Monday, September 29, 2014

Feast of the Archangels

Today was Knox's feast day..and we feasted it up- a lot. I even bought him special small cans of pop to have this afternoon- SunKist of course. Boy did Brenden's eyes get big when he saw he also was allowed to have a little can of pop. (My kids have had pop two times- once a few months ago at my friends election party- which he won the primary, and then today- so settle your horses)  We also watched Daddy cut some tree limbs down. We are going to be with out power tomorrow due to the electric company dropping the line outside so we can finish cutting back the over grown limbs. It was so nice my parents were able to come for dinner after Mass this evening. What a blessed day!



first try with Valtrompia bread tubes! Success! (banana bread)


ready to eat!? All wearing their school uniform shirts- St. Michael the Archangel. (We named our school after him).


star shaped banana bread! Apple Puff pancake- soo yummy ( I doubled the apples), we ate bacon too- need a little protein with all that sugar. 


My big helper making blackberry cobbler


water color anyone?


pause here for Mass....back home again...



there were two apple chicken's in two cookers- do apple chicken in the microwave in your stone ware- 14 minutes and done! BAM!  I love Catholic Cuisine by the way- no need to plan just do it. It's all there and painless.


we had garlic toast and salad too.. but they aren't as pretty


3 Musketeers....3 Archangels-  holy cards with the candy bar.


two years ago we learned the St. Michael Prayer in Latin..its such a tickle to hear them say it.

Sancte Michael Archangele,
defende nos in proelio;
contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium.
Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur:
tuque, Princeps militiae Caelestis,
satanam aliosque spiritus malignos,
qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo,
divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.

October Book list

Oh there is so much feasting to be done this week! It's getting exciting around here!  There is an audio link you will want to listen to below too for the Feasts of the Guardian Angels! Also for St. Therese the audio version of her book.

October book list

Memorial of St. Therese Of Lisieux  Feast Day Oct 1


The're'se of Lisieux: Little Flower of Love


Memorial Guardian Angels Feast Day Oct. 2nd

Memorial  of St. Francis   Feast Day Oct. 4- sorry for the long list- he's out patron saint this year- so we are studying him. They are all good books, to many to list
St. Francis of Assisi- Lovasik
Francis Poor Man of Assisi- Paola- look for book- it's around
St. Francis of Assisi, Keeper of Creation

Our Lady of the Rosary  Feast Day Oct. 7th -see list on Oct. 13th


St. Cainnic (Kenneth)  Feast Day Oct. 11


Fatima  Feast Day Oct. 13th- Good day for a Feast Day party with friends

St. Edward (The Confessor)  Feast Day Oct.  13

Memorial of St. Teresa Of Avila   Feast Day Oct 15
Saints for Girls- stickers

St. Gall  Feast Day Oct 16

Memorial of Ignatius of Antioch  Feast Day Oct. 17th

St. Gerard Majella  Feast Day Oct.16

Gerard Majella: Guardian of Mothers (Saints and Me!) 


Memorial St. Luke the Evangelist  Feast Day Oct. 18th
St. Jude, St. Simon the Zealot  Feast Day Oct. 28

St. Colman MacDuagh  Feast Day Oct. 29

Thursday, September 25, 2014

My audio book list- going off my various syllabus' lists

It's hard to find time to read- meaning be sitting still and have your kids sit still and listen. Books take a few hours to read. Having a husband gone long hours leaves little time to get help with the reading. I am so so glad a friend sent us the link to LibriVox last week. This gets an extra book in when I can't be available to sit on the couch!

Burgess books seem to all be there.

Prickly Porky
Reddy Fox
Chatterer the Red Squirrel
Buster Bear
Danny Meadow Mouse
Jimmy Skunk
Jerry Muskrat
Grandfather Frog
Lightfoot the Deer
Mr. Mocker
Paddy Beaver
Johnny Chuck
Mrs. Quack
Blacky the Crow
Bowser the Hound
Happy Jack
Old Mother West Wind


Edith Nesbitt
The Railway Children

Hans Christian Anderson
The Fir Tree
The Nightingale

Sister Mary Imelda Wallace
The Outlaws of Ravenhurst

Eva K. Betz- There are a few of her books on there- says it's in progress so I would check back.

A Sister of Notre Dame
First Communion Days
A Story for First Communicants

Children's Treasure Box Books
Wopsy the Angel


Beatrix Potter- all of her animal books

Grimm Brothers were there but I didn't have time to figure out which was in English.

Howard Pyle
Pepper and Salt

Charles Perrault- I would imagine having some illustrations would be nice with these though too.
Cinderella and other various fairy tales

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

feltie soft Guadalupe dolls

This is my first try at soft felt saint dolls- you can see they aren't perfect and they are on the wee side. But my kids will still like them. I think I will save them for December 12th- just have to hide them away ;)


Just need 6 colors of felt and regular yellow and green thread. Then for the stars yellow embroidery thread (just tie knots).


Stuffed and sewn with blanket stitch with orange embroidery thread around the orange felt.



Sunday, September 21, 2014

Holy Hour tonight for Satanic Black Mass

  It's really nice to see and hear about how our Diocese is coordinating an effort to bring prayerful attention to the horrible black mass in Oklahoma City, that is scheduled tonight at 7:00 pm. Bus loads of Wichitians went down there with Bishop Kemme for a prayer vigil with the Oklahoma Catholics. Please if you can make it to St. Francis for a holy hour of prayer at seven tonight. We need to ask for our Mother Mary and St. Michael's help for protection and grace to overcome Satanism. We need to pray for the conversion of Satanists. If you are out of town if you could please remember to pray the rosary or Prayer to St. Michael today, especially at 7:00 pm.


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Free Catholic audio books! Angel Food series, Wopsy the Angel, Eva K. Betz and Neil Boyton's books, Outlaws of Ravenhurst, First Communion Days

You know all those nice books I snapped a picture of a few weeks ago from the Neumann Press Catholic 4-sight Edition? Guess what?!?! They are all online and free! Just have a look at the titles here. I also put the website at the bottom of the post. One rare book A Crown for Joanna- yup good luck finding a copy of that! It's on here too. Outlaws of Ravenhurst, Eva K. Betz, Boyton, Brother Ernest books...all there. Thank goodness a woman in our homeschool group came across this! What a blessing for us all. (editing update- tonight she sent around another site here with more free book downloads.)

Here's some of the book names

Bible History/Life of Christ
Stories from God’s Holy Book by Josephine Looney
My Bible History: Old Testament by Bishop Morrow
Jesus of Nazareth, the Story of His Life Simply Told by Mother Mary Loyola
A Crown for Joanna by Sister Mary Jean Dorcy
Priest on Horseback by Eva K. Betz
The Man Who Fought the Devil by Eva K. Betz (St. John Marie Vianney)
Knight of Molokai by Eva K. Betz (Father Damien)
The Quiet Flame by Eva K. Betz (Mother Marianne of Molokai)
Yankee at Molokai by Eva. K. Betz (Brother Dutton)
God’s Troubadour (St. Francis of Assisi) by Sophie JewettIn God’s Garden (Saint stories)
Outlaws of Ravenhurst by Sister M. Imelda Wallace
A Candle for Our Lady by Regina Victoria Hunt
Killgloom Park by Neil Boyton, S.J.
Wupsy, the Adventures of a Guardian Angel by Rev. Gerard F. Scriven
You can find all these and more on this website. 

Friday, September 19, 2014

The Black Madonna is coming to town ;)


I am so excited, I love icons. My husband (who isn't Catholic) started buying my icons when we got married. He loves them as much as me I think. They are just beautiful and special spiritual works of art.

This one is particularly special.  The Black Madonna is Poland's Patroness "Our Lady of Czestochowa". Pope St. John Paul II had a great devotion to her. Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI visited the shrine in Poland. Pope Emeritus Benedict grew up not to far from it and as a child visited the shrine many times. Many miracles have been associated with the icon.  Oh if you ever have listened to the Glory Story from Holy Heroes of John Paul II than you know about the Miracle on The Vistula- a miracle of our Our Lady of Czestochowa.

Anyway here's the info about the tour. It's the Ocean to Ocean in Defense of Life Tour. It started in 2012. Apparently abortion clinics have closed. Maybe the icon will be coming to your area.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Late reminder for your Pardon Crucifix for today and tomorrrow

  Hopefully some people out there remembered to kiss their Pardon Crucifix today, as today was the Exaltation of the Cross- you should have noticed Father wearing red today ;)  Also tomorrow is the 7 Sorrows of Mary. So again tomorrow! I found a sweet little chaplet you can say as well.  Yea for feast days as my kids say! That book on Marian Devotions I told you about last spring has some good ideas for celebrating this feast as a mini-Lent. You can see parts of the book for free here. 

Saturday, September 13, 2014

finding the right table clothes/ Liturgical clothes for our prayer tables

I don't know how many of you sew, or have time to sew...I love to sew- but I don't have enough time it seems ;) But I can't pass up a good deal on the right tableclothes when they are $.99 from a thrift store. We just got lucky last week and picked up some tableclothes that will make excellent seasonal Liturgical clothes for all our tables. I like the old looking stuff personally- I know that may not be some people's taste.


   It's sort of hard finding solid green tableclothes period but a tableclothe that happens to be the right size, and then also red or purple. I think the red and purple ended up being table runners. YOu could also search for flat non ruffled window valances. We also found some white lace table runners/ doilies in different sizes to layer. 



kids table updated with lace doily

Getting started on our Marian Grotto

I showed you all our field trip to the statuary store a month or two ago. I brought home a heavy, heavy grotto and a heavy statue of the Virgin Mary. She has been resting in our garage since waiting patiently for our landscaping to be worked on.
We finally got our Lovely Lady in blue out of the garage today. My husband created a nice simple little sanctuary for her out back where we had some wasted space against the house. He reused our old pile of bricks we store out from some old landscaping to create a border. He buried the grotto an inch or two to keep it from tipping (although I think it weighs around 200 pounds plus the weight of Mary on the base of it- I doubt it would tip). I sprayed her down with cement sealer- hopefully that will keep her paint looking lovely all the time. 


   We have some fun fun plans for the Marian Grotto. It will just take time. But at least we can start enjoying our Mary garden before it gets really cold.  Here's my St. Francis out by the front driveway. He sits on an old dead cedar stump. There is a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus out front as well in the garden. All of our gardens are bare mostly since we just put them in. Hoping to get them whipped into shape soon.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Our kid's prayer table, a designated place for religious items.

  Ever wonder where to display all your kids cute Catholic stuff? Ever notice little boys and girls like to collect junk on their dressers- maybe you want a better way to display it? Also wonder how to get them into the habit of kneeling down during prayer?
I will tell you what worked for me. For kneeling at bedtime, we got those foam garden knee saver things for kneelers last year. The kids each decorated them and they helped us get into the habit of kneeling for bedtime prayer- that was on a carpeted floor. Now that our new house has all wood floors- boy we love them even more now!



  The kids have their special table/night stand they kneel at for prayer. It is designated for their holy/blessed items only. It has some guardian angel pictures on the walls around it and a crucifix and a holy water fount near by too as well. They also keep a couple of little boxes for special Catholic jewelry or tiny items and an extra bottle of holy water on the table. They rotate their statues. 
Let them arrange their items- don't do it for them. Allow them to decide how to place things on their table. They will enjoy it when they pray if it's their way and they are happy- no arguments during prayer right?




You can use those cute little book displays to rotate holy cards every few months to keep the table looking updated to the kids.


Happy Birthday Mother Mary!

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Catholic Mass felt themed playset.

  I really really wanted to find time this summer to make little felt Mass sets with my girlfriends, but we moved right after vacation, and then my friends also had their crazy schedules tied up too. So we didn't get together. But I was lucky and found a very inexpensive set on Etsy. It is very cute! The priest gets a couple of wardrobe changes which is nice to match the liturgical calender. Here's the link to the etsy shop if your interested. It looks like she makes kid sized vestments too for Mass kits. 










Friday, September 5, 2014

As promised.. here's the Catholic Author's 4-sight Edition book list.

I think some of you won't be surprised to see certain authors listed on this old book list from 1949! I know some of these are/were back in print- like Windeatt, and Wallace, Van Stockum and others...I have seen some on my MODG lists and some mentions on other book lists.  Just imagine if the demand was there- then they all would be back in print!



This is the entire list on Amazon if you want to see about prices on any- there are a lot in reprint..and only one or two I couldn't find. I think they are all reasonably priced.  There is an option to print the list as well on Amazon if you need that- it's on the toolbar somewhere I think.

(If you purchase a book on Amazon they give me a couple cents per book for the referral as commission from their profit, so thank you to those who have ordered in the past- I have no idea who you are, as it's anonymous! I most appreciate more when I know people are actually reading what have I researched, and that is tremendous amount of satisfaction to share it all with you).


Thursday, September 4, 2014

Our Gregorian Chant cake in honor of Saint Gregory the Great!


Saint Gregory's feast day was on September 3rd.  And since we are learning chant this year and participating in this wonderful free Sacred Music study, it seemed appropriate to celebrate his feast day. Many great things in our church can be attributed to St. Gregory. Did you know that while leading a procession in Rome during the plague (to pray for a stop to the plague) Saint Michael appeared to the procession in the sky, and once Saint Michael thrust his sword into it's scabbard the plague ceased. 80 some people died in the procession's ranks.
   Please feel free to laugh at my feast day cake- you can find a better example on Catholic Cuisine's website. I couldn't find those stupid little Betty Crocker frosting tips in my kitchen drawers- I am thinking I threw them out during the move back in July. So my "DEO Gratias" looks terrible. We all laughed here at home. My son Knox told me it would have been better if I wrote in pencil because he said my handwriting is better! lol  It was a Duncan Hines strawberry cake with white cream cheese frosting. Pretty yummy even with bad handwriting!



Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Praying the Rosary daily

   Ever think about praying a daily rosary?  I know...we have lots going on, some of you reading this homeschool your ten kids, plan birthdays- which averages to one a month at least, change diapers, we clean house, make meals and grocery shop, run kids around to appointments or sports, or music lessons, laundry and just plain feel pooped at the end of the day and need to just have a glass of wine and relax and talk to the hubs right, or maybe finally get to take a shower?
   How could Mary our Mother possibly expect a busy mom to say a daily rosary? How can she knowing all the things mom's do during the day, even ask any mom to say a rosary.  Being a mother herself, surely she doesn't really mean, say an entire rosary...just maybe a decade.
  Well we all know the Fatima message by now, "Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace in the world . . . for she alone can save it." (Our Lady, July 13, 1917) So yes, she asked us to do it, even us busy Catholic moms even the ones who work full time outside of the home..she means you too.
   How do we do this? How can we meet this request? Odds are, you can think back today or a couple days to when one of your sweet children gave you perfect obedience in the midst of some emotional storm or perhaps even just did it when things were calm. Remember that really good feeling you got emotionally, (hopefully you had time to give that kid a hug) but that sweetness you feel and see in your child's voice and eyes and their gestures, you felt their best and perfect love.
   Do you remember feeling some sort of perfect friction free equilibrium deep down or empathy with that child? Rouse those feelings again and imitate that...as peaceful as your child was and imitate and offer that obedience to our Lady and our Lord. Imitate that feeling of giving it all, perfectly in love, use that as fuel to make a habit of saying a daily rosary. It takes conscious effort, but it can be done. We are told in the Gospel unless we become like little children we cannot enter Heaven.
   Right now our world need the rosary more than ever. IF you can commit..join the Confraternity. Pray for peace! Pray for my special intentions too please ;)