Come On Over!

Hello to all my blogging friends! Just a note that you will now find me at:

http://www.vocationofmotherhood.typepad.com

This is the last time I’m moving, I promise (and I hope to get some more writing in)!

Letter-Writing Thursday

We are doing a weekly letter-writing activity on Thursdays. This is to help Nature Boy learn some writing skills that are quickly diminishing in our media-driven society. I am hoping to get a graphic made by Alice so I can use it in my sidebar (especially when I convert back to Typepad, my long lost friend!!). Until then, I encourage you to pick up the pen in your own household. A well written note is such a blessing to the receiver, don’t you think?

Northern Pike Fish Lapbook

“Nature Boy” loves fishing and so it was only natural that his second lapbook would be all about fish, namely, Esox Lucius (northern pike). For this lapbook we used a variety of resources, including the Fish of Minnesota book, cut-outs from magazines (especially the boys’ favorite, Field & Stream) stickers, and a “Treasure Island Map” font I downloaded from somewhere for the title of the lapbook.

Here is the front of the lapbook:

From Lapbooks

And here is the inside when you unfold it:

From Lapbooks

And here is the inside with the flaps unfolded:

From Lapbooks

There is a space left open for a picture of him with a northern. We just haven’t sifted from our mountain of photos yet to find the perfect picture. Uncle Jim is also pictured on the bottom middle, of course he had to include that!

Here are some of the things (fold-outs) we included:

• The number of northerns he’s caught
• Bait used to catch a northern
• Fish-handling tips
• Assorted questions
• World records

Jamberry Lapbook

Here is one of our favorite books, lapbook-style! Red really enjoyed this project, “Jamberry” is one of the best rhyming books we’ve ever come across! The boys have pretty much memorized this book over the years. We always pull it out when strawberry-picking season arrives.

From Lapbooks

To make this lapbook, we simply copied the front of the book using our color copier. The inside of the lapbook consists of:

Left hand side:

• Pictures of a boy and a bear (main characters in the book)

Middle:

• A printout of “compound word” pictures (printed off a website, I can’t remember where!)
• Favorite berry foods
• A blueberry pie with blueberries colored on it and counted

Right hand side:

• A strawberry with a little rhyme printed on the inside
• Rhyme
• Coloring of a canoe

Pretty simple, but for his first lapbook we think he did a fine job!

I do remember visiting www.homeschoolshare.com for some inspiration.

Professional Development

The other day Mr. Dreamy and I were talking about going to an upcoming conference. He asked if I thought that “I really needed to go.” Well, I guess I don’t have to. However as a homeschooling mom I would hope that improving and inspiring myself to be a better person, a better mother, a better wife and to be inspired spiritually would be important for our family goals. I was just reading a book about entrepreneurship. One thing that struck me was one of the reasons why women wanted to start their own business: to add a “professional development” expense account to their yearly budget. They felt that “professional development” was missing in their current work career and wanted to make that a priority in running their own business.

My view of “professional development” is obviously much different from that of a woman with a career outside the home. Still, the idea crosses boundaries into other vocations; especially mine. I can see my professional development plan including a yearly spiritual retreat, morning prayer time, my monthly book club, journal time, a conference or two here and there, and even making dates with Mr. Dreamy a priority in our marriage. Looks like I’ll need to sign up for the above conference and our absolute favorite!

Easter Tablescape

I love the term “tablescape.” Not sure where I originally heard it but it just sounds like going on a vacation via your dinner table. Anyways, for Easter I get so excited about decorating because I LOVE RABBITS!!!! They’re adorable aren’t they?

I think I will always have a love for rabbits from childhood. My little brother and I had some pet rabbits that my mom did not enjoy taking care having around. One day we came home and found them GONE. Poof! They had disappeared. She had given them away! From then on I missed those rabbits. I don’t ever see us having any rabbits, only because we already have enough to take care of around here. However these little rabbit salt and pepper shakers will do quite nicely:

The best part about this Easter was having some friends over for dinner and dessert. They brought some fabulous food and we had three different desserts; chocolate pies, “Resurrection Cheesecake” and a Coconut Cake from Barefoot Contessa. Easter dinner was heavenly (no pun intended)!

Typepad Again???

Well my friends, you are going to find out how fickle I really am. Yes, I’m thinking of going back to Typepad. Why on earth would I do that after I just converted the blog to WP? It’s simple, really. The books. Yes, the books. I can have a bunch of books listed in my sidebar with Typepad, and I can also upload pictures so much easier than I can in WP. Actually I can’t upload pictures at all in WP, I have to use a picasa album to easily get them in my posts.

The best things about WordPress? First, the ability to use our backyard picture in the header and the fact that it’s free! I keep on thinking that I’ll write more posts if I go back to Typepad but I’m not sure if it’s the blog interface or just my procrastination that’s the problem. So what do you think? Please leave a comment letting me know your opinion. Stay tuned for future developments….

Easter Baskets

Now while we choose to focus on the Resurrection of Christ as our Easter celebration, the Easter bunny still leaves some surprises for the boys. Here is this year’s basket collection:

Nature Boy’s Basket Includes: A Guide to MN Bird’s & CD, Colored Pencils, Band-Aids, and of course, lots of chocolates!

Yona’s Basket Includes: “Nobunny’s Perfect” book, Easter Egg Coloring Kit (to do tomorrow), Mini-Whinnies (little toy horses), crayon-themed Band-Aids and a Peter Rabbit Bunny.

Red’s Basket Includes: Playmobil Toys (Romans), a Cowboy Nightlight, Colored Pencils, Band-Aids, and chocolate.

Why am I listing all of this? Simply so I can remember for next Easter of course! This was so much fun to put together, and of course Granny helped before she left to go to the salt mine LOL.

Living Stations of the Cross

Wow, what a great Easter tradition this is: our homeschool group gets together on Good Friday every year and puts on a Passion Play. Literally, a real, live, Stations of the Cross. This year we had the oldest teens put together the entire play. They chose the kids for the various roles, established who would narrate, etc. They did a great job! Here are a couple of videos. And yes, Simon is yours truly, our own Mr. Red.:

Living Stations of the Cross

The families met around nine in the morning, had some get together time, organized the kids and prepared for lunch (corn chowder, clam chowder and rolls). We had a mini-practice, ate lunch and then prayed the Stations of the Cross with the kids while they performed. What a beautiful way to express our love for our Savior. A presentation like this brings to life what words cannot say.

Math Anxiety= Lack of financial planning

Here’s an interesting tidbit from Marketplace Money today about math anxiety. According to the Women’s College Coalition, girls who learn in a single-sex environment actually do much better in the math and sciences. Just another plug for Cottey!

Menu Planning Made Easy

Wow, I am relieved! Mr. Dreamy and I had a talk last week about streamlining our family menu. We were inspired by Elizabeth’s menu and here is what we came up with:

• Sunday-Pasta
• Monday-”Granny Meal” (Meat/Sides/Rolls/etc., basically comfort food)
• Tuesday-Tacos/Mexican
• Wednesday-Chicken
• Thursday-Soup & Bread
• Friday-Cheese Pizza
• Saturday- Sandwiches or something special (when Mom & Dad want to cook together)

We’ve only been in this one week and I’m already loving it. Simple, simple, simple.  It’s not the actual cooking that stresses me out, it’s the planning of the meal that is so difficult. It’s such a relief to know that we are having pizza for sure, so I just need to get the dough started. Easy! The pizza recipe we use is from America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. (The recipe can only be viewed if you register, sorry!, or try a google search).

Thank you Elizabeth for the great tip and we are so happy to be a little bit less stressed in the coming months!

Great Catholic Kids Resource

Finally getting around to ordering this:

Can’t wait to start using it!

Feeding My Passion for Organizing

I recently browsed online at the ContainerStore.com and saw this. I think I see an upcoming fieldtrip with my friend Christine! We both loved going to the Container Store in Colorado (those were the days!) and now we’ll get to do it in Minnesota, too!

This weekend there is major organizing on my agenda of things-to-do. The boys will be slaying dragons (or bad virtues) at Blue Knights tomorrow morning with Dad. So baby and I will have some time to sleep in get some projects done around the house.

My number one task is to get my homeschool/craft ideas/faith ideas/home whatever-you-want-to-call-it planner done. I purchased a beautiful binder with matching index divider tabs today and now I’m itching to get going. Although I do have Pride & Prejudice to watch, too. Hmm. Hard choices to make but I’ll suffer through it. We also have to create our math notebooks for our Math Gnomes project.

I also just received my first issue of Organize and am duly impressed. They had a great article on creating your own recipe organizer, which is exactly what I’ve been wanting to do! Then I found this recipe organizer and knew there was no looking back. Kind of like when Mr. Dreamy and I started dating. I just knew. So I won’t be creating my own recipe organizer, I’ll simply be getting this. Hopefully. After we balance the checking account.

Valentine Cakes in Jar

For those of you who know me, once you see this you’ll know my reason for being giddy. How adorable!! When I can make these? Perhaps when we have our picnic for the annual canoe races? Or for our big summer BBQ/tubing party (if the river is not as low as last year!)? I can see the jars all lined up now on the table in the screened in porch! (Of course, Daddy will have to fix the screen the dog ripped first before I’ll have anyone over for coffee on the porch). But what a cute idea! Thanks for sharing Jennifer.

Paper Crafting

Today while Nature Boy was working on his Northern Pike lapbook I was working on a paper crafting project. My friend Christine visited last week and left a canister of Pepperidge Farm cookies for us. So I covered it with some Valentine-themed paper (because I just LOVE pink!) and viola! here is a new can for holding craft items, scissors, etc. I used a glue stick as the adhesive to bind the paper to the can. Anyone know if that is the best thing to use? Or should I try the spray-on type of adhesive? Please give me your advice-I’m a newbie!

From Mom's Crafting

Book Club Night

Last Friday night I was excited to host our monthly book club. Even more exciting was having a special visitor, Tracy, from Pinewood Castle. It was a ton of fun, as usual! I think the count was twenty-three lovely ladies in all! We started out by praying the rosary and then moved on to prayer intentions. Then we animatedly discussed the book, “For Parents Only.” Our next book selection is, “John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father” by Peggy Noonan. I’ve already started it and it’s almost like peeking into John Paul’s personal life. What a gifted man he was!

Afterwards I was journaling and reflecting on how blessed we are to have this group of dedicated Catholic women. We are not all the same, but we have similar faith goals; to be doing the will of the One who loves us. What a beautiful mix of women we have in our group. And thank you Tracy, for adding to our joy by joining us!

My Mail Day

Well since Tracy and Dawn are sharing their box of prizes for the day, I thought I would share mine. These magazines came in the mail today (Southern Living is a new magazine that Mom recently subscribed to). Today my dear friend Christine borrowed me this book.

Blog

Math Gnome-Making Party

First I have to especially thank the women at Serendipity for their beautiful work to help our family become more familiar with math concepts. Elizabeth and Co. have done a “good work” in the blogosphere by melding together fun, creativity, math and the fiber arts into one great learning tool: Math Gnomes. Our family of gnomes are pictured below:

Homeschool

This morning three other families joined us in our gnome-making adventure. Everyone contributed craft supplies, inspiration and a good dose of humor as we ventured along our little path of living mathematics. And the best thing is that everyone finished their little family! Red has already started to play with them and Nature Boy even made a “greater than” gnome in addition to the ones we created this morning. Tonight we will read the first lesson and create drawings to put into our new math books.

“He’s the Best Thing That Has Ever Happened To Me”

Last Sunday after Mass I was talking to a friend who had just been talking with T., (our oldest son). She had asked him how he liked having a new baby brother and he said, “He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Celebrating Feast of St. Brigid

Friday night we celebrated the feast day of St. Brigid of Ireland. We are quite an Irish family, so of course we had to bake some oatmeal scones for dessert! We talked about Ireland and I read a story out of the Big Book of Catholic Customs & Traditions about a miracle of St. Brigid’s. I also wanted the boys to color a map of Ireland but we didn’t get to that.

Blog Giveaway Winner!

Thank you everyone for entering and visiting my blog! Here is the winner, picked in random via my dear hubby:

#31. mamasbabiesx4

Congrats Melissa! Please email me your address and I will ship your lovely, brand-new book to you via Media Mail. Thanks again everyone and Melissa, I hope your family enjoys the book!

Old Mother West Wind Book Collection

Wow, these are some of the very best read-alouds! An environmentalist at heart, Thorton Burgess wrote these in the early part of the 1900’s. He wrote many children’s books with a take-care-of-the-environment bent to them, and this a great beginner series. We are reading the  Adventures of Bobby Raccoon now and everyone from the 8 year old to the 4 year old enjoys it!

Dover books is fast becoming one of my favorite companies. They have an excellent selection of inexpensive yet quality books, and their coloring books are made of heavy paper that doesn’t shred when Yona gets his hands on them. The boys also love the mini-stencil books and the mini-stained glass coloring books.

Breakfast is Served!

This morning my oldest son was making some eggs and I asked him to make me some, too. I was nursing the baby when he came over and brought me this:

From Family

A beautiful breakfast served on a tray! He made scrambled eggs, toast (he forgot the butter, but do I really need it anyways??) and he made sure to put my coffee and water on the tray, too. That act of service made my day!

Later he finally memorized the countries of Western Europe. We’ve been working on that for over a week and today he took the test and did fine. According to curricula standards, he achieved success today. However, what would Jesus have liked more? That he memorized geography facts, or that he worked hard to serve someone he loves? It made me think about what is more important in my life on a daily basis. I am thankful that even a child can teach me the best lesson any human being should learn; that service and sacrifice are of the utmost importance to be truly successful in the eyes of God.

Bloggy Giveaway!

Well, here it is! A giveaway from my blog to bless someone else and to have some fun while I’m at it :). This past year I won something on a blog giveaway (a beautifully tailored quilted purse) so I know you’ll truly a have a chance to win if you enter!

And how do you do that, you are asking? Well, you simply need to leave a comment below and in your comment, let me know what your favorite book is from my site here! You do not need to have a blog to enter, just a valid email address so I can email you if you win. And what exactly could you win? A beautiful children’s art book!!! Yes, it is a brand new Usborne book called “A Children’s Book of Art” and it is simply gorgeous (and educational!).

A Children’s Book of Art is helpful for any child (or parent!) who has an interest in learning more about famous pieces, the artists themselves, mediums of art, etc. Here is a description from the website:

Over thirty of the world’s best-known, best-loved pictures have been chosen for this fascinating introduction to art for children. There are lots of facts about the artists and their lives, and how they created their work, to help beginners understand what art is and why people think it is important. There are also Internet links to recommended websites where you can view lots more pictures, play art games and create your own art online.
What is an Internet-Linked book?

Okay, so enough of that. You know you would like it so here are the nitpicky little rules:

Please, only open to residents of the US ages 18 and over. The winner will be chosen randomly from the all of the comments received on this post. The book will be shipped via media mail and the drawing will be held on Feb. 3rd, 2008 and posted here. When you’re finished finding your favorite book and leaving your comment, please visit Bloggy Giveaways for more great giveaways!

Lunch with a fellow Blogger…

This past weekend I was blessed to spend time with friends during an annual Homeschool Mother’s Day of Renewal. Aftewards we went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. The highlight for me was to talk with my dear friend Tracy from Pinewood Castle. We discussed many items, including this blog. I came away with a renewed sense of why I want to blog in the first place. Thank you Tracy for helping me gain a deeper perspective of my purpose in blogging and in what I am striving to be for myself, my family and most importantly for my Lord.

Carseat Woes

Last weekend we were up in Duluth, Minnesota which is pretty cold this time of year (below freezing on this day!). We were trying to corral all the kids into the truck and Daddy went to put the baby into the locking carseat base. Baby has a nice warm fleecy car seat covering which goes over his entire body so he was nice and toasty warm. Anyways, there’s Daddy trying to get him in and he starts saying that the seat wouldn’t lock in. We are all getting impatient and getting colder by the minute. I looked underneath the carseat to see if anything was blocking the seat from locking in and nothing was there. Why on earth wouldn’t the thing lock in? No one could figure out the problem and by this point (probably an entire two minutes later) we were all irritated and crabby.

Finally, our oldest son says quietly from the back, “Umm, Daddy, I think you need to turn the carseat around.”

Check! Got it in!

Appreciating My Temperment

Recently a friend (who just had her first baby) emailed me and wrote:

“Mary, I honestly don’t know how you keep it together with four kids and homeschooling, you’re an absolute wonder and model of inspiration to me!”

Her comment made me smile wistfully. If only she knew, I thought to myself. First, I am not really keeping it together (in my humble opinion). I have so many drawers to organize, laundry to fold, a bedroom wall to paint, curtains to hang, Latin vocabulary to teach, history to read and a multitude of other things to achieve. Secondly, we have a new little one in our home to love and cuddle (which I would rather be doing than anything else anyways).

I began to journal about her statement. Some of my friends see me as an organized super-mom, because I like to keep the house neat. I do not like a lot of clutter and piles of laundry drive me nuts. On the other hand, I have friends who do not care so much about having a clean floor or making sure the windows are spotless. They concentrate on other things like doing crafts or other fun projects with their kids. Why do all mothers have different gifts and strengths? The underlying reason is their priorities are just different. Our priorities are different because our temperaments are different. Our temperaments are different because God simply made us that way. My temperament is choleric/sanguine. So I am a very driven, organized and outgoing person. To find out yours, take a free online test here.

I still wish I could sit down on the floor and play pat-a-cake with my toddler but it just is not my thing. It is very difficult for me to “kick the ball around” with the boys in the summer. It is just not my nature-I would rather be reading to my four-year old or organizing my spice drawer. I truly would love to be more spontaneous but in truth, I enjoy living a more planned life. The one thing I do love is reading to my children daily but lately that has been a challenge with a new baby.

Through the years, I have come to appreciate my own temperament and not long so much for other mothers’ gifts that I have not been blessed with. I like the type of mother God created me to be. Although I am always striving to improve my mothering “self”, I’m also okay with who I am now. My toddler may not finger-paint constantly and we only do fun crafts at the library during weekly story time, but he has memorized the book, “Jamberry” and thought we should name our new baby, “Robert McCloskey.” I am okay with that. And now on to be a Magistra for the morning….

 

Which Jane Austen Character are You?

You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately.

Cross-Country Skier

T. just started cross-country skiing yesterday, and he did a great job! Here he is with Daddy and his brothers showing his new skiis. Daddy was a little emotional when he saw the new skiis. T. is now embarking on a new journey, a journey that Daddy has been on for years.

From Sports

Building the Nile River (well, not really!)

This year T. is using Sonlight Core 1, which covers world history. We are learning about Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc. I found the book, “Pyramids! 50 Hands-on Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt” and the one activity T. wanted to do right away was re-create the Nile River, a sort of mini-ancient Egypt. He had a lot of fun doing this project. We found the “toob” of miniature ancient Egyptian items from Michael’s craft store.

From Arts & Crafts

Red’s Newest Castle Creation

Here is the newest castle Red created with his Klutz Castle Cards! They are a lot of fun to put together. I just need some tips on how to keep them all together instead of all around the house. I’m thinking a ziploc bag??

From Arts & Crafts

New Pictures of Seamus

Here are some new pictures of Seamus:

Baby Seamus

Hello world!

This is my new blog hosted by WordPress. I am officially changing from Typepad; however I was able to import all my previous Typepad posts and pictures. Life has been crazy with a new baby (although he sleeps all the time!). I haven’t posted a lot but am still here :).

Baby Is Here!

Announcing our newest addition!

Seamus Michael
Born December 10th at 10:10 p.m.
7.7 lbs. 20 1/2 in.

Here is a link to pictures on Shutterfly: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOXDFi5ZNWF4&notag=1

Enjoy and thank you so much for your prayers and well-wishes!

Our Snow Removal Team

The other morning we had a ton of snow and our boys are at that age where they WANT to GET IT OUT OF THE WAY. Daddy and I were pleasantly surprised at how hard they worked. Of course, our youngest, "Yona" isn’t that helpful at this stage in his little life, but he is able to get down and snuggle with Daddy when he needs too!

Now for the snuggle-time picture:

Book Club Night

Why would I agree to host my Catholic Women’s book club over a month in advance, knowing full well that I would be a week past my due date at that time?? Because that’s just me! Couldn’t help it, really. I love to host book club. Friday night we had about half the size of our normal group, what with other commitments going on. I really needed the diversion so I wouldn’t continue to drown in my own misery. And reading and discussing Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light I have to admit I felt much better.

During our time together we listened to a "Mary" song by Sara Groves "Breath of Heaven", looked up some church-related questions and even had a read-aloud! We started in on our essential Christmas books (read: tear-jerkers) and Anne B. asked if anyone had ever read, "Christmas Day in the Morning." I jumped up and immediately pulled it out, she read it, and we all cried. What a great time!

The book club has been in existence for almost five (six?) years now? And in that time we have covered a ton of great books. This month we will be reading an older book, but full of wisdom and not everyone has read it: Life-Giving Love : Embracing God’s Beautiful Design for Marriage. Should be a great discussion night!

Keeping little hands busy….

Here is a simple idea that I am using to keep little hands busy during Mass: holy cards on a ring. Yona loves flipping through these and they keep him occupied for a little bit. I would love to make a couple more for gifts, but need some more cards. If you have any laminated holy cards around and don’t need use them anymore, please feel free to pass them on. Thank you so much and Happy Advent!

Creating Gingerbread Men

We got on a gingerbread kick the other day…. and found a great recipe from a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook. This was definitely a "full-flavor" type of gingerbread cookie experience. The boys also wanted to read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett (which I found in hardcover at our local thrift store for .50, just had to throw that in there). The boys enjoyed cutting out the cookies and decorating them so very much. Sometimes I think girls enjoy this type of thing more, but in truth, our boys love stuff like this!

Yes, that’s a vintage gingerbread man cookie cutter (I think my mom gave it to me) that I had packed away in the basement. I braved the wilds and went down there to find it. So glad I did!

"Yona" helping me cut some out. That’s a green dot from a marker on his forehead…. we’ve had some issues with markers lately. Needless to say I have put them away for the time being.

Decorating the cookies (we used the cookie glaze recipe from Cook’s). I simply put a couple of tablespoons of the glaze in ziploc for each kid and cut one corner off. You can see T in the background decorating his.

Red is our little artist… he loves coloring/painting/etc. So it didn’t surprise me that he made the most beautiful cookies! Well, at least for his age :).

Civil War Reenactment Day

I consider the proper education of our youth one of the most important objects now to be attained and one from which the greatest benefits may be expected. 
-Robert E. Lee

Today was the big Civil War Reenactment day! We dressed the part, heard inspiring words from the soldiers, reenacted the battle scene (Chattanooga), enjoyed period-style food (menu below), competed to win the best "Rebel Yell" contest, and danced the Virginia Reel until our feet hurt! What a privilege it was for all ages to experience the suffering and even the joys our ancestors experienced in the great conflict. One woman replied that seeing the soldiers go off to the battle gave her the chills; it was so very life-like.

Here are a small sampling of pictures to show you the day:

1. Tim M. Sr. explaining the history behind the Battle of Chattanooga. He also showed us authentic ammunition from the Civil War!

 

 

2. Some of the ladies going to see the men off to battle….

 

3. And now a group picture of all the soldiers:

 

4. The end of the battle:

 

5. A family all decked out (scroll down below for a more detailed picture of Sue’s dress):

 

 

6. Sue made her dress in THREE DAYS! She also helped the other women create their dresses, along with homemade hoop skirts (made out of clothes hangers!).

 

 

7. Soldiers showing us their stuff:

8. And now, for the dancing! Here is one picture from the almost two hours that we danced!

Our Period-Style Menu (Potluck):

Pulled Pork with Homemade Rolls
Fried Potatoes with Onions
Beans with Bacon
Apple Cider
Coffee
Squash/Pumpkin Pies

We also had readings from the life of a soldier, prayer before the battle, and so much more. What a fun project. Thank you to all the families who worked so hard to make it happen!

Union Soldier Jacket

Some days I just love having my Mom around… today was one of them. Look at what she accomplished on a jacket I bought for 1.50! This is for Red’s Civil War costume for the big day coming up. We’ve been busy working on T’s costume, so it was nice to get going on the Union side, too. Here is what my Mom did, all I did was help with the hot glue gun a little bit!

Granny working steadily….

Here’s the finished product!

Surprise! It’s a baby shower!

Last night was one of the best nights of my life. "Why?" you ask? Well, I went to a friend’s house for a "pampering party." When I walked in, there were all of my dear friends, a table full of delicious food, and big shout of "SURPRISE!" It was a baby shower for me! Now everyone knows I love being the center of attention and this certainly fit the bill. So…. here’s what happened:

I was immediately seated in a chair and given some beautiful "Mary Jane" slippers (accented with rhinestones!!!) to wear as I sat down in a decorated chair just for me! Then we started eating and I then was given another honorary chair, complete with an ottoman. Soon a foot scrub/foot soak was brought to me and I was given a wonderful foot scrub while I opened present after wonderful present… it was truly a blessed time. How on earth the Lord has blessed me with so many precious friendships I’ll never know. But I enjoyed every minute of it. What a treasure of a time!

Thank you to everyone who came and pampered me. You are all wonderful!!!

P.S. I have a bunch of gifts sitting here but cannot take a picture because my camera is nowhere to be found. Thankfully some others took pictures last night!

“Bella”

 

Friday night I went with a couple of friends (and a couple of new ones) to see the movie, Bella. What a beautiful depiction of honoring life. This was not really a love story between a man and woman, although it might seem like it at the beginning. Bella was more about practicing the ideal of being "open to life," even in difficult circumstances. The main character, Jose, reminded all of us of what Christ would be like in our present day; caring, loving, prayerful and being supportive without judging the sinner. It wasn’t one of those movies where you sob constantly, but one of those films where you just sort of glide along with the movie, tears coming here and there, but in a good release sort of way.

It was a very slow-paced, relaxed sort of movie (so very different from every other usual film these days). My biggest question is why Hollywood, with all of the talent it possesses, cannot make more films like these? We’d probably go to the theatre more than twice a year if they did.

Do yourself (and your faith life) a favor and see Bella!
 

Civil War Resources

Here are some of the resources we’ve been using to make costumes, a lapbook and for other activities for the big day:

Online Resources: (Costumes & Lapbook)    
                                  Unit Study by a Homeschooling Mom (GREAT resource!)
                                  Costume-Making   
                                  History Timeline -(for more simplified timeline,
                                  see below in the books category)
                                  Clip Art (Link is for Robert E. Lee, search for more)
                                  More Historical Clip Art          

Books: (Mainly used for Lapbook resources)

  Civil War For Kids, A History with 21 Activities
  Young Heroes of the North and South

"Civil War For Kids" is an excellent book…. full of ideas for activities we will use for the reenactment (ex.,"Rebel Yell Contest" and we’ll probably make the "coffee can drum" for Red to use as a drummer boy). CW for Kids   also has a much more simplified time line we’ll use for the lapbook.

 

Inexpensive Civil War Costumes

When we first decided to participate in a Civil War reenactment I was nervous about making costumes (not the crafty type of Mom!). However with a little inspiration from some friends (thanks Sue and Anne) my Mom and I put together a jacket today for T.  First of all, the jacket was 1.50 at our local thrift store, and the pants were 1.00. The jacket was actually a women’s jacket in the smallest size (6) I could find. Here is the before picture:

For the jacket: I cut down the sleeves and traced a pattern
on a piece of paper folded in half. Then I placed the pattern on yellow felt and cut out two separate applications, ironed on some Heat N’ Bond, and applied these to the sleeves.

For the collar I also used yellow felt, along with hot gluing some
"sequin" stars on each side. I will be adding some gold braiding and
gold buttons, but you’ll get a good idea of what we’ll have from this
picture:

Stay tuned for the finished product!

Pumpkin Seed Mosaic Craft

What to do with all of pumpkin seeds? Make something beautiful, of course! I got an idea from here about using seeds for a craft project. The boys liked doing it, although "Red" was the one who enjoyed creating his picture the most (he’s definitely a crafty little guy, no pun intended!). "T" made a sword and Yona made a turkey (with Mom’s help). Here are pictures of them creating their masterpieces, as well as a close-up of Red’s. Oh-and my only recommendation, let those seeds dry on WAX paper. It was a struggle getting them off of the newspaper after they dried!

Happiness is…. getting a bunch of fishing lures from Uncle Jim!

This morning my sister and her husband stopped in for a visit (Granny just got back from vacation with them). Uncle Jim brought the boys a ton of fishing lures and other paraphanelia, so they were in their glory today. Later they even got to hunt for agates in the backyard with Jim and Jorie.

Today was full of fun for them. Boy, they grow quickly don’t they?

Boy Can He Dance!

First, I have to apologize for my lack of technological prowess. I simply cannot manage to flip the video counter-clockwise. Secondly, the noise (a.k.a., myself) in the background is quite annoying. I just learned though that you can mute the sound when you run the video!

"Yona" has been quite active lately and is on his power ranger kick again. Last night while I was at book club Daddy admitted that they turned up the radio quite loud and started dancing. Yona was dancing this morning after breakfast so I had to break out the camera.

Benefits of a Homeschool Co-op

The best part of being a part of a homeschool co-op is the ability for the kids to present projects in a group setting. The first time our local group (through two neighboring churches) met we had the kids all do a presentation on Minnesota birds. I was impressed by what some of the kids did and their presentation skills! Most of all, our oldest son did a great job presenting his Bald Eagle booklet to the group! We did practice the night before and that helped. My friend Anne has older teens now and she told me once how presenting projects and ideas over the years has helped her kids become comfortable in public speaking situations. Her seventeen and sixteen year old boys are even lectors/eucharistic ministers at their church and public speaking doesn’t inhibit them!  Sally Clarkson, from Whole Heart Ministries, had this to say about participating in co-ops:

"Home coops can be fun if they are small enough and if you have a good plan. It lets all of us moms who enjoy each other have a chance to fellowship, as well as a time for our children to have fun, but it also provides our kids accountability as they prepare reports that each of them will have to deliver to the whole group–what I call positive peer pressure and accountability!" (Whole Heart Moms).

Friends

The other day I was thinking about how God has blessed me with so many friendships in my current life. When we first married we had a close circle of friendships in Denver and we even regretted moving away to Minnesota. However our family was a priority to us so we ventured back to the land of 10,000 lakes.

The first area we moved to was in the suburbs (with no lake anywhere in sight) and way to "cityish" for us. We didn’t seem to make the connections we desired.  Eventually we moved to a smaller town in a more rural area (almost five years ago). Right away after we moved I started praying for friendships (something I did not do when we moved to the suburbs). I remember praying specifically for God to send me a friend who I would have a lot in common with who was also Catholic… I really wanted to strengthen my relationship with the Lord through my future friendships.

Eventually our oldest son started preschool and there was this one Mom who always said "hello" and was so very friendly. One day we started to talk in the parking lot and I found out that after much discernment and prayer, she was converting to the Catholic Church! Eventually I found out that one of her favorite books was the "The Complete Tightwad Gazette." When she said that, my heart nearly stopped. Later that night I told my husband about our conservation that morning and he said with dead seriousness, "Looks like you found a new soul mate!" I knew deep down that the Lord was answering my prayer, and to this day she is one of my closest friends.

So I started contemplating how God has blessed me with each of my friendships and I thought of:

Lee Ann: who brings out the best in me and is a most interesting person, intellectually speaking. As a history and social science buff she frequently brings up topics I would never normally entertain in my own mind! She has a gift with words!

Kelly: has made me a better mother and her patience never ceases to inspire me. Although we have different temperaments, I still aspire to be her in regards to her mothering style. Her almost daily walking regimen inspires me too, and it doesn’t hurt that she is one of the most giving people I have ever met. Kelly started our Catholic women’s book club (six years ago??) and it is still going strong!

The Three Sisters: Yes, they really are three sisters and they are wonderfully funny and faithful at the same time! I first met Geneve after Christian’s birth…. then ironically I met her sister Debbie at the doctor’s office (over a hour away!!). Heather is the one with the great smile!

Sue:  who always gives me a good laugh and is one of my more creative arts/crafts friends. Her skills (especially cooking/baking) amaze me. Maybe one day I’ll grow up to be like her!

Christine: who continually surprises me when we talk… our conversations range from baby stuff to attempting to go to a Sara Groves concert together (I hope we get there!).

Tammy: has blessed my life in so many varied ways. We met in high school and continued our friendship throughout many years and many long-distance phone calls. She is one of those honest people who has a gift of giving you fair, unbiased advice. What a treasure Tammy is!

Raimee: proves that even while living many miles apart God can still use a friendship for His good. We can talk every couple months and just take off where we left off. When are you coming for a visit??

Anne: is one of my newer friendship discoveries… she is a treasured friend of Sue’s (see above). The first time we really talked I got a little freaked out…. we both owned a cloth diaper company, she is a  obsessive-compulsive organizer too, we have the same temperament, she uses the same homeschooling curriculum that I have desired to use for years (and now have the courage to use after her example!)… the list goes on. What a fun and delightful person she is!

The lesson for you, my dear reader? Never underestimate the power of prayer! My simple prayer turned into a great wealth of earthly friendships that I will always treasure. There are so many more wonderful women I could mention but for now I’ll just give you a glimpse of some of the best ladies I am blessed to befriend!

Quick Intro to Making Lapbooks

Here is a quick overview of making lapbooks if you need some help getting started. We are beginning to brainstorm about the "snakes" lapbook (a.k.a. "northern pike fish" here in MN).
Link: 1000Sample.pdf (application/pdf Object).

How to Create a Baking Center

Around the time I became a new mother I found the book "Confessions of an Organized Homemaker." It was a lifesaver then and is still chock full of practical advice for me now.  One of the best ideas I picked up was to create a "baking center." Every time I would start to make cookies, I would search for the measuring spoons, go to a different cabinet for the measuring cups, find the baking soda from the pantry, etc. I had one of those "ah-ha!" moments when reading the section about creati