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by Jessica | Dec 29, 2022

Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Responsibility

May 3, 2011 | Little Flowers Wreath III | 4 Comments

I have been looking forward to sharing this picture with you all, ever since I made these cupcakes for our our 6th Little Flowers Girls’ Club meeting for Wreath III – which took place on the Friday before Palm Sunday, and Holy Week, and my daughters birthday, and… Yes, it has been a little busy around here the past couple weeks, and I am just now ~~finding~~ making the time to put together this post. Anyhow, didn’t they turn out darling?

My husband kindly offered to give the talk to the girls, on St. Anne and the virtue of Responsibility, and I didn’t take any notes since I was busy preparing the craft, but here are some highlights from the rest of our meeting:

~ Coloring Pages ~

St. Anne Coloring Page from Waltzing Matilda

This is my favorite coloring page ever of St. Anne (who is one of my confirmation patrons), which was inspired by a beautiful St. Anne Statue.

Even our little Rose insisted on coloring it with the big girls!

~ Notebook Pages ~

For this month’s Virtue Notebook/Scrapbook Page, I used the memory verse for Responsibility, a prayer to St. Anne, a quote about responsibility that I just love…

“None of us are responsible for all the things that happen to us, but we are responsible for the way we act when they do happen.”

… an image of St. Ann, and some red mums (the flower for this virtue). You can download my document here.

Here is a picture of the sample page I created:

Here are the girls’ completed pages for “Responsibility”:

~ Craft :: St. Anne’s Family Album ~

I have been wanting to make a St. Anne’s Family Album for a couple years now, and figured this would be the perfect opportunity. To try and keep the costs down (the Paper Mache books were about $4 each) I had each family make one – the two sets of sisters each made one together.

Even though it did cost a little more than some of our past crafts, all the mothers agreed that they are more than willing to spend a little bit extra so that the girls could create something that was beautiful and worth saving.

Supplies for each Album:
1 Paper Mache Book per girl
Acrylic Paints and Paint Brushes
Images of St. Anne
Embossed Frames

The link to download the St. Anne Images can be found here.
(Thank you Charlotte for inspiring this beautiful craft!)

~ Snack Time ~

Mum Cupcakes

These cupcakes were inspired by a recipe in What’s New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion. They would be great to make this coming weekend for Mother’s Day, anytime this month for our Blessed Mother during her month of May, or in July for the feast of St. Anne. I posted the directions over at Catholic Cuisine!

The girls have really enjoyed decorating their cupcakes with the flower for each virtue this year!

St. Anne, grandmother of Our Lord, Mary learned responsibility from you, pray for us to stay on task.

St. Therese, the Little Flower, pray for us!

The Good Shepherd’s Garden Party :: Week One

May 2, 2011 | Good Shepherd's Garden Party | 17 Comments

The Good Shepherd’s Pasture

When Israel fled from Egypt’s hand, the seas split wide to form dry land,

the mountains leapt like ewes and rams, the hillsides skipped like playful lambs.

What makes you leap, O hill and sea? Why, Jordan, do you turn and flee?

O, tremble, earth, your Lord is come to lead all people safely home.

Once again, we are celebrating the 50 days of Easter with the Garden of the Good Shepherd! Our Garden Party for this first week, based on the theme “The Good Shepherd’s Pasture,” ended up being a late dinner on Saturday night, after spending the day (very appropriately) looking for supplies to build a fence (to keep the deer out) for our very first vegetable garden! With my limited time, I did make a few modifications to the menu this year. Here are a few pictures from our party:

~ Mini Shepherd Pies ~

This year I made a double batch, and we had plenty!

~ Shepherd’s Crooks ~

~ The Sheepfold and the Ewe & Ram Cookies ~

We had lots of cake this past week, leftover from Easter Sunday, so we opted to make a Sheepfold (with the leftover ingredients from our Bird’s Nest Cookies) and Ewe & Ram Cookies (using the cookie cutter from our Nativity Cookie Cutter Set). We actually made them on Friday (after decorating the crown cookies), so this really simplified things on Saturday evening! I don’t think I would have had the time to make them otherwise.

~ Graham Cracker Gates ~

While I was busy preparing the Shepherd’s Pies, the kids assembled the Graham Cracker Gates.

~ Lamb’s Wool ~

I had a slight problem with our Lamb’s Wool ~~Punch~~ “Tea” this year. I didn’t have time to make it earlier in the day, allowing it to Chill, and apparently it hadn’t cooled enough before I poured it into my Glass pitcher. . . resulting in a nice crack. Ooops!!! 🙁 I guess I need to start looking for a new pitcher!

~ Wolf Paw Cookies ~

Like last year, Captain assembled the Wolf Paws!

I must admit that had I not had the help of my older children, I highly doubt that our first Garden Party would have happened this year. I’ve been feeling pretty tired lately… But they just love them so much, and they were all more than willing to help however they could. 🙂

We are all looking forward to next week’s Garden Party:

Welcome to the Lord’s Table!

Don’t forget to head over to Catholic Cuisine to share pictures from your party!

Celebrating the Beatification of John Paul II with. . .

May 2, 2011 | St. John Paul II | 9 Comments

Kremówka Papieska :: Papal Cream Cake

and Blessed John Paul II Cookies!

50% OFF all Little Flowers Books, and More!

Apr 30, 2011 | Little Flowers | 4 Comments

Ecce Homo Press is having a sale to celebrate the beatification of Pope John Paul II!! ALL the books on can be purchased at 50% OFF!!!

All you have to do is enter the coupon code: JP2WELUVU

(expires at midnight eastern May 1, 2011)

I used this opportunity to order some more Little Flowers Girls Club Materials for my girls club (including the Art & Activity books that come with copyright permission and CD’s!!!), Blue Knights Materials for my boys, the Little Woman Hospitality Program (which sounds wonderful), as well as a few Saint Books including The Iron Spy and The Search for the Madonna (at only $3.97 each, how could I pass them up?!?). Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know, in case you aren’t on their mailing list.

Thank you, Joan, for offering this amazing sale!!

P.S. While I am at it, Adoremus Books is also offering 20% off EVERYTHING on their site until May 2nd, using coupon code EASTER11. My husband better hide my credit cards! 😉

A Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea

Apr 30, 2011 | Current Events, Kids in the Kitchen | 4 Comments

This morning, inspired by a friend – who I have yet to meet, even though she met two more of my sisters today! – I turned on the rebroadcast of the Royal Wedding, and started preparing an “afternoon tea” of Crown Shaped Cookies (everyone decorated their own), Strawberry Heart Tea Sandwiches, Royal Peach Tartlets (I didn’t have any raspberry jam), and Tea. It was so much fun and the wedding was beautiful! I really had no idea that my children would enjoy watching it so much… And it was a perfect opportunity for a little impromptu History lesson!

A Cross Stitch Easter Egg

Apr 29, 2011 | Crafts, Cross-Stitch, Easter, Precious Moments: 03 | 12 Comments

When I was a child, one of my favorite things to do (besides read) was cross stitch. My Grandmother (my mom’s mom, who passed away last August) had given me all of her old floss and helped me set up a craft box to store it in (pictured above). She would also give me advice and tips as I was learning.

At the beginning of April I decided to pull out all of my old supplies and try and teach my oldest daughter. It was so much fun! With Easter coming up, I decided to show her how to make a cross stitch Easter Egg, like the ones I would make years ago. In fact, when I was in 4-H I actually gave a demonstration on making these little eggs!

First we decided to use a simple pattern from about.com, and then she choose the various colors of floss that she wanted to use… She did such a great job coordinating them, and then picked right up on the actual cross stitching.

First she started with yellow, for the borders.

Then, after adding some pink beads, she cross stitched a brown cross and gray tomb. Chiquita loved watching and wanted to know when it would be her turn to learn!

Next she added a bit of green…

… finishing it up with the words “He is Risen” in gold.

As soon as she was finished, her and I made a special trip to the store to pick out some coordinating fabric, ribbon, and lace to finish up the Easter Egg!

We already had the styrofoam egg and straight pins.

To assemble the egg, first you pin the completed cross-stitch onto the front half of the stryofoam egg, trimming off any excess fabric.

Repeat with a coordinating fabric for the back of the egg.

I helped her with the final step of wrapping the sides (to cover the pins) with lace and ribbon, adding a bow and a little rose to the top.

Didn’t she do such a great job?!?

On Easter Morning she decided to display her egg at the base of our Easter Lily and helped decorate a cake to match!

Teatime

Apr 29, 2011 | Liturgical Teas, Teatime | 0 Comments

A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia (2011)

Celebrating Candlemas (2011)

An Afternoon Tea on Candlemas Day (2010)

A Lenten Tea on Holy Thursday (2011)

A Lenten Tea on Holy Thursday (2010)

A Lenten Tea on Holy Thursday (2009)

A Lenten Dinner on Good Friday (2011)

A Lenten Tea on Good Friday (2010)

A Lenten Tea on Good Friday (2009)

A Joyous Easter Tea (2009)

The Good Shepherd’s Garden Parties can be found here.

A Marian Titles May Crowning Luncheon (2011)

Celebrating the Feast of St. Therese (2011)

Our 2010 Jesse Tea for Advent (2010)

A Jesse Tea for Advent (2009)

A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe (2009)
Celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (2012)

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Apr 29, 2011 | {phfr}, Easter, My Siblings, Precious Moments: 05, Precious Moments: 06 | 3 Comments

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life.

{pretty}

Our Paschal Candle placed inside our former Crown of Thorns.

Thank you Charlotte, for the suggestion of picking up the tiny flowers from the wedding section at Michaels! They worked perfectly and looked so pretty!!

{happy}

It has been over 7 years since all 12 of us have been together at the same time, but I was happy to spend Easter with six of my siblings, including these three brothers – David, Paul, and Scott!

{funny}

Hearing Chiquita’s reaction while making cookies on Holy Saturday:

“Aw, man! There is candy on my finger and I can’t even lick it because it is STILL LENT!!”

{real}

“Oh no… There is more on my dinner plate than just a plain white dinner roll…”

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment!

Hunting for Eggs!

Apr 29, 2011 | Easter | 3 Comments

The Easter Story with Playmobil ~ 2011 Edition!

Apr 28, 2011 | Favorite Toys | 5 Comments

In addition to our family traditions, my older boys started a tradition of their own a couple years ago! The first year it started with them reenacting The Way of the Cross with their Playmobil Toys. Last year I was delighted to find their toys set up for Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday! This year I found their toys set up on Palm Sunday (don’t you just love all the little palms they cut out of paper!), Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. It looks like they used their Nativity Set, Romans, Knights, Vikings, Pirate Treasure Chest (Garden and Stone for Tomb), Dragon Rock (Tomb), and King’s Knight (Flag). They have always done this all on their own, with no encouragement from me, and I think it is so sweet.

~ Palm Sunday ~

The Entry into Jerusalem

~ Holy Thursday ~

The Agony in the Garden

~ Good Friday ~

The Way of the Cross

~ Easter Sunday ~

He is Risen!! Alleluia!

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Sean & Jessica, and our kids—known here at Shower of Roses by their childhood blog nicknames: Captain, Ranger, Twinkle Toes, Chiquita, Snuggles/Scout, Rose, Bud, Grace & Joy. (Ages 26–7)

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.

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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.