St. Philip Neri Coloring Page

Saint Philip is known more than most saints for his cheerfulness and his sense of humor. Like the "holy fools" of the Orthodox Church, he often resorted to unconventional behavior, such as shaving off half of his beard, in order to make a point. Many were shocked by such behavior. In this icon he is shown with a small dog he filched from one of the cardinals in Rome. Arrogant young aristocrats who came to him for guidance often found themselves walking this little dog, thus learning a bit of humility and sense of proportion. He told jokes and appreciated laughter.  ~from NewmanWithrop.org

St. Philip Neri Coloring Page

And I can't say enough about this little book of prayers, Treasures Old and New: Traditional Prayers for Today's Catholics, written by Fr. Philip Neri Powell, O.P.. If you love litanies and novenas or if you are looking for a new devotion to spark your prayer time, you just might find it in these pages.

This candle is for all those in need of spiritual cheer today.

“Let me get through today and I shall not fear tomorrow.”~ St. Philip Neri

Good St. Philip, joyous saint and patron of the Army Special Forces, send down a team of heavenly forces to give us the strength to be joyful even in sorrow.  
St. Philip Neri, pray for us!

A Playmobil Birthday

This year, BigBoy had some very specific things he wanted to do out of the house so our at home celebration was very simple and the pictures minimal. Husband and I built our version of the Playmobil Fun Park on the dining nook wall.

Complete with working drawbridge!

He really wanted to meet Daddy for lunch. He is 6 years old now. It's time for him to start thinking about business lunches, you know! There is also a hobby shop in town that he wanted to go visit and a pool that desperately needed splashing!

BigBoy decided a while ago that he wanted the same cake as The Professor (because when you are 6 years old, there is nothing cooler than your 12 year old brother) except without the peppermint. Huh? A lethal peppermint cake with peppermint ganache frosting without the peppermint? Well, he meant he didn't want the crunchy peppermint sticks inside the filling, so we decided to use Andes Creme de Menthe baking pieces instead. Let me just say... awesome! And he told me exactly how it should be decorated. Two of his favorite Playmobil figures holding a banner. Done.

Now I'm going to bed.

We love you BigBoy and are so proud of the great big boy you are becoming!

A Secret Garden Birthday

The paper umbrellas were on clearance at Hobby Lobby, my favorite craft store! They were $2 each and the girls have already been twirling them around the backyard. I know they might not last long, but they have had fun with them and offered a little splash of Indian flavor.

But now the ivy's grown up over the door so even I don't know where 'tis anymore...

Brown paper, crayon rubbing on a wood floor and black construction paper hinges.

Cannatha show me...show me the key?

The robin is actually a white dove that I colored with chalk pastels. We chose an American Robin instead of a European Robin. The key is a place card stand that I took apart and buried in the greenery.


Little doodads I found in the dollar section helped fill in the atmosphere. A bird's nest gift box, lovebird salt and pepper shakers and a watering can that can be used as a mini planter. It came with seeds and coconut fiber.


This is the banner I made. I just printed these using a free font I found online and colored a little bit of it. If I hadn't spent so much time looking at fonts, I probably would have had time to color in more. I printed them on card stock and taped them to a sheer green ribbon.

Oatcakes and Cream

Really it's chocolate with whipped cream frosting. Isn't it gorgeous? It's called "Basket of Blossoms" and it just happened to match the colors in the birthday dress she chose. The down side is that the frosting stands up as tall, if not taller than the cake itself! Can you say "sugar shock"? And just a reminder, I did not make this!


Party favors ~ OK, it's just her sister and two brothers at the "party" but I like for them to feel included. Our local craft store had these little notebooks in their dollar section. I picked up two for the girls but figured the boys would want something more practical. So they got the mini tissue boxes. They can use them and toss later.

~A favorite gift~

I usually don't go into the presents that our kids receive, but this one was just too cute. Sunshine started a button collection last year. She has been hounding me for all the extra buttons from our shirts, skirts, pants, you name it! So I picked up some cute button packs and put them in a little tin for her. As you can see, it was a big hit!

Sunshine, you truly do light up our life and I hope you do know, dear, how much we love you! Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

A bit of earth, she wants a little bit of earth...

This year, we knew the back-to-back birthdays were going to be rather low key for us. Back when we were beginning to plan, we didn't know how recovered I would actually be so we tried to keep things easy. For example, when my Little Miss Sunshine requested a flower garden themed birthday party complete with a flower covered cake to go with it, I opted for letting her choose a bakery cake. I love making cakes and decorating them even more, but even on my best day, I'm not that good at flowers. I can make a rose that might or might not end up looking more like a cabbage and I can make drop flowers, but she wanted a cake covered with frosting flowers. So we ordered one from a local store and I breathed a big sigh of relief! I'll post pics later after we pick it up.

What started as a "Flower Garden" theme quickly turned into a Secret Garden theme. We began preparing by re-reading The Secret Garden and listening to the musical version in the car. (Wait... did you fall for that? Hah! Sunshine decided she wanted to re-read The Secret Garden and that CD is on a regular rotation in the car because my kids like it and I have a little thing for Mandy Patinkin. Just his voice mind you, not him.) We also set aside the DVD for the big day! This last week has been filled with comparison/contrast between the different versions of the story which really was a lot of fun.

There are a whole host of other things you could do for a Secret Garden birthday or even a Secret Garden unit study. Learn about India and England, discuss British colonialism in India and compare it to American colonialism, make oatcakes and cream, sweet plums in a jar (OK, that's a line from the musical, not the book), plant your own garden (keeping it a secret is optional), or visit the moors. There are a ton of other ideas here. Like I said, low key was the order of the day for us.

To go along with her garden theme and her very artistic nature, we are planning to make mosaic garden stones later on today. For those wanting to leave birthday greetings for Sunshine, I will have an official birthday post up later. You know I'll be back with pictures of the decorations including an delightfully sweet banner that was super easy to make!

Good Shepherd's Garden Party ~ Week 7

I wanted to have our garden party today so that we could spend a little time tomorrow just celebrating Pentecost, albeit a very little celebration given that we have back-to-back birthdays coming up on Monday and Tuesday. AHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm OK now.

A picture of our table sans plates. We had another busy Saturday so I felt kind of rushed to get this meal on the table but making some of the items this morning helped.

~Baked Beehives~

The kids thought the stuffing was good, but the pears were bland and I have to agree with them. This was one item I made in the morning and then served chilled instead of warm. Maybe that's why the pears tasted bland.

~Pelican Toasties~

Like Jessica's, my french bread was a little too round on bottom to really convey "pelican". The kids loved them though!

~Phoenix Tail Shrimp~

I used frozen shrimp and we served them with salsa to represent the fire of the phoenix. The kids thought the tails were cool.

~Deer Sausage~

Only in Texas could you send your husband to the grocery store on Saturday morning to look for deer sausage and expect him to find it!

~Lucky Lion Lemonade~

Ours turned out to be too tangy so we added more ice cream and soda to the mixture. They were very messy, but fun.

~Peacock Cupcakes~

The hit of this party though, was a last minute inspiration by Jessica. Way back when she and I were working on these plans, we had seen some peacock feather cupcakes but opted to go with the deer cupcakes instead figuring it would hard for everyone to come up with another deer alternative. But just look at what Jessica did! She came up with the cutest little peacock face! My kids adored it! I think it even rivals the owl cupcakes for the cuteness factor!

We are saving our Dove chocolates for tomorrow. I would love to make Jessica's beautiful Pentecost cake, but don't think three days of cake would be good for our health.

I can't believe the Easter season is over and I really can't believe that we made it through. 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

Magical

Last night, my beautiful girls and I dressed up, put on fancy jewelry and headed to the theatre to watch their very first professional theatrical performance! Well, they've been to a ballet before, but that doesn't count ~ there isn't any talking in a ballet! I know, I know... what took so long? Let's just say... as someone who loves the theater herself, I wanted their first experience to be magical.

We went to see The Little House on the Prairie ~ The Musical and it was amazing! The girls were captivated by the performance. We didn't make it home until close to midnight which is why you will excuse any and all nonsensicalness that appears in this post! : ) I don't have any pictures to share except for one that I took with my cell phone camera so the quality is pretty awful.

Yes, I let them bring their dollies dressed up in prairie garb.  

As I said, it was a late night but they weren't phased by the hour. After the show, they invited all of the homeschool groups to come down for a 20 minute Q&A session with some of the cast. I didn't think the leads would show up, just figured some of the supporting cast members might be there for a bit, but I was wrong. Melissa Gilbert who plays Ma was there and the actors who portrayed Laura and Almanzo were there. Even little Carrie (with a nowhere near little voice) was there. They all gave an amazing performance. Acting, singing, dancing... they did it all! While I'm not saying they stole the show, I have to honestly admit that Kevin Massey (Almanzo) and Kara Lindsay (Laura) are two very talented actors with the kind of stage presence that you can't help but watch no matter what is happening around them!

On the way home we talked about our favorite parts. OK, in addition to being impressed by the acting talent I was blown away by the design elements! The lighting design was awe-inspiring and undeniably reminiscent of the big prairie skies! The snow effect was truly chilling. The set pieces were so simplistic, even minimalistic, yet they had the power to convey the scene completely and thoroughly. And even though it changed and moved frequently, you always knew where the scene was taking place. The girls were amazed at how it only took a hint of a set to inspire their imagination... how they saw a wagon train move across the prairie but there was never any wagon on stage and how even though there were no horses either, they really felt as though they had seen them race. That is a credit to the actors and designers and I wish I could thank them all for bringing these beloved stories to life in such a magnificent way.

This night took me back to the days of my youth. (Doesn't that make me sound ancient?) My father was the friend and client of a banker who would occasionally offer him tickets to the big shows that came through town. These were box seats people! Seriously nice tickets! The bank owned the seats and gave the tickets to clients/business people they wanted to schmooze. Rather than go to waste when there was no schmoozing going on, I was often times the recipient of those tickets. The shows I got to see were fabulous. Grand Hotel, Les Mis, Starlight Express... truly wonderful shows! Maybe that's why I have waited so long to expose my children to the beauty of the theater. Like I said, I wanted it to be magical.

Last night... there was magic!

Nobody Knows...

...who this guy is?

That's OK. I probably wouldn't have known either if it hadn't been advertised that he would be at the airshow. This man is Mr. Chad Hennings, former A-10 Warthog pilot and Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman. He was a graduate of the Air Force Academy and was drafted into the NFL in 1988. He delayed his entry to fulfill his obligation to the Air Force. After he was done, he joined the Cowboys as a 27 year old rookie and went on to play for nine seasons. He was there to give a talk about his flying days and about the Warthog later in the evening. We didn't stay for that but did stay long enough to see some of the old warbirds take-off and circle around the flight museum. Way cool!

Good Shepherd's Garden Party ~ Week 6

Yesterday's party was rather hurried because of our extracurricular activities this weekend. I only got a chance to snap a few closeup pics of our food while I was putting it all together.

~ Bride and groom strawberries ~

These are fun to make and turn out so cute even if they aren't perfectly dressed to the nines!

~ Our crown cake ~

This Strawberry Boston Cream Cake is one we like to serve when we do a formal May crowning celebration. I don't think we will get a chance to have a formal celebration this year, but I plan on squeezing in a simple one. Like a good friend said, "Better late than never!"
We call this cake a Queen of Martyrs cake. It looks like a crown to us with the strawberries on top surrounded by whipped cream.

~ Shirley Temples ~

~ Pretzel and cheese gates ~

The kids constructed gates on their own plates but I didn't get pics.

Since this was the official celebration of the Ascension, we also served chicken strips. Like Jessica said, "It is traditional to eat some sort of bird since Jesus "flew" to heaven."

Of Dogs and Dogfighters

Busy weekend.
An airshow and a dog show.
Can you say exhausted? Good.
Say it for me because I'm too tired!

Pure Bliss!  
(Actually, this dog's name is Bliss.)

Corgis

a rare brown Newfoundland

 This one's coming with me!

INCOMING!!!

TS-11 Iskra

Vought F4-U Corsair

P-40 Warhawk

A-10 Warthog

Warthog pilot

Stearman

Huey

Tiger Moth

Dogs, dogfighters and Cowboys, that is! 

Bonus point for anyone who can identify the man in white.