It’s my book launch day! The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion is officially available wherever books are sold, but, to be specific, you can get it from me here in a signature edition (also available paired with The Catholic All Year Compendium), or from the publisher, Ignatius Press, or from Amazon.

I am so thrilled to be able to have all these amazing prayers, scripture readings, and devotions all in one place!

Here are a few questions people have had . . .

How is this book different from The Catholic All Year Compendium?

My friend Karianna says this book is the expansion pack .

The Catholic All Year Compendium is an introduction to liturgical living in the home. It has the histories and backstories of over one hundred feast days and seasons throughout the year. It also contains suggestions for the prayers, devotions, and readings that our family uses in our observations of those feast days.

The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion contains the complete texts of all those prayers, devotions, and readings. All in one place! In approved translations and properly sourced and cited! So convenient.

So can you use one without the other? Absolutely. They complement each other very nicely, but neither requires the other.

The Prayer Companion also has an introduction that details what daily prayer looks like in our family, what we sweat and what we don’t, how we motivate kids to participate, and real-life examples of ways to handle challenging situations like a non-Catholic spouse.

How is this book different from the monthly prayer booklets?

The Prayer Companion is, basically, a new and improved compilation of the CAY monthly prayer booklets that were available as printables and paperback booklets last year. However, I made substantial edits and substitutions and changes to format and translations while creating this single-volume version. Everything included is now properly cited and licensed (and spelled).

Can I still get the monthly prayer booklets?

No, and yes. In order to avoid confusion, the monthly booklets are no longer available in paperback format on Amazon. There are enough differences between the booklets and The Prayer Companion that I think it would not be ideal to have family members trying to use both at the same time.

However, we are reformatting the pdf versions of the booklets each month to match the content of The Prayer Companion. This way the monthly booklets can be printed and used alongside The Prayer Companion in a family, group, or classroom. May and June are currently available. New months will become available on the 25th of the previous month.

They can be purchased individually, or you can get them as part of the monthly liturgical living printables that come with a Catholic All Year Membership. Membership resources include new calendars, saint summaries, recipes, and posters every month. They come as pdfs and are also available in a printed-and-shipped-to-you version. You also get free physical copies of new books (yes, including The Prayer Companion!) and a wall calendar in November.

Will this book work for people who follow the traditional calendar?

My old-time bloggy friend Rosie of A Blog for My Mom was one of the pre-readers for The Prayer Companion.

She says:

Look what’s here!! Kendra Tierney – Catholic All Year has worked incredibly hard on this amazing resource, which makes a perfect companion for her Catholic All Year Compendium, or can be used as a standalone volume as well. It is *so* convenient having all these prayers and devotions available in a standardized form in one location—it drives me nuts when we’re praying together as a family and then have to stop to look up a particular prayer on our phones… Problem solved!! *this follows the current liturgical calendar, but those who follow the traditional calendar will find it very useful as well, particularly with devotions to more recently canonized saints included

Do you have any other new books you’d like to mention?

I do! The Catholic All Year Weekly Meal Planner is here and ready to ship! It has a wipeable hardback cover, undated meal planning pages, and a detachable shopping list, plus a year’s worth of feast day meal suggestions in the back.

Get one for free with a CAY Membership (please commit to at least one month of membership per free book). Also available in a printable pdf version.

Do you know when Father’s Day is?

I, apparently, do not. All the versions of the CAY Wall Calendars show Father’s Day as June 13. Because I used my wall calendar to make the printable monthly clipart calendar for June, that’s wrong too. I’m pretty sure June 13 isn’t even a possible date for Father’s Day, but that didn’t stop me from trusting my own calendar right up until two days ago when a member emailed me to ask me what was going on. So . . . I don’t know what happened, but I now know that Father’s Day is June 20. I apologize for any confusion.

That does, however give you some extra time to order a copy of The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion for your favorite Dad. I’m not kidding! Really, this book was borne of my years of gathering various books and print outs of prayers to have available so that my husband could easily lead our family in prayer at the table, even though he works long hours out of the house and often gets home just as dinner is being served. This book is a great resource for busy dads who still want to be able to set an example of prayer and faith leadership in the home.

And perhaps some Catholic Beer Quote Coasters, too?

Thanks so much for all your support. I hope you find the book useful!

AMDG,

Kendra

The post My New Book(s)!, What Happened to the Booklets, and If I Know When Father’s Day Is appeared first on Catholic All Year.

Happy Palm Sunday! Hosanna! Easter is one week away! Just in case you haven’t finalized your family’s Easter baskets, I thought I’d give you a glimpse of what is going to be in ours’ this year (and yes, I pretty much JUST took care of all of this) . . .

I’ve been working on our collection of Advent and Christmas books over the past couple of years, and I’m really pretty satisfied with it these days. (Also, for whatever reason, I’m much better at planning ahead for Christmas. Lent is just SO long.) But our collection of Lent and Easter books is, well, almost nonexistent.

We are consciously minimizing the bringing of toys into the house, since we are all set in that department. So the kids’ Easter baskets this year are going to be new Easter clothes and shoes, candy, books, and sidewalk chalk. That’s it. But after a nearly-treatless Lent, they would probably be satisfied with just the candy.

Cultural-type Easter books seem a lot farther away from the true meaning of Easter, somehow, than do cultural Christmas books. You know: “Binky Bunny is sad. With the wheel off of his wagon, he and Chipper Chick will NEVER make it to the big Spring Festival on time!” But then, it is SO HARD to find religious Easter books that aren’t poorly illustrated or poorly written, or both.

So, I did a lot of looking. And here’s what I found in the way of Easter books (plus a couple not-so-Easter books for the older kids). The kids haven’t seen them yet, but I think they all look really great.

– for Lulu, 17 months –

The Easter Story, board book

Oliver, board book

 

 – for Frankie, age 3 –

Richard Scarry’s The Bunny Book

I am a Bunny, board book

 

– for Anita, age 5 –

Rechenka’s Eggs

The Easter Story

 

– for Gus, age 7 –

The Egg Tree

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale

 

– for Bobby, age 9 –

The Story of the Easter Robin

Ed Emberley’s Big Green Drawing Book

 

– for Betty, age 11 –

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

 

– for Jack, age 12 –

Nick and Tesla’s Secret Agent Gadget Battle

Nick and Tesla’s Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove

These two are the third and fourth books in the Nick and Tesla series. Here is my review of the first two.

Annnd . . . counting up . . . yep. That’s all of them. (For this year at least.)

We gave the kids subscriptions to Kiwi Crate for Christmas and have been really happy with it. We get all four of the available crates. Each month, a sturdy cardboard box arrives in the mail with all the supplies the kids need to do a few projects based on a particular theme.

ALL the supplies. The glue, the scissors, everything. Which is really great for me, because I can mostly mange to keep track of the children, but almost never the scissors.

A Kiwi Crate subscription would make a great Easter gift, except that it just comes when it comes in the mail. So . . . just in case that’s what’s been holding you back, I made up these certificates, that can be printed and put in an Easter basket.

Koala Crate is geared for ages three to five. The projects cover preschool concepts like colors, and music. Frankie can’t do the projects on his own, but the older kids help him.

Kiwi Crate is meant for ages four to eight. Anita, Gus, and Bobby all get Kiwi Crate. Bobby is nine, but he still really enjoys the projects.

Betty gets Doodle Crate, which is for ages nine to sixteen plus. The craft projects are great for older girls, and have been things Betty really can use, like a pencil case, or jewelery. And she’s been able to give friends and family-members homemade (but actually useable) gifts!

Finally, Jack gets Tinker Crate, which is for ages nine to fourteen. The projects are science, engineering, and robotics-based, and are challenging, but do-able for him on his own. And the projects have given him ideas for things he does on his own later.

Click here to learn more or subscribe.

And, while I’m mentioning things . . . I’ll put in a quick plug here for my book. It would make a thoughtful gift, if I do say so myself, for anyone who has recently made, or will soon make a First Confession. But it’s also helpful for anyone, kids OR grownups, who want to know more about the sacrament, and/or approach it well-prepared each time.

A Little Book about Confession for Children

All links are Affiliate Links, clicking over and shopping through these links helps support this blog at no additional cost to you. Thanks!

And now, some free Easter printables for ya!

As with all my printables, you are welcome to right click on the
image and save it to your computer for your own personal use. You may
print the images and or upload them and have prints made for your
personal use or to give as gifts. (These are sized for 8×10 or square but will
print well much bigger.) You may use my images on your blog, just please
link back to my blog. If you would like to sell my images, please
contact me first. To request a custom printable, visit my Etsy shop here.

For LOTS MORE free printable prayers, check out my Pinterest board.

Here is the JPII Easter quote for kids on white:

and on yellow:

And a little more grown up version on white:

and on yellow:

and square on white:

 Here are last year’s Easter basket suggestions, with free things to print that are not of my making:

Last Minute Somewhat Free Easter Baskets

Have a happy Palm Sunday, a fruitful Holy Week, and a joyous Easter.

What We Wore Palm Sunday . . . Me: Anthropologie, Frankie: Gymboree + Old Navy, Lulu: Vintage Knit, Anita: Old Navy, Gus: Gymboree + Old Navy, Betty: Old Navy + new haircut

for more WIWS, visit Fine Linen and Purple

The post A Little Peek Inside Our Easter Baskets (hint, it's mostly books) PlusGift Ideas and New Easter Printables appeared first on Catholic All Year.

Jack, my oldest, said of his baby sister the other day, “I think she’s probably tied for the third best baby who ever lived. Jesus and Mary were probably better, but she’s got to be at least tied with St. John the Baptist for third.”

Now, I don’t have any way to verify his theory, but she is awfully, awfully sweet.

And she just had a birthday. (Well, last month, but we’ve been busy.)

So, to celebrate, she’d like to give YOU her birthday presents. Don’t worry, she gets to keep hers. But you’ll get them too.

We went pretty big for Frankie’s Little Monster birthday party, and really big for Bobby and Gus’s shared Lego Movie birthday party. So I wanted to keep it simple for Lulu’s first birthday party. Now, I am aware that some of you will read this and think it is not simple at all and that I am some sort of crazy robot.

To those people, I say: We have already covered this. I am most likely NOT a robot. But it’s hard to know for sure.

And for ME, this is as simple a birthday party as I am capable of throwing.

We only invited immediate family, my parents, and Lulu’s godparents and their kids. And that was nineteen people. It’s pretty much impossible to throw a small party when the guest of honor has six siblings (soon to be seven!).

The theme was pink and brown giraffes, because Lulu likes her Sophie giraffe toy, and she has a giraffe sweater, and we had leftover pink plates from her baptism.

– The Decor –

This banner, courtesy of me:

And this poster, courtesy of Bobby, which is still hanging in my house, because it has a certain je ne sais quoi and I can’t bring myself to part with it:

– The Food –

I know I’m usually all about the funny party-themed foods, but for this party, we had a pizza. And I didn’t even come up with anything else to call it. It was just a pizza.

But, it WAS a really, really, REALLY big pizza, which is kinda giraffe-like. Right?

– The Cake –

I made a pink giraffe cupcake tower. That’s a thing, right?

I am a big fan of Wilton Candy Melts. I print out whatever I want the decorations to be, put a piece of parchment or wax paper on top of it, and trace it with melted candy melts, squeezed out of the corner of a ziploc bag. I can’t draw freehand. But I can trace like nobody’s business.

No games. No prizes. No favors. She’s only one, after all.

But she DID get presents. And now you can get them, too. This is actually supposed to be NEXT week’s giveaway, but Nell from Whole Parenting Goods, who is sponsoring one of the giveaways, is closing up shop for Christmas and TODAY is the last day to place orders. I didn’t want you to see her cute stuff and not be able to order it.

So . . . the giveaway for Haley’s book and Kelly’s planner is still on-going, but I’m going to go ahead and post this one too. And then there’s one more giveaway, which I’ll probably post next week, because who reads blogs the week before or after Christmas? Anyone? I don’t know. Anyway . . . 

I have been a fan of the BabyLit board books, since they first came out in 2011. They are baby versions of the greatest classics in literature (focused on things like colors or counting, rather than the actual plot of the original book) written by Jennifer Adams and beautifully and whimsically illustrated by Alison Oliver. Whimsy is my favorite.

For her birthday, Lulu got Sense and Sensibility
, Jane Eyre
, and Romeo & Juliet
, to add to our BabyLit collection.

Allison sells selected illustrations from the books at her shop, Sugar. She’s offered to give a winner the print of his or her choosing from the shop. You can also check out her blog, here.

I don’t know how anyone could possibly choose.

London from Sense & Sensibility

Thornfield from Jane Eyre

Ball Gowns from Pride & Prejudice

You’ll ALSO win a copy of Alison and Jennifer’s newest book, a HUGE interactive book of inspirational doodling prompts called Doodle Lit
.

So cute. I know my older kids would love to get their hands on this. But it’s for YOU.

Lulu’s second gift was generously provided by Chantal at Shining Light Dolls. These dolls are practically perfect in every way.

They are sturdy, bright, engaging, quality-made little dolls.

If that wasn’t enough, they are also beautifully designed, and whimsically painted (what did I tell you about whimsy?) grippable, unbreakable, little vinyl versions of Mary and the saints.

Lulu loves them, the rest of the kids love them. Each doll comes individually packaged with a little prayer card.

They are THE cutest.

One lucky winner will get a whole set, or you can order them for yourself from Amazon for all the babies and toddlers in your life!

There’s Our Lady of Czestochowa of Poland, St. Nicholas,
Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Our Lady of Fatima,
Our Lady of Lourdes,
St. Patrick, and
Our Lady of Knock of Ireland. Each one cuter than the last.

Finally, Lulu received a gift of handmade love with a side of awesome, from Nell of Whole Parenting Family and Blessed Is She.

This owl skirt. Seriously. You wish Nell made them in your size, right? Well, she doesn’t.

But she does make lots of cute little skirts for little girls, and bibs and burp cloths and blankets, and knit scarves, and stretch leggings. All very very cute. And, say it with me now . . . whimsical.

Unicorn skirt? Check.

Foxes with monocles? Done.

Airstream trailer pants? Yes.

A festive place to drool? No problem.

If you’d like to have and hold any of these cuties for yourself, TODAY is the last day to place an order in Nell’s Etsy shop, before she closes up for Christmas. So act now!

We also got this fun infinity scarf, that Lulu and I can BOTH use:

One lucky winner will receive the gift of this lovely purple and gray number, so we can be almost twinsies:

So that’s the whole shebang. And a pretty great one if I do say so myself.

There will be three winners. One winner will receive an Allison Oliver print and the new book Doodle Lit.  One winner will get a complete set of Shining Light Dolls. And one winner will get a nice cozy scarf, sized for a grownup, but also enjoyed by some super-easygoing babies.

To enter, click over to Sugar illustration & design, Whole Parenting Goods, and Shining Light Dolls (on Amazon) and leave a comment (or three) telling me what you like best on each page, and maybe wishing Lulu a happy birthday. ;0) I’ll announce the winners next Monday. US addresses only for this one.

UPDATE! Alison will ship the BabyLit prize anywhere in the world! International address cost $10 for shipping, but that’s still pretty great, right?

The liturgical living giveaway is still going on. You can enter to win by clicking over to this post and leaving a comment there.

This post contains affiliate links. Some of these products were provided to me in exchange for my honest review.

And if you’re on Facebook, stop by the Catholic All Year page sometime today, I’m going to have a special giveaway going on JUST over there, beginning around 9am Pacific.

The post Lulu Had a Birthday, and She’s Got Some Presents for You! (a giveaway from BabyLit, Shining Light Dolls, and Whole Parenting Goods) appeared first on Catholic All Year.

Okay. Are you guys tired of this yet? I hope not. Because I’m still giving stuff away!

To recap, here are the giveaways still ongoing . . .

The Sacro Handmade Glass and Wooden Cross Giveaway at:

How to Use Instagram Without an iPhone, and Why You Should Bother 

The St. Joseph Cappella Liturgical Year Latin Motets Giveaway 

AND

The St. Mary’s Messenger Magazine Giveaway at:

A Home With Truth and Beauty

The Whole Family Goods giveaway at:

Mothering and Making, how to do both

And the last one is generously offered by my publisher, Ignatius Press!

The winner will receive a fabulous prize package featuring . . . 

Catholic Literary Giants by Joseph Pearce

A Little Book About Confession for Children by Kendra Tierney (hey, that’s me)

Mother Teresa a DVD featuring Olivia Hussey

The Accidental Marriage by Roger B. Thomas

and

Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert

To win, click over to the Ignatius Press website and then come back and leave a comment telling me the Ignatius book or DVD you’d most like to own.

I’m also still out of town. Have you been following along as we play our little Instagram game? You can find me at @kendra_tierney or #whereislulu !

All the giveaways end on October 1st. Don’t miss out!

Today we are off to the beatification ceremony of Bishop Don Alvaro del Portillo here in Madrid. It´s so exciting to be a part of this experience with so many people from all over the world!

And have a very happy Feast of the Archangels on September 29th, better known as Michaelmas.

If you’d like a little peek at our traditional family celebration (which is going to be late this year) check out this post from last year:

FUN, FEASTING, AND BEATING THE DEVIL WITH SWORDS: A FAMILY MICHAELMAS

The post The Grand Finale (and even more giving away) appeared first on Catholic All Year.

I have a very special giveaway and a very special request, both ongoing. If you have a moment, please check them out here.

Whatever my mystery itchiness is, it has subsided almost completely, which is just awfully nice. There’s nothing like being itchy to make you value NOT BEING ITCHY. So that’s great. But, despite multiple visits to multiple doctors, the mystery itching remains mysterious. I’m meant to have allergy skin testing done next week. It had to be put off until I could take a course of steroids to repress my dermatographism, which is a big fancy word for the fact that if you scratch my skin, it makes a welt that stays there for a bit. Good for playing tic tac toe on a desert island, not so good for scratch testing.

Still, I’m kind of fine with not knowing what was causing it, as long as it’s gone!

I have SO MANY barely started posts swimming around in my brain! I wanted to share the trip, and do the giveaway, but other than that I’ve been swamped with all these doctor visits, and making the yearbook for our homeschool group, and Jack’s 12th birthday party (Clash of Clans!), and trying to get school planned and curriculum ordered and our affairs in order before we leave for two months in Chicago . . . in less than a week!

But rest assured that posts answering all the questions you asked about trips and trip planning, responses to pop culture phenomena of the past month, thoughts on potty training and introducing solid foods and following manufacturer’s instructions, an update on our Nissan NV, plus that birthday party and reviews of all the movies I watched on the planes are all coming. Someday.

But for TODAY, here’s Answer Me This!

1. Do you have a land line?

Yes and no. We HAVE a land line, but we don’t have a plan on it. It’s active, and we can accept calls on it, but we just pay per use for outgoing calls. So, we mostly only use cell phones for outgoing calls, but it’s there if we need it.

It took me FOREVER to remember to stop making outgoing calls on it.

2. What is your least favorite food?

I tend to have strong preferences for particular foods in the moment, but don’t tend to dislike particular foods in general.

However . . . mayonnaise is gross and pretty much ruins an otherwise tasty sandwich. I also do not like chocolate ice cream. And I’ve never tried any, so I guess I can’t be sure, but I have a strong suspicion that I don’t like anything in the genre of spreadable or potted meats.

3. What’s on your summer reading list?

I’m really excited to read the second and third books in the The Last Policeman
series by Ben H. Winters.

I read the first book and really enjoyed it. The premise is clever: What’s the point of solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace reminds me a lot of Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle, which is a very good thing. The writing is smart, the characters are interesting, the mystery is mysterious, what more could you ask for?

I’ve got book two, Countdown City
, on my desk right now, and the good folks at Quirk Books are sending me over the third and final book in the trilogy, World of Trouble
, any day now. I’m really excited to read it. It’s available for pre-order now, and will be released on July 15th.

I’ve also got two interesting looking books in iBooks that Ignatius Press sent me that I’m planning to read over the summer:

Tobit’s Dog
is a Depression-era retelling of the Biblical story of Tobit.

and The Rising
is the story of nine-year-old C.J. Walker, who can raise folks from the dead.

Both have great Amazon reviews and are from a publisher I know and love
!

As I prepare for homeschooling next year, I was blessed to get to read Teaching From Rest by Sarah of Amongst Lovely Things.

It’s an excellent resource for any homeschooling mama, whether you’ve been around the block a few grades or it’s your first time to the rodeo.

Sarah has keen insights, presented gently, on how to make homeschooling a success for you AND your children.

Also in the stack are The Power and the Glory
by Graham Greene for my Ladies’ Book Club, Brideshead Revisited
for Haley’s Carrots Classics Book Club (I’m late but I’M GOING TO READ IT!), and whatever Jane Austen is up next in the Motherhood and Jane Austen Book Club. I should find out. (typey, typey, typey) It’s Emma
.

4. Is there something that people consistently ask for your advice on? What is it?

Ever since baby number four or so, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about pregnancy and childbirth and baby-raising. One of the reasons I started ye olde blog was to be able to dispense that advice more efficiently.

5. What’s the most physically demanding thing you’ve ever done?

Well, I ran a marathon and have given birth sans-medication to all the babies, but lots of people have done those things. I wish I had a better story. Like surviving a shipwreck or escaping from the Nazis through the Alps or holding my hand on a truck for a really long time. But I don’t.

6. How do you feel about massages?

I really dislike them. I would rather do any of the things in number five than have a massage. Including the Nazi one.

For next week I’m tagging:

Elizabeth from A Mom on Wheels. Post to check out: Mom on Wheels and Papa Bear – The love story endures tragedy

The post Answer Me This . . . Hold the Mayo appeared first on Catholic All Year.

So when the fine folks at Quirk Books asked my mom to take a look at their newest children’s book, I figured I was the two-year old for the job.

Apparently, Find Momo: A Photography Book
is an instagram account turned book by Andrew Knapp. I wouldn’t know. My mom won’t let me have a phone. According to the part of the book kids don’t usually read, Mr. Knapp and Momo live in a VW bus and drive all over the country finding interesting places for Momo to hide. How’s that for professional reviewing?

Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

The Great Easter Egg Hunt (A Look Again Book)
by Michael Garland

Can You Find Saints?: Introducing Your Child to Holy Men and Women

by Philip D. Gallery

and I Spy Little Bunnies

The post I Find a Momo a Righ Dare: Frankie’s favorite Look and Find books appeared first on Catholic All Year.

But, we got our advent boxes down on Sunday, and I realized that we really DO NOT have twenty four books worth having. We have a bunch of Christmas and Advent books. Most of them the kids like, but some really drive me crazy, some are more commercial than I’d like, and some just don’t make any sense(Seriously, what is that book about? I don’t know.) We have read-aloud chapter books that I love, and I wrote about those here, but our picture book collection needs some work.

So, I’ve ordered some books that other bloggers have recommended to add to the little gifts St. Nicholas will leave in the kids’ shoes on December 6th, and when we pack up the Christmas boxes on January 6th, some of the books in our stash now aren’t going to make it back in there.

It’s not ALL bad though. I do love some of our picture books, and a few aren’t on the other lists I’ve seen on other blogs. So, here are our five favorites.

The Donkey’s Dream

The Little Fir Tree

The Miracle of St. Nicholas

Wenceslas: The Eternal Christmas Story

Good King Wenceslas is a favorite Christmas carol at our house, (especially the Bing Crosby version!) but I don’t like it when books are just an illustrated version of a song.

This book has really interesting, really beautiful illustrations and actually tells the story of the saintly king and his page.

The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

My boys LOVE Richard Scarry books. Cars and Trucks and Things That Go is pretty must Frankie’s favorite thing in the world right now. All of Richard Scarry’s books have such a whimsy to them, without being smart alecky or sassy. The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is no exception. We follow Mr. Frumble as all of his best efforts to help people at Christmastime just end up making things worse. (Mr. Frumble was doing it before Jack Skellington made it cool!)

The post Our Favorite Christmas Picture Books appeared first on Catholic All Year.

by Neil Gaiman

“I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn’t mean anything? What then?”

by Washington Irving

This one was the least popular with the kids. It’s a short book (the audio version is less than an hour and a half) but the language is complex to the point of being obtuse. Even my oldest son (11) had considerable trouble following it.

The LibriVox reader is extraordinary, flying through the descriptive flowery verboseness like it’s NOTHING. I think the husband and I enjoyed it more as an audiobook than we could have reading it ourselves, because of the skill of the reader with such challenging material.

The story has comic moments, the characters are quite memorable, and it’s interesting as a study of life in a particular historical time and place. It’s also a cautionary tale about what can happen if one lets oneself be carried away by superstition. But, because of the sophisticated language, I think it’s best enjoyed by high school kids and adults.

5. James and the Giant Peach

by Roald Dahl

The post Spooky Stories for the Whole Family (and how to get them for free) appeared first on Catholic All Year.

The effects of Felix Felicis, as described by Harry Potter Wiki, are thus:

Felix Felicis possibly works by providing the drinker with the best
possible scenario. This usually registers in the drinker’s mind in the
form of an unusual urge to take a certain action, or as a voice telling
him to do so. The effectiveness of the potion thus depends on the
cooperation of the drinker with the voice, for the drinker may for some
reason be unable to follow their Felix-induced urges, or can simply
choose not to. This is easily remedied, however, as the potion does not
single out only one scenario, but changes paths as the situation
unfolds.

Sounds awesome right? Too bad it’s fictional . . . except it’s really not.

Good news people, if you’re Confirmed — you’re on Felix Felicis right now. Except we call it the . . . 

And just like Felix Felicis, all you have to do is listen to it, and nothing can ever go wrong. Because even if it does, it doesn’t really.

I used to be a huge worrier. But somewhere between husband with cancer and missing our train from Rome to Venice (pregnant and with four kids under 7) I started trusting and stopped worrying. Pretty much ever.

I’m still plenty of other things occasionally: late, frustrated, impatient, selfish. But I’m mostly not ever worried, because I’m on Felix Felicis.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing. . . or at least, Felix does.“
—Harry Potter

For more see John 16:13-14 and the Catechism 768 and 800.

— 2 —

You are probably familiar with The Night Watch by Rembrandt: The chiaroscuro! the dynamism! those boots! It’s a keeper.

BUT . . . haven’t you always wanted to see this painting come to life flash mob-style in a modern day shopping mall?

Well, here ya go:     You’re welcome. If you don’t see the video above, click here to see it on YouTube.

— 3 —

update from Saturday: I’ve edited this a bit to reflect the fact that I have now read the ending of this book!

Hey, speaking of artistic stuff you’ve probably heard of: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Great, right? Mark Twain, a classic of American Literature, fun for the whole family, so deeply and insistently anti-Catholic that it makes Jack Chick’s tracts look fair and balanced . . . 

Oh wait, you didn’t know that last part? Me neither.

I grabbed the book for free on iBooks as part of my YA time travel research, and I have to say I have been really shocked by that aspect. I KNOW I read this book as a kid, but it must have been an abridged version, or perhaps I just had extraordinarily poor reading comprehension.

Lest you think I exaggerate, here’s a sample:

There you see the hand of that awful power, the Roman Catholic Church.
In two or three little centuries it had converted a nation of men to a
nation of worms. Before the day of the Church’s supremacy in the world,
men were men, and held their heads up, and had a man’s pride and spirit
and independence; and what of greatness and position a person got, he
got mainly by achievement, not by birth. But then the Church came to the
front, with an axe to grind; and she was wise, subtle, and knew more
than one way to skin a cat — or a nation; she invented “divine right of
kings,” and propped it all around, brick by brick, with the Beatitudes
— wrenching them from their good purpose to make them fortify an evil
one; she preached (to the commoner) humility, obedience to superiors,
the beauty of self-sacrifice; she preached (to the commoner) meekness
under insult; preached (still to the commoner, always to the commoner)
patience, meanness of spirit, non-resistance under oppression; and she
introduced heritable ranks and aristocracies, and taught all the
Christian populations of the earth to bow down to them and worship them.

Um . . ouch. 

For more on the anti-Catholicism of Mark Twain’s 19th Century, see here.

So, I guess we Catholics must win the book in the end, it’s rather ambiguous as to what happens after our hero leads his revolution, but since the Catholic Church prevailed in England until King Henry VIII decided he didn’t much care for his wife but didn’t really want to murder her . . . I’m guessing all those priests he disliked so much finally came through. But whatever you may have heard, this is not a book that was ever intended for kids. We’ll be reading Outlaws of Ravenhurst
as a family read aloud instead.

I loved Dr. Gregory Popcak’s recent post on the hot button issue of whether babies and young kids belong in Mass. If you had asked me seven months ago if this was something people had strong feelings about I probably would have replied, “huh?”

But boy oh boy. People who must otherwise be quite pleasant and who certainly consider themselves to be very faithful Catholics are SO MAD about this. The most unpleasant comments I have received on my posts (I’m going to disregard that Aspergers one since a. I deleted it and b. it didn’t have anything to do with the post) have been railing on me for bringing my young children to Mass with me. (I would advise you not to click here or here and wade through the comments to see them.)

Honestly, if I hadn’t read all the controversy it would have never occurred to me to do other than attend Mass together as a family. And I still wouldn’t. But all of this has given me the opportunity to figure out WHY I wouldn’t.

There are many, many reasons I think that babies and young children belong in Mass: they are baptized Catholics just as much as the grownups are, they deserve the graces of the Mass, they’ll never learn to be good in Mass if they’re not there to learn how, etc. But I think the most powerful reason is that the Mass is NOT for OUR edification. 

That may be a side effect, and a lovely side effect indeed, but the full and total and complete and utter point of the Mass is FOR GOD not for us. This is how he has asked us to worship him, so we do it. He also chooses to freely give us the gift of grace, unearned, when we participate in the Mass. But none of that, not the worship of God, nor the graces we receive, are contingent on us feeling like we are having a nice time in Mass. The beauty of the building, the appropriateness of the music, the power of the sermon, the stillness and solemnity of the surroundings, all of these can be wonderful. But none of them is necessary.

God told us how we are to worship him. Jesus insisted that we bring our children to him. Far be it from me to refuse.
 

Also on the subject of unpleasant commenters, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say: We don’t like what you do and you should stop it right now. 

I’ve mentioned it before, but before I started this blog I had no idea that this whole world of blogs existed. I didn’t know you could subscribe to them, I didn’t ever comment on them, etc.

But I did regularly check three blogs, two of which are written by the same woman: Jen Yates. One is Cake Wrecks, the other is her personal blog, Epbot, which is about crafting and geek culture. My entire blog-writing style is pretty much a rip off of hers. She gives her takes on things with humor and kindness and pop culture references and without being bossy. She also includes lots of pictures. I really enjoy it. So that’s what I try to do as well.

She’s not Catholic, but as far as blogging, I really think she does it just right.

Except now, she’s not doing it anymore. The constant stream of insults and negative comments online have driven her to take an open-ended sabbatical from Epbot. And, seriously, her blog was not controversial or ever, ever mean-spirited.

I understand and support her decision. But I am so sad to see her go. And I’m so frustrated with people who would use the anonymity of the internet to say things to people that they would never dare to say in real life. And now something nice is gone, at least for a while.

Between that Aspergers comment, and the c.r.a.z.y. amount of traffic and number of comments (for my blog anyway) that I got on my same sex marriage and public breastfeeding posts, and now this Epbot thing, I’ve come up with some new policies of my own for dealing with comments.

1. No name calling. People are welcome to disagree with me or with other commenters, but they may not generally disparage me or other people or my or other people’s opinions. Name calling comments get deleted.

2. No speculating. I don’t like comments that purport to tell me what I really meant, or what I’d like to see happen in the future. They are always wrong. Speculative comments get deleted.

3. Give a name, or get one. When I think “anonymous,” I see a Guy Fawkes mask. It is super creepy to imagine having a conversation with that guy. I don’t like it. But, I’m not ready to disable anonymous comments since I know plenty of people just comment anonymously since they can’t figure out how to do otherwise, and many of them sign their names when they do it, or at least they sign *a* name. That’s all I really need to feel comfortable. Especially since they often address ME by name in their comments. But for people who won’t do it themselves, I’ve started assigning them a non-gender-specific name when I respond to them. It makes me feel so much better.

Based on my new criteria, some of those comments I mentioned in number four wouldn’t be there. I probably won’t go back and delete them now, but I sure feel great about the new rules going forward.

And finally, thanks to my Facebook friend Christina for making my whole week with this:

by pupukachoo

Every hour I spent watching all those terrible “classic” Doctor Who episodes (plus the couple of hours I spent watching the ones that weren’t that bad) are now worth it, because I totally GET this painting of owls.

One and two are black and white! Three has fluffy hair! Four has the scarf! Five is blonde and fancy! (Oops, Six, Seven, and Eight weren’t on Netflix.) Nine is all blue-eyed and doesn’t care what you think! Ten is spazzy and has sticky-up hair! Eleven has a bow-tie because bow-ties are cool!

Wow, first Anita’s Owl-themed fourth birthday party last weekend and now this. It’s been a very owl-centric week for me.

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