Lent begins Tomorrow
Are you ready? I think I’m getting there…Elizabeth Foss wrote a beautiful article, for the Arlington Catholic Herald:
If you have a second, hop on over and read it! She has some great points worth reflecting on.
As far as our family activities… I have been busy cutting felt, in my free moments, for our Jesus Tree. It is alot of cutting! 🙂 Hopefully I will have week 3 completed soon!
Also… if you are looking for a few more ideas of things to do with your children, don’t miss Amy’s beautiful Lenten Calendar, and all the wonderful ideas over at Ruth’s blog. I LOVE Ruth’s stations of the cross candles. If we didn’t go to church for the Stations each week, I would be making them!!!
Wishing you all a very blessed Lent!
Just in time for Lent…
…our TV died.
So… Now I am sitting here looking at my “entertainment” center trying to decide what to do. I am thinking of maybe moving it to the nursery/guest bedroom to use as a book shelf, and replacing it with our piano/keyboard–which really needs to get moved from its current location. But I’m just not sure. I’m also trying to decide whether or not to get rid of ALL our video tapes. (Our DVD’s will still work on the computer.) Should I? Or should I hang on to them in case we ever purchase a new TV? (It won’t be anytime soon, since a new TV has not been planned into our budget.)
Television . . .Is an anti-experience and an anti-knowledge machine because it separates individuals from themselves and from the environment and makes them believe they are living while they are only observing passively what other people decide to make them see.
– Dr. Silvana Montanaro, MD, Psychiatrist, Montessori Teacher-Trainer
The primary danger of the television screen lies not so much in the behavior it produces as the behavior it prevents… Turning on the television set can turn off the process that transforms children into adults.
– Urie Bronfenbrenner, Professor of Human Development, Cornell University
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Weekend Highlights
It was a very exhausting busy weekend… Snuggles cried from 1am-5am three nights in a row. All he wanted was some snuggling, he wanted to be held and rocked in the recliner… After 3 nights though, I was worried that his ears might be infected. (He has been prone to ear infections.) A trip to the doctors office Sunday afternoon proved otherwise, and it appears he is just “teething.” I had been out of teething tablets, but I picked some up, and he has been a much happier baby today. (Which makes for a much happier momma! I don’t do well with little to no sleep…)
Other than a very fussy baby, and very little sleep, we actually had quite a fun weekend! Friday we were stuck home due to the icy roads, and so we set to work on our Catholic Mosaic book and activities for the day in honor of St. Brigid. The story was captivating, the coloring fun as usual, and the children had a BLAST decorating a notebook page with stars to represent Brigid’s cloak.
(Left – Captain’s Picture; Below – Brigid’s Cloak from oldest to youngest)
Friday evening we were surprised with a quick visit from my brother Brian… Like all good uncles he came by just long enough to make sure he left his nieces and nephews bouncing off the walls!
Saturday morning, once again, we woke up to yet ANOTHER snow storm. This has been the craziest winter EVER! It has actually FELT like winter! So, once again, we were stuck home. Although, honestly, after not sleeping most of the night I was a bit relieved!
We had a delicious aromatic breakfast of Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnamon French Toast, Turkey bacon and OJ! (And LOTS of coffee for me!)
After breakfast we pulled out our new Candle Decorating kit!!! Let me tell you, we ALL had fun with this!! I highly recommend picking up some liquid wax, it’s just too fun!
To start I only had 3 small pillar candles, but Chiquita really wanted to participate, so I found a spare box of white votive candles to decorate as well. This allowed for hubby and I to join in too!
Here are a few pictures of the kids busily decorating:
I just love this last picture of Rascal… He is definitely my little artist. He has a thing with sticking his tongue out while he is concentrating on his work… Isn’t it cute?
The rest of Candlemas was fairly quite. It warmed up considerably by the afternoon, and hubby took the boys to town for confession and dinner. It was a nice treat for them, since they hadn’t left the house since the previous Sunday! (We have seriously been stuck at home!) Before bed we all said our family rosary and novena by candlelight, and tucked away the rest of our Candlemas plans for next year.
**I was so disappointed in not being able to make Matilda’s centerpiece, but I never did make it to the store. Such is life with a house full of little ones in bad weather. I even considered trying to make the frames myself, but I wasn’t even able to find suitable cardboard. Oh well… Luckily I recently picked up a couple little birds and they worked perfectly to represent the two turtledoves perched on the side of my usual candle centerpiece… 🙂
On Sunday, after Mass, I took Snuggles to the doctor, and hubby headed out to my parents with the rest of the kids to watch the Super Bowl. Actually, a super bowl party was mine and hubby’s very first date 9 years ago! It really doesn’t seem like it was that long ago! Anyhow, my kids always love going to Grandma and Grandpas… (My parents still have 5 of us 12 kids living at home!) Hubby really enjoyed the game, but I MISSED THE WHOLE THING. I got distracted helping my twin sisters start their own blogs!
Today the weather is completely back to normal. The snow is gone ALREADY. The sun even came out! So this afternoon after school the kids headed back outside for PE. 🙂
First they found some boxes and a ball for soccer.
Then they headed to the front yard for some baseball.
All in all they had a great time.
Our Lenten Calendar
When our oldest son was a toddler, and I was looking for ideas on what do do during lent with him, I ran across a great little book titled: Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler
One of the ideas in this book is to make a large Lenten Calendar with the child. We have been doing this every year since, and all the children love it! Every year it varies slightly, and has been made from butcher paper, construction paper or poster board depending on what we had on hand each year. This year we made it from a large white poster board and taped it to the closet door in our school room.
Across the top, our calendar is titled:
Our calendar has a square for each day, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Special Feasts and Holy days during that period are decorated to represent that day, for example, we have a picture of St. Valentine on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. My kids love this, since it breaks up the long Lenten Season with special days to look forward to.
Each of the 7 days of the week, has a special prayer intention for that day that we offer our prayer and fast for. You could customize this for your family. This year, we choose:
Monday – For an End to Abortion
Tuesday – For Conversions to the True Faith
Wednesday – For Pope Benedict XVI and all Priests
Thursday – For our Family & Godparents/children
Friday – For Forgiveness of sins in our World
Saturday – For our Deceased Relatives
Sunday – In Thanksgiving for God’s Blessings
Our family chooses something to do for each category (Pray, Fast, Give Alms) daily. Here is what we will be doing this year:
PRAY
- Each Morning for the Special Intention of the Day
- Daily Rosary
- Mass: Tues, Thurs, Friday & Sunday
- Stations of the Cross on Friday
The kids say their prayers each morning for the above intentions, in addition to stations on Friday, family rosary each evening and weekday mass (a few extra days each week). The kids have stickers we made, of rosaries and churches etc, to add to the calendar after completing the prayers each day.
FAST
- Take one item from the pantry each day for the poor
- No meat on Fridays
- Religious Videos ONLY (Sunday’s excluded)
Last year was the first year that any of my kids understood the concept of giving something up. So, in the past, we did as the book suggested and instead of the children giving up, they gave away. Every day we would open the pantry door and the children would choose a can good to donate to the poor. (I had the lower shelves full of appropriate items to be donated.) We then placed the item in a box that the kids decorated and at the end of lent we delivered it to a needy person or organization. I plan to continue this activity with my younger children, and let my older boys decided what they would like to give up on their own… Last year Captain choose ketchup! It actually proved to be quite difficult! 🙂
GIVE ALMS
- Count the items listed for each Day
- Put corresponding number of pennies in the Rice Bowl
In Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler
(Some examples of things that could be counted include: shoes, beds, windows, chairs, tables, pictures on the walls, trees in the yard, rooms, lights, books on the shelf, silverware, stairs, toys, etc, etc… You can be creative!)
This is a great opportunity to show the children how extremely blessed we are. It is also a good time to purge some unneeded items and pass them on to bless someone else with…
To finish up, each day after we finish our prayer, fasting, and alms giving we will place a purple cross over the square of that particular date on the calendar, this shows the children how we are moving closer to Easter!
The kids all REALLY love doing this each lent, and it helps ALL of us keep our focus.
Does your family make a Lenten Calendar? I’d love to hear about it if you do!
UPDATE: A Lenten Calendar for Catholic Children {with free printable documents}
Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes
The Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes begins today, February 2nd, and ends February 10th. The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is on February 11th.
A novena is a nine-day period of prayer to implore special favors, obtain special graces, or to make special petitions. The word Novena is derived from the Latin word “novem”, meaning nine. As the definition suggests, the novena has always had more of a sense of urgency and neediness.
During the time frame of this Novena (Feb 2-Feb10), the Pope had granted a Plenary Indulgence to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance in Lourdes. You can read the details here.
I added the novena prayer to my top right sidebar for convenience. Please join me in praying this novena!
O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfort to the Afflicted,
you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Deign to cast upon me a look of mercy. By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors; and already many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal.
I come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain, O loving Mother, the granting of my requests.
Through gratitude for favors, I will endeavor to imitate your virtues that I may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Amen.
(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.)
Novena Source: EWTN
We will actually be saying the long version of this novena which you can find here.
The Jesus Tree ~ Week Two
Well, the roads are extremely icy, and I have already heard of many accidents this morning, so we won’t be able to make the drive to Mass. It makes me sad when I can’t get the boys there to serve… They love it so much! As do I, and it is First Friday no less… I am hoping it warms up enough to get to town for the “Candle Mass” tomorrow!
I also think Snuggles has an ear infection… I thought at first he might just be teething, but he is so hard to comfort, that I think it is more than that. Poor Baby! Please say a quick prayer for him!
Well, the kids are getting off task, so I better get back to them… I hope to finish school early, since this afternoon, being the feast of St. Brigid, we will have a tea and craft time similar to the one Dawn had last year. I am looking forward to reading Brigid’s Cloak
Anyway, before I sign off for the day, here are the symbols, readings and links to coloring pages for the second week of Lent, days 6 to 12. I have added week one to my sidebar, so you can find it easily.
Have a wonderful day!
Day 6 ~ Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Symbol: Whip
Readings: Jn 2:13-17, Mt 21:12-13
NCPB: The Sellers in the Temple Pages 118-119
Coloring: Jesus in the Temple
Just For Fun: Jesus Cleanses the Temple Crossword, Word Jumble and Word Search
Day 7 ~ Sermon on the Mount
Symbol: Mountain
Readings: Mt 5:1-16, 43-48, LK 6:20-26
NCPB: The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches Charity Pages 130-133
Coloring: Sermon on the Mount
Just for Fun: Blessed Attitudes Crossword
Day 8 ~ Martha and Mary
Symbol: Footstool
Readings: Lk 10:38-42
NCPB: Jesus with Martha and Mary Pages 172-173
Coloring: Mary & Martha; Mary and Martha with our Lord (Update: Mary and Martha)
Day 9 ~ Great Catch of Fish/Disciples
Symbol: Fish
Readings: Lk 5:1-11, Mt 4:18-22, Mk 1:16-20
NCPB: The Great Catch of Fish Pages 124-125;
The Mission of the Apostles Pages 168-169
Coloring: Miraculous Catch of Fish (Update: Jesus Tells Apostles to Fish)
Just for Fun: Unscramble the names of the Apostles
**might be fun to play “Go Fish,” and have a “goldfish” snack too!
Day 10 ~ Jesus Blesses the Children
Symbol: Child’s Face
Readings: Mt 19:13-15, Mk 10:13-16; Lk 18:15-17
NCPB: Jesus and Little Children Pages 164-165;
Coloring: Jesus Blesses the Children (Update: Jesus Blesses the Children)
Day 11 ~ The Transfiguration
Symbol: Radiant Face
Readings: Mt 17:1-8, Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36
NCPB: The Transfiguration Pages 160-161;
Coloring: The Transfiguration (Update: The Transfiguration)
Just for Fun: Transfiguration Maze; Word Search; Word Jumble
Day 12 ~ Curing of Ten Lepers
Symbol: Spotted Hand
Readings: Lk 17:12-19
NCPB: The Ten Lepers Pages 126-127;
Coloring: Jesus heals the Lepers
Just for Fun: Jesus heals Ten Lepers Decoder Puzzle
Feast of Saint John Bosco
Today is the feast of Saint John Bosco. My boys asked if we could make bread since St. John was always giving “homemade bread” to the kids…
Hum… SURE!!! Why not! So, I pulled out the bread maker, and after a quick lesson in math few ingredients and a push of the button, we will have some “homemade bread” for our afternoon teatime!
I TOTALLY thought I had ordered this book, Story of Saint John Bosco, but I can NOT find it anywhere! So, instead we read our daily story from Saints for Young People. It has a nice short story about him which I thought I would share:
~
January 31St. John Bosco
St. John Bosco was born near Turin, Italy. Like many Saints, he was a poor farm lad, who was brought up by his holy mother in the love of God and Our Lady. John’s father died when he was young and his mother had to work very hard to feed her family. John, too, worked as hard as he could to help his mother. He was an intelligent lad, who knew how to keep his playmates from offending God. He would do tricks to win their attention and then he would talk to them about spiritual things.
In order to become a priest, John had to work his way through school. He did all kinds of work. He was a carpenter, a shoemaker, a cook, a pastry-maker, a farmer, and many other things. At the same time he was a fine student and always happy and cheerful.
After he became a priest, Don Bosco, which means Father Bosco, began his great mission of helping orphan boys. He gathered together hundreds of these boys who had no home. He taught them all kinds of work, so that they would not steal and get into trouble. At first people were angry with Don Bosco, because they did not think those boys would turn out to be good. But he proved that they would.
“Do you want to be Don Bosco’s friend?” he would ask each new boy who came to him. “You do? Then, you must help me save your soul.” Every night, he wanted his boys to say three Hail Mary’s, so that the Blessed Mother would help them avoid sin. He also recommended that they go to Confession and Communion as often as possible.
One of Don Bosco’s boys became a saint, St. Dominic Savio.
Later on, Don Bosco founded two Religious Orders to take care of poor children and he also built many homes and schools for them.
Let us help our parents at home as much as we can. The more things we learn to do, the better we can serve God.
We LOVE these books. I know I have mentioned them before, but they are just so great. Every day has a short story just like the one above.
The children also colored pages out of a couple of our coloring books to add to their Liturgical year notebooks…
We will end the day with an Italian dinner in his honor. I have a new favorite recipe that we are loving from Pampered Chef’s 29 minutes to dinner cookbook, Skillet Lasagna.
After dinner we will watch St. John Bosco: Mission to Love
“Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul.” – Saint John Bosco
Simply Lovely Soup
Today Suzanne is hosting this weeks Loveliness Fair, Simply Lovely Soups, over at her blog Blueberry Cottage. Hop on over and check out what all the other mommas are making to keep their families warm this winter. I am looking forward to browsing through through the links and getting a few new ideas!
I thought I would share one of our favorite soup recipes. It is super easy, super filling, and SUPER YUMMY!
1 ½ pounds Ground Beef – pre-cooked
1 can Kidney Beans
1 can Black Beans
1 can Garbanzo Beans
1 can Pinto Beans
1 can Diced Tomatoes
1 can Stewed Tomatoes
¼ cup Dry Lentils
2 cloves Pressed Garlic
1 Onion, diced
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
8 cups Vegetable or Beef Broth
¾ cup Barley
1 cup celery diced
1 cup carrots, diced
8 oz small pasta shells
Combine everything but pasta. Simmer on stove for 1 hour. Add Pasta and continue simmering till cooked. Top with grated cheese and croûtons. Serves 10+
I usually serve it with croûtons, but we were out this past week, so I made rolls instead. This soup makes ALOT. It was enough for 2 meals for my family, and I have big eaters (2 bowls each easily.) Since it makes so much, it’s great for company as well!
I’d love to hear if you give it a try, and what you think.
Enjoy!
The Jesus Tree ~ Week One
Here are the first symbols, for Ash Wednesday thru the first Sunday of Lent, which we will be using on our Jesus Tree this lent.
Starting on Ash Wednesday, each afternoon we will read a bible story from our family bible. Following that, I plan to re-read the story from New Catholic Picture Bible
In fact, you could do this Lenten bible study without even doing the tree. You could read the readings and then color a corresponding picture… (Older children could draw their own!) I will add links as I find them for coloring pages.
Day 1 ~ The Presentation
Symbol: Two Doves
Readings: Lk 2:22-38
NCPB: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple Page 103
Coloring Page: The Presentation (Update: The Presentation)
Day 2 ~ Jesus in the Temple/Hidden Life
Symbol: Saw
Readings: Lk 2:41-52
NCPB: Jesus is Found in the Temple; The Hidden Life of Jesus Pages 108-111
Coloring Page: Jesus in the Temple (Update: Finding Jesus in the Temple)
Day 3 ~ The Baptism of Jesus
Symbol: Dove on Water
Readings: Mt 3:11-17, Mk 1:6-11, Lk 3:21-22
NCPB: The Baptism of Jesus 112-113
Coloring Page: Jesus is Baptized (Update: Baptism of Our Lord)
More Fun: Baptism of the Lord Crossword
Day 4 ~ Jesus Tempted in the Desert
Symbol: Tan Stones
Readings: Mt 4:1-11, Mk 1:12-13, Lk 4:1-13
NCPB: The Temptation of Jesus in the Desert 114-115
Coloring Page: Jesus Tempted (Update: Jesus is Tempted)
Day 5 ~ Jesus’ Miracle at Cana
Symbol: Wine Jar
Readings: Jn 2:1-11
NCPB: The Marriage at Cana 116-117
Coloring Page: Water into Wine (Update: Wedding at Cana)
To Be continued… only FORTY-TWO more to make! 🙂 It will be worth it though, and we will be able to reuse it every year!!**
**note: this is me talking myself into finishing this project 😉 Yikes! I wish I could get a couple of my sisters over here to help!
From the Jesse Tree to the Jesus Tree
During Advent, one of our favorite ways to prepare is through the study of the Old Testament through the use of our Jesse Tree. Last year, I thought it would be so neat if I could find something similar to do during Lent. We do make a Lenten calendar each year, which I will try to share with you soon, but I had been wanting to do just a bit more. Anyhow, I ran across a great kit for a “Jesus Tree.”
Our Lenten Bible Study will pick up where our Advent Bible Study left off. Each day during Lent we will read a Bible story from the New Testament about an event or teaching during Jesus’ life from His Presentation in the temple to His death and Resurrection. Like our Jesse Tree, we will have a felt symbol to represent each story. Instead of placing them on an evergreen tree like we did in Advent, they will be placed upon a dead, barren branch, also made from felt.
At first, the dead branch symbolizes the barren and lifeless feeling of the Lenten season as we reflect on our own sinfulness and the crucifixion of our Lord. As the season climaxes with Easter, we see the gift Christ gave us through His death and Resurrection. The beauty of that new life is reflected in the way the dead branch has “blossomed” with all the symbols of Christ’s life and teachings.
To begin the project, I started with taping the tree pattern to the brown felt. You could use pins as well, but I didn’t have any, and I think that the taped edges made cutting the felt much easier!
**I suppose you could make this on your own, but the patterns came in so handy… In case any of you would like to purchase the kit, I ordered it from Scripture Trees. There phone number is 651-426-2174. Last year, the kit was only $10.00 plus shipping.
In the meantime, I would love to hear what you have planned for Lent!
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