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HALLOWTIDE; All Hallows’ Eve – Part I

November 4, 2008 By Laura 4 Comments

As many of you know, Hallowtide is the 3 days of All Hallows’ Eve (better known as Halloween), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, carrying us all from the month of October into November.  These last few days have been full of festivities, fun, and more education for all us!  I’ve mentioned to you all before, just how much our kids love to plan any festivities. I think you’ll truly get the gist of just how much they ‘get into it’, as you visit our blog over the next couple of days.  For any celebration we have coming up, our oldest always loves to plan the menu items (as well as do a lot of the cooking and baking), and the little ones might have a say in that menu, lol, make decorations, plan the games, and stuff like that.  They are all, always, never short on ideas.  They are very enthusiastic party planners, even if it is just for us.  But we sure do have a good time!!  Suffice it to say, I took loads, and loads, of photos. I have been splitting my computer time between processing them all for family history and blogging, and working!  I’ll only be sharing a fraction of them here, but still out of necessity (and sanity), this Hallowtide theme will be split into multiple posts.   I hope you all enjoy our ‘little ways’.

The children woke up on All Hallows’ Eve to Daddy’s artwork on the fridge chalkboard (that still makes me smile,) seen below.   If you can imagine him, he sat on the floor, drawing and coloring like a child, and having as much fun as one.  Just when I thought he was done, he’d pick up another piece of chalk for a little finishing touch here, and then there. Then adding this and that.  Truth was, he didn’t WANT to be done. He’s just so cute about these things, and I’m sure you’ll agree he’s quite the sketch artist.  It didn’t go unappreciated by the kids in the morning either.  No one erased it to do their own thing.

Halloween-chalkboard

But as excited as the kids were to get to all they had worked so hard on planning, it was still a school day, first.  Devotion was dedicated to another more thorough and deeper study of the meaningful and interesting ties of ‘Halloween’ to our Catholic faith.  As committed Catholics raising our children in our faith, it’s our obligation to teach how our faith relates to everything, and there is very interesting history to be learned here. We learn more every year! In addition to this, as we follow the Liturgical Year, we acknowledge all of these holy days, with ‘Halloween’ meaning “Holy Eve’ in reference to the eve of All Saints Day, which in turn leads to the observance of All Souls Day.  (Just talking, in case anyone doesn’t know these things yet. )

At any rate (as my mother would say), All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints Day was pretty much rolled into one broo-ha-ha for us. We stayed up LATE, carrying on with our antics.  Having spent a good amount of time discussing the important meaning of all of the aspects of this seemingly crazy holiday, and how it ALL came about over the course of history, and why,….we then dove right into the silliness of it all.

So here come just some of the photos for Part I of our All Hallows Eve festivities.  As we sat gathered at our table, schooling as the morning turned to afternoon, we started paying more and more attention to this menu {A} had set on the window sill beside us,…..

Hallowtide-menu

as our bellies began to grumble for lunch:

Hallowtide-food-sandwiches

A bit after lunch and awhile of working for me, I had to run out to a client consult.  But when I got home, the kids were all geared up to get the celebration rolling!!  They got out shirts/sweatshirts, as did Michael and I, and we all decided what designs we wanted for them.  Daddy cut our choices out of vinyl and put them on for us. They were ready to ….

Hallowtide-kids

…..eat again of course!

{A}’s Salty Bones!  These were so good with jalapeno cheese dip!

Halloween-food-salty-bones

Bat Wings!

Halloween-food-bat-wings

{S} couldn’t get enough of these things!

eating-bat-wings

And then they made their own ‘Monster Pizzas’.

Hallowtide-party

Hallowtide

Here’s {O} just sitting there looking cute, waiting for her pizza to come out of the toaster oven.

justo

Finally, they were cooled down enough to bite into! {J} was happy about that!

jpizza

It wasn’t long after we ate our ‘main course’ that {A} was in the kitchen again, making us some candy apples.  (Here she’s at the stove, melting chocolate in a double boiler.)

boo-vinyl-sweatshirt

She wanted me to take ‘how-to’ photos for you all.  So go ahead and make some, and enjoy them yourself!

candy-apple-bites

Michael/Daddy started cutting out cookies, too.Take note of the pumpkin on his shirt, which he was all excited about wearing.  (No, I am not being sarcastic. )

bat-cookie-dough

That’s FAR from all. The party just got crazier from there, late into the night.

So stay tuned, if you dare……………
Check out the crazy-fun antics in Part II HERE!

 

 

Filed Under: Appetizers, Celebrations, Faith/ Catholic, Holidays, Recipes, Snacks, The Big Picture, Traditions, Treats Tagged With: All Hallow's Eve, Catholic, Catholic-All-Hallows-Eve, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-family-celebrations, Catholic-family-traditions, Catholic-Halloween, Catholic-Hallowtide, Halloween-for-Catholic-Kids, Halloween-menu, Hallowtide

A Day Worth Celebrating!! – Our Triplets Turn 6!

September 3, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

number-6-pancakes

This past Sunday was a very special day in our family; it was half of our family’s birthday!! Our triplets ‘babies’ turned 6!

As I probably mentioned in our oldest daughter’s birthday post a couple of months ago, birthdays are celebrated in a big but different way, in our family. Basically, no one works or has school, and we spend the day together, discussing and celebrating our loved one’s life in the ways that feel right to us. Every family is different, as we all well know.  For us, annual parties with piles of presents never sat well with us.  It just wasn’t what we wanted to do every year, as much as we LOVE to plan celebrations.  It just seemed to us that the presents become the focus of the gathering — especially for children, who are still learning/being taught what matters most in life. I think that perspective became all the more important to us to really try to implement in our children, when we arrived at a child’s birthday party some years ago.  When we got there, and came walking up the driveway, the birthday child started to coming to meet us, and I personally was initially very impressed with such manners, to greet their guests like that.  But then the first words the child said to us were, “Where’s my present?“.  We had one of course, but that kind of stuck with us, and gave us a new determination with how we wanted to try things differently, and try to redirect to the most meaningful parts of the day.  Granted, teaching such values is a constant work in progress, but the kids seem to be pretty focused most time on the true meaning and purpose of Christmas, birthdays, and the like.  We do give and accept gifts, as you’ll see in this post, too.  But as a family, we really do focus most on our traditions and time together, thankfully, than the gifts.  Although those are always pretty exciting too, huh?  They are more like bonuses.

With that being said, I know some of you have been chomping-at-the bit (for different reasons I imagine), and checking many times a day (we’re flattered!) for this birthday report, with all of the sorted details and photos……so here it is:

J, O and S’s birthday was really beautiful.  Really. I’m still flying with glee from it, to tell you the truth. Just an emotional, exciting and FUN day, that created such memories!   Weather-wise, it was beautiful, but the whole day was as wonderful as we had hoped and planned it would be. It started on our bed.  They always ask to hear the stories of when we were expecting, and all of the crazy things that happened while they were all crowded in there together.  But as we tell stories, they are always watching the clock, waiting for those official minutes of the morning when they were actually born.  We purposely skip the whole labor part, as that is a horrifying and terrifying story, that even I prefer to forget (but can’t seem to).  So we skip right to the moments of joy!

Next the little bedheads, still in their boxers and t-shirts, which we call pajamas, headed to the table to wait for their (our family’s) traditional birthday breakfast.

6-year-old-triplets

We have pancakes often enough, but they are just extra special on birthdays.

6-year-old-triplets-with-birthday-pancakes

They usually prefer strawberry yogurt with their pancakes, instead of syrup.  But this day they chose syrup, so that gave me reason enough to let them have their first surprise of the day;

tbwrap

triplets-new-electric-toothbrushes

Electric (well battery powered) toothbrushes. I could tell by their expressions that they weren’t sure how excited they should be about this first surprise.  Then I heard one of them suggest that they go try them out right away………..

triplets-brushing-teeth

It might have been the longest they have ever brushed!!  They came out with great BIG smiles, and I swear their teeth were whiter! We’ve heard lots of extra and longer buzzing in the bathroom in the past 2 days.  Let’s hope the thrill of it sticks around. : )

Then the phone rang, and it was their Papa (my father)….who sang Happy Birthday to them over the speaker phone.  (He could have/should have been a country star, just so you know.  He has a great voice, loves to sing, and self taught himself guitar and harmonica….which he can really jam on and often entertains us. The kids LOVE it.)

Once we were all ready, we headed to Mass.  It happened to be Sunday, and {A} was THRILLED that she was scheduled to serve on yet another special occasion to her. But what a beautiful way, anyway, to start this special day. The trio’s Daddy and I loved going to Mass on their birthday, and having such an opportunity in that way, to give thanks to our Heavenly Father, for the gift of these children He has given us.  They could very easily have been ‘taken back’ to Heaven, on more occasions than we care to remember, while in utero or the NICU.  I personally begged and pleaded while on bedrest, and admittedly ‘made a deal’ with God, to keep these babies in an earthly way.  He granted my (our) constant prayers I presented with him throughout our expecting these babies, both through my 6 months on bedrest as well as when they were in the NICU initially. I am keeping my promise to Him, in return, and will until the end of time.  My gratitude is present in my heart every day I live, with every breathe I breathe.  So at mass, as I gave thanks once again, the emotions just kept on coming.  How many ways can you be thankful for such beautiful and healthy children, who didn’t have great odds in having such a life??

After Mass and some brief ‘hang-out- time with our friend Fr. Bob, who presided at this mass (see?  perfect!), we headed home to change and grab lunch.  Because…..we needed to head out to the big surprise of the day!!

color-me-mine

Color Me Mine,….an AWESOME and FUN pottery painting place.  The kids just could not figure out what they wanted to do all together for their birthday this year, so their Daddy and I came up with something we were  SURE they would love doing.  They walked into this place with wide eyes, and ‘wonder’ written all over their faces.  Once we explained to them what we were doing, the 4 kids all chose a plate to paint (well, except {J}, who initially really wanted to paint a piggy bank,,,,but being the Mama, knew he would be sad later when everyone was eating off of the special plate they made…so I talked him into what I knew he would ultimately be happy with.).

They could paint it and design it anyway they chose.  I have to tell you…2 of them were insisting they needed to use a butterfly ‘for Meme’.  That is my mother, who passed away. (As if the day wasn’t emotional enough.) They see butterflies as her spirit visiting them, and reminding them that she loves them and is still here, as many people see butterflies representing their own loved and lost ones, I guess.

Figuring out what they wanted to do, and getting set up was the hardest part.  But once they got going, they felt really settled and were as happy as clams to get to work!

okneeling

sbrush

jplateundone

asmile

oplate

The photos in this post are just a handful of the ton of photos I took on this day.  Truth be told, I always have a hard time choosing which photos to post in the blog.  Any photos of our kids are my favorites, and any from THIS particular day was especially special.  But I did my best to narrow them down.  Who minds?

{A} decided on a couple of ‘add-ons’ to adhere to the sides of her very personality-evident plate:

apaintgehkos

gehkos

{O} really wanted a job at this place.  Once she was done working on her plate, she was washing everyone in the place’s brushes and sponges. lol

child-washing-hands

sanddad

Their father and I were very busy the whole time, helping them get more paint or showing them how to do whatever, and I was taking all the photos I could as well.  But there was one thing I wanted to do before they closed shop………a family hand-print plate.  We managed to get it done, and my husband hand-lettered our names under all the prints, all the way around. THAT will be a treasure of mine for a long time to come.  Well…forever!!

handpainting

hand-lettering

Of course, all of the pieces you have seen are very ‘undone’.  We are very excited to pick them up in about a week! Once they have been glazed and kilned, the color will all be ‘popped’ and they are going to be just beautiful!! It’s just another somethin’ to look forward to! (For you too…since I’ll take photos and put them on the blog, I am sure.)

After we scrubbed up and left Color Me Mine, still kind of covered in paint, and with smiles seemingly painted on too, we left STARVING!!  It was time to go out to dinner, and 2 of the kids wanted to go to the 99. 2 others wanted to go to a seafood place. {S} wanted baked scrod, and {O} wanted fried shrimp.   We figured out that we could probably get both of those things at the 99 anyway…so that’s where we went.  What a LOVELY and enjoyable dinner together.  We just laughed (hysterically at times) and chatted over a nice meal.  {S} did indeed order baked scrod, with broccoli (yay!) and apple sauce.  {O} could have ordered fried shrimp, but changed her mind to chicken tenders. The other 2 ordered burgers.  Anyhoo…..here was a nice birthday celebration bonus.  Our (excellent) waitress came to out table, and let us know that 2 of the kids meals were free (for the purchase of each adult meal), because the Red Sox won the night before!!  SERIOUSLY??!!  (Not that the Red Sox won….lol, but about the free meals because they did.)   Well……. OK!!!  I guess that’s the deal they offer.  We love that.  : )

On the way home, balloons were on the urgent agenda. The birthday trio REALLY wanted them.  So we stopped on the way home to get them, and somehow that experience was pretty fun too!! They were allowed to choose their ribbon color too, so they were thrilled. Then the cashier, who was one of those people who had never seen/known triplets before, was an especially (puzzling) hoot.  We were cracking up on the way out.

Once we got home, we still had a few things to do.  A couple more surprises, and the ‘coffee cake’ they specifically requested (for months) for their birthday cake. There was also sweet message on the machine for them; a quite amusing ‘Happy Birthday’ duet and message from their grandparents.  We listened to that a few times. : )

Their big sister, {A}, is just the sweetest big sister when it comes to their birthday.  She starts planning weeks in advance.  Once her birthday is over, anyway.  She really works at figuring out just what she wants to get them, and insist on using her own money. she makes pretty good money for a kid, as she enjoys being our business assistants here and there, and we like to compensate her when she does. She saves most of it, and spends a little.  So as their birthday approaches, she asks us to drive her to the places she needs to go, and we do.  So she was pretty excited, as she always is, to give them their gifts.  She always knows just what they’ll flip over:

{J} loves penguins, and puppets……..

boy-and-puppet

Not too long ago, the kids Papa came down for their pre-birthday visit, and gave the kids a gift.  He gave {O} a purse, which I thought was perfect.  She’s so into girls things.  In accepting the gift, {O} amusingly said in her sweet and grateful little tone “Well thank you, Papa!  I don’t know what I have to put it in it, but it’s nice!  Thank you.’   {A} remembered that, and got her plenty of purse things to put in it……

ocombing

Last year, {A} bought {S} a blue hummer toy.  He LOVED it…had it every moment of the day.  Until one day it rolled off the table and broke.  (A few times, actually….and we fixed it over and over).  Eventually it was just done, from playing with it, and it dropping so many times. So he really wanted another one, and said so a LOT! Do YOU think he looks happy?…….

shummer

triplets-with-big-sister

Then we had one more surprise for them, before cake.

triplets-open-gifts

They have been using an educationally based computer program called Jump Start.  They’ve been using the 1st grade one for over a year, and seemed like they needed something more challenging, so we got them the next level up.  Mind you, this isn’t a school thing we give them. It’s something they like to do in their spare time, outside of our formal school time, for FUN.  It’s all parts of writing, reading, math, science, social studies, thinking skills, music and art.  So….”sure kids!  You can play with that for awhile!” They are getting a refurbished laptop of their own that is fast enough, because {A} needs hers for science and history/geography. (Here is {O} below using the program the next day.

ocomputer

The next day we realized there was some mail and books that came for them that we forgot to give them the (late) night before. Not to mention the pile of thoughtful cards they got more in the mail that day.  They were all very sweet/funny, and they even got some handmade cards that were very appreciated by them. They also appreciate the phone calls they received with birthday wishes over a few days time.

triplets-opening-card-mail

So that was our wonderful day, in a nutshell, believe it or not. : )  Although I am (very) excited to share our always exciting first day of (home) school with you, (oh my goodness…the abundance of photos I took),  I wanted to share this day first.  I will be blogging about our unexpected first day of school soon, somewhere in between the work I have, school and everything else important. I need to go through and process the photos before then too.

Thanks for reading all about this big day in our family!  We appreciate the visitors, as we share, and record our daily family life we are so blessed with.

triplets-with-cakes

 

Filed Under: Celebrations, Crafts & Creations, Faith, Kids Arts and Crafts, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: 6-year-triplets-birthday, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, celebrations, color-me-mine-ceramics, triplets

{A}’s Birthday Celebration

August 6, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

So in an effort to catch up a little bit here, I’ll start with {A}’s birthday celebration, which was over a month ago now!

Birthdays are a big deal in our family. We really like to take the day, and acknowledge the birthday person with gratitude for their life, and the blessing they are to our home and family, the best way we know how. We try to instill in the children, that just like Christmas, birthdays are not about the gifts we get, nor do we care for them to be the focus of our celebrations. They’ve learned that birthdays are about the celebration of their life, and gifts from loved ones sometimes come along with that occasion. Special birthday packages for the children often do come from loved ones by mail, as our extended families are for the most part not local to us. We know these packages are sent as an expression of love and birthday thoughts, and are accepted with love and gratitude.

So over the years some birthday traditions have come to be that are very special to us, as the ways in which we always celebrate birthdays in our family. It goes something like this:

No work, No School:

No matter what day a birthday in our family lands on, no one works that day (us parents), and we (primarily the kids, and so us too, as their teachers) don’t have school work either. The birthday person decides ahead of time what they want to do, or where they want to go, on their birthday. Sometimes it’s a family trip from overnight to several days, sometimes it’s a day trip, or an activity,….it can be anything within reason. The point is, we spend the day all together, focusing on them, and giving thanks for their life. We inevitably talk and share about the memories we cherish regarding their life, such as when we were expecting them, and the day they were born. We let them know, each in our special ways, how much they mean to us, what an integral piece they are in our family, how blessed we feel to have them, and how much we love them.

Birthday Pancakes:

Daddy started this tradition with {A}’s 1 year birthday breakfast. What is special about the birthday pancakes is that they are made into the age of the birthday person. This year, {A}’s pancakes were extra personalized, with not only her age, but her age in a roman numeral > She LOVES roman numerals, so she was very excited about that. As if pancakes don’t make her excited enough! This time, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to eat them, or not!

pancakes

For her birthday, {A} first chose to go out to western MA to her Papa’s for a few days. Since there were people we needed to visit out that way as well, we planned that for our summer vacation and went the following week . For her official birthDAY, she wanted to go bowling! She said she thought it would be extra special, since it was the little ones first time going bowling. (Aawwww!) They all had a really great time. As luck would have it, Mama and Daddy were pretty excited about that idea too, because we LOVE bowling. We actually went bowling a LOT, back in the day when we were ‘courting.’ (More ‘aawwwww’) We did 10 pin bowling, but {A} wanted to go candlepin because it would be easier for {J}, {O} and {S} to do. They were all so cute and funny, and as usual, I took LOTS of photos, and here are just a few:

The birthday girl going for a strike!

abowling

Here she is again, being as silly as she often is. (Kind of missed the shot, but it is so HER, I had to include it.)

tada

Our left handed man, {J}.

kid bowling

This is {O}; She was so funny, because she would hold this stance after every roll, until the ball had disappeared. She was quite the bowler!

kid bowling

{S} Oops! But nice form!!

kid bowling

Love this shot of our 4 bowlers.

kids at bowling

After bowling, we took {A} surprise shopping to pick out a new skateboard. She’s been big into skateboarding for quite awhile now, so we knew she’d be thrilled. After 2 stores, she finally found one that she felt suited her skill and liked the look of. She left that store beaming, bouncing through the parking lot with her new board. She was really excited to break it in.

skateboard

She decided that she wanted to save her cake (which she insisted on making herself) and the special packages/gifts she had received for the next day after mass (which she was happily serving at), which sounded great to all of us, because we were all plum-tuckered out too. And it just gave the opportunity to extend her celebration to an extra day.

So the next day after late morning mass, and lunch, she opened her gifts. She received many books, a journal, some money (very old for her collection, and to spend), a very special keepsake box from her Godmother that has ‘their’ special saying on it, and some other cool things too, but here is what she opened that day and she just loves it all.

celticst

bugwatch

gdaisys

iseeu

allabouther

Cake:

The birthday family member also gets to choose what kind of birthday cake they want. {A} chose (and made herself), chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting. I love the series of photos, so I had to make a collage with them. lol. The last photo (bottom right), she broke out laughing because when she blew out the candles, all of the smoke came my way where I was trying to take the photo, and I was pretending to really choke over it.

birthdaycakecollage

All in all she was very happy with her birthday celebrations she had planned out. She said it was ‘icing on the cake’ to be scheduled to alter serve at mass that day too. She was really hoping she would be able to serve on her birthday weekend, and she got her wish. She said she really wanted to serve because , in her words, “Serving is important to me. It makes my faith grow stronger, and I really wanted to spend some time with Christ, serving Him, for my birthday.” (Wow. We love that.)

As she says every year, “This was the best birthday I ever had!”.

The end of August brings the triplets birthday, and they have all been in a flurry of excitement, planning out their special day next! You’d think it would get tricky with 3, but somehow so far every year, they’ve all discussed their ideas and agree to the same things.

{A} – We’re glad you enjoyed your birthday celebration as much as we enjoyed celebrating you. May the light that we see in you every day, continue to bring you joy every day of the coming year, ‘and many more…….’. We love you!!

Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture

11 Years Ago …

July 5, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

11 years ago last night, on the 4th of July, 1997, we were in labor with our first child. I knew all along it was a girl. I just felt her in my heart….she was always there. As if she always had been. And then she was born, and I somehow recognized the sweet baby girl, who my heart had felt it had known all along. And we were never the same.

ababy2days_blog

She changed our world. She changed our souls. She changed our definition of love.

To {A} – You will never know how much you mean to us. To our whole family. We know God has special and amazing plans for you and your life, and we feel so very blessed to watch it all unfold, to watch you grow, day by day, becoming all God meant for you to be.

We love you so very much. Keep listening to your heart, and being just who you are. You are a gift to the world.

Happy 11th Birthday Baby Girl!

Love ~ Mama, Daddy-Boy, { J}, {O} and {S}

ahat

Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture

Mother’s Day and Pentecost Sunday

May 12, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

Sunday was a day full of celebration (and surprises for me).   In our continued family efforts to live out the Liturgical Year, and being both Mother’s Day and Pentecost Sunday, we had a few enjoyable things on our agenda that we had planned.  It was also an end to our 50 Days of Easter celebrations.

My husband and kids had gotten up early, but I was sleeping in. That is, until all 4 of my kids came jumping on my bed announcing (seemingly extra-loud when you were sleeping…) that it was time to get up.  I stumbled out of my room to to this glorious sight:

flowers-cards

Wow! It’s just beautiful, and still putting a smile on my face.  But the cards really touched me. The sweet messages written inside all of them had me choking back the tears. I love the heart put into all of them, so expressive of their individual personalities. Even my husband’s.  Below was my very favorite flower in the bunch, until this morning when a stargaze lily bloomed wide open, and now-well…I’m kind of torn.

close up of flowers

A big breakfast was made me for as well:  coffee (the best part for me), stuffed french toast and 12 Fruit Salad! (below) This is a Pentecost salad and is symbolic of the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit:  Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-control, and Chastity.  Not as easy to come up with 12 ripe fruits we thought!  (Come to think of it, maybe that was symbolic too. lol) But we managed.

Catholic Pentecost Sunday 12 fruit salad

After breakfast we went to mass, which was nice as always.  {A} voluntarily alter served, as she does most every Sunday, because it means so much to her. The presiding priest was Fr. Bob who the kids have really come to love, so that worked out nice, and we stayed a bit after to chat with him.

The night before the kids made 7  flames out of card stock, and labeled them with the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit, for our table for Pentecost Sunday. Didn’t they do a nice job?

Catholic Pentecost Sunday kids activities 7 gifts flames

We also had a Pentecost Cake.  I actually came across the idea online, and loved all of the symbolism it entailed.  My kids love cake of course, but my husband REALLY, really loves cake.  And I have to admit — in the end, he made every bit of it. He is amazingly creative anyway-with any project he gets involved in. And he easily gets involved with a lot–he just gets sucked right in and can hardly help himself. (You should see the Easter eggs he has made over the years–just amazing. But I digress.)

So let me share with you the symbolism of this Pentecost Cake:  It’s a white cake with white frosting to represent the purity of the Holy Spirit.  The ‘butter cream’ frosting we all wanted wasn’t as white as we were hoping it would be, but close enough, and also too late. : )   The cake had 12 whole strawberries around it  that again, represented the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit (mentioned above), and the 7 heart-shaped strawberries for the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Understanding, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. The center candle represents Christ our Light.  The 12 smaller candles represent the 12 Apostles, and the flames of course, are the tongues of fire.

It not only came out beautiful, but it was absolutely delicious!

Pentecost Sunday cake

Pentecost Sunday cake

The kids supplied ‘the rushing wind’ and blew out the candles.

kids and Pentecost Sunday cake

kids and Pentecost Sunday cake

 

So that was our Sunday in a nutshell.   It was just another good day of getting a little more in touch with our faith, and celebrating as a family, which we are really good at, if I do say so myself.  My husband and I were talking about how enjoyable it has been trying to live the Liturgical Year in a more involved way, with the kids.  Much of what the kids are learning as we go here, WE, the parents, are truly really learning about as well.  Though we both have always been Catholic, we have realized how much we paid such little attention to through the years. Taking the time to really study each liturgical day and season more, and celebrate them together as a family, is an amazing experience. It brings such appreciation, fascination, and a great deal more respect, to it all. It grows your faith, and well, ‘rekindles the fire’.  Just like the prayer I’m reminded of:

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.  And kindle in us the fire of your Love.”

I think doing these things does call forth the Holy Spirit.  That must be what we feel inside, and what makes us just want to do more and more of this stuff.  It’s a good feeling-that just feels right.

But now for some Ordinary Time. Which just sounds……..restful.

Filed Under: Baking, Celebrations, Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Recipes, The Big Picture Tagged With: Catholic, Catholic-blog, Catholic-blogs, celebrating-Catholic-Liturgical-Year, Mother's Day, Pentecost-Sunday, Pentecost-Sunday-cake, Pentecost-Sunday-Catholic-kids-7-gifts-of-the-Holy-Spirit, Pentecost-Sunday-ideas

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