We're shouting and singing Alleluia all day today. We're doing our best to get it out of our systems, because tonight after dinner, we'll bury the Alleluia and not shout, sing, or say it again until Easter.

All our prayers today have been punctuated with an extra "Alleluia!" at the end. Actually it's really cute; Carrie keeps mixing it up and shouting "Alleyoolah!"

I splurged on foam letters from Michael's, $1 each, and put them up on the mantel, just for today.

We're milking this word for all it's worth today. Tonight, we'll take them down and "bury" them in a shoebox. Tomorrow, they'll be replaced by new letters, which are not as fun and fancy.

I would have liked to get foam or wooden craft letters for "Repent" as well, but I couldn't find them all in purple at Michael's, and all I could find elsewhere were wooden letters at $2.29 each. That would have been almost $15 and I still would have had to paint them. So I typed the word into Word, chose a font I liked, printed it out on heavy cardstock, cut out the letters, painted them purple, reinforced them with craft sticks, and taped them together.

Whew! That was almost as exhausting to describe as it was to actually do the project! No, I'm kidding, it was fun, and the kids enjoyed helping....

Okay, I admit it, I didn't let them help. I made them watch. I'm a terrible, control-freak, perfectionist mother, and I did the whole darn thing myself.

But I promise I will get them involved during Lent. We have a giant calendar to keep track of important events and activities...

Kind of bare so far, huh? And I need to make another one for the rest of Lent. And kindly try not to notice that I got carried away while writing in the dates and tried to make this year a leap year. Luckily Logan stepped in and fixed it, as you can see. (See? Who says I don't let the kids help with projects?)

I also decided to go ahead with the jellybean prayer activity, but I changed it to M&Ms, which are not completely disgusting. The kids are so ready for this one. They each have a glass jar with their name on it, and they're eager to start earning those M&Ms.

And I have at the ready some coloring pages for the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary. I will color the pictures...

okay, I'll let the kids color the pictures...

and we'll put them up on the wall (if I can find a bare spot - we have an awful lot of projects on the walls right now!) so they can have a visual as we pray one sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary each day, as a family. Something I've been wanting us to do for years. Maybe someday we'll pray an entire Rosary each day, but this will be a nice start.

For myself, I've printed out the Morning Offering and pasted it onto a piece of blue construction paper to make it pretty. I stuck it on the wall in our bedroom, under the crucifix, to help me remember to say it first thing in the morning each day. I often forget. This is something I'd like to change. My day always goes better when I start out by offering it to God.

What an ugly patch on the wall. We really ought to fix that.

And finally, I've decided to do something other than give up Starbucks this year. Instead of fasting from coffee, I'll be fasting from... raising my voice. No more yelling at the kids! I'm sure they'll like this one much better than giving up Starbucks.

Especially since if I gave up Starbucks, I'd probably be extra cranky, and I'd yell even more.

So, until tomorrow... Alleluia, alleluia, ALLELUIA!!