Latest Blog Posts
Our Favorite Books for Advent and Christmas
This past June our basement (and every other basement in town) flooded. It was a catastrophe caused by aging infrastructure and a breakdown at the water plant combined with a terrible storm. As bad as it was for us, we were hardly touched in comparison to some. And...
How to Explain Purgatory to Children
November is the month that we as Catholics set aside to pray for the dead. More specifically, we are praying for the souls in Purgatory. It’s a word that most, if not all, Catholics are familiar with, but one that some might be hard-pressed to explain, especially to...
How I Make Montessori Object Bags
If you've read my posts on learning to read, you know that I love everything about the Montessori approach to teaching reading. (If you haven't, take a peek here, here, here, and here). Charlotte and Lily (our niece) have been working with the sandpaper letters and...
Practical Tips for Planning a Summer Pilgrimage
A family pilgrimage can be a wonderful and fruitful summer activity, an opportunity to grow in faith together as well as explore a new part of the country or even a new-to-you parish in your town. Whether you choose a location near or far doesn’t matter, as long as...
Catholic Activities for Your Summer Break
Summer brings with it such joy. Children celebrate being free from the confines of the school schedule. The days grow longer and the sunshine lasts past bedtime, which always seems to inch later and later as June progresses. As a parent, I love the joy my children...
Father’s Day Printables and More
Father's Day is this weekend, and we are getting ready over here at the P House. This post contains affiliate links, please see my about page for the full disclosure. "We" got Mark this bocce ball set (who knew Amazon made these, but why am I not surprised?), and I'm...
Joy and Your Charisms
Mother Teresa once said that "joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls." Tellingly, she also said that, “it is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger...
On the Creativity and Intellectual Property of Small Catholic Makers
Over the past few years, as a consequence of working with the very talented Rebecca Gorzynska on our Marian Consecration, I have had the opportunity to get to know a group of Catholic women makers. These women astound me with their creativity, their brilliance, their...
Summer is Coming
It's starting to feel like Summer . . . It's finally warmed up here in Michigan, which of course means that we went from snow a few weeks ago to 90 degree temps, because of course. June is always a favorite month of mine- it always brings the expectation and...
Our 2021 Buy Nothing Mary Garden Project
Last year I completed the grotto for our Mary statue, and I think it was one of my most favorite creative projects.We ended up putting Mary on our patio, and painted the furniture and a wall to match the colors of her grotto (thank you nesting instincts for such...