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by | Dec 29, 2022

Our Cast of Saints ~ 2011


I had hoped to post these pictures yesterday, but our internet ended up being down, and then all the phone lines in our town and the next town over stopped working as well!   It was so strange to not having a working phone-lines (most cell phones wouldn’t even work, including my own) and I wasn’t able to check out my library books, had to pay cash for a prescription, and even the banks had limited services available!   Late last night the fiber optic cable at the phone company was repaired, and then sometime this afternoon our internet started working again!  Yay!!  The good thing is that it forced me to rest in my free time yesterday and go to bed early last night, since we were all up very late on Monday night for our party, went to Mass yesterday, and then headed back to a historical cemetery for Mass this morning.  It has been a wonderful week!  

St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Francis Xavier

St. Catherine of Alexandria
(costume details here)

St. Lucy

St. George

St. Cecilia

St. George had so much fun with his little Baby Dragon Puppet,
 and St. Cecilia loved her little gold Harp.

Father C. didn’t even recognize Rose with the long blond hair, and asked “whose little girl is this?”  He couldn’t believe it was our Rose!  She was hysterical and just loved the wig… I didn’t think she would keep it on her head!  

I hope you all had a blessed 
All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day!  

Links for November :: Month Dedicated to the Holy Souls

Month Dedicated to All Souls: 


November 1st ~ All Saints Day

Saintly Costumes:

Saintly Games:

Decorations: 

Fasting and Feasting:

Past All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Parties:

November 2nd ~ All Souls Day

November 3rd ~ Feast of St. Martin de Porres

November 9th ~ Feast of Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica

November 11th ~ Feast of St. Martin of Tours

November 13th ~ Feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

November 16th ~ Feast of St. Gertrude

November 16th ~ Feast of St. Margaret of Scotland (New)

November 17th (New) and 19th (Trad) ~ Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

November 23rd ~ Feast of Bl. Miguel Pro

November 25th ~ Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria

November 28th ~ Feast of St. Catherine Laboure

~ THANKSGIVING ~

OTHER RESOURCES:

Happy All Hallows’ Eve!


~ Our 2011 Saintly Symbols :: Patron Saints ~
 Saint-O-Lanterns 

The children all decided to carve a symbol associated with their patron saints this year! 
St. James’ Cross 
by Captain
(template here)

St. John’s Chalice with Serpent 
by Rascal
(image found here)
“The Sons of Thunder Saint-O-Lanterns!”
St. Catherine of Alexandria’s 
Crown with Heart 
by Twinkle Toes
(template here)

St. Clare’s Monstrance 
by Chiquita (and mom)
(inspiration found here)
St. Michael’s Flaming Sword 
by Snuggles (and mom)
(inspiration/image found here and here)
St. Therese’s Rose 
by Rose (and mom)
(adapted from last year’s larger Rose)
* Note:  It is much easier to carve a Rose on a large pumpkin…


If you carve a “Saint-O-Lantern” this year, be sure to share pictures at 
Catholic Cuisine’s Saint-O-Lantern Link-up!

*All images on this blog Copyright Shower of Roses. 

A Few Pictures…

… from yesterday’s quick trip to the Pumpkin Patch!
(after the boys’ first hockey game, and before running errands for our All Hallows’ Eve Party)

We spent this afternoon making treats and carving these six pumpkins…  
I’ll be back with more pictures soon!

A Costume for St. Catherine of Alexandria

We have been busy preparing saint costumes for our upcoming All Hallows’ Eve party! Last night I decided to try and make Twinkle Toes a “wheel” for her St. Catherine of Alexandria costume.

I pulled out an old hula-hoop from my closet and some brown duct tape (I wasn’t able to find any Wood Print tape locally), while Twinkle Toes went searching for “something round with a hole in the center.”  My back-up plan was to cut out the center of a thick paper plate, but I was thrilled when she came back from the garage with a “Smokey the Bear Frisbee Ring” that one of the kids had brought home from the BLM at some point.   It was the perfect size!

I wrapped the hula-hoop with the tape, wrapped and placed the frisbee in the center, created spokes with the tape, and then wrapped the spokes to make them a bit thicker.   I used the whole roll of tape, and had just enough!

For a gown, Twinkle Toes decided to wear the burgundy one from her St. Margaret of Scotland costume in 2009.  (I had ordered it extra big for Christmas in 2008, and it still fits!)  We then pulled out an old brown beaded scarf of mine to make into a cloak.   I had picked up a clasp, but either it never made it out of the store or it is hiding around here somewhere, so I improvised with the cords off a gift bag and some gold safety pins, to create a tie.   We then finished her costume with one of her brother’s swords and a pretty little Gold Tiara Crown, complete with hearts for St. Catherine!

The tiara arrived much smaller than I had imagined, but it ended up working out nicely and Twinkle Toes is very excited about her costume!   
I still have a few costumes to finish up, but it looks like we are going to have St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Catherine of Alexandria, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, St. George the Dragon Slayer, and St. Cecilia. 

You can find other costume ideas in the archives including Saintly Costumes, A Costume for St. Maximilian Kolbe, and a St. Francis of Assisi Costume.   You can also scroll through all of our past costume pictures here.

{this moment} :: “Real” Friends

{this moment} – A single photo, capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. To see more visit Soule Mama

I had so much fun visiting Charlotte and her wonderful family for Cupcake’s Baptism.  Even though I knew it would be, it’s was so much fun to “meet” in person and see that those dear friendships formed online are just as “real” as they seem.  I really wish Texas wasn’t so far away!!  Oh, and sorry Charlotte! There really should be more pictures of your beautiful smile online… and perhaps a few less of my ridiculously huge smile! 😉

All Saints Bingo :: A 30 Card Printable Bingo Set

In preparation for this year’s All Hallows’ Eve Party, I have been working on a few new games. This year, instead of organizing and/or attending a homeschool party, we will be hosting one at our home and inviting some of our close friends and family. It is going to be so much fun!

We’ve decided not to do any of the carnival style games this year, but rather some fun outdoor group games. I have also been working on a few indoor games, in case the weather isn’t very cooperative, or for after it gets too dark to stay outside.

One of the games I created was this All Saints Bingo Game!   I thought about ordering the Saint Search Game from Illuminated Ink, or downloading the 14 Saint Bingo cards from Catholic Mom, but I really wanted at least 30 variations of the cards so I decided to create my own set.

Of course I had to do so in the most difficult way (without the help of an online bingo generator) since I really had a specific idea in mind and wanted to include pictures of all the saints with a free space in the center.

Here is a sample of one of the cards that I came up with:

All of the 67 saint images that I choose to include are from the Picture Book of Saints by Father Lovasik and will be easily recognized by my children.   I titled each card with “SAINT,”  listed each saint’s name under their picture, and then put “Ora Pro Nobis!”  (Pray for us!) in the free space.  For markers I decided to use clear and gold glass gems.

I printed the cards on 8.5″x11″ white card stock and, trimmed them (though that wasn’t really necessary, and then started laminating them, along with all the small bingo call cards.  Tomorrow I plan to laminate the rest, just as soon as I have some more  laminating pouches…  I ran out!

If you’d like, you can download my documents here:

 

(Includes 30 original cards)
 
 
 
 
Update: You can see pictures of All Saints Bingo being played at our Annual All Saints’ Party in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014
 

 

Week 30

By now God may have topped me
with one lovely head of hair.
I am His beautiful creation.
When I’m born, you’ll want to stare!

~ The Miracle of Me

I didn’t plan on crying at either of my appointments yesterday afternoon… The first appointment was just my routine 2 week check-up, followed by a “Fun 3D” ultrasound – and it sure did make me smile (through even more tears) to get another peek at our little guy (and see his little foot touching his forehead)!

However, at my first appointment, my amazing and wonderful midwife surprised my by saying that she had a confession to make. Apparently her and her husband will be going out of the country for Christmas this year to visit family (as they should!) and will be gone from around the 20th-28th of December. I am not actually due until January 1st (originally Dec 25, but then changed due to my ultrasound), but in the past I have averaged around 7-10 days early, which is right around Christmas.

My midwife has really spoiled me in the past, delivering our children (all 6 of them!) whether she has been on call or not, and I haven’t even met the other midwifes in her office. I don’t know why, but for some reason I have already been extra nervous about delivering this baby, and now I am even more so… I keep telling myself that everything will be okay, and will work out as it is suppose to, with or without those that I am use to having (Hubby still hasn’t been released from his training beginning Jan 1) at the delivery.   Right?!?

Our Precious New Goddaughter

Lord, surround this child with goodness,
lead her in Your light each day;

Help her walk the path You’ve chosen,
guide her steps along the way.

Teach her, Lord, to trust your wisdom
with a faith forever new;

Keep her from all harm, and bless her;
with Your grace and gladness, too.

 It was such a blessing to be able to attend the beautiful baptism and spend some time with Charlotte and her wonderful family.   I am sure going to miss them all when I fly home tonight… Hopefully it won’t be too long before Cupcake gets to meet her Godfather and the rest of my family!
You can visit Charlotte’s blog to see a few more pictures!

Our Family

Sean & Jessica, Captain-25, Ranger-23, Twinkle Toes-22, Chiquita-20, Snuggles-18, Rose-15, Bud-13, Grace-8 and Joy-6 (blog nicknames)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

My Other Blog: Catholic Cuisine

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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.


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, Captain-25, Ranger-23, Twinkle Toes-22, Chiquita-20, Snuggles-18, Rose-15, Bud-13, Grace-8 and Joy-6 (blog nicknames)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

My Other Blog: Catholic Cuisine

Please Visit My Sponsors…

This Week's Popular Posts

Shower of Roses Affiliate Links

All About Spelling
All About Reading
All About Reading Giveaways
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Our Advent & Christmas Books

Shower of Roses Gift Guides

Looking for Something?

looking-back

  • 2026 (1)
  • 2025 (31)
  • 2024 (41)
  • 2023 (30)
  • 2022 (48)
  • 2021 (48)
  • 2020 (57)
  • 2019 (61)
  • 2018 (90)
  • 2017 (128)
  • 2016 (148)
  • 2015 (172)
  • 2014 (227)
  • 2013 (238)
  • 2012 (308)
  • 2011 (297)
  • 2010 (313)
  • 2009 (486)
  • 2008 (564)
  • 2007 (148)

Posts About:

Shower of Roses Alphabet of Saints

A Papal Unit Study & Lap Book

Shower of Roses Easter Gift Guides



All Saints Party Printables

All original photographs and written material are ©2007-2025 Shower of Roses. I'd love for you to link back to me, but please do not copy or take content from this blog without permission. Click here for my Copyright Terms & Conditions. Thank you for visiting!