Starting again...

I usually post all of my feast day plans, ideas, and celebrations on my Shutterfly share site. However, since that cannot be easily searched, I'll do a basic post over here on that particular saint feast day or other liturgical activity and then link to the more detailed post on the share site through Shutterfly. I am really impressed by the unlimited storage capacity, ability to link documents and other files, and the ease of creating posts. Shutterfly makes it very easy to link documents, pictures, text, etc into one post, which simplifies it for me and allows me to do more in less time. If only it could be searched for! That link is: stannehomeeducation.shutterfly.com

Saint Clare of Assisi

A beautiful poem and hymn to honor the beautiful Saint Clare of Assisi.

O woman of light, ablaze with the Sun
Of Christ your Beloved, with whom you are one.
The fire of his love burns like gold in your prayer,
The joy of the cross shines like flame in the air.

Unburdened by wealth, untrammeled and free,
The light-footed daughter of high poverty,
You run like the lightning across summer skies;
With Christ in your heart, you shine, holy and wise.

With prodigal hand, you scatter on earth
The fruits of your penance, the coins of your mirth,
Enriching all hearts with the treasure you chose
To store up in heaven for God to dispose.

O holy Saint Clare, we beg you today
To hold your torch high and shed light on our way
Through gate old and narrow and up the steep road
That led you to dwell in God's promised abode.

Thanks, Megan and Shirley for thinking of Clare Bear!

Assumption Party

We had an Assumption Party with some of our homeschool friends- what fun!

We painted little wiggly wooden snakes to represent the power Mary has over Satan. We had a little catechesis on the protoevangelium found in Genesis 3:15. Everyone dressed in blue for Mary. We prayed the Litany of Loreto, which is so beautiful and really draws you into the reality of Mary.

Painting the snakes

In a potluck style, we brought various dishes based on the titles and stories of Mary. Pictures and brief description of those are below.
All the beautiful children eating their yummy "Mary dinner" Can you believe they are all sitting down at the same time...! Nothing like a little healthy peer pressure!

All of the dishes, with title and pictures below:
Rosemary Chicken
Mother of Christ the Bread of Life Garlic Bread
Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb fruit dish
Virgin of Virgins Olive Oil Pasta
The New Eve garden salad
Assumpta Salad (Salad based on fruits named for Mary)

Mary Blue Assumption punch
Miracle of Cana wine
Queen of Martyrs Rice Krispies Crown
Queen of the Holy Rosary cupcakes
Roses for Mary
Vessel of True Devotion, Mirror of Justice, Mystical Rose table centerpiece

Blue candles with Mary stickers
Another table display

I had pictures of the Blessed Mother framed next to each dish, with a name card to describe the significance of the dish to the particular title of Mary. We of course used blue paper goods.

Pictures to correspond with each dish
Labels for each dish. I included a picture and a brief synopsis of the theology behind the dish.
Blue everything for Mama Mary

I also created a neat CD of Marian hymns and chants to play as background music.

Link to shutterfly:
http://stannehomeeducation.shutterfly.com/234

May Crowning Party

We celebrated our Mother Mary with a May Crowning. We hope to make it an annual event here in Pearland! I'll list here some of the dishes that we served. We used the awesome website called Catholic Cuisine for reference. The dishes were based on the titles of Mary, as found in the Litany of Loreto. We prayed the Litany as a group, and the children caught on quickly to the response of "pray for us!" That gave me goosebumps to hear all those children in unison!

Morning Star Sandwiches

Tower of Ivory; House of Gold









Mary Blue Punch, to symbolize Mary being assumed into Heaven












Assumpta Salad, a salad based on the herbs and fruits named for Mary












Twelve Apostles fruit salad












and the children especially liked the crown cupcakes that symbolized Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth and Queen of Apostles, Saints, and Martyrs!








Everybody brought flowers to give to Mama Mary. And we all dressed in blue to honor Our Lady, too!












We then crowned the Virgin of Guadalupe.












The children painted picture frames to remember the day and also had some nice coloring sheets of Mary pictured as our Mother.













Mary, help of Christians, and our Mother in Heaven, pray for us!