Building the Way to Heaven: The Tower of Babel and Pentecost {Review & Giveaway}
Happy Pentecost! Are you doing anything special to celebrate the birthday of the Church? Hamburgers and hot dogs are currently on the grill, a new tabletop fire pit is set up out on the patio, and our cake is about to go into the oven. After Mass this morning I gave the kids a brand new picture book to read which is perfect for today!
Building the Way to Heaven: The Tower of Babel and Pentecost is the third book (so far!) in the “Old and New” series written by Maura Roan McKeegan and reverently illustrated by Ted Schluenderfritz. The first two books (The End of the Fiery Sword: Adam & Eve and Jesus & Mary and Into the Sea, Out of the Tomb: Jonah and Jesus) are definitely on our list of favorite Catholic picture books for children and I’m happy to add another book from this wonderful series, introducing children to the intriguing study of biblical typology, to our collection. I snapped a few pictures to share with you all.
Sponsor Love :: Quarterly Update & Current Specials
Spring has arrived and we are enjoying the beautiful May weather while looking forward to finishing up our school year and making plans for summer. It’s also time for me to share another quarterly update on all my wonderful sponsors with you all including lots of great specials and coupon codes!
Please welcome my new sponsor:
Homeschool high school science classes that are easy-to-use, flexible, affordable, and effective.
For only $75 plus tax, TaylorScience gives parents 12 months of access to everything they need to administer high school biology and chemistry at home.
** Our high schoolers have been loving Mrs. Taylor’s Biology class this year! **
Catholic Teen Books is a lay organization of authors committed to the writing and promotion of exciting novels for Catholic teens, in the hope of counteracting the anti-God culture that permeates society today and leaves young adults with very few wholesome literature choices.
Every book on this site is either written by a Catholic, has a Catholic publisher, or contains Catholic characters or a Catholic message. Every book featured reflects the beauty of the Catholic faith and in some way raises the heart and mind to God, instead of dragging souls downward.
A special THANK YOU to all my continuing sponsors!
Prayer Pillowcases
… more than just a pretty place to lay your head! Prayer Pillowcases are a practical way to bring Catholic art and prayer into your home and inspire family and friends. Honor a special occasion or make any occasion special with the gift of a joyful, lasting (and personalizable) Prayer Pillowcase!
Culture of Life Studies Program (CLSP)
Show your children the beauty and dignity of people with disabilities with our latest picture book unit study All Shapes and Sizes: Learning about the Beauty and Dignity of People with Disabilities and Other Challenges. Using classic picture books, crafts, and other activities, All Shapes and Sizes helps students understand that the value of every human being exists because we are all made in the image and likeness of God.
Sacred Heart Books & Gifts
We are here to serve your needs for Catholic books, curriculum, and gifts. We offer most of our products at 15% off retail. If you are looking for something and can’t find it on our site, please contact us and we will do our best to find it.
The Sacrament season is upon us. Almost everyone has a friend or family member who will be receiving their First Holy Communion. We’ve put together a collection of various gifts and resources for First Communion. Catholic books make great gifts too! Check out or First Communion items or any of our books for the First Communicant on your list. Shop Our First Communion Collection
Gail’s Designs
Gail’s Designs has been creating unique, elegant jewelry and cherished rosaries since 2009. Gail has been an artist for most of her life and is grateful for her faith and being able to make elegant jewelry and cherished rosaries for people of the Catholic faith.
Behold Publications, LLC
“Behold Publications, LLC is more than just a publisher! Family owned and operated since its founding in 1999, we have developed great Catholic clubs like the Little Flowers Girls’ Club and Blue Knights Catholic Boys’ Clubs for Catholic girls and boys ages 5 and up.”
Summer Camps Registration Now Open!
Early Bird Registration Ends Soon!
Peanut Butter & Grace
The mission of Peanut Butter & Grace is to help Catholic parents raise children who know and love Christ and his Church. We do this by providing digital and print resources that assist parents in forming their children in the faith within the daily life of their family. All of our products are made for Catholic parents—either to use themselves, or to hand to their kids.
Offering free shipping on orders of $10 or more,
All three of our high schoolers are currently enrolled with Kolbe Academy and working towards the Magna Cum Laude Diploma. In addition to all the benefits of enrolling, I really love the flexibility that Kolbe offers and that we can continue tailoring our curriculum to our family’s preferences and our children’s needs.
Robin Nest Lane
Specializing in high quality veils and mantillas for ladies and girls. Robin is a Catholic mother of 15 (7 with Our Lord ) who spends her days serving, loving, praying, and sewing. Robin started making veils for her daughters and wanted to share with others. She truly loves creating veils to serve Our Lord!
Lisieux Nail Polish
Lisieux Nail Polish is a young Catholic company with a passion for sacred scripture, church traditions and the New Evangelization. We love our Catholic faith and decided to bottle some of it up so women could always have a holy reminder with them and a new and fun way to share the Catholic faith with others. We chose nail polish because it is the only cosmetic you can enjoy without looking in a mirror. All of our nail polishes are named after Biblical events, saints or Catholic traditions. We also really enjoy celebrating the liturgical year and feast days so, in addition to our regularly stocked polishes, try to have special edition polishes around popular feast days.
Sleightholm Folk Art
“Welcome to Sleightholm Folk Art, formerly known as Audrey Eclectic, a unique collection of American folk art created in the heart of the Oklahoma prairie. My inspiration comes from faith, folk lore, family and good books.” You can read more about Heather’s work here.
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| Original Madonna & Child Painting available at Etsy |
Almond Rod Toys
Almond Rod Toys makes Saint Blocks that are just the right size for little hands and can be used for imaginative play, building, stacking or collecting. The front has a print of original watercolor artwork. The back has a quote or a prayer chosen to inspire little ones and the one that cleans up behind them. The saint’s name, feast day and patronage are also listed; just enough to be a reminder and an inspiration for further learning.
Shining Light Dolls
Saints are an amazing part of the Catholic faith; they show us what it means to live the life of Christ no matter who you are, what time in history it is, or where in the world you live. They are our role models!
Catholic Cuisine Aprons
All of our aprons are embroidered, not screen printed, giving them a rich, elegant, look! Our durable 100% cotton-twill aprons, with soil-release finish for added stain protection, provide ultimate full length cover and comfort.
Easter Baskets
I always look forward to filling our children’s Easter baskets each year with books and gifts that incorporate our beautiful Catholic faith! I also love incorporating the various Easter Symbols and filling a basket with various gifts for the whole family to enjoy. You can read more about the various Easter Symbols here and find many gift ideas here.
Easter Sunday has already passed this year, but perhaps this post will give you some gift ideas for upcoming sacraments, birthdays, or even next Easter!
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| The Holy Gospels of St. Luke and St. John • Flower and Birds Easter Eggs • Liturgical Colors Cross |
I had ordered some books as always, but other than that I hadn’t really done much to prepare for Easter Baskets this year… My mind was on other things. I do keep a couple boxes of “future gifts” in my closet that I add to when I run across great sales, so I did have some mugs to pull out for most of the kids along with some toys. I didn’t make any candy this year, or pick up chocolate crosses, but we did have some gift cards for See’s candy (bought at a discount from Costco) along with some coupons for the See’s bunnies and chocolate eggs.
I ended up having MORE than enough to fill all the baskets thanks to my generous sponsors here at Shower of Roses! In addition to frequently offering products for me to give away to you all over the years, they sometimes send gifts to our children too! We received boxes of gifts from Culture of Life Studies, Lisieux Nail Polish, and Prayer Pillowcases just in time for Easter!
Everyone received Pro-Life and/or Catholic T-shirts. The Pro-Life T-shirts were all this year’s awesome #NPLTD T-shirt from Culture of Life Studies in a variety of colors. (Save 20% on these t-shirts, and everything else from Culture of Life Studies, with coupon code ROSES20)
We all received brand new personalized pillowcases from Prayer Pillowcases too.
- Liturgy of the Hours Books II and Three (leather bound)
- Cardinal Red 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- Prancing Pony T-Shirt
- Chocolate Bunny and Eggs
- Padre Pio Mug (I had ordered the St. Patrick Mug last year but never checked inside the box… He ended up getting Padre Pio instead.)
- St. Patrick Prayer Pillowcase
- New Sunglasses
- Star Wars Tie
Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know
- Plan of Life: Habits to Help You Grow Closer to God
- John of the Cross (Saints by Our Side)
- Thomas Aquinas (Saints by Our Side)
- Military Green 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- T-Shirt from Catholic T-Shirt Club (We got behind on opening the subscription boxes while traveling. This was the last one we received. Need to decide if we’re going to continue subscription. The boys really loved it!)
- Chocolate Bunny and Eggs
- St. John the Evangelist Mug
- St. Joseph Prayer Pillowcase
- St. John statue
- Subway Gift Card
- I had meant to order him a tie too. Any suggestions on fun ties for teens?
- Blessed Be God
- The Hedge School
- Jane of Lantern Hill
- Presenting Miss Jane Austen
- Victoria Bliss Magazine British Issue September 2017 featuring Jane Austen (it was suggested by Amy in the comments of Twinkle Toes’ Jane Austen birthday post)
- Always Be Kind Journal
- St. Elizabeth of Hungary from Naturally Catholic
- Navy Blue Short Sleeve Dress with Pockets
- Indigo Blue 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- Caritas Nail Polish from the Easter Trio
- St. Catherine of Siena Prayer Pillowcase
- Floral Coffee Mug and Spread Love Zipper Pouch from LaneyBell Designs
- Little Secret’s Peanut Butter Candies (dye free, she’s allergic)
- See’s Peanut Butter Egg and Sweet Surprise Chicks Chocolate Egg
- Ember Rising (The Green Ember Series: Book 3)
- The Children of La Salette
- Beginning Birdwatchers Book
- Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian
- Saint Kateri Paper Dolls
- Whatever Is Lovely Gratitude Journal
- St. Philomena Prayer Pillowcase
- St. Clare of Assisi Quote Mug
- Saint Clare of Assisi from Naturally Catholic
- Antique Cherry Red 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- Paschal Nail Polish from the Easter Trio
- Adjustable Cord Bracelet with Holy Dove and Crosses
- Coin Purse from LaneyBell Designs
- See’s Egg and Sweet Surprise Chicks Chocolate Egg
- The King of the Golden City: Special Edition for Boys
- Lucky Bob and His Luckiest Year
- The Warden and the Wolf King (I had planned to give him Book 2, but the tooth fairy ended up giving it to him just before Easter and I happened to have this one in my book stash as well.)
- Surf Sweets
- Heather Military Green 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- St. Michael the Archangel Quote Mug
- Saint Michael Prayer Pillowcase
- See’s Chocolate Bunny and Sweet Surprise Chicks Chocolate Eggs
- In the Candles Glow
- St. Joan of Arc Paper Dolls
- Joyful Colours of the Year
- Rosalind and the Little Deer
- Eeboo Sketch Book: Life on Earth
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel from Naturally Catholic
- Goose Girl and Geese Wooden Figures (to add to her Fairy Tale collection from her last birthday – Once again, I ordered a number of Ostheimer figures from The Wooden Wagon during an after Christmas sale to use as gifts this year.)
- Twinkle Bunny
- Saint Therese of Lisieux Mug
- Saint Joan of Arc Prayer Pillowcase
- Heather Coral Silk 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- Palm Nail Polish from the Easter Trio
- Surf Sweets
- See’s Chocolate Bunny and Sweet Surprise Chicks Chocolate Eggs
- Children’s Missal
- Little Blue Truck’s Springtime
- Pelle’s new suit
- Wooden Lamb and Little Shepherd Boy
- Ferdinand DVD
- Black 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt
- Saint Francis of Assisi Prayer Pillowcase
- Saint Andrew Statue
- Surf Sweets
- Hershey’s Chocolate Cross and See’s Sweet Surprise Chicks Chocolate Eggs
- God Bless Our Easter
- Bunny’s First Spring
- Found: Psalm 23
- I am a Mouse
- Chews Life Pink Rosary
- Green Sprouts Stacking Cups (These are a great price over at Thrive if you have a membership. If you don’t here is my referral link! I order from Thrive at least once a month, usually weekly!)
- Pink 100% Pro-Life Onesie
- Jellycat Lamb, Small
- St. Elizabeth from Naturally Catholic
- Our Lady of Grace Prayer Pillowcase
- See’s Sweet Surprise Chicks Chocolate Egg (which she gave to her daddy)
Want to see a few more pictures? Here’s the link: Baby’s First Easter
(still haven’t gotten around to posting 2015 and 2016)
Baby’s First Easter
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| Thank you, Peter, for this darling picture! |
Catechism of the Seven Sacraments {Giveaway}
You all know how much our family loves faith based books and resources. You also know how much our family loves LEGO! Over the years our boys have come up with many of their own original LEGO creations including We Have A Pope!, Cathedral, Cathedral Part 1, and The Easter Story all inspired by our beloved Catholic faith. The BRAND NEW Catechism of the Seven Sacraments by Kevin and Mary O’Neill and their family will be a welcome addition to our home library!
This beautifully bound Catholic hardcover is filled with nearly 300 full color pages and written in a fun and easy to follow comic-book format. In the back you will also find a glossary with Catholic definitions from Father John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary. Nothing watered down here!
I love teaching our children about Biblical Typology (a method of biblical interpretation where people, symbols or events found in the Old Testament foreshadow the New Testament) and this Catechism of the Seven Sacraments is packed full of side by side examples!
I also love all the tiny chapel veils, chasubles, and cassocks! So nicely done. ❤
(StoryTel Press is currently offering free shipping on orders of 2+ books)
Sacred Heart Books & Gifts also has it at a discount!
Following Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s teachings on Covenant Theology, this book sheds light on the parallels between the Old Testament and the New Testament and the sacraments instituted by Christ that we experience today. Readers will develop a deeper understanding of salvation history, discover how to participate in God’s covenant, and learn how to obtain grace through the sacraments, which are essential on our lifelong journey to the Eternal Promised Land.”
Winner will be announced in this post on May 1, 2018.
SaintCards on the Feast of St. George
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| “Look, Mom! I found St. George!” |
On top of schoolwork, our day was packed full with dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, catching up at the office, and then golf and soccer practice, so we didn’t get around to making a Dragon Veggie Platter, Dragon Cake, or Sugar Cookie Story Quilt…
However, we received a prototype review packet of SaintCards in the mail today and have been playing ALL evening. The kids keep asking to play “just one more game!”
According to our 17 year old son, “It’s kind of like UNO, but faith based and SO MUCH BETTER!”
I love that there is so much information packed into each card – each of the 11 different colors symbolizes something about the saint, the 12 different symbols represent the various months of the liturgical year in which the saints feast days fall, they all list the centuries in which the saints lived and each saints patronage as well – and with all the beautiful images and symbols the little ones can play along too, with just a little help reading the names of each saint!
SaintCards isn’t available to purchase just yet, but you CAN back the project over at Kickstarter! Even if you can’t back the project at this time, please consider sharing the link so they can hopefully reach their funding goals by the May 13th deadline. I’d love to see this available to give as gifts!
Well, I’m off to tuck in the little ones and read them a bedtime story before they fall asleep…
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day 2018
P.S. You can save get a discount on the shirt with coupon code ROSES20!
Easter Dresses
I’ve had some emails asking about the girls’ Easter dresses since posting our family Easter photo. Instead of responding to each individually, I thought I would just share the links here on the blog.
For our soon-to-be 13 year old (her birthday is this week!) I ended up ordering a couple dresses made by Trish Scully over at Zulily. The size 14 Bella Estrella Dress & Belt Set in Silver Grey Sky was just $32.99 over at Zulily! I also ordered her the Callie Dress & Belt Set in Mustard (which no longer seems to be available at Zulily) and she loves both of the dresses so much!
Our eight year old was also wearing one of her new Trish Scully dresses.
To go along with their dresses the girls were also wearing their new Easter polishes (Paschal pictured above, Caritas, Palm and Guardian Angel) from Lisieux.
I know how hard it can be to find beautiful and modest clothing for teens. If you have any new favorites I would love to here about them in the comments!
Easter Peacock
Christians have used peacocks as a symbol of immortality. This came from an ancient legend that the flesh of the peacock never corrupts, and so the peacock is also associated with the resurrection of Christ. The peacock is often depicted in Christian art such as in Fra Angelico’s Adoration of the Magi and other Nativity scenes as well as in the catacombs. You can even spot one in the Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandaio which is used as the header over at Catholic Cuisine
New Additions to Our Book Baskets + Giveaway
As we continue celebrating the Easter season, I have some really great giveaways to host, both here on the blog and over on Instagram, starting with this one sponsored by St. Augustine Academy Press.
I get excited about each and every book that St. Augustine Academy Press republishes and am very happy to be able to share the latest three releases with you all. I don’t have them in my hands yet, but they will be coming soon and the the publisher has generously offered to send a set of the three new books to one of you too!
Updated with a couple of my own photos now that our copies arrived. The books are even lovelier in person than I had expected!
The Rhymed Life of St. Patrick
“…in lively recitative ballad verse, Katharine Tynan tells the entire story of St. Patrick, without missing a single incident of any significance or importance. The book consists of thirty-two large folio pages, where ‘a rivulet’ of large, opulent type ‘meanders through a meadow of margin,’ set off by artistic illustrations. If Blessed Patrick and sweet St. Bride only respond to the prayer of the Envoy, and ‘Bless this book and scatter it wide,’ old and young may easily acquire and retain a comprehensive, if not complete, knowledge of all that is to be known of Ireland’s patron saint.”
I’ve never seen this book before and can’t wait to read it with our children!
A Child’s Rule of Life
“It is not every one that can keep his childhood. Father Benson has, and speaks to children bout the great, big eternal things in a child’s way. The little ones will be delighted to learn these verses by heart, and thus almost unconsciously gain a deep knowledge of Christian doctrine, and a love and habit of Catholic practice.
The Rule takes the little child from the moment it awakes…through his morning prayers; going to church; hearing Mass; saying grace; reciting lessons; practicing obedience; confessing his sins; receiving Holy Communion; evening prayers, and bed. Round them all Father Benson has put the fragrance of verse that will make them sweet and delightful to the child mind.”
We have an out of print copy of the Neumann Press edition and I’m so happy to see this back in print again!
“A book intended to give to children a general idea of the course of Old Testament history from the Fall to the Redemption, especially of those incidents and personages that point to Christ. The rhymes are designedly simple and colloquial, as the book is meant for smaller children only, and the narrative may be thought very sketchy; but it is hoped that the book will form a kind of “thread,” easily discernible, on which the child may learn to connect his more explicit and detailed lessons.”
(taken from an advertisement for the book by its original publisher in 1913, Longmans, Green & Co.)
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