I’m so very thankful that I found Jessica’s Blog, Shower of Roses about a year ago. It has been a great gift. She continuously inspires me to fully live out the Liturgical Year in my home, domestic church. However, I’m often slow to implement many of the ideas. I have to be certain I take on only that which is conducive to my family’s current state in life. This includes our budget, energy levels, church commitments, and etc…

I was fascinated by Jessica’s implementation of The Garden of the Good Shepherd upon my initial discovery.

This is my first go at following this guide for the Easter season. I’m not sure I’d be willing to give it a go without Jessica’s and Charlotte’s aides.

The Good Shepherd’s Pasture
I decided to celebrate the first week of Easter & The Garden of the Good Shepherd with my Little Flowers Girls Group. I had initially planned to host an Easter Tea for my Little Flowers last meeting but went for the informal festivities of this celebration instead.


We had a great turnout of about 20 girls. Some of which were 4 years old, new members. A nice showing of moms stayed to help and enjoy the celebration.


Our meeting followed Saturday Mass.  We started the meeting/party with prayer, an introduction of new girls, and group assignments. We were off and running.


I wanted to keep a crafty theme going for this celebration since I use crafts to help the girls grow in their virtues and develop their domestic skills. I decided to have the girls create their own baked treats. I also added some traditional crafts to the mix.


I created six stations for groups of 4-5 girls. Each group rotated together throughout the celebration.
 
Before the girls could switch their stations, I read a day from the Good Shepherd and held a brief discussion with the girls. A Little Flower was selected to adhere the sticker to the board.

-Frosting (2 reg sized containers of frosting or 1 large container) – $1.50/std. container
-Knives (1/girl in group) – FREE I use my kids plastic knives from IKEA
-Mini marshmallows (1 bag) – $0.99
-Large marshmallows cut in half (1 bag) – $0.99
-Raisins (for eyes) (3 mini boxes) – $2.28 for 1 standard box of raisins
-Jelly Belly/candy (20 candies) – FREE left over from Easter
-Cups for Frosting, mini marshmallows, raisins, candy
-Premade shepherd’s crook/breadsticks – $1.75/container
(Made from 2 packages of refrigerated breadsticks. I cut each uncooked bread stick in half before shaping to reduce the size of the crook.)

-Stick pretzels (1/2 regular bag) – $2.50
-Graham crackers (3 bags of graham crackers) – $2.50 (1 box contains 4 bags)

-Premade Wolf Paw Cookies
     -1 bag of chocolate chip cookies or ½ box of Nilla Wafers- $2 ea box
    – 1/2 bag of Almond Bark – $2/bag
     -3 bars of White/Vanilla Bark – $2/bag

-Cotton balls (1 bag) – $2
-Tacky glue (1 bottle) – $0.94 I use tacky glue because it sets fast and does not run.
-Craft sticks (1/ea. girl in group. Used to spread glue) – FREE recycled popsicle sticks
-Small containers for tacky glue (I use cupcake liners) – FREE left over from EWE cupcakes
-Wiggle eyes (1 small packet) – $0.94 (pack of 50)
-Colored pencils – FREE perk of homeschooling

-Foam cut-outs – $1.00/pack of 24-36
-7 in precut ribbon/per girl – $1.00/4 yards
-Stickers for embellishments
-Tacky glue (1 bottle) – $0.94 I use tacky glue because it sets fast and does not run.
-Craft sticks (1/ea. girl in group. Used to spread glue) – FREE recycled popsicle sticks
-Small containers for tacky glue (I use cupcake liners) – left over from EWE cupcakes
-Hot glue gun (1 used by mom)
-Hot glue sticks (2-3) – $2/bag of 36 glue sticks

-Saint Coloring Pages Construction paper
-Colored Pencils
-Markers
-Scissors
-Glue Sticks

-Toy tea set
Little Flowers Doll House (this house was a gift from the previous group leader. It is used for special occasions only, a real treat!)

I created info cards for all stations. The food stations had cards listing the coordinating scripture verse. This allowed the mom-volunteers to reiterate the significance of the craft.
 
Father L was able to join us for a blessing between his First Communion Lessons and Confirmation testing. We presented him with a gift of thanks for all he does, an image of Divine Mercy.

We went out with a bang and touched upon Week 2 – Welcome to the Lord’s Table, Milk. Milk, Ice Cream Sundaes were our final treat.

The girls had a blessed day! They were delighted with all the crafts & treats. The loved the Garden of the Good Shepherd lessons and were more than attentive. I would love to continue the Easter celebrations with the girls but will settle for a weekly celebration with my children in our home as we JOYfully await the arrival of our new blessing, Baby "G".

Papi helped me post our Garden of the Good Shepherd Book in our Liturgical corner. He decided were the “corner” should be moved to and where the book should go. He loves telling the story to all.

Deo Gratias!