About Tricia

I am Tricia. Momma of nine, homeschooler, artist, foodie and maker of all kinds of things. It's a pleasure to share here our family homesteading adventures, the things we make, and what inspires our days. Read more about my family and work here. Thanks for visiting!

Author Archive | Tricia

Hallowed

By on November 2, 2012 in Handmade Holidays and Celebrations

I have been sewing, painting and gluing since Monday night and honestly, I don’t want to make another costume for a very long time.  This year I made 5 halloween costumes and 4 All Saints Day ones.

We had an All Saints Day celebration at church followed by trick or treating that night.  There was a costume contest where each child had to say who he or she was.

Olivia as Saint Margaret of Scotland.  All she remembered was that she was married to King Malcolm

Olivia’s Saint Margaret of Scotland costume was recycled from lots of other saint costumes worn other years by her siblings.  The only thing I had to make was the crown which I cut out of a aluminum roasting pan not used at the wedding and spray painted gold.
All the costumes were made from my stash.   I did not buy one thing but I did have to really get thinking.  For Ronnies chainmail shirt and hood I found some black netting fabric that my Godmother had given me and after it was sewn up I painted it silver with some spray paint leftover from the wedding.  For the skirt fabric, I stenciled fleur de lis on it to match the ones I put on her armor and flag.  The flag pole is a broom stick. The armor covering her shoulders was left over from the aluminum roasting pan that I used for Livie’s crown.

JohnPaul as Saint Andrew.  He had so much fun being carried around by his brothers, hence the koolaid smile.  The x was built by little Eddie.

Christopher (Saint Lawrence) saying his speech “I am Saint Lawrence.  I took care of the poor and the ill and brought them to the faith.  I was burned on this grate but before I died I said a funny joke.  It is done…turn me over.”  It was a pretty funny speach and I think it got him the win.  You can’t see it in the pictures but we burned the hem of his sleeves and tunic and painted his feet to look charred.

  
Christopher is our first win of the day.
she was so excited to win and that night she thanked me for making the costume… that makes all the work worth it doesn’t it?
my friends super cute pumpkin which won first place in the pumpkin contest

 baby Matthew dressed as a Black Eyed Pea…do ya get it?

 two thrifted costumes and one home made ninja
 it was definitely too cold for little beans to go trick or treating so I stayed at a friends house with the baby while Poppa took all the kids to get candy
 hope you had a great time too and today we pray for all the souls that have passed on for All Souls Day.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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My new normal and what I’ve been up to for the past 4 weeks

By on October 28, 2012 in Family

Did I really disappear for a whole month?  Can you all forgive me?  I have been through all the emotions humanly available in the past 4 weeks.  Every moment was spent feeding, snuggling and changing baby Matthew while getting ready for our daughters wedding which just passed.  Taking care of and getting well from flus and illnesses, discovering simple pleasures of just playing together and lots of good food.  It has been a hurricane of projects and we were so blessed to have so much help from friends and family.  Now that life is calming down somewhat I wanted to post one big review of last month with wedding pictures to follow tomorrow.  If I am honest, I really also had so much to share that I could not share anything and felt the need to withdraw inward with those that need me most but I am so happy to be back here in my space.  Thank you to all of you who have written with congratulations, with encouragement and just to make sure I am still here…I am : )

I am now dealing with a new normal.  Trying to find joy when I sometimes feel my joy has moved to her own house in her own life.  God works in mysterious ways I tell ya for I don’t think my heart could have standed the pain of my beautiful baby getting married without a new beautiful newborn to occupy my mind and heart.

I feel as though we have completely lost our rhythm but that is what usually happens when we add a new member to our family so I keep telling myself to just relax and enjoy the madness.  We have started school and that is helping to get our rhythm back but I miss my baking and sewing days.  I hope to get back to normal or in my case our new normal with a new baby and Alexandra being married.

Honestly, if I sit down long enough the reality hits me and I can’t believe it all really happened.  Everything that I had worked towards and anticipated this whole year has now come and gone and what is left is the everyday things to do, the smiles and hugs of little ones and the reality that whatever comes, life goes on and we have to go with it.  Here are some choice pictures of the last 4 weeks excluding the big day (those need their own blog post).

time for one last nap with baby brother before the big day

the wedding tent going up

the barn gets gussied up as our new bar area.  The other half (not shown in the picture) is dedicated to farm work. 

putting the name tags on hundreds of mason jars for guests to drink from during the wedding reception 

part of the wedding flowers.  they arrived via UPS and we had to get them in water fast.  water buckets covered the floor of the dining and foyer floor 

setting up the wedding reception tent after midnight on the night before the big day

my beautiful baby getting ready 

and her momma doing a last minute nail job

everyone exercising with Poppa

big brotherly love

So now we are all caught up except of course for the wedding pictures.  I am going through hundreds of pictures and will share them with you tomorrow or Monday.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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