First Communion Cake Link-up

Over at Catholic Cuisine! There is also a Baptism Cake Link-up. Won't you join us?

I am posting these old pictures from The Professor's First Holy Communion and Sunshine's too so that I can join Jessica's link-up. The Professor received his First Holy Communion back before I started blogging and Sunshine's cake is buried deep in a post somewhere. If I find it later, I'll link to it.

The Professor knew he wanted a chocolate chocolate cake! 

He even drew out the little design in the middle to show me exactly what he wanted.

This is a Costco cake. I had them leave the center empty so that I could transfer his design to it myself. I thought there should have been some writing but he was pretty adamant he wanted it plain. When he was younger, he sometimes had trouble making decisions. Since he was so certain about what he wanted, I gladly set aside my personal tastes and preferences to honor his.

Sunshine's First Holy Communion happened the day after the Back-to-Back Birthday Extravaganza for that year. I remember being very tired! Here's that post I was looking for. This cake came from our local Tom Thumb bakery. I picked it out for her since she didn't have any preference other than "pink". She loved it. It came with the little girl figurine you see on the left but I asked them not to put it on the cake.

(I have no picture of Shortcake's cake because her cake was a group cake celebrating her older siblings' and cousins' Confirmation. She did get a nice dinner out with her godparents and a special dessert.)

 

Pinning It Down {2}: Ribbon Organization

Click the button to see more!

I hadn't planned on participating every week in Sarah and Pam's link-up, just a few here and there when I could manage it, but it has been so motivationally inspiring that I just couldn't help myself. Plus this was an easy one (and I actually accomplished it a few weeks ago...shhhhh!).

I was excited by so many common sense ideas in this post that I pinned the whole thing and will probably come back to it multiple times. The wrapping paper on the ceiling idea got me thinking and looking for clever ways to store my ribbon rolls which led me to this post which got me so fired up that I jumped up to go do it without pinning it first (so I did that just now). Tee hee!

Well, combining the two ideas, here is my Pinning It Down offering for this week. It's a weird angle, I know. Imagine you have just opened the door to my garage and then looked up:

One rod for curling ribbon and one for fabric ribbon. 

OK... I cannot believe I just showed you a picture of my garage ceiling. Well, it's the little entryway into the garage, but still, it's in the garage! But that's where my craft closet is and that's where it will have to stay as long as the rooms are full of little people (and not so little people). I can live with that! :)

OH... I used two tension rods that I had sitting in my closet. One of them was thicker so I put the curling ribbon on it and one was thinner but it was still too thick for some of the really tiny ribbon rolls. We found (the girls helped me) that if you cut slits in the holes of the cardboard ends of the ribbon rolls, you could push those flaps in and make the hole big enough to slide onto the tension rod. Just FYI!
 

Is that you, Jiminy?

Well I feel like I need to post something to silence the crickets that last blog post attracted. I thought for sure there was a science lover out there who would get excited by it, but alas no. And no one on FB either! Hah! The Professor was jazzed, let me tell you! Having heard Br. Guy's talk has really opened his mind to the study of science as an exploration of faith; getting to know the Creator by investigating what He created.

Maybe everyone was still in a Downton Abbey stupor. There is a new episode on tonight but I probably won't get to see it until it's online so no spoilers, please!

Or maybe everyone was out enjoying the unusually mild winter. Our temperatures keep bouncing up and down like Cupcake in her Jumperoo. It's kind of crazy after the Summer of Never Ending Misery. We got so used to it being hot all day every day and now we have to check the thermometer before getting dressed for the day and check it again before choosing pajamas at night.

And speaking of Jiminy... have you been watching Once Upon a Time? Ooooh. It's so good! Usually I "discover" shows two or three years after they've been off the air. I am so glad I happened upon this one from the start. It's made late night nursings much more enjoyable!

Well, that's all I have for now. I've been busy taking care of Cupcake, wishing I could be in Oregon and tweaking our second semester coursework. OH!!! Have you heard about Homeschool Connections' Free Refresh! Midwinter Virtual Conference?  What an awesome idea! This is about the time of year I need a little energy transfusion. Check out the stellar Catholic speakers they have lined up!

And look at this list of celebrity parents who choose to homeschool their children when they could choose any other educational opportunity in the world. Kinda cool. Think they'd enjoy a webinar?

Gratuitous baby shot:

The biggest and the littlest

 

Google Doodle alert!

Honoring Nicolas Steno's 374th birthday today... he's also known as Blessed Nicolaus Steno, Danish anatomist, geologist, convert and saintly bishop!


There is no mention of his faith in this article, but it's an interesting read anyway:
How Nicolas Steno changed the way we see the world, literally!

 

Pinning It Down {1}

I have been trying to love Pinterest, really I have but I just couldn't do it. I didn't understand why. I am a very visual person. It's a totally visual medium. Should be a match made in Heaven. I saw so many of my sweet friends loving it, making boards and pinning stuff left and right and here I was totally stressed out by it. "Oh well," I thought, "it's just not for me!"

Then Sarah came along and suddenly it made sense. The reason I couldn't get into it... if I don't think there is a darn good chance that I'm going to use it, reference it, make it or purchase it in a reasonable amount of time, then to me, "pinning it on a board" just becomes visual clutter and being a visual person, excessive visual clutter stresses me out. You might say, "But it's virtual visual clutter, not actual visual clutter," and you'd be in right in your mind... just not in mine. (No comments about me not being in my right mind!: ) I am sure most people don't have this weird hang up. 

Anyway, when Sarah and Pam came up with "Pinning It Down" I thought... I can do this! I can pin things that I really do want to accomplish or plan to accomplish. The added goal of blogging it and participating in a linky is just bonus motivation! So here we go...

I figured... start with something easy. A recipe! Australian Crash Hot Potatoes. Here it is, on my Pinboard, and here it is in my kitchen!

BTW... they were so incredibly amazing that my oldest asked to add them to his birthday menu plans at the end of this month. 

Yeah. 

THAT good!

 

Our Lady of the Angels

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." ~Isaiah 52:7

As Colleen and her family pack up and head out on their way to begin their mission work in Costa Rica, she is generously offering to carry our intentions with them and place them before the shrine of Our Lady of the Angels in Cartago, Costa Rica. Go leave her a note in the combox with yours. I can't offer anything so great in return except a promise that I will look at this beautiful statue of La Negrita, Virgin de los Angeles, every day and offer a Memorare for them and their work. This replica was a gift from Colleen's family in August of 2009, just a month before I made the hardest trip I've ever made to meet them in person and witness their tremendous faith in action during their most painful loss. 

The original statue, though tiny and seemingly insignificant, no bigger than the one you see here, had a mighty job to do and she was determined to see it done. Every time she was taken in and offered shelter and comfort in a home or parish church, she miraculously returned to the street, the footpath where she was originally found lying in the dirt amongst the poor. This likeness sits right above my kitchen sink and she will be my constant reminder to pray for the work of this courageous family who has chosen to give up the comfortable and familiar to embrace the poor and bring to them friendship in Christ and an example of His divine love. 

God's speed, sweet friends, and may the angels and their little Queen protect you on your journey!

Sad Update: Colleen's little one has gone home to the Father. Please pray for them. I wish Colleen's words could be read by every mother who has ever lost a child...

But I hold in my heart the greatest of all consolations, the hope of heaven.  For I realize, that even when my body is well past the age of bearing babies, even if I should live until I am 100, always, I will be an expectant mother, until the day I hold my babies for eternity.

An Epiphany Tart

Thanks to the recommendation of my SIL, we have been enjoying a family read aloud called The Thirteen Days of Christmas.The children have found it entertaining and informative. The antics of the young man pursuing his true love are entertaining, but the insight into English traditions during the 12 days of Christmas have made us more than a little curious on more than one occasion... Churching Day, Adam's Day, Dancing Day and so on.

Allowing ourselves to indulge in a little Anglophilia, we were curious what the English traditions for celebrating Epiphany were. We are saving that last chapter for tonight! What we discovered was a spiced cake similar to a fruit cake which nobody was really keen on. Now, Jessica's rum cake looks divine! I could go for that! But not fruit cake. Sorry friends across the pond!

So we were pleasantly surprised when our research turned up this bit of tradition we'd never heard of but seemed simple enough... an Epiphany Tart!

I posted the recipe I used over at Catholic Cuisine, but you could also just use your favorite pie crust or shortbread recipe.

Dorothy Hartley, in her wonderful 'Food in England' describes the various designs of jam tart made (very competitively, especially for Church social events) by English housewives proud of their pastry-making skills. Skill was demonstrated by the number of different coloured jams that could be fitted between the spaces of the lattice top. One star-shaped design was called "Epiphany Tart" if it was made for this day. Done well, it must have looked like a stained-glass window. Use your favourite pastry recipe or brand, and find 13 different coloured jams, and you have it. ~The Old Foodie blog

We did not have 13 different jams, but we managed to get 6. I couldn't convince the kids to go for Tart Cherry or we would have had 7! Amaretto Peach Pecan was as crazy as they would get! It looks so pretty we almost don't want to eat it. If I can't figure out how to slice it, maybe we won't!

 

One last Christmas book...

...that finally arrived today! For Cupcake!

What's this?

For me?

Don't worry Miss Adele, it's in sweet hands!

 

Christmas Books

Some of you have asked me which books my kids are in to right now. It would take me too long to compile that ever changing list. But in the meantime, here is a list of the books we gave them for Christmas and the ones they picked out for themselves with a gift card my mom gave them.

The Professor

Name That Style: All About Isms in Art (Bob Raczka's Art Adventures) ~ by the same author as The Vermeer Interviews. He is studying art history this year and really likes both of these books.

Mystery of the Roman Ransom ~ a sequel to one of his favorite historical fictions, Detectives in Togas.

Patron Saints: Saints for Every Member of Your Family, Every Profession, Every Ailment, Every Emergency, and Even Every Amusement ~ Everyone has had fun picking up this book and finding a patron saint for something. Thanks Mary G. for the suggestion!


Archimedes and the Door of Science (Living History Library)


Galen and the Gateway to Medicine (Living History Library)

A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder ~ A surprise hit! I remember seeing an article about this author and decided to get both of his books. I thought they were interesting but had no idea how much The Professor would like this one!


He picked:
LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia and a Golf Tips page a day calendar

Sunshine

Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street ~ a favorite we had to own!

Emma: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) ~ This is the Penguin Threads edition. You can read about the hand embroidered cover design here.

The People's Princess: A St. Katherine Drexel Story ~ new to us but it looks very nice series in the making.

Olivia's Gift ~ a lovely sequel to one of her favorites

She picked:
Pocket Posh Tips for Knitters and a calendar of Ireland

Shortcake

The Secret Garden: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) ~ another threads edition

A Bug's-Eye View of Flowers: The Micro Photography of Dr. Gary Greenberg ~ Just as interesting as Grains of Sand. Although it became a little joke when Husband said he was waiting for his copy of  "A Bug's-Eye View of Cars".

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

St. Elizabeth's Three Crowns: (Vision Books) ~ one of her very special name saints

The Song of Francis ~ Another favorite saint, this book might be a little young for her, but one I thought she would have fun sharing it with Cupcake when she is older. 

She picked:
Cecile and Marie-Grace Just for Fun: The Make-it, Play-it, Solve-it Book of Fun! (American Girl) ~ she really enjoys these American Girl activity books and we are going to be doing a unit study based on these books this semester.

BigBoy

Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart: (Vision Books) 

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

Zita the Spacegirl ~ the favorite by far. Everyone enjoyed reading this one!

Brother Bartholomew and the Apple Grove ~ very sweet!

Psalms for Young Children ~ beautiful artwork. Barbara mentioned this book awhile ago.

He picked:
Children's Ocean Life Encyclopedia ~ he has a fascination with sharks and whales.