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!