Feast of the Assumption Snack Cups

Happy Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Don't forget that today is a holy day of obligation.

We have a play date today and I wanted to bring a snack to share that celebrated today's feast. I got inspired by Catholic Cuisine's Heavenly Assumption Parfaits, a simple and beautiful treat using blue jello and whipped topping to create a cloud and sky affect. I really liked the idea, but needed to make mine a little more portable to bring to the play date.

So instead of breaking up the jello and putting it in parfait glasses, I poured the liquid jello into disposable plastic cups and let it set in those. I then put a layer of whipped topping on top, and garnished it with a blue white chocolate "M" for Mary. It was the first time I tried a decoration like this, and though every M wasn't as neat as I might have liked, I think they turned out really well and added a special little touch!









To make the white chocolate garnishes I melted some white chocolate chips in the microwave and added blue food coloring. I then put the melted chocolate into a zip top bag and snipped off the corner with some scissors to create a piping bag. Then I piped the M's onto parchment paper that was on the back side of a baking pan. Make sure you make more than you need because some of them will probably break when you remove them. Pop the baking pan into the freezer and the chocolate should set in a just a few minutes! They lift off the parchment paper really easily, and then you can place them on top of the jello cups. Enjoy!

You can print a free Assumption coloring page from Happy Saints by clicking here. 

  This post is linked up the Catholic Bloggers Network monthly link up blitz , Equipping Catholic Families Saints Cele-linky, and the Catholic and Living It Link Up.

Joking around with St. Jane Frances de Chantal

I only recently discovered St. Jane when looking up feast days in August, but what a remarkable woman she was! When she married she inherited her husband's enormous debt, but she took charge and organized all the finances and got her family back on its feet.She would give food away at her home and never turned anyone away. When her husband was killed in a hunting accident she was able to forgive the man who killed him, though she struggled at first. She was friends with St. Francis de Sales and founded the Visitation order for elderly and sickly women who were rejected by other orders. She and her husband had four children and she was a very gentle and loving person.

One of the things that jumped out at me when I read about her was a quote from a friend of St. Jane's saying, "Even stupid jokes were funny when she told them." I think that sometimes we get a picture in our heads of saints as someone stoic and serious, maybe even a little "holier than thou," so I think its great when we get an image like this! St. Jane Frances de Chantal was a human being with joy in her heart who loved to tell jokes! Of course we know that her joy came from God and was key to her work in helping the poor and needy. St. Jane is not the only one with that joy either. I have seen that great joy in all the sisters of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, MI when I visit my sister. I've seen it at the beautiful Catholic weddings of my friends. I've seen it in my friends who are in seminary studying to be priests. I've seen it in loving, Christ centered families. I've seen it in my priest from college who also loves to tell stupid jokes! Wherever God is truly present in the hearts of His people, I see a great joy.

Now in college, when that priest would tell stupid jokes, most people would moan and shake their heads. Me, I would laugh. That's because telling stupid, (aka hilarious), jokes runs in my family. Its a grand tradition going back generations. So today in honor of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, I'm going to share some of my favorites. So please feel free to share the joy and get together with your family to tell these jokes, along with your own personal favorites! Please share your favorite jokes in the comments!

Warning: Some jokes may contain elephants

Q: How can you tell if an elephant's been in the refridgerator?
A: There's footprints in the butter.

Q: Why did the cowboy buy a dachshund?
A: Because someone told him to "get a long little doggie!"

 What's the difference between an elephant and a plum?
I don't know.
Then I'm not sending you to the store for plums, you might come back with elephants!
(I have a hard time with this one. The person I tell it to always seems to try to answer the question instead of saying "I don't know.")

Q: What's brown and sticky?
A: A stick!

Q: Why are elephants big, gray, and wrinkly?
A: Because if they were small, white, and smooth they'd be asprin!

Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Winnie the Puh
Winnie the Puh-who?

Q: Why did the elephant wear green tennis shoes?
A: So he could sneak across the pool table without being seen.

 Q: What's the best time to go to the dentist?
A. Tooth-hurty! (two thirty)

Q: Why did the elephant wear red tennis shoes?
A: Because his green ones were in the wash!

Have you heard the one about the sidewalk? Its all over town!

And finally...

Q: What's gray, has big ears, and a trunk?
A: A mouse going on vacation!   fooled you, didn't I? 

To learn more about St. Jane Frances de Chantal, click here.

 This post is linked up the Catholic Bloggers Network monthly link up blitz , Equipping Catholic Families Saints Cele-linky, and the Catholic and Living It Link Up.

St. Lawrence Day Cook Out

Happy Feast of Saint Lawrence! St. Lawrence in a martyr of the Church, most remembered for being able to maintain a sense of humor even as he was dying. It is one of my favorite saint stories.

In 258 during a persecution of Christians in Rome, the Prefect of Rome believed that the Church had some great hidden treasure and demanded that St. Lawrence bring it to him. St. Lawrence then gathered all the poor and needy of Rome and brought them before the prefect telling him that they were the treasure of the Church. That didn't sit too well with the prefect. St. Lawrence was tied to iron grill that was put over a fire to be cooked to death. It is said that through God's assistance he felt little pain, and even joked with his torturers, "Turn me over,  I'm done on this side!" St. Lawrence in the patron saint of cooks and chefs. To learn more about St. Lawrence click here.

It only seemed appropriate to have a cook out on the grill to honor this bold and joyful saint! We ended up doing it yesterday evening as we made it a family gathering with my dad and step-mom and that's when everybody could get together. It was a beautiful evening of enjoying each other's company with delicious food and fresh air. The following things are some of the food that we had, but of course it can be something as simple as throwing some hot dogs on the grill.

 Grilled Veggies - a staple for us at any cook out!
 -Veggies - some of our favorites are broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, and parsnips
-Olive oil
-Salt

Put the veggies on the grill and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Cook until tender and slightly charred. Enjoy!

 Burgers on the Grill
This is a venison sausage patty with horseradish sauce and a brandywine tomato from my dad's garden. Yum! My dad is a hunter so I love venison. We probably had it more than beef growing up! We also had regular burgers, but I just couldn't pass this one up!

Grilled Fruit Sundaes
-Grillable fruit - we used pineapple and bananas. Stone fruits like peaches and nectarines work well too.
-Ice cream
-toppings

Grill the fruit until soft and slightly charred. put on top of vanilla ice cream and add your favorite toppings! I used chocolate and caramel sauce. Enjoy!

Prayer to St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

O Generous patron of the Church’s poor, St. Lawrence, pray to the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that all the poor of the Church in need in every corner of the world may feel the effect of the love of their brothers and sisters who seek to help them.

Deliver the Church from the greed and envy of the powerful and protect her rights and property so that she may serve the needy in freedom, giving them good things for soul and body.

May we come some day with all those whom we helped on earth to the bright mansions of heaven where we will enjoy the riches of God’s house and the company of the Savior who lives and reigns forever and ever.

                                                                            Amen

 This post is linked up the Catholic Bloggers Network monthly link up blitz  and the Equipping Catholic Families Saints Cele-linky 

Fun with Fingerpaint and Boxes

For a child there isn't anything much better than being allowed to make a mess and having a big box to play in. For the past couple days I've had one happy kid because that's exactly what we've been doing with a combination of fingerpaints and Nana and Grandpa's box from their new dishwasher!

It started out with a regular fingerpainting session. We covered the kitchen table with newspapers and cut stamps out from sponges. We also only bought red, yellow, and blue tempera paint, so we could have a little fun with color mixing. Our three year old Sam had lots fun creating colorful art!

 I love this rainbow hand print! We basically made a color wheel on a paper plate, and he stuck his hand in it and put it on the paper!









The day ended something like this.

















And then things got really crazy. Grandpa finally took the dishwasher out of the box! Sam wanted to turn it into a fort. To make it really special we told him that we could take the box outside and paint it. The key to this project is to not care how messy the kids get and let them go for it! Tempera paint is washable, but its still a good idea to strip 'em down, (good for when they're younger) or wear old clothes.

Here's Sam painting the box.















These are some of the stamps we cut from sponges. The green blobby one is a sassafras leaf, Sam asked for it because sassafras is his favorite tree.

Here is the paint we mixed, set up color wheel style to add a little education to the craziness!

 Final results! You will notice on the left side of the picture two red footprints on the driveway. There was a threat of rain in weather report so we put the box in the garage to dry, and we'll bring it in tomorrow so Sam can set up camp in is fort. When you're done make sure to give the kids a bath or spray them down with a hose in the yard!

This post is linked up on Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Link Up Blitz.