It's a solemnity and a Meat Friday, I hope you're celebrating today! I posted last week with some celebration ideas and free printables for the feast of St. Joseph. But I had to pop back in today to share one of my ALL-TIME favorite poems. We read it for St. Joseph's...
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...
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...
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...
It's the Year of Mercy! But hopefully you already knew that, as I've been meaning to write this post since, um, November. We've been making an effort to be mindful of the Year of Mercy in our home, and we came up with a Year of Mercy Family Challenge to go with it....
Last month we had the unfortunate anniversary of Roe v Wade. Many cities, including my own Los Angeles, hosted Walks for Life, but our family wasn't there. We weren't there because we were at a funeral, for a baby named Emily Rose Marie. We are fortunate enough to...
Lulu's "Pie Pedjus" second birthday party was last weekend, but it's taken me all week to get this post written because I fell hard down the rabbit hole of picMonkey + Jane Austen. But more on that later. First, for the party . . . Lulu is a big, big fan of the...
Mailbag time: What to do when it all seems like too much . . . (and if you make it to the bottom there's news and shopping, yay!) The Question: Hi Kendra, I found you blog a new months ago and have so enjoyed going through your old posts and soaking up all the...
It's supposed to be a big deal. 😉 It's kind of all the small people in my house can talk about. Overshadowing even THE BIG MOVE . . . on team kid, at least. They have watched the trailer only four hundred and sixty seven times. Gus and Bobby have November and...
Advent is less than two weeks away . . . are you ready, TO WAIT? Advent is a beautiful time of year. But for those of us attempting to live the liturgical year in our homes (at least a bit) it can be a tricky season to get right. Sometimes it feels like whatever we...
If the figurine genre has taught us anything, it's that children love to kneel reverently and piously recite their prayers. But if your children happen to not be figurines, maybe they sometimes complain about saying their prayers. Maybe sometimes prayer time turns...
I was going to wait to show you guys this hundred year old house until we had, ya know, bought it. But . . . I got tired of waiting. It is the best of houses and the worst of houses. Living room: Yay! Kitchen: Boo. Schoolroom: Yay! Mummified Rat: Boo. And it's still...
Let's be random and rambling today, shall we? 1. My drafts folder is empty. I wrote and scheduled about two months' worth of posts before I had Mary Jane. Then, since she was born, I've been writing about one new post per week, to mix in here and there, and that's...
There's been quite a bit going on in the world and this country and my house. Interesting stuff, exciting stuff, disappointing stuff. It's been a while since I updated everyone on the goings on around here. And I figure you're just dying to know how the Tierneys feel...
Here we go on the second installment of . . . Them's the Rules! Wherein I share with you our family rules and things I say one hundred times a day, with images I made in a weird fit of graphic design-themed nesti-ness the day before Mary Jane was born. Here's Part I,...
Remember way back when I wrote that post on Living the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in the Home (with Frankie)? Well, it just happens to mention one of our Family Rules: Don't take your pants off without a plan. In the comments of that post, Annie asked if I...
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 easy to sometimes feel like motherhood isn't compatible with true Christian works of mercy. After all, not many of us are able to manage the kind of charitable activities that our sisters called to single life or religious vocations might be able to do. I have...
When Kristin from the blog Vine of Plenty asked if I'd be interested in participating in her Summer of Psalms project, I knew which psalm I wanted to choose before I could even click reply. It had to be psalm 139. 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;...
Here are some Friday Seven Quick Takes for you . . . on a Saturday. 1. I'm at Blessed is She today, reflecting on Matthew 6:25-34. You know the one . . . Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you...
Since Father's Day is coming up, I thought I'd make a batch of free Father's Day printables, using a few of my favorite Father's Day quotes. I hope you like them, and I always love hearing how you use them! As with all my printables, you are welcome to right click on...
We're out of town, so I thought I'd take this week to share with you some of the tips and tricks I use on PicMonkey to make this blog prettier. This is installment four of four, also see Lesson 1: Using PicMoney to Make Good Photos Great and Bad Photos Pretty Good,...
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...
The Winners This giveaway has turned out to be my favorite one ever. If you haven't been back over to read the comments . . . do it. They are so, so, so sweet. I wish you could all win. I really do. But instead, I just let random.org pick me five winning...
Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. And I just happen to have a mailbag question that is particularly well-suited to the day. Let's get to it, shall we? the question: Dear Kendra, Hi! First, I enjoy your blog very, very much. I am on my way into the Catholic...
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...
Happy Palm Sunday! Hosanna! Easter is one week away! Just in case you haven't finalized your family's Easter baskets, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what is going to be in ours' this year (and yes, I pretty much JUST took care of all of this) . . . I've been...
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...
I don't do these family glimpse posts as much as I used to, because I tend to share that stuff on the Catholic All Year Facebook page and on my Instagram account now. But I forget that not all of you are all those places. And I share different stuff on Facebook than I...
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...
Lent is nigh, you guys. It is NIGH. Hope you're ready. If you're not, I might be able to help . . . with some recommendations, and some free printables, and a contest. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? Because before Ash Wednesday, comes Fat Tuesday (aka...
In honor of Saint Valentine's Day . . . Here are seven different free printable Catholic valentines, featuring saint quotes and Bible verses, made by yours truly. You're welcome to right click and save any of these images. You may print them for your own personal use...
So I've been teasing you guys on this one long enough, huh? Here it finally is. The most important detail, of course, is that Betty had a really great time, and so did her friends. But there are a LOT more details than that. I've got a lot of kids. They have a lot of...
Well, for those of you who are just dying of curiosity over which photo we went with for the Christmas card this year . . . it was the rocks one. In case your card got lost in the mail, here it is in blog form: And in case you couldn't read that, here's the...
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:...
My friend Kelly is hosting Seven Quick Takes today, so I'm back on the link-up wagon. -one- The Quotable Cranky Frankie Frankie (3): a mornin mama Me: mornin Frank Frankie: No! I'm Frankie! Me: <whispering> Good morning Frankie. Frankie: No! Not like...
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 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...
I've had some more requests for printable prayers from good folks like Sarah and Charlotte and Robin. And, in honor of the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, and in celebration of the monumental events of the day (more on that below), I decided to take an evening off of...
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 Easter everyone! He is Risen. . . Are you guys getting tired of that yet? Sorry. I just found out about it this year. It's possible I'm getting carried away. Also, I've eaten a LOT of candy. They're always saying how easy it is to take candy from a...