Feast of the Annunciation

9 months from now we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! 

Today we celebrate the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel came to Mary.

HERE is a repost of this feast day from 2 yrs ago.  I had some good ideas back then that I think I'll do again :)

Happy Feast day!

God bless,
Mary

Happy New Year!!! 2012!!!

Ok, I just accidently erased a whole post that has taken me 20-30 mins to write up.  So...since I do not have time to do it again (at least not right now) I will just write a quick Happy New Year!

AND...Happy Feast of Mary, Mother of God~January 1st!!!!
AND....my 7 yr old son will be turning 8 tomorrow!!! :P  Yeah!

God bless,
Mary

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

Today I am so thankful to have been able to get to Mass this morning.  To my surprise, it was the FIRST ever Mass in honor of Blessed John Paul II.  What a beautiful Mass, as I felt his presence so strongly.  He was and is so amazing.  I am so thankful to have been able to live while he was alive!

He exemplified Christ in how he lived and shared his life with others.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!!!
God bless,
Mary

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Our family has a special love for St. Joseph as we have seen him interact with us in a real way.  He is so special so on this day we will celebrate his life and his vocation!  What a beautiful example of a earthly father that he was, gentle and quiet yet strong and faithful. 

We are making a cake to celebrate, complete w/ice cream of course! :)

We are coloring these pics and listening to THIS Glory Stories - it is on the EWTN website.  (There is LOTS of other ones too-and the best part of it is that its all FREE)

St. Joseph, pray for us!
St. Joseph, pray for my husband and my family!

God bless,

M

Top o' the mornin' to ya!!!

Happy St. Patrick's day!!!

Breastplate of Saint Patrick

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,
Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

We'll be coloring THIS picture---which I absolutley LOVE!!!

And WATCH THIS

And drinking some GREEN milk and eating some GREEN pancakes!!!

St. Patrick, pray for us!
God bless,
M

St. Juan Diego, pray for us!

Woohoo!
I found a super great site for a St. Juan Diego craft activity.  My kids are working on it as I am typing right now.

HERE it is!


This morning, we went to visit Santa Claus at our little neighborhood library.  Believe it or not, this was our first time really ever doing this and having the kids sit on Santa's lap!  I almost feel sort of bad about not bringing them up until now!  I just never wanted to wait in line at the mall for -forever- to just have them cry hysterically and I go balistic with no patience left.  So, I never ventured out to do it.  But when I saw that at our little neighborhood library there was a story time and Santa there, I thought to myself  "Hey, I can manage something like that!"  And we did.  It was cute and harmless and it brought back so many memories of when I was little and I sat on that magical red suited man's lap. 

What joy my heart felt by such a simple thing.  I am grateful that I had enough pizazz to do it!  Even more so, I am totally impressed that my 2 yr old went straight up to Santa's lap as the 3rd kid on his lap-the 1st kid from our family to do so!!!  He did not have to watch his big siblings go and do this. 

He knew this is what he wanted and he went for it. 

What a sight!  It sure does show how very strong willed this little man is.  Now, if I can just work with this strong will and help aim it for God's glory.  Then that will be something!

We'll also be trying to find this movie to watch today too:


Have you seen this cute cartoon? 
If not, you must. 

It is worth it, along with all the othere CCC movies too.  They will be a welcome addition to your movies, I promise you! :)


St. Juan Diego, pray for us.

God bless,
M

Good ol' St. Nick, please no coal!

...to visit us tonight, I hope! :)

The kids all reminded me that tomorrow is the feast of St. Nicholas.  An old tradition (and a very cool one indeed!) is to put out our shoes near the chimney.
 
Why, you may ask?

Check out HERE for more details...
THIS is a whole website about St. Nicholas.

The short of the story of St. Nicholas is that he threw down some gold down the chimney of this family that needed it so that the 3 daughters could soon marry.  And that gold ended up in the stockings that were being warmed by the fire.  Hence,why we have stockings for Christmas!  Cool!

In our house and many others too, we put our shoes out near the chimeny so that St. Nicholas can throw down some golden chocolate coins into them!
Oh, those precious gold chocolate coins near the day of Dec. 6th!
It took me 2 stores to find these gold coins today.  I'm glad I did...I was starting to wonder what I was going to do!  My kids would be devasted without seeing those coins in the morning.

And I am still in need of finding 3 purple and 1 pink candle for our advent wreath.  I ended up actually buying an advent wreath this year b/c I could not find ours!?!? I think the movers took it!!! haaa.  Those special advent candles!  Argh, can't find them anywhere!  Been to 4 stores already.  So much for being on time and ready this year for Advent, huh? 

DO you have Advents like this too?

Anyway, Happy 2nd Sunday of Advent today!

There is so much that I would love to do with the kids to have us all experience Advent in a special way this year.   My expectations were pretty high, I guess.   Not this year, I guess.  It's been very hard of an advent for me.  (you too?  Oh,  please say you too!!??!) 

"It is what it is", some say. 

But it is hard for me to let go and not have everything go as planned or hoped for.  Even if I got 1/2 of what I would have liked for this Advent, actually being done, I would not be so bummed out.  Things such as I would have loved to do the Jesse tree (even to some degree) ...but can't swing it this year.  I would love to be able to keep our manger Nativity set up all day long, even all Advent long...but not this year.  My sweet -gone- wild 2 year old has made me use the glue gun too many times.  Mind you, we just found the nativity manger and JUST put it out yesterday.  So much for the change of scenery around here!  argh.  I would have also liked to have prayed certain prayers for the Sundays of Advent ...but not this year, b/c I just bought an advent wreath yesterday after spending over a week trying to find ours.   And...I am still on the hunt to find some candles too.  I would have also liked to do a "secret Santa" but not this year.  It is hard enough to keep some secrets untold around here and it would only end up in a fight and whining about doing more things for another sibling...at least this year.   I wonder when is a good age to start that.  It seems so fun to do! 

As many seasoned mommas have told me, and I truly believe it, is that things will change and time flies by.  Then remind me to just accept what life brings right now, and try not so hard to understand it as much to just accept it.  Sounds simple, but it's not.  It is my own will that gets in the way!   I believe what they tell me but man is it hard to accept when in the middle of it.  It is very hard to see that big picture, some days.

Well, that was a big of a tangent, huh?!?! :) 

Hey, Jolly and good ol' St. Nicholas, please pay us a visit tonight?
Then again, maybe some lumps of coal is what I deserve...

God bless,
M

St. Martin de Porres

We love this saint, nicknamed "Brother Broom".

Happy Feast day of St. Martin de Porres !!! (It was a few days ago.  I didn't have time to post this :))

Here is what we did on this great feast day:

Printed and then painted THIS picture of St. Martin de Porres...

....while listening to THIS CD about St. Martin de Porres- we truly love this saint and our favorite part is when he talks to the mice about the poison!  My kids love to imitate their voices :)  It's really cute.

God bless,
Mary

All Soul's Day today

Heavenly Father, You sent Christ Jesus your Son to wash away the sins of all mankind through His perfect sacrifice,

and you cleansed our departed brothers and sisters in the waters of baptism.

May His perfect sacrifice free them from the power of death and give them eternal life.

In your mercy, O Lord, grant them eternal rest,

and may perpetual light shine on them forever. + Amen.

 

AN IDEA FOR TODAY:

One of the best ways to teach children how we respect the dead is to visit a cemetery. You might be surprised that this can be a very pleasant family outing during the fall, when all creation seems to be preparing to end the active life of this season on earth, in order to prepare for life in the next.

 

Eternal Rest

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

God bless,

M

Happy All Saints Day!!!

All Saints of Heaven,

PLEASE pray for us to be holy

and to get to Heaven!!!

God bless,
Mary

Edible Rosary

This was really fun for the kids on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary a few days ago.  They really followed along and anticipated to say their "Hail Mary"!
God bless,
Mary

St. Francis, pray for us!

This is a special day....it is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi!

Since he is our patron saint of our school year (along w/St. Elizabeth Ann Seton), we are really going to really do it up today :)

I printed out these coloring pages
HERE
HERE
and HERE.

We've also been learning about birds, fish and mammals during science the last few weeks.  We do have a little field trip at the end of the week to the...pet store!  haaa!  Cheap and really fun-the kids are esctatic about going there and the zoo....I figured it is a whole lot cheaper and closer so...why not!?!?

Since it is feast day, we are going to do a few crafts today using all those toliet paper rolls that I've been saving:
The Bald Eagle

The Woodpecker

The Octopus

Another Octopus craft

And of course we will celebrate w/a cake topped w/ icing and little animals-the kids always look forward to making AND decorating AND eating the yummy cake!

Best go.  Lots to do today! :)

St. Francis, Pleas Pray for us!

God bless,
Mary

Happy feast of St. Therese!!!

I remember so clearly this day last year.  It was totally last minute and we had a little St. Therese party to celebrate her feast day.  We had little rosey pink cupcakes, colored pictures of St. Therese and watched half of THIS movie (which, BTW, if you have yet to see it, it is a great one!).

This year, we did not get to a St. Therese party nor the rosey pink cupcakes nor the movie.

But to my delight, she came through for me.  That good ol' Saint Therese. 

A new friend brought me a ROSE! :)

We planned on having her children meet my children to see if it would be a good match for babysitters.  We need 2 babysitters, ya know, with all these wild kids around~heee heeee!).  Sure enough, my prayers are answered and we think it will work out for her 15 yr old son and 13 yr old daughter to watch my 6.  They are also homeschooled which is really cool too. 

She came over for this quick hour visit carrying a ......ROSE!

I started the novena to St. Therese the first 2 days then plainly forgot and got frustrated b/c I can never seem to remember to do those novenas! argh! 

Sure enough, the ROSE came along and my faith restored. 

Good thing for great saints to help pick us back up. 

"Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it be without feeling, this is the way to oblige Him to help you, and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."

-St. Therese
St. Therese, pray for us!

"My mission-to make God loved-will begin after my death.

I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.

I will send a shower of roses."

~ St. Thérèse

~~~~~~
 

“You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions,

nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.”

~ St. Thérèse

 

For tonight's dinner, I will make "Rosey Penne"- half alfredo sauce and half red scuce over penne...yum!

Happy Feast day!

God bless,
Mary

Mother of Sorrows craft activity

Fun for boys b/c of the swords and fun for girls b/c of Mary!
I thought they came out grrrrrrrrreat!  Here they are:

And b/c my boys always want me to take pics of their lego creations, here is what they worked on yesterday:

I must have tons and tons of pics of legos!  Maybe one of these days I'll actually get to a post all about them.   Who knows....

God bless,
Mary

Mother of Sorrows, pray for us.

To honor Mary, on this special day, we are having our official day of consecration to Jesus through Mary!  According to St. Louis de Montfort---click HERE.

(I was actually going to start by saying that by honoring Mary, on this sorrowful day, I have had my fair share of sorrows already!!! What a sleepless night and a horrendous morning we've had and it's only 8:40am.  But, I don't want to whine too much or complain too much, esp. on this day.  I pray that I will trust that God will give me enough courage to face today with much fortitude to endure whatever God wills for me this day.  Mary, mother of sorrows be with me and help me be pleasing to your precious Son.)

I printed up a beautiful coloring page of Mary, Mother of Sorrows from HERE.

Did you know what the Seven Sorrows of Mary are? 
Check these out:


1. The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35)

2. The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)

3. Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50)

4. Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17)

5. Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30)

6. The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37)

7. The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47)


I find such compassion on the Mother of Sorrows.  She cries for what her son went through.  She cries for you and me, for all of us.  She cries with a tender mother's love.  She wants us to be close to Jesus and sees us far away.  She knows what we need, as do most mothers!!!  Mothers truly feel what their children feel.  She sees us striving to be holy.  She knows our intentions.  She knows we need Jesus in this hectic world.  She knows that He is the peace we need.

TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS

O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the martyrdom, the crucifixion, and the death of your divine Son, look upon me with eyes of compassion, and awaken in my heart a tender commiseration for those sufferings, as well as a sincere detestation of my sins, in order that, being disengaged from all undue affection for the passing joys of this earth, I may sigh after the eternal Jerusalem, and that henceforward all my thoughts and all my actions may be directed towards this one most desirable object. Honor, glory, and love to our divine Lord Jesus, and to the holy and immaculate Mother of God. Amen.

 
May Mary, especially on this day-the feast of Mother of Sorrows, draw you ever closer to her Divine Son.  May you find refuge and healing under her sweet compassionate mantle as she holds our hands drawing us closer to Jesus.    AMEN.
 
God bless,
Mary

St. Gianna Molla, pray for us!

"The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day."

-St. Gianna

St. Gianna, one of my favorite saints and the patron saint of mothers, physicians, and unborn children...PRAY FOR US!

HERE is some bio info on St. Gianna from the Vatican.

HERE is the homily from Pope John Paul II on the Mass of her canonization on May 16, 2004.

HERE is a coloring page of St. Gianna that we will enjoy coloring today.

THIS book, Love Letters to My Husband by St. Gianna is beautiful and I enjoyed it so very much...I lent it out many years ago to I can't remember whom and they may have given it back, but now I cannot find it ;)  Oh well.

"If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation; choose – and I demand it – the baby. Save her!" 

-St. Gianna

God bless,
Mary

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Happy Feast day of St. Joseph!

What a terrific day to celebrate fatherhood.  St. Joseph, pray for us and pray for my husband!

Here are some coloring pages.

Here are some too!

We'll be out enjoying this wonderful warm day.  Hope you enjoy yours too! 

God bless,
Mary

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the morning to ya!


Here is one of my favorite prayers ever:

Breastplate of Saint Patrick
Christ shield me this day
Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort me and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.

Did you know that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity?  We did a craft yesterday called 5 Green Shamrocks except they were not green and there were not 6!  haaa haaa but it was fun nonetheless...here is the link for it.

We're getting ready for some corned beef and cabbage, potatoes and carrots for dinner tonight-yum!

We're also coloring this awesome picture of St. Patrick!

We'll be watching the CCC movie about Patrick a little bit later.

MaryMay God bless you and keep you,

A Donut Cake!

It is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes today! My kids got the privilege of watching The Song of Bernadette, which we are about 1/2 way through. Amazing that they still enjoy those black and white movies! Don't let IMAX fool you! haaaa haaaa!

Anyway, while they watched, I made a bunt blue cake to celebrate this feast day and also my 4 year old daughter's middle name day- Bernadette!

When she saw the cake, her eyes lit up with happiness and joy and a big smile across her face....saying "Oh Momma! A donut cake! I knew you would make me a donut cake! I knew you would!!!"

How precious she is to respond with such gratefulness for making a DONUT cake! I love it!

God bless,
Mary

Merry Christmas 2009!

(I will have to write more later, another time, another day!-too much to write about now!!!)

Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!

May God bless you with the peace, love and joy of Christ today and forever!

God bless,
Mary