{This Moment}
Our Cast of Saints ~ 2012
Our Cast of Saints from Oldest to Youngest : St. Paul (as depicted in the Picture Book of Saints), St. George, St. Brigid, St. Joan of Arc, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Thérèse de Lisieux and St. Francis of Assisi
Happy Feast of All Saints!
{pretty, happy, funny, real} Lost in the Corn Maze
I haven’t had time to start sorting through the pictures from our All Hallows’ Eve Party last night, or from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch this past Sunday, but here are a few pictures that I snapped in Instagram.
{pretty}
Right after I snapped this picture Chiquita and I got separated from everyone else…
{funny}
After losing our group, nearly finding the exit (Chiquita said “this is where we came in!” so we turned around), and making our way though the maze again we finally made it BACK TO THE ENTRANCE!
At one point I could here my sister-in-law laugh and say “This is what they are still doing in there!” while apparently showing everyone her Instagram feed! lol
Happy All Hallows’ Eve!
Carving our Saint-O-Lanterns ~ 2012
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| Carving our Saint-O-Lanterns at Uncle Brian’s house this year! |
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| I loved that we could make the mess outside this year, instead of in the dining room! 😉 |
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| Captain choose a Celtic Cross Pattern for his Pumpkin |
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| Rascal choose to illustrate his own Crusader Shield |
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| The girls took a “break” and let mom finish carving their pumpkin after it was cleaned out… |
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| Captain let mom help finish his too, this year. There were just too many distractions (uncles) around! |
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| Thankfully we didn’t decide to carve one for each of our children this year! 😉 |
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| Twinkle Toes and Chiquita’s “Praying after my First Holy Communion” Saint-O-Lantern |
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| Captain’s Celtic Cross |
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| Rascal’s Crusader Shield |
All Saints Scavenger Hunt {A Printable Party Game!}
One of the games I made last night, for our party this evening, is an All Saints Scavenger Hunt. Last year we used Charlotte’s printable Search for the Saints, and the kids loved it, but I wanted to offer something a little different this year. I have printed 16 saint cards which I will hand out to 16 of the adults. The children will each receive the following list of clues, and they will need to match each clue to the correct saint. Once the child thinks he knows who it is, he will ask the person representing (holding the picture of) the saint. If he is correct the “saint” signs the line next to the correct clue on his child’s clue sheet. Here are the clues that my husband and I came up for our game:
My Daybook :: Oct 30, 2012
Outside my window…
I hear the leaf blower as my husband cleans up the yard for our party tomorrow night!
I am thinking…
about everything that still needs to be done… So much (that I’d like) to do and so little time! (And yet here I am sitting at the computer… Everyone needs a break every once in awhile, right?)
I am thankful…
that we were able to squeeze in a trip to the pumpkin patch this past weekend. It was a whirlwind of activities all weekend long, but we had a blast!
Learning all the time & Celebrating the liturgical year… We have a light school week this week, as we wrap up our first quarter, so we can focus on celebrating the liturgical year. We’ll be learning lots about the saints, attending mass on Thursday for the feast of All Saints, and the boys will be serving Mass at the Cemetery as always for the Feast of All Souls.
From the kitchen…
dinner is simmering in the crock pot, Chicken with Marinara and Artichoke Hearts to serve over spaghetti with Parmesan Cheese, Dinner Rolls, and Salad. After dinner I am going to start the Pumpkin Cupcakes for tomorrow!
I am working on…
carving this year’s Saint-O-Lanterns! After going to the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday with four of my siblings, aunt, uncle, sister-in-law, and niece, we headed over to my brother Brian’s house to eat dinner and carve pumpkins! Since we weren’t at home, and there were aunts and uncles to visit with, my kids weren’t nearly as focused on carving this year so we only completed three. I have one more all ready to carve and Snuggles and I are hoping to finish it tonight after dinner.
I am creating…
a couple games and a banner for our All Hallows’ Eve / All Saints’ Party!
I am going…
to try and get back to answering emails soon! It has been awhile and I am really really behind (some have been waiting a year or more). I do read every email, but it is impossible for me to respond to them all, as much as I do try. (Often times I am reading on my cellphone and have to wait until I’m on the computer to respond.) FYI: I usually work on answering comments on the blog first, followed by Facebook, emails from friends and family, and then other emails are usually last.
I am hoping…
for the Hadley’s! We attended the 5th Annual Harvest of Hope Dinner, an annual fundraiser for the Hadley Hope Fund, this past Saturday night. Here is an update on their beautiful family and a few pictures from the dinner.
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| 2012 Hadley Hope Dinner © Marc Salvatore |
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| Bud, me and my sister-in-law Meagan (You can also see my Dad just over Meagan’s shoulder) © Marc Salvatore |
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| Kristin & Ann-Marie (dear friends that I grew up with, Kristin was my Confirmation sponsor and is Rascal’s Godmother and Ann-Marie was one of my bridesmaids), Amy (who is losing weight like crazy and looking amazing) and Me (not looking my best!) 🙂 © Marc Salvatore |
I am praying…
for those affected by Hurricane Sandy, for the soul of Barbara Curtis, for my sister-in-law Melissa who will be delivering another baby soon, for my little sister Jamie Jo who just celebrated her anniversary and birthday yesterday and the day before, and for Emily! Oh, and that it doesn’t rain here tomorrow night!
I am (still) reading…
the saint quotes and short paragraphs that my children have come up with to share with everyone tomorrow evening. I will have an extra treat for any of the children that come dressed as a saint or biblical character and have something to share with everyone. (A short paragraph, quote, or even just a coloring page for the little ones.)
Pondering these words…
spoken by St. Joan of Arc, which Chiquita found (all on her own) in her copy of The Pocket Daring Book for Girls and is planning on sharing at our party tomorrow:
I am listening…
to Prince Caspian, as we continue working our way through the 7 Volume Unabridged Audio Set of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Around the house…
I’ve done over 20 loads of laundry yesterday and today and am almost caught up! I’ve also sorted through half the kids clothing, boxing up everything that is too small and pulling out all the summer clothes. What was I thinking starting this project before our All Hallows’ Eve party?
One of my favorite things…
pictures at the Pumpkin Patch! I will be posting this year’s soon.
- Lego Robotics Classes for the older boys (Tues & Thurs)
- All Hallows’ Eve Party
- Mass on All Saints Day, Tutor in the Afternoon
- Annual Mass at the Cemetery for the Feast of All Souls
Our Parish All Saints’ Party and Costume Contest
A week ago, after hearing that our parish was encouraging saint or biblical costumes this year (you had to come dressed as one to be entered in the costume contest), and after our pastor told our children that both he and the assistant priest would be dressing up, we decided to take the kids’s this year to the All Saints Party which was held this past Friday night.
Some of the kids decided to wear the costumes they will be wearing for our party tomorrow night, and a couple decided to use the opportunity to wear a different saint costume! Even though we only had about an hour to get ready for the party they all came together so nicely, and I was glad I didn’t have to choose a favorite!
(all from our ever growing Saints Costume collection!)
I love this picture with four of my boys best friends dressed as Moses, Lazarus, St. Juan Diego, and St, Maximilian Koble, as well as our Pastor and Parochial Vicar dressed as Blessed John Paul II and Venerable Futon Sheen!
{This Moment}
These two were the first place winners for each category (11 & under and 12 & up) at our Parish’s All Saints Costume Contest last night! I’ll be back with more pictures soon. We had such a great time!
All Saints’ Day Party Games :: A Saintly Jigsaw Puzzle Race!
My kids are getting so excited! All Saints’ Day is coming up next week, which means our Annual All Hallows’ Eve Party is just around the corner. Last year our family decided to host a “small” party at our home, instead of the carnival style party at the parish hall, and it was such a blast! Despite feeling slightly (okay, very!) overwhelmed with everything that needs to still be done, I keep reminding myself that it actually was pretty easy to host and I already have so much ready, left over from last year! I just need to work on cleaning up the house… 😉
This year, in addition to the All Saints Bingo, St. Isidore’s Pumpkin Roasting, and an Outdoor Flashlight Scavenger/Treasure Hunt that a friend is helping coordinate, I’ve been trying to come up with a couple more new games. Since the Cupcake Puzzle Race was such a hit at our Little Flowers Tea Party, I thought it would be perfect!
My goal was to find a couple 100 piece puzzles representing either saints or biblical figures. I ran across some made by EuroGraphics and decide to go with Jesus the Fisherman (with the apostles!) and David & Goliath. (Other options included Daniel and the Lions and Moses.)
I opened up the boxes and was very pleased with the quality – the puzzle pieces are very durable and should be able to withstand many little fingers! At the party we will probably break the kids that are interested in playing into groups of 4, but this afternoon my four oldest broke into two teams to give it a try.
They each choose a puzzle and I set the timer. I couldn’t believe that, 18 minutes and 24 seconds later, it was a TIE! (I think at the Little Flowers Tea Party, with more people working on the puzzles, we completed them in about 12-15 minutes.) They had so much fun and are looking forward to playing again with their friends!
If you want to try this out, and don’t want it to take quite so long, any 24 Piece Puzzle set would work as well. I’ve also pulled out a few of our simple Catholic Puzzles for the younger children, or to have quick timed races.
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