Happy All Saint's Day! ~2013~

Happy All Saint's Day!

Can you guess the saints?

We've had a fun and busy couple of weeks but our homeschool group's All Saint's party was a highlight…

Here we have St. Sebastian and Saint Apollonia with her golden tooth.  Just prior to being burned to death, St. Apollonia was tortured by having her beautiful teeth pulled out, one by one with pincers, while defending our Christian faith in the 3rd century.  Can you imagine?  I prayed for her help quite a bit when I had my front teeth smashed in so that's how I got to know her story!  Princess is going to be asking for her prayers very soon when she gets her braces:)  Here's her prayer for dental issues. In ancient art, St. Apollonia is often depicted with a golden tooth, hence angel baby's costume as St. Apollonia's partner:)   

We made this fun snack to go with St. Apollonia…Apples, peanut butter and mini marshmallows.  Thank you, Pinterest!  It was a secular Halloween idea that fit perfectly into our All Saint's theme:)

Ok, enough about teeth…Yikes, it makes my mouth hurt to think about it! (But these were yummy:) And a good reminder of the Christians before us and all they endured to preserve our faith…Talk about a big dose of grateful!

Angel baby also wanted her own costume so she dug out one of her favorite saint costumes from the plastic bin in the archives…St. Joan of Arc!

All the kids in our group stand up and give a few clues about who they are and everyone gets to guess…So much fun!

Afterwards, most of the kids strip off their costumes and race off to play some fun games!

On to Halloween…

Well, even though Halloween is the Eve before All Saint's, we celebrated in reverse order this year.  

We have a fun tradition of visiting all of our grandparents on Halloween…It's been neat to collect the photos from year to year.  This is my grandmother who is only 93 years young!  She looks forward to having the kids come over all dressed up:) 
{Highschool son is absent since he had a football game}

Here's my Mom and Dad…

They aren't together in the photos since my Mom had somewhere else to go…My Dad loooooves to give out candy at our house in town since they live in the country.  It's nice to have him "man the house" since Rod is often working and I'm alone with the kids.  We have a great neighborhood for trick or treating:)

Sadly, Rod's Mom wasn't feeling very well so she wasn't up for our visit this year.

Had a little "fun" with food this year...surprise, surprise:)

St. Lazarus Mummy Dogs

(How's that for ancient biblical history!?)

Saw these on Pinterest and thought they were so cute…OK so I changed the name a bit;-) Princess is studying ancient history so these were also a perfect addition to her mummy study!

Our version was just wrapping a hotdog with strips of Pillsbury Croissant dough and baking @ 375 for about 15 minutes.  Some little dots of mustard made the eyes:)

I shared and posted more on our cute little All Souls Prayer Parfaits over at Catholic Cuisine! All Souls Day is up next, November 2nd...

 I am so thankful for the rich history of our faith that adds so much to celebrating!  

Missing my 2 older boys being with us so had to post a "throw back" All Saint's Day photo:)  {This was before Angel baby was born.}

Patroness Of The Americas

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

+How special this year on 12-12-12+

Some of you may have seen this crafty idea from Domestic Church...I have admired it for years!  This year, we finally planned for it and pulled it off:)

It really is very easy and the beautiful image is printable over at their site with simple instructions and visual aids. (Mandatory for this Mom;)

I'm definitely saving these...Handy for All Saint's Day!

This year, the kids will be wearing them for our Parish Procession:) {Minus our tween who was not thrilled about donning a tilma}  I am enjoy my little ones, who are good sports for now;-)

This feast day is always a mandatory celebration at our house due to a special love I have for Our Lady of Guadalupe, who led me on the path to forgiving a {seemingly} unforgivable crime.  A pilgrimage to Mexico City was the culmination of such grace outpoured... 
I've never written about this particular journey here but the Holy Spirit saw fit that another writer connect to it through my pilgrimage post. Tim Drake wrote a beautiful article and  it's featured in this month's Catholic Digest:)  All glory and honor to God, through His most holy Mother!

If you happen to read it, let me know what you think!
*Feast day blessings to all*

All Saint's Day Pumpkin Art

St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Happy All Saint's Day!

Here I am sharing a fun art project...An idea that emerged from my disappointment!  I was feeling really bummed out that we were missing our annual All Saint's Day party with our homeschool group this year, due to a family conflict.  (I think I look forward to it, every year, more than the kids!)  I started wracking my brain trying to think of something fun and meaningful that we could do as a family here at home to celebrate this important feast day.  Always thinking about things that are "do-able"(My main priority for a project), I was inspired by Lacy's Saint puppets.   I figured if we couldn't dress up as our favorite saints this year, we could dress up some pumpkins!  We used many of the awesome Catholic Icing templates as guides for our faces and saintly symbols. 

Setting up "shop" in the garage, we had art class all morning!  All ages could participate...Age 4 an up:)

This would be a great idea for an All Saint's party too...It really only took us about 2 1/2 hours to make about a dozen Saint pumpkins!  (Not including set-up and clean-up) Our only supplies were sharpie pens and paint.  Tip:  Washable Tempera paint definitely works well but we liked the acrylic paints best...More vibrant colors.  Everyone wore aprons since acrylic paint is not washable.

We always discover new gifts and talents when we do art projects!  Princess created an adorable Holy Family:)

We are using it for our kitchen table centerpiece for November...Maybe even December!?  The rest of the pumpkins also made the cutest liturgical decorations:)

Angel baby made St. Therese (mostly) on her own...

+Superboy made St. Michael the Archangel+

Here we have St. Francis of Assisi...

St. Clare...

(Blessed) Mother Teresa of Calcutta...

A few saintly pumpkins made it the fireplace mantle...How's that for a power trio?

Let's see, we also had St. Patrick...He is (teenager) Army Dude's patron saint...

He's just too cute!

And one of my favorite's...Our Lady of Guadalupe:)  We ran out of pumpkins but I wanted to do Juan Diego to go with her!

I really think Princess did a nice job with St. Kateri Tekakwitha...One of her patron saints...Perfect decor for Thanksgiving too!

Here they are all together!  
They really turned out much cuter than I ever expected...Certainly making up for my original disappointment;-)

+...All you holy men and women, pray for us+
I've linked up!

Celebrate the Saints with Equipping Catholic Families:

These Boots Are Made for Walkin

~This post is written in honor of All Saints and All Souls~

We just got done cleaning our garage this week!

I went through some old boxes and found these Army combat (jump) boots from my late husband, Chris...They were the last ones he wore before his tragic death and were specially shined for his funeral.  

As I uncovered the paper, I couldn't believe they were still this shiny.  I could see my reflection for goodness sakes...And it's been 17 years!  I just found that really amazing.  It brought a smile to my face.

For a slight (human) second, I got that pit of sadness deep in my gut.

Then I remembered all the paths these boots had paved, carrying a soul that loved people...Then I smiled again.

After all, it's not the boots that we wear or the badges that we earn that really matter.  We certainly don't take them with us when we leave this earth.  

It's all about the life that we live and how we touch the lives of others while we walk in our own boots.  How do we walk with others well?

I thought about this today after Fr. M's. homily.  He challenged us not to worry about tomorrow or even yesterday, for that matter.  The challenge is to stay focused on TODAY.  

How can we live this day as well as possible?  

The answer is easy, Fr. M reassured us...One step at a time, one foot in front of the other, day after day.

Suddenly, I was reminded of the boots.

These boots are made for walkin.  

{Even if you are like me,  picking myself up "by my boot straps" every day!}

 The path to heaven is a steady one, lest we get discouraged. 

As people of faith, we keep on walking...We persevere, we stay faithful, despite our imperfections and ugly mistakes...

 We aim to walk with others well, striding to live today as well as possible.

May all of the Saints in heaven cheer for us as we cross the finish line, someday leaving our boots behind for others to admire their shine:)

Happy All Saint's Day~2011

We had our Little Flowers and Blue Knights All Saint's Day party last Friday.  

It's always a wonderful opportunity for the children and adults to learn about new Saints and celebrate the men and women who've gone before us...The true heroes and heroines of our faith!  Their real human lives and sufferings are examples of perseverance and courage for us all.  They inspire me to keep putting one foot in front of the other towards the goal of heaven:)

It has been a tradition in this group to kick off the party with a Saint Guessing Game.

Each child stands up and provides a few clues as to who they might be...The other children raise their hands and try to guess who they are!?

Here is this year's saintly line up (from our house) and their clues...

-She was born in Italy, the 10th of 13 children
-She was a Dr. for children
-She gave her life for her youngest daughter from complications of child birth.  This daughter is still living and speaks about her Mother's life and courage...
Who is she?
St. Gianna Molla

-He was a soldier in the Roman Army about the year 283
-He was a Captain of the guards and a secret Christian who encouraged many converts.
-When he was discovered, he was shot with many arrows and lived through it.
(He was later beaten to death)
-He is the Patron Saint of Athletes and Soldiers for his tough warrior spirit.
Who is he?
St. Sebastian

-She was born in England and her Dad was a King, who later became a Saint.
- Her 2 brothers also became Saints.
-After she died, a clear liquid leaked from her bones and many people were healed through her intercession.
-There is an Abbey named after her, located in Northern Colorado.
Who is she?
St. Walburga

-He compiled the 1st Latin bible called the Vulgate, hence the Bible Man cape:)

-His symbol is the lion (on the shield)
-He is a Dr. of the Church
Who is he?
St. Jerome

Did you know that St. Walburga was also a scootering nun?
(kidding:)

Well, this one was!  Look at her GO:)

It's always a simple celebration but the costumed saints have a great time.

Although, we really missed a couple of our big families who were out of town this year:(  We played St. Cecelia's Musical Chairs and some fun outdoor Saintly Halo games with hula hoops.

I adopted Allison's Saint Cake for dessert!

Wishing everyone a very happy and holy All Saint's Day!
“We should not only want to be with the saints; we should also hope to possess their happiness.” 
~St. Bernard~