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....
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi, Kendra! Thanks so much for your blog. I was hoping you could offer some advice on a question regarding living out the liturgical year with young kids. Our parish Easter egg hunt is scheduled for Holy Saturday morning and I don't know...
This is a sponsored post. See my disclosure policy. I had such fun last spring putting together a St. Patrick's Day play date that I decided to do another one . . . this time for the upcoming feasts of St. Juan Diego on December 9th and Our Lady of Guadalupe on...
November is the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. If you aren't in the habit of hanging out in cemeteries and praying for the dead with your kids . . . well, you're really missing out. And so are your kids. AND so are the dead. As Christians, we believe that the...
October is the Month of the Rosary . . . Sometimes I imagine Saint Bernadette, eagerly and devoutly praying the rosary at the feet of Our Lady. She reverently hold the beads, she carefully recites the prayers, her heart and her mind full of Mary's love for her son...
It's October! Which means I want to wear sweaters and drink hot chai lattes . . . but it's still 90 degrees in LA. Oh, AND I need to figure out what we're doing for costumes. Since my kids like to dress up for Halloween and our homeschool group also hosts an All...
The school year is upon us! I figured it might be nice to have all the schooling-type posts in one place, and I made some new schooling-type printables, and now there's a way for you to get a custom printable . . . made just for you. Yay! :: The Homeschool Posts ::...
It's mailbag time! I've received this same question from a number of different readers. So, perhaps you've been wondering about it as well. -question- Dear Kendra, I am cleaning up the house and happened upon some mail that I wanted to ask you about. Namely, ever...
Before Pentecost can happen, of course, we have to have the Ascension. The kids and I will be observing Ascension Thursday by flying from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to meet up with the husband who is there for business all this week. It seems somehow fitting to be...
Between nearly twenty weeks of all-day morning sickness and my failed going to bed early for Lent experiment, I ended up with quite a backlog of mailbag questions. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing them . . . I received this one after linking to my...
It's still Easter today! Happy Easter! Let's jump in the ol' T.A.R.D.I.S. and take a look back at the Triduum, just for posterity's sake, shall we? And let's, um, go backwards. 'Cause, why not? In case you missed it in all the hubbub yesterday, here are all the Easter...
A very happy and blessed Easter from our family to yours. Here's what our day has looked like so far . . . And here's what we wore Easter Sunday . . . Lulu - eighteen months Dress and sweater: Boden Hat: made by a friend Shoes: Target Frankie - three Shirt: Old Navy...
Every year, during the first three days of Holy Week, we do a big declutter and donate. This is how I get motivated . . . We Can Do It! Here's why it works for us . . . 1. Since it's tied to a big event - Easter - I can't "forget" about it, or put it off...
Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent, traditionally known as Passion Sunday. This is the day on which images and statues are often veiled in churches. We like to do this in our home as well. (I used think we were supposed to do this for all of Lent, but have recently...
Tomorrow is the feast of St. Joseph, and it's a biggie. St. Joseph's Day on March 19th and the Annunciation coming up on March 25th are both solemnities. Note for 2017: Because March 19th falls on a Sunday this year, the celebration of St Joseph's Day is officially...
This is a sponsored post. See my disclosure policy. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Did I mention we throw a St. Patrick's Day party? I DID? Once or twice? Well, this year's Hooley was last weekend, and it was our biggest. party. evah. A very fine time was had by all,...
Happy Laetare Sunday all! Here's what we wore. Obviously. Me: ModCloth dress (I really love their stuff. I have an affiliate link, over on the right sidebar next to the comments, if you want to check them out.) Old Steve Madden shoes. Lulu: Hand me down smocked dress,...
I grew up listening to showtunes and pop music. I am still pretty partial to both. But, ya know, ya get married and are introduced to whole new worlds you never even knew existed. Like Irish Folk music, for instance. I wasn't aware of any such thing until I met my...
This is a sponsored post. See my disclosure policy. It's March! Spring is in sight (at least in California), we are mostly in the swing of Lent (however much that's possible, anyway), and around the Tierney gaff, it's time to get super excited for the upcoming...
I get plenty of questions about how to introduce our Catholic faith to preschoolers and little kids, but so far, none about how to help guide older children as, hopefully, their faith matures and becomes something that they take some initiative for themselves. So...
Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is a Holy day of Obligation. Yes, even though it's a Monday. Go ahead, run to Mass. We can do this when you get back. Okay, back? Obligation fulfilled? Your reward is this free printable: also, this one:...
It's the million dollar Christmas question, right? And I've been asked it many times in the lead up to Advent and Christmas: Do our children "believe" in Santa Claus? But . . . I don't think it's the right question. Hang in here with me. Seriously, let's look at what...
Is that too strong? Well, it's what WE are going to do anyway: CLEAN OUT THE COAT CLOSET! It's something we can ALL do, no matter our financial circumstances. We can take a look in our coat closets and see if we have anything to spare. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But...
I was so amazed at the awesomeness of your entries in the Catholic Costume Contest, that I decided to post, not just the winner, not just a handful of favorites, but almost 200 awesome Catholic costumes, made by real parents and kids just like you and yours. It seems...
Tomorrow, Sunday November 2nd, is All Souls Day. In our home we commemorate the day by going to a cemetery and praying a family rosary for people who have died. We pray particularly, but not exclusively, for our family's deceased friends and relatives. In honor of the...
I am on a ridiculous (and completely unintentional) streak of two weeks of almost daily blog posts. We can't keep this up forever. I'm trying to stop. Really I am. But there's been all the guest posting and sponsored posting to tell you about. And Frankie was grumpy...
A couple months ago, Bonnie asked me to make her some suitable-for-framing graphic images of some prayers: The Morning Offering, and The Act of Contrition. So I did, and I made them downloadable, for YOU. Then I made a St. Michael Prayer, because that's my favorite....
Happy Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist! Some FUN FACTS about St. John the Baptist:Only Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist get feasts for their BIRTHdays. A saint's feast day is usually celebrated on the day of his death, or his birth into Heaven. This is...
Here's hoping everyone had a happy and holy Pentecost! It can be hard to motivate to celebrate the liturgical year at home. Especially on a weekend which already saw sporting events, multiple team parties, and a birthday party. But, now that we've been doing this a...
As you may have already read, Holy Week is a busy week around here. Today, when we handed out chores, somehow Jack ended up with blog duty, and *I* had to clean out his closet. "Content," I told him, "The people want content." Let's see what he came up with...
How much of Jesus' suffering and death to share with little ones is a question many parents struggle with. It can be overwhelming to feel like you have to introduce so many facts and concepts and characters all at once, especially if your kids are perhaps more...
Before you rush out the door to the dollar store to put together an Easter Basket, here are a few ideas for lovely and edifying Easter gifts that you can make happen in a hurry. And sometimes for nearly free! Printables Shining Light Saint Printables! Just a word of...
Updated! (now even MORE stuff at the bottom) Welcome to Answer Me This, a new Sunday link-up here at Catholic All Year. If you missed the big introduction post, here's a quick recap of the rules: I ask you questions, you answer them. You can answer in the...
A big part of our family culture is celebrating the feasts of the liturgical year. And heaven help me if I try to mix things up any. Tierneys have waffles for dinner on the Annunciation. They started off as toaster waffles. Now they are usually homemade waffles. One...
Hey, if you like radio or books or squeaky voices or awkward silences, you're probably going to want to check out my radio interview debut on the Son Rise Morning Show tomorrow morning. I'll be on at 8:40 am Eastern time. It's possible that we'll be talking...
Another Hooley at the Tierneys' is in the books. We are so grateful to our family and friends who spent the evening with us. It was the best. You rock. To those of you who were not here: You should have been. Come next year. It was really fun. Please look at these...
As I chop and measure and mix and bake (and try to decide if finger-batter counts against Lenten disciplines) in preparation for our big annual Hooley at the Tierneys.' hooley: Irish slang for party or celebration; by extension, some substance with which you...
Don't look now, but Lent is nearly upon us. Here are a few ways to make sure we get to the end of these 40 days a bit holier than we were when we started. 1. Choose Lent Disciplines that Challenge You It took me a while to understand that tendency folks seem to have...
Happy Feast of the Chair of St. Peter! Yes, there is an actual, physical "Chair of St. Peter" housed at the Vatican. I've seen it! Jimmy Akin, can tell you everything you need to know about it and this feast, if you click here. But what to do about it, today, with...
Through my various Lenten fails over the years, I've learned a different way of approaching Lent. In our house, we now view Lent as a time to try adding or taking away things from our personal and family lives to see if we are improved. We make it a time, not of...
But if, on the other hand, you have NOT already taught your kids everything they need to know about their faith, if you MEAN to teach them stuff, but sometimes don't get around to it, if you'd LIKE to teach them stuff, but don't know where to start . . . I've got...
At our house, we've been making a concerted effort to wait to celebrate Christmas, until . . . about now. It gives us at least a chance of keeping up with the kids' enthusiasm for the whole twelve days. (Or however many days of Christmas you like.) So, in case you're...
Maybe it's the new baby, but Advent has FLOWN by in our house. Christmas is almost here! I just had to re-type this because I'm pretty sure I have to say my favorite part of our Christmas celebration is the Mass. But a VERY close second is our At Home Family Nativity...
Here's a little glimpse at what the first few days of Advent have looked like at our house . . . Journey to Bethlehem (the board game) It's pretty much the best advent-themed board game ever. But it's a very limited edition, since Jack made it when he was in the first...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about our family's advent philosophy, but now that advent is actually upon us, I wanted to share a little more about our three favorite advent family traditions. 1. Little People Nativity We have many nativity sets. We've got a big outdoor...
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how we were able to start celebrating the liturgical year in our home only by taking baby steps. And I mentioned how overwhelmed I had felt reading the first book I found about the celebrating the liturgical year in the home....
Now that Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls are behind us, I'm going to make like the mall and jump right in to Christmas. Thanksgiving schmanksgiving, amitrie? (I'm kidding, we do celebrate Thanksgiving. In fact this year we'll be having 15-16 family members at our...
Happy All Hallows Eve, Feast of All Saints, and Commemoration of All Souls everyone! Here's how we celebrated/are celebrating/will celebrate. For Halloween, we carved pumpkins and went trick or treating around our neighborhood. It was lovely. The weather couldn't have...
My Catholic faith journey has been all about baby steps. God never knocked me off my bicycle, blinded me, and gave me a talking to. It's been slow and steady the whole way. And making the feasts and fasts part of our family's day-to-day life has been no different.For...
I love the tradition of Catholic schools and homeschool groups doing All Saints dress up days in lieu of Halloween costumes. (When my son was enrolled in Kindergarten at our parish school, the Halloween costume parade was the straw that broke the camel's back for us....