Ora Pro Nobis Candy Boxes
Supplies:
+ 30 pieces of candy per box (leftover All Saints candy is great for this!)
+ black treat boxes or bags (2021 Update: Black Treat Boxes that are currently available)
+ white foam sticker crosses or “Ora Pro Nobis” box/bag labels
+ color pencils, crayons, or another media of their choice
+ calendar (create your own or use free printable)
+ list of departed family, friends, religious
+ particular prayer(s) to be offered
Directions:
Place a cross or label on the front of each box (or bag)
Happy All Hallows’ Eve!
Carving Our 2014 Saint-O-Lanterns
Pretty pumpkins all ready to carve into this year’s Saint-O-Lanterns!
12 More Saint Themed Guessing Jars
The All Saints Guessing Jars were such a hit at our annual All Saints Party last year that we will be including them again this year with 12 MORE Saint Themed Guessing Jars!
I always have so much fun looking through the aisles at the grocery store and trying to connect some of the goodies to saints and their symbols!
“Bit-O-Honey” candies for St. Ambrose (the “Honey-Tongued Doctor”) and Polish Candy for St. John Paul II are a couple of my favorite additions for this year. Once again I used my Wide Mouth Mason Jars with White Storage Lids for each jar.
Here are some pictures of this year’s All Saints Guessing Jars all filled and ready for the party:
St. Ambrose & St. Bernadette of Lourdes
St. Ambrose :: St. Ambrose is also known as the “Honey Tongued Doctor.” Any type of honey candy would work for this saint. I picked up three 4.2 oz bags of Bit-O-Honey at a local store to fill the jar. You can also purchase 16 oz. over at Amazon.
St. Bernadette of Lourdes :: Pretzel Sticks are perfect for St. Bernadette, since she was out collecting firewood when Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to her at the Grotto. Twix candy bars would also work!
St. Gertrude the Great & St. John Paul II
St. Gertrude the Great :: Saint Gertrude the Great had a deep empathy for the Church suffering, the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Our Lord shared a special prayer with St. Gertrude the Great and told her that the prayer would release 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is prayed. The GhostMallows in the jar represent the “Holy Souls.” I used one 8 oz bag to fill the jar and had a few left over.
St. John Paul II :: I had to find a way to incorporate the newly canonized St. John Paul II! Polish candy works, right? 🙂 Ours came directly from a Polish friend, but it can also be found on Amazon if you aren’t able to find any locally.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha & St. Marianne Cope
St. Kateri Tekakwitha :: This saint, who belonged to a Native American Indian Tribe, is also known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” We have made Indian Corn Cookies in honor of St. Kateri in the past, but for the jar I just filled it with one 21 oz bag of Candy Corn. (Though it probably could have used just a little bit more.) Lily candies would also work. If you have a mold you can make your own!
St. Marianne Cope :: HI-Chews are actually a Japanese Candy, but since my family was first introduced to them when my sister brought us some from Hawaii (along with the fact that they have “HI” in the name, the abbreviation for Hawaii) I thought we could get away with using them for St. Marianne Cope, who cared for the sick in Hawaii for 35 years. I bought a big bag at Costco when they were on special for less than $5.00 and only used about 2/3’s of the bag. You can also find them on Amazon.
St. Matthew & St. Nicholas of Myra
St. Matthew :: My husband thought it might be a little offensive to St. Matthew to fill his jar with “Payday” candy bars, but after I told him that St. Matthew is the patron of accountants he agreed that it was okay. 🙂 I probably should have purchased “fun size” candy bars, but I ended up using about 2/3’s of a 20.3 oz bag of the “snack size.”
St. Nicholas of Myra :: It’s a little difficult to find candy canes quite yet, but JoAnn’s just put out their Christmas supplies this week so I picked up a box of miniature candy canes. Be super careful not to drop them when you take them out of the box… They don’t just break, they shatter! 😉
St. Patrick of Ireland & St. Peter the Apostle
St. Patrick of Ireland :: Pious legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from the island of Ireland, chasing them into the sea. Regardless of whether or not this legend is true, St. Patrick is the patron saint against snakes, fear of snakes, and snake bites. Gummy Worms look like snakes.
St. Peter :: Butter Snaps Pretzels make yummy little Fisherman’s Nets for St. Peter, the patron saint of Fisherman. Fish also would have worked, but I saved those for the next saint on the list.
St. Raphael &
St. Raphael :: There are so many saints that are symbolized in some way with a fish. This year I decided to focus on St. Raphael, the healer, who is recorded as having helped Tobias make balms and ointments from fish to cure Tobit’s (Tobias’s father) blindness.
St. Thomas Aquinas :: Even though St. Thomas Aquinas’ classmates called him “The Dumb Ox” he became a great Doctor of the Church and Patron of Academics. I filled a jar with a 12 oz. bag of Smarties in his honor! (After I made my jars for this year I clicked back over to Catholic Inspired, since I couldn’t remember what she included in her jars last year, and she used Smarties for all the Doctors of the Church and “Dum-Dums” for St. Thomas. They would have worked too.)
To keep each person’s guesses secret I also created little sheets of paper for each contestant to write their name and guess, before folding it in half and dropping it into an empty jar or bag with a matching label.
It’s all ready to go and I can check this off the to-do list…
Now to start working on the rest of the party plans!
October Daybook
We had new gravel delivered this month for the new outdoor parking areas that were created during all that excavation earlier this year. My parents came over with their tractor to spread it for us. The patio and shed are nearly completed but the garage project has been on hold since the beginning of summer, when we started reconsidering a move out of the area. In the meantime we are focusing on various little projects “just in case” we end up selling our home next spring. It’s such a hard decision, and there are pros and cons both ways. We haven’t made a decision yet (it all depends on a job offer, or transfer opportunity, in the area we are considering) and we are praying (including novenas to St. Therese, St. Rita, and St. Jude) that God will make His will for our family clear.
I am thinking…
that I really really really need to dedicate some time to my inbox. As usual I am struggling to keep up with everything and email is always one of the first things to go. I’m so sorry if you’ve sent me an email and I haven’t been able to respond.
I am thankful…
that there are all sorts of saint costumes for the little ones to choose from in the costume box, and that the older boys have been able to find things that will work for the saints they have chosen as well! We picked up a few supplies at the craft store this weekend and hopefully it will all come together by Friday.
Our first quarter is coming to an end this week and I still haven’t had a chance to share our plans for the year… I guess the good news is that I’ll be able to share what we are actually accomplishing, instead of my original goals! Homeschooling six children this year is just plain HARD, but our year is off to a great start.
Celebrating the liturgical year…
Our annual All Saints’ Party is coming up at the end of the week and I’ve been busy making preparations. We also had a phone call from Father Carmelo last night asking if the boys were available to serve on Sunday. We were so excited to hear that he will be offering Mass at the Cemetery once again for All Souls!
From the kitchen…
I still have quite a bit of local grass-fed beef in the freezer to use. I’ve been making Chili & Cornbread, Irish Beef Stew, and tonight we will be having Baked Steak in Tangy Tomato Sauce.
A couple weekends ago I finally made Apple Puff Pancakes which were received with cheers from all the children. It still remains at the top of the list of their fall favorites!
I always have lots of “help” in the kitchen…
I am working on…
improving my health. The 17 Day Diet was a success before our trip in September, but after I arrived home again (and my husband insisted I go see a doctor) I had to make even more changes to my diet due to some challenges/infections I’ve been fighting since I miscarried at the beginning of summer. For the first few weeks of October I eliminated all foods except some lean meats, vegetables and nuts/seeds. I’m finally starting to get a little better and am slowly adding some other foods (coffee and a little bit of fruit) back into my diet. As you can see from the pictures above, that hasn’t stopped me from baking for my family. . . At least I could enjoy all the “amazing” smells! 😉
I am creating…
new labels with additional saints for this year’s All Saints Guessing Jars. I’m also working on an activity for each day in November. I’ll share pictures (and printables!) soon, but in the meantime here are a couple pictures of the Saints n’ Stitches doll that Twinkle Toes has started creating.
I am going…
to look for a Advent Wreath for our dining room table, in addition to the wreath we keep in our living room. The 100% Beeswax Tapers I ordered from The Cloister Shoppe (affiliate link) arrived yesterday and they are so lovely! I also ordered their St. Nick Soap and a couple sweet picture books for children.
I am hoping…
that the appliance repair men will finally be able to fix my wall oven this week. It broke back in August, just before we left to go camping at the lake, and this will be their third attempt. Maybe that old harvest gold oven wasn’t so bad after all! Thankfully this time I have a second oven as a back-up… Still, it would be really nice to have the microwave again. I have candy to melt for some All Saints Day party treats!
Still not fixed, but at least the kids are entertained. I keep hearing them whisper and giggle about how the repair men look just like Mr. Fredricksen and Charles Muntz from Up!
Update: After three attempts and over $500 in parts (that $269 extended warranty was definitely the way to go!) all it needed was a new fuse! One that didn’t show up on their computer instructions to check. . . Thank you to the random tech on the support line for helping them figure it out!
It seems like everything has been breaking lately. Here is another picture from Instagram earlier this month:
My Dad is so awesome! Last month he came to my rescue and repaired/replaced our mailbox since Sean was out of town fighting fires and the post office threatened to suspend our mail service if it wasn’t fixed by the weekend… Today, after a very full “Monday,” he stopped by to help me with a leaky propane pipe. While he was here he also removed a nail from the blades of my garbage disposal (I’d like to know how that got down there in the first place!) and repaired the outlets in the girls’ bedrooms. Thank you, Dad!! What would you do with all your free time if you didn’t have twelve kids always needing help of some kind?! 😉
I am praying…
for many intentions and especially for my uncle who is in critical condition following an accident on Sunday night.
I am reading…
I haven’t had much time for reading lately, other than reading aloud from Augustus Caesar’s World for History, but a certain daughter is just like her mama was as a child and reads whenever she has the opportunity. One afternoon her Dad sent her outside to put away all the bikes and this is what I saw when I looked out the window. It only took her about two days to finish reading Olivia’s Gift.
Pondering these words…
from St. Philip Neri:
“Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength.”
I am listening…
One of my favorite things to listen to has always been my Dad singing as he plays guitar.
A couple weekends ago my mom was in Napa watching one of my brother’s golf tournaments so I sent my Dad a text message letting him know that I was making Chili for dinner and we’d love to have him join us if he wasn’t busy. He texted back “sounds great!” and came over an hour later! He didn’t have his guitar with him, but we pulled out the one they had given us years ago and he started playing. He asked the boys if either of them were interested in learning and Ranger ended up having his first lesson!
Around the House…
Friday night has turned into movie night this school year! If you have any favorite family friendly movie recomendations to share I’d love to hear them. (You can find a list of my husband’s Twenty Favorite Movies here.) Some of the movies we’ve watched recently include The Perfect Game along with a few that are currently free on Amazon Prime: State Fair, Lassie (2005), and this past Friday we watched Fiddler on the Roof (with a couple skipped scenes and some explanations from Sean and I). The girls and I are actually taking my mom to see Fiddler on the Roof performed at the theater in December, and we wanted to explain some of it to them beforehand! I am also hoping to purchase tickets to take the all the older children to see The Christmas Carol in December as well.
I looked outside the window a couple weeks ago and had to run and grab my camera. After taking the first picture I asked, “Is it hunting season boys?” … “Nooooo! We’re fighting Pannnn!” says the two year old. The seven year old had to translate for me, “It’s WWII and we are fighting JA-pan!” I love watching these two play together.
This week’s plans…
- Lessons Daily to complete our 1st Quarter
- Appliance Repair Men Tuesday Morning (3rd Attempt)
- Tutors on Tuesday and Thursday
- Piano lessons on Thursday
- Errands and Groceries, as usual
- Date night with my husband… even if it’s only to run those errands! 😉
- Prepare Saint Costumes
- Carve Saint-O-Lanterns
- Decorate for Party
- Host our Annual All Hallows’ Eve Party
- First Saturday Mass and Solemnity of All Saints
- Sunday Mass at the Cemetery for All Souls
- Sleep… perhaps on Sunday afternoon?
A little peek at my day…
Pumpkin Patch Pictures
All Saints Scavenger Hunt {Another Printable Party Game Featuring 16 Additional Saints & New Clues!}
A couple years ago we created an All Saints Scavenger Hunt {Printable Party Game!} for our annual All Saints Party and shared it here at Shower of Roses. This year I have a second version of the game to share!
Like last time, I have printed 16 saint cards which I will hand out to 16 of the adults. The children will each receive the list of clues, and they will need to match each clues to the correct saint. Once the child thinks he knows who it is, he will ask the person representing (holding the picture of) the saint. If he is correct the “saint” signs the line next to the correct clue on his child’s clue sheet. You can see some pictures of the game being played here.
Unless, of course, you’ll be at our party… In that case please skip the rest of this post! 😉
(the printable file includes the answer sheet)
Bargain Priced Books :: The Little Drummer Boy
I know I should be making plans for Our Annual All Saints’ Party at the end of the month, but I got a little distracted this afternoon thinking about Christmas and trying to choose a couple more picture books to give the children on St. Nicholas Day this year. (It’s less than 7 weeks away!)
Our Lady of Czestochowa by Saint Luke
October 18th is the feast of St. Luke, Evangelist and Artist. Tradition holds that the original Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the “Black Madonna,” was actually painted by St. Luke on a cypress table used by the Holy Family!
“While the icon’s location during the early years are hard to determine, it is believed that the icon was brought from Jerusalem by St. Helen in the fourth century and was enshrined in Constantinople in 500 years, before being transferred to the royal palace at Belz in Ukraine for the next 600 years, then arriving in its present home in the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa, Poland in 1382.” (source: pamphlet)
During our recent visit to my brother-in-law’s parish we were blessed to be able to see and venerate the pilgrim icon that is currently making it’s way From Ocean to Ocean in Defense of Life!
Chiquita immediately recognized Our Lady of Czestochowa from her Shining Light Collectible Doll!
{this moment}
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