Hello, again!

It started with "out of town", then moved on to "out of time" and now, it's just plain "out of practice" that has kept me from posting here.

We spent the whole week of Thanksgiving in South Texas. We visited the missions that my girls began studying at the beginning of the semester. We are determined to make our own frescoes, now that we have seen the lovely examples beautifully preserved at Mission Concepcion!

This aquaduct was a fun surprise for The Professor who has been studying Ancient Rome. It's the only one in Texas!


He was also intrigued to find out the mystery surrounding this very Moorish looking arch on what should have been a very Roman arched doorway. (I won't share any spoilers here!)


The girls were treated to a weaving demonstration by a park ranger and just giggled with delight when she said, "This yarn is all hand spun, can you imagine how hard it was to make that?" Um... yes.

Thanks to this special friend and her daughter, they know precisely how difficult it is to hand spin yarn!

After searching for answers to all the question in his pamphlet, BigBoy was sworn in as a Junior Park Ranger and received a badge to go along with it. If you don't know about the Junior Park Ranger programs at the National Parks, you are missing out my friend!

But just in case you can't make it to a National Park, you can participate in their Webrangers program online!


I could bore you with 12, 002 other pictures of these beautiful churches, most of which are still being used as parishes today,

but you just need to see them for yourself to really appreciate the devotion of these faithful missionaries and native peoples.


Our other adventure last week was at Sea World! This is becoming a Thanksgiving tradition for us! There were some new shows sprinkled amongst the old favorites. There were also educational shows for each of the three major amphitheaters and my kids agreed that those were their favorites... after Azul!

Seriously, it's hard to beat a funny man who warms up the crowd with his zany antics,

beluga whales,

pacific white sided dolphins,

parrots and macaws in free flight,

and acrobats who flip, twist and dive from amazing heights!


I really appreciated the way their Christmas shows weren't afraid to incorporate the meaning of Christmas. They talked about the miracle of the Christ Child and showed images of the Wise Men during the Shamu show Miracle. There was Christmas music, not "Holiday" music, playing throughout the entire park. The Sesame Street show was typically secular, but it really was in stark contrast to the the Christmas theme everywhere else. There was so much to see and do! I could fill up this space with pictures galore. The kids really loved every minute. Thank you, Grammie for a wonderful visit!

In Thanksgiving

Father, all of Creation rightly owes you thanks and praise. Your justice, love and mercy abound. We thank you this day for all that you have given us:

For the Passion and Death of your Divine Son, we thank you Father; through the Cross, He redeemed the world.
For the Church, we thank you Father; it is our beacon for salvation.
For the martyrs and saints who give testimony to your Son, we thank you Father; their witness to your Son is our inheritance.
For our loved ones and friends who have died and gone before us, we thank you Father; their love abides with us forever.
For loving spouses, we thank you Father; together we seek you.
For the gift of children, we thank you Father; they are your precious gifts to us and to the world.
For the gift of our families, loved ones and good friends, we thank you Father; Through them we see the reflection of your Son.
For jobs, our homes and all that we have, we thank you Father; give us only that which we need, as we seek Your Kingdom.
For the bounty we are about to enjoy, we thank you through Christ Our Lord. Amen 

As we share our bounty with loved ones and strangers far from home, I just wanted to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to you and yours! May God in His infinite goodness continue to shower his graces onus all!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!



Image: Ever Grateful platter

Casa Maria Bookstore

These are the sisters that my children call "Aunties" because when a family member joins this order, the whole family is lovingly embraced. To see more of their beautiful retreat center, Casa Maria, you can check out my post on Sr. Joan's solemn profession. You can also read more about who these sweet sisters in Christ are by visiting their About Us page. If you're looking for Christmas gifts that support a worthy cause, look no further!

They are primarily a bookstore but if you are looking for something extra special, let me point you towards their beautiful handmade Miraculous Medal Necklaces crafted with sterling silver and precious stones. So lovely and elegant!

They also sell CD's of their retreats so if you can't make your way to Alabama for an inspiring weekend of prayer at their humble sanctuary, the retreat can come to you! If only the sisters came too! :)

Happy shopping!

Pollinating Donuts

As I have said before, the girls are studying botany this year (thanks to the encouragement of an in-town friend) and this little activity was too cute not to share.

OK, so the idea is that you let your kiddos take bites of a powdered sugar donut (without using their hands) telling them that the powdered sugar represents the pollen on the anthers.

Next, have them take bites of a plain donut in an attempt to visually represent the kind of pollination that a bee does when it buzzes from flower to flower.

 The powdered sugar left behind on the plain donut is the evidence of pollination, so to speak.

It's a simple "experiment" and the sugar lips are totally worth it!

And for those of you who might think we are crazy to be studying bees and pollination at this time of year, I present exhibit A:

 as in "Ahhhhhh!!! Where did the fall weather go?"

A Note on Jesse Trees

Hand-made and well-loved

I read somewhere that the idea of doing a Jesse Tree was causing some stress. Let me just say first, that I never had a Jesse Tree growing up. Had never even heard of one! It wasn't until my SIL made one for Husband and I for our wedding that I even knew what such a thing was.

So, my introduction to the Jesse Tree idea was a late one. And you would think that being given one would mean there was nothing to freak out about. Hah! You don't know me very well. The depths I can plumb for reasons for freaking out are vast and wide, my friend! Are we doing this the right way? Do we light the Advent Wreath before or during? Is there a prayer to say before reading the verse? Should the Jesse Tree reading take the place of night-time prayers or should it be in addition to? Etc...

Let me just put your minds at ease... there is no "right way" to do a Jesse Tree. Being a private devotion, it is what you need it to be. Also... and it took me several years to figure this out... there is no one particular set of Jesse Tree readings. There are so many to choose from. Some of them will have the same images, some will be different. This year, while I tend to making some repairs to our original gifted Jesse Tree, we will be using Ann's chosen Bible verses and the lovely images contained within (although it doesn't appear to be available anymore). My girls have also requested that one of these years we include more women of the Old Testament in our Jesse Tree readings. And you know what...you can do that! Isn't it great?

Also, with little ones, don't worry about trying to do all of the readings from the Bible. Some of them were rather lengthy (at least they seemed like it to our little ones). When mine were littler, we used to read the stories out of a Bible storybook we had or sometimes, Husband would just tell them the story of the person who's figure was being placed that night.

For anyone just starting out with a Jesse Tree, do yourself a favor and use a prepared one. You can make changes once you get going. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Updated to add:
Vee over at Paper Dali has free printable Jesse Tree ornaments you can color yourself

From Aquinas and More:
Jesse Tree Kit
Jesse Tree Ornament Kit

From Christianbook.com:
Jesse Tree Advent Activity Kit

Books from Amazon:
Let's Make A Jesse Tree ~This is the book ours was made from. This is not a kit. These are just instructions.
Jesse Tree Devotions: A Family Activity for Advent ~includes a poster and pictures to cut out and stick on
The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean ~No ornaments with this book! We have read it and didn't much care for the way the old man treated the young boy at times but you might like it.
The Jesse Tree: A Family Craft for the Story of Advent ~Not a kit, just a resource for making your own.

Please pray...

...for sweet baby Jedidiah's family as they mourn their loss.

St. Jedidiah, pray for us!

Yarn Along

A little late to the yarn along train but finding myself suddenly inspired...

Crocheting some flapper style hats for my girls with rose accents. 

Shhhhhh... they're a surprise!

I promise I didn't plan the color coordination. I picked this yarn out weeks ago; Naturally Caron Country yarn in Claret.

Hungarian Cinnamon Bread

What's Hungarian for awesome?

St. Elisabeth of Hungary, pray for us!

I am no bird...

Mrs. Darwin is my new favorite person today! I had no idea a new Jane Eyre movie was in the works. I freely admit that I have a deep fondness for the classic Clarke & Dalton version that Morton and Gainsbourg just couldn't shake but I am also more than willing to try something new!

Dame Judi plays Mrs. Fairfax which you just know is going to be a wonderful thing to behold! I am unabashed in my love for all things Jane. It is one of those books that I just have to pick up and reread every so often. In fact, I'm thinking I just might head to that bookshelf right now...

St. Elisabeth of Hungary

(My daughter, Shortcake, who celebrates St. Elisabeth as one of her patrons prefers the Germanic spelling of her name so that's why you'll see it here today.)

We are going to try a new recipe today. Kalacs (Hungarian Cinnamon Swirl Bread) seemed appropriate given the well-known story of St. Elisabeth and the miracle of the bread turned to roses. You can read some more ideas for celebrating this Queen of the Poor over at Catholic Culture. You can also download this lovely tourist pamphlet of her birthplace for a little history/geography lesson.

Oh, and you can find a coloring page here.

Scottish Shortbread

For the feast of St. Margaret of Scotland...

Coloring Page here.
Recipes here.

A Nature Girl's Birthday

A garden themed banner made just like this one.

Shortcake's birthday was Saturday. It started off with jumping up and down in excited expectation as our company arrived Friday afternoon. My mom and her husband came up from South Texas to celebrate this double-digit occasion!

She chose a Lanie theme for her birthday. For those of you who don't know, Lanie is the American Girl Doll of the Year. Usually, my girls are only interested in the historical characters, but Lanie is special. She has outside genes, a best friend who moved to Indonesia and is working with orangutans, a nature-loving aunt who gets her garden going and then goes to Costa Rica to record the sounds of the Three-Wattled Bellbirds. Lanie is a little bit jealous that her world isn't as exciting but then discovers that a whole world of nature can be found and enjoyed right in her own backyard.

Monarchs on the table, flowers, leaves and a little bunny like Lanie's pet, Lulu.

Part of the decorations included making postcards from Indonesia and Costa Rica. (I totally made these up as most of the communications in the book are in email form.) I even found some pictures of stamps to print off adding a hint of authenticity.

We decided to explore the nature in our own backyard by preserving some of our newly turned leaves in wax...

...and visiting a local botanic garden where we saw sights beautiful,


interesting,

and odd!

Yes, those are women wearing period costumes including one wearing a very non-period baby wrap and baby. 
Strange birds at the botanic gardens!

After our trip to the garden, we came home for a cookout and some cake! She picked out a cake design that we found online and I made a few alterations.


The pink and purple flowers are elusive Minnesota Sunshine flowers made with real sunshine seeds from the land of 10,000 lakes!

It was a Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cake and it was fabulous with a light buttercream frosting and mostly M&M decorations. Really cute!

As the sun set into it's bed, we also collapsed into ours, having enjoyed ourselves in the pleasure of watching our sweet girl grow up a little bit more before our very eyes.

We love how big you love! 
Happy 10th Birthday, sweet Shortcake of mine!