Easter Outfits for the Girls on Holy Saturday

My girls loved their Christmas dresses and skirts (pictured here, here and here) from Baby My Love so much that we decided to order their Easter Outfits from Sharon as well! These will most likely also end up being their outfits for my sister's wedding in July. They are so lovely and comfortable too!

I tried to take a picture of all four girls on Holy Saturday, just before we headed out the door to attend the Easter Vigil at our new parish, but our littlest one didn't want to cooperate! :)

 

Twinkle Toes: Mint Twirl Skirt (Women's Small) paired with a white top and this Peach Cardigan

Chiquita: Pink Rose Floral Twirl Skirt (Women's Small) paired with this Burgundy Cardigan

*Made with the fabric from this Easter Dress. Sharon is great about custom orders!

Rose & Grace: Easter White Rose Floral Full Twirl Dress (Size 8 and 2T)

Baby My Love is currently having a sale and Easter Dresses are currently 15% off!

We also gave Chiquita (who turned 14 on Holy Saturday this year!) a new brown scapular from Stella Marigold Art as one of her birthday gifts, to replace the one we gave her years ago and worn daily.

*Nails painted with Fig from Lisieux Nail Polish!

Our older girls have loved singing in the choir this year, here at our new parish, and had been looking forward to and practicing for all of the Triduum Liturgies all of Lent. I didn't get many pictures, but it was all so beautiful! Here is one beautiful picture from the Easter Vigil taken of the girls up in the choir loft by our good friend, Marc Salvatore, who happens to be up here visiting!  I'll be back with more Easter pictures sometime soon... 

Happy Easter! 

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Whosover dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire. 

Scapular promise given to St. Simon Stock, July 16, 1251

I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free. 

Sabbatine Priviledge given to Pope John XXII, 1322

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel! This feast day has always been one of our family's favorites and Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patron we choose for our homeschool, many years ago, when we first started homeschooling our children. One of these years I would love to bake and decorate another scapular cake (you can see our first one back in 2008 here and our second scapular cake back in 2009) but this year I kept it simple since the three oldest were gone with their dad all morning (their golf team was hosting a tournament/fundraiser) and I wanted to spend some time baking something I could enjoy too. We are about to pray our family rosary, but first here are some pictures from various times throughout the day: 

.:  Picture Books :. 

I had to do some searching, but I finally found one of our copies of Garment of Grace. I love this little book. I started reading it aloud to our four youngest and pretty soon everyone was listening! (The older three were home by this time.) This book contains some incredible true stories about miracles that have happened to those wearing the brown scapular. 

"Look, Mom! This saint is in the little book you gave me!" 

(I brought him home a new little saints book from the conference last weekend.) 

Rereading some of those amazing stories on his own, despite all the distractions! ;) 

Note: Our children have all been invested in the brown scapular as babies, but they don't usually start wearing them until they are about 6 or 7 years old. My husband has found that knotting the boys' scapulars (as you can see in the picture above) makes them last so much longer, since that way the knots take the brunt of any "rough and tumble" abuse. ;) 

You can read a little more about the Brown Scapular in the archives here. 

.: Coloring Pages :. 

There are many free coloring pages available online (including the lovely Our Lady of Mount Carmel coloring pages over at St. John the Baptist Religious Ed, which my boys choose to color) but my personal favorite is this one from StellaMarigoldArt over at Etsy. 

(Note: We also have some gorgeous scapulars from StellaMarigoldArt, and MaryDevotions too!) 

.: Catholic Cuisine :. 

I just shared these Easy No-Bake Brown Scapular Treats over at Catholic Cuisine which were inspired by one of my brown scapulars.

I also made some {AIP approved!!!} treats for myself:

{sugar-free, grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free}

Brownies with Salted Honey Caramel Sauce! 

Oh yeah! I think I have found my new favorite feast day treat. These will be perfect for other Carmelite saints, including the feast of St. Therese! 

Although I'm not sure I'll be able to wait until October to make them again...  

{I will try and share the recipes over at Catholic Cuisine soon!}

Update: You can find the recipes here. 

Even some of the dolls joined today's feast day celebration!

"Wear the Scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is My garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of Me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life." 

~ Our Lady of Mount Carmel

On the Traditional Feast of Saint Thérèse

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life with Like Mother, Like Daughter. ~

{pretty}

This Brown Scapular of the Carmelites with an image of "The Little Flower" was hand embroidered by Andrea at Stella Marigold Art. Originally I had her make it for our little "Rose" - and I will probably still save it to give to her when she is older, especially since I already have a beautiful rose covered scapular - but I would sure love to keep it for myself! It is so gorgeous!

{happy}

From Instagram on October 1st:

My sweet little "Rose!" Thursdays are our full days - from extra early start to finish - but that hasn't stopped her from celebrating on her own... #rosecoveredeverything #sttherese #allthesaintdolls #oratleastsomeofthemany Now where are those matching pink and rose covered aprons of ours? We have some cupcakes to bake! #alreadyonthecounterwiththecakemix #shesbeenwaitingalldayforthis

Many of the dolls in this picture were made by friends of mine! The Saint Thérèse Soft Saint Doll on the far left was made by my childhood friend Ann-Marie, who was one of my bridesmaids sixteen years ago yesterday. It was a birthday (or maybe Christmas?) gift for Rose last December. 

The next is a St. Thérèse Saint n' Stitches doll handmade by Charlotte, our youngest son's Godmother.  You can find her Etsy shop here. At various times of the year she sells kits to make these dolls and sometimes completed dolls as well. You can also find a pattern for St. Thérèse here. My older girls have really enjoyed Charlotte's kits! 

The third doll pictured is a crochet Saint Thérèse doll made by my friend Amy. It was a baby shower gift along with some other handmade treasures! She doesn't sell the completed dolls, but you can purchase her pattern over at Etsy. 

The fourth doll is the St. Thérèse Faith Filled Friends doll. Unfortunately, I don't believe these are currently available for sale... The whole collection, including Mother Teresa and Our Lady of Guadalupe, is so cute!  

{funny}

From Instagram on October 1st: 

We are wearing matching chef hats too. My teens think I look ridiculous but I don't care... She's grinning from ear to ear! #mylittlechristmasrose #bakingcupcakesforthefeast #sainttherese

She wanted to make miniature cupcakes. We made two for each person and used the rest of the batter to make some regular sized cupcakes for after dinner today. 

{real}

Rose has been asking cut out her new "Little Saint Thérèse" Paper Dolls since receiving them in her Easter Basket earlier this year! They were pulled out again this week. I am hoping to have a chance to finally cut them out with her later this evening... We'll see!  We have the preprinted set, but they are also available to download digitally in Color and Black and White. 

In the meantime I pulled out our St. Thérèse and Her Family paper dolls, which I laminated a few years ago for her older sisters. She has been enjoying playing with them. It would probably be a good idea to laminate all the new paper dolls too. They are darling! 

Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude.

~ St. Thérèse of Lisieux

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, ora pro nobis!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: A Few Pictures from Christmas Day

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life with Like Mother, Like Daughter. ~

{pretty}

This gorgeous hand-embroidered scapular was tucked into the toe of my stocking this Christmas! 

Isn't it so pretty?!?

Our oldest two daughters also found pretty new scapulars in their stockings too!

{happy}

Last Easter Bud received a darling embroidered saint pillow from his Godmother. For Christmas she made him another one of his patron saints. He was so happy!

{funny}

When Captain was opening his stack of books he closed his eyes when he got to one that he thought *might* be a new book from the Brotherband Chronicles. He, of course, knew there would eventually be a new book in the series, but I hadn't told him that Book 5 had been released. 

It got even better when I told him to open the book and look at the first few pages.  The boys were both so excited when they saw that the book had been signed to both of them by the author! 

"JOHN FLANAGAN ACTUALLY TOUCHED THIS BOOK!" 

Thank you, sweet friend, for making this possible! It was such a treat for our boys!

{real}

Of my parents twelve children only a few of us still live in the area. It isn't very often that we are all together, it wasn't quite everyone, but this Christmas my parents, nine of my younger sibling, and Brian's wife and two girls, all came over for drinks and dessert!

The kids played Mr. Men and Little Miss Christmas Mad Libs with their aunts and uncles.

And Kevin kept everyone entertained with his new remote control drone.
(I'm going to have to keep these in mind for my boys! Very fun!)

My husband took a picture of all of us before they left. This picture is just missing my brother Sean and my sister Jamie, who both live on the East coast.  Hopefully someday we will all have the opportunity to be together again.

From left to right: Julianna, Brian, JoAnn, David, Mom, Dad, Jessica, Kevin, Mary, Jennifer, Scott, and Paul

The Catholic Child and The Blessed Virgin

My dear Child: 

The Blessed Virgin is your Mother in Heaven.

She loves you because her Son, Jesus, loves you and has died for you.

Vintage 1960 edition of Jesus, Make Me Worthy

She is anxious to help you.  

You may be sure that she will hear your prayers.

She is powerfully with Jesus.  

He will not refuse her anything she asks.

The children decorated cupcakes (made with Wilton Heart Silicone Baking Cups) for the Immaculate Heart or Mary

Is it not wonderful to have this lovely Queen of Heaven for your mother? You must try to show her that you love her.

Pray to her every day. Let her sweet name and that of Jesus be first on your lips in the morning and last at night.

Hand Embroidered Scapular with the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Wear the Scapular and Miraculous Medal.  It is a sign that you are hers.

The scapulars you can usually spot our children wearing were gifts from one of their Uncles,
 after he gave a retreat for the sisters at the Carmel of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
You can order them directly from the sisters here. 

Say her Rosary. It is a wreath of beautiful roses which you can lay at her feet.

Crocheted Rosary Roses for the little ones to count the prayers of each decade of our Family Rosary

Imitate her virtues.  Try to avoid the least sin; be humble and obedient, and love Jesus with all your soul. 

Family Read-Aloud for today's feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - A Holy Card Prayer Book Volume I & II

Remember, O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, and sought thine intercession, was left forsaken.  Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins! my Mother.  To thee I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.  O mother of the Word! despise not my words, but graciously hear and grant my prayer. Amen.

Excerpt from Jesus, Make Me Worthy - a reprint of the original can be found here.

I hope you all had a very blessed feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!