Storybook Woods Giveaway!!

One of my favorite bloggers is Clarice of Storybook Woods. She is a fellow homeschooler who fills her world with beauty. I remember when she started her blog and I've enjoyed it ever since. As a celebration of her one year blogiversary she is giving away some fun things. Run over to her blog and check it all out!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!

Easter Garden

My good friend, The Jacobite Rose, gave instructions last year for making an Easter Garden on her old blog. It's very simple and she gave step by step instructions with pictures. You basically make a small replica of Jesus' tomb with rocks. The rock that covers the entrance is rolled away on Easter morning. It's a great activity to do with your children. It was so memorable for my children that they begged me to do it again this year. Even though it is now Saturday I'm going to do it with my children today. It is so wonderful to see their excitement when they see the open tomb on Sunday morning.

Good Friday and Hot Cross Buns

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me and even thought I've shared a lot of recipes lately...I'm going to share more! Hot Cross Buns are traditional food for good Friday. They are marked with a cross to remember our Lord and Savior's death on this day. In the past I have used this recipe with success. A good friend tells me that in England the cross is made on the top of the roll with a paste of flour and water. But, my goodness, icing could only be better!!! My children love this recipe and look forward to making them with me.

Other activities this week were to read the account of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday together as a family on Sunday night, dying Easter Eggs and then taking some to people we love, and tomorrow we will make lamb cookies according to my mother's tradition. Just a sugar cut out cookie frosted with white with a snipped raisin or a dried current for the eye. Yummy. We died our Easter eggs using this kit by Easter Unlimited called Easter Sunday Egg Decorating Kit. It had great Christian decals that my kids enjoyed. Sorry I don't have a picture though. Another fun place to visit is http://www.tentwostudios.com/countdown/ for her Easter countdown of paper ephemera downloads.

In movies I'm planning to watch the Ten Commandments, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Passion and maybe the Gospel of John too. For books I love Easter Bunny Are You For Real. There is also a book in this series about Santa Claus that is excellent. I highly recommend them both.

I hope you are having a wonderful week preparing for Easter with your family as well. I'd love to hear what you are doing.

Praiseworthy Website: The Art Tea Life

This is actually a sneaky way to post about St. Patrick's Day again!!! The Art Tea Life is a very creative blog that I read frequently. Her post last Wednesday on "Wearin' o The Green" gave a wonderful poem and account of Irish history that I wanted to share it with you. The Irish flag displays a green bar to represent the Catholics and an orange bar to represent the Protestants and a white bar to represent the peace between the two. Art Tea Life's post helps us to understand why even though we are Protestants wearing green is a wonderful thing to do!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the wisdom of God instruct me;

The eye of God watch over me;

The ear of God hear me;

The Word of God give sweetness to my speech;

The hand of God defend me;

And may I follow the way of God this and every day.

-St. Patrick

Make a library run and try out these books with your kids today:

St. Patrick's Day - Mary Cantwell

St. Patrick and Irish Christianity - Tom Corfe

Saint Patrick - Ann Tompert

Goodbye Sweet Lucy

Jane and Lucy,
originally uploaded by jillpettis.

This is a picture of my Great Aunt Jane and her sister my Great Aunt Lucy. Lucy has the black hair. Lucy passed away last Saturday and in honor of her I'm posting her recipe for Apple Cake. My Aunt Jane loved Lucy's Apple Cake so in a way I'm honoring them both!

Lucy was an interesting person. Her temperament was not all that warm, but she had a hearty laugh and loved her grandchildren. At the funeral they said things like, "she let us get toys out all over and never said anything about it." That's something coming from a woman whose house was spotless every single time I entered it. Really, her floor was SHINY! You could quite happily eat off it as they say. And her BLACK hair was always perfect.

When their mother passed away Lucy said to Jane, "we're the old ones now." Looks like I'm one generation away from the old ones now myself. I thank God that I knew them and I hope that they, their mother, father, sister and brother are having a wonderful homecoming.

For me, I'll just have to wait to see them. But at least I can have the cake.

Lucy's Apple Cake

4 cups chopped Apples

3 cups flour

1 cup oil

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup raisins

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup flaked coconut

Mix apples and sugar and let stand a few minutes until juice forms. Sift flour, soda, salt and add to apples. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Pour into a tube pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.

St. Patrick's Day ideas

My mother is quite a lover of all things Irish. She has Irish heritage and has always loved the people and the culture. I grew up in a house where we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in a family way with good food and drink. The celebration of St. Patrick's day with parades and parties is really mostly an American Irish invention. In Ireland it is celebrated as a holy day to remember Patrick. I have chosen in my own family to celebrate this day by teaching my children about the Irish culture and people and by remembering a man who obeyed God by bringing the gospel to a group of people who had enslaved him. I find this aspect of Patrick, the missionary, to be very inspiring and worth reflecting on every year. In the hopes that you will share this message with your family I have included her a few sites worthy of mention:

The BBC has an excellent program for learning Gaelic, the original language of Ireland called Giota Beag. You can find other links to Gaelic learning here as well.

Lisa Volrath at her site Ten Two Studios is featuring one of her marvelous countdowns. This time featuring downloads for St. Patrick's Day paper crafting.

When I was younger I watched the Masterpiece Theatre's production of The Irish R.M. The ever praiseworthy Librivox is currently at work producing a free audio of this delightful book which isn't finished but you can get started on the finished chapters here.

Last year I posted on my favorite meal for St. Patrick's Day which is the American Irish Corned Beef with cabbage and potatoes. You can read my recipe for Irish Soda Bread here.

jaminacema has a great activity to teach the trinity with a shamrock just as Patrick did here.

Soon I'll post a book list of some of my favorite children's books to read for this day. But until then I hope you'll enjoy these links!

Praiseworthy Food: Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday in the church calendar. Traditionally Christians fasted from meat products as a way of experiencing a sacrifice to commemorate the sacrifice Jesus gave for us. This meant that the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, they would need to use up all of their animal products such as milk, butter, eggs, etc… Pancakes were perfect for this so pancakes have become associated with this day.

Happily, IHOP has also designated this Pancake day and is giving away a short stack of pancakes to every guest. This is an effort to raise money for The Children's Miracle Network and they are asking for donations. Check it out on their website and head over to enjoy a short stack in observation of Shrove Tuesday!

Praiseworthy food and toys!

I just received my new Braun Powermax 2050 blender in the mail from Amazon. My old blender broke and this was rated a best buy from Consumer Reports and only $39! I celebrated by making the following which comes from the Disease Proof blog.

Chocolate Smoothie
5 oz. organic baby spinach
½ cup soy milk
½ cup pomegranate juice
1 medium banana
1 Tbsp. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups frozen blueberries
1 Tbsp. flaxseed, ground
First, liquefy spinach in soy milk and pomegranate juice in the blender. Add all remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Serves 2.
As son told my daughter, don't turn your nose up at it until you've tried it. Instead of five ounces of baby spinach I used a head of romaine and my son (age 6) and I are sharing. I promise you will not taste the greens AT ALL. The chocolate is in my opinion overkill. You could easily make it without and just have a banana blueberry smoothie. Those of you who have people who don't like greens in your life try this. I used regular milk too by the way.