St. Joseph the Worker Coloring Page

I have to tell you a funny story about this coloring page. I was scanning in my recent drawings and started with St. Joseph doing all of the same things I have done in the past. I loaded the drawing in the scanner. Found the scanning software I am familiar with. Placed the little box around the preview picture and initiated the final scan. The final image didn't look quite right. St. Joseph was a little crooked, kind of leaning over to the right and chopped off on the sides. Every. single. time. I checked to make sure that the drawing hadn't gone cattywampus in the scanner. I double checked the box around the image to make sure it hadn't somehow tilted. Everything was as it should be, except the final image. So husband came home and thought that maybe, since the scanner is kind of old, something had broken and the part that does the scanning was going wonky. (BTW, that's my computer jargon, not his. He uses real technical language and I just smile and nod.) So he brought home a new scanner, set it up and grabbed one of my drawings to test it out. St. Mark turned out great. No problems. Home free! So I sat down to finish up St. Joseph and......there he was still looking like he hadn't found his sea legs! So by now, I'm starting to think that sweet old St. Joe just didn't want to be colored. Maybe he thought I did a terrible job with his hands or his beard and just couldn't allow this coloring page to come to fruition. We tried it over and over with the same results. We reconnected the old scanner and tested it on a new drawing and it worked fine. Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. I tried it and SUCCESS! It worked. And all I had to do...

...was scan him upside down.

St. Joseph Coloring Page



P.S. Whether you agree with this practice or not ya gotta chuckle at the irony. Technically speaking, Husband thinks it had to do with the carpenter's square throwing off the adaptive technology thingy.

PSA

I am working on some homemaking projects right now that will need my attention, plus the children are going to be finishing up some schoolwork and starting some new studies (Texas history, new math program, etc...) so I might be a bit absent from the blog. I will have the St. Joseph coloring page later this week but if you are looking for Garden of the Good Shepherd ideas, I will send you over to Jessica's place. We are expecting rain all week so our outdoor activities will be limited and our indoor time has already been claimed so just doing the stickers might be all we can accomplish. Happy Monday! Have a great week!

St. Mark Coloring Page

Here is the coloring page I made for St. Mark based on this holy card from Conception Abbey. Oh my, don't you just love the colors? I wish I could order one of each of the gospel writers and frame them. Or maybe I could find 25 people who would each want a set. Or maybe I'll just order a set of each and give them away...tee hee!

Anyway, go see all of the beautiful things to be discovered at The Printery House and happy nameday to all the Marks!

St. Mark Coloring Page

St. Gianna Coloring Page

St. Gianna's feast day is on April 28th but I have her coloring page already completed and uploaded to Scribd. I just have to say that trying to turn a photo of a real person into a coloring page is so much harder than a painting or an icon! I kept working on St. Gianna and it kept looking more and more like a pencil portrait not a coloring page. Finally I just had to black line it and be done with it so I am not totally happy with the result. My husband and a dear friend helped me to remember what my original purpose was for making these coloring pages and hopefully that will help mediate my angst.

St. Gianna Coloring Page

I also have St. Joseph the Worker and St. Mark ready to go but... my scanner broke yesterday. Husband assures me that he can get the new one up and running tonight in time to post St. Mark's tomorrow. It's not a picture of St. Mark, but rather his symbol based on this really cool card. Oh, and while you are planning for next week, don't forget St. Catherine of Sienna on the 29th. Bye!

Doesn't matter what it looked like before...

...here's what it looks like now!

Here's a round up of the dragons we've seen that by now have surely been slain.

Bless Us O Lord ~ Barb's has the look of a baby dragon to me. Very cute!

Shower of Roses ~ Jessica's kids sound a lot like mine!

Bountiful Blessings ~ Melissa's cupcakes are perfect for a simple, creative celebration.

God's Canvas ~ Check out this fierce beast! Oh, he's trying to be timid in his pastel garb, but those eyes tell you he means business.

Happy St. George's Day!

BigBoy wanted a blue dragon this year and I wanted to put some fierce on this one with blood shot eyes but they wouldn't let me. We compromised with red (Kissable) eyes. You can check out past dragons here and the instructions for building a dragon cake here and here.

We are off to share our dragon! I would love to see yours if you made one and will link to them below. Have a wonderful day!

Log Cabin Village

subtitled: Field trip! Whoo hoo!

"On this day we plant acacia~
Pile bright flowers on grassy mound,
Dropping tears of kind remembrance,
Where a soldier's grave is found.
And, with reverential spirit,
To the God of battles pray
That our sons may proudly cherish
This our San Jacinto Day."

Today was a lovely day for a field trip and the perfect jump start to our history studies. Since the girls have finished up with their American Girls history studies, I think we are going to spend the remainder of the year with Texas history and what a great place to begin but the Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth! These log cabins were all built in the mid 1800's, disassembled, moved and put back together like giant jigsaw puzzles in this location to create a village of history.

And... today being San Jacinto Day, we couldn't have asked for better inspiration. We came home and read from one of our favorite Texas history books about the Battle of San Jacinto and will peruse our more detailed map of Texas later to find the locations of these historic events. But for now, we are content with looking at pictures and making plans to return with Daddy who is our resident history nut. Hope you enjoy the montage below.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

*And to my sweet friend who wasn't able to join us today, you name the date and we will meet you there with lunch pails in our hands and bonnets on our heads!

The Story of Faith

Faith's amazing mom, Myah, has just posted an email she received along with the address it came from. Usually I say, don't feed the troll but this time, I think it's best to stand up to a bully. I doesn't look like a real email address but it's what is posted. And maybe a nice email to Myah might help her forget about it!

UPDATE: Myah has chosen to delete the post, but I am sure that a kind word would still be welcomed! Her email address is on her profile page.

UPDATE #2: This post.

Aaaaarrrgh!

I hate spring/summer colds. After the multiple rounds of nasty stuff we endured this past winter, you would think that something as mild as a summer cold wouldn't bother me. Hah! The problem with a summer cold is that the weather is beautiful outside and it beckons and calls to you along with all of the projects on your to-do list. And you don't feel so incredibly rotten that you can justify staying in bed with the covers over your head but as soon as you get up and try to tackle one of those tempting tasks, all of the energy drains out of you and you end up collapsed on the couch anyway where you feel like a wimp and a whiner. Which at this point... I guess I am. And, no, I don't want any cheese with my whine. Cheese just makes more phlegm.
: (

Cute Food

A couple of pictures of the fun stuff we made last week for our Garden of the Good Shepherd activities...
Wolf's Paw cookies. Jessica was able to find the exact cookie used in the photo she linked to. Everything she does is just perfect, isn't it? Since they don't sell that brand around here, we ended up using Pepperidge Farm Tahiti cookies.
Lamb cupcakes. The children loved decorating these themselves. We made our own pink sugar which is why it is so pale but I think it made them look cute. That and the purple eyes. : )

Garden of the Good Shepherd~Week 2

I am posting this now for all those mommies who use Friday/the weekend to look ahead to next week. Remember, these are just lists of things we would like to do. I don't expect to accomplish them all. I also wanted to point out that I updated the Week 1 post to include a picture of our Sheepfold Gates which turned out really lovely thanks to an idea from Marisa.

The theme for the second week is:
"Welcome to the Lord's Table"

8. The Table: Read Genesis 43:26-34

• set the table with fancy dishes and silverware, fun folded napkins and enjoy one of our favorite meals (homemade fried chicken!)
  

9. The Chairs: Read Genesis 18: 1-8

• The purpose of this symbol is to recall the hospitality and good manners that Abraham and Sara offered the three strangers. We will talk about hospitality and make arrangements to offer our home and neighborliness to a friend later this week.
• Read some books about manners from the library and God's Wisdom for Little Girls and Little Boys. The Dangerous Book for Boys has a section on manners too, I think.
  
• We are also in desperate need of some outdoor furniture. We might spend some time today deciding what will serve us best and looking for a good deal.
  

10. The Bread : Read Ruth 2:8-14

• Make bread. I can't wait to try out one of the various no-kneading bread recipes out there but I think punching and kneading is what the children will enjoy most. Although, they (and Husband) are still really crazy about the Irish Soda Bread. Maybe we'll make both.
• Play with salt dough or break out the homemade playdoh.
  
• Bread Dough Art

~Bread Dough Recipe~

Aleene's Easy Flow Tacky Glue is perfect for creating a porcelain look from bread dough. To create modeling dough, mix with softened bread or cornstarch until you achieve the desired consistency. A basic bread dough formula is one slice of bread to one tablespoon of Aleene's Tacky Glue.

Remove all of the crusts from the number of slices you'll need for your project and tear into small pieces. Put the bread in a plastic bag and pour the appropriate number of tablespoons of glue into the bag (1 piece bread to 1 tablespoon glue). Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it becomes smooth and workable. At first it will be sticky, but keep kneading. Due to differences in climate and moisture in the area, you may need to adjust the ratio of bread to glue. If after 10 minutes the mixture is still too sticky, add more small pieces of bread. If it is too dry or stiff add a few more drops of glue. You can color the dough by adding a few drops of food coloring to the dough. Only add color to the amount of dough you'll need in that color. Roll the dough out on a smooth and clean surface as you would with cookie dough. Dust with flour if necessary. Use your fingers or cookies cutters to mold and cut shapes. Small projects will take hours to dry, while larger ones could take days. You can store the dough in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator for several months. Health & Safety: Nontoxic

11. The Wine : Read Isaiah 55:1-2

• Sparkling grape juice with dinner in fancy glasses (wine for the grownups, woohoo!)
  
• Read the story of Christ's miracle with the water and the wine
• Read The Grapes of Math: Mind Stretching Math Riddles
• Paint our own bunch of grapes.
  

12. The Milk : Read Deuteronomy 26:8-10

• Make leftover Easter candy milkshakes. Grammie sent some whoppers that will be perfect to use in this recipe.
  
• Read milk themed books like The Milkman, The Milk Makers, It Looked Like Spilt Milk and a biography of Louis Pasteur.
  

13. The Pot of Honey : Read Mark 1:4-6

• Buy some local honey at the Farmer's Market.
• Make some Honey Butter, Bee Healthy Honey Oatmeal Cookies or this Australian Honey Cake.
• Read The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons and Honey by Louise Spilsbury.
  

14. The Fruit : Read Song of Songs: 4:16

• Make fruit salad and add a fruit you have never tried before.
  
• Talk about the differences of fruits and vegetables using Cool As a Cucumber, Hot As a Pepper as a guide. Also read Eating the Alphabet and From Flower to Fruit.
  
• Magically slice a banana.
  
• Make a 3D fruit mobile.
• Have an apple taste test. We have been enjoying the Jazz apples that Suzanne recommended and it has inspired us to try other kinds.

Divine Mercy Coloring Page

I wasn't going to do a Divine Mercy coloring page. Really. I wasn't. I just didn't think I could do it justice (and I am still not sure that I did). And I feel really out of practice since I haven't worked on coloring pages in a while. But then... a dear, sweet friend told me that St. Faustina cried when she saw the painting of Our Lord because Jesus wasn't as beautiful as He had appeared to her.

So, here is mine with tear stains hidden... especially for you, friend!

Divine Mercy Coloring Page

Fr. Damien of Molokai Coloring Page

Blessed Joseph de Veuster, better known as Fr. Damien of Molokai, is scheduled to be canonized this October, but the day he entered his eternal reward was April 15th even though his feast day will be on May 10th. Confused? So was I. This helps clear up the confusion, especially the last line:

Before Damien left Belgium for the missions, he visited a shrine to the Blessed Mother. He asked her for 12 years of missionary service. It is interesting to note that it was in his 12th year in the leper colony that he was diagnosed with the most virulent form of leprosy. He lived and worked for 4 more years before succumbing to the disease on April 15, 1889. He was 49 years old. On Pentecost Sunday, 1995,Pope John Paul II declared Father Damien among the "Blessed" and gave him the title "Servant of Humanity." Father Damien's Feast Day is May 10, the day he arrived to serve the Leprosarium in 1873.

As someone over at the forum said, "He was so good he get's two celebrations!" More about his life here.

Blessed Damien of Molokai Coloring Page ~ based on the beautiful portrait from the website above. I can't read the artist's name because it is so small so if you know who it is I'd love to know!

Garden of the Good Shepherd ~ Week 1

We are going to be celebrating the Easter season again this year by using the Garden of the Good Shepherd calendar. (Sorry this is a few days late!)

Jessica and I will be pulling ideas from last year and from each other and trying to keep the activities simple enough and mostly home based.

The theme for the first week is:
"The Good Shepherd's Pasture."

1. The Good Shepherd : Read John 10:14-15

• Easter Sunday!! CELEBRATE!!!

2. The Shepherd's Crook: Read Psalm 23:1-6

• Read the Legend of the Candy Cane (a little Christmas in April) and talk about why a shepherd has a crooked staff instead of a straight staff.

3. The Sheepfold : Read John 10:1-6

• Make popcorn for a snack. We don't have an air popper but I think a bowl full of popcorn will represent a sheepfold nicely.
• Read Psalm 23 and talk about how the Lord is our shepherd.
  

4. The Gate of the Sheepfold : Read John 10:7-10

• Watch The Secret Garden.
• Make our own Garden Gates.
• 4/16/09 edited to add picture: We finished these too late last night to photograph.
  

5. The Ewe and the Ram : Read John 21:15-17

• My kids still enjoy VeggieTales and have informed me repeatedly that there is one we haven't seen yet! (It's a lesson about patience! Ha!) Since this one is the story of Abraham and Sarah, it works.
  
• Read the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.
  

6. The Lamb : Read John 1:35

• Attend Mass and visit the Lamb of God
  
• I have wanted to introduce my girls to the art of quilling and this lamb note holder might be the perfect opportunity.
  
• Make Lamb Cupcakes or Lamb of God Rolls.
• Lindt Candy Lambs

7. The Wolf : Read John 10:11-12

• Read the story of St. Francis and the wolf. Here is on online version. Our favorite is Saint Francis and the Wolf by Richard Egielski.
  
• Make Wolf Paw Cookies. These are made with store bought cookies. They look like Pepperidge Farm Lido or maybe Tahiti cookies. Just dip the top edge in melted semi-sweet chocolate and pipe on melted white chocolate claws using a plastic bag with a snipped corner.
• Feed a hungry dog today with a donation to the local animal shelter. Maybe have the kids collect worn out blankets to donate too. The animal shelter told us last year that they can always use these kinds of items for making the animals more comfortable.
  

Final thoughts on eggs

Barbara wanted to know if our eggs tasted like the foods and spices we used to dye them. The answer is yes and no. Some of the stronger smelling spices like curry and cinnamon left a very strong smell behind on the shell and did slightly flavor the eggs. Some people advise piercing the shell to prevent cracking while boiling and I would think that you could expect to taste more flavor if you did that. I don't do that so the eggs were not affected by flavor except those that I mentioned. Now the color of the egg inside was affected by many of our dyes even though the flavor wasn't. Beets turned the egg white pink (much to Sunshine's delight), red cabbage turned the whites blue and golden turnips turned them yellow.

One thing I also want to mention is that the colors on the shell change as they sit in the fridge after dying. Those mauve colored beet eggs are now more brownish than pinkish. The purple and pink spots on the berry eggs faded to gray. Your best colors are going to be achieved the day you take them out of their dye baths. And as Sue discovered, some of them will have a film that should be allowed to dry without too much handling but also creates a great opportunity for scratching in religious symbols.

I also wanted to share here what I wrote in Barbara's combox:

My kids approach our natural dyes like a science experiment. We go to the grocery store, they pick out weird foods, we bring them home, chop them up and boil them. Then they try to guess what will happen and the next day, they compare results. Now this year, since I had some last minute Alleluia letters to decorate to replace the banner that we lost, Husband came home with a PAAS kit and kept the kids busy while I snuck off and painted. They enjoy both activities but on totally different levels.

I personally love the colors and textures and the surprise factor of naturally dyed eggs and my kids do too, but they also love the fun factor of prepackaged dyes. My husband, who is not a crafty man by nature, even had fun blowing food coloring around a plain white egg and then dipping it in yellow dye to produce an egg that would have made Jackson Pollock proud! (I was popping in and out of the bathroom where I was secretly painting our Alleluia letters so that they could be hidden around the house and hunted for on Easter morning and was very thankful for the distraction.) The two forms of egg decorating that we participated in this weekend are not mutually exclusive. My kids see kit dying as a fun craft and natural egg dying as an experiment. I don't see any reason why both can't have a place in the celebration of Easter.


What to do with all those leftover eggs? Easter Egg Salad, of course!

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Hoping you all have a glorious Easter season!

Eggs. Naturally!

Easter Eggs 2009

starting in the 12 o'clock position and going clockwise:
1. boiled in cinnamon (no overnight) 2. covered in shredded blue potato 3. blue potato (big color disappointment; see below) 4. paprika 5. 3 berry mixture (raspberries, blueberries & blackberries) 6. covered in shredded berries overnight (this produced pink and purple spots mixed with the greyish 7. cinnamon 8. (in the middle of both pictures because it was our favorite) egg was boiled wrapped and tied in already used yellow onion skins (no overnight)

starting with bright red egg and moving clockwise: 1. yellow onion skins 2. curry 3. beets 4. shredded red cabbage leaves 5. (looks green but is more teal) red cabbage juice and baking soda 6. shredded beets 7. red cabbage 8. golden turnips 9. middle one is the same as above

While we didn't achieve all of the colors we were hoping for, the combination of colors and textures just astounded us. I just don't think I can ever go back to PAAS after this!

I have read that some people have had trouble producing colors from natural food dyes. I suspect that they aren't giving the process enough time or eliminating the vinegar. The vinegar that is added to the tablet dyes isn't to help the dye but rather to help the shell accept it. Remember this science experiment? Vinegar breaks down the egg shell. So you still need that vinegar when you are using vegetables, spices and fruits.

Regarding the time, this is not an instant gratification process like food coloring. In the top picture, the egg in the 12 o'clock position and the one next to it (at 11) were both boiled in cinnamon. The 12 o'clock egg was not left to sit in the liquid overnight while the 11 o'clock egg was. You can see the difference in intensity of color pretty clearly. My husband joked and congratulated us that we had made a brown egg... just like a chicken!

I think there are too many eggs and too many variations to play a guessing game this year. The identifying information is below each picture. All eggs were boiled with the item mentioned and all but two were left in that liquid overnight in the fridge except for those that were covered in shredded vegetable or fruit and refrigerated overnight without the liquid included.

Biggest disappointment! This purple potato looked like it would produce a beautiful purple or lavender color. Nope. Brown and grayish-green. Meh.

Hope you had a wonderful today and a glorious tomorrow!

Jesus Meets His Mother

~from Good Friday 2007

The visiting priest apparently spoke about the fourth station, Jesus Meets His Mother, with such tenderness and insight. How could you not? I think, just about every mother would say that this station is the one they feel the most. It is the one point in The Passion that is sure to have me bawling just knowing it is coming up. It is the station that brought about the "reversion" of a dear friend of mine who was struggling with the Church's teaching on Mary. Why do we love her so much? As she discovered on the island of Capri one Holy Week... because He loved her so much!

But this priest asked a question that I had never heard before, maybe you have... what was Mary thinking when she met Jesus? As a mom, we can imagine some of the pain she was going through. We know for a fact it was as though a sword was piercing her own heart. But what was she thinking? Father posited an answer.

She prayed, "Please help Him!"

She said a quiet prayer. And it was answered. How do we know? Because the next station is Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross. Can't you just hear Mary begging God for this? Please help Him! She knew who He was and what He had to do, but she was still His mother and He was her son. Please, help Him!

And then the next station, Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus. As a mom, it can be heart breaking to see your child's face altered due to a simple accident, even a childhood mishap that will naturally be corrected over time. This was her son's precious face, all covered with blood and sweat and dirt. Can't you hear the Blessed Mother crying inside... Let me see His beautiful face again!

This was the first time I had ever heard this interpretation and while I know that we can't know for sure, it really made sense to me. I have always been perplexed by the fifth station. Why did He need help? Who was Simon of Cyrene? Why was he chosen and what are we supposed to learn from this station? Yes, I've read the different interpretations and I think there are many scholarly people with plenty to say about the significance and importance of this station and the next, but I still. didn't. get it.

And St. Veronica? How did she make it through the crowds? Why would the guards have allowed this kindness after they had already inflicted so much pain? Were they distracted? Why?

It makes so much more sense now. God wouldn't refuse the prayer of the Blessed Mother. He knows the tortures of a mother's heart and he hears her prayers.

Clothespin Apostles

This week, we are going to be working on making the rest of the Apostles to go with our other clothespin figures. We only have Peter and John and the children decided they wanted to make the rest (I just had to stop myself from typing "collect the whole set"). Here are some of our scenes from the past: