Weekend Wrap Up

Thursday:
Our Book Club met to discuss Adam of the Road which everyone seemed to enjoy. I had asked the kids to bring some information to share about something that they wanted to find out more about from the book. For example, The Professor was interested in finding out more about the tilting that the boys played in the yard and wanting to know what a quintain looked like. We turned to YouTube. This first video shows the use of a quintain much the same way the boys used theirs in the book. This second video is about a modern jousting competition that takes place in Italy. Sunshine, on the other hand, remembered a song from her piano book that talked about London Bridge being in Lake Havasu City, AZ. So we looked that up and shared it with our friends. Then we played some medieval games that were mentioned in the book. I made a hood and we played Hoodman's Blind. We went outside for a game of Prisoner's Base and then came back in to gamble away some candy corn in a dice game like the minstrels. We drank hot spiced wine (mulled cider) even though it was 85 degrees outside and as you can see, I took no pictures. Sorry.

Friday:
My mom and her husband came up from South Texas and we finished preparing for our All Hallow's Eve Party. These are some of the games we played.
This one was inspired by Jessica. We used an over the door basketball hoop on a ribbon so that it could be raised and lowered based on the height of the child. A flower through the hoop won a trip to the Treasure Basket.
This one was also Jessica inspired. We filled this box with packing peanuts and added 12 religious medals. Finding one of the medals was a lot harder than it looked but everyone was able to in the end.
This idea came from the 4Real Forum. I used Theresa's smelling experiment as a model but decorated the salt shakers with tissue paper to make them look more like perfume bottles. We used four scents (raspberry, coconut, peppermint and rum extract) and the goal was to match two of the scents. If you try this game, just know that it makes it easier if you write the same letter on the bottom of the matching scents.

We also played Saints Search Bingo and then finished the party off with a Treasure Hunt for the goody bags. I highly recommend doing this with your kids! They had a blast. I literally threw this together at the last minute. It took me about ten minutes to come up with the hiding place and the clues. Each one had a different child's name on it so that they could lead the group to the next clue.

Saturday:
Shortcake made her First Holy Communion. She was so excited to share the day with her godparents. This was the first time we got to see Liz's baby bump! She is fifteen weeks along and doing great! Shortcake also made a stop by to see her favorite friend in Heaven, St. Francis.
After Mass, Father led the girl's sodality group in a First Saturday Rosary Procession. It was so lovely to see these young ladies leading the rosary and everyone processing around the Church property. Our pastor really knows how to cultivate the faith of his young parishioners! We were so blessed to be able to celebrate in this very special way.
Sunday:
Shortcake made her Second Holy Communion! Sadly, Grammie headed back home. Husband's family came over for cake and the best punch we have ever had and then...we collapsed in exhaustion!