In Honor of Our Lady of Lourdes

Yesterday morning we woke up to lots of snow, as well as a delayed start for the public schools in our town. This prevented us from being able to make it to Mass and I was pretty sure that we were going to have to cancel some of our plans... It all melted off pretty quickly though, so we were still able to have a couple families over to help us celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

To prepare for the feast, I had painted an Our Lady of Lourdes Wooden Saint to add to our collection.

I painted her on Sunday after a nice big Espresso.
My hands weren't very steady and it shows...

Before our guests arrived, my children and I built a Grotto out of Fruity Pebbles for Our Lady which was SO MUCH fun!! Last night, my friend Mary, suggested that Cocoa Pebbles would also be great since they are brown in color! Why didn't I think of that?! Next year!!


I also planned on baking Blueberry Muffins, but I ran out of time, so I quickly whipped up a box of white cupcakes and threw in the blueberry's. I was disappointed since I had hoped to try out a few of the suggestions in the comments over at Catholic Cuisine, but they tasted fine, or so I was told!

Once everyone arrived, our children all watched Bernadette - The Princess of Lourdes while I brewed a pot of coffee, visited with friends, and finished getting the crafts ready.

Using Charlotte's post as a guide, the children made Marian Grotto's.

Twinkle Toes shares her finished Grotto!

Here are the ones my children made...
Don't they look beautiful lined up on our mantel?!

While the Grotto's were drying (and us mom's were trying to squeeze in just a little more visiting!) the children all colored Charlotte's beautiful illustration of the Immaculate Conception.


After our company left, it was time to make dinner. We had Blueberry Pancakes, followed by blue berry jello "The Spring at the Grotto" for dessert.

I hope you all had a lovely feast of Our Lady of Lourdes too! Please leave me a link if you posted any pictures... I'd love to see them!

Now, to start thinking about St. Valentine's Day... I don't know if I'll have a chance, but Barbara posted a whole bunch of ideas!

Our Lady of Lourdes ~ Pray for us!

A Grotto for Our Lady

A few friends will be arriving shortly to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, and I still need to bake some muffins... But, I just had to jump online real quick and post a picture of our Fruity Pebbles Grotto with you all! Didn't it turn out cute?! We had so much fun putting it together!

I hope you are all having a very blessed feast of Our Lady of Lourdes!

A Shower of Roses

We had so very much fun celebrating the feasts of St. Therese last week! I knew I wouldn't be able to get to everything I planned, but we sure had fun trying!

Here are the highlights of our celebration at home:

Anniversary Roses from Hubby



Homemade (French) Crepes and Mini Éclairs


Chocolate Roses


Excellent Audios and Videos



A hand painted Wee Wooden St. Therese


Beautiful Coloring Pages of St. Therese


Strawberry Rose Cupcakes


Delicious Rose Wine in our wedding champagne glasses!



Paper Roses placed near our St. Therese relic


Rosy Punch


Rose Petal Coconut Cake


My happy children... My "Shower of Roses!"

An Alphabet of Saints

Next week we will begin Along the Alphabet Path.

Along with each letter of the alphabet the children will be introduced (or re-introduced as the case may be) to a Saint using the beautiful book An Alphabet of Catholic Saints.

Elizabeth suggests making a Wee Felt Saint each week. They are darling, however I decided it might be fun to try my hand at painting instead, inspired by Catholic Folk Toys. So, while I was grocery shopping on Saturday, I picked up an inexpensive paintbrush and a bottle of skin tone paint -- I had other colors in my craft bin from some projects I planned last year, which were never completed. I do need to pick up a bottle of blue sometime.

I had never been very good at drawing or painting, but they didn't turn out too bad! I truly surprised myself and my family. My husband said he was "impressed," and Captain said, "WOW mom! I didn't know you were an artist!" It was very cute, and made my day, though I am sure the Saints must have been helping me!!

I painted most of Saturday afternoon/evening and then a couple more hours on Sunday evening. I have only finished A-J, but couldn't wait to share them with you!

I do need to seal them somehow... any suggestions out there for this amateur?

(Updated to add: I'll continue updating this post, as I paint more saints.)


A is for Angel...



and also St. Anne...




B is for St. Bernadette...




C is for St. Cecilia...


This was my first, and my favorite! I always loved St. Cecilia as a child, and always thought she was the most beautiful saint in my Picture Book of Saints. My hubby laughed when he noticed that I highlighted her hair! ;)


D is for St. Dominic...




E is for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton...




F is for St. Francis...




G is for St. George...




H is for St. Helena...




I is for St. Ignatius...




J is for St. Joseph...




K is for St. Kateri...




L is for St. Lucy...




M is for St. Martin...




N is for St. Nicholas...


O is for St. Odilia...




P is for St. Patrick...

Q is for Queen of All Saints...

 

R is for St. Rose...




S is for St. Sharbel...




T is for St. Therese...




U is for St. Ursula...



V is for St. Vincent de Paul...



W is for St. Wenceslas...



X is for St. Francis Xavier...

Y is for St. Joseph Yuen...

 

Z is for St. Zita...

"These are just some of the Saints, 

but there are many more.

They give us good examples

to keep us good and pure."

A few more to add to the collection:

St. Anthony (pictured here)

St. Catherine of Siena (pictured here)
St. Clare (pictured here)
St. Teresa of Andes (pictured here)

Our Lady of Altagracia (pictured here)
Our Lady of Guadalupe (pictured here)
Our Lady of Lourdes (pictured here)

If you end up trying out this idea yourself, let me know... I'd love to see yours too!