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Metal Earth :: Neuschwanstein Castle

Oct 20, 2015 | | 6 Comments


A couple weeks ago Ranger spent a Sunday afternoon building the Neuschwanstein Castle Metal Earth 3D Laser Cut Model that he found in his Back-to-School Schultüte. He has assembled quite a few of these little models (including Notre Dame Cathedral, various bridges, and more!) over the past couple years and really enjoys the challenge. This one was especially difficult, and we really need to get him some special tools to make it a little easier, but he still did a great job! 












Bargain Priced Books :: Saints of Christmas

Oct 19, 2015 | , , , | 7 Comments

The Saints of Christmas Activity Book 
includes fun activities and coloring pages for all six saint books included in the Saints and Me! Christmas Series: Mary and Joseph, Nicholas of Myra, Francis of Assisi, Gianna Beretta Molla, Martin de Porres, and Lucy. With 96 reproducible pages, this coloring and activity book will makes a great resource to use over and over again! The variety of activities enables children to relive the story and learn through activities that correlate to the story (such as word searches containing the words in the story, coloring sheets of pictures from the story, reflective material on the saint as a role model). This is an excellent way to introduce these Saints of Christmas to children, helping them to understand their virtues and desire to live holy lives. Activities are varied enough to be used with preschool (4-year-olds) through second or third grade. An answer key is provided.

I haven’t seen a copy of this activity book in person yet, but just ordered a copy for this Advent since it is currently 69% off!  I love that it includes 96 reproducible pages so that I can order one copy for my children to share.  

+  +  +

I’m slowly working on finding books to give our children as gifts on the feast of St. Nicholas and for Christmas this year.  I’m also working on creating an updated version of Our 2014 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels and will be sure to share those with you all when they are ready, hopefully in the next week or two!

Holy Heroes is currently offering “3 for the price of 2” on pre-orders of their 2015 Advent Adventure Activity Book. I haven’t ordered them for this year, but our children really enjoyed using the Activity Books last Advent.  (You can find a list of our Advent & Christmas Favorites from Holy Heroes here.) 

I also wanted to mention that Regina Martryum Productions just released another new audio download! For today only if you purchase a copy of The Poor Outcast – Blessed Margaret of Castello you can choose another story to download for free with coupon code MARGARET15.

Oh! One more thing. My friend Aleesa just shared a FREE Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin Coloring Page. Could you please offer a little prayer for Aleesa? She is currently on bed rest recuperating from surgery.  I need to go back and add the coloring page link to my post on Commemorating the Canonization of the Parents of Saint Thérèse, Saints Louis and Zélie Martin and print out a few copies for my little ones to color sometime this week.

I think that is it for now… I hope your week is off to a great start!

Commemorating the Canonization of the Parents of Saint Thérèse, Saints Louis and Zélie Martin

Oct 18, 2015 | , , | 15 Comments

Today, October 18, 2015, Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse, will be canonized saints!

Born into a military family in Bordeaux, Louis trained to become a watchmaker. His desire to join a religious community went unfulfilled because he didn’t know Latin. Moving to Normandy, he met the highly-skilled lacemaker, Zélie, who also had been disappointed in her attempts to enter religious life. They married in 1858, and over the years were blessed with nine children, though two sons and two daughters died in infancy.

Louis managed the lacemaking business that Zélie continued at home while raising their children. She died from breast cancer in 1877.

Louis then moved the family to Lisieux to be near his brother and sister-in-law, who helped with the education of his five surviving girls. His health began to fail after his 15-year-old daughter entered the Monastery of Mount Carmel at Lisieux in 1888. Louis died in 1894, a few months after being committed to a sanitarium.

The home that Louis and Zélie created nurtured the sanctity of all their children, but especially their youngest, who is known to us as St. Thérese of the Child Jesus. Louis and Zélie were beatified in 2008. (source)

 
I didn’t have a chance to plan anything ahead of time, or even put much thought at all into how I wanted to try and celebrate the canonization, other than ordering a candy mold and some candy watches which I’m planning to use for our upcoming annual All Saints’ Party… So, this yesterday afternoon, I pulled out some of my favorite books, a few of the girls’ dolls, a picture of Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin (a gift I received a few years ago from one of my cousins who lives over in Italy), some leftover lace doilies, and a box of French Vanilla cake mix hoping to come up with some treats in honor of these new saints who were once a watchmaker and lace maker…  I was so pleased with how it all came together!

Didn’t the Watchmaker Cake, Lace Cupcakes, and Cameo and Lace Candy turn out pretty?!? I shared the all the details over at Catholic Cuisine. My family will enjoy them either while watching the canonization live, if we can stay awake that long, or after watching some of the recording in the morning once we arrive home from Mass.

Here are some ways we will be celebrating this special day, plus some additional links as well:

.: Beautiful Dolls :. 
Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin and their daughter, Saint Thérèse
Hand Painted Wooden Saint Dolls custom ordered from Catholic Folk Toys
.: Inspiring Books :. 
 
.: Fun and Delicious Recipes :. 
The following recipes can be found over at Catholic Cuisine:

  1. Blessed Zélie Martin’s Lace Effect Sugar Cookies
  2. Canonization of Zelie and Louis Martin – Parmesan Lace Bowls
  3. The Lace Cookie – Florentines
  4. French Vanilla Cake and Cupcakes in Honor of the Watchmaker and Lace Maker
  5. Lace Cookie Bowls
  6. Saint Zélie Martin Cameo in Lace Candy made with this Candy Mold
.: Gift Ideas :.

I’ve been browsing the internet looking for some Saints Louis & Zélie Martin gift ideas and decided to include some of the links here to share. I have already placed my order for the darling Tiny Saints (use coupon code ROSES20 to save 20%!):

  1. Blessed Louis & Zélie Martin Art Print from Portraits of the Saints
  2. Louis and Zélie Martin Saint Dolls or Martin Family Dolls from Baby Steps to Jesus
  3. St. Zelie Martin Child Loss Sympathy Print – 5×7 from Hatch Prints
  4. Zelie Martin Canonization Memorial Pendant Necklace from Art Angel Gallery
  5. Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin from Tiny Saints
  6. Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin with St. Therese of Lisieux & Siblings Wood Plaque
.: Watch the Canonization :.

The Live Streaming and Archived Videos can be found on the Vatican YouTube Channel (English):

We (the older kids and I) are hoping to be able to stay awake and watch the canonizations live using the EWTN app and AirPlay. (You can view the EWTN schedule here.) We’ll see… It’s going to be in the middle of the night for us out here on the West Coast – 1:30-3:30 am!

 
Saints Louis & Zélie Martin, ora pro nobis! 
Saint Thérèse, the Little Flower, ora pro nobis!
 

Back-to-School :: 2015-2016

Oct 17, 2015 | , , , | 7 Comments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life with Like Mother, Like Daughter. ~
It’s been over a month now since our new school year began on September 8th! I’ve been much too busy just trying to keep up with our school days this year to actually have much time to blog about them… However, I did want to go back and add some pictures from our first day of school. I probably should have created some collages to shorten the length of this post, but if I wait until I have a chance to do that I will probably never get back to actually posting. Anyway, it was a fun day, ending with a birthday celebration for our Blessed Mother! 
{pretty}

You can actually save 20% on any Tiny Saints orders right now with coupon ROSES20

Beautiful and Inspiring Holy Cards
I had fun adding some clip art/images to the boys’ Schultütes, including a Captain America shield for Captain. In addition to their treats, I also included these great sharpeners for a few of the kids. 
8th Grade or High School classes??? It’s a BIG DILL! 😉 
Ranger was excited to discover another Metal Earth – Neuschwanstein Castle. 
(He actually built it last weekend. I’ll have to try and share the pictures. So neat!)  
Bud didn’t receive a Tiny Saint, but he did find St. Peter along with some Crayon Rocks! 
{happy}
They don’t quite fit as well as they did a couple years ago! 
Super excited about their very first Tiny Saints…
… and his very first pack of gum!
 

 
I had a few treats for their teacher too, including some of her favorite three ingredient (Honey, Chocolate Liquor, Oil of Peppermint – $3.99 at Trader Joe’s) Dark Chocolate Honey Mints! 
{funny} 
{real}
 
Captain and Ranger :: 9th Grade

We have TWO high schoolers this year! Ranger has been doing the same school work as Captain for a number of years now. Originally, when our school year began, I thought that he would be able to earn high school credit for his high school classes (especially Saxon Algebra 1 and Physical Science) as an 8th grader, but that just wasn’t an option if I wanted to keep him enrolled in our home-based charter school…. We’ve had some decisions to make and, as of yesterday, it is official. He is now a Freshman too! I wasn’t ready for one high schooler, let alone two…

 
Twinkle Toes :: 6th Grade ~ Chiquita :: 5th Grade
 
Snuggles :: 3rd Grade ~ Rose :: Kindergarten
Bud :: Pre-School
The poor little guy was fighting a stomach flu over the first week of school… 
but he cheered up when he saw the Schultutes! 
He’s feeling much better now and back to his usual active little self. He especially loves math. It’s the first thing he asks to do every morning when he wakes up. Some of the things I’ve heard him say this year to his siblings or me include: “I’m ready to do my math!” or “I’m BEHIND in my math…” (lol!) or “I’m all caught up in my math!” 
His “math” pretty much consists of Mighty Mind (his favorite), Busy Bugs, Shape & Color Sorter (second favorite), and Stacking Pegs.  
In other news… he is now officially potty trained! 
We’ve been DIAPER FREE day and night (with just a few daytime accidents – the last accident was nearly a week ago) for the first time in 15 years and 3 months! My babies are all growing up!
I hope your school year is off to a great and productive start! 

Shining Light Dolls Giveaway Winners

Oct 16, 2015 | | 2 Comments

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Shining Light Dolls Giveaway! That was fun!  I really enjoyed reading all your comments and hearing about your favorites.

Congratulations to Elle and Erin! 

I just sent you both emails. Please respond with your mailing address and I will have Shining Light Dolls mail your sets of the brand new dolls to you.  For those of you who didn’t win this time, be sure to keep these cute little dolls in mind for future baby shower, baptism, birthday, St. Nicholas day, and Christmas gifts!




Advent Candles

Oct 15, 2015 | , , | 7 Comments

Every September my mom goes on her annual Lay Benedictine retreat at Mount Angel Abbey. For years she would pick up a set of their gorgeous Advent candles for me. Oh, I miss those beautiful candles (pictured at the top of this post – which they no longer make) and have not yet found a replacement set of Advent Pillar Candles that I love nearly as much. I’m still searching for pillar candles for our large coffee table wreath – I’m leaning towards these – for this Advent.  {Note: This post contains affiliate links.} 

However, last year, we added a lovely wreath to our dinner table and I do have a new favorite set of Advent Candles for that Advent Wreath.  The 100% Beeswax Hand poured tapers we purchased from The Cloister Shoppe burned beautifully! Last month, as soon as they were available again, I placed my order for this year, adding in some additional candles to save for Candlemas or to give as gifts. 

Last year my children also really enjoyed creating their own candles using this 100% Beeswax Advent Candle Kit. I have another kit, blessed last Candlemas, all ready to go for this year. 

The dear sisters only make a limited quantity of their Advent Candles. They sold out quickly last year. Be sure to order them soon if you are interested! 

More Bargain Priced Books and Promotions

Oct 14, 2015 | | 4 Comments

This morning Rose and I read The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane which I had slipped into our October Book Basket.  I first shared a review of this book back in 2010, just after it was published, after discovering it at the Tudor Guild Gift Shop following a play we attended at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It is such a beautiful book with a sweet story about the youngest monk in a small medieval Irish monastery. Amazon is offering it at an excellent price (35% off) right now!

+ + + 

I also wanted to pass along a couple great promotions from two of my favorite publishers.

Bethlehem Books
Right now Bethlehem Books is having a “48 hour Christmas is Coming Sale” on Wednesday and Thursday of this week (today and tomorrow!) only. All of their print titles are 45% off plus FREE Shipping! No coupon necessary, all print books have been re-priced on their website to reflect the sale. We already own most of their books but there are a couple more I’ll be ordering for our family.

St. Augustine Academy Press
Did you hear about the fire at Institute of Christ the King in Chicago? St. Augustine Academy Press is generously donating 100% of their gross sales from now until the end of the month of October toward their rebuilding fund. “Whether you decide to donate directly or to donate by buying books (or both), please do consider lending a hand so that the Institute can rise once more from the ashes.”



Bargain Priced Books :: Song of the Stars

Oct 13, 2015 | | 1 Comment

The skies shouted it to the seas that thundered it to the waves that roared it to the great white whales that sang it to the starfish in the deep. And tiny sandpipers danced it on shining sands… “It’s time! It’s time!” On one quiet night, creation whispered a secret. Grass and bees, robins and trees all spread the word. Sheep told their young while angels sang the song to the shepherds. Hushed news of a miracle echoed to the ends of the earth. The moment had come. The long-awaited child had arrived! Creation cried out in celebration, but only a few people heard. Only a few joined nature’s chorus, a song in praise of the newborn King.

I spent a little time over the weekend searching for book ideas for St. Nicholas Day and Christmas. While I was browsing Amazon I happened to run across another great deal on a sweet little book that our youngest received last Christmas. We actually own the hardcover edition, but right now the board book is on sale at 41% off! I ordered a couple copies to give as gifts this upcoming Christmas. 

P.S. If you happen to have a Captain America fan, these men’s slippers are also a great deal with 56% off at the moment! Hopefully a certain teen of mine just skims past this post… 😉 

Columbus Day Craft :: New World Map

Oct 12, 2015 | , | 2 Comments

Seven years ago, to celebrate Columbus Day 2008, we made these “New World Maps.” This afternoon we decided it was time to make them again with the little ones, who were either too younger to remember or had not been born yet. Captain had saved his New World Map in his baby box and pulled it out to show his younger siblings before helping them with the craft. It was so nice to have help!

I originally found this craft at crafts.kaboose.com (which now redirects to Disney Inspired Crafts) but the link is no longer active so I going to share detailed directions along with our pictures today.

New World Map

Supplies:

  • Brown Paper Grocery Bag
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Water Color Paints: Blue, Brown, Green, White, Red (We tried a few different sets, but everyone ended up preferring the Prang 16 Classic Colors.) 
  • Paintbrush
  • Black marker
  • Lighter or Candle/Matches

Directions:

Cut a rectangle from the side of the grocery bag that does not have seams.

Use a pencil to draw simple land designs on the front of your bag. Refer to photo or a world map for general idea.

Let your student paint the land on the left brown and the land on the right green.

Paint the remaining areas (water) blue, leaving a small border around the land unpainted.
Let paint dry. (Go put together a World Puzzle!) 

Once the paint has dried, use a black marker to add an outline to the land masses.
Write the words “New World” on the upper left land mass and “Spain” on the upper right land mass.
Use the marker (or some white paint) to draw small curved lines around the water to represent waves.
Draw a dotted line from “Spain” to the lower left land mass. (Some of ended up drawing their dotted line south and some went a little more north.) 
Draw or paint the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria crossing the ocean. Paint a white sail with a red cross on each ship. 
Add another coat of green and brown watercolor paint to the land masses, except where the words are. Going around the words will give it a more dimensional look when dry. (We skipped this step.) 
Use a lighter or candle to lightly burn the edges of the brown paper map to give it an aged look. (The older kids and I did this part.)
All done! 
A few extra books and resources for Columbus Day: 

While we were busy painting, Ranger was creating some little ships out of LEGO and Twinkle Toes was baking Pumpkin Cupcakes to enjoy after dinner along with our annual Chocolate Caliente and Stargazing. 

Happy Columbus Day! 

New Shining Light Dolls {and a Giveaway!}

Oct 9, 2015 | , , , , , , | 0 Comments

I know I have said it before, but aren’t the sweet little Shining Light Dolls adorable?!  We have been working on organizing the girls’ bedrooms this past week and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Knock all look so darling lined up on Rose’s bookshelf this morning, in front of some of her favorite board books (Prayer For A Child, BabyLit Collection, and Mini Masters). Rose loves playing with these little dolls and so do her brothers! 

I recently ordered Our Lady of Fatima and St. Patrick to complete our collection… however…

As of TODAY…
there are now FOUR more Shining Light Dolls
 available over at Amazon! 

We need to add these to our collection too! Some of them will probably end up in the boys’ slippers from St. Nicholas (like other dolls from the collection have in the past) and in this year’s Christmas stockings. Our boys will be thrilled and good old St. Nicholas won’t be quite so lonely in the little boys’ bedroom… or left out in the cold all by himself! 😉

I also plan to add a copy of The Virgin Mary Around the World (featuring the Shining Light Dolls) to our book collection, or maybe St. Nicholas will show up with it this year just in time for the feasts of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego. 

To celebrate their release, Shining Light Dolls has generously offered to give away a set of all FOUR NEW DOLLS to TWO of my visitors here at Shower of Roses! 

This giveaway will be open through October 15, 2015. I will contact and announce the winners in this post on October 16th. Be sure to check out the whole collection over at Amazon! You can also visit the Shining Light Dolls website and follow them for updates over at Facebook and Instagram.

Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below:


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

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Shower of Roses Alphabet of Saints

A Papal Unit Study & Lap Book

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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!