Holy Week treats and crafts

Like I said in my last post, this year I found so many good ideas online for Holy Week food and crafts that we had a blast trying new recipes and using food to help explain the meaning of each day.

On Holy Thursday we had a meal similar to what Jesus and his apostles might have had on the night of the Last Supper...ok maybe food that just represented what they had :)  We had meatloaf (to remind us of lamb), bread (to remind us of unleavened bread), spinach salad (to remind us of bitter herbs), applesauce (to remind us of the Charoses, the bricks and mortar the Jews laid in Egypt), red wine & grape juice, and lamb cupcakes (to remind us that Jesus is the Pascal lamb).  You can read more about the explanation of Holy Thursday foods here: http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2009/04/holy-thursday-in-home.html.

We also learned that it is an old tradition to make soft pretzels during Lent...so old, that there are records of the Lenten pretzel that date all the way back to a 5th century manuscript in the Vatican library!  Pretzels were traditionally only eaten during lent. Early Christians didn't eat dairy products during lent, so pretzels were made because they consisted of three very simple ingredients: flour, salt, and water.  They are made in the shape of 2 arms crossed in prayer.  Who knew pretzels were such a Christian snack!  You can find the recipe that we used at:  http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2009/04/pretzels.html

So what did we do...we made pretzels!  And I have to say, they were quite delicious!

See Rose's explanation here

In addition to our parish's Holy Week services, I also found a cartoon version of Christ's passion that the girls watched on Good Friday to meditate on the happenings of these important days in our Church history.  Paul and I watched the adult-version (Mel Gibson Passion movie) after the kids went to bed.

On Holy Saturday, our Easter preparations began.  We started off the morning decorating eggs.  We made very girly eggs this year...sorry Paul...but I think they turned out pretty neat.  My favorite were the majestic eggs...they made a beautiful center-piece!

We also made some fun Easter-themed treats such as:

Easter bunny donut pops (idea via Olivia via Pinterest)

Homemade dark chocolate Reese eggs (via Pinterest)

Peep kabobs (idea via Pinterest)

As far as decorations go, the girls did manage to do enough sacrifices during lent to take out all the thorns in our salt-dough crown of thorns, so the night before Easter, I filled each hole with flowers, which made it into a beautiful display for our dining room table.

I also dug up the Alleluia banner that we buried at the beginning of Lent and hung it up that evening so it could be on display for the girls Easter morning.

Lastly, we made our own Paschal candle and had it blessed by our pastor so that we can light it every night between Easter and the Ascension...if we remember to do it!  It was a fun way to explain the meaning of the Church's Easter candle to the girls.

I hope I am not boring you with all our little Easter details.  It helps me to write it all down to remember what we did from year to year.  And then I can show the girls how and when some of our traditions started.

Hugs! 

40 Days for the Lord

Now that Holy Week has arrived, we are finishing up our Lenten sacrifices and preparing for the Church's most important week of the year.

Our Lenten sacrifices this year were composed  of a couple of different things to help the girls understand what it's all about.  Instead of offering up one thing for all of Lent (which is hard for us adults, let alone a 5, 4, and 2 year old!) we made a Lenten calendar with a different sacrifice on it for each day...except special feast days and solemnities.  My favorite one was, only say "yes, mom/dad" (instead of complaining) for the whole day!

We also made a salt-dough crown of thorns like we did last year where the girls take a thorn (toothpick) out each time they do a sacrifice throughout the day to try to lessen Jesus pain.  The goal is to have a 'thornless' crown by Easter so it can be filled with flowers on Easter morning.

Another thing we did this year was 'bury the A-L-L-E-L-U...(not supposed to say the word yet :)'.  I basically printed out the letters to spell the word and then we hid it (or put away) for all of Lent to symbolize Lent as a time of repentance and focusing on the Lord's Passion.  On Easter morning I will get it out and use it as decoration on the mantle.  It was a fun way to teach the girls what the word means and why we aren't rejoicing until Jesus has risen!

You can see the letters peaking out under the paper...not a very clever place, I know.

On Friday nights during Lent we have tried to do the Stations of the Cross as a family.  It is hard to make it to Church on Tuesday nights to do them with our parish, so we made a kid-friendly version to do at home.  I printed off small pictures of each station and put them in their own plastic picture frame.  I also got a small candle to place in front of each picture.  Each time, we start with all the candles lit and after we pray at each station, one of the girls blows the candle out in front of it.  It was a good interactive way to keep the girls' attention and help them to learn something at the same time!

Notice the girls sitting far away from the candles so we didn't have any incidents with the fire :)

I am excited about the next four days (the Easter Triduum) because we have a lot of special foods and activities planned for the girls to help explain the meaning of each day.   I found most of the ideas at catholicicing.com and catholiccuisine.blogspot.com.  They have so many awesome ideas, I wish I could have done everything they suggested, but I had to just pick my favorites so I wasn't in over my head.  I will share how everything went next week.  Until then, enjoy the rest of Holy Week and have a blessed Easter!  Wish we could spend it with all of you!

Hugs!

St. Patrick's Day

Well, this St. Patrick's Day was extra special at the Klinker household because we got to celebrate with some special guests.  My parents and four youngest siblings came down to visit as well as my 3 Dominican aunts.  We started off the day with green eggs and bacon (kinda like ham, right?) and green pancakes, of course.

Then the girls went on a treasure hunt to find the treasure that a little leprechaun hid in the middle of the night.  He left clues they had to follow, which Aunt Madeline helped them read, and sent them running all around the house.  They were ecstatic!

Treasure and clues

They found the treasure in a pot!

Gold coins!

A couple days before we did a science experiment with pipe cleaners, Borax, and boiling water, which made crystalized shamrocks.  They were a fun way to decorate for St. Patrick's Day!

Along with St. Patrick's Day books, a short video about St. Patrick's life, and coloring pages, we celebrated with more green food (Mint chocolate chip ice cream with oreos and apple pie!) and a wall of shamrocks.  Not only were the shamrocks a fun decoration, but they were also a fun way to tell our guests how much they mean to us.  We cut a shamrock for each person, then Rose wrote why she and Ava are lucky to have that person in their life.

We finished the night by playing games, watching a movie, and doing some JetPunk quizzes.  It was a great weekend with family, and as always, went way too fast!

St. Patrick, pray for us!

Hugs!

Murphy's Law

Rose has been doing an excellent job of being careful with her stitches.  She hasn't been too active or crazy, she wasn't going to go to gymnastics tomorrow...we even switched her dentist appointment to avoid any possible bumps to the face.  We were taking every precaution we could think of aside from wrapping her in bubble wrap from head to toe, yet somehow, her stitches still managed to get busted open!  

Today while laying on the floor in the school room doing a reading lesson, Rose rolls over at the exact time that Ava trips and falls directly on Rose's chin!  Tears and blood flow from my poor 5 year-old's face.  So, I call a babysitter, who was luckily able to be at my house in 30 minutes, and I take Rose back to the ER.

We were in and out of the hospital in an hour, with brand-new stitches (6 this time!).  The doctor was very good.  He took his time and put more stitches in to help reduce scarring.  The only good thing that came out of the ordeal is that the doctor said that part of the skin on the original cut was jagged from hitting the sidewalk and as it was healing, the skin was not going together as smoothly as they'd like.  He smoothed out the skin and stitched her up really well and said now the scar should be less noticeable than with the first set of stitches!  Thank God for good doctors!

Rose was such a good sport!  I couldn't be prouder of how she handled the whole situation.  She was so brave, even though she knew exactly what she would have to go through again.  A cotton-candy slushy from Thorntons and burger from McDonalds seemed to make everything better ;) 

Murphy's Law...whatever can go wrong, will go wrong!

If you could say a prayer for her quick recovery and for her SAFETY...it would be greatly appreciated!

Hugs!

The Fall

I guess it was just a matter of time, with the 4 active girls God gave us, that one would need medical assistance at one time or another.  Today while playing outside in the beautiful sunny Louisville weather, Rose was riding her bike on the sidewalk, going pretty fast, when she swerved to avoid pile driving Ava.  Instead she fell off the bike and jammed her chin on the sidewalk.

An ER visit and 3 stitches later, our brave 5 year old was back and in good spirits!

Poor girl

The only good thing about getting hurt is everyone gets a special treat!  Yay for cupcakes!

Although she put on a brave face the rest of the day, and told her worried sister (Ava) that she was fine.  She confided in me at bedtime, "Mom, I really don't like stitches."  Poor Rose....it was a rough day for her.

This was our 4th visit to the ER in 5 months (1. Paul got shocked when working on the water heater 2. Madeline pulled her arm out of the socket and 3. Madeline busted open the back of her head when she fell into the tub in my bathroom).  Luckily it was only the first one that needed any work done.  Hopefully the ER doctors don't begin to recognize us by name!

Hugs!

SNOW DAY!!!

My girls have been waiting all winter for a good, hearty snowfall and today their wishes came true! 

The trees were beautiful!

Although they started begging to go out as soon as they got out of bed this morning, we did manage to get some schooling in first and Ella down for a nap.

The freshly fallen snow was perfect for making snow angels

Then we just had to build a snowman.

The girls were just smitten with the snow :)

And "Mrs." Snowman was complete!

After an hour of hard playing, we finished our snow day with a nice hot cup of cocoa...with marshmallows, of course :)  It was a perfect snowy day....now we are ready for spring!

Hugs!

Holiday Celebrations

Holidays were always very special times at our house when I was growing up.  My parents went to great lengths to make sure each holiday was filled with memories.  I loved all the traditions we had and eagerly anticipated each celebration.

I want my children to grow up with that same love for the holidays.

Although Valentine's Day is mostly a Hallmark Holiday, it is a fun holiday to celebrate with the kids.  One special thing that we have done for the girls the past couple years is have some treats on the table for them to wake up to in the morning.  It starts the day off on a good note!

This often includes candy (of course), a new book or toy of some sort, and a homemade card with one of their favorite characters.

Their wonderful father also surprised each of his little princesses with their own rose (each with its own vase of course so they don't get mixed up)....they felt so grown up!

I got some beautiful roses of my own as well :)

I tried to make as much of the food that day Valentine-themed as possible.  We started off with a healthy dose of pink heart pancakes with red M&Ms for breakfast, heart-shaped pb & j sandwiches for lunch, and peppermint ice cream hearts between Oreo crumbs after dinner...yum! :)  And we definitely hit up the Papa Murphy's heart pizza earlier in the week!

Besides our family celebrations, we also had a Valentine's party with our homeschool group where they learned about St. Valentine, passed out Valentines to their friends, and decorated cookies.  Overall, I think the girls had a great holiday and hopefully felt very loved! :)

Paul and I even snuck in a little celebration in the evening with a glass of wine by the fire while watching Top Gun...I know...we are hopeless romantics ;)

Hugs!