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Tuna balls!  I can’t begin to tell you how much my kids and I like these! I started making these for Lent more than 8 years ago, and they are still well loved! My kids love the taste and I love the versatility!  They are a great on-the-go meal! Easy to eat in the car or when we’re out of the house. I can make a batch the night before a trip, put them in the fridge, and before we leave I put them into a cooler with a few other munchies, like carrots or crackers. It’s an easy to eat meal that’s ready to go! Plus they aren’t too messy for kids to eat!  Sometimes, when we are at home, my kids like to dip them in warm tomato sauce or cheese sauce. And I personally, love them in a salad! (see below) They are also a fun, easy, healthy, snack for toddlers! When they are hungry just hand them a ball from the fridge! My one year old calls them ”Happy Balls”! And they do make him happy!  😉 Tuna Ball Recipe: 6 cans of tuna (drained and crumbled with a fork) 3/4 cup ranch dressing or mayonnaise  or sour cream  (we try all of them) 3 eggs  1 cup bread crumbs (I use Italian ~ I used crushed corn flakes, too) 1 cup graded Parmesan cheese 1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese Mix all ingredients together. Make sure the large pieces of tuna are crushed and well mixed.  Roll the mixture into 1 inch balls and place them on a greased jelly roll cooking sheet ~OR~ If you are in a hurry, you can press the mixture into a 13×9 inch greased pan, or two 8×8 inch pans. (But the balls bake nicer and more evenly) Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes; until the cheese is bubbling and they are getting brown. They will be a lightly crisped on the outside and softer in the middle. The balls are better eaten warm but they are also very good cold. This recipe will make about 100 balls (100 balls doesn’t go very far for our family of 11! We often make two batches!) Note: I’ve kept them in the fridge for over a week with no problem.  Tuna Ball Salad ( My Favorite) Break up 4 to 5 tuna balls into chunks and add it to a plate of lettuce.  Drizzle the lettuce and tuna ball chunks with olive oil and parmesan cheese. Sometimes I add Swiss cheese pieces! YUM!  I hope you like them as much as we do! Have a blessed Lent! ~JenMarie

Here are a few sites that have some great  Holy Thursday – Last Supper – Passover ideas. If you are looking for some ideas and activities to make Holy Thursday more interesting for your kids check-out these links: Monica at is offering a free sample of her book. The free sample has some great Seder Supper ideas! Here is another great resource for Maundy Thursday Jessica at has some cute ideas! Check them all out! has a great unleavened bread recipe. Jamie Jo at has her kids wash each others feet See this post here . Here are a few coloring pages from Holy Bible Coloring pages: You might like the diorama we have listed on our blog: Agony in the Garden Here is a charoset recipe we learned from our local church\’s prayer group: Easy Charoset 2 cups applesauce (unsweetened) 2 cup finely crushed/chopped pecans 1/2 cup of honey (or less – add to taste) 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup of chopped dates and/or raisins (optional) Mix all the ingredients together. Chill and serve cold with matzah.  May you have a blessed Holy Thursday! ~JenMarie

Just a few days ago I was talking to my oldest two daughters about how having a Santa on the top of a Christmas tree is a sign of how people focus on the wrong thing at Christmas.  Later that night I went to the Dollar store. While I was there finishing my Christmas shopping, I saw a cute little Santa tree topper sitting there with his 3 identical companions.  In an instant, a *Catholic Inspired* thought popped in to my head and so I bought one and brought it home. Needless to say I totally confused my teen girls as they questioned why I bought a Santa tree topper! Oh, they should know me by now, but I had to assure them that I was not adding it the top of our tree! And then I gave that Santa tree topper a Catholic Inspired extreme makeover: From Santa to St. Nicholas!! With a little bit of red and white felt, small and medium sized gold ribbons, and gold pipe cleaners, I was able to take this $1 Santa tree topper and turn it into a St. Nicholas doll!  Abracadabra! The kids think I’m magic Mom! 😉 And the only thing that I had up my sleeve was a hot glue gun! Ouch!! Oh, no, not really, that could hurt! And no magic, only God’s inspiration! 😉 Here are a few pictures of what I did to inspire you if you find a Santa you would like to “convert”! His hat was just red felt cut into a miter shape, and trimmed with gold ribbon. For the bottom I added a triangle shaped piece of white felt over top the red and trimmed it with gold ribbon. (I burned the ends of the all ribbons so they don’t fray.) His staff is three gold pipe cleaners twisted together. All felt and ribbons were hot glued down, because I’m not very good at sewing! Kids are easily amazed! And mine were totally amazed! 😉 Hope you are all having a blessed day! ~Jen-Marie

Happy feast of the Epiphany! What a blessed day! And I thought I’d share the craft my 8 year old daughter and I made yesterday. We made three glittery crowns and they made a great centerpiece for our table! It’s so simple, but it uses glitter! Now I know many moms hate glitter, but I love glitter! It’s such a fun way to decorate! Besides it’s Christmas time! You have to use glitter and be messy at Christmas or it just doesn’t feel like Christmas.  😉 So here’s what you need: 2 toilet paper tubes white glue  paint brush glitter scissors I also used a zip-lock bag for the glitter (to make it less messy) Cut the toilet paper tubes in half and cut out triangle shaped wedges at top of each half tube to make a crown shape. You need three crowns for the 3 kings! Paint white glue all over the outside of the crown. Roll the crown in glitter till it’s covered. I put my glitter in a zip-lock bag to help keep the mess at a minimum. Spread the glitter out inside the bag and roll the crown around in it. Knock off the extra glitter before taking it out of the bag.    That’s it! You now have a shinny gold crown! Now do it again 2 more times to make three crowns. We added LED tea-lights to the center of ours and placed them under our mini tree with our wisemen figurine.  It looked so neat as the light made the glitter shine off the table top! 🙂 Did I mention I love glitter! These crowns would be a great craft for Our Lady’s Queenship or the feast of Christ the King, too!

Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar are still searching for Baby Jesus…. And now, here are the next three days of their crazy adventure: Searching for Jesus ~ Day 8 Okay, now who came up with this idea!? Balthazar, was it you!? I think these poor little guys are starting to get desperate!  Balthazar and Melchior used a rubber band to sling-shot Caspar up to the ceiling fan!! I guess for a better view?! I told you Caspar is daring! He actually let them talk him into that?!Now how is he going to get down?! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 9 Oh no! Using a string Balthazar and the camel lowered Melchior down to the ceiling fan switch and turned it on! It made Caspar fly off the fan and into the Christmas tree!!! Well that’s one way to get down! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 10 Balthazar and Melchior used their string to send Caspar a “life line”. Good thing Caspar had his staff to reach it!! Now he can climb out of the Christmas tree! Since they got out of that catastrophe, I think they can continue to search for Baby Jesus tomorrow!  Wishing you and yours a blessed New Year!! ~JenMaire

Let’s see what the three Kings are up to!!!They are still looking for the Infant Jesus! Here are the next three days…. Wisemen Adventures Days 14 to 16 This is our Elf on the Shelf Alternative: If you missed the first few post click here to learn the whole story! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 14 Once again Balthazar seems to be ordering Melchior to go out on a limb (or a stocking) to search for the infant Jesus! Caspar is more interested in seeing how far he can go as he balances himself on the stocking holder! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 15  The Wisemen know that Bethlehem means “house of bread” so they thought they would look for Jesus where we keep our bread – the fridge! Balthazar and Melchior spread out like to jam to cover more ground while Caspar readies himself to hide among the eggs and spring out at Melchior! I don’t think his white turban looks enough like an egg to fool Mel! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 16 Melchior is taking this searching seriously, and now he got caught in the tissue box!  Balthazar tries to pull him out…one tissue at a time! What a mess! Poor Mel, but at least his stuck in a soft spot!  Caspar fell in love with the soft fabric of the tissues! So he made himself a cloak! It’s very kingly and it matches his turban! I hope Balthazar and Melchior aren’t getting too frustrated with their failed search! Caspar seems to be having fun!! 😉 Let’s see how tomorrow goes! Blessings till then! ~Jen-Marie Meet Our New Patron Saint for the New Year!! Thanks to  Allison for helping us pick our family’s patron saint for the new year! This year our patron saint is  St. Genevieve ! And her feast day is today!!!! (Jan 3) Check her out she’s an awesome saint!!

This is probably one of my worst ideas!! We had a pumpkin sitting here since thanksgiving and I had no desire to cut it up and cook it, but my daughter was begging me to cook the seeds. She just loves pumpkin seeds! 😀 So with Christmas in our midst, I decided it would be fun to use the pumpkin in a Christmasy fashion! So here is our Epiphany Pumpkin! 😉 After Elizabeth dug out her yummy seeds, I carved a star into the pumpkin and she painted the pumpkin with black acrylic paint. While the paint was still wet we sprinkled it with gold glitter. It looked so pretty, the pictures don’t do it justice! At night we added a tea light and our wisemen. Ya, it's a goofy idea, but she had fun and it was a perfect way to use our leftover pumpkin at Christmas time! 😉 God Bless! ~JenMarie

Ah, computers, love’em, hate'em… I both’em! This past week I had a horrible time fighting with my computer. It caught a ”bug” and took ”sick leave”. Now I’m playing catch-up on my emails, Etsy , etc.  So these photos are almost a week and a half old. Well, better late then never! Here are 7 quick takes on the past week and a half: ~1~ May Altar Here is our Mary-May Altar this year. ~2~ Tea Party Fun and Decor I posted about our Marian Tea Party invitations and decorations a few weeks ago and here are some photos of this years party. Of course our Marian Tea Party was beautiful and the girls LOVED it, again!  Our Marian center-piece: ~3~ Tea Party Smiles Naomi (5) Abigail (7) ~4~ Tea Party Food Our Ladybug Cookies In honor of Our Lady’s Bug! Click here to see how we made Our Lady’s Bug Cookies ~5~ Tea Parties and Boys We girls discovered the true reason that boys are not often invited to tea parties. My husband and all the other male members of the family had a ”guy party” in the next room, but my 3 year old son wanted to join in the tea party with the girls. I think I need to train him in the Art of Manners!! He was more interested in making odd noises, gulping tea, and picking at the girls! Well, I guess every tea party needs a little comic relief!  😉  ~6~  First Communion for our 6th Child Here is Miss Hannah after her First Communion – So excited! Six kids down and 3 to go! Abigail will have her First Communion next year! Wow! Time flies!  This is my daughter Hannah with my niece. They shared the special day! After the The First Communion Mass we celebrated with a Special cake. ~7~ Practicing to be a Bride’s Maid  The First Communicants had to be at church early, so I took Hannah and Elizabeth in the car. My husband, Jon, brought the rest of the family later. I had to laugh at the way Elizabeth helped Hannah get into the car and get buckled-up. Then Elizabeth helped her out of the car and into church. She was being very protective of Hannah’s veil and white dress. The way she treated her was just like a bride’s maid would treat a bride! Well, Hannah was the bride of Christ, so I figured Elizabeth was the volunteer bride’s maid! Too, CUTE! Aren’t they beautiful! 🙂 One final note — An update on my Endometriosis—- After trying a few other options with no success, I decided to take the advice of my OB and get a shot that shuts off my ovary for a few months. It creates a temporary menopause as it stops my ovary from producing estrogen in the hopes that it will shrink the Endo. I received the first of 3 shots 3 weeks ago. So far I’ve seen no change, but the doctor said it could take a month before I would see any change.  I’m trying to eat as healthy as I can (aside from the tea party treats!), and warmer weather always seems to help my condition. So I’m LOVING the warmer spring sun!  I want to thank every one for your kindness and prayers. I know God is helping me through this and I’m finding peace with everything. Please pray the shots do as the doctor and I hope. If they don’t I feel I may need to have my last ovary taken out in the fall. But if the shots do work I should be well enough to hold off on a surgery for a year or more. I hope, for the sake of my children and husband, that God will give me all I need, whether it be in health or peace or both.  Thank you again and God Bless. ~Jennifer

Today I want to share a watercolor art project tutorial, which I used to teach my kids. Okay, I have to admit that my kids complained when I said the word, “watercolor”. But in the end they said they had a lot of fun and were VERY happy with how the paintings turned out! Since it’s Lent, I wanted to create something that was focused on the season. A Good Friday project just seemed to be perfect! Download the instructions here: You will need: Printable Instructions (Download above↑) half-sheet of light blue construction paper Note: half sheets are easier and less intimidating for kids to work with. Note: light blue paper is easier for kids who are just starting to learn this skill. This way they don’t feel the need to fill the paper. paint brush with a fine point cup to fill with water Watercolors needed: medium blue black brown green purple yellow A few tips before starting: The more water you add, the softer the color. The less water you add, the darker the color. If you add water to the paper the colors will “bleed” further and easier, but the painting will be lighter. The paint will be lighter in color when it’s dry. So the colors you see while it’s wet will change when it’s dry. Add water to the colors you are going to use. Squish the brush into the paint to make the top layer soft and liquidy. Be sure to rinse your brush in a cup of water before you switch to a new color. To make the hill, add green arched lines across the bottom of the paper. Try not to paint above 1/3 of the page so you have room for other things on your painting. Add brown paint in and around the green. You may need to add more green, too. Use a brush-full of plain water to blend the two colors together. Add paint and blend with plain water till you are happy with your hill. Add black to the top of your page. Make the paint thick on the top and get thinner as you move toward the hill. Adding straight lines going across from side to side works best. Now add purple to the sky. Be sure to add some purple to the black and also add some to the area below the lowest black line. Next, add blue. This should be added in the black area, the purple area, as well as, below the purple area. If you wish you can use more plain water on your brush to make the colors blend together. Now, add the crosses. Dark brown or black works best. Be sure it’s thick paint and has little water so you can make thin strokes. Practice on scrap paper first.  Add a dark brown or black edge to the hill, under the crosses. FOR YOUNGER KIDS: Young kids can use a marker after the painting is dry. You can add some lightning, with some thick yellow paint. Be sure to have only a little water in the yellow paint, so you can make thin strokes. Try it on scrap paper first. FOR YOUNG KIDS: Young kids can use marker to make the lightning, just be sure the painting is dry first. This is my daughter, Hannah, (age 8) painting her picture. Below is her finished picture: Here are a few more pictures of the finished painting my kids made. They all have different designs and focuses! Each one has it’s own unique beauty! Top left to right – Jacob age 12 – Rachel age 15Bottom left to right – Elizabeth age 10 – Joshua age 11 This last one was done by my 5 year old, Naomi. She used a lot of water so her painting is very soft looking. We used brown and yellow markers to make the crosses and lightning. Okay, I hope I explained that well enough! Have fun trying this, too! And remember this is a painting of Good Friday, so if the painting looks a little messy, it adds to the sad feeling of the painting. Please pray for me and I’ll pray for you. God bless. ~JenMarie

In our beautiful Catholic art, lilies are a common sight. They are symbols of purity. Many chaste saints, like St. Joseph and St. Philomena, are depicted holding these delicate beauties. They are often thought to be Mary’s flower, too. During the Easter Season, lilies are a common sight and they decorate many churches! I wanted to have a few lilies to decorate our home during the Easter Season as well as other special feast days. Sadly, artificial lilies are very expensive, so I thought I’d try to figure-out an easy-long-lasting way to make some of these gorgeous flowers. A paper plate was just the trick! 🙂  They were so easy that my kids picked up on the idea real fast! You can make two flowers from one paper plate, and the only other items I used were yellow paper, green paper, a yellow pencil, clear tape, and a stapler. Download the printable instructions here: First cut the paper plate in half. Next cut out 6 or 7 petals as shown in the picture. Try not to make the petals deeper than the flat part of the paper plate. Flip the plate so the petals are bending away from you. Color the center with a yellow crayon or pencil. Cut a 1” x 1 1/2”  inch strip of yellow paper. Make lots of thin slits in the paper, but make sure not to cut all the way through. Tape the yellow fringed paper to the center bottom of the flower. Fold the paper flower into thirds (some petals will overlap). Only press the folds on the bottom half of the flower. Tape it together. Open the flower and curl out the petals out, if needed. Cut out 4 long triangle shapes from green paper. Put one on each side of the flower bottom, pointing out. Staple the flower and the leaves together at the bottom of the flower. One or two staples should work. Now they are ready to decorate your home or school. Use them on your Easter table, around statues of saints, or to decorate during May for Our Lady! Have a blessed Easter! ~JenMarie

Here is a simple craft to color and create for the Solemnity of the Annunciation (March 25)! Download this Annunciation Craft Here: Just print the free PDF file (found above) onto stock paper or heavy paper. Color it and add a prayer list inside the blocks. (Using Crayons? Add the prayer list first and color over top with light colors. If you are making this with small children you may need to write the list on the back.) The list can be anyone you want to ask Mary to help and protect. Then cut along the outside edge of the shape. Fold along the lines marked with the arrows and stand it up. Now place it on a table or altar. Have a blessed Solemnity of the Annunciation! ~Jen-Marie

I grew up a farmer’s daughter. My family moved onto a 60 acre farm when I was only 3 weeks old (not that I remember). My father was a hard working man who worked 2 full time jobs – as a farmer and an electrician. He needed both jobs so he could afford to put his 5 kids into a Catholic school. That old farm was the only place I lived and loved for the first 14 years of my life. The Gettysburg Civil War era farm house was always in need of repair, but it felt like home.  When I turned 14 years old my father made a smart, life-changing decision.  He decided to give up farming and to focus on being an electrician and a dad. The only problem was selling the farm. Sadly, selling a farm is never easy. After all, most people are not interested in working a farm, especially a 60 acre farm with over 2,000 turkeys and 30 cows. The realtor said it could be many years before a buyer would show interest. That information was heartbreaking to our family. If you have ever decided to move or sell a house you might understand how upsetting it can be to hear that you may need to wait several years before being able to finally move. After hearing the news, we put our trust in St. Joseph. We prayed each night for St. Joseph’s intersection. To make our prayers feel more special, my mom placed our 18 inch tall St. Joseph’s statue in a prominent spot in the front window of our old house. To the shock of the realtor and us, we sold the farm in less than 3 months! The 60 acre turkey farm was bought by a lovely young couple who were just married. In fact, they are still there today – 23 years later. (Now you have enough information to calculate my age!) Yes it was a shock and an obvious blessing from God. But what happened next only made this everyday miracle even more interesting. When the big moving day came, lots of relatives (who owned trucks), came to help us move. In all the shuffle of packing boxes and loading trucks, the large St. Joseph statue sitting in the front window was respectfully over-looked and left to be packed till last. The caravan of trucks was about to head down the road, so I climbed into the font seat of my dad’s truck. As I waited anxiously to get going, my mom handed me the statue. I held St. Joseph on my lap as the parade of trucks drove toward the new house. Around each curve and over each bump I held him and protected him, till we pulled into the driveway of the new house.  My dad opened the truck door and took the statue from me so I could climb out of the truck. Then, he turned around, opened the door to our new house, and walked in holding the statue which was now cradled in his arm. He placed St. Joseph on the kitchen counter – right in the heart of the house. The awesomeness of that moment didn’t dawn on us till later in the day. It seemed so fitting that the St. Joseph statue was the first item to enter the new house. After all it was St. Joesph, our intercessor in heaven, who helped to make the move possible! Our family has had a deep devotion to St. Joseph since that day. We have had many everyday miracles occur because of his intercession, but his intercession in buying and selling homes has been the most relevant in our everyday lives. My husband and I have bought and sold houses 3 times since we have been married. Each time we prayed to St. Joseph for help, and each time we were totally amazed at how quickly our houses sold.  If you are selling or planning to sell your home, pray to St. Joseph. He may or may not be able to help (God has a reason for all things), but I’m sure he will help if he can. About St. Joseph Home Selling Kits You may have heard about the St. Joseph home selling kits. Some of those kits bother me. They tell you to bury a St Joseph statue upside-down in the ground till he finds you a buyer. The prayer that accompanies this kit states: — Yikes! I don’t know about you all, but that seems very superstitious, strange, and downright disrespectful! Placing the statue in a place of honor worked perfectly for my parents, as well as, my husband and I. You don’t need to bury the statue. St. Joseph – in heaven- will hear your prayer whether or not a statue of him is buried in the ground. After all, the most important part of asking St. Joseph for his intersession is PRAYER!!  But if you feel you should do some thing with a statue, that’s okay – after all, it is a physical way of praying and that’s good – *but* I recommend creating a special place of honor for the statue (as you would the real saint.). It is a more respectful way of asking for help.  Once your home sells be sure to hold St. Joseph in a place of honor in your new home, too. Maybe make plans that a statue of him is the first item to enter the new home and plan a special family event to thank this wonderful saint for his help!  All those who are selling a home, take heart. I’m sure St. Joseph will do his best. So, pray, pray, pray! May God bless you and all those who live with you in your home. ~JenMarie Did you have a home selling experience that you’d like to share? How do you feel about burying a St. Joseph statue? How has St. Joseph interceded for you? How do you honor St. Joseph in your home?