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The month of January is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus and Jan. 3 is the feast day of the Jesus’ Holy Name. I’m was excited to share an e-file which I added to our Download Shop . It’s a perfect project to help your children meditate on Jesus and His many names! I worked on this file for over a year. I collected names of Jesus and tested the sizes of the letters and the boxes to be sure that this is usable for many ages and levels. With this e-file children can create the name of Jesus which is covered with lots of other names of Jesus! Names like: Unchangeable One The Way Bread of Life Great I AM Light of the World and many more – it’s 122 names in all! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! The kids can cut out all the “Name of Jesus” boxes, arrange and glue them on the J-E-S-U-S letters. So what’s the goal of the teacher: To get the child(ren) to see beyond the typical names of Jesus and to be reminded of the many wondrous levels of God, both human and divine! The goal of the child: To fill the large letters that spell the name JESUS with as many “Name of Jesus Boxes” as they can. Who can do this:              Ages 6 years and up. Many young children will enjoy gluing these names onto the letters, but they will need adult help to read the names and some help to arrange the boxes on the letters. There are larger J-E-S-U-S letters included in this file for younger children. The “regular“ sized letters are for more skilled individuals, ages 10 and up. This can be used for a Religious Education class, a retreat, a youth group, or camp as well as, fun at home! It can be done in a group or alone. This is a fun puzzle for adults, too! After the puzzle is complete: This makes a great decoration when it’s complete. It can be used to decorate a shelf, wall, bulletin board, or other areas in your room or home! Here are few ideas on how to use it in your home décor: This file also includes an “Ice Breaker” game for youth groups and other religious functions, as well as, other ideas, like a daily devotional. This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Thank you for your support and God bless! ~JenMarie

The March winds are here! So for Saint Patrick’s feast day, I made a fun project that can spin in the cool spring winds. This St. Patrick Mobile is double-sided so it can spin around and it will always look good. The swirly snake (a symbol of St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland) will dance as the mobile twists from the gentle breeze that is blowing through your windows! To make this you will need: mobile printable crayons or colored pencils scissors hole-punch glue stick string, ribbon, or yarn (green is a great color to use for this) Here’s a peek at the printable sheets: Download this St Patrick Craft Here: After printing out the pages they will need to be colored. This is the fun creative part! The children can color and decorate the pieces however they want. (Do you like the St. Patrick drawing in this printable? My oldest daughter, Rachel drew it!) Color any design on the snake, too! After coloring the pieces, cut them out. Also, I recommend that you color the back of the snake. This just looks a little nicer on the finished product. Now, cut along the spiral lines of the snake to make a coiled spring.  Use the hole-punch to make a hole in the marked area on his head. Glue the two ovals – back to back. Then, glue the two Trinity clovers/shamrocks back to back. Use the hole-punch to add holes to the marked areas, on the top and bottom of each piece. Use your string/ribbon/yarn to attach all the parts together. Note: The pictures of our finished project show a white ribbon above the oval.  This was just something we add, but it’s not necessary for the project. Now, you have a two-sided mobile – Ready to spin in the March wind! Hope you enjoy it! My kids sure do! God Bless! ~JenMarie

St. Agnes’ Feast day is January 21! Today we have two printable pages to share with you! One is a coloring page and the other is a Word Search! Both have a short story about St. Agnes! This is a more “G” rated version of her life and is intended for younger children but is also great for any age! St. Agnes was born in 291 A.D. in Rome, Italy. She was very beautiful and kind. Agnes loved Jesus and gave herself to Him. Because of this, she refused to marry. Many men wanted to marry her but after refusing them they accused her of being a Christian. At that time it was illegal to be Christian. After being arrested she was treated very badly but still remained faithful to Jesus and kind to her captors. She was later beheaded and died joyfully as a courageous martyr at the age of 13. Feast Day: January 21 Patron saint of: Young girls, gardeners, engaged couples, those abused, and more. Symbol: lamb, palm branch The two printable pages are free to download. Download the St. Agnes Pages Here: I hope the kids enjoy them! God bless! ~JenMarie

For several years I’ve seen references to Jesse Trees. This year I felt it was time to check into the whole story behind these Advent trees and to see what they are all about. After reading up on the meaning and history of this Christmas tradition I created some printable ornaments. I did have A LOT of help from my oldest daughter, Rachel! She shared her artwork so I could create these little ornaments! Rachel’s Jesse Tree artwork will be featured in St. Mary’s Messenger Magazine , too! The beautifully colored samples in our pictures were colored by my daughter, Elizabeth, who was thrilled to help! Thank you, both! And now we have it in Spanish, too! All thanks to our huge helper, Dr. Luzondo! What is a Jesse Tree? A Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus Christ. Each ornament represents a story from the Bible that tells about God’s people before Jesus was born. Each Story shows God’s salvation plan and tells how He guided humanity to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The tradition of the Jesse Tree dates back to the middle ages. The name “Jesse Tree” comes from Isaiah 11:1, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” Jesse is the father of King David. The savior was to come from David’s family line. What is the tradition? During the Advent season, a Bible Story is read which relates to Jesus family or God’s people. After the Bible story is read and discussed, an ornament is placed on a tree – the Jesse Tree. This was often done from the beginning of Advent to Christmas Day. Traditionally the Bible stories corresponded with the readings from Daily Mass so the number of ornaments and the stories that were read changed from one year to the next. This meant that new Jesse Tree ornaments needed to be created each Advent. Because of this, there are many versions of the Jesse Tree. Sadly our version does not follow along with the daily Mass readings, but our version was created to be simple and easy to use at home and in the classroom. Ours begins on Dec. 1, continues till Dec. 25, and it can be used the same way every year. You will need: printable ornaments – printed on stock paper (Download below) colored pencils or crayons cutting tools – scissors – OR – 2 ½ hole punch (perfect for cutting these ornaments) a tree – see tree instructions Hanger Material – one of these:  string and needle – tape or tack-putty-  stapler –  metal hooks a Bible ENGLISH - Download the English Jesse Tree Here: SPANISH - Árbol de Jesé: What tree should I use? You may like to hang your Jesse tree ornaments on your Christmas tree or you can create a tree just for these ornaments. If you want to create a tree, there are many different ways to accomplish this. For example: create a tree shape from paper and attach it to a wall (use tack-putty) or add a paper tree to a large bulletin board. You could also create a tree with evergreen branches or bare sticks and branches. Use an indoor fichus tree or branches from a craft store. The options are countless. Just look around and see what works for you in your situation. How do I create the ornaments? With these printable ornaments, the Jesse Tree can be a fun, easy craft! A group of children can divvy-up the ornaments and they can all color some!  After the ornaments are colored, cut them out. A 2 ½ inch hole punch is the perfect size to use on these circles! That would make this cutting job very quick and easy! How do I hang them? If you plan to hang these on a 3D tree, use a needle and thread to sew a short piece of thread through the top. Knot the two ends together. Then use the thread-loop to hang this on your tree. You could also attach metal hooks to the ornaments. If your tree is flat (on a wall or bulletin board) you can tape, tack-putty, or staple the ornaments to the tree. I saw different versions on other sites. Why so many versions? Historically, there are several different versions of the Jesse tree based on the Bible readings for the year. The version which we have here is just a simple home/school version that is meant to be used year after year during the month of December. The readings do not coincide with the Mass readings for the day. If you want a version that works with the daily reading this is not it. I’m sorry we can’t help you at this time. Each day from Dec. 1 to Dec. 25 read the Bible story and discuss it. Then add the corresponding ornament to the tree. Twenty-Five scripture readings are listed on the printable ! Just grab your Bible or find a website with a Catholic Bible! For the Catholic crafter who likes to work with felt… Elizabeth and I are currently working to make felt versions of some Jesse Tree ornaments! You know how we LOVE felt ornaments!! If you would also prefer to make felt ornaments you might like to hop over to Jen at Faith and Fabric ! Jen has just released an ebook with her felt Jesse Tree ornament patterns. These are gorgeous little felt ornaments! God Bless you all with a joy-filled Advent season! ~JenMarie

Hello! Just wanted to share a coloring page of St. Therese the Little Flower of Jesus! My daughter, Elizabeth (age 12), drew this image of St. Therese over a year ago. We used it on one of our Little Flower club meetings. The page also contains a quote by St. Therese: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” I love that quote! It’s such a good reminder for us all! Download This Coloring Page Here: Enjoy! ~JenMarie

If you have been following our blog for the past few years you already know about our super fun Saint Themed Guess Jar games! Here are the jar ideas and labels from 2013 and 2014! This year I made a few new jars again! These jars were a great hit at our party again this year!! Download ALL of our jar labels (our old ones and our 6 new ones) below!! The Guessing sheet is also included in this download! Download All The Sets of these Guessing Jars Here: Here are our 6 NEW Jar labels! Our Lady Undoer / Untier of Knots – Twizzlers St. Dominic – Rosary Beads All Saints’ Halos – Butterscotch Hard Candies St. Lucy – Eye Candies (Ours were bubble gum, like those pictured here.) St. Tarcisius did NOT have butter-fingers!!! – Butterfinger Bars St. Lawrence – Red Hots Ironically, my daughter, Hannah won this one at our All Saint’s Day party- which is appropriate since Lawrence is our last name! 🙂 Enjoy!! May you all have a blessed All Saints’ day! ~JenMarie

It took several days of brainstorming, but I finally came up with a new table game for our All Saints day party – Saint-themed guessing jars! My first thought was to make a guessing jar that had “3 Musketeers” in it and call it a “Holy Trinity Guessing Jar”.  Then I (with my husband’s help) tried to think of all kinds of candies and crackers that could be a symbol or have a meaning that centered around a saint. We came up with several – some are not included here, but maybe I can add them to a future post. Basically, these jars are filled with candy or crackers that have a saint theme. The kids (and adults) can guess how many candies or crackers are in the jar. The person with the closest guess wins the jar! It’s simple, saint-inspired fun! These could be fun for any Catholic event, like youth groups or a CCD/RE class. Check them all out in our downloadable file!! Download ALL of our jar labels (our old ones and our 6 new ones) below!! The Guessing Sheet is also included in this download! Guessing Jar Label Set - Download Here: Our jar ideas included: The Holy Trinity Guessing Jar In my opinion, I think this is the tastiest jar listed here! To symbolize our 3 in 1 God,  I put 3 musketeers mini bars in this jar. St. Nicholas (Candy or Money) A jar for St. Nicholas could be filled with candy coins, but they can be hard to find so you may prefer to put Christmas mints in the jar. ~OR~  If you are doing this with older kids, teens, or adults you may like to add pennies, nickels, and dimes to the jar and have them guess the dollar amount. Choose the correct label below. This jar would be great for a Christmas party! St. Francis Guessing Jar The jar for St. Francis could be filled with animal crackers. St. Peter Guessing Jar St. Peter’s jar could be filled with fish crackers of Swedish fish! St. Isidore Guessing Jar St. Isidore could have a few different candies in his jar. Pumpkin candies, Runts , fruit-flavored candy, or any produce themed candy will work! Personally, I like Runts , but I didn’t have any so I used some cute Raspberry gumdrops! Our Lady of Mount Carmel Guessing Jar Yes, I know that Carmel and caramel are not the same things, but they sound much the same and they tend to wear the same color! 😉 So in this jar, I added caramels. You can use several different varieties of caramel candy: Rolos, caramel creams (like ours), or plain caramel squares. St. Kateri Tekakwitha Guessing Jar This jar was filled with candy corn and candy pumpkins. Doctors of the Church Guessing Jar In honor of all the Church Doctors, I filled this jar with Smarties – because the Doctors are known for being so smart about God and the faith! St. Andrew Guessing Jar For St. Andrew I added those fun waffle pretzels because they look like fishing nets! You could add Chex mix, too, since Chex can look like fishing nets also! St. Thomas Aquinas Guessing Jar Because St. Thomas Aquinas was called the “dumb ox” in his youth, I added Dum-Dums to this jar. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Guessing Jar St. Elizabeth Ann Seton started a school for girls in Maryland in the early 1800’s so letter cookies seemed to be appropriate for her jar! St. Catherine of Alexandria Guessing Jar St. Catherine was condemned to death on the spiked wheel, but, at her touch, the wheel was miraculously destroyed (although later she was martyred by beheading). Those little wheel pretzels seemed appropriate for her jar. The PDF files which include the labels for these jars. NOTE: The St. Nicholas money guessing label is only available in the image at the top of this post. It is not included in the PDF files. The other labels are in the above download. How I created these jars: After Jon (my husband) and I made our list of saint themed candies and crackers, I started cleaning out used peanut butter jars (We eat a lot of peanut butter at our house!).  I saved the jars for when I would need them. If you want you can buy some jars at the dollar store, Walmart, etc. Next, I created the labels for the jars. (Those labels are free to print above.) When I put these jars together for the party, I first added as many of the candies or crackers to the jars as I could (without cracking or breaking them). I counted them as I added them. For larger amounts of candies/crackers, I filled the jar then dumped it out onto a clean surface and separated them into groups of ten. Then after I counted them I put them all back into the jar. Each time I finished counting the contents for a jar I wrote the number down on a slip of SUPER SECRET paper so I would remember the number. After I added all the food to the jars, I closed the lid and I used clear shipping tape to attach the labels to the jars.  I also added a few strips of tape around the lid, too. (Just to be safe.)  I made one sheet for each of the jars so our guests could write down their name and guess. Our printable guessing sheet is available in the download above. Just write the name of the saint themed jar at the top so you know what jar belongs to that particular page. Anyone want to guess how many candies or crackers are in these jars? Sorry, but if you guess correctly, I’m not mailing the jar to you. You will just have the privilege of saying you got it right! 🙂 God bless! ~JenMarie *UPDATE* Nov 2, 2015 We added 6 more labels to the download! Here are images of those:

Hi Everyone! Here are a few Stations of the Cross printable! One is a lift-flap notebook page and the other is a Stations of the Cross mini booklet! I used the notebook page for my younger kids. And we added these to their notebook (3 ring binder) which holds the many other pages we have made during the school year. The mini booklets were great for my older kids, but also loved by my younger kids. They can be carried in their pocket or purse during this Lenten season as a reminder to meditate on the Stations and Christ passion whenever they have a few free minutes. Download These Station Pages Here: 1. Lift-Flap Notebook Page To make the lift-flap page you will need: Printable Pages – (download above) crayons or colored pencils (optional) scissors glue or tape Color the images. Cut out the rectangles along the dotted lines and cut between the station’s title boxes.  Glue or tape the top of each section in the proper place on the sheet which includes a black and white image of each of the stations. After you have it all glued down you can lift the flaps and see an image for the station’s title. 2. Stations of the Cross Mini Booklet The other file I’ve listed in the members area is a mini booklet! It’s small enough to be carried easily in a pocket or a purse! You will need: Printable Pages – (Download Above) colored pencils or crayons (optional) scissors stapler Just color the black and white pictures (optional). Older kids often prefer it uncolored.  Then, cut and fold the pages as directed in the pdf file. Instructions on how to fold the pages and assemble the booklet are included in the PDF. Both of these projects are easy to create, take very little time, and are not a huge mess to make! ●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬● Hope you are all having an enlightening Lent! Please pray for me and my family. I’m praying for all of you. ~JenMarie

Raising kids to completely understand the Catholic faith without question is impossible. No matter how much you prepare them for the world and it’s non-Christian views, they will always come back home with a question about something that pertains to the faith. In my experience, I have always been able to ask a priest or visit Catholic Answers to help me find the truth to those tough questions which I’m not able to explain. Being a mom of 9 inquisitive children, who are either adults or growing into adults, has taught me a lot about the Catholic faith. One thing I have learned is that it’s never too early to start preparing children for the tough questions (age appropriate questions – that is). And one of the toughest questions in our society today is, “Is abortion okay?” So today I want to tell you about a book which is a new addition to our home library. It’s a homeschool (or school) book that is meant to teach children (K-2 grades) about the importance of life, even unborn life. This topic can be a bit touchy and hard to teach to young children, but I feel this program does a good job of hitting the preciousness of new life without diving into topics which are too adult for them. Life is Precious is a program created by ALL (American Life League) which uses children’s books as a launching pad to explain the preciousness of human life in all stages. It uses books like: By Regina Doman  — By Nancy Tillman  — By Dr. Seuss Topics include: A child’s uniqueness Guardian angels Protecting life Standing up for what you believe Forgiveness and much more… It’s loaded with coloring pages and art projects! And you know these are some of my favorite things! Here are images of the Baby’s Development Board which my children and I made: The program is also loaded with many other fun hands-on projects which are centered around these adorable children’s books! I found the program very adaptable for the various children levels in our home. I used it with all my kids from K to 5th grade. If you are looking for a helpful way to introduce the topic of unborn life, I recommend this program . *Learn more about this program on Culture of Life Studies Program site: HERE You might also like: Pro-Life Prints Looking for more hands-on activities for children ages 3 to 7? Culture for Life also has this as a Digital Download called  This activity program is intended to be a stand-alone activity. It’s a fun and engaging way to begin a conversation about the beauty of God’s creation of the human person through art and play! Click here to learn more about it! Enter Our Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway A copy of this book was given to me in return for an honest review. I was also given an extra copy to give away in this giveaway! The program (Book, CD, DVD, and little baby model) will be sent to the winners home address. The winner will be contacted by email and will need to supply me with their address so I can ship this program to them. The winner will need to respond to my email within 3 days or a new winner will be chosen. Learn more about this program on Culture of Life Studies Program site:  HERE

It has been a fun filled Advent for our kids as they watched our Wandering Wise Men search for the infant Jesus! They are continuing the search for Jesus during this Christmas Season and they don’t have much time left! I began this family tradition 3 years ago and we have been enjoying it every year since then! If you are not familiar with this activity CLICK HERE to read last years post about it. Today, I want to share a few of the ADVENTures these guy have had. I’m not posting about every day, but these are a few adventures which we really enjoyed: Trouble in the seed bucket! One morning we found them checking out the bucket full the sunflower seeds which we grew in our garden. If you think Caspar is missing, he’s not. He fell into the bucket and is buried in the seeds… do you see him? The next morning we found them helping Caspar get out of the bucket. But how did Mr. Camel get in there? O boy! Now they need to get him out, too! Adding some Christmas flare to the old Thanksgiving décor! Caspar and his friends climbed down and added a star to our old Thanksgiving pumpkin. Thankfully he avoided adding a mustache to himself! Taking a walk in the flower pots: Guess it was a nice night for a stroll! Balthazar is riding Mr. Camel, Melchior is riding the bunny and…. Caspar is hanging from the branch of the flowering azalea! He almost looks like a flower! Under the sofa? All three (and Mr. Camel) are checking out the area under the sofa. All they could find were dust bunnies. They thought the dust bunnies could help. Melchior had just made friends with the other bunny (above) so he thought he’d try to talk to these mini fur-balls. Going door to door: Nope, no one’s home! In the math blocks?  Some of my kids think there could never be anything of value in a box of math blocks. 😉 After a long search, the wise men agreed, but I’d never tell my kids that! 🙂 Among the science “show and tell” items?  Nope, still no luck! Are they looking in the puzzle or are they distracted by the puzzle? I’m not sure… Maybe they started looking, but I think they are now playing. Well, we all need some time to relax. Caspar is burying himself in the puzzle pieces. And Balthazar and Melchior are putting the puzzle together. Maybe they think the completed puzzle holds a clue! After all, kings live in castles, right? Searching the manger-crib:  Nice idea to search the manger, but it they must have gotten stuck! The next morning they were found trying to escape from the hay filled box. Getting a bird’s eye view: Climbing to get a better view, but still no luck. Searching the stars:  ♫..♪.. Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket ♪..♫ .. Nope… not here. Candy craving?  Are they searching a cup of leftover candy or are they just hungry? Mr. Camel looks hungry and Caspar is playing golf!! ♫ Do you see what I see? ♪ They were found using our handy magnifying glass to check out the star on the outdoor nativity. ♪ Do you hear what I hear? ♫ I think they are listening to a few Christmas carols. I wander if they hear the one about the “star of wonder”. 😉 Breaking into Jesus Birthday Cake! Are they hungry or getting desperate!? Here is a close-up of Jesus birthday cake. Looks yummy! A cry for help! I think they may be losing hope! Hang in there guys! The Epiphany is just around the corner!! 🙂 I’m sure the wise men were thrilled when they found the baby Jesus, but my kids are never happy to know the search is over and the wisemen are packed away till next Advent.

I’m truly honored to have an article published! My article ”Celebrate the Season: Truly Catholic Advent and Christmas Fun” was their featured article in the latest issue Today's Catholic Teacher! I’m so impressed with the way they colorfully laid out my images and information! It just looks amazing! In the first part of the article I wrote about the Advent Tree idea, which I posted about in the past . Read that part of the article HERE on Today’s Catholic Teacher’s website.  In the next part of the article I talked about our Wise Men ADVENTures and I shared a few ways to make this activity fun in the class room. This idea has been great fun at our house for several years now and the idea has spread across the web with amazing zeal! Read about it  HERE on Catholic Inspired and read that part of the article  HERE on Today’s Catholic Teacher’s web site. **If you plan to join us this year in the Wise Men ADVENTures, you might like to take a look at the long list of troublesome situations our wise men have found themselves in over the last few years. Take a look at those images HERE .  (Be sure you click on the ”Older Posts” box, too. So you see ALL the posts. – Each link includes 3 or more images! So there are many ideas!) In the last two sections of the article, I wrote about celebrating other feast days during Advent. The two I focused on were St. Nicolas and St. Lucy. I have some of these same ideas listed on this blog in our Advent section . Thank you to Today’s Catholic Teacher for allowing me to write for your wonderful magazine! May you all have a blessed Advent! ~JenMarie

Here is our ornament for Christ the King of the Universe. This feast day moves each year, but it always falls on the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent. To create this ornament you will need: Pattern and printable instructions (Download Below) black felt white felt (with glitter if you want) yellow felt light blue felt brown felt tan or peach felt green permanent sharpie marker red permanent sharpie marker (optional) gold glitter glue silver glitter glue scissors  glue (hot glue, felt glue, or tacky glue) thread and needle for the looped hanger Download the pattern and printable instructions here: First, cut out the pieces like those pictured above. Use a green marker to add land to the half-circle blue earth. We added a little red to the scepter, but this is optional.  Now glue the earth to the bottom of your black background. Add Jesus’ body on the very top of the earth – only glue it in the middle. Next, lift up the body and add the arms and feet. Now finish gluing down the body.   Now add his head and beard. Add his hands, too. Next add his hair, crown, and scepter. Cut off the extra background. Add gold glitter glue to his crown and scepter. Add silver glitter glue to the black background so it looks more like space.  Once it’s dry add a looped thread and hang it up! Our Lord, Jesus, pray for us! May He bless you all! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth