How we celebrated Mama Mary's birthday

Photo from whenmomspeaks.com

Here is what we did aside from incorporating "tidbits" about Mama Mary's birthday in our homeschool lessons for the day (I had to report to work today though - thank God for my mother, who for us who are blessed to know her, consider her as a modern-day Mama Mary in many ways! She became "Teacher Lola*" for today.):

 - Cupcake decorating for Mama Mary's birthday "cake"
I brought home supermarket-bought cupcakes and blue and white icing (ready for decorating) from Goldilocks bakeshop and let Tim and his cousin Gabby (one of his FAVORITE playmates!) decorate them. Rysse and Gabby's brother (born a month apart, they love playing with each other too - when they aren't fighting over toys and books! haha!) participated in the fun by trying to decorate their own cupcakes too - though they ended up eating their share too early! haha!

- Candle-blowing ceremony for Mama Mary
After the kids were done decorating the 10 cupcakes, we arranged them on a plate, placed the plate in front of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lit and placed a single, white candle beside it, and sang "Happy Birthday" for our dearest Mother. The kids had lots of fun taking turns to blow out the candle!

- Eating and sharing the "cake"
Once we were done with that, the kids (and some of the adults present!) enjoyed eating the cupcakes! :-)

- Praying the Holy Rosary
This morning at the office we had a recollection focusing on "Moments with Mary" (one of the perks of working fulltime for our Catholic community) and I was reminded again of the power of God's grace manifested through the sacramentals attributed to Mary, one of which is the Holy Rosary. 

It was wonderful then for the kids and I to pray the Rosary together with my parents (after such a loong time, especially since we don't live with them anymore!), and brother and his kids. (Hubby was at a Thanksgiving Event for our community's "Build My House" project, heading the Logistics Committee).

To my delight, our almost 5-year old son Tim occasionally led us in praying the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, and would even lift up his own intentions when my dad would offer up prayer intentions before each decade. (Of course, towards the end, he was already getting restless and asking me "Are we almost done Mama?" hehe). Praise God!

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our dear Mother's birthday, and bond with extended family members too! ;-)

I'll be posting pics from my dad's camera soon :-) hehe.

Once again, dearest Mother Mary, thank You for your love and for saying "YES" to God's will! May we imitate you in all we do! WE LOVE YOU!