Hey, look! It's me with a handful of bees! I have mentioned before that I have a weird bucket list. You guys asked for details. Well, it includes things like . . . Heroically land a commercial airliner after the pilots have become incapacitated: via GIPHY Well, Sean...
It's been an AGE since we dug something out of the old mailbag. Let's take a peek, shall we? The Question: Hello Kendra, I know you are very busy but I have a few questions from something on your blog. You said the kids can’t get out of bed during nap, how do you...
I'm trying out a new feature on the blog, which I've decided to call Catholic Stuff Saturday, and for which I have created this graphic: which really makes whatever comes next worth it, right? 😀 Anyway, I get a lot of requests from Catholic authors and artists...
Thank you all so much for your responses to my reader survey! Almost 1500 of you took the time to fill it out. It's been really interesting to see the results, and to read all your kind feedback. Just ONE story of this blog being a part of a conversion or a deepening...
Dear Readers, My big takeaway from all the hubbub of the last week . . . is that I've really missed blogging! Somehow, just microblogging on Facebook and Instagram doesn't feel the same as being here on the blog and writing things that live on to be googled by new...
The three little prayer books are fixed, approved and currently available for next day shipping with prime! New and improved, now with correct Sign of the Cross pages! They've got the Frankie stamp of approval. Here's my very professional announcement video: You're...
Update: the books are back in stock on Amazon! MY SUPERHERO PRAYER BOOKMY FAIRY-TALE PRAYER BOOKMY WOODLAND PRAYER BOOK Well, that book launch didn't go exactly according to plan. I was going to wait to publish this post until I could tell you the books were available...
I have some fun news! I have three little books out and published today! Rosary by Chews Life Dolls by Shining Light Dolls: Our Lady, and Pope St. JPII the Great I have not forgotten about my *REAL* book! It now has an official name: <trumpet fanfare> The...
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi Kendra, I was wondering if you were going to write a post about how Valentine’s Day is on Ash Wednesday & how you guys will address that at your house. My thought was to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day the day before like the vigil....
Today is January 6th, which is the traditional date of Epiphany, the day that the three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem, having followed the star to meet the baby Jesus. But for Western Catholics, we celebrate it tomorrow, on the Sunday after January 1st. Liturgical...
We are safe and sound, as is our home. It's never even been smokey here, despite us being just a few miles away from multiple raging wildfires. The Thomas Fire has been burning for ten days now. It's named for Thomas Aquinas College, and began near there. The campus...
Advent starts tomorrow! And that means tonight is Catholic New Year's Eve, so break out the champagne! If, like me, you are not quite ready to, um, get ready, I thought I'd share this quick and easy Advent Wreath that is our go-to every year now. We've had lots...
I had every intention of not wading into the Elf on the Shelf debate, because it's really not a matter of faith and morals, and is therefore something about which good Catholics are free to make their own choices, and follow their own consciences, and disagree. But...
Our phones, right? We use them for all the things, but also maybe feel like we shouldn't be? As much? Ever? I'm all for balance and temperance, but in our concern about the pitfalls of our phones, it's easy to lose sight of the GOOD that's to be had from those...
Indulgences! So much opportunity, so much confusion and misinformation. And that's just among Catholics. It's really difficult to even find any information at all online about the most recent version of the Manual of Indulgences, a 1999 revision that replaced the 1968...
First off, I have to say how excited I am that anyone other than me wanted this calendar. I just can't believe how many of you have purchased it and are looking forward to starting off the new Catholic year on December 3rd and observing the feasts and the fasts. And...
I've been Catholic for forty-one years, actually making an effort for seventeen, a liturgical living devotee for eleven, and blogging about it for five. And . . . I just found out about Ember Days. As I was researching feast days for the Catholic All Year...
This is the time of year I start getting emails and Facebook messages from parents who are trying to decide how to handle the cultural traditions surrounding Christmas, and how to balance them with their Catholic faith. There is genuinely a lot of worry that they'll...
For Catholics, November is the month we remember the dead. On November 1st, we celebrate all the saints in heaven, who are our hope and help and inspiration. The rest of the month, we focus on the holy souls in purgatory. (They are also called poor souls . . . same...
He's a good baby. He nurses well and sleeps a lot and has the cutest little smiles. Not to mention the cutest little face. But he's just very . . . particular, if you know what I mean. He most particularly doesn't care for me sitting at the computer and typing....
Happy Feast of St. Margaret of Antioch, virgin, martyr, dragon-slayer. And YOU thought St. George got to have all the dragon-related fun! Whenever anyone says the Catholic Church wants to subjugate women, I want to make them read The Golden Legend. Because, sure, SOME...
And now back to the continuing saga of what we've been doing for the past seven months. In Part I (here) we learned that I don't yet have a good grasp of what goes into to painting a room, despite having painted like . . . thirteen of them now. Also, that breaking...
Hey guys. Did you miss me? I figured there might still be a few of you who would be interested in some updates to my announcements in my last post (seven months ago!). Let's begin with the most exciting, shall we? Introducing . . . baby George! After a very fast (and...
Hey guys! It's been a while, huh? House stuff, book stuff, school stuff, kid stuff . . . it's all been keeping me pretty busy. But it felt like time to share an update with you, the good and patient people of this blog. 1. Ya know how when you're a Catholic mommy...
Hey guys. 👋 I'm still not back. The book is coming along, but there's still a ways to go. But. I got this mailbag question via email and answered it via email, and wanted to share it here, just in case any of you are facing the same criticisms. I really hope...
Happy Columbus Day! This is not a feast of the Catholic Church, of course, but it's a national celebration (at least it WAS a celebration, now it's more like one-more-excuse-to-be-mad-on-Facebook) of a Catholic person with admirable qualities and great failings, both....
The end is coming into hazy view on the horizon . . . of phase one, anyway. Phase one of at least three (but probably more like thirty-seven) phases of the fixer-upping of Gramblewood. Our contractor says he'll be done with the kitchen and the upstairs in about two...
I tend to get mailbag questions in bunches. All of a sudden, I'll get a flurry of questions on similar topics. Maybe it's Facebook? Maybe it's some sort of hive-mind phenomenon? But there you have it. It's a thing. The most recent wave was on kids and modesty. And the...
Disagreement with Catholic teaching is something that saints and heretics have in common. The great St. Paul himself, we read about in today's first reading, was a dissenter and debater. But the difference between the saints and the heretics has always been in how...
Ahhh . . . movie night. It's one of the most beloved parts of our family routine. Our kids don't watch a whole lot of TV, but we do plan on watching a movie together as a family just about every week. We started off watching mostly Disney animated movies, but as the...
