Yesterday morning we woke up to lots of snow, as well as a delayed start for the public schools in our town. This prevented us from being able to make it to Mass and I was pretty sure that we were going to have to cancel some of our plans… It all melted off pretty quickly though, so we were still able to have a couple families over to help us celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
To prepare for the feast, I had painted an Our Lady of Lourdes Wooden Saint to add to our collection.
I painted her on Sunday after a nice big Espresso.My hands weren’t very steady and it shows…
Before our guests arrived, my children and I built a Grotto out of Fruity Pebbles for Our Lady which was SO MUCH fun!! Last night, my friend Mary, suggested that Cocoa Pebbles would also be great since they are brown in color! Why didn’t I think of that?! Next year!!
I also planned on baking Blueberry Muffins, but I ran out of time, so I quickly whipped up a box of white cupcakes and threw in the blueberry’s. I was disappointed since I had hoped to try out a few of the suggestions in the comments over at Catholic Cuisine, but they tasted fine, or so I was told!
Once everyone arrived, our children all watched Bernadette – The Princess of Lourdes
Using Charlotte’s post as a guide, the children made Marian Grotto’s.
Twinkle Toes shares her finished Grotto!
Here are the ones my children made…
Don’t they look beautiful lined up on our mantel?!
After our company left, it was time to make dinner. We had Blueberry Pancakes, followed by blue berry jello “The Spring at the Grotto” for dessert.
Now, to start thinking about St. Valentine’s Day… I don’t know if I’ll have a chance, but Barbara posted a whole bunch of ideas!
Our Lady of Lourdes ~ Pray for us!
We had so much fun! The kids are so proud of their grottos. They are proudly displayed up on our mantle.
Can I move to your house? Seriously, you are so fun!
Where do you buy the wooden people to paint? I want to try that…
Which brings me to my next request…can you post a picture of all of your wee saints? I need something to go by if I am going to succeed at this! I am not creative at all, but I copy well.
Aimee ~ Thanks for the complement! lol!! I am really not that fun!
The Wooden Dolls I’ve been using measure 7/8″x2 3/8″, and I purchased them from A Child’s Dream Come True.
If you click on my label Wooden Saints, it will bring up posts with most of the Saints I have finished. I think I only have 5 or 6 that I haven’t posted pictures of yet… I am hoping it won’t be long before I finish the set, but I’ve been saying that since I started. =)
Beautiful Jessica!!
We did make the blueberry muffins that you posted and they turned out and tasted like we purchased them at an expensive coffee shop!! The kids loved them!
Your Feast day was wonderful! Your wooden saints are just super!
Jamie, I am so glad you liked them!!
Thank you so much for all your great ideas, Jessica. Your site is such an inspiration to me. My daughter and I made the grotto, watched parts of The Song of Bernadette, decorated our altar with flowers for Our Lady, baked cookies, coloured the picture of Our Lady, made an extra one for her sick friend. It was a fantastic feast day in my home and in large part thanks to your post. I love Catholic moms!!
Happy Feast Day.
Joanna
We made the grottos out of construction paper, using the coloring page and tissue-paper flowers. My 4 and 6 year olds enjoyed it a lot, especially using glitter for Mary’s halo! My 3 year old wasn’t awake when we made them, so the next day, my 4 year old totally helped her do it. They did most of it completely on their own. I was so impressed! Now, they have their Mary grottos hanging by their beds; that’s where they wanted to put them. How could I say “no” to having Mary so close to them? (But I took a picture of them first, which I will have to post soon …)
I forgot to buy ingredients for the muffins when I was at the store, so we celebrated with blueberry smoothies instead 😉
What a neat day! I love the blue jello for dessert. I am really going to start paying attention to Catholic Cuisine for ideas. You are so creative! 🙂