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Our home is all decorated for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! We made Mexican flowers from tissue paper and added an image of Our Lady to the center of each. These flowers proved to be very versatile decorations! You will need: 2 to 3 colors of tissue paper 2 to 3 twist-ties tape a small image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Download below) scissors Download Image and Instructions Here: Cut the tissue paper into different sized squares. We made the largest about 12″ by 12″ and the next was about 8″ by 8″ and the third 4″ by 4″. Fold each square like a fan. Use a twist-tie to tie the middle together. Unfurl the fanned sides and tape the edges together to form a circle. Do this for all your colors. Layer the three tissue paper circles together, by sticking the twist-tie of one through the center of the one larger. Twist all the ties together in the back. It will look layered like this: Now cut out your Our Lady of Guadalupe image, as shown, and tape it to the center of the flower. Note: My older kids (ages 8 and up) could make these with ease. But my younger kids needed more help particularly with the twist-ties and opening the fan. How did we use them? My girls wore them in their hair! Or on a hat! They look great around our statue! And on our bulletin board! Blessings to you and your family on Our Lady’s Feast day! ~JenMarie

Happy St. Lucia’s (Lucy) Feast Day! Here are a few easy last minute ideas to make the day a little more interesting! St. Lucy Bundt Cake: Here is the recipe  we used; the only thing I changed was that I added green food coloring to the icing. I also added red sprinkles and a few white candles. St. Lucy Paper Crowns Click Here St. Lucia Paper Dolls from https://www.thebleudoor.com/1972decbetsy.htm St. Lucia Scissors Practice https://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/StLuciaScissorPractice.htm Have a blessed day!! ~Jen-Marie

I know this is a bit late for St. Stephen’s feast day, but kids don’t care if you are a little late (or early)! So feel free to celebrate his feast day this week! St. Stephen was a great preacher who spoke strong words for Jesus. His words angered many people, and so they drug him out of the city and stoned him to death. St. Stephen’s was the very first martyr and so he was blessed to have his feast day on the day after Christmas. (Dec. 26) You can read his story is in the Bible in the Book of Acts 6 – 7. So look it up and have a read! Or click here to see it on-line. For St. Stephen’s feast day we made rock candy.Why rock candy? The stones that killed St. Stephen were hard, sharp, and painful, but they brought St. Stephen to a sweet life in heaven!  Our rock candy is hard and sharp, but it’s also sweet. Many saints have shown us that a life lived for Jesus is a hard life, but it’s a sweet end, and this candy is much the same! So remember that through hardship and pain we can reach the sweet life in heaven! Quick and Easy Rock Candy Recipe  Ingredients: 4 cups of sugar 1 cup of water 1/2 tbsp. of vanilla extract (for better taste) red food coloring Instructions: Mix the sugar and water together in a sauce pan. Heat it on high until the sugar dissolves and begins to boil. After it has come to a boil, continue to let it boil for about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the vanilla extract and food coloring. Poor it onto a large foiled jellyroll pan and let it sit until it crystallize.  In will take about 10 minutes to start to become solid. Once it’s to a point where it will keep its shape, scoop it out of the pan and place the chunks into another pan to finish cooling. (It’s easier to break it up when it’s still a little soft than to wait till it’s totally cool.) This rock candy can be used for other Saints feast day’s as well – Barnabas and Philip were also stoned to death. Enjoy! 🙂 Blessings, ~Jen-Marie

A few weeks ago, I was telling our kids the story of the day my little brother and I got lost in the snow covered woods as we looked for a mini cedar tree. We lived on a 60 acre farm with lots of woods, and I had this crazy desire to put a small tree on our dinning room table and decorate it! Ya, I was crafty back then, too! 😉 So after telling my younger brother about my plan, he grabbed a shovel to tag along! (I was about 10, he was 8)  So the two of us wondered through the woods in search of the perfect little tree to do the job. After searching and searching we began to realize we had no idea where we were! Well, fear not – I used my knowledge of the sun to find the way back home! But it was a day I’ll never forget! Well, after sharing my story with my kiddos, my 8 year old daughter, Elizabeth, had a fetish with the idea of having a Christmas tree in her bedroom! I told her I didn’t recommend that she wander through our woods to find one! But I wandered through the Christmas section of Wal-mart and found a few miniature, sparkly Christmas trees – and I didn’t even get lost!! 😉 These little trees were made to be used in one of those miniature Christmas villages. I bought 4 trees, at a dollar a piece, and gave one to each of my youngest girls.  They decorated them with sparkly pipe-cleaners and pony beads. I helped to hot glue the parts and pieces down.  They just loved them and now they each have a tree in there bedroom. Little Naomi (with mom’s help) discovered that they worked great in her doll house as a Christmas Tree for her dolls!  Such a simple joy and without the fear of getting lost! 😀 Hope your Christmas Season is joyful and peaceful! Blessings, ~Jen-Marie

Merry Christmas, everyone!! The time of preparation and waiting is over! And what a wonderful day our Lord has blessed us with! Yesterday, our Advent Tree bloomed into a Christmas Tree!! It’s filled with our kids Boyd’s Bear ornaments and sparkling stars, which our kids made many years ago. Our tree has been “baby proof” for several years now and I’ve grown quite fond of the paper stars and teddy bears! 😉 This morning, 3 presents  for each of our 9 kids (3 gifts each – in honor of the gifts of the Wisemen) surrounded our Christmas tree and the most important present of all  lay in our wooden manger. Jesus wore a bow and a tag that read: We also were blessed with a white Christmas!! We haven’t had one of those for 10 years. The snow started late Christmas Eve, and created a bit of a concern as to our ability to get to Mass in the morning. By the Grace of God we had no problem getting our 15 passenger, rear-wheel drive, maxi van out of the snow covered drive way! I hope and pray you all had a blessed Holy Day! And now that the wait is over it’s time to celebrate! So this week I’ll be sharing a few other things my kids and I will be doing in honor of Christ birth! Blessings to you all! ~Jen-Marie

Our little Wisemen adventurers have been searching long and hard to find baby Jesus and we are about to finish up the search! 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 20 Caspar is at it again. He’s having fun when there is searching to get done! Balthazar and Melchior are working hard to find the infant Jesus in our toilet paper roll basket, but Caspar’s silly fun-loving side just made a slide out of the toilet paper! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 21 When entering the doll house the Three Kings first had to determine if the baby in the high chair was or was not the Infant King they were looking for! Once they came to the conclusion that the baby was just a regular baby, Balthazar and Melchior began to search the doll house for clues as to where the true Infant King was located. Caspar decided to sit at the table and have a party with his new friend, “baby”! Yes, this was my personal favorite day (after the ceiling fan catastrophe )  But if you have been following my blog for awhile you know that I collect dollhouse miniatures. So that made this one more fun for me! 😉 Searching for Jesus ~ Day 22 A grand thought occur to them!! GOOGLE!!! Google has all the information in the world! So they hoped over to the computer and began a Google search! Caspar used his staff to type the letters and Balthazar and Melchior told him what to type! “Star of Bethlehem” -No that didn’t help… “Where’s the new born King?” -A Stable! Who would have thought! Okay, I think they got all the information they need! Maybe they will actually find him tomorrow! Blessings till then! ~Jen-Marie

Here are a some Wisemen Activities and Ideas Most of these are printable, a few are not. First Palette  has the temples for these Wisemen Here is a crown your kids can make and wear! Go to  DLTK  for the instructions I liked these, they are nice and easy! 😉 DLTK  also has a 3D star project: Click here DLTK  has this cute Three Wise Men Song, too! We always give our kids little gifts on the Epiphany. So I thought these were a cute and easy idea to wrap the gifts.(Sorry the website shut down) This cute craft idea came from:  Mollie’s Mom  I gotta try this!! Here’s a coloring page form Sermons 4 Kids  They have a great selection of coloring pages Be sure to stop by and see them all! The Wisemen page is  here . Making Learning Fun  has these pages: Here is a coloring page: Here is a magnet page: Dibujos Para Pintar  has these coloring pages: Here is a easy  crown craft  from our blog:

On with the search for the Baby King: (If you missed the first post click here to see it) Searching for Jesus ~ Day 5 After no luck the first 4 days, Balthazar, Melchior, Caspar, and their camel checked in a baby wipe box. Nope, no baby in the *baby* wipe box, but I’ll give them a “A” for thinking “outside the box”. Hee Hee!!! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 6 Caspar is a daring fellow and after meeting a friendly pommel horse gymnastics athlete, he decided to take a break from searching and give this neat talent a try. He’s got good form! What do you all think? Should we give him an 9.5?? I think we better wait to see his dismount! Not far away, Balthazar and Melchior were checking out another candle and trying an acrobatic feat of their own!!! Wow, I’m not sure how they got into that position, but that’s got'a hurt! The true question is how will they get down! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 7 Oh boy, now Caspar did it!! He managed to get himself trapped inside the medal basket which he was using  as a pommel horse the night before!! But with quick thinking Melchior grabbed the nail clippers and tried to break him free! Good thinking Melchior!! The search will continue tomorrow!! Blessings, ~Jen-Marie

Wisemen Adventures ~ The Search for Jesus is over! The moment you have all been waiting for this week!! Our Wisemen have finally found Baby Jesus!! I know you were all beginning to wonder if the wisemen were actually going to find the newborn king – it was a lot of nail biting – edge of your seat moments, but they finally found him! Hooray!! I have to tell you, our house is kinda sad to see them succeed, only because we will miss seeing them each day! Oh well, we have next Christmas to look forward to! I hope your family can join us in the fun!  We have been posting all the adventures our little wisemen have had as they searched for the infant Jesus. It’s our Elf on the Shelf Alternative, and our kids have LOVED IT!! If you missed our other “Wisemen Adventure” posts this week   Click here  to read all about it and see the entire story!

All Saints day and All Souls day is upon us. It’s the time of our Liturgical year when we remember the entire Communion of Saints!! But what is the Communion of saints? Well, first I’d like to answer a question I’ve heard many times…. What is the difference between All Saints day and All Souls day?  All Saints day is a day is when we celebrate ALL the saints in Heaven. It’s a day to pray to the saints and ask them to intercede for us. This includes ALL the saints, even the ones that we don’t realize are saints. Not all holy people who have died and gone to heaven are canonized by the Church. There are many holy people who have died and gone to heaven but have never been acknowledged by the Catholic Church. Even though they are not canonized, they are still saints. So we celebrate them all and ask for their intercession. All Souls day is a day we focus on prayer for those who have died and are suffering in Purgatory. These souls need our prayers to help them to get into Heaven. This is a special day dedicated to prayer for these needy souls. I’ve been teaching my kids about the Communion of Saints, which includes both the saints and the souls in Purgatory. Actually, there are three groups in the Communion of Saints: The first group includes all the saints in heaven. This group is the part we almost always think about when someone mentions the Communion of saints. We call this group the Church Triumphant . So what does triumphant mean? Normally, when we say someone is triumphant we mean that they won or succeeded in what they were trying to do. For example, a runner is triumphant when he wins a race. The second group in the Communion of saints is the Church Suffering.  This group is made up of the poor Souls in Purgatory.  These are people who have died in union with God’s teachings, but are not yet holy enough to enter into Heaven. They need our prayers to help them become pure enough to enter Heaven. They cannot enter into Heaven without our prayers, so always be sure to remember the Souls in Purgatory when you pray.  All Souls Day is coming on November 2 and it might be a great time to take the kids to a cemetery and say a few prayers or a Rosary for the souls who are most in need of prayers. This is a great visual reminder to them of who they are praying for. Now the third group is one we all know well, but often times don’t think of as “saints”. The third group is called the Church Militant and it’s made up of living people here on Earth who strive to follow God’s will. This group can include the Pope, bishops, priests, and anyone who is living their lives the way the church teaches. All of us can belong to this group, but we must do as the saints in Heaven have shown us: we must live for God and try to do His will in all things. To help teach my kids about the Communion of Saints I created a few bulletin boards:  I made this first one a few years back. It hung in our church’s entryway. The top is a white cloud with pictures of saints. In the middle was an artist idea of what Purgatory might look. I added the thorns around the picture. On the bottom was a collection of pictures of the parishioners in our parish. It was a big hit with the parishioners as they tried to find those they know. I also added a few pictures of the churches in our area, too. Next was one I made for a talk I created for the kids of our local Catholic homeschool group several years ago. Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” All three groups in the Communion of Saints make up the branches. God is the vine that gives us all our life and grace. This vine is split into three parts. The first part starting at the Holy Trinity, has leaves that contain pictures of the saints. The next group were just images of “souls”, they are just average looking people who appear to be sad. On the last section I added images of the pope, our bishop, and a few different churches. These were a great visual  help when teaching about the Communion of Saints. Printable Activity Page I also created a printable activity page that helps to teach the kids about The Communion of Saints” Here are a few of our finished pages: There are 4 different pages to pick from. To create this page have the children title and decorate each section as follows: The top section should be titled Church Triumphant. Have the children draw or color around the clouds in this section. They could also use glue or a stapler to add some cotton. Now they can paste on a few pictures of their favorite saints.  Older children can draw saints. The middle should be labeled Church Suffering. The children can draw pictures, add photos, or write the names of those they know who have died. Have the children draw or color sharp rocks or thorny branches around the pictures and names. This is to symbolize their suffering.  Remind the children that these souls need prayers. The bottom is for those who are living and striving to do God’s will. Draw or color grass, houses, trees, flowers, then have the children draw or add pictures of the Pope, bishops, as well as, family members. Teachers: All pictures for this project could be brought from home as a homework assignment. Download the Page Here: May all the Saints in Heaven pray for us! And hope you all have a blessed All Saints Day! ~Jen-Marie

Here are some ideas to help you celebrate the feast day of “The Holy Name of Mary” (Sept 12). Waltzing Matilda:  Most Holy Name of Mary Plans 2008 Another Post 2009 Just Another Day In Paradise : Most Holy Name of Marycraft and dessert  Cottage Blessings: Mary’s Holy Name Lantern More ideas from  Waltzing Matilda Family At The Foot Of The Cross:  The Holy Name of Mary A few ideas from: Shower of Roses

I love saint medals! I kind of have a collection.  Funny thing is, I always wear the same medal around my neck -24-7. My mother gave it to me when I was about 8 and I’ve worn it since.  The rest of my medals are in a box packed away. But I decided it’s time to make use of some of them, and I thought I’d share a few of my ideas with all of you. Perhaps something will inspire you. 1. Use Medals as Zipper Pulls They could be used on purses, coats or jacket zippers. 2. Ceiling Fan Pulls A few months ago one of our ceiling fan pulls was accidentally hit. It swing up and hit the light fixture breaking the glass. So I removed all the heavy pulls that came with the fans and replaced them with light-weight saint medals. -No more broken light fixtures!!  3. Curtain Tie backs Use them to decorate your curtain tie backs. 4. Decorate Candles I found this idea on Pinterest.  -from DustyLu And this is from Tiffany at Family at the Foot of the Cross 5. Use them to decorate gifts and cards 6. Decorate Baskets 7. Hang them on your key chain 8. Hang them on the ring that keeps your kids flash cards together 9. Hang them on spiral ring notebooks 10. Use them to create a bookmark (with two medals and a ribbon) These are all great ways to have a constant reminder of God and the way we should live. The images of the saints can speak of their story even when we are just doing our daily duties. Do you have another idea on other ways to use and decorate with saint medals?  Feel free to share your idea in the comment area. God Bless. ~Jen-Marie