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| Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Juan Diego, St. Gregory the Great, St. John of the Cross, St. John Vianney, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Catherine of Sienna – All Saints in Heaven, Pray for us! |
The excitement has been building all week in our home as we prepare to celebrate the feast of All Saints and welcome over sixty guests to our home this evening for our annual All Hallows’ Eve Party! (You can find pictures from last year’s celebration here.)
I am taking a little break from the final preparations to pop in real quick to say THANK YOU for the outpouring of support and encouragement!!! I wish I could respond personally to each of you and want you all to know how very much every comment/email, along with all the extra prayers, is appreciated. God bless you all!
Also, I wanted to share this year’s saint costumes! I took these pictures on our way to our parish’s All Saints Costume Contest last Friday night and my children will be wearing them all again this evening. We actually ended up coming home with two prizes! Chiquita won 3rd place in the 0-10 age category and Rascal won 2nd place in the 11-Adult age category! I am so thankful that I wasn’t one of the judges… There is no way that I would have been able to choose favorites. I loved them all!
.: St. John Vianney :.
Captain (age 13) dressed as St. John Vianney
Costume: Reusing the cassock from Our Coats of Many Colors (these costumes are such a great investment and this particular one has been used in some way for four years in a row now!), Dad’s Surplus, a lovely purple stole made by a friend, a piece of black felt used for the collar, holding his crucifix, and white flour to add some “gray” to his hair!
.: St. Gregory the Great :.
Rascal (age 11) dressed as St. Gregory the Great
Chiquita (age 8) as Our Lady of Guadalupe
.: St. Juan Diego :.
Snuggles (age 6) as St. Juan Diego
Costume: A white t-shirt of daddy’s, rope for a belt, brown sandals, a borrowed sombrero, a piece of fabric tied around his neck with a fabric image of our lady pinned on the front in addition to crocheted rosary roses. I also used some of my eye liner for the little mustache and goatee he wanted!
.: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton :.
Rose (age 3) as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Costume: reusing the costume made by Grandma in 2006, a black rosary, and an American Cardinal Reader Primer (which can now be purchased from TAN! Yay!)
.: St. John of the Cross :.
Bud (age 1) as St. John of the Cross
I was very happy that, other than a few supplies for Chiquita’s veil and a couple items that a friend made for me (more details on those soon!) all the costumes were pulled together with things that we already owned and from the costume box our children love to use year round!
Happy All Hallows’ Eve and Feast of All Saints!
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
Beautiful costumes! I miss the days when our children were young. You always bring a smile to my face with your posts and pictures
I didn't know St. John Vianney wore braces! 🙂 Wonderful inspiring costumes Jessica!
great costumes!
I just love it, all of them! You really raise the bar on this feast day and I always get so inspired! Thank you!
GREAT COSTUMES!!!! They all look wonderful!
Love love love ~ fantastic job to all of you!
Adorable with a capital A eh 😉
Fabulous!! Such great ideas and wonderful props and costumes! – Genevieve
Simply amazing!!
Wow … that is some serious inspiration! Lol. St. elizabeth Ann Seton is sooo precious! She looks like a doll! 🙂 can't wait to see the pics from tonight's party. Thank you for the inspiration. I admire you, Jessica. You are a wonderful mother. I love you.
Totally adorable! Thanks for sharing…great for ideas for next year! 🙂
Each of your children's costumes are so unique and they have a very creative Mamma to come up with a special costume for each child. I love all of the neat accessories for each of your little Saint's costumes too and how you are able to recycle clothing pieces from year to year!!! I also made homemade Saints costumes for our three children when they were young and really I don't know who had more fun…me researching the Saint and looking for items around our home for our children to wear or our thee youngsters who were so excited to dress as Saints and wear them to the Saints Party at our church. Making homemade costumes is so much fun! Seeing the photos of your beautiful children bring back such happy memories to this Beppe (Dutch for Grandma).
Sincerely, Debbie
Beautiful children, costumes, and Feast Day! Enjoy All Saints' Day with your little saints!
How wonderful to have had saint costumes from you and your siblings as children that can be reused now! They all look great! I think that in that first group photo, your oldest son even has a similar facial expression to St. John Vianney as usually pictured on holy cards… a kind of thoughtful peaceful look.
How did you get the mantle to attach under Chiquita's chin?
Your costumes are amazing as usual!
I just wanted to take a second to say there is no way I could ever thank you for how much your blog has helped me in choosing activities and books for my kids. I was looking for faith-based books about All Souls, so the first place I checked was your archives were I found a link for the book: Father Phillip tells a Ghost Story. What a beautiful awesome book!!! I have never regretted purchasing a single book that you have recommended!! The books are so useful in conveying important information in a child-friendly manner. They always hold my kids' attention and teach them what I want to share with them. I am just forever indebted to you for helping me to raise my children well!! Thank you so very very much. May God bless you for all you do!!
The kids look great! Their costumes were so adorable.
Absolutely precious … they all look great! Hope everyone had fun celebrating All Hallows' Eve! Happy All Saints Day! Bernadette 🙂
Your children all look fabulous, as always! So lovely to see a new use for the rosary roses. 🙂
A most blessed Feast of All Saints to all of you! May God continue to 'shower' you all with His choicest blessings!
haha, great comment 🙂 where is the button "i like it" ?
Jessica, great costumes, as always. I like most St. Gregory The Great – did he sing his chant 🙂 ?
It is pinned under her chin with a safety pin. The fabric is stretchy so I pinned it first and then pulled it over her head.
Hi there, the OL of Guadalupe is so gorgeous. I love her mantle. You did great! And your daughter is absolutely adorable. She fits the part!
You never cease but to inspire others in our faith and the reason why your blog is so important in continuing this work!
PJ
I wanted to respond to your comment regarding whether you should continue your blog. I think you are an inspiration to so many of us Mothers in so many different ways. I found your blog when I began leading the older girls in our Little Flower Girls group three years ago. You certainly made my role as a leader easier by utilizing some of your ideas. Now, this year I have undertaken the role of homeschooling and again, I find many of your ideas wonderful and creative. It is discouraging that people would share their negative remarks regarding your personal life, but unfortunately, that is the way many seek to make themselves feel better. I would like to encourage you to stand strong, you are doing so much to inspire me, and I'm sure many others in your blog…please keep it up.
God Bless,
Julie
Brilliant costumes and not a scary horrible face in sight! Many thanks for keeping your blog going, it is a beautiful, inspirational and very helpful resource and would be missed.
San xx
I absolutely love your celebration. What joy your family brings to the world!
I just stumbled upon your blog on Pinterest. Your All Saints costumes are beautiful.
Inspirational!!!
Really beautiful! More people need it, for their sons. Congratulations to your precious family, you´re marvelous Jessica, thanks for share this idea!
From pinterest the images come out neat but time you do not update 🙁