2013 Crown of Thorns activity

 Once again the kids and I have made our traditional Crown of Thorns, used to keep track of our sacrifices and good deeds done during this season of lent.

We began by painting a plastic (cracked) platter purple to serve as the base of our display.

 We then made a braided wreath out of salt dough.  There are many, many recipes for saltdough on the internet.  Laura and Kim placed the toothpicks (thorns)  into the wreath before baking.

The wreath was finished up by being painted brown. In the center of the wreath we have placed our Lenten mite cans.

Now when a sacrifice or good deed is done this lent a "thorn" is removed.  Hopefully by Easter morning, all the thorns with be removed and beautiful flowers will take the place of thorns.

Here you can see our 2010 wreath,

and our 2012 wreath.



Beginning the Lenten Season

Yesterday we got busy and prepared for Lent. I got Amy's help making our traditional salt dough crown of thorns.

This year I changed the recipe a little. I used : 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of cinnamon, and about 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix with a spoon at first, then dig your hands in to finish up the mixing. It's smells heavenly!! Roll the dough into three long "snakes" and then carefully braid. Form the braid into a crown and then insert toothpicks which are removed from the completed crown when sacrifices are performed. Bake at 250 degrees for about 4 hours.

I really like the color of our crown. We usually need to paint our it, but the cinnamon makes it a very nice brown.

We also have started our Lent "learning wall". Our Lenten countdown calendar can be found over at Catholic Icing. We are also enjoying this years Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure.
This great programs offers free videos, coloring pages and worksheets. I especially love the Holy Heroes audio rosary. It gives such deep meaning of the mysteries geared toward children. It is a wonderful program to get our children's hearts and our own hearts ready for the coming of Easter.

Cross suncatchers

As we enter Passiontide I thought it was a perfect time to make cross suncatchers for our front windows.

I cut two crosses out of black construction paper for both Kim and Luke.

Then I used clear contact paper and stuck one of the black crosses onto the contact paper, sticky side up. To speed up the process today, I cut alot of tissue paper shapes for the kids to use. If we had more time, Kim and Luke would have cut the tissue paper themselves.

The kids then filled in the whole cross area with tissue scraps. Glue the second cross over the the tissue paper and cross. This makes it look nice from both sides. Hang in a window and enjoy.

It was a perfect craft for this rainy Wednesday as we come closer to the Passion of Jesus.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Lenten Journey---The Holy Heroes Stations of the Cross

I didn't want another day to pass without sharing some of the activities we are concentrating on during this Lenten season.

We have been working with our beautiful three part rosary cards, learning all the mysteries of the rosary. We also use these with the little children, so they have something to look at during the family rosary. The download for these beautiful cards can be found at The Bookworm.

Also, in the picture above, you can see the Holy Heroes Stations of the Cross CD and the accompanying coloring book-The Road to Calvary.

To put it mildly, I was amazed with this remarkable cd. My 3, 4, 8, and 10 year olds were mesmerized while we listened to this rendition of the Passion on Christ. We all took part in the prayers and it was a very moving experience, even for my teenagers.

Right now, Holy Heroes is offering a special price of $5.00 for the cd and coloring book, and considering the normal price of the cd and book is over $16.00, this is an amazing deal.

Kimberly working on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary cards.
Several years ago I made a set of Stations of the Cross pictures. Simply laminated, they have lasted for years. I am sorry to say that I can't find the link to this pdf. file anymore.
We place these around the living room to make praying the Stations of the Cross more meaningful in our home.
The last two images of the Stations of the Cross end at our Stations votive candles.
And to provide full disclosure about the "real" truth of living with 10 people in a 960 square foot home, I give you this picture of our beautiful prayerful area of our living room...

Yes, it is on top of the little children's toy kitchen.

God bless, and have a holy and blessed Lenten season.

Our Crown of Thorns and our Lamb of God--for the littles

We made our traditional crown of thorns craft today.

We use salt dough to make this.

You can find many, many recipes online for salt dough.

Laura braided the rolled out salt dough and then we shaped it into a wreath.

Mark and Grace enjoyed adding the toothpicks--which represent thorns. I have found, through experience, that if you break the toothpicks in half before inserting them into the wreath they are much easier to remove later.

Bake the salt dough crown at 200 degrees--for several hours--I think ours baked for about 4 hours before is was completely dry.
We have had a purple plate which we used for years for the crown to sit on. Today, I smashed it to bits, getting it out of the top of the cupboard. So, I found this tray at the thrift store and I had Mark paint it purple.

Once baked, Gracie got busy painting the crown brown.

"Perfect, Mark!"

Our goal is to do enough good works and sacrifices to remove all the thorns before Easter.

Our rule is that you do need to get an okay from mom before taking out thorns---so mom can check out the good works accomplished. For instance, it isn't acceptable to dump out all your toys on purpose, and then remove a thorn for each individual toy picked up. That just doesn't count, kids!!

On Easter morning our crown is tranformed into a beautiful crown of white roses.

The littles are using this very cute "Lamb of God". I first saw it on Karen Edmisten's Lenten post.

Amy made this one for me--THANK YOU VERY MUCH-my sweet artist!!--and the littles will countdown to Easter using cotton balls to fill in our wooly lamb.

And as an aside--

Tonight we went to Ash Wednesday mass, and when the priest said,"This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of world"---4 year old Luke called out, quiet loudy, "Hey, we have one of those at home!!"

We hope everyone has a very holy Lenten season.

Stations of the Cross Votive Candles-Repost

I saw this lovely idea over at Ruth's blog Just Another Day in Paradise. (She also has many other very nice Lent activities-so make sure and go check them out.)

This activity adds a lot to the devotion of the Stations of the Cross.

For this activity you need:

14 votive candles-(I got mine in packs of 12 at the craft store for 4 dollars)

purple tissue paper

white glue-watered down

foam core board (for the stand the candles sit on)

wooden letters (we choose to put the word SACRIFICE on our stations)

dark purple paint

light purple paint

These small printable Stations of the Cross

First we used watered down white glue to put the purple tissue paper onto the candle holders.
Laura helped me with this step.
While Laura put the tissue on the candles, I got the Stations of the Cross printables ready to adhere to the candles. They came out just lovely, and the sun shining on them today made them even more so. I love the purple look the tissue gives the candles.

Daddy cut foam core just wide enough to hold the candles. We glued three on top of each other because I think we needed the strength for the heavy candles. He also cut a strip of board a little taller than the base board is thick. This provided a finished looking edge to the front and a lip at the top to help hold the candles.

Gracie painted the letters for the word SACRIFICE in light purple.

She did a great job.

It came out just lovely.

We will light all the candles at the beginning of our devotion and then blow one out after reading about each station. Years ago I purchased many copies of The Way of the Cross for children so all the kids can follow along with their own book.

The only display area here in "the little house" is on top of the toy kitchen, so I did glue the candles onto the board to try and prevent smashed candles. (If you live in a "little house" you have to use whatever space is available). This is also where our shrine to Our Blessed Mother is. I put the traditional "crown of thorns" in this special place of honor also. When a good deed is accomplished (and approved by mother) the good child can remove a thorn from the crown, to show how our good deed and sacrifices can help relieve some of Jesus' sufferings. Hopefully all the thorns will be gone before Easter Sunday.

We pray that everyone has a holy and prayerful Lent as we journey towards Easter.