Mardi Gras!

For our first not quite whole week of Lent, we started out on some great Lenten traditions.  For Mardi Gras, I did not get my traditional beignets made this year, :( but we did have a King Cake of sorts :).  We had a store bought version earlier in February that I found way too sweet, so I made cinnamon rolls sprinkled with green, yellow and purple sugars.  Since they did not have purple sugar at the store, I made my own, which was much easier than I thought it would be.

I had an old sprinkle container, filled it with sugar and a couple drops of food coloring, put the lid on and shook it up.  Voila!  Purple sugar!

King Cake completed, we packed up and visited a shrine to Mary for the 8th of the month and celebrated with rosary, mass and some time with Our Lady of Grace.  Rose loved the image of the jeweled monstrance on the altar, so we took a picture. 

Daisy enjoyed her time with Our Lady.  Isn't she lovely?

And Rose and Magnolia also visited with Jesus and His Sacred Heart.

For dinner, we had jambalaya with chicken, smoked sausage and shrimp.  (Next time I will skip the shrimp).  And we all ate ice cream in various forms for a special dessert.  Some of our favorite Mardi Gras music comes from Mardi Gras In New Orleans and Le Hoogie Boogie: Louisiana French Music For Children  
Mmmm, mmm, the next day we fast!