The Queenship of Mary

A table set for Mary!

These yummy little brownie bites are called, fittingly for the day, "Crowned Cupcakes". It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's a brownie with a peanut butter cup crowning the center. They are an absolute favorite at our house but they never last very long!

We had these paper crowns left over from a birthday party years ago...I think it was when Birdie turned five! I pulled them out of a box in the basement and the girls had so much fun adding the glitz. Bug was very disappointed that her statue of Mary (Our Lady of Lourdes) didn't have on a crown too, so up to her room she went. Of all things...a Polly Pocket crown that fit perfectly!

Mary Queen of Heaven, Pray for Us!

Our First Day of School!

It was a beautiful, but very warm, first day back at school. Birdie and Bug could hardly wait to get back to see all their friends and meet their new teachers. Our school is such a beautiful family centered in Christ...It is such a blessing to be part of it!

The Perfect End of Summer

Up, up and away...

Can you believe that this is how we got to end the evening on our last day of summer break! Amazing! And it happened in the meadow RIGHT BEHIND OUR HOUSE! Absolutely beautiful and an experience the girls (and Mommy and Daddy) will never forget!

The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

It's been a while since I've posted! We've had some busy days with school starting but we did take some time to enjoy the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary this past Sunday. We chose to go to the Saturday evening Mass, so Sunday morning the work table was ready with a neat craft.

I had some gift boxes from Michael's craft store left over from organizing my classroom, so I found a beautiful picture of heaven-bound Mary on-line that the girls could cut and glue to the inside bottom of the box. They added silver stars around her head and TONS of cotton clouds on the sides around her. We had a coloring sheet of angels at the Nativity, so we used a few of those as well.

They turned out so cute, we still have them sitting on the kitchen table, but I think the neatest part for me when Birdie (mind you...almost in junior high...) said, "I love doing stuff like this!" Smile!

Then we ended the day right as well! This is a Little Debbie strawberry shortcake roll (too bad they don't make blueberry shortcake roll!) with piles (and I do mean piles) of whipped cream and blue sprinkles.

Birdie and Bug had the perfect jobs. Birdie loves whipped cream and Bug loves things to have sprinkles. They each made sure the shortcake had its share of both...and boy did it! YUM!

Oh Mary, conceived without sin,

Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

The Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe

The Feast of St. Max fell on a Saturday, so we had grand plans that would fill the afternoon, since it's way too hot to do anything else. Well, we learned earlier in the week on the Feast of St. Clare that plans don't always go the way we think they will...And so it was with today as well, but at least there were no spills...only interruptions!

The agenda today included two recipes and several crafts:

Ptasie Mleczko (our version anyway!) from Waltzing Matilda

Crown Cakes

Coloring picture of St. Max

Handmade Holy Cards

Beaded Maximilian Kolbe Chaplet

(all found at my favorite blog, Shower of Roses)

Birdie and I made the Ptasie on Friday evening, so it was ready to go. We just melted chocolate chips and rolled them in chopped almonds. Not really the traditional Polish candy, but the girls loved the idea! The hardest part was waiting until Saturday to eat one!

The crown cakes (one white and one red) were made of a 9x9 brownie that was cut in half and serrated at the top to look like a crown. (Ugh, I know...this one would have been perfectly gorgeous, but just more than we could do today!) The girls iced and sprinkled the necessary sugar color as I read the story of the vision of Mary offering the crowns of purity and martyrdom to St. Max. He, of course, accepted both.


Not too terrible to look at, delicious to eat, so all was well!

And then grandpa came by! Time out for a while to visit!

After grandpa left we were all prepared to get to work on the crafts. Our table was set with the coloring page (also from Waltzing Matilda) and materials for making our own holy cards (stickers, colorful papers, images of St. Max). Just as we were beginning, two little neighbor friends came by to see the baby bunnies that we are babysitting for a family down the street! The bunnies are positively irresistible, so we had to take another time out!

Once back at work, the coloring pages and holy cards were completed and really turned out nice. Our regret for the day was that we were not able to get the beads out and bead our own St. Maximilian Kolbe Chaplet. Birdie has been very interested in beading her own rosaries and chaplets, so she was disappointed that we didn't have time. The bunnies, however, quickly consoled her!

And our work board looked quite nice as we finished our day.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, Pray for Us!

Celebrating St. Clare, Mishaps & All!

So...we planned a great day filled with snacks and crafts for the Feast of St. Clare, but sometimes the best plans don't always work out!!

The original thought was to wake and read from Francis and Clare: Saints of Assisi by Helen Walker Homan. But...Grandma called and wanted to take the girls shopping for new shoes for school. Who am I to refuse new shoes?! So off we went to the mall. After getting shoes, new uniform pants, new jeans, a treat from the dollar store and lunch at Dairy Queen, we were finally on our way home. (Did I mention we are blessed with the most wonderful Grandma ever? God Bless you, Mom.) Once at home, we needed a little down time, which was interrupted by a call to come swim at the neighbor's house. Who am I to refuse swimming on a 95 degree day? So the kids were off to swim down the street. Our plans were then completely upside-down.

So...I decided to surprise the girls with a work table set with some fun stuff when they returned. So I prepared for a craft similar to this one, with the materials that I could find on hand. I also knew they would be hungry, so I created a monstrance made from nacho chips, pretzels and cheese. It turned out pretty cute!

When the girls got home, they took one look at the table and dove right in! Birdie's first words were, "It really looks like a monstrance!" Well...that was the first thing that went right that day...but don't get your hopes up for much more!

The snacks were far more tempting than making a paper plate monstrance, so hands were flying as the girls sat down and tried to eat, drink, cut and glue. (I forgot to mention the blue-raspberry slushies, didn't I?)

Now I know why we only do one thing at a time. Yes... that is Bug's slush on what should be her paper plate monstrance. At least it wasn't all over the floor!

But eventually things came together and after getting Bug a new plate (thankfully there were several in the cabinet), the finished products looked very nice.

I love how Bug is holding hers up like Father!

And then we called it quits for the day!

St. Clare, PLEASE pray for us!

Daughters of Light: We Celebrate St. Philomena

Although the celebration of the Feast of St. Philomena has technically been removed from the liturgical calendar, we still planned a nice day of remembrance for her, as she is so near and dear to our hearts and since her removal from the calendar was in no way ever meant to deny external devotion to or veneration for her. We didn't, however, know just how we would fit in a celebration for Philomena and Clare, who traditionally holds August 11th as her feast day! So we compromised...We spent August 10th with St. Philomena and planned activities for St. Clare on August 11.

We found a beautiful image of St. Philomena on-line, which we printed, along with pictures of an anchor and bow & arrow (symbols of her martyrdom) and the angels that ministered to her during her torture and imprisonment. The girls used fancy scissors to cut the images, colored them and added them to the main page (red for martyrs, of course), hanging the anchor and arrows in mobile-style. The girls each chose her own wording as an invocation to St. Philomena.

Bug's Prayer: Patron Saint of Youth, Pray for Us

Birdie's Prayer: Powerful with God, Pray for Us

The finished products looked beautiful hanging on the girls' bedroom doors.

And, of course, we ended our day by praying the St. Philomena chaplet, using the beautiful hand-made chaplets created by our dear friend Diane.

The Saint Philomena Chaplet is made of 3 white beads (for her virginity) and 13 red beads (for the 13 years of her life before her martyrdom). The chaplet consists of the following prayers:

The Apostles' Creed: To ask for the Grace of Faith.

Three Our Father Prayers: To honor the Holy Trinity and in Thanksgiving

Thirteen Prayers to Invoke the Intercession of St. Philomena

Hail, O holy St. Philomena, my patroness after Mary my Mother, as my advocate with thy Divine Spouse, Jesus, intercede for me now and at the hour of my death. St. Philomena, beloved daughter of Jesus and Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

In Conclusion:

Hail, O illustrious St. Philomena, who shed so courageously your blood for Christ! I bless the Lord for all the graces He has bestowed upon you during your life, and especially at your heath. I praise and glorify Him for the honor and power with which He has crowned you, and I beg you to obtain for me from God the graces I ask through thine intercession. Amen.

Beloved St. Philomena, Daughter of Light, Pray for Us

The Transfiguration: A Celebration of Light

We celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration with our last day of Bible School and a beautiful celebratory Mass. Father provided a luncheon for all the VBS workers following Mass, which was a nice surprise and fun for all.

Today's Craft

We we got home, the girls were ready to check out the work table! We were all set up for some fantastic crafts (always a plus when glitter is involved!).

The girls created the transfigured face of Jesus from felt, cutting the face, rays of light and the word of God coming from the sky. We took them outside to add the glitter!

By mid-afternoon, the girls were ready to dig into something sweet, so we decided to whip up some Transfiguration Sugar Cookies. (Don't you just love refrigerator dough!)

Rolling, cutting, baking and mixing.

Bug loves to hold the bowl and stir just like Mommy does!

Icing, (or at least licking!), sprinkling and EATING!


Our finished Transfiguration Cookies (on Mount Tabor!)
Yes...We realized about half way through that we had created a star and not a sun as it should have been, but they were still delicious!

And one last note...

After our snack the girls had time to themselves to play. Bug had a balloon that she brought home from our last day of Bible School. After they had played with it for a while, I found it on the floor. Bug had created a "Son sun" with the words from the gospel on it! Smile!

"This is My Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him."

Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.