Disney Christmas..As devout Catholics??

My husband and I came to the conclusion that spoiling our children with material goods (they simply do not need) as celebration for Christ's birthday just wasn't what we wanted to do this year for Christmas.  So we decided to surprise our children with a trip to Florida to see Disney World.  I was the only one who had actually been to Disney World (twice before for a cheerleading competition and dance team performance- yes I was a dancing machine back in the day- and have been known to cut a rug in my kitchen with the kids while my Jaw Bone blares).

So back to the "surprise" Disney trip... B found out in September (have I mentioned I am a terrible liar- he guessed).  It was impossible for him not to tell his twin brother (Q)..of course.  So 2 out of 5 were privy to our plans, and then our 9 year old (I) found out a week before we left; after mass while we were talking to friends...ooopsy!!! So Now 3 of the 5 kids were excited about sun while we were enduring wind and snow.  The last to find out was D (age 5) we told him we were going to a "pool" for a few days during Christmas Break.  That seemed like a perfectly legitimate reason to have 7 filled-to-the-brim suitcases sprawled out in his parents bedroom.  The morning of our flight we told him the pool was a little farther and we would have to take a plane.  On the way out of the Orlando airport I mentioned we should go the same way as Disney World, our 5 year old son heard and repeated "DISNEY WORLD???" slack jawed.  The cat was out of the bag; and the trip was henceforth referred to as...  "My Disney dream come true"....by little D.  I made sure my kids (the 18 month old, the 5 and 9 year old) wore tattoos with our cell phone numbers on them (you can personalize and purchase here safety tat website)  And D cried ...so hard that he HAD to wear the tattoo.  Of course, God is so good and a sweet woman mentioned how much she liked it on the monorail that morning.  This was Disney Day one, and later that day my usually mild mannered baby had a complete melt-down on the same monorail.  It was seriously one of the worst tantrums I have witnessed (and I have 5 kids!)..just know that when you travel it will not be without a few crosses and hiccups.  Plan on them, then you aren't disappointed when they occur.  You will also have more to "offer up," as you will be having (mostly) the time of your life.

The Fam, making monkey faces with Rafiki @ Animal Kingdom

All together we took 13 days out of our "over-scheduled" life and enjoyed each other's company.  I feel like we spent more time together that week than we do during the rest of the year in our hectic life, of course this is not true but reconnecting as a family was the best gift of this trip.  We went to Disney 6 days total. The crowds were crazy for these small-town folks, so we would go early and once the crowds got heavy we left and went to another park:  Epcot, Animal Kingdom, or Hollywood Studios.  We also went to Sea World, and the beach twice (Christmas Day at Clear Water Beach and New Years Day at CoaCoa Beach).  A day at the beach is the closest thing we have to heaven in my opinion.  It just doesn't get any better than sun, sand and tranquil waves.

 Momma and her 5 gifts in front of the Basilica in Orlando, FL

The best part of our trip was an amazing Basilica Mary Queen of the Universe just a few miles from our condo, which made it convenient to make it to mass the 4 times it was required while we were gone.The Basilica is stunning: the nativity scene was amazing, the art, the stations of the cross...the mother and child garden are all places I could spend the entire day. I love the uniting of God and His Gifts!  It made my heart gush as a Catholic that at every mass we attended every pew was packed! Filled to the gills, with people from every walk of life.  I am sure many different countries were represented, different languages, all united with praise of Jesus Christ our Savior in our hearts.  The same mass resounding in the heavens, the same readings, the same Eucharistic Celebration.  The ritual of giving thanks and praise for the grace of our sins being forgiven.  It ignites my faith!

So the answer to the first question, can devout Catholics do Disney for Christmas?  I am going to say yes, definitely YES!! Be sure to plan,  Mass Times  will help you  find a place to worship. We realize our family, our children, our time together, our life is all a gift.  They are gifts to be celebrated.   All praise and glory to the giver of all gifts, GOD, our Heavenly Father!



If you are not Catholic but you wish to understand more about the Catholic Faith, I recommend the video Breaking Ground.  It is a Pastor and a Priest sitting down and discussing what we can learn from each other.  It's beautiful  and I think we are called to Christian Unity.  Let us not focus on our differences but rejoice in our common love of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  We are united in Christ, our Savior!Video Link

Green Chili on a Cold Day. BRRR

You'll Need:
3 T oil (I used vegetable)
2 Lbs Cubed Beef
1/2 C Tequila (tenderizes)
7 Green Chillies
1/2 Onion
2 Jalapenos
1 Bulb Garlic
Masa flour (corn flour treated with lime)

Garnish:
sour cream, cilantro, finely sliced jalapeno, shredded white cheddar
finely diced: avocado, onion, and tomato

About an hour of prep starts with the beef.  In a Frying pan on high heat sear the meat in 2T oil.  Cook until it's just pink inside.  Add 1/2 C Tequila and reduce liquid. I just pour anything that is complete into the crock pot.

Set the oven to Broil. Place 7 Green Chillies on a baking sheet with a full clove of garlic (roasted garlic rocks!)
Broil 'till the skins are brownish and the garlic is translucent (if it's brown it is no longer roasted it is burned and there is a very BIG difference- so no brown garlic).  Let the chillies and garlic cool a bit, until you can handle it.  Use a paring knife to remove the skins from the green chili's, remove seeds (you may have to rinse under the faucet as the seeds are stubborn). Remove the stem.  Chop to desired size ~ (I like them about the size of my thumb nail). Peel the garlic, chop off the hard tip, and finely chop.

More chopping....chop up your onion, and your 2 jalapenos.  I have kids so the seeds were spared this time ~ If I were just cooking for the adults I would add about 1/2 the seeds.  Any hew...1 T oil in the pan that cooked the beef, we are reusing so we aren't scrubbing dishes - it's a crock pot recipe after all.  The whole point is being able to put your feet up and read a book. With medium heat, cook the jalapenos and onion until the onion is translucent.  I also add all of my seasoning to the onion and jalapeno mix.

Add all ingredients to the crock pot, set for 6-10 hrs on high.  My future sister-in-law got a crock pot that turns off automatically to Warm.  I have one too, I highly recommend this.  If you are gone for too long you don't want a burned up mess when you were anticipating a no-fuss easy dinner.

For the last hour add the Masa flour to thicken.  Enjoy and I hope you got to read, sleep, exercise or play with your kiddos with the extra time this easy meal carved out for you.  Heaven help whoever eats the last helping of this coveted meal.

My Christmas Gift to You... It's even the appropriate colors.

Budget Friendly Advice for the New Year: Get some great produce at an even better price:  BoutifulBaskets.org  We get our fruit/veggie baskets every two weeks.  They are AWESOME and we pay $15 seriously for about a laundry-basket size of produce.  Happy New Year, May 2014 Be Heavenly!

Guilty: Coconut Cupcakes Guiltless: Liver Detox Juice & the Teachable Moment

Another satisfied customer- Lil D and his 2nd cupcake

My son, D asked to make cupcakes...So we delved into cyber space and found a yummy recipe (see link below).  I was excited about the prospect of a teachable lesson.....you know the ones you dream of before you actually become a parent and realize all your day dreams were delusional.  In real-parent-world, we are lucky to get the floors clean, toilets less disgusting and our kids dressed and out the door to school on time in semi-unwrinkled and clean-ish clothing with something (anything) in their stomachs. 

Coconut Lovers Cupcakes

So the cupcakes were perfection, I found the recipe on Pinterest. Super simple, and delicious.  My lil D had 2, wanted 3, but ended up compromising with 2.  He is SMART and I love him so I let him get away with murder more than what I intend.  He is so darn cute and cunning!

After you eat that cupcake if your are anything like me, you feel guilty.  Why did I do that?  I wanted to loose a few pounds.  Guilt the gift that keeps on giving....and giving.  So feel less guilty with this awesome liver detoxing recipe:


 
You will need 1 lemon (slice off peel), 4 ribs celery, 1 beet (keep the leafy tops), spinach, kale, and some wheatgrass with  a piece of ginger and an apple (or two).  Juice those babies up and slurp it down.  Now you have done something your future self with thank you for, no guilt included.

Teachable moment:  While I was cutting the apple up for the juicer (I saw a worm hole on the outside) I realized the teeny tiny worm had barreled into this apple and followed it's adventure...the little bugga went straight for the core of the apple.  It did a little dance, it turned this perfect little apple BLACK on the inside. This apple was rotten to the core.  The apple was hard, perfect, on the outside... had I not inspected the apple I would have had a mouthful of rotten, black smut!  I think this happens in our life as well.  We are well intended, lets eat something healthy...  Lets sit down and watch, read, listen to _____________________It's only a half hour, a few pages, it's got a great beat.  Pretty soon we are polluting our souls with rap music about...Do they kiss their mother with that mouth??? I wonder?  The black core is never seen.  We ingest the worm of sin and do not give it another thought;  until our thoughts become our words and then our actions. Truth from the grocery chain owner...Frank Outlaw.  I am sure he had sold his fair share of apples in his day.

  Do not fool yourself.  Jesus came so that we may live and live it more abundantly!  He came that we may be changed!!  He never once said, "Don't worry folks I got this.....Sin away!"  He came and preached repentance.

So let us Confess, Repent, Live Abundantly! 

Confess your sins, so that the worm (the serpent) does not have the final say.  

Have a Heavenly Day!

 

Are you looking for more teachable moments?  Matthew Kelly's Why Am I Here? is fantastic! It's very relatable for children; our 4 year old loves this book!  We love the lesson he is getting regarding being THE BEST version of himself and making choices that reflect his decision.

 Why Am I Here? By Matthew Kelly

Sushi -The Cali Roll

I learned to make California Rolls the other day...I am always so excited when I can learn a new trick in the kitchen.  I have been making sushi on the traditional bamboo stick thing-a-ma-bobber, that helps with the perfect roll.  However I am impatient and a little sloppy so when our friends came over with a plastic roll mold I knew I had to revisit the sushi making world with my new weapon, tool, sushi roll mold.  Here it goes:

you will need the above essentials.  I found my roll mold at amazon

Kai Pure Komachi Large Sushi Mold

Cook your rice, make sure it's sticky sushi rice

 

unroll this weird clear stuff off of the Krab (with a K)

finely chop the Krab meat

Add Mayo (to taste)

So this is what I would have never guessed to add to the rice, but when I googled sushi the Japanese literal meaning is "sour tasting;" who knew??? Add this to the rice to taste.

place toasted nori sheet in the mold first

add rice to the first mark on the side, then cucumber, avocado, and the Krab mixture, more rice and pat it down a bit to be sure it's tight.  Be gentle with the Nori sheets.

fold the nori sheet over, put the mold on top, flip the mold

and open it on the other side.

and out comes this tasty morsel!!

Slice them up with your sharpest knife or a

serrated knife to prevent the rolls from being misshapen (see below).

Be sure to keep the roll width fairly wide too. 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few other sushi recipes to try out while experimenting:  sushi recipes @ yummly

Gangs all Here...

~We may not have it all together, but together we have it all~

Let me start by saying my husband and I had it all figured out (when we were young and thought we had full control of our lives), we would have one more child after the twins. Kevin would tell me as I held our daughter, "Enjoy it, she will be the last baby till we have grandkids."  He has said it 2 more times, before we decided to completely surrender to God's will in our lives. We don't know the future or the number of children God will send our way.  Each time another child is born into our marriage, we feel like we couldn't imagine life without this little person in our family. We just can't live without them.  Would never want to live without them.  They are the greatest achievement of our marriage and a testimony to our walk with Christ. Our children, they are on loan.  They do not belong to us.  We know this, but it doesn't make them any less revered and loved.  They are the absolute focus and heart of our family.  We have 5 total, but cheated a little with the twin teens: B and Q.

The twins aren't too much alike unless they finish each others sentences (it happens frequently).   As you can see they are fraternal twins and Q (in the pink shirt) is 5 minutes older and never lets B (green shirt- you already figured that by your superior deductive reasoning) forget!! 

Baby B- and Baby A respectively...14 years later. 

Often referred to as my twin titans!!  They are awesome!!

Next the princess and lone girl, I.  She is the apple of our eye and has just the right amount of Sass, Smarts and Sweetness.  She has so many talents and gets away with (next to) murder at times, as girls often do.  She begs for a sister.  She is the kindest person I know.  And I will be the first to tell you that it has nothing to do with anything I have done.  She is completely her own person and truly a treasure! 

Three months after meeting Pope Benedict in Rome and getting his papal blessing in our wedding attire..D was conceived.  We believe the blessing helped immensely.  He is completely and utterly himself.  He is rough, and sweet (sparingly), and so darn smart; he really keeps us all on our toes.  This kid was born for something HUGE!! Not sure just what yet.  Could be the WWF, Could be the cure to cancer; but in the meantime we will just be sure to treasure his ....unique D-ness.

And the littlest Hunt our Baby Angel, N.  He is pretty much awesome, we love him up.  At this stage (1) he is a momma's boy. But he growls and wrestles with the boys, and really wants to keep up with his older brother.  As you can see my children have their Daddy's beautiful big eyes, and their momma's heart and soul!  The love of our lives....  

Last but NOT least....THE MAN of the house.  It is the smallest pic (he is camera shy) but takes up the most room in my heart...my Hunk-a-Burnin'-Love and Love of My Life..  He is the rock of our family, He is funny and wonderful.  I really did win the husband lottery. He is a KEEPER!!!

 

"As far as anyone knows, we are a normal family!"

I saw the above plaque at my friend T's house the other day and I will steal it for I feel it encompasses the richness of family life.  We all have our inadequacies and our unique-style; so any other description will fall short.

Couple to Couple League. Great Resource for NFP

Why do Catholics Choose NFP

NFP Testimony

More Resources - One More Soul

NFP Online Fertility Charting 

Why do you have so many kids?  You know how that happens, right?  You are pregnant, AGAIN!, Are you crazy?  Just a few of the utterances I have gotten from my own family, friends and total strangers at the store.  We are Catholic and embrace our churches teachings on contraception.   We wouldn't change a thing, the blessings God has trusted us with are worth every inconvenience! 

Authentico Pizza - Italiano Style

Soo I have tried to make pizza so many times, I've used the Kitchen Aid blender- dough hook. I have kneaded it by hand, by wooden spoon etc.  I have tried it all!!  I have always wished I just called delivery...because they all fall miserably short.  Until today when my fabulous friend Margaret came and taught me how the Italians make their pizza....perfectly.

Pizza Sauce:  In a saucepan over med/low heat Simmer, 1 T olive oil (add garlic and basil if you like - it will infuse into warm oil)  then add: Strained Italian Tomato  (We used Pomi from wholefoods-it's in a box) Salt and Pepper to taste Let simmer while dough rises.

Pizza Dough: Start by activating the yeast in 1 C of water (be sure it's the correct temp)  Pour 2 cups of flour onto clean countertop, make a volcano shape {calling it Mt. Vesuvius is optional} in the hole add: 1 t salt, 1 t sugar, 2T olive oil, and start mixing by swirling your finger in the center or the volcano (now you have a tornado of flour, I believe we aren't in Kansas anymore {yes Marg that was for you and R}- again optional but fun when making this with the kids).  Keep your volcano center, and begin adding (a little at a time) the water with the activated yeast.  swirl away...until is it mixed and very likely to be sticky, add very small amounts of flour to your hands until the dough quits sticking to you...swirl....and knead away.  Add lots of air into your dough.  Warning: if it's hard you have either over kneaded or added too much flour both mistakes don't make good pizza dough- believe me I know.

Once the dough is elastic and soft.  Place 1 T olive oil in bowl to rise be sure to coat the sides, so the sticky dough doesn't stick.  Cover the dough on all sides with the oil  and cover with a wet tea towel.   We put it in an oven that had been warmed a bit (about 100 degrees) to rise. It took about 30 min.

Heat oven to 550 (yes you read it right....) 

Prepare your toppings: we used REAL parmesan cheese  (finely shredded from the block), 3 Italian Cheese (shredded), sausage (cook it), and mozzarella pearls...these babies are AMAZING!!!

After the Pizza dough has doubled....flip the bowl over onto your hand and gently toss your dough from hand to hand, until it stretches a bit but make sure you keep the light fluffiness of the dough.  Grease you pan or stone and stretch the dough to fit the pan.  Add Sauce. Singing an Italian song about pizza is optional but oo so fun! That's Amore...perfect song for pizza making Add parmesan, toppings, and top it with the 3 Italian Shredded Cheese.  Pop the pizza into the oven for 4 min.  Be sure to keep the dough Blonde...light dough.  Don't over cook.  Take out and add the soft mozzarella cheese pearls.  Cook 1 min - until melted.  

WARNING: do not burn the top of your mouth!  I know it looks too good to wait! 

 This is necessary to keep the skin on the roof of your mouth. Enjoy!  

BONISSIMO!!! MOTO BONO!

Thank you Marg!  You are my favorite partner in crime in the kitchen!  

Also Naughty Iced Coffee: 1 C cold coffee, 1/4 C ColdStone Cream and Ice. 

 Really good on a hot day when you are weeding thistles from your yard.

Art at the Abby

 

We recently stumbled upon an invitation in our Sunday Bulletin for a Kid's Art Retreat at the Abby of St. Walburga in Virginia Dale, CO.  I had been meaning to visit for some time. The kids of course chided their complaints when I told them about the adventure, they thanked me the next day (even the teenagers).  It was a huge success!

We arrived early to hear the Benedictine Nuns in full habit singing the Psalms in their Southwest style chapel.  They sing all 150 throughout each week, I was told by Sister Maria Josepha, a really fun spunky nun, who professed missing summer dresses during the hot day as we were shuttling art supplies. I am betting she and the other Contemplative Benedictine Nuns have endured much more in sacrifice for Love of Christ. 

Our visit was full of fun surprises!  The kids made wonderful clay multi-dimensional figures, and learned a lot about how the working Ranch ran equipped with: Grass-Fed Belted Galloway Cattle, 3 Llama's, a few dogs, an "Awesome Garden" (my teen son's description), Green Grassy Meadows full of Alfalfa Hay and a beautiful setting only God could manifest.  They witnessed a nun riding a tractor, and a Llama named Diablo (this was HilaRRilous to them!), one boy tried out his dad's Fire Rescue moves by picking up a girl that was injured by a rock and carrying her the rest of the hike.  They had a great time, my kids were complimented for being very respectful and the term "gentleman" was even used (always a good day for a parent- I may still be beaming).  My one and only daughter was amazed.  She thought "nuns only prayed."  They got a chuckle out of this, and I pondered it later thinking her only input on Nun's lifestyle comes from Mother Angelica, on EWTN, or a movie about a Saint.  So seeing a working ranch run by Nuns was quite the eye opening experience for her.

I intend to go back again soon, next time for a retreat, an over-nighter, complete with breakfast and dinner.  I missed the stations of the cross, on the hill above the guest facility. I look forward to singing the psalms and seeing that beautiful valley full of gorgeous 360 views.  A little piece of Heaven here on Earth.  Thanks so much for a great experience for my kiddos, maybe it has sparked a vocation for one of them?

We still have a few questions for them:  Do they kill the rattle snakes they encounter?  Do they kill flies?  We were sure the commandment "thou shall not kill" didn't pertain to these creatures. 

Upcoming Events and Retreats at the Abby

St.Walburga

We also visited another Nothern Colorado Gem- The Red Feather Lakes, a few of the above pics are from our visit to this tiny town, that is adorable.  There are plenty of lake and Rocky Mountain views to soak up.  It's food for the soul, I am convinced!

Red Feather Lakes, CO