked in a dish... oh, and Tim's own separate dish of onion and celery-free stuffing), cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, and pumpkin and pecan pies! We didn't even bother with baking rolls, there was so much food! Oh, and we had the traditional dish of black olives on the table, much to my girls' delight!

Caroline and Cecilia with their honorary cousins, Dutch and Tyke. Try getting two kids and two dogs to all stay still and look at the camera all at once... it can't be done. This was the closest we got. You ruined it by looking away, Dutch!

This must not really be Mason... Mason would be hissing and running away. She probably gave herself a three-hour bath after escaping.

And this was a few days after Thanksgiving, but can anyone tell what is different about Caroline???

Daybook for November 25, 2009 - Thanksgiving Week!

Outside my window... our chickens dust-bathing. Well, that was yesterday. Now I don't know what's outside my window because we are at my parents' house for Thanksgiving.

If you look closely, you can see the hollows in the dust left by the chickens

We also added two new hens! They are barred rocks also, but they are kinda ugly - their combs are still very, very short. they will grow and redden when they get closer to laying age...

Caroline named them Molly and More. They are being hazed by the other chickens and are not allowed to get near the feeder... poor things have to eat when the others go to bed! Otherwise, they just live on the roost all day...

I am thinking...that I am surprised at how long my anniversary flowers are lasting! I have been re-cutting the stems every few days, so maybe that helps.

I am wondering... what to get Caroline for Christmas. I have ideas and really need to finalize them.

I am thankful... for yummy food being prepared in the kitchen tonight and tomorrow!

Learning at home... just the usual:

peeling squash and rearranging the seeds (sensory and fine motor activities)

pretending to be passengers on the Mayflower (social studies)

homemade balance beam (physical education)

pouring, digging, sand play... oops, left the sandbox lid off (more sensory activities)

From the kitchen... just made pumpkin and pecan pies, Knorr spinach dip (Maureen, are you jealous? ;), and I am sure there will be more cooking tomorrow, like the turkey brining in the cooler right now.

I am reading... blogs, Advent planning lists...

To live the liturgical year... gearing up for Advent. We had St. Cecilia's feast day a few days back, but we didn't celebrate it as her name day yet since she's not even 2 yet... plus it was Christ the King Sunday, so Caroline made a Christ the King craft for a centerpiece. This Sunday, we will get out the Advent wreath and other stuff. We also started a new thing last week... our Archbishop has a list of diocesan priests published on their website to remember in prayer each day in this Year of the Priest. So we have them printed out and cut a name out each day, which we attach to our magnetic calendar to remind us to pray for each day's specific priest when we say our evening prayer for Priests.

I am creating... still working on the seals.. one is finished another to go. I've also been creating Advent/Christmas lists, gift lists, shopping lists...

Around the house... when we get back home, setting up Advent stuff. Around "The House," we are cooking!

I am hearing... my husband, my "baby" brother, and my Dad watching Jay Leno... well, I think my dad is actually sleeping.

One of my favorite things... spending time with family and helping cook big meals!

A few plans for the rest of the week... lots of eating! My brother and his wife are coming tomorrow too. Then on Friday evening, Chris and I will go out to eat for a late anniversary celebration. Since we are in Atlanta now, we can go to a restaurant here after the girls are in bed while my parents are home to be with them if they wake up. Otherwise, I need to get to Target and/or Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy diapers (for Cecilia) and a wedding gift. Doing that on Black Friday should be lots of fun, huh?

A picture (video, actually) thought I am sharing...

Rough Plans for Advent

~Ongoing Activities throughout Advent (Nov.29-Dec.23)~

Advent Wreath

Lighting a candle each night at dinner, reading a different weekly prayer, referencing our Advent wreath poster and adding a new flame each week, adding a white candle to the center of the wreath Christmas Eve

Advent Songs

O Come, O Come Emmanuel and others found here

Circle Time

Songs, daily saints, Mary echo pantomime (actual plans and songs TBA!)

Look Around the Stable

A new-to-us idea this year, I will be using a list that I found somewhere a year ago... it has a different item in the stable each day, for instance, straw is on one day, a cow on another day, grain on another, etc. It has a brief prayer relating to each one. My plan is to make a drawing of an outline of a stable and then make cut-outs of each item (or in some cases use the real item, like the straw) and have the girls glue one into the stable outline each day. In future years, I would love to have each child draw her own stable and then illustrate the daily item inside it, and by Christmas we will have beautifully illustrated, full stables! I am thinking of adding this to the end of circle time each day.

Nativity

The girls have a cheapy wooden set to play with. We will also slowly add figures to our nativity throughout Advent. Last year, Caroline liked making Mary and Joseph travel to the stable after the angel announced Jesus's impending arrival to them. I have been eyeing play nativity stables like this one and hope to one day - probably not this year - make our own little figures for it from wood and felt...

Books

So, so many... I just cleaned out our local public library! They have NO Tomie de Paola Christmas/Advent/Epiphany books left at all, unless they find the one that was missing when I was there this weekend! We have some old favorites here, like The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and we have gathered several more from the library that have come highly recommended by other Catholic homeschooling families. I am excited to start reading them all!

Straw in the Manger

A couple years ago, I made a little manger from craft sticks. For every good deed done the girls (mostly Caroline this year, I am thinking) do, they get to place a straw in the manger, making a soft place for the baby Jesus on Christmas morning. I also came across the idea of the Jesus Stocking, in which everyone can write down good deeds done and place in the stocking as a gift for Jesus, and then you read them as a family on Christmas. I am filing this idea away for future years, when I have some children old enough to write!

St. Andrew's Christmas Novena

This prayer is beautiful. It is said 15 times a day beginning on the feast of St. Andrew, November 30, until Christmas Eve. I love the idea of making prayer beads to keep track of the number of times the prayer is said each day. We will begin this year with just saying the prayer daily and one year, we will make the beads and use them!

~St. Nicholas Day - Dec. 6~

This actually falls on a Sunday, so I suppose it would be appropriate to move the feast to the Saturday before or the Monday after... our fun surrounding this saint day will include:

* Reading our St. Nicholas books

* Putting out shoes on the evening before... in the morning, the children will find them filled with chocolate coins, holy cards, and a new St. Nicholas book (obviously this will be next to the shoes and not in them!)
* Baking St. Nicholas cookies using our new cookie cutter!! It is in a package that came last week, which has a St. Nicholas sticker on the outside... Caroline thinks St. Nicholas sent us the box! We will give them to others in "secret" like St. Nicholas did.
* Special dinner meal: pork, either this or this, both of which we have had in the past

~Feast of St. Ambrose - December 7th~

Some ideas:
* make bumblebee cookies (he is the patron of bees and beekeepers)
* eat honey (in hot tea or in a recipe)
* make or decorate a Christ candle (he is also the patron of candlemakers - beeswax) to use in the center of our Advent wreath on Christmas

~Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary - December 8~

We will:
* have blueberry muffins for breakfast (blue being the color often associated with Mary)
* attend Mass (it is a holy day of obligation!)
* have a white dinner (chicken? cauliflower? pasta with alfredo sauce? lots of possibilities!) to symbolize Mary's purity, placing our Mary statue on the table as a centerpiece
* cover our white Christ candle with white tulle, symbolizing Mary's purity as the place where Jesus, the Light of the World (represented by the white candle) dwelled within her before his birth into the world on Christmas. Idea here.

~Our Lady of Guadalupe/Juan Diego - ~

Juan Diego's feast day falls on December 9, and Our Lady's on the 12th. Since they really go hand-in-hand, I like to combine them somewhere around these dates. We plan to, as time allows:
* make Mexican wedding cookies
* make Mexican hot chocolate
* have something Mexican for dinner (catching the drift here?), probably enchiladas
* make this Juan Diego paper doll
* read The Lady of Guadalupe

~St. Lucy - December 13~

The name Lucia means "light," so we have begun the tradition to first turn on our Christmas lights on this day. We usually put our tree up around this day as well.

Also on this day, we will do some of the following:
* make St. Lucy crowns
* make St. Lucy's bread... traditionally the oldest daughter wears the crown of candles and carries the warm breakfast rolls into everyone's bedrooms that morning, which might be fun for future years. We will have our bread either for breakfast (if I make it the night before), or for lunch with cheese and fruit like we did last year. Both crown and bread can be seen here from last year.
* possibly make this paper doll of St. Lucy
* take a drive to look at Christmas lights, in keeping with the "light" theme

~'O' Antiphons~

I hope to start slowly with this... some people have made ornaments and activities to go along with these, but we will just pray them this year each evening, beginning on December 17 and going through December 23.

~Gift Making and Giving~

We have chosen two children from our church's Angel Tree... these are one and four year old girls for whom we will purchase some gifts since their families may not be able to afford much for Christmas. Caroline and I already picked out toy baby dolls for each of these girls, since that is something listed as a wanted item. We will shop for some clothes, pajamas, diapers, and a jacket for them once Advent has begun, and all gifts are due back at our church on December 11.

Gifts for family and friends... we have been making homemade gifts for the past several years, and that always involves baked goods. Since some of our home-baked treat recipients might read this, I won't share what we are making this year... but we have a few new treats to try out!

Well, this has gotten long... but it really helps me to gather all my plans in one place. I will do another post soon on Christmas plans, beginning with Christmas Eve!

Definitions by Caroline

"Mama, those silver beads on your bracelet are borgeous... that's another word for beautiful."

"Do the radar screens (in a story about an airport) show them when it's going to rain?"
Clearly, I check the weather radar on the computer far too often... even Cecilia points to the green on the radar when it is displayed on the monitor and says, "Rain, rain!"

Wordless Wednesday: Three Eggs a Day!

How to Make Elderberry Syrup

With cold and flu season here, I decided to make some elderberry syrup... much cheaper than buying the bottled stuff in the health food store! H/T to my friend Jessi for telling me how she made it.

First, you need dried elderberries and honey. That's it! Oh, and water, a pot, and a stove :)

Put 1/2 cup dried elderberries into a pot with two cups of water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer until reduced, about 20 minutes. I removed any stray stems from the berries before I put them in the pot. I got my elderberries online for $7.50 for a pound plus shipping... believe it or not, Whole Foods doesn't carry them!

Pour elderberries and liquid through a fine mesh strainer.

I found it helpful to use a wooden spoon to press as much liquid as possible out of the berries.

Discard dried berry skins (or... eat them? make them into something else?) and add one cup of honey to the elderberry liquid. Stir to combine.

Pour syrup into a clean jar. Keep in the refrigerator and take a teaspoon or so a day as a flu preventative.

A very good, easy to read blog post here for Catholics... or for non-Catholics who want to understand more about the reasoning behind the Church's teachings on human sexuality, marriage and sexuality, opposition to birth control, etc.

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/theanchoress/2009/10/17/yes-every-sperm-is-sacred/