4 Simple Ways to Celebrate Advent with Children

Here are four SIMPLE and yet fun ideas I found on pinterest that might be fun for you celebrate with your children this Advent season.  Follow me on pinterest if you are interested in more ideas.

1.  Make an Advent Coloring Book

This website has free coloring pages for each week of Advent!  Your children can color 1 page a week and by the end of Advent have a beautiful keepsake for future Advent seasons to come.  

Picture courtesy of:  http://www.blessedbeyondadoubt.com/advent-coloring-pages/

2.  Handprint Stable

Crafty Morning has a super cute and very simple handprint stable activity for your children.  What a simple way to remind our children this season is about Jesus's birth!

3.  Toilet Paper Roll Advent Wreath

The Advent season we were moving and our lives were anything BUT structured, my oldest son and I made this portable, burn-free Advent wreath and it was so much fun for him to "light" it each night. Even though our real Advent wreath was packed up, we could still celebrate the season waiting in anticipation for the coming of Christ.  If you have a few pieces of construction paper and a few TP rolls lying around the house, then you can make one too! Who needs something fancy when you can make a kid friendly Advent wreath?  Am I right?  Learn more specifics here.  

P.S. I will say that since we didn't have any Popsicle sticks at the time, I just make the flames wider than the size of the opening of the TP roll, when cut a small vertical slit on each side so the flame could slide onto the top of the roll.  A very easy adaptation if you don't have Popsicle sticks.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ChristmasToiletPaperAdventWreath.htm

4.  Manger Fingerprint Scene

Crafty Morning has another cute and very simple craft activity, a fingerprint manger scene complete with Baby Jesus.  Just think of the memories you'll have of those little fingerprints years from now when you put this out of your Advent decorations bin!  What a sweet, sweet memory.

So there you have it, a few simple but fun crafts to do with the kids this Advent season.  Have any family traditions you do for Advent season?  Please feel free to share!

Many blessings to you and yours,

Advent 2016!

I'm very excited! It's my favorite time of year as tomorrow officially begins Advent 2016!

I still have to find a place for the Jesse Tree where a 2-year old who us continually in "destructo" mode cannot knock it over. With that said, most of the house is ready for our prayerful preparation over the next 5 weeks. Here are a few pictures.

Our fireplace mantle, is the focal point of our livining room. It turned out beautifully.

I purchased this Advent wreath this year from the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. I'm looking forward to many many Advent seasons using this lovely wreath.

Here's our "good deeds" manger, in which my boys will be placing a piece of yarn each time they perform a good deed for another. The goal being that the boys perform enough kind acts that Baby Jesus will have a soft bed on Christmas morning to lie on. This is a family favorite.

A simple Nativity set in the foyer at the entrance to our home to remind us everytime we enter, what this season is really all about.

We cannot forget the Advent music can we?

This Advent calendar is also a big hit in our family. 

So that's it. Tomorrow I'll find a place for our Jesse Tree and we shall begin this wonderful Advent journey.

Do you decorate for Advent? I love hearing others's ideas so please share.

May you have a very Blessed Advent with your loved ones,

Advent 2015 Week 2: Feast Day Fun!

Well we've made it through week two with a little bit of sickness to boot us into week three but at least I'm getting this post up.  If you missed our Advent fun in Week 1 just click on the link to hear all about it.

This is the Advent chaos that's been going on in our household this week :

St. Nicholas Feast Day

We opened week 2 of Advent with the feast day of Saint Nicholas which is also the feast day of my oldest child. So we spent the day watching a Saint Nicholas movie from CCC of America titled Nicholas: the boy who became Santa, reading about Saint Nicholas and how he fits in this time of celebration of Baby Jesus, and of course enjoying the goodies that Saint Nicholas brought us and our shoes. I also made my son this Saint Nicholas peg doll for his special feast day.

Immaculate Conception

December 8th we celebrated the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother. With this coloring picture from Catholic Icing, I explained to my kids how Mary was born to St. Anne free from original sin.  To honor our Blessed Mother, we all wore blue.  And we met up with two other Catholic families and colored this picture from Catholic Icing (grab your copy at this link).

San Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Feast days Dec. 9th and Dec. 12th)

This is my oldest's "favorite Mary". Ha!  So we go big or go home for these feasts!  First we watched the CCC of America's San Juan Diego video, followed by coloring an Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring sheet you can get at Catholic Playground (grab it at this link). We cut out and taped this picture to some sheets of packing paper (last year we used a brown paper grocery bag) we still had in our house, cut out and whole for the head and voila', we have a tilma for the kids to wear!  

We also have an ornament of Our Lady of Guadalupe my husband found last year on clearance at a Hallmark store.  We placed it on our Jesse Tree as a daily reminder of this amazing miracle, that the Immacute Conception was about to bring the Word Incarnate into the world.  What a beautiful Advent celebration we have two weeks before Christmas!   Hanging the ornament in our living area was a great reminder to us all to say a quick prayer random times of day to Our Lady.  

Blue Knights meeting:

My oldest is part of a Blue Knights Boy's Club in which my husband,  being the good dad he is, is the leader. This week was their monthly meeting and they learned about the virtue "Fear of the Lord", which was a hard one for me as a child to really understand.  But my husband explained that just like parents need to sometimes discipline children when they make poor choices, so does our loving Father in Heaven.   My husband explained that Our Lord will do everything in His power to keep us close to Him, safe from evil and sometimes those things may feel like punishments but they are permitted out of love for us. As a mother, I totally get "Fear of the Lord" now and pray my children will always fear upsetting or hurting Our Lord enough that it will keep them on a straighter path than I have trod. Here's a picture of the delicious snack I made for the kids. I didn't have any purple sprinkles for Advent, so Christmas colors it was. 

Still going strong:

Our Jesse Tree Ornaments, Advent Calendar and Sacrifice Manger are still going strong here in this house.  As you can see from the above picture, my little Bean, loves the tree. Some days we do better than others and sometimes we miss a day and have to catch up on our Jesse Tree ornaments but it's still been so much fun seeing my son internalize more and more of these bible stories I've been reading him over the past few years!

And finally, our family dinners around the Advent wreath have been such a blessing.  My family is enjoying it so much, it usually is listed as one of our daily "Three Favorite Things" (post coming for more information on this one) for one family member or another each day.

How is your Advent season coming along?  Have any other great ideas to share?

I'll see you back here next week for our weekly Advent round-up!

Many Blessings to you and yours this Advent Season,

Advent 2015 Week 1: Peace

Ok we shall see if 1) I can keep the weekly Advent updates coming and 2) if I can effectively pace myself for all the festivities.  Only with God's grace will this happen for sure.

So here's the Advent chaos that's been going on in our household this week:

Advent Calendars
Everyone needs an Advent calendar,  a way to mark off our days of anxiously waiting for the coming of our Lord. This one I purchased from the National Shrine of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes a few weeks ago. Sorry, they don't mail products.  I asked. :( Anyway, I just love this calendar! Each day, one of my children chooses another object or character to add to the Nativity scene. Our Blessed Mother will be coming on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and Baby Jesus,  well He comes on the last day of course! :)

Sacrifice Manger
I didn't come up with this idea, just liked it and decided to pass it on to my children. As a way to teach them, Advent is also a time to grow in holiness, we made this little manger out of paper. I used yarn I had in the house for hay, and cut up tons of pieces. Each time someone in the family does a good deed without being asked, acts kindly to another or loves as Jesus loves, he/she is permitted to add a piece of "hay" to the manger. By Christmas day, hopefully the manger will be full of enough soft hay for Baby Jesus' arrival. My 5 year old is REALLY into this one!

Jesse Tree
What a great way to learn the history of Jesus from bible stories beginning with Adam and Eve! I do not believe in reinventing the wheel so I used a Christmas tree that I had since my college days and put it up in our living room area. I explain to my children that this is the Jesse Tree. Each day we watch the video from Holy Heroes and color one of the Jesse Tree Ornaments that they provide free of charge from their website. You just need to register for their Advent adventure and you too could have these Jesse Tree Ornaments available to you. Everyday I'm asked "Mom what's the ornament for today?". It's a great way to encourage Bible reading as a family!

Advent Wreath
If you cannot do anything else during the Advent season, sitting down at the table together as a family around the Advent wreath is a must! Each evening for dinner we will sit around the Advent wreath light candles while singing a verse or two of O come, O come Emmanuel and my husband, being the spiritual leader in our family (more on that to come in another post), will read a very short passage from Isaiah regarding the prophecy of the coming of Jesus. Of course my children are still very little so we do have to explain what the passage means. Yet, we feel it's a nice way of introducing the prophecy of Jesus slowly but surely within this Advent season. The wonderful family time and the grace we receive at family dinners is always astounding and I encourage every family if you can do this even once a week to do it, as it's so very important for children.

So that's what we have going on during our first week of Advent. Next week hopefully I'll give you an update on what we have been doing for week 2 so stay tuned.

Blessings to you and yours,

My Journey Veiling at Mass: Part 3!

Note: The Catholic Church's stance on head covering is that it is not required but is permitted as a personal devotion.  This series of posts is not suggesting it is required in any way and is only my personal experience with head covering.

You can read Part 1 and Part 2 of my veiling journey.

The Art of Veiling

So here I am, several months later, with my rush ordered infinity veil and the veil I won from the contest, both of which I have used regularly.

I ordered the infinity veil, and now it was time to wear it.  I was very very nervous the first day I wore a veil to Mass, but I have to admit it was a weekday Mass so it seemed a bit less stressful for some reason.  I don't know why because having LESS people at Mass seems like I would have stood out more than having more people at Mass.  I suppose I felt that the fewer people were there, the fewer opportunities there would be for me to be judged by others.  Can you tell I was EXTREMELY NERVOUS?!!!!

With butterflies in my stomach, shaking hands, and weak knees, I entered the church with my boys, slipped into one of the back pews, hidden, safe.  Let me tell you, when you have a 5 year old and a 9 month old, there is no place you can hide in church where their little voices will not result in looks of other parishioners.  So safety was out.  Now it was just time to "get through this Mass".  At least that is what I thought.  Then something pretty awesome happened.

My Zen Place

It was only through the grace of the Holy Spirit, but as Mass began I become so calm, serene.  It was as if the veil was blocking all the distractions from ME!  I didn't seem to be a distraction to others and they were no longer a distraction for me.  I could focus on the Mass with as much focus as a mother of two busy boys can.  Truly, it was a beautiful experience for me!  During the Eucharistic prayer, I just felt like I was making my Guardian Angel so proud because here I am, worshiping with "the angels" (as St. Paul tells us), while honoring my Lord with my head covered.  Here I am for the first time, maybe the first time ever, truly keeping in mind, that I am IN the PRESENCE of Jesus' body, blood, soul and divinity!  How unworthy I am to receive this gift, but oh how beautiful a gift it is!

I had found my place of zen, my place with my Lord and I could not go back.

Tears of Joy

So it's been several months of veil wearing for all Masses I have attended (Sundays and weekdays) and I don't feel out of place one bit. In fact, the more I attend Mass, the more I know I am doing what the Lord is calling me to do.  I am not saying this is for everyone or that everyone should follow suit.  This is what He is asking of me and I am so very happy to oblige.

In fact, it seems the more I "veil up" (ha!), the more I seem to get out of the Eucharistic prayer, the more I feel my Lord and unfortunately (or maybe fortunately I'm not sure), the more emotional I become in the presence of the body of Christ.  I find myself tearing up and even crying many times in Mass after I have received Christ for no real reason, other than I am just so very grateful for this wonderful blessed gift, this perpetual sacrifice.  Maybe it is the Holy Spirit touching my heart or it's just the way my brain is able to understand the Eucharist at this time, but it truly is a blessing and I have only my veil and my Lord to thank!

So that has been my journey of veiling these past few months.  Do you veil?  Have you thought of doing it?  What's been your experience?

Blessings to you and yours.  And if you wear a head covering in the presence of our Lord, let me just say "Veil on, Ladies!  Veil on!",

My Journey Veiling at Mass: Part 2!

Note: The Catholic Church's stance on head covering is that it is not required but is permitted as a personal devotion.  This series of posts is not suggesting it is required in any way and is only my personal experience with head covering.

Read part 1 here.

God Brought Me To It

What was I to do with this old tradition of head covering in Mass?  Where did it come from?  Why did women originally veil or cover their heads?  Why did we stop?  Why had I not been taught about this tradition?   I know the Catholic Church does not create random traditions, so I knew there had to be a theological explanation for it.  I didn't know what it was, or why I, for some inexplicable reason, HAD to find out.

After attending Mass for a few months, I began to really contemplate veiling.  Why couldn't I get this interest out of my mind?  Was the Lord calling me to find out more about this theology and possibly requesting this of me?

I know the power of prayer and I know the Lord will make His wants known to me as soon as I open myself up to it.  And so, after a few more months, I, bravely (yes I use the word bravely, b/c I think anytime we open ourselves to God's will we become the bravest versions of ourselves), said "Lord, if you want me to veil, you are going to have to bring me to it."  Oh be careful what you ask for my friends!

The Email

The VERY NEXT DAY after I prayed that prayer, in my inbox sat an email from a fellow parishioner offering to give away her extra veils to anyone who was interested.  Talk about an answer to prayer, huh?!

Unfortunately, I responded too late and all veils were already given out but the result yielded a wonderful dialogue about veiling and I was referred to a number of resources including this book to learn more about the theology behind this tradition.  In my search for more information, I also stumbled across this fantastic blog post regarding the scriptural basis for head covering.  For the first time in my life, I FINALLY understood what St. Paul was saying to the Corinthians about this and it made SO MUCH SENSE!  So, that evening, I rush ordered myself this veil in a lilac color.

The Giveaway

Around this same time but before I ordered my own veil, I had entered a giveaway from a company who made chapel veils.  They were offering 10 people a chance to win their own veil.  Of course there were over 1000 entries but I entered anyway.  I thought, why not?  If God wants me to veil, well He will bring me to it.

Wouldn't you know, I was one of the 10 lucky winners?  YEP so in the span of TWO DAYS of my prayer, I missed out on a free offer of veils from another parishioner just to randomly win a brand new veil of my choice from this company (which is wonderful by the way).

Waving the White Flag

I could deny it no longer, the Lord was in fact bringing me to head covering and it was my turn to wave the white flag and surrender to His will.

Oh how nervous I was!  How will I look?  What will people think?  People will think that I think "I'm so holy" and that's so far from the truth.  I will be completely humiliated.  Then I heard these words (in my head of course) "Maria, can you not endure some humiliation for me?".  Touche' God, touche'!  This girl is going to "veil up"!

Check out my veiling experiences in Part 3 of this series.

Blessings to you and yours,

My Journey Veiling at Mass: Part 1!

Note: The Catholic Church's stance on head covering is that it is not required but is permitted as a personal devotion.  This series of posts is not suggesting it is required in any way and is only my personal experience with head covering.


If you read my book review on The Chapel Veil: Symbol of the Spouse of Christ than you have already heard a little bit about my journey to veil at Mass.  Here is the unabridged version.

Introduction to Veiling

I have a few scattered memories of my grandmother placing a scarf over her head when she entered a Catholic church many many years ago.  I was very small and did not seem to understand why she did this nor did it occur to me to ask.  Therefore, I suppose it makes sense that I didn't seem to truly notice when or why she stopped donning her head with a cover at Mass.  Yet, for some reason, it ceased.

In that time since, I have been inundated with the classic falsehood that "the church" no longer requires veiling or head coverings because they no longer see women as submissive to men.  Therefore, when I went to Catholic elementary school, I was not introduced to this tradition.  As I grew up, I never really thought about veiling.  I saw pictures and video of women from other countries covering their heads when participating in Papal Masses but never thought about why they continued to do so, or why we in America did not.

It wasn't until I moved to the parish I am now currently a parishioner, did I come face to face with veiling once again.  I noticed it immediately when I walked into this church our first Sunday there.  One lonely woman, with a veil, seated up front.  The next week I saw two women with veils, then three, scattered around the church.  My, aren't we "holier than thou"! How they must think themselves so very "holy" compared to the rest of us women who attend with bare heads (cue eye roll)!  Yet I was strangely drawn to them.

For reasons still unknown to me, and in which I chalk up to an interior calling of the Holy Spirit, I had to watch these women in church.  I couldn't take my eyes off of them.  They dressed modestly, mostly in skirts and dresses knee-length or longer.  They bowed or genuflected reverently prior to receiving the Blessed Eucharist and they seemed to be in their own little world, as if not distracted by all the sounds and sights I seemed to be during Mass.  What was it about these veils and why am I so drawn to them?  I had to ask myself.  Once I noticed these women, those scattered memories of my early childhood vaguely came back to me.

This was introduction to veiling as an adult.  Now what was I going to do with this...this veiling thing?

Next week I'll have Part 2 to my Veiling Journey!  :)

Blessings to you and yours,

Book Review: The Chapel Veil!

I just finished reading this very quick booklet titled The Chapel Veil: Symbol of the Spouse of Christ, which consists of two short essays written by Elizabeth Black and Emily Sparks.  I became interested in the theology behind "the veil" when I noticed a few women veiling at Mass.  I have not been exposed to much veiling previously, so as an adult to see a re-emergence of "veiling" was quite intriguing to me.  I, for reasons I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit, was drawn to these women and their exercise of veiling in Mass, however I had no understanding of the purpose or symbolism behind this tradition.


I suspect most of us are familiar with the scriptural basis for this tradition explained by St. Paul in Corinthians however we lack a true understanding of the context in which this chapter was written.   I have found a beautiful explanation here for this bible passage that makes much sense to me.  Again, I suspect, most of us were told since veiling was no longer required under the 1983 Canon Law, it was no longer necessary or we were indoctrinated with a terrible falsehood, that veiling was an outward sign of subordination to man, which is FAR from the truth!  Whether veiling be of necessity or not, I believe Mother Church, in her wisdom, provides each woman with the choice to decide this for herself.  Yet, what I needed to understand was, what this veil tradition was all about?  Why did it begin and why did the church require this tradition for 2000+ years before leaving it up to each woman to decide for herself?

By divine grace, I somehow became acquainted with a woman who veiled and suggested I order this booklet to learn more about the theology behind veiling. Upon reading it, I have come to realize the true beauty behind this tradition.  I recommend anyone who is interested in understanding the theology behind veiling, order this booklet and learn about this tradition for themselves.

I cannot stress this enough, that the reasons for veiling has NOTHING to do with submission to man and EVERYTHING to do with honoring our Lord.  So if you feel so inclined, click on the link above and learn about the symbolic and theological reasons for veiling!

This booklet is short, sweet, to the point and affordable.  The essays are easy to read and comprehend.  Within a few minutes, you will come to understand the reasons women all over the world continue to participate in this beautiful tradition!

I give it:  4 "Chaotic" Stars

Blessings to you and yours,

Homeschooling: Supplementing Religious Ed with Bible Stories

Ok I know this should be obvious but I think, at least for myself, I know there is SO MUCH to learn about our AMAZING, rich, historic religion that I sometimes focus more on those things (Catechism, 7 sacraments, 10 Commandments, the rosary and other prayers, etc.) and less on the Bible itself.  However, I really wanted my religious education to be as complete as I can possibly make it.  Therefore, I decided to add "Breakfast with the Bible" to our daily lessons.  

As Pickle is still so young I began with what I had readily available to me, Little Golden Book: Bible Favorites.  This is a combination of three books in one:  Bible Heroes, Bible Stories for Boys and Girls, and Miracles of Jesus.

A word of caution when using non-Catholic approved Bible stories:  remember to read through them first prior to educating your children.  Be sure there is nothing contrary to Mother Church's teaching. If you find something contrary, you can make the decision to either present it with the Catholic teachings or choose not to present that story/book at all.  You'll know fairly quickly if you can use that resource or not so trust your gut!

The pros using this book (Little Golden Book: Bible Favorites):  

• The stories are written in a kid friendly manner.
• The stories are a VERY simplified version of their bible counterparts and hit on the very basics children would need to know initially about these bible characters.
• These stories provide, what I think, is a nice, brief, first introduction to these bible characters.
• This book is found in large commercial stores easily available.

The cons using this book:

• It cannot possibly fit all bible characters we would want our children to know about.
• The simplified versions of these stories still are missing some very important pieces of the story.  I find myself simply adding in the extra information as I am talking about each character.

I knew I needed to find something more age-appropriate but also Catholic based for my children so I went searching online and found....

Since beginning "Breakfast with the Bible", I have discovered another FANTASTIC bible resource for children.  The New Catholic Picture Bible offered via Catholic Heritage Curriculum is an wonderful resource!  It provides 74 bible stories presented from a Catholic perspective for children sold for only (are you sitting down) $10!  AMAZING!  Each story has a beautiful illustration followed by a fairly concise synopsis of that particular bible story!

How we do "Breakfast with the Bible":

1.  Read bible story:  I spend one whole school week on each story.  So, the first day of the week, we spend time reading and discussing the bible story during breakfast.  

2.  Coloring Page(s):  The second day of the week, I print out a coloring page (or pages) from a simple search on the internet, representing the bible story.    While Pickle colors in the page(s) we discuss the story once again.  It's a nice way to recap the bible story in order to help commit it to memory. 

3.  Extension activites: (rest of the school week) 

      a.  Discuss the Lesson:  We spend time discussing one lesson (or several) we have learned from this bible story.

      b.  Lesson learning activity:  I will try to take one lesson the bible story teaches and create some very simple type of extension activity for it.  Below is an example of what I used for Cain and Able's story.  

We discussed how Cain was not being a good brother to Able and that there are many, many ways we can be good brothers/sisters to our siblings.  Then I had Pickle color this picture and complete this writing prompt.  How easy it was to target written language and handwriting in this simple activity!

I have to admit, I am liking Breakfast with the Bible and am praying we can make this a family tradition!

So this is what we are using to supplement religious education at this time.

In the future, I am planning on purchasing the below curriculum to expand upon our study of scripture:

 Simon Peter School Scripture Study: This is a VERY affordable scripture study program for 3rd-8th grade. I am hoping to use this as a supplement once Pickle gets to third grade!

Now we all know what God does when we plan but this is what I'm thinking right now.  We shall see over the years how this goes!  Do you use a scripture study program with your children?  Please share!  And remember, even if you are not homeschooling, you can always supplement your child's religious education with whatever resources you feel are appropriate!!!!  It's not an ALL or NOTHING thing! I think that's what I love the most about homeschooling.  It's all about what works for you and your family!

Blessings to you and yours,

Celebrating Mary with 10 FREE Children's Activities

It's May, the month to celebrate our Blessed Mother!  In an effort to teach my own children about the beautiful, perfectly humble, perfectly serving, perfectly compassionate mother of Christ, I came up with this simple list of activities.

1. Coloring pages of Mary: You can find a number of beautiful coloring pages of our Blessed Lady here.

2.  "Many Titles of Mary" Memory game:  I found this beautiful pinterest board and this one with so many wonderful pictures of our Blessed Mother with her many titles.  Simply copy and paste the pictures of your choice into a powerpoint document, keeping the pictures small enough to play memory.  Print out two copies of the page and voila', you have a memory game for the various titles of our Blessed Mother.  Remember to discuss the symbolism behind each of these pictures (you can look these up on the internet with a quick easy search if needed).

Here's an example of our memory game for you.  I do not have permission to distribute these pictures from the internet so I can only share our example with you.  I hope this helps. I chose 8 different pictures, including some of the most well known pictures of Mary as well as a few unknown to my son.  His favorite is Our Lady of Guadalupe so I had to add that one! :)

3.  Explain how Mary's power of Satan: To me, this is the MOST important activity you could do with your children this May. Here you will find the theological explanation of Mary's immaculate conception (i.e. no original sin) and her power over the devil written by St. John Paul II.  This is something you as a parent should read prior to presenting this information to your children.  Have your children look up each of the bible verses referred to in this work and explain what they mean.  This will be a GREAT way to explain why we, as Catholics, are devout to Mary and why we pray for her intercession.  Also it's a fantastic reminder for us as adults! ;)

4.  Tradition of the Origin of the Rosary:  Legend has it that St. Dominic shared the devotion of the rosary after seeing a vision of Mary.  Of course this is but a legend and is suspect, we do know he preached devotion to the Blessed Mother via the rosary.  Read more about the origins of the rosary here and find a coloring page here!

Why is it important for our children to learn about the origin of the rosary if we don't really know where it came from, you ask.  I promise you, there will be a time in your child's life where someone will say, "Why do you pray to Mary?" or "Why do you pray the rosary?" and your child will be able to say that this tradition of prayer took hundreds of years to develop into the beautiful prayer it is today.

5.  Compose a Prayer to Mary:  Either in writing or verbally, your child can compose their own prayer to Mary and place on your family's alter or in front of a picture of the Blessed Mother.  My child can't talk yet?  No problem, have them draw or color a picture of our holy Mother and give that to our Blessed Lady.  How this simple act will fill her heart with joy!

6.   Say a family Rosary:  When explaining each mystery ask your children how they think Mary felt.

7.  Dissect the "Hail Mary":  Use this page  or any other Hail Mary printable and take apart each section of the Hail Mary.  Show your children where in Luke's gospel many of these words come from and why we say them today.  Discuss the Annunciation!

8.   Read about Our Lady's Most Famous Apparitions:

      a. Our Lady of Lourdes:  Here is a very good account of the story of Our Lady of Lourdes.  Be sure to discuss St. Bernadette's life and how her body is incorrupt and can still be seen today!

      b. Our Lady of Fatima:  Here you can find the full story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children.  Remember to note the political unrest and the fact that WWI was taking place, and within 13 months of this apparition, the war was over!  This shows the amazing work of our Blessed Mother and why our devotion to her is so important!

      c.  How about some "not-so-famous" apparitions?:  Looking for some Marian apparitions that are not as well known yet still approved by Mother Church? Check out this link!  You didn't know there have been so many did you? Don't worry. I was pleasantly surprised as well!

9.  Decorate your alter cloth:  Grab a cheap white sheet and use markers, glitter glue or fabric paint and have your children decorate it with beautiful symbols of Our Blessed Mother.  Once dry, you can hand it on your family alter for the month of May.

10.  Mary diorama:  You can use any of the Mary coloring pictures above and a box of any kind (we prefer tissue boxes in this house b/c we always have them, but shoe boxes or even postal boxes will work as well) and make a beautiful Mary diorama.  Place it on your family alter or in your child's room so he/she can say special prayers to Mary this month.

How We Celebrated St. Patrick's Day 2015!

I know it's a week late but I thought I'd share how we celebrated our St. Patrick's Day 2015!

We started off with some green mustache family fun!

How cute are these boys?!!!!

Then we discussed the story of St. Patrick, who we was, what he did for Ireland and why he is associated with wearing green, what miracles have been attributed to him, etc.

Since we have just moved and I still haven't found all of my craft supplies, I decided we could draw our own St. Patrick using what we had...packaging paper and crayons!

I traced Pickle's body to make the body of St. Patrick, then decorated him with his bishop's hat and staff!  Pickle was in charge of coloring (which turned out that mom also had to help out with that as well b/c it was a LOT of coloring)!  But turned out pretty good if you ask me.

This was followed by a nap to which Pickle woke up to a gold coin trail beginning at his bedside and went throughout the house to the "treasure" which seemed to be left by our friendly Leprechaun.

Psst...the bag of gold coins and the mustaches were grabbed at the Dollar Tree a week before.  Other than than, all other items were found around our house...yes, including the Skittles! Hahahaha!

While I prepared dinner, delicious cornbeef and cabbage (a tradition) pictured below, Pickle and little Bean sat and watched CCC of America's Patrick: Brave Shepard of the Emerald Isle pictured below also.

This picture is courtesy of the CCC of America's website.

Have you checked out their Saints and Heroes DVD selection?  They have wonderful DVDs and several times a year some really great deals!  I bought my Saints and Heroes bundle at 60% off!!!!

So that is how we celebrated our St. Patrick's day!  Always some religious learning as well as some imagination and fun.  

How did you celebrate your St. Patrick's day 2015?

Blessings to you and yours,