Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Catholic Easter Baskets for our Kids

Posted by The Cotter Family
I finished putting together the kids' Easter baskets today and thought I'd share their contents here on the blog. In the past I've checked around the web for ideas and always find these kinds of post helpful for ideas, so I hope you do to!


Rather than fill their baskets with just candy, I always try to incorporate some religious and spring items as well. And I try to shop ahead to get some deals while I'm at it. Below are the results!


Bean's Basket - Age 7

Pal's Basket - Age 5
  • Candy
    • Russell Stover Chocolate Cross - Target
    • Lindt Lamb (for the Lamb of God) - Target (on sale)
  • Book: Book 19 from the Treasure Box Series (I bought all 20 in a boxed set several years ago and have been giving them to the kids one at a time for their feast days, Easter, and Christmas... I'll only have one left after this!)
  • Crafts
    • Egg Shaped Chalk - Target (after Easter sale last year)
    • Spring Foam Stickers - Target (after Easter sale last year - kind of girly, but he like stickers and it was the least girly of my options)
  • Other

Peanut - Age 6 Months

  • Candy: Lindt Lamb (for the Lamb of God) - Target (on sale - they come in packs of 5, I can eat it for her)
  • Book: God Loves Us All (consignment sale find - she can't read, but that's okay, I needed to beef up the basket and didn't feel like buying a board book when she has tons)
  • Toy: My First Rosary (again, from Spiritus Distribution with our missionary discount!)
  • Clothes: Baby Leggings (I did a deal awhile back where I got five leggings for the price of shipping, so they are going in the basket!)
I hope you are having fun getting your kids' baskets prepared!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Monday, April 14, 2014

First Communion Preparation Plans

Posted by The Cotter Family
In a few weeks Bean will make her First Communion and we are all excited for her! I've been scouring the web for ways to help prepare her for this life changing event and over the next three weeks we will be spending a lot of time getting her heart ready to welcome Jesus in the Eucharist.

There are some great resource pages that I have drawn our plans from that any parent who has a child that is preparing for First Communion should check out:
After looking over the suggestions from these sites I've picked out several that I think will be the most meaningful and memorable for Bean. While she has been attending a religious education class all year (which has been excellent!), Kevin and I still want to drive home the things she has been learning, and exercise are our God given blessing to be the first and main catechists in our child's life.


The Plan

For the backbone of our preparation we will be using the Little Catechism on the Eucharist, (LCE) which was given to Bean by one of our FOCUS mission partners just last week. (Thanks Heather!) It is the PERFECT addition to the plans I've been working on and can't believe I haven't heard of it until now! I'm super excited about this book if you can't tell. It. Is. Awesome. While Bean has been learning her Catechism over the past few years with the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism (No. 1), Part I of LCE pulls out the most important teachings from the Catechism for a First Communicant and puts them into one place with kid friendly illustrations and diagrams.


I've broken our plans into eight lessons, based upon the eight subsections in Part I of the book. We'll do 2-3 lessons a week for the next three weeks and scale back a bit on "regular" school, which is part of the beauty of homeschooling! For some, it might make sense to do one lesson a week for eight weeks, but I prefer the intense study right before her First Communion so it is fresh in her mind and heart.

Part II of the book is filled with 15 "Eucharist Miracles" stories and Part III has 16 "Saints and the Eucharist" stories. During our two week intensive Bean will read roughly one story per day from each section.

Also, each day she will complete a few pertinent components of The Sacrament of Holy Eucharist Lapbook from Lapbooks for Catholics. (Use the code APRIL to receive a 15% discount for April 2014!)

Finally, while Bean is working on the craft projects in our plans, we will be listening to short audio stories from True Stories for First Communicants and First Communion Days. Both of these books are out of print, but they have been recorded and are available to listen to for free on Librivox! (Thanks Josette for pointing these out!)

And now for the lessons.

Lesson 1 - The Truths of the Faith (LCE - pg 3-10)
(Lessons 1 and 2 review the basics of the faith. Rather than dive into one of the many lightly covered topics, we are going to begin work on her lapbook and banner after completing the review.)


Supplemental Activities:
  • Lapbook: 
    • Faith Folder Cover
    • “Communion Vocabulary” File Folder Shape Book
    • “Communion Prayers” Pocket & Cards Set
    • “Eucharistic Phrases” Heart Shape Book
    • Back Cover with Pocket Pouch
    • *The rest of the lapbook will be completed throughout the rest of our study as indicated in each supplemental activities list. The only exception is the “My First Communion” Memory Book, which will be completed after Bean's First Communion.
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 2 - The Principal Truths (LCE - pg 11-18)


Supplemental Activities:
  • Craft: Banner Kit
  • Lapbook: “Eucharist Questions” Q&A Set and “Holy Days of Obligation” Graduated Pages Book
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 3 - The Promise of the Eucharist (LCE - pg 19-20)


Supplemental Activities:
  • Craft: Jesus in the Eucharist: Catholic Inspired
  • Lapbook: “Scripture Stories” Open-Up Book Set (Jesus Speaks on the Bread of Life)
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 4 - The Last Supper and the Real Presence (LCE - pg 21-23)



Supplemental Activities:
  • Make Unleavened Bread (We will be doing this lesson on Holy Thursday, so fitting!)
  • Lapbook: “The Words of Consecration” Pentagon Book and “Scripture Stories” Open-Up Book Set (The Last Supper)
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 5 - Transubstantiation (LCE - pg 24-30)


Supplemental Activities:
  • Craft: True Presence in the Eucharist Printable: Catholic Icing (This is so cool!)
  • Lapbook: “Benediction and Adoration” Square Fold-Up Book
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 6 - The Mass (LCE - pg 31-38)


Supplemental Activities:
  • Complete My Own Mass Booklet (Given to Bean at RE class - it's pretty short.)
  • Lapbook: “Sacred Vessels” Triple-Decker Book Set and “The Holy Mass” Pick-a-Tab Book
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 7 - The Eucharist as Sacrament (LCE - 39-44)



Supplemental Activities:
  • Book: The Weight of the Mass
  • Craft: Perler Bead Holy Eucharist Pattern: Catholic Inspired 
  • Lapbook: “Sacramental Grace” Open the Doors Book and “Scripture Stories” Open-Up Book Set (The Tradition of the Eucharist)
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Lesson 8 - How to Receive Holy Communion Worthily (pg 45-49)


Supplemental Activities:
  • Study Bl. Imelda Lambertini
  • Lapbook: “Preparing to Receive Jesus” Multiple Flaps Book
  • Read one "Eucharist Miracles" story and one "Saints and the Eucharist" story from LCE.
Well, that's all! I'll let you know how it goes!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
Posted in

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Holy Week and Easter Book List

Posted by The Cotter Family
For each liturgical season and holiday I love to gather picture books to read with my kids. My poor librarians never get a break. Here is the pile I've collected for Holy Week and Easter, although more are on the way!


After our nightly prayer time during Advent the kids unwrap an Advent/Christmas book for their bedtime story. Even although they don't get to keep the book, as it is from the library, there is something about unwrapping it that makes the story more special. I decided last year to start wrapping up Lent and Easter books as well for after our nightly Lenten prayer time.

The purple books are for Holy Week and the gold books are for the Easter Octave.

Here is the list of books we are using for this year!

Palm Sunday - The Donkey that No One Could Ride
Holy Monday - Easter in the Garden
Holy Tuesday - Petook
Holy Wednesday -  The Story of the Easter Robin
Holy Thursday - Through the Eyes of John
Good Friday - The Three Trees
Holy Saturday -  Easter Eggs for Anya
Easter Sunday - The Easter Story
Easter Monday - Happy Easter Day
Easter Tuesday - Chicken Sunday
Easter Wednesday - Rechenka's Eggs
Easter Thursday - The Easter Cave
Easter Friday - The Story of Easter
Easter Saturday - The Birds' Gift
Divine Mercy Sunday - The Parable of the Lily

What are your favorite Lent or Easter books?

Check out these posts for more of my liturgical ideas!
Ideas for Lent
Ideas for Holy Week
Ideas for Easter Season

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Thursday, April 10, 2014

Ideas for Celebrating the Season of Easter

Posted by The Cotter Family


Easter season. Is there really any better season in our Church? I say no. With this being the case, we try to consciously celebrate the entire season in our home. Here are some of our favorite ways to do it!

Let me start with how we celebrate each of the 50 days of Easter with The Garden of the Good Shepherd.


From the Manufacture: "This sticker calendar counts the 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. Each day there is a reusable sticker to add to 'The Garden of the Good Shepherd.' The images are drawn from scripture... Each calendar set includes an 11'' x 17'' laminated background board, a sheet containing 51 full-color, reusable stickers, and a 16-page booklet... The booklet acts as a guide for placing the stickers and for prayer."

At the end of each week we have a Good Shepherd's Garden Party where we serve a meal incorporating each of the symbols from the week.

Menu Plans: Week 1
Menu Plans: Week 2
Menu Plans: Week 3
Menu Plans: Week 4
Menu Plans: Week 5
Menu Plans: Week 6
Menu Plans: Week 7

Easter Sunday

Easter 2014 in Pictures


Our 2014 Catholic Easter Baskets


Easter Lamb Name Cards


Holy Week and Easter Octave Book List (We wrap up the books and read one book a night.)



Other Ideas: (These are great for all 50 days of Easter!)
  • Decorations

Divine Mercy Sunday

Divine Mercy Pancakes
Other Ideas: 
Ascension
Other Ideas:
    • Dolmas (Armenian Tradition): All Recipes
    • Beans and Grapes (Italian Tradition)
    • Eat some type of bird (because Christ flew to heaven - Middle Ages tradition)
    • Make a cloud dessert: Pinterest
Pentecost

Other Ideas:
Check out these posts for more of my liturgical ideas!
Ideas for Lent
Ideas for Holy Week

 Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
Posted in ,

Monday, April 7, 2014

How to Make Ukrainian Eggs (Pysanky) for Beginners

Posted by The Cotter Family
During my time as a Benedictine Hall Director, a resident of mine shared with us her family's Pysanky tradition. It was such a quite and meditative way to spend an afternoon that now, years later, making Pysanky is our Holy Saturday Tradition. 


Traditional Christian Pysanky are rich with meaningful colors and symbols, such as red for the blood of Christ and drawn wheat, crosses, fishermen's nets, etc while the egg is a symbol of the empty tomb and the new life that came from it. Slowing down and creating these beautiful works of art, which remind us of our faith in Jesus, helps keep our family focused on this day of waiting for the Resurrection.

I pulled out my dyes today and made a test egg to ensure they were still effective. While I was at it I took photos of the process so I could put together a tutorial on how to make these beautiful eggs. If you have older children who are too old for dying eggs with the tablets you get from a box, this is a fantastic way to continue the egg dying tradition. Happily, we've found that no matter what a person's artistic ability is, anyone can create an egg that they are proud of!

Here are the supplies you will need:


And for fun, two children's picture books on Ukrainian Eggs are Rechenka's Eggs and Easter Eggs for Anya. 

I should note here that I am not an expert on this topic. How we make our eggs is probably not the "right" way to make them, but it's the best way for us in terms of time and cost. There are things I won't dive into here, like varnishing eggs, whether or not to empty the eggs and when the best time to do so is, properly drying them out. Check out Learn Pysanky if you want to really get into this tradition, what I'm sharing is a family friendly, get it done in one afternoon experience.

Simplicity warning finished. Moving on to...

Step 1: Empty Your Eggs

Like I said, people debate about when to empty your eggs, if ever, but what we've found is that it's easiest to empty them right from the start, with a little help from the Blas-Fix.


Here's what you do:

Thank you to my 5 year old son for taking these pictures... I did a lot of cropping.
First drill a hole in the egg with the green stick. Just spin it back and forth until the shell is punctured. Then use the clear handled stick to poke the egg yolk in the egg until it is broken and runny. This helps the guts come out more easily. Next use the yellow squeezer to force air into the egg, which forces the guts out. You don't have to put the tip into the egg, just hold it over the hole and the guts will flow out. Finally cover the hole with wax. We'll get to using wax in a bit, but don't forget to plug your egg with wax or it will fill with liquid when you dye it.

Step 2: Draw Your Guidelines

(This design can be found at Learn Pysanky, which is a has everything you'd ever want to know of the topic!)

Using rubberbands to ensure straight lines and complete circles draw the guidelines and for your egg. The pencil will come off in the dying process, but make sure NOT to erase the lines if you make a mistake because dye won't stick to the egg where eraser has been rubbed on it.


Now your egg is ready to be written on with wax!


Step 4: Fill Your Kistka with Wax

This is really quite easy. Just hold the metal portion of your kistka over the fire for a few seconds until it is hot, then scoop some wax into the back of the kistka. If it is hot enough the wax will melt right into the well, if it doesn't put your kistka over the fire again. Now you are ready to write on your egg.


Step 5: Apply Wax, Dye, Dry, Repeat

Next you will begin a three step cycle. First, using the hot wax from your kistka, draw on your egg where you would like the current color of your egg to be preserved. In the first picture of the sequence below, everything that I drew with black wax will now remain white. Second, dye your egg the next lightest color that you would like to use, in my case this was orange. Third, allow your egg to dry. Now you can begin the process again by writing on your egg to preserve your new color, followed by dying it the next lightest color (red), and allowing it to dry.


(Here lies the disadvantage to emptying your eggs before you begin... hollow eggs float. Try holding them down with the back of a spoon, or rotate them in the dye every few minutes.)

Step 6: Melt Wax and Wipe Clean

Once you are finished with the writing and dying process you are ready to melt off the wax that has been preserving the colors of you pysanky. Hold your egg close to a candle flame to melt the wax and then whip it clean. 


Repeat until your egg is wax free and you are finished!


Check out these posts for more of my liturgical ideas!
Ideas for Lent
Ideas for Holy Week
Ideas for Easter Season

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
Posted in , ,

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Moving Jesus Along a Holy Week Path: An Activity for Kids

Posted by The Cotter Family
While pulling together my post on Holy Week ideas I kept running into these cute Holy Week banners and wanted to create something similar, but without felt. (I have a bit of an aversion to felt... I cut up tons of it when Bean started the Little Saints preschool program and now I avoid it when possible.)

I found a beautiful wooden Holy Week craft at Joyful Mama's Place and instantly knew that it was the version of the felt craft that I was looking for. I gathered some supplies, tweaked the prototype, and in a few hours created this...


Jesus (the wooden doll) will begin his journey down the path of Holy Week on the far left green tile with palms for Palm Sunday, and then be moved one space each day until he reaches the far right gold tile with flowers for Easter Sunday.


We might add a tea light to each square as the days progress and light them at night during our Lenten family prayer time. The addition of fire always goes over well during prayer time.

So you wanna make your own? Here's what you'll need:


  • A wooden board that is roughly 3x24 inches
  • Acrylic paints
  • Wooden doll
  • Paintbrushes
  • Ruler (preferably one as cool as mine)
  • Pencil
  • Embellishment symbols (optional, not pictured)
Step 1: Divide your Board


Using your ruler and pencil, divide your board up into 8 equal parts. If you have a custom cut board that is 24 inches long, each part will be 3 inches. Ours was about 22 inches long since I found it in the pile of random wood in our crawlspace.

Step 2: Paint the Squares


Here are the colors I chose for the various days:
  • Palm Sunday - Green (for the palms)
  • Holy Monday to Holy Wednesday - Progressively darker shades of purple (for the color of penance)
  • Holy Thursday - Brown (for Jesus giving us His body in the form of bread at the Last Supper)
  • Good Friday - Red (for the blood Christ shed)
  • Holy Saturday - Black (for the day of mourning and waiting)
  • Easter Sunday - Gold (for the glory of the Resurrection)
Step 3: Paint a Jesus Doll


For instructions on how to paint a wooden doll, check out my tutorial!

Step 4: Embellish with Symbols


Here are the symbols I chose for the various days:
  • Palm Sunday - Felt Palms (I know, don't judge me.)
  • Holy Thursday - Mini Chalice and Paten (It looks like Shepherd's Closet is no longer making my set... which will temporarily be relocated from our Saint Doll Cathedral... this set would work just as well. You could also make some out of clay.)
  • Good Friday - Crucifix 
  • Holy Saturday - Stone 
  • Easter Sunday - Flowers
I'm lovin' how this craft turned out and can't wait to add it to our repertoire this year!

Check out these posts for more of my liturgical ideas!
Ideas for Lent
Ideas for Holy Week
Ideas for Easter Season

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
Posted in , ,

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Ideas for Living Holy Week in your Home

Posted by The Cotter Family
One of my favorite weeks of the year is Holy Week. The beauty, the mystery, the anticipation... I love it all. There are an overwhelming amount of ways you can keep this sacred week holy in your home, below are a few of my favorites.

General Ideas for Holy Week:

Moving Jesus Along a Holy Week Path


Book List

Other Ideas:
Palm Sunday
Other Ideas:
Other Ideas
Good Friday
Good Friday 2014

Other Ideas:
  • Shroud the images of Christ in your home with purple cloth
  • Live by candlelight and/or in silence today or from noon to 3:00
  • Prayer
    • Attend the Celebration of the Lord's Passion
    • Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries
    • Pray the Stations of the Cross
    • Begin the Divine Mercy Novena 
  • Crafts: Calvary Hill Scene: Catholic Inspired
  • Food
Holy Saturday


Holy Saturday 2011
How to Make Ukrainian Eggs (Pysanky) for Beginners

Other Ideas:
  • Get ready for Easter Sunday!
  • Food
    • Take your food to be blessed at Church
    • Make Easter breads/prepare for Easter meals: Catholic Cuisine 
    • Easter Story Cookies: Catholic Icing (Made on Holy Saturday night, eaten on Easter Sunday)
  • Crafts
    • Make a Pascal Candle 
Check out these posts for more of my liturgical ideas!
Ideas for Lent
Ideas for Easter Season

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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