All Saints Day

Another Awesome Day!

We started the day with Mass at 9am. The kids behaved SO well and I got to receive the Eucharist! Praise God - what a great way to start the day!

My 4yo got to wear her costume to her preschool and they had a Parade of Saints through the Preschool - I wish they would have invited the parents in to see that, I would love to have seen it!

At 2pm we went to the All Saints Day party with our Catholic Homeschool group held at a local Church. It was really fun! We had a ton of kids there and it was so neat to see all their costumes and hear them telling about their Saint. And there was lots of food and games and it really was a wonderful day!



Here is Monkey1 [9yo] in her costume - she was St. Catherine of Alexandria. This first picture is the costume she wore today with the pinkish wrap. The pic below with the blue wrap is the one that she wore to PSR on Sunday, but the blue seemed to confuse people [folks thought she was some apparition of Mary], so she changed the color for today's events. I thought she looked great!

Each child had to have 3 clues about their Saint so the other homeschoolers could try to guess who they were. Monkey1's clues were:

1. I was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 3rd century AD.
2. I was tortured on four spiked wheels, but God destroyed them and saved me. All spiked wheels are named after me.
3. I am the Patron Saint of young girls.

You can't tell in the pictures, but she had a ring of fake blood around her neck because St. Catherine of Alexandria was finally martyred by being beheaded.





Here is Monkey2 [6yo] in his costume. He went as St. Stephen, the first martyr. He had this planned for a long time.

His clues were:
1. I was one of the first Deacons of the Church.
2. I am in the Bible.
3. I was stoned to death.

Martyrs are really cool. Some people shy away from the violence involved with the martyrs, but my kids love to study them and I think it is good for them - good to know how much these Holy Men and Women were willing to endure and sacrifice for the name of Jesus Christ.

My son put the blood on his costume all by himself. [That's a bag of rocks tied to his red belt - for martyrdom - in case you can't tell!]. I painted fake blood on his head. We wrote out the verse with St. Stephen's last words on the back of his bloody tunic.





Here is Monkey3 [4yo] in her costume. She was St. Isabella of Portugal. Her three clues were:

1. I was a Queen.
2. I lived in Portugal.
3. This Saint is my patron Saint.

St. Isabella of Portugal was also the cousin of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, another famous Queen....



Here is Monkey4 [2yo]. She was St. Elizabeth of Hungary. :) Her clues were:

1. I was a Queen.
2. I was very kind to the poor and sick.

She didn't get past her second clue before the other homeschool kids guessed who she was [and yes, she did speak the clues out loud into the microphone for the other kids to guess - she is absolutely fearless LOL!]. The cuteness factor was VERY high. :)



And here is Monkey5 [9mo old]. She went as "The Lamb of God". Not exactly a Saint, but the best I could do. [Honestly I totally forgot a costume for her and the other kids insisted she had to have one LOL!]. A friend of mine told me at the party that I should have dressed as St. Agnes and Monkey5 could have been my lamb. That would have been an awesome idea - if only I'd thought of it!



Here is St. Stephen caring for the Lamb of God. [Notice St. Stephen's bloody head LOL!]



Here are the 4 older kids in front of the Parish Hall just before we went in to the party.



Here are all 5 of my Little Saints at home before we left.



This is a picture of a lot of the Saints we had today at the Homeschool party - there were really about twice this many, but a lot of them came a bit late after we took the group photo! There were some really fantastic costumes!

What a great day! I'm so glad my kids enjoyed today every bit as much as yesterday - even more! That's is how it should be.

St. Catherine of Alexandria, Pray For Us.
St. Stephen, Pray For Us.
St. Isabella of Portugal, Pray For Us.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Pray For Us.
St. Faustina, Pray For Us.

All you Holy men and women, pray for us!

God Bless you all!