#WorthRevisit: Easter Calendar Craft

The Easter season is underway and there are so many fun and exciting things to do with your families to bring it to life! How are you celebrating the 50 days leading up to Pentacost?

Here is my #WorthRevisit with Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb.

Easter Calendar Craft

Decorating my home with the colors and smells of the season make me so happy! Easter is definitely one of my favorites because it symbolizes a renewal and cleanness that extends throughout the house. I also love that we have 40 days of fasting, praying and alms giving that ends with 50 days of Easter celebrations! To aid in our celebrating I created an Easter calendar that has something fun for the family to do everyday during the Easter Season.

Here are the 50 ideas I came up with for this Easter Season, Day 1 starts on Sunday, March 27, 2016:

1. Easter: Hang the Alleluia Banner and have a Resurrection Party

2. Dyngus Day: Slovakian tradition on Easter Monday to celebrate with a water fight (snowball fight here because it is still SNOWING!)

3. Make some White Hot Chocolate

4. National Take a Walk in a Park Day: Let's go to a local park we have never been to before

5. National Agricultural Day: Let's checkout a local farmer's market today

6. April Fools Day: Dress up in something silly

7. International Childrens' Book Day: Go to the Library and find some good books to read together

8. Divine Mercy Sunday: Celebrate with the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm and color a Divine Mercy Coloring page

9. Annunciation of the Lord: also known as "Waffle Day"! Have a Blueberry Waffle breakfast

10. Feast of Vincent Ferrer and National Deep Dish Pizza Day: St. Vincent is the patron saint of brick makers and construction workers so let's build something with Legos and enjoy some pizza!

11. Family Game Night

12. Feast of Saint John the Baptist de la Salle and National Beer Day: Bring your teacher a special treat and drink a Root beer in honor of today

13. No School Today! Mommy and Sons Date :) 

14. National Chicken Little Awareness Day: Read and watch the story of Chicken Little

15. National Siblings Day: Do something EXTRA nice for your siblings!

16. National Pet Day: Get Lemon and Felix a special treat like catnip to celebrate them today

17. Scrabble Day: Tomorrow is actually National Scrabble Day but we have something extra special planned for tomorrow, so lets play it today.

18. Friends and Family Night at Daddy's Restaurant

19. National Pecan Day: Enjoy some pecan ice cream 

20. Movie Night complete with candy, popcorn and soda

21. Historical Feast of Saint Bernadette: Watch Saint Bernadette cartoon and enjoy a jello "spring" snack 

22. National Haiku Poetry Day: Let's write a beautiful poem together

23. The Boston Marathon is today! Go on a Family Run

24. Breakfast for Dinner tonight

25. Feast of Saint Bueno: He is the patron saint of sick children. Let's bring a special treat to the children at Memorial Hospital

26. Ice Cream Sundays for dessert tonight

27. Earth Day: Let's plant some flowers on our patio and watch the Lorax!

28. Feast of Saint George the Dragon Slayer: Enjoy some fish and chips while we learn about this really amazing Saint

29. Let's go to the zoo today. Don't forget your zoo passports!

30. Feast of Saint Mark: Enjoy a bowl of cherries like Saint Gregory the Great and read about Saint Mark and the legend of the cherries

31. Our Lady of Good Counsel: Learn about the Battle of Lepanto today 

32. Feast of Saint Zita "The Little Cook": Let's bake some bread in honor of this little saint

33. Feast of Saint Gianna: Let's have an Italian dinner in honor of this Italian mother

34. Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena: Saint Catherine had her hair cut for respecting her chastity. Today is a good day to honor her with some new haircuts

35. Feast of Saint Walburga: Celebrate Walpurgis Night with a fire, sparkling juice and prayers for the summer season to come

36. Saint Joseph the Workman: Let's do something special for daddy today

37. Send letters/ cards to friends and family! Remember Mother's Day is coming too!

38. Saint James: Saint James is the patron saint of hat makers! Its the perfect day to create our Kentucky Derby Hats and chose our bowties for this Saturday

39. Star Wars Day: May the 4th be with you and watch some Star Wars Shows

40. Ascension Thursday: Enjoy an Ascension Picnic Dinner

41. Cinco de mayo was yesterday but let's have a Mexican Fiesta for dinner tonight

42. Kentucky Derby: Ladies wear your big hats and boys your bows! Time for a Derby Party!

43. Mother's Day: Let's have a May Crowning Celebration in honor of our Blessed Mother

44. Celebrate this beautiful spring day with a delicious smoothie 

45. Blessed Damien of Moloka'i: Have a Hawaiian Luau and call Papa D today because Saint Damien is one of his patron saints

46. Start writing a summer bucket list in preparation for the end of the Easter Season

47. Blessed Imelda Lambertini: Listen to the Holy Heroes Blessed Imelda CD and reminisce about our family's First Holy Communion

48. Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and Friday the 13th: Pray a rosary together as a family and watch a Tim Burton Movie for a movie night

49. Letter Carriers Food Drive Day: Donate canned goods through this food drive or at a shelter

50. Pentecost: Celebrate the Church's Birthday with a party

I wrote all these ideas on individual blank egg shaped paper I found at coloring-page-art.blogspot.com  and I am going to cut them out and decorate a white poster board throughout Easter. It is still a work in progress so I will post about the final product later :)

Sunday, March 27, 2016
Easter Calendar Craft
Decorating my home with the colors and smells of the season make me so happy! Easter is definitely one of my favorites because it symbolizes a renewal and cleanness that extends throughout the house. I also love that we have 40 days of fasting, praying and alms giving that ends with 50 days of Easter celebrations! To aid in our celebrating I created an Easter calendar that has something fun for the family to do everyday during the Easter Season.
Here are the 50 ideas I came up with for this Easter Season, Day 1 starts on Sunday, March 27, 2016:
1. Easter: Hang the Alleluia Banner and have a Resurrection Party
2. Dyngus Day: Slovakian tradition on Easter Monday to celebrate with a water fight (snowball fight here because it is still SNOWING!)
3. Make some White Hot Chocolate
4. National Take a Walk in a Park Day: Let's go to a local park we have never been to before
5. National Agricultural Day: Let's checkout a local farmer's market today
6. April Fools Day: Dress up in something silly
7. International Childrens' Book Day: Go to the Library and find some good books to read together
8. Divine Mercy Sunday: Celebrate with the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm and color a Divine Mercy Coloring page
9. Annunciation of the Lord: also known as "Waffle Day"! Have a Blueberry Waffle breakfast
10. Feast of Vincent Ferrer and National Deep Dish Pizza Day: St. Vincent is the patron saint of brick makers and construction workers so let's build something with Legos and enjoy some pizza!
11. Family Game Night
12. Feast of Saint John the Baptist de la Salle and National Beer Day: Bring your teacher a special treat and drink a Root beer in honor of today
13. No School Today! Mommy and Sons Date :) 
14. National Chicken Little Awareness Day: Read and watch the story of Chicken Little
15. National Siblings Day: Do something EXTRA nice for your siblings!
16. National Pet Day: Get Lemon and Felix a special treat like catnip to celebrate them today
17. Scrabble Day: Tomorrow is actually National Scrabble Day but we have something extra special planned for tomorrow, so lets play it today.
18. Friends and Family Night at Daddy's Restaurant
19. National Pecan Day: Enjoy some pecan ice cream 
20. Movie Night complete with candy, popcorn and soda
21. Historical Feast of Saint Bernadette: Watch Saint Bernadette cartoon and enjoy a jello "spring" snack 
22. National Haiku Poetry Day: Let's write a beautiful poem together
23. The Boston Marathon is today! Go on a Family Run
24. Breakfast for Dinner tonight
25. Feast of Saint Bueno: He is the patron saint of sick children. Let's bring a special treat to the children at Memorial Hospital
26. Ice Cream Sundays for dessert tonight
27. Earth Day: Let's plant some flowers on our patio and watch the Lorax!
28. Feast of Saint George the Dragon Slayer: Enjoy some fish and chips while we learn about this really amazing Saint
29. Let's go to the zoo today. Don't forget your zoo passports!
30. Feast of Saint Mark: Enjoy a bowl of cherries like Saint Gregory the Great and read about Saint Mark and the legend of the cherries
31. Our Lady of Good Counsel: Learn about the Battle of Lepanto today 
32. Feast of Saint Zita "The Little Cook": Let's bake some bread in honor of this little saint
33. Feast of Saint Gianna: Let's have an Italian dinner in honor of this Italian mother
34. Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena: Saint Catherine had her hair cut for respecting her chastity. Today is a good day to honor her with some new haircuts
35. Feast of Saint Walburga: Celebrate Walpurgis Night with a fire, sparkling juice and prayers for the summer season to come
36. Saint Joseph the Workman: Let's do something special for daddy today
37. Send letters/ cards to friends and family! Remember Mother's Day is coming too!
38. Saint James: Saint James is the patron saint of hat makers! Its the perfect day to create our Kentucky Derby Hats and chose our bowties for this Saturday
39. Star Wars Day: May the 4th be with you and watch some Star Wars Shows
40. Ascension Thursday: Enjoy an Ascension Picnic Dinner
41. Cinco de mayo was yesterday but let's have a Mexican Fiesta for dinner tonight
42. Kentucky Derby: Ladies wear your big hats and boys your bows! Time for a Derby Party!
43. Mother's Day: Let's have a May Crowning Celebration in honor of our Blessed Mother
44. Celebrate this beautiful spring day with a delicious smoothie 
45. Blessed Damien of Moloka'i: Have a Hawaiian Luau and call Papa D today because Saint Damien is one of his patron saints
46. Start writing a summer bucket list in preparation for the end of the Easter Season
47. Blessed Imelda Lambertini: Listen to the Holy Heroes Blessed Imelda CD and reminisce about our family's First Holy Communion
48. Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and Friday the 13th: Pray a rosary together as a family and watch a Tim Burton Movie for a movie night
49. Letter Carriers Food Drive Day: Donate canned goods through this food drive or at a shelter
50. Pentecost: Celebrate the Church's Birthday with a party


I wrote all these ideas on individual blank egg shaped paper I found at coloring-page-art.blogspot.com  and I am going to cut them out and decorate a white poster board throughout Easter. It is still a work in progress so I will post about the final product later :)

My Sunday Best: Divine Mercy Sunday

This post may contain affiliate links that I receive a small commission. It does not change the price for you but it is a small blessing to my family. All opinions are my own.

Today is one of my most favorite days in the Liturgical year! Divine Mercy Sunday. I have always had a deep love of this Feast day, especially after I read Saint Faustina's Diary:Divine Mercy in my Heart. It is one of those books that talks to your soul. As I grew older, I also became attached to the Divine Mercy Chaplet. If you haven't had the pleasure of chanting this mesmerizing prayer, today would be the best day to try it out! 

I especially love that the portrait of Divine Mercy is placed near the altar for all to see. The portrait of Divine Mercy is among my favorite painting of Jesus. The symbolism and simplicity of the portrait speak to my heart. 

“The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls... These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him”. (Diary 299)

I have always struggled with Reconciliation. It scares me. I do not feel I deserve pardon from my sins. I fight myself each time I participate in this Sacrament. I am a sinner. I always will be because I am human but I am so grateful that God has given me a way to clean my soul, even when I don't deserve it. Divine Mercy Sunday is one of the best days to participate in Reconciliation because of the special graces that you can receive today. 

Our Lord Jesus said, "The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.... Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy." (699) The plenary indulgence that was issued for Divine Mercy Sunday does not change the promises of Our Lord. Rather it provides the Church's highest mark of approval and endorsement and gives souls more time to go to Confession.

Now for some exciting news! For the past few years I have been praying about whether or not to veil. Today I made the jump and wore my first mantilla to Reconciliation, Adoration and Mass. It was an amazing experience. I felt more reverent and I felt a deeper love and connection between myself and Christ today. Do you Veil? Or perhaps know someone who does? If you have been feeling the pull to try out this beautiful and meaningful devotion, I feel you should give it a try. 

The Mantilla I am wearing I purchased from an adorable Catholic shop in Manitou Springs called Windows of Heaven. It is a Mantilla made by Veils by Lily and I think it is gorgeous. I love the design and the contrast of colors. Goalie, my youngest, kept telling me I looked like Mary. That was the biggest compliment he could have ever given me and I'm sure he doesn't understand that looking like Mary... reverent, modest and and all those wholesome things is part of the reason to veil.

Here are some scripture and quotes to consider during your decision about whether or not to veil:

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

1 Corinthians 11:4

Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.

1 Corinthians 11:5

A man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

1 Corinthians 11:7

The woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

1 Corinthians 11:10

St. John Chrysostom also spoke both of angels and the veiling of women:

“The angels are present here . . . Open the eyes of faith and look upon this sight. For if the very air is filled with angels, how much more so the Church! . . . Hear the Apostle teaching this, when he bids the women to cover their heads with a veil because of the presence of the angels.”

 Today was an amazing day and I feel blessed that I was able to receive absolution from my sins, receive Communion and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy with my children. I began a new devotion that makes me grow in my relationship with our Lord and I feel renewed after a hard Lent. I hope the blessings of today have touched you the way they have me. I am linking this with Rosie over at A Blog for my Mom.

If you have a portrait of the Divine Mercy in your home, here is a blessing that you could do to end your Divine Mercy Sunday:

Image Blessing on Mercy Sunday

Almighty and Eternal Father, in your goodness, bless and sanctify this Image of The Divine Mercy, Your dearly beloved Son, which has been fashioned to reveal to us the great love of our Crucified and Risen Savior, The Divine Mercy Personified. Help us recall to our minds the streams of Blood and Water that had gushed forth from His pierced Heart to be for us a continuous fount of mercy.  Grant to all who invoke Your Mercy with this Image before their eyes, the grace of true repentance, pardon and peace.  Shield them from every danger to soul and body in this life.

Jesus, our loving Savior, establish in this Image the Throne of Your Mercy.  Pour out upon all of us, who approach it with faith and trust, the purifying, healing and sanctifying rays of grace ever emanating from it as a blazing star.  Gaze upon us as you did from the Cross with your great love and mercy so that we may be filled with your grace.

Through this Image, may Your Divine Mercy triumph over all the powers of evil.  May all who venerate this Image never perish.  May it be their joy in life, their hope in death, and their glory in eternity for ever and ever.

This we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord.  Amen!

Resurrection Party 2016

The newness of Easter and Spring are so refreshing and motivating! Thanks to some great spring cleaning during Lent, my house is feeling less cluttered and more open. In our house we also do the Easter Bunny thing but we have him hang our Alleluia banner that has been "buried" throughout Lent and exchanges the beans from our sacrifice jar into jelly beans (he always includes the jelly bean prayer too ). The Easter Bunny also brings other religious treats and gifts. In the past he has brought saint metals, rosaries, bibles and saint cards. This year he brought chocolate crosses, religious pencils and biblical books for the boys this year.

Since Lent is a season of fasting, we had to start our Easter season with a BANG! We are huge donut lovers and we always make sure to have some special donuts for breakfast on Easter Sunday morning. If we buy a dozen that allows everyone to have 3.... which is 3 more than I need but they are so yummy looking and tasting!!!

Even though we have the Easter Bunny bring our boys baskets, we don't take them to any Easter egg hunts or to visit with the Easter Bunny until Easter Sunday. I think Little Man may be growing out of visiting with our fuzzy friend but he was still cooperative for his little brother's sake. This was the first year Goalie wasn't afraid to be near the Easter Bunny! I was so proud of my big boy!

Bass Pro is such a nice company for giving a free photo to families for coming to visit the Easter Bunny. I really think it is awful that Malls charge such high amounts for holiday photos and I am glad for this alternative. The boys also enjoyed the enormous fish tank they have at Bass Pro and because Goalie was such a brave boy with the Easter Bunny this year, they picked some apple flavored licorice. And for some reason they also wanted to take a picture with this moose that was near the waiting area for pictures. My boys crack me up!

After our trip to the Bunny, it was time to head home and enjoy the rest of our first White Easter in Colorado with some quiet time, movies and of course, FOOD! I made a smaller Easter meal than usual but for lunch we had egg salad... thanks to the many Star Wars decorated eggs sitting in the refrigerator... we may be having egg salad for the next week for lunch. 

I was unable to get pictures of the Spiral Ham and sides I made because we ate most of it. Only a little ham was left over. We also gorged ourselves on licorice, jelly beans, peeps and chocolate. My stomach is still hurting its so full from our Resurrection Party. I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your Easter Sunday with two more pictures of my family. Looks like we need to invest in a "selfie stick" so we can get pictures of the whole family at home :) I never thought I would say or even think those words HAHA. 

Happy Easter!

Easter Calendar Craft

Decorating my home with the colors and smells of the season make me so happy! Easter is definitely one of my favorites because it symbolizes a renewal and cleanness that extends throughout the house. I also love that we have 40 days of fasting, praying and alms giving that ends with 50 days of Easter celebrations! To aid in our celebrating I created an Easter calendar that has something fun for the family to do everyday during the Easter Season.

Here are the 50 ideas I came up with for this Easter Season, Day 1 starts on Sunday, March 27, 2016:

1. Easter: Hang the Alleluia Banner and have a Resurrection Party

2. Dyngus Day: Slovakian tradition on Easter Monday to celebrate with a water fight (snowball fight here because it is still SNOWING!)

3. Make some White Hot Chocolate

4. National Take a Walk in a Park Day: Let's go to a local park we have never been to before

5. National Agricultural Day: Let's checkout a local farmer's market today

6. April Fools Day: Dress up in something silly

7. International Childrens' Book Day: Go to the Library and find some good books to read together

8. Divine Mercy Sunday: Celebrate with the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm and color a Divine Mercy Coloring page

9. Annunciation of the Lord: also known as "Waffle Day"! Have a Blueberry Waffle breakfast

10. Feast of Vincent Ferrer and National Deep Dish Pizza Day: St. Vincent is the patron saint of brick makers and construction workers so let's build something with Legos and enjoy some pizza!

11. Family Game Night

12. Feast of Saint John the Baptist de la Salle and National Beer Day: Bring your teacher a special treat and drink a Root beer in honor of today

13. No School Today! Mommy and Sons Date :) 

14. National Chicken Little Awareness Day: Read and watch the story of Chicken Little

15. National Siblings Day: Do something EXTRA nice for your siblings!

16. National Pet Day: Get Lemon and Felix a special treat like catnip to celebrate them today

17. Scrabble Day: Tomorrow is actually National Scrabble Day but we have something extra special planned for tomorrow, so lets play it today.

18. Friends and Family Night at Daddy's Restaurant

19. National Pecan Day: Enjoy some pecan ice cream 

20. Movie Night complete with candy, popcorn and soda

21. Historical Feast of Saint Bernadette: Watch Saint Bernadette cartoon and enjoy a jello "spring" snack 

22. National Haiku Poetry Day: Let's write a beautiful poem together

23. The Boston Marathon is today! Go on a Family Run

24. Breakfast for Dinner tonight

25. Feast of Saint Bueno: He is the patron saint of sick children. Let's bring a special treat to the children at Memorial Hospital

26. Ice Cream Sundays for dessert tonight

27. Earth Day: Let's plant some flowers on our patio and watch the Lorax!

28. Feast of Saint George the Dragon Slayer: Enjoy some fish and chips while we learn about this really amazing Saint

29. Let's go to the zoo today. Don't forget your zoo passports!

30. Feast of Saint Mark: Enjoy a bowl of cherries like Saint Gregory the Great and read about Saint Mark and the legend of the cherries

31. Our Lady of Good Counsel: Learn about the Battle of Lepanto today 

32. Feast of Saint Zita "The Little Cook": Let's bake some bread in honor of this little saint

33. Feast of Saint Gianna: Let's have an Italian dinner in honor of this Italian mother

34. Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena: Saint Catherine had her hair cut for respecting her chastity. Today is a good day to honor her with some new haircuts

35. Feast of Saint Walburga: Celebrate Walpurgis Night with a fire, sparkling juice and prayers for the summer season to come

36. Saint Joseph the Workman: Let's do something special for daddy today

37. Send letters/ cards to friends and family! Remember Mother's Day is coming too!

38. Saint James: Saint James is the patron saint of hat makers! Its the perfect day to create our Kentucky Derby Hats and chose our bowties for this Saturday

39. Star Wars Day: May the 4th be with you and watch some Star Wars Shows

40. Ascension Thursday: Enjoy an Ascension Picnic Dinner

41. Cinco de mayo was yesterday but let's have a Mexican Fiesta for dinner tonight

42. Kentucky Derby: Ladies wear your big hats and boys your bows! Time for a Derby Party!

43. Mother's Day: Let's have a May Crowning Celebration in honor of our Blessed Mother

44. Celebrate this beautiful spring day with a delicious smoothie 

45. Blessed Damien of Moloka'i: Have a Hawaiian Luau and call Papa D today because Saint Damien is one of his patron saints

46. Start writing a summer bucket list in preparation for the end of the Easter Season

47. Blessed Imelda Lambertini: Listen to the Holy Heroes Blessed Imelda CD and reminisce about our family's First Holy Communion

48. Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and Friday the 13th: Pray a rosary together as a family and watch a Tim Burton Movie for a movie night

49. Letter Carriers Food Drive Day: Donate canned goods through this food drive or at a shelter

50. Pentecost: Celebrate the Church's Birthday with a party

I wrote all these ideas on individual blank egg shaped paper I found at coloring-page-art.blogspot.com  and I am going to cut them out and decorate a white poster board throughout Easter. It is still a work in progress so I will post about the final product later :)

Easter Resolutions

During Holy Week I do a lot of meditation and  have realized as every Lent comes to a close, I feel that the progress I have made in my spiritual life just resorts back to what is routine for my family in our prayer lives. This year I wanted to make a difference. Similar to the idea of people that utilize New Year's Resolutions to help them down the path to their goals, I wanted to make Easter Resolutions. I want the roots of my faith to stay strong throughout my life and not just during the Lenten Season or when I feel I am going through a tough time. I want these Easter Resolutions to continue to touch my spiritual growth as it does during Lent but not to accomplish these resolutions as a penance but as a gift I have been given. These can be stepping stones to help my growth like the large leaps I attempt to make during Lent.

Easter Resolutions 2016

1. Attend daily mass at least one time a week.

We attend Sunday mass and Holy Days of obligations but I have only ever attended daily mass during Lent. I made a commitment to attend weekly mass during Lent 2-3 times weekly. I do love weekly mass but I never make an effort outside of Lent to attend and I think that I can make the commitment to attend daily mass at least once a week throughout the year.

2. Attend Confession every 2 weeks.

During Lent I make an effort to attend Confession at least once a week but outside of Lent I fall back into my families normal routine of once a month. Confession has always been a hard Sacrament for me because I honestly feel awful admitting the sins I have committed when God has blessed me so much in my life. I am ashamed to say I allow my guilt to hold me back from this Sacrament. I hope that attending every other week I will become more conscience of the sins that I commit repeatedly and I can fully appreciate the immensity of this amazing Sacrament. Eventually I would like this resolution to evolve into a once a week event as well.

3. Pray a decade a day

I am actually happy to say that I have been very dedicated to praying my Rosary daily sometimes multiple times a day throughout this past Lent. I love the beauty of the prayers and mysteries of the Rosary and I have faltered many times in my past efforts to continue my Rosary Devotions after the completion of Lent. I know that if I have found time these past 6 weeks to pray a daily Rosary it should be no problem to at least pray one decade a day. This will be a stepping stone to a daily rosary throughout the year.

4. Abstinence on all Fridays

As you will come to figure out, my entire family loves routine. That is why I feel these Easter Resolutions will help me past Lent because I want to make these steps in my faith routine versus something I just complete as the minimum requirements. Abstinence for our family dinners has never been a problem because I do my best to plan our meals for the week. It is normally our breakfast and/or lunches that we would struggle to remember to eat no meat. I think that incorporating abstinence on all Fridays will be an easy incorporation and it will even help add some more variety to our dinner menu.

5.  Dress in your Sunday Best

This particular Easter Resolution is very important. I have realized that I normally dress nicer for Mass but we should always dress in our Sunday BEST in honor of our wonderful God. I am more guilty of allowing my children throw something on lately (Goalie has worn his play jeans that ar riddled with holes twice this past month because I was in a hurry to get us to Mass on time) and I intend to instill this respectful deed into them. They are aware they have nicer clothing for church and other religious activities but I have fallen away from creating this into a habit. My family is not rich by any means and I hope that this resolution of mine is not offensive to anyone  My intention here is to dress my family in the best of what we have not the best of what others own. 

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These are my five Easter Resolutions. On this Good Friday I intend to continue in my spiritual journey. Easter is a time of renewal and new life. I think these Easter Resolutions grasp that concept

. Keeping your eye on the prize is so important in achieving what you want in your life. I have always been very good at setting goals and a plan to reach them but for some reason I have never done this in my spiritual life. That is changing today! I hope and pray that these Easter Resolutions are an inspiration to those who struggle the way I do to stay consistent. I am inviting everyone to join me and please tell me what you think would be some more Easter Resolutions that would help benefit my goal to grow in faith!

Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday

We spent Holy Saturday preparing for Easter Sunday!

I helped Little Man make his first set of Resurrection Eggs!

I bought some plastic eggs at the Dollar Tree and used this link here for some pictures to place inside each egg. Little Man loved coloring the pictures and I allowed him to place each step of the Resurrection into the corresponding egg as we discussed each picture and scripture reading.

We also colored our Easter eggs as a family Saturday night (Daddy actually had the night off with us) before our first attempt at baking Resurrection Cookies.

Here are our beautiful eggs! Everyone had a great time and we have tons of boiled eggs for deviled eggs and egg salad! YUM! We also finished our Holy Road and Lenten Calendar.

I also completed our Easter Calendar today! Its made of 50 plastic eggs that I numbered 1-15. Inside each egg there is a piece of paper with a special activity to help our family celebrate all 50 days of the Easter Season. I got this idea from one of the blogs I came across but I can't find it again to link for people who would be interested in doing a similar version. I believe they placed biblical verses that accompanied another activity their family participated in each Easter. I will update with the link as soon as I can find it again.

You can see where I ran out of the light blue ribbon and finished with purple :o)  

After we placed the baskets on the dinner table, we made our first attempt at Resurrection cookies. All I can say is that you DEFINITELY need a mixer to make these cookies because ours didn't turn out. Thank goodness Easter is a season and we will make them again before Pentecost as soon as we purchase a new mixer of course ;o)

To start our Easter festivities Sunday morning the boys found that the Easter Bunny had come and filled their Easter baskets! They contained chocolate crosses, puzzles, books, toy cars, egg shaped chalk, prayer cards and scapulars and assorted candies.

As you can see from the pictures our sacrifice beans transformed into delicious jelly beans! Our crown of thorns lost all of its thorns and bloomed with Easter lilies as well.

I have to figure out how to download pictures from my phone onto this blog to complete a blog about our Easter Sunday celebration. Until then Happy Easter to your family from ours!

Preparing for Holy Week and Easter

I can not believe that Lent is almost over! I have so many fun crafts and activities to prepare for the next week but it is really exciting getting closer to Easter! I know these plans are very vague but I will elaborate in upcoming posts, I am using this more to organize my thoughts and to take any suggestions anyone may have on these topics

Palm Sunday:

Cover all Religious items with purple cloth for Passion week

Bake Oatmeal date cookies

Make a hand print palm branch

Start our Holy Week Road

Make a caterpillar

Palm Sundaes for dessert

Light candle on table

Holy Thursday:

Easter Break begins

Buy or make hot cross buns for Good Friday's breakfast

Read story of the Last Supper

Create 3D Last Supper Craft

Lenten Dinner

Washing of feet

Good Friday:

Remember today is a day of fasting

Hot cross buns for breakfast

Carry our wooden crosses all day

Make Resurrection Eggs

Make Resurrection Sets

Stations of the Cross

Blow out candle at 3PM

Watch the Animated Passion with the children and Veggie Tales Jonah

Place caterpillar in cocoon

 

Holy Saturday:

No light or fire today

Make Easter Candles

Decorate Easter Eggs

Prepare Easter Baskets

Hang Easter Egg Calendar

Replace beans from Sacrifice Jar with Jelly Beans

Remove caterpillar from bag and replace with a butterfly

Easter Sunday:

Easter Sunday Mass

Celebrate with Easter baskets

Egg Hunt

"Find" and Hang the Alleluia Banner

Bake Resurrection Rolls

Color Resurrection Banners

Easter Feast

I would love any other suggestions to make this a very memorable Easter Celebration for my family so please, tell me about your family traditions and way to celebrate the holiest day of the year!