All Saints Day - Shall We Play a Game?

I used to use the old stand by games.  Those games you scour the internet for and use year after year.  We find them on Catholic Blogs, websites, and the like and they are good when you're starting out. I will link some sites below for you to check out.  There are some great game ideas out there, especially if your little ones are all little. But, our kids have gotten older. Our guest lists have changed. So what's a mom to do?

Scour the internet, of course

There are sites for All Saints Day games, food, and costume ideas.  Use them as you get started but once you grow beyond the basics (or if you're adventurous right now) there are a plethora of games out there just waiting for an All Saints' Day make-over.  I headed to carnival games and party games and found a treasure trove of ideas to start with.  (No worries, we will get back to that saint list of yours tomorrow.)

For now, make a list of games that seem appropriate for the age group you're shooting for. You won't use them all, but it will give you options and future games.
Also, don't stray too far - yes, there are some good leads to other lists but follow at your own risk.  This is the internet... user beware.
Check out:

Sites that share All Saints Day ideas

• Catholic Icing
• Catholic Inspired
• A Knotted Life
• Waltzing Matilda
• Blair's Blessings
• Writing.com

Sites that offer game suggestions you'll need to work a little harder on

• Carnival Savers
• The Spruce
• Tip Junkie

Tomorrow? Matching saints and games

All Saints Day - Pick a Saint, Any Saint

Hello!  It's been a long time but I am excited to be back and writing again. Our oldest daughter (now 17!) suggested I get back to writing and sharing some of my favorite things with the world, or at least our little corner of it.  

All Saints Day
It's one of my favorite things.
All Saints Day is a favorite in our house and has been for a very long time. I am not going to over load you with a long list in this one post, we are going to walk together through the planning and prep for this fabulous feast day and party over several weeks. We Catholics love a good party, especially if you can bring the joy of faith, family, and fun into it. Sometimes though, sometimes, it does take some extra planning.


Pick some Saints
Every year we go over the lists of Saints - those we know and those we find. I have organized a Martyrs walk these past couple of years at our parish in conjunction with the All Saints Day Party so we've had to look for lots of martyred saints.  We learn a lot about our friends the saints just in the planning process!

• You want to put together a list of between 10 - 15 saints for games.  You may not end up using them all but it gives you a good number to choose from. The size of your party place will determine your final number of saint games.  
• A long list of saints is also helpful for future years.  We try to rotate our saints through a 3 - 4 year rotation. 
• Pick a variety of men and women, martyr and non-martyrs, ancient, modern, and in-betweens. 
• Try to pick a few new ones each year as this should not only be fun but also be teaching us about our heavenly friends. 

That's it for now!  Go find those saints!  A list can sometimes be more challenging to make than we'd like to think.

If I've Learned One Thing from Our Kids....

it's you don't need fancy clothes to play (or exercise.)

So all you adults out there waiting to start running, riding, whatever while you find the perfect outfit, shoes, etc ...STOP.  Get out there and go!

Our kids run (as in 'go for a run') in regular shorts and t-shirts ... you can too!

At first i laughed to myself - those silly kids.  Then i realized that it actually made sense.  While we adults wait - wait for the perfect time, the perfect outfit, the perfect equipment - kids just go.  They run, they play, they scooter, they play baseball, soccer.   There is no reason not too.   There is no. reason. not. too.  

So the next time someone asks if you'd like to go for a run, or play ball, say yes!  And forget the Fancy Pants!  ;)

A Rose by Any Other Name.....

The other day our little Butterfly was lamenting the fact she did not have a treasure box.  Her big sister has 3, and why does she not have one of her own.

We talked about M's boxes.  They are 3 very different containers, but all have one thing in common... they all have lids.  The clear one has a lock, as does the blue one that is large enough to hold only the sea shell.  The third one is all bright colors and sparkly decorations.  They are all 3 very different, and yet they are the same.  They hold treasures.

We all are like those boxes.  We are all very different, though in some ways similar.  We all hold a treasure, and gifts.  Life is so precious, and the gifts and talents we each have are truly gifts. Do you share them?  Or do you hide them away?

I asked Cat where she keeps her treasures.  She replied "in a box in my drawer."  So you do have a treasure box!  "no," she says sadly "... that's my messy box. It has no lid."

"You Ruined My Plan!"

Our three year old cracks me up.  I don't know about anyone else, but i think this guy has comedic timing written all over him.  And yet, from the eyes of this three year old, it's all completely serious.
Today i ruined his plan.

In that three year old, the kid lying in the middle of the kitchen crying while stating the above, i see a bit of all of us.

Today i made phone calls. Calls about putting gutters on the house. Simple enough. But suddenly we had a guy on his way out here - 'be there in an hour."  What!?!?!? That was not my plan.  Our quiet, somewhat lazy morning now involved me running through the house yelling "i'm jumping through the shower!  keep doing your school work!"   After that the younger kids and i went outside to wait.  Its 90 degrees out....and someone decided they needed to plant something. In tiny pots. So there we are, with the three year old crying because he wanted water in his bowl and not on the dirt pellet, trying to moisten dirt, and plant microscopic (so it seemed) seeds.  Thank you dear gift-giver... there are enough seeds to lose and yet still have some to plant.  Still no gutter guy.

Next the three year old decided to create 'a course' for his big wheel to be driven through ... with 4 orange soccer cones, spaced about 3 inches apart.  I, being the good mom that i am, tried to help by spacing them out better.  Not his plan... so i collected them and placed them next to him on the ground.  He actually said thank you, through the tears.  He can do it, but his plan is different than mine - that's ok.

The gutter guy finally showed up, and there we are, kids, toys, bikes, 90 degree weather. Beautiful.
And as we all know, kids must follow any poor, unsuspecting workman around the house (in or out,) just because.  Thankfully, they could watch while they rolled themselves down the drive way in the wagon.  Then, he went out back.

I am busy standing in the kitchen door trying to get a 'quick' explanation of checks and balances from our 13 yr old while keeping an eye on kids outside... and they all disappear.  The 9 yr old then comes in and asks for a bottle of vinegar.  (if i did not know why i would think him insane.)  The 7 yr old comes in and asks to kill the weeds.  The 3 yr old heads out back, because he has a plan. Time for me to head out back.

Have you ever looked at a group of kids and thought "what the heck?" Yep, that was us.  And then we remembered the blackberry bramble - which of course should be just. about. ready.
The 7 yr old picks some, but won't eat them because she does not like them.  The 3 yr old asks for one because he can't reach them through all the weeds.  The 9 yr old asks me to hold his hand so he can lean out over the gully to get to more ripe ones .... um...no, but thanks for asking.

The gutter guy finished his work and sits on the porch, inviting me 'into his office.' You guessed it!  Everyone joined us.  Probably not anyone's plan!  He went over the stuff, chuckling as he talked. In the background kids are politely interrupting to tell their stories ...stories about broken wrists due to ice, leading to broken leg due to jumping.  Wagon rides because walking on a broken leg does not work, and learning to hop on one foot due to your inability to walk.  Then the 3 yr old shows up with a headphone/microphone set that looks like something from McDonald's drive-thru, saying he wants to play 'Frozen Airplane.'  I'm confused.  'That does not sound like it will end well.'  'It's pretend.' he says.
Gutter guy turns to me and says 'you should write a book, or a blog.  You have all the material, you just need to put it all together.'  He smiles, I smile ... this morning was not as i had planned.
There were other conversations through out all the time he was here - weed killing vinegar, correct color for the gutters, the fact that NC only has 2 seasons... we covered it all.  But the reality is, it was not the plan, but it was better.

We don't always take the time to look back. To see that even though the plan did not go as planned, you were given a gift.  A better plan.
I am grateful for our not-as-planned morning.  I would have done far less with our little ones if i had followed my plan.

As for the ruined plan of the 3 yr old.... i admit it.  I took his oatmeal out of the freezer before he was ready to eat it.