Custodians of Beauty

On November 1, we celebrate the host of saints in heaven. We ask them to intercede for us so that one day we too may join the holy soul for all Eternity. My four year old has told me many times that she wants to go to heaven to be with Mary and Jesus. This afternoon, while praying my rosary, she climbed onto my lap. She asked if she would see the apostles up there (heaven). I said yes, of course! And St. Francis, St. Maximillian, St. Nicholas, and St. Agnes!  Isn't it amazing to think about who you could rub elbows with in heaven? I mean how cool would it be to dine with St. Lawrence and St. Martha, share a hearty laugh with St. Bernard of Clairvaux or hike the mountains with St. John Paul and Blessed Pier Giorgio? Heaven will be GREAT! My husband and I desire our children to know and love the saints. To help them get to know their patrons, we read stories and celebrate their feast days with tasty foods and fun activities. Our children look forward to the All Saints Day...

Fall is my favorite. Leaf piles, sweater weather, apple cider, crunchy leaves underfoot, pumpkins, and pies!  This is our first autumn in the new house and it's SO exciting! The maple trees in our backyard have turned from vibrant green to fiery yellow, and deep red-orange. Each leaf that falls to the ground looks like a piece of artwork. I want to save each one and put it in a frame. God's creation is majestic and wondrous! I'm rediscovering nature's beauty through the eyes of my children. Often I find them captivated, listening to the rustling of the leaves as the wind sweeps through the trees. We have several pines that run along two sides of our yard. The girls will wander the yard in search of pinecones to fill their toy shopping cart. It's just as fun as an easter egg hunt! (Plus, I don't have to "hide" anything, mother nature is in charge of that. ;) Haven't done any sewing lately, but I did create a wreath to embellish our f...

Spotted the first leaf to turn on our maple tree. I was in a baking mood last week and decided to make cut-outs using my new leaf cookie cutter (10 ¢  garage sale find, score!) I wanted to try using several different colored doughs, roll them together to end up with a multicolored cookie. I didn't have time to make an entire batch, so I made half and chilled the rest of the dough for later. Using my aunt's "Peanuts Cookie Cut-outs" recipe, I divided the dough into 4 parts and dyed them red, orange, green and yellow. Then made smaller dough balls of all the colors and started rolling. As I rolled out the dough, the colors started to merge. My leaf designs were changing from bright and bold, to swirly marble-like patterns. So cool. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more leaf cookie cutters--different shapes and sizes. Let's make some cookies! See how the colors are looking more marbly? Neato. Ready for the oven. ...