In the Face of Scandal

I was 16 when the 2002 scandals broke out. With limited internet access and no newspaper subscription, I was kept blessedly ignorant, for which I'm now thankful. Maybe it saved my faith.

I'd still heard about it, though. I was relieved it hadn't happened in our diocese (although years later I would learn that our diocese wasn't without its own sordid tales). When Jehovah's Witnesses encountered me at home later that year, their eyes lit up when they found out we were a Catholic family.

"So what do you think about the scandals?"

"Well," I answered tritely, "Priests are humans, too. We're all sinners. I think we can extend forgiveness." They never did return, which was probably a wise decision.

Now let's imagine 16-year-old me giving that response to an abuse victim.

Not Holy Enough

I was hugely pregnant, trapped in an MRI machine while they scanned our baby to see if the large mass in her lung was life-threatening or not. The "calming" ocean sounds they piped in through the ear buds didn't do a thing to mask the loud beeps & clunks emanating from the machine. I'm not generally claustrophobic, but being stuck in such a small space certainly made me feel like it.

The Best Vocation (Be a Saint!)

It's Good Shepherd Sunday, and by an accident of circumstances we ended up going to a different Mass than usual, and I'm glad we did! Today especially we pray for vocations, and Father discussed what that really means in his homily, which echoed a lot of the sentiments I feel when it comes to my children and their vocations.

I went about it all wrong at first, I think. Our oldest has always had a keen interest in the liturgy, and started "playing" Mass at a very young age. We encouraged this, talking about how he would be a priest when he grew up, and maybe even a bishop! Or a pope! I hated when he got older and expressed a desire to get married... My little priest! By golly, we're a Good Catholic Family and we're going to show it by having THE MOST VOCATIONS TO THE RELIGIOUS LIFE!!!

Oh wait.

That's not the point of vocations.

Praying the Rosary with Little Kids: 7 Practical Tips

Judging from my Instagram followers, there are a LOT of people who want to pray the rosary every day. How amazing is that?? And what's even more awesome, a ton of people want to pray the rosary with their families! So I gave you tips for praying the rosary on your own and promised family tips later... Here they are!

7 Steps to Praying the Rosary (Every Day!)

I've been talking over on Instagram about praying the rosary and thought I'd share over here as well - blogs are forever, after all, and Instagram stories are only for 24 hours!

Let me preface this whole post by saying the following:

I'm 31 years old.

I only started praying a daily rosary last year.

So... Am I a lifelong devotee? Or an expert of any sort?

Nope.

But... Am I someone who overcame laziness and reluctance to find value in a centuries-old devotion?

Yes!

If you've ever felt even the slightest nudge to start praying the rosary more often (or at all!), Lent is the perfect time to start - the 40 days (not including Sundays) are the perfect amount of time to instill a new habit, and at the very least, you will have managed to memorize all the mysteries and prayers by Easter!

So how can you pray it? Let me tell you what helped me!

Creating a Children's Prayer Table

I visited the kids' Level I Atrium classroom last year (read up on Catechesis of the Good Shepherd here if you're curious) and was inspired to create our own little prayer area for the kids where they could have a little quiet devotion time whenever they wanted. Over the years we've accumulated quite a lot of icons, statues, prayer cards, and other things that don't always get used on a regular basis.

Fasting PSA for Pregnant & Nursing Mamas

Every year around this time I notice a common thread of questions in various facebook groups and online forums - "I'm pregnant/nursing - do I have to fast? Is it really that bad if I do? Should I just do it anyway even though I'm exempt?"

What Your Kids REALLY Need (in their Easter Baskets)

About a year ago the kids were introduced to the Holy Heroes CDs for the first time, through a CD with the stories of Blessed Imelda Lambertini and St. Juan Diego.  That CD has been seriously loved in our house, especially by Cecilia, who was 3 at the time. 

The weekend after she heard the story, she whispered to me at Mass, "Mom...  I want to be like Blessed Imelda."

"Okay honey...  You want to be a saint?"

"No, I want to receive my first communion like her!"

"Well, you'll have to wait until you're older..."

Cecilia, louder, "BUT I WANT TO RECEIVE MY FIRST COMMUNION AND THEN DIE!!!"

Her latest work - she's still got a serious devotion!

The kids kept asking when we could get more Holy Heroes CDs but I just couldn't pick what to get next... So when Jenny from Holy Heroes asked if we'd be interested in reviewing the CDs? We were ALL excited!

Cecilia took ownership of the Stations of the Cross coloring book (and immediately started coloring every picture of Simon of Cyrene with blonde hair and a brown beard. I don't even know...) and John Paul has been cheating and working ahead in his Lenten Adventure Activity Book (which doesn't start until Palm Sunday!).

But their ABSOLUTE favorite thing in the package? The Holy Heroes Matching Game! I wish you could hear Cecilia's gasp when she saw the picture of Blessed Imelda! They've been playing it like Go Fish, which is pretty adorable to hear - "Do you have any Holy Families?"

John Paul chose the story of Blessed Miguel Pro, and we've listened to it a few times already - I think that one in particular is a good one for adults, because there's a little mini-lecture by Patrick Madrid at the end.

And he very carefully wrote a thank you note on a post-it and closed it inside the laptop in order to email it...

A few days later I put in the Stations of the Cross CD for us to pray together - I left it to load, changed Peter's diaper, and came back to sweet Cecilia on her knees praying!

This girl... She and the others have been planning out which CDs we need to get next - they're SO excited! And I have every intention of collecting them all (which is why I signed up for the affiliate program - I'm totally spending any percentage I get from your purchases on more CDs and coloring books for us!).

Of course, they may also have been interested in the random graphics the computer was displaying along with the CD...  But Mary Claire was praying along with us by the end!

The CDs are dramatic representations of the lives of the saints (they also have the Stations of the Cross, Mysteries of the Rosary, and other prayers) - they're vivid, exciting, and completely hold the older kids' attention! The twins are getting there, but they're two... I love that I can send them to the basement while I'm cooking dinner and they're perfectly happy to listen to Glory Stories instead of watching TV! I'm planning on letting the kids listen in the car too, which would be an especially great idea if you drive a lot.

I'm so excited to share these awesome products with you - if you make any purchase from their website before Easter, you can get your own Matching Game for free using the coupon code m4tch4m0m (perfect for Easter baskets!). And the Lenten Adventure Activity Book is 50% off right now as well!

For more information, go check out the Holy Heroes blog and their website.  Thank you so much for any purchases you make through my affiliate link - Cecilia especially will be ecstatic when she gets her Blessed Imelda coloring book in her Easter basket, and John Paul's hoping we can get the St. Faustina CD in time for Divine Mercy Sunday :)

I received complimentary products in exchange for my honest review, but all opinions are my own. I wouldn't have agreed to review these if I didn't already know we'd love them!

Living Lent with the 5-and-Under Crowd: Our Take(s)

Oh I know, you and the entire internet are aaaaall Lented out. I remember a few years ago when I was trying to figure out just how Lent is supposed to WORK when you're 2 years old, there was nothing on the internet to help a sleep-deprived mom out.  I also remember that I can't seem to recall from year to year what we've actually done with the kids so...  This is my lovely online scrapbook of what works for us, and what might not be the best idea...

--1--

Fasting:

John Paul suggested we fast from time outs.  I suggested maybe he fast from disobedience.  Neither of us is getting our way.  But here's some of what we're fasting from as a family:

Food: No meat, no sweets, no booze, no eating out

Screen fasts on Fridays (And we'll pray the Stations of the Cross instead - either with this book or this one) - this is actually not a big deal because the kids only watch TV when I'm making dinner, and on Fridays we'll be going to our parish soup supper...

No TV during the week that isn't specifically religious (CCC movies & Veggie Tales only) - Cecilia FREAKED out at John Paul when she thought he was going to turn on Wild Kratts when he was actually browsing the Veggie Tales movies this afternoon...  So it looks like I don't need help enforcing this fast, and both of the older kids find it completely reasonable, which I think is adorable because I really expected John Paul to fight it!

--2--

Prayer:

My mom pointed out to me today that it looks terrible that Jesus is off to the side and Mary is totally central! We still haven't reset our oratory on the other side of the room, which is where Jesus usually resides - we'll get there!

We've got our prayer chain up to remind us of our special intention for each day - John Paul is great about reading it first thing in the morning and reminding us throughout the day.

None of their intentions this year are as good as the ones like this from last year, sadly...

I also just ordered a thousand craft sticks (no actually, a thousand! But we'll use them for other things too) to let the kids draw a stick with a different prayer written on it every night during our evening prayers - they've gotten into a routine of the exact same prayers every night and I'd like to shake that up!

I started reading this book last year in an attempt at spiritual reading, but then John Paul got his hands on it and it disappeared, so I never finished it...  This year he and I are reading it together, and the reflections so far have been perfectly appropriate for a "I've had 5 kids in 5 years so my brain doesn't really work anymore" mom like me and a "I'm so ridiculously smart I could probably graduate college next year" kid.

--3--

Almsgiving:

I'm at a loss for this one - I know some people do rice bowls and pick a charity to donate to, but we never have cash on hand...  Sweet, sweet John Paul listened carefully to the homily at Mass the Sunday before Last and got a pledge envelope, filled it out, took it home, put his prized $2 bill (a Christmas present) inside, and donated that to our annual Bishop's Lenten Appeal.  The other kids don't really understand money at all, so I'm trying to figure out what will be meaningful for them.

--4--

Activities:

3-year-old John Paul - he was just learning how to write and was trying to write "Dear Jesus, Jesus is dying on the cross for me" but it ended up "Dear Jesus, Jesus is dy IO")

They've been coloring boxes from this calendar (I really like that the Ember days are on there, as well as specific feasts), and we've got more activities planned that I'm hoping will help me be more mindful of how we can relate things to scripture.  Not in a "do all the things" sense but in a "I'm more likely to actually pay attention to today's readings if I have something for the kids to do that's related" sense.



I think the ONE scripture-based craft we did all last year was making apple prints and relating it to Adam & Eve and the serpent.



Tons of great book recommendations here and here - there's not a ton out there so those book lists are helpful for me!

I have to find our copies of The Donkey that No One Could Ride and The Tale of Three Trees - the kids adore them and they're perfect for Lent & Easter.

--5--

Food:

We'll be making pretzels again this year, although I've done it from a mix the past couple of years and that seems silly when I know it's not really that hard...  Do you have a recipe you like?





Passion Pita Pizzas - we made these two years ago on Good Friday and the kids still talk about how the stripes on the pita bread are like the stripes on Jesus' back (which can get awkward when there's company over...).  They assume we're making them again this year, so we probably will!





We also made an edible "crown of thorns" (that just looked like a lump...) with my favorite focaccia recipe and pretzels last year:



These Easter Story Cookies are a perfect activity for that quiet time on Holy Saturday when you don't quite know *what* to do - last year we made them but didn't have any nuts, so I used some leftover pretzels and they actually tasted amazing!

--6--

Misses:



We tried for two years to do a bean jar - put a bean in every time you make a sacrifice.  And both years the kids were SO excited about it for the first week or so, and then stopped caring and we just ended up having a jar of beans that mysteriously kept getting emptied out onto the floor...

So we're trying a crown of thorns this year (with this grapevine wreath), and I'm not entirely sure it'll work in terms of getting the kids to make sacrifices, but at least it *feels* very Lenten ;)

--7--

What works for YOU with really young kids in the house?  I feel like the temptation to do all the things is so real, but so is the temptation to give myself a pass because hey, life is hard enough already!

Linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes - check out more posts!

Amazon links are affiliate links - thanks for funding our Easter treats this year!

Christmas & the Cross

I'm going to admit something to you...  It was not a great Advent over here.

We did our *stuff* - our Advent stuff, the reading of the books and the lighting of the candles, and the singing of O Come, O Come Emmanuel (including, near the end, a full candlelit "procession" and dance party done by the children every night after dinner).  

But I spent most of that time of preparation, the time I needed to be preparing my heart for the birth of Christ, feeling extraordinarily frustrated and exhausted.  And I think I've figured out why.

One of the really difficult things about observing the liturgical year and not the secular year is that our culture really jumps the gun on this whole Christmas thing.  Thanksgiving ends and everyone pulls out their tree, lights go up, carols are sung, cookies are baked...  The party begins loooong before the birthday arrives.

But over here we started slow - we pulled out the nativities (minus baby Jesus!), eventually put up lights, and finally got our tree put up and decorated on Christmas Eve.  But I was feeling so antsy about everything the whole time - here was what seemed like everyone around me already celebrating, but my heart wasn't ready for that and I really wanted to be ready.

Not working this year means I wasn't spending September, October, and November preparing the Christmas & Winter-themed songs my choirs would be performing in December.  And I think that's one thing that has actually gotten me more prepared for greeting our Savior come December 25.  Trying to live such an austere life in the midst of merriment was depressing!

Add to that the fact that I felt like December is the time when everyone in the world becomes a kinder person, and Christmas cheer is all around, so shouldn't life feel perfect?  But no, our December was filled with my husband's extra rehearsals, extra night meetings, and more solo bedtimes than I can count.  

Jesus was about to be born, so shouldn't everything feel merry and bright?  

I wasn't allowing myself the regular ups and downs of life, but only reflecting extremely negatively any time anything bad happened over here.  Because nothing bad should happen, because BABY JESUS!!!

And then it occurred to me...  Jesus wasn't exactly born into this world to bring us candy and presents and make us feel the warm fuzzies.

Nope.  There's still that whole "died on a cross to save us from our sins" thing we have to remember.  We cannot have a Christmas without the Cross.

So next year I'll come up with a better game plan.  I don't know what it'll be, but the constant resentment that things weren't perfect was not good for my soul.  After all, was everything perfect when our Savior was born in a dirty stable amongst smelly animals?  And I'll try to keep reminding myself that Christmas isn't just about warm, cuddly Baby Jesus.  We know how the story ends, and it's wonderful but also terrible.  Lord, please help me remember.

A Squeaky Clean Soul!

A year ago today we received the surprising news that my dad had passed away.  But what should have been a day of grieving was instead a day of joy as we welcomed the newest member of our family into the Church!

Despite Elizabeth's frequent proclamations of "Wub a dub dub, two babies in a tub!!!" and Mary Claire's insistence on dancing in circles in front of the statue of Mary, it went fairly smoothly.

John Paul has rediscovered Calvin & Hobbes, and I can only guess that that's where he got the inspiration for his facial expressions?

And now the twins' new favorite phrase is, "PEEDA!  You. A. BAPTISM!!!"  *wild giggles*

And now to get the baby to bed and marvel at the hair styling properties of chrism...  Would you say a quick prayer for the repose of my dad's soul before you call it quits for the night?  Many thanks :)

Halloween & All Saints Costume Recap

I don't know when Halloween became a "thing" with the older kids.  I very much do not care about any aspect of the holiday aside from the free candy, because I have always been a rather candy-driven person (I know, I know, I'm 28 years old and still consume WAY more candy than a normal human being).  

But lo and behold, back in August Cecilia decided she was going to be a fairy for Halloween.  And she did NOT stray from her desire.  Andrew wasn't a huge fan, because he'd rather they just do Saint costumes and stick with those, but there is no convincing a 3-year-old.  And really, I found the perfect costume for the dress-up bin, so it all worked out.

I took Mary Claire and Elizabeth to the dollar store to finish up the big kids' costumes on Wednesday - Elizabeth picked out a heart wand for Cecilia ("Mom, WHY DID SHE NOT CHOOSE THE BUTTERFLY WAND???") and we got John Paul a dinosaur hat.  

Flexi clipped her hair, Tinkerbell-style.  Oh goodness she was the cutest!  And after every house she gleefully exclaimed, "Mom!!!  I got CANDY!!!"

The twins were given options from the dress up bins - Mary Claire chose a cow costume but it really barely fit on her, and we had just unearthed the cupcake hats Aunt Sister made for them last Christmas, so she was a...  Cupcake ballerina?  Well, she refused to wear the hat outside...  Actually, she refused to do much of anything.  Good thing she wasn't going to eat any of that candy anyway! 

John Paul wanted to be a dinosaur.  But NOT a green dinosaur (because, you know, we could have borrowed a costume for that and it would have been too easy...).  And no spikes, because, oh yeah, he wanted to be a Utahraptor.  A yellow one.  With brown spots.  And ONE brown spot on his tail.

Um, he kind of looked like Pikachu...  But I had all the fabric already, so it was easy enough.

Elizabeth has been obsessed with those pants since they made their way out of the hand-me-down bin.  And the hat - she wears it all day long.  She got HANDFULS of extra candy during trick or treating because she's so freaking adorable, even though she refused to look at half the people handing out candy because, hello, strangers!  Pretty young women got the full effect of her adorable-ness.  And the man in the blue afro wig.  Everybody else got a face buried in my skirt.

Blurry "Tinkerbell"

Cupcake twins

If there's one thing I've taught them well, it's how to pose for pictures!

Oh wait...

One more shot of the Utahraptor for good measure...

Anyway, we did minimal trick or treating with friends in our own neighborhood (there comes a point where the weak are separated from the strong - Mary Claire and Elizabeth just couldn't keep up with the super-fast 4 & 5-year-old crowd, and neither could I!), but still ended up with boatloads of candy because, duh, four kids.  

"You can each choose 10 pieces of candy to keep for your own dessert supply!"

"Mom, I'm just going to keep it all."

"No you're not."

"Well, just 10 of each."

"Nope."

They didn't even ask what we did with the rest...  Yeah, it's in the basement where Mom & Dad have full access.

Anyway, I've got mixed feelings on Halloween.  There's just so MUCH fuss about a really unimportant "holiday" and a lot of extra work if we're going to observe All Saints' Day properly...  So I told them that if they want to be something that doesn't work with a Saint costume next year, they're in charge of figuring that out on their own...  John Paul has already decided on "Superhero" which just means wearing a cape from the dress up bin.  

Today he was dressed as St. Benedict, although we never did quite make it into full costume...

And Cecilia has been wearing her St. Bernadette "costume" for months.  Mary Claire and Elizabeth were NOT having it, so next year maybe we'll plan better.  Or just not care and go low-key again...  

We were hoping to have a big All Saints party but Andrew had to sing an evening Mass and I was just too tired to plan anything...  And honestly, we spend so much time immersed in the lives of the saints that there wasn't much to do aside from a nice long family litany during bedtime prayers.  At which point somehow we got on the topic of the British Reformation and I had to explain "the bad king" who didn't want to obey the pope and decided to start his own church. (Is he still alive, Mom?  Um, no...)

And then Cecilia wanted to know if he had any kids, and what THEY did, and why did Elizabeth kill so many Catholics?  And we should probably pray for her.

Of course, the expert in British history (Andrew) was out of the house so there was a lot of, "Ask Dad tomorrow!  I don't know!!!" 

Let's just be glad they haven't started asking about Luther...

Enough of a photo dump for you?  This is what happens when I'm 39 weeks pregnant and hit with pregnancy insomnia!

Saints, Paper Priests, Fall Photos {7QT}

--1--

My sister got this Happy Saints card set for John Paul to celebrate his upcoming feast day, but they're an even bigger hit with the twins!  Oh my goodness, it's adorable - they just want me to flip through the cards and they'll fire off the names in the most adorable little toddler voices.  They did it Tuesday night when we had a priest over for dinner (and we'd had the cards for...  4 days?) and named every. single. saint. correctly.

So you might want to get your own set!  It comes with an e-book and tons of printables too, plus free shipping so the $25 price tag doesn't seem quite so steep.  And for those of you with kids who are SERIOUS about gender equality, there are 13 girl saints and 13 boy saints.  Cecilia was VERY pleased about this when she was lining them up!

--2--

And while we're talking Catholic stuff, this:

Father Peter Cutouts Booklet from Catholic Extension

If you click the link, you'll find 8 printable pages of old school paper dolls complete with EVERYTHING necessary for a pre-Vatican II Mass, old-style vestments, etc.  It's AMAZING.  Our printer is out of ink right now or I'd print the whole set out right now because I KNOW John Paul and Cecilia will adore it.  Can someone please assign this as a project for your kids and blog about it so we can see the finished product?

--3--

Bucket list update!  We made it to our favorite Fall Festival!

She did NOT want to wear leggings under any of her proposed outfits.  I finally convinced her of the necessity, and she understood why after she went down this slide!

This pose.  Kills me.  And those muddy knees?  Yeah, she was that dirty within minutes of us getting there!

She and Mary Claire are actually the exact same height, you just can't tell from the picture!

Really, really good at smiling.  Really good.

So big!!!

This picture REALLY makes me laugh.  Those cutouts never work when it comes to scale, but John Paul's expression combined with Mary Claire's confusion slay me!

And once again, Cecilia proving that she has Miss Photogenic in the bag once her pageant days (ha!) begin.

We got rained out before we had a chance to hit everything, sadly, but they're AMAZING and we got rain checks so we'll go back for a (hopefully) quick trip sometime before the end of the month.  Which will be exhausting, to say the least...

--4--

And a week-old picture just to contrast with next year's picture at the same Fall Festival when this little one is EX-utero:

35.5 weeks in this picture, 36.5 weeks now!  

I used some ThredUP credit to round out my maternity wardrobe with a jersey dress, a denim skirt (which is SO comfy) and a scarf (okay, not maternity) and feel like I'll make it to November without completely giving up on actual clothing!  As a side note, their mobile site has really grown on me, and you get free returns if you order from a mobile device so if you've been holding off on ordering, it might be worth a try!  Shipping was a lot faster for me this time around, so I wonder if they've done something new to improve upon that?

--5--

John Paul has been...  Something else this week.  

And not in a *truly* naughty sense, but he's doing stuff like getting out slices of bread and punching holes in them so that he can use it to celebrate Mass, but then he leaves crumbs EVERYWHERE.  

Or he decides to get himself a tea cup and saucer and make some tea with elderberry syrup because that's apparently his new favorite drink, but then he opens up the teabag and ends up dripping pink tea everywhere...

And he's convinced that he should have access to EVERY shelf in EVERY cabinet so now nothing's safe (including my secret candy stash) because he gets it down and tells me THAT is what he'll be eating for dessert tonight.  

Francine suggested hiding candy in coffee mugs, and I think that's probably the best possible solution.  But seriously - what the heck?

Oh, and today?  Today I noticed it had been quiet for too long, and found him in the basement with Cecilia, playing a game on the Xbox.  I'm actually surprised this hadn't happened before, but once again he's been banned from electronics.  Adolescence can't be worse than this, right?

--6--

What do you do to help keep things clean at home during the day?  We had a pretty good system down, including a 4 pm cleaning blitz, after which I'd send the kids downstairs to watch TV for an hour or so before dinner.  And TV time was conditional upon completion of any cleaning tasks.  But now they've decided that they'd rather just keep playing and NOT clean AND not watch TV.  Argh!!!  And they're actually mostly leaving me alone while I cook, so it's not horrible.  But then things don't get cleaned up ever...

What do you do to enforce a cleaning routine?  I've been TERRIBLE about it in the past, and I know it'll be better if we have an actual routine...

--7--

Go check out more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!