Kaliedoscope Fun

June has been a nice, laid back month and I've had some time to have fun with kaleidoscope beads. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these yet...probably bracelet and necklace beads.

Divine Mercy Bead

centerpiece beads and Pater beads

Let's see, where did I start with this bead...

after I had my inspiration ready, a rough sketch and a bunch of mixed clay ready to use, I started making the eyes. 

I kept working on the face, agonizing over the facial hair.  I never realized how little I knew about the placement of men's facial hair! Here's the finished face.  You can also see the heart and hand in this photo.

Then I put together the rays. Here is the red ray...

Fast forward a few steps..working on the halo.

 Fast forward super speed...finished cane:

I had some problems with the consistency of the clay on the lower half of the cane and much of it was lost. However, the most important part remained and I even made some square beads by slicing off the sides. The smaller squares are for rosary beads, the larger ones are for bracelets.

My next post will be on the meaningful imaginary in the Divine Mercy Jesus bead.

My Almost 6 Month Old

support sitting!

I can't believe I'm even typing these words, "almost 6 months old"! Has it really been a month since my last post! Where did May go?? 

Well, for us, we had a wonderful visit from Minnesota family, a baptism, and we just finished up with a visit from my husband's parents.  The fun never stops! and somehow neither does the dirty laundry or the dirty kitchen even when we're having fun. That's just not right.

Check out my Ann Burt retablos! I know, I need to rearrange them, but aren't the neat? The kids love them too. Here's a link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Art4thesoul

Faustina had her first meal in May and many more since. She enjoys everything I've given her so far except for French onion soup. I am laughing as I recall her face. Babies make the cutest looks of disgust. They also make the cutest pouty faces.

eating her avo

Speaking of food, my oldest son has hit some sort of magical time where he suddenly likes everything I cook! Well, almost everything.  He now whoops in approval of what I am cooking and during dinner, he showers me with compliments.  It's an amazing transformation. I've waiting 5 and a half LONG years for this day.  I'm still in disbelief.  It's not like I've changed anything about what we are eating. He's always hungry too. I guess he's going through a growth spurt.   I am so happy about this, I feel like doing this:

I've been working a new bead. I hope it turns out so I show you...I've only been working on it for a month-almost. It's almost done if I could only find the time to work on it!

But life with the kids is the most important and I'm trying to enjoy it amid the busy. Such a balance! I try to take my cues from these silly guys who always know how to enjoy life:

 Eric and Faustina play the piano whenever she is upset and it always calms her down. She loves music!

May Flower

Analee's always picking flowers for others. I love little girls!

Faustina is almost 5 months old and I don't take nearly enough pictures of her! So here are a few from today.

I am truly grateful this is out of focus! Trust me. The airbrush look is much better than the real life one.

My little May Flower is so kissable. Look at that face!

Quick Update

Quick update while I am making First Communion gifts....

First Communions are underway, which means I am b.u.s.y.  Making lots of these! Thank goodness for my husband who is Mr. Mom these days.

her pouts are so dang cute

Even homeschooling for me:

Thank goodness for the best baby on earth. She sleeps! on her own! all night! and I had nothing to do with it.  Look at this angel:

The weather is so beautiful. I love love love Virginia! I have started exercises by pushing three kids in a stroller around the track near our house. I create quite the scene. And I've gotten a lot of comments like: wow, what a workout! Oh yeah, putting all the rest to shame with my mommy muscles. not really.  You should see my beet red face by the end.

We attending the Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation of my midwife and her family yesterday. It was so special! I just love seeing people come into the church. After Faustina's birth, she asked about why we chose her name. I was able to share a little about St. Faustina's life and Divine Mercy Jesus.  Unknown to me, she did a little research on it and choose Faustina as her confirmation name! God is doing some amazing things with this little one!

Here's the bonnet I found to match her baptismal gown. This lady does beautiful work! I just got this one and another one in the mail today. For some reason, Faustina and bonnets just go together.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/118531278/white-silk-and-lace-baby-bonnet?ref=shop_home_active

Happy Easter!

Yesterday was one of the best Easters I can remember.  Every night before Easter, we decorate the house and get Easter baskets together so the children wake up to a surprise in the morning.  I made two banners last year and this year, we added some Easter Icons and more religious art. 

On Easter, we to relax and enjoy each others company the way Easter is meant to be: teaching our children about the importance of the Resurrection, living the Resurrection by going to Mass, and carrying out the joy of the resurrection in our enjoyment of the gifts God has given.  

This week, we plan to do extend our Easter celebration with plenty of Easter crafts and Easter stories. 

Happy Easter to you and your families!

Our First Seder Meal

Last night we had our first Seder meal. It wasn't very well planned, but it did the job.  I'm hoping it will be a tradition and get better every year.  I got the script from Curr Click, but I saw one on Catholic Inspired as well.

The kids were very attentive throughout the whole thing. I think it was so out of the ordinary, they didn't know what to think.  Plus, I typically don't serve crackers and juice to my kids, so they were thrilled for the matzo and grape juice.

Here's a picture of Analee dipping her finger in the grape juice. How often do you tell your kids to dip their fingers in their grape juice 10 times for the 10 plagues? That was great.  Hiding the matzo was fun too.

Analee asked if the grape juice was lamb's blood. Would have been cooler if it was, although Eric and I were wishing it was wine.  Traditional Passovers include 4 glasses of wine!  I think we need to do this more authentic next year and invite some friends over.

I didn't have any parsley, so cilantro was substituted. It's Mexican parsley!

I love all the symbolism.  Chicken bone on a plate...morbid and weird, but cool.  Not sure about the roasted egg. Why does it need to be roasted after I boil it? Seems redundant.

Who knew it was the Jews who made the first Paleo granola bars? Choreset was eerily similar to these... I think next time I will just make those because my choreset wasn't the best.

The lamb leg roast with pan gravy was amazing! Such a treat. It was the first lamb roast I've prepared and even though I messed up the recipe, it still turned out.  This is definitely happening again.

Since the Seder meal isn't really a MEAL, I had to make some other food.  Besides the lamb, I wasn't sure else is typically served at a Passover meal.  So, we had also had steamed cauliflower and a nice salad with candied pecans, gorgonzola and green apple.  I think it was kosher.  At least I didn't serve bacon! no pork at this meal.