Love Knots

This is another gem from Evelyn Birge Vitz's A Continual Harvest. I am writing directly from her book because I don't want to mess it up:D

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It became a custom in the later Middle Ages to wear "love knots" on St. Valentines Day. Gold pins, shaped like sideways figure 8s, they are symbols for infinity, and suggest love that is without end,eternal. The pins are traditionally made of gold, since that most precious of metals never tarnishes, never loses its perfection.

There is no need to give each other precious jewerly for St. Valentines Day, but this theme of true love is a deep and beautiful one. Here then is a recipe for "love knots," edible ones, a sweet pretzel-like twist.

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
several drops of yellow food coloring
2.5 cups flour
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
yellow sprinkles

Beat the butter until soft. Gradually add the sugar, and blend the butter-sugar mixture until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk, the eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract and yellow food coloring (to make the dough more "golden"). Sift and stir in the flour; add the lemon rind.

Chill the dough for several hours and only remove it from the refrigerator a little at a time: this will make it easier to handle.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Shape the dough into ropes about 1/2 inch in diameter and 12 inches long, and twist these into figure 8s. Place the twists on a greased baking sheet, and bake for about 15 minutes. About half way through the cooking, gild with yellow sprinkles.

Yield: 12 to 14 love knots

Crafts, activities, and outdoor fun

Cutie Pie helped me with this project. I've been wanting to do it for a long time. But, I kept forgetting. You get clothes wet, ring them out, then hang them outside on a hanger. It will only take a few minutes for it to freeze. Then you take the clothes out of the hanger, and move the fabric around until you can make it stable. Obviously, we couldn't have done this earlier in the week:D But, today wasn't very windy:)

Our sledding hill did get bigger ....and more slippery:)

 The boys are enjoying their snow forts. And no one threw up in them today. Hooray!

 We made these Saint Valentine (whatever they are:D) things with heart shaped paper plates that were leftover from last year, and some tissue paper.

 We made paper heart chains. Cutie Pie wanted to use red glitter on this one. So our home is now a glitter paradise.

 This large window is absolutely beautiful. But, I couldn't get a descent picture of it if my life depended on it. We've made heart snowflakes (Family Fun Magazine idea) and lots of paper hearts, and a paper chain.

 We've been doing a lot of copywork and reading. But, we did a few small activities too. GH loved working with flowers.

 And Big Dog loves making messes practicing his cutting skills.

 My Saint Valentine's day wreath kind of started falling apart. So I took off the Bible quotes.

Saint Valentine Lapbook

We are trying lap books. They are suppose to be educational and fun.  Cutie Pie was very interested in helping me with this Saint Valentine lap book.

We made a timeline, wrote out the different stories with illustrations, made a Sacred Heart valentine, and a heart match up game.

 Cutie Pie was especially excited because she got to learn about popes too. And you know we are all about the popes:D

 Speaking of popes. Check out our Pope John Paul II lap book. It was the first one we made. But, I think it's the best so far. While you are at the pope blog don't forget to register for my JPII giveaway.

A picture of Cutie Pie hard at work.

We also started some Sacred Heart Valentines. If I can ever figure out how to use my scanner again I will put a template on Scribd.

Saint Valentines Day Stuff

Lacy from Catholic Icing commented on Face book that it was time to reclaim Saint Valentines Day. Someone else said it was time to put the "Saint" back into the holiday. That made me laugh. Although, Catholics are always pleased when people of other faiths enjoy our feast days. They are still feast days and Catholics should treat them as such. Sure we can do all the secular stuff.....but, let's not forget about keeping the "Saint" in Saint Valentines Day.

I've never made a wreath before. Well except for my annual ugly Christmas wreaths. This one turned out ok considering my lack of experience.  I used a heart wreath, some ribbon, some biblical quotes on love and a Saint Valentine holy card.

Heart scavenger hunts are always great. But, my kids rip up the paper hearts. So this year I got heart doilies at the local dollar store and laminated them. While I was at it I put biblical quotes and saint quotes on each heart doily. I also got a heart shaped candy box to put them all in. I decorated it with scrapbook paper and pictures. The really hard part was that I had to eat those chocolates. But, I didn't ask for help. After all this whole thing was my idea. Why bring the kids into it?:)

 I bought red Christmas garland for 75% off at the dollar store. I used the garland  to decorate our porch. I also attached laminated hearts with ribbon to the garland. I wrote things like "Happy Saint Valentines Day," "Pray for us Saint Valentine that our hearts will be full of love for Christ" You might notice the big heart in the window.  (DH had my camera today and will have it tomorrow. Getting a good daytime picture is not going to happen soon. So you'll just have to take my word for it. Its cute:)) I used a red plastic tablecloth and wrote "Happy Saint Valentines Day."  BTW--Using a plastic table clothes makes putting it up very easy. I just centered it on the window and it stuck. So putting on the clear shipping tape was easy.

 Here's a close up view. I'm not sure how they will hold up to the weather;D