Martinmas 2012

Posted on 11/12/2012 by mrschelsearae

We had big plans for the feast of St. Martin this year. Unfortunately a nasty cold has once again invaded our home so we weren’t able to do as much as I had hoped.

We read the story of St. Martin from our copy of Saints: Lives and Illuminations and the kids coloured pictures of St. Martin from Waltzing Matilda.

Mrs. Sharp suggests that Martinmas is a good time to give your children new sweaters, mittens, hats, or other warm clothes. It is also a good time to go through your closets to give some clothes to the poor. We had planned to do that but I was just glad we managed to get our lanterns done.

In many European countries, particularly Germnay, France, and the Netherlands, Martinmas is celebrated with a festival of lanterns,

symbolizing the light of generosity that illuminates the darkness of lack. ~Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions

We made simple mason jar lanterns using tissue paper and modge podge. It was perfect for our little ones. They were able to make them with very little help.

I bought the pack of flameless tea lights from Costco, they were perfect under our jar lanterns and the kids thought eating dinner by lantern light was awesome. We let them take their lanterns to bed afterwards to use as a night light.

Poor sick baby. Not too sick to enjoy squash and potatoes though!!!

St. Martin, pray for us!

Shrove Tuesday 2012

Posted on 02/23/2012 by mrschelsearae

We had a delicious dinner of crepes and fruit for dinner for shrove Tuesday this year.

They were delicious, Mary ate more than I did!!

We talked about penance and sacrifice and the importance of Lent while we ate, those are HARD things to explain to a four year old. I think we did a pretty good job though, I’m looking forward to our journey to Easter this year.

2012

Posted on 01/07/2012 by mrschelsearae

I have high hopes for 2012. It isn’t going to take much for it to surpass 2011 considering I spent the first nine months being terribly ill and the last three dealing with a rather irritable baby.

I love the beginning of the year, it is so tempting to sit and make all sorts of goals and aspirations. There are so many things I want to learn how to do and so many things I want to do with my kids. I tried to sit and make a list but as my list grew longer and longer I realized that this was not going to work.

I sat down and started to pray about what I should be doing rather than what I wanted to do, and as I meditated and asked the Holy Spirit for guidance it didn’t take me long to know exactly what the focus our year needs to be.

Venite Adoremus

“Oh come let us adore Him.” This is what this this year is going to be for our family. We are going to really invite Jesus into our daily family life and join our year with the liturgical year of the Church.

To start out Hubby and I have committed to 20 minutes of spiritual reading every day. I am reading Mother Angelica’s Private and Pithy Lessons from the Scriptures and he is reading Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Catholicism.

I really feel like this is exactly what God wants for our family for this year, to focus on learning more about Him and His Church.

Happy Halloween!

Posted on 11/02/2011 by mrschelsearae

This is the first year we really did anything for Halloween. In the past the kids were just too young to get much out of it so we didn’t bother. This year, being school, Mary was a lot more aware of Halloween so we decided to get a little more into it. This is the spooky face Mary drew for Nathaniel to carve into our pumpkin.

He did a great job!

They loved it.

On Saturday our Farmer’s Market had a special Halloween thing for kids, the vendors hid little paper pumpkins somewhere on the booth and when the kids spotted them they got a sticker in a little booklet. If they collected 20 stickers they got a prize. Most of the vendors handed out candy as well, we came home with quite a bit of loot! Both kids had a blast looking for pumpkins and trick-or-treating!!

My fireman and princess at the farmer’s market.