Special Tea Cookies

It's tea time again. Recently made these for a special event at our parish. It was an extraordinary event and a beautiful time with our ladies. We are so blessed to have them all.

If you remember I had made these before, sort of, so these were the inspiration . But since it was a tea event, naturally I wanted to incorporate, you guessed it tea.  So I decided I wanted to add my favorite flavors, Lavender and Earl Grey.

There's quite a few pictures that will follow the jump.

Raise your Cross

Cross projects are always fun and can be easy or complex.  

This one is very satisfying and easy for little hands.  

I wish I could show you the ear to ear grins.  Once completed these look beautiful in the windows.  Make them with your children at home or at church school. Ours stayed up in the window for the longest time, I think until we moved?

Supplies needed are construction paper, scissors or exacto knife, tissue paper and clear contact paper.
Pair this with a lesson about the Cross and singing the hymn together.  

Pink and White

YES, it still feels and looks like winter,

spring will eventually be here.

We are almost there.

Our ladies society at church recently had a tea and I was given these lovelies.

They fill the kitchen with a beautiful aroma, sweet and full of spring.

Many are hoping for spring and renewal. In Greek, many times there are single words that encapsulate multiple meanings. The word I'm thinking of means patience, strength, perseverance, taking things in stride. This is something not only we all need for waiting for spring but also for many events in our lives. I think of recent events and I pray for...

EPOMONI

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, 

is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, 

and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

The funeral arrangements have been made and there are several places, here and here,  to assist Presbytera Kate and the Baker family.

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21 Favorite Ideas to Decorate Easter Eggs

40 Days-40 Lenten Recipes (and more)

So with Easter/Pascha approaching, a girl's thoughts turn to... the eggs of course.
It can't be recipes and food all the time.

I started thinking about all the gorgeous egg tutorials I've seen on Pinterest.

So I thought I'd share some of my favorites and some history I learned, along the way.

Enjoy and then let's get cracking!

Sorry couldn't resist.

Chocolate Fig Tarts with Almond Date Crusts

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes

This has become my all-time favorite dessert. It's Lenten, Paleo (depending on ingredients) and Vegan. The flavors of this tart blend perfectly together, whether you want it sweeter with the fruit topping or a bit more savory with almond.  The filling is rich and almost decadent-just heavenly!

I think even in non-Lenten times, this is an awesome healthy sweet treat.  Which means it's a treat, don't think just because healthy ingredients are used you can exist on this and eat it everyday? 

It's called balance, people, balance!

Lenten Spring Mantle Decor

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes (and Crafts)

Need to share and send a shout out to two of my favorite blogs!

First let me thank Christina for the sweet Lamb chatterboxes. I made a few of them and put them in a basket in our church narthex for the kids to take home as a family activity. They were snatched up pretty quickly and enjoyed!  If you haven't seen these, so adorable and a great way to open some sweet discussions with the little people.

Now I wish to thank Kristi from I Should Be Mopping the Floor for posting a free Printable.

 It is so pretty and exactly what I wanted for our Lenten Mantle. 

You can see it below. 

Instead of framing it, although it would look very nice this way, I decided to do something else.

I took the 8x10 and had it blown up to 12x16, it didn't cost much as I had a coupon etc... 

Anyway, once I brought it home, used the old modpodge then a little white paint to blend in the edges. The white paper it was on was significantly bluer than my canvas. Go figure?

When I initially put it up it looked lovely but I felt it was still missing something. I played around with the vases and other things on the mantle. Then, I figured out what was missing for me. So, I added the yellow flowers to match the wall color and bring in the daffodils. I tried to match Kristi's pretty flower design. What do you think?

Too much? or Good Match?

Kristi, I just LOVE it!

Thanks!

Here's the full mantle view.

I can't wait for the Forsythia to be in bloom, maybe should get daisies next?

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I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Fruity Citrus Lenten Cake

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes

We have a potluck following Pre-Sanctified services on Wedsnensdays and I have promised to add a dessert each week to the table.  I love our Orange Lenten Koulourakia (shortbread cookie) but wanted to make a cake. Last year I offered this Chocolate Orange Cake, but I wanted something different. I found this recipe which served as the inspiration here.  I had to laugh as I was reading and sounding out my greek...very slowly.  Then I got a bit mixed up thinking κανελλα was cinnamon instead of vanilla.
Too funny.

Recipe after the jump...

New spin-Old game

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes (and Games!)

There are times when you have some waiting to do with the little people in your life and sometimes that waiting is hard to do.  Whether you are trying to cut down on screen time or just have something more interactive to do together, sometimes it's the old games that are the best!

I remember playing hangman with family and friends for hours growing up. It is a great game, involves executive functioning and language and some fun visual spatial skills. As a little game, it has it all.

The problem is hanging the man.  The origins of the game seem to point to Victorian times? All the same, not a visual wishing to perpetuate.  A friend of mine came up with this alternative at church camp this summer and I LOVE IT!

The alternative is ...ta, ta, taaaan!

Build a church.  

Here are some of the fun we had, sorry for the poor pictures, you get the idea.

Do you have any old games you have modified? 

Would love to hear about them, as always looking for something fun!

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Icon Letter Craft

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes (and Crafts!)

Now for something a bit different, being that it is the Sunday of Orthodoxy. I had hoped in this 40 days series to not only have recipes, but also craft ideas. This is a special craft to us and one of our favorites.  

An Icon Letter!

This idea came to me while looking at all the wonderful family photo letters people have made on Pinterest. It popped into my head and I ran with it. We have made these for baptisms for some special little ones. But as I think about it, it would make a great craft for church school and retreats. It can be a wonderful way to learn about icons and each child's Saint. 

The process requires downloading pictures of your icons and printing them out. We used regular printer paper and it worked just fine. I made duplicates on my processing page and made them different sizes.  Then print them out, cut them out and go to town with the mod podge.  We do both sides and once it's all dry, glue a small hanger bracket to the back. It is a fun activity, where we spend some time together and have some nice talks about the Saints and Icons too! 

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Fun Church Kids Game

Recently, I was asked to help keep our church kids group engaged for a short period of time.  

I thought about how to engage them that would be fun but informative.  

Also, wanted to help them expend some energy, as if you have ever been to Orthodox liturgy, 

the children have had to be patient for a long time.  

This time period was right after church school and so I thought of this game.  

It is reminiscent of the beach ball or balloons that used to be passed at our high school football games.

Yes, I went to a very fun high school. 

Do they still do this?

Anyway, I got a punch ball balloon from the dollar store and decided to write different  questions 

from easy to more challenging due to the age range of the children.

Some of the questions were just for fun, like "What's Father's name?"
This was my favorite question. Hee hee hee.

I tossed it to the first child and when they caught it,

they read the question in front of them and answered it.

If they were too young to read, I read it for them.

After they answered, 

they would throw it back into the air, 

then tap it towards someone else.

The kids had a blast.

I definitely will use this one again.

It was fun.

What do you all think?

What kind of games do you play?

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Maple Apple Crisp in a Pinch

Things have been busy, busy, busy.  

Wanted to share, that before Thanksgiving, 

we had our church kids come together to stuff special food boxes for the local pantry, 

it included everything one would need for a meal and then some. 

Encourage everyone to do this, 

food pantry needs help not just around the holidays, but people are hungry, everyday.  

Thee kids did a great job and there was so much enthusiasm! 

I was running between errands, work, etc. and was behind on making something for the shared table.  So, I whipped up some apple crisp, but realized too late, 

was out of regular oatmeal!

What to do, what to do? Just use brown sugar, flour and butter (BFB).

Could. Or...

 We did have some Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal in the cupboard.  

Hee hee hee, I used that! I mixed it with the BFB. 

Then, brought it still hot, to the church hall, and it was throughly enjoyed!  

So, whatever your plans ahead, don't be fearful to tweak something.  

You may just find a new favorite around the next box in the cupboard. 

We've had crisp for desserts and works for breakfast too!

I'm thinking I might plan it for a Boxing Day treat?

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Surprise in the Pumpkin Field

It's fall and time for pumpkin picking and corn mazes. 

We picked a great day and joined our youth group. What a fun time together! 

The kids led the way and then came back to get some of us parents out.

Thank Goodness at least one Dad was able to keep up with them.

Look who else was in the field!

 If you've been following, you will understand our affinity for this fellow.

What a great idea!

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Make your own water bottle labels.

Well if you are wondering how I've been doing on my projects and where I've been, 

I'm here, 

nose to the craft mat.  

We have had some great fun and celebration, esp in planning one our infamous birthday parties.  We have picked the theme this year to be....drumroll please......ANGRY BIRDS.

So after some great ideas from other parties with similar themes, we decided what to do, which included food, decorations, goody bags and of course a Giant Slingshot with Lifesize Game outside.

I'll show you how we did it all.
Let's start with the water bottle labels!

First, using my document maker I made two sizes of rectangles measuring 8.4in x1.32in for the standard tall bottle and 7.88in x 1.79in for the shorter kid-size water bottles.

I designed my labels and added some clipart.
I then printed 4 labels to each piece of paper and then cut them out.



Once cut, I stretched my clear packing tape across the paper label on my cutting mat (it's easier to remove from the mat versus the table, trust me)



Then it's time to attach to the bottle.
Carefully find the ridges and encircle the bottle and press down.



Ta-da!

You can make these for any occasion, or holiday.  

Recently made some for our church youth group get-together.

Some effort, not costly, big impact.

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