A Slice of Smith Life: 7 Quick Takes: Thankful Thursday Link-Up {Halloween, All Saints' Day, Mom's Birthday}

7 Quick Takes: Thankful Thursday Link-Up {Halloween, All Saints' Day, Mom's Birthday}

For this week's 7 Quick Takes hosted by Jennifer at Conversion Diary, I'm combining the Friday's Quick Takes with things I'm thankful for since each Thursday in November is themed "Thankful Thursdays", which is hosted by Tammy at Creative K Kids. I'm also linking up to Lisa's "My Week in Review" at Home to 4 Kiddos.

— 1 —

I am thankful for All Saints' Day that we celebrate each year on Nov. 1 with our Catholic homeschool group. Last week we got together to celebrate such a special day in the liturgical calendar. This year we had to celebrate All Saints' Day in the morning on October 31st and our family hosted the party. This year several of the Moms made the Saint Themed Guessing Jars first introduced by Jennifer at Catholic Inspired. This was our second year doing the guessing jars and they are always a hit. One mom and her children really went to town and thought of some super creative Saint themed jars.

Here are just a few of the creative jars that were made:

St. Joseph Cupertino (patron of test takers)...Smarties candy

St. Thomas Aquinas ("the dumb ox")...Dum Dum lollipops

Virgin Mary Untier of Knots...Twizzlers

St. Lawrence (patron of comedians)...Laffy Taffy

St. William of York (patron of York, England)...York Peppermint Patties

The Joy of the Eucharist...small Almond Joy candy bars

Listed below is the entire list of Saint Themed Guessing Jars that our homeschool group has collected from various sources (Catholic Inspired and Shower of Roses), including from my friend Trisha and her children. They got very creative with some of these saints and their candy symbols! :)

St. Lucy -- Patron Saint of eyes -- eye candy

St. Joseph Cupertino -- Patron Saint of Test takers -- smarties --

St. Isadore -- Patron Saint of Farmers -- Candy corn or candy pumpkins

St. Thomas Aquinas -- "the Dumb Ox" -- Dum Dums

St. Therese -- "the Little Flower" -- rose candy

St. Kateri -- candy corn

St. Valentine -- Hershey kisses

St. Patrick -- gummy worms

St. Francis of Assisi -- Patron Saint of Animals -- animal crackers

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton -- ABC cookies

St. Peter --"the fisher of men"-- Gummy Fish

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel -- caramel candies

Holy Trinity -- Three Musketeer bars

St. Adjutor -- Patron Saint of swimmers -- Life Savers

Our Lady Undoer of Knots -- Twizzlers

St. Lawrence -- Patron Saint of Comedians -- Laffy Taffy

St. Florian --Patron Saint of Firefighters --hot tamales or red hots

St. Gertrude of Nivelles -- Patron Saint of Cats --Kit-Kats

St. William of York -- Patron Saint of York, England -- York Peppermint Patties

Saints Mary and Martha -- M&Ms

St. Appolonia -- Patron of Dentists -- Candy teeth

The Joy of the Eucharist -- Almond Joy

Our Lady of the Fields -- Triscuits

St. Gertrude the Great -- Marshmallow ghosts
St. Raphael -- Gummy Fish
St. Matthew -- Payday candy bars
St. Ambrose -- Bit o Honey
St. Bernadette -- Pretzel Sticks
St. Nicholas -- Candy canes (red and white)
St. Anthony -- (gave a sermon to the sea and the fish listened) -- Goldfish crackers

St. Dominic -- Patron of Astronomers -- Milky Ways

St. Brigid of Kildare -- Patron of Dairy Farmers -- Cow Tails

— 2 —

I am thankful for all the Saints at our annual All Saints' Day party last week.

St. Vincent of Saragossa (patron Saint of wine-makers, hence the bunch of grapes...So funny!)
St. Maximilian Kolbe (Patron Saint of drug addicts, families, imprisoned people, journalists, political prisoners, prisoners , pro-life movement)
St. Marianne Cope ( patron of lepers and St. Marianne Cope is pictured with two lepers with bandages) :)

Another "Saint" that was represented at our All Saints' Day party was this cute little LADYbug of mine. Huh? Well, I was pulling a "twofer" as Kendra at Catholic All Year calls it when you use the same costume for Halloween as you do All Saints' Day and yes, I was able to make our cute little ladybug be a Saint. Do you know how the ladybug got it's name? Find out HERE about the history of its name according to legends and you may never look at a sweet ladybug the same anymore {and you just may have one of your kiddos dress as a ladybug at the next Saints' day party ;-) }

— 3 —

I am thankful for spending time with family and friends on Halloween (All Hallows Eve).

Bunches of grapes ("twofer" from All Saints Day party earlier that day) , Hello Kitty, Cowgirl, Indian, Witch, Ladybug ("twofer" from All Saints Day party earlier that day), Soccer Stars, and a real dog!

— 4 —

I am thankful for meeting up with a good friend that I have known since high school while we were out trick or treating with our group. Her sweet daughter and my youngest are exactly 3 months apart. The lamb and ladybug meetup was documented with this picture. :)

— 5 —

This should be self-exclamatory of why I am thankful:

— 6 —

I am thankful for my Mom who celebrated her birthday on November 4th! I cooked dinner for my parents and I bought her her favorite cake, Tiramisu, because I haven't figured out how to make that kind of cake yet! It was a special evening!