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 http://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 creating a baking center and have used it ever since. Here’s the big secret: you simply put all of the stuff you need to bake with together, IN ONE PLACE. Isn’t that mind boggling? And I had to read a book to figure it out! Makes baking so much easier and less time consuming. Hey, it takes enough time as it is!

One time my husband saw me take out the infamous red dishpan and sighing loudly, said "I just LOVE it when you get that out!"

Please note that the dishpan was a total disgrace before I took the picture. I lovingly cleaned everything out and placed all the items back in it neatly. This is not normal. Usually it is a full heap of cups, spoons, stuff for my Bosch mixer, etc. with plenty of sugar spilled in the bottom. For posterity sake I made the effort to make it look presentable for you.

Happy Baking!

Thank you to Fr. Garramone

Today I made another batch of Hero Sandwich Bread. A Dominican monk named Fr. Garramone  wrote a collection of inspirational books about bread baking and I am blessed to own two of those books. I made two submarine rolls (for sandwiches tomorrow) and hamburger buns for dinner tonight. The rolls were quite a success! Honestly, they were even better than hamburger buns from the store!

Our other favorite recipe is "Texas Moppin’ Rolls" from Fr. Garramone. Wow are they delicious!!

Red Sails to Capri Lapbook

Here is our first "lapbook", based on a read-aloud in the Sonlight curriculum. What an adventure this book has been! Tim enjoyed creating this lapbook almost as much as I did. The first picture is the "cover." There are so many resources available for making lapbooks it’s amazing and a bit overwhelming. My only advice is to choose a topic, or a book that your child is passionate about. The topic could be a hobby or a long-time favorite book. Or it could be a subject (frogs, a favorite biblical character or Saint, Christmas, Easter, sports, etc.). The possibilities are endless!

When opening up the lapbook, here’s what you see:

Left side is comprised of the big discovery in the book and the foods that are typical of the Island of Capri. Then there are geography maps we printed off the internet (notice I made him draw his own map of the Island for the cover, too.). Then we made "pockets" of vocabulary cards and the characters in the story. Finally on the right is a narration of the story by Tim, although I did write it out for him after much debate.

We could have done a lot more, added more folds, more information, etc. But for a first time lapbook, I think this is plenty.

Tim’s next lapbook will be about "Minnesota Northerns"
(or "snakes" according to Grandpa). He just caught his second northern
out of the river. This kid definitely has fishing fever. The other
morning we had to leave early for a trip to the Children’s Museum with
some friends. I went to wake up Tim and he groggily told me about his
dream about finding the ultimate tackle box for sale, and the various
lures it contained. (????) I guess I have too much estrogen in me to have a dream about a tackle box, but it certainly made his morning brighter just remembering it!

Meme

Tracy tagged me for this from her brand new blog, Pinewood Castle! I am amazed at the beautiful celebrations and ideas she has shared with us. You have to visit her blog and see what I’m talking about. When I grow up, can I come live at your house Tracy? ha-ha!

Now on to the Meme: Here’s a fun quiz made up especially for bloggers. The rules are
easy. Just post the quiz on your blog and answer the questions, then
pass it on to five other bloggers, and link to them in your post. Be
sure to link back to the one who sent it to you.

1. Do you attend the Traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo? Regular plain Jane Mass 🙂

2. If you attend the TLM, how far do you drive to get there?

3. If you had to apply a Catholic label to yourself, what would it be? Cradle, then revert to the faith, during my college years!

4. Are you a comment junkie? Not really

5. Do you go back to read the comments on the blogs you’ve commented on? Usually I forget where I’ve commented! Unless, of course, you count this comment I made on a book that made me famous!!! I love being a sanguine!! 

6. Have you ever left an anonymous comment on another blog? I don’t think so… is that against the rules, though??

7. Which blogroll would you most like to be on? Not sure… haven’t gotten into the promotion of my blog yet. Haven’t gotten into the actual writing, either. Haven’t gotten into the taking of pictures either… am I seeing a pattern here?

8. Which blog is the first one you check? Real Learning or By Sun and Candlelight

9. Have you met any other bloggers in person? Yes, at a wonderful tea party…

10. What are you reading? Okay, (taking a deep breath) here we go: Just finished "Anne of Avonlea," "The Quiet Light," "Red Sails to Capri" (okay, so it’s a read-aloud!) and am currently reading an Ellis Peters book called "The Sparrow in the Sanctuary" and also the "7 Habits of Highly Effective Families." Oh, and I’ve read about two pages of "Out of Africa." Hope I like it. Oh, and for book club I finished "Left to Tell" in a few hours. And tonight I just started "Ginger Pye" for the boys. Tim and I like to read at night to relax. We usually talk here and there and it’s our favorite form of "downtime."

New Bible Study from Kimberly Hahn

The other day I heard about a new book from Kimberly Hahn and this morning I found a link to a podcast about her new bible study. Feel free to click on the link below for an interview with her about marriage and all the lovely things that go along with it (children, finances, anger, etc.). Happy listening!

Link: 017-kimberly-hahn-chosen-and-cherished-bible-study-for-women.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object).

If there was only enough time…

Tonight I was browsing some resources and found this, a new blog set up by two mothers. It is fascinating! I am interested in having the boys make some knights and horses from the Week Felt Book, and this new blog inspired me! I hope it inspires you as much as it did me!

Link: Serendipity: Meet Mrs. Applebee.

Book Recommendations By Sun and Candlelight: Afternoon Comforts

You know every time I visit Dawn’s blog I get so inspired. Her posts are something I look forward to reading often! Tonight I was reading her post about books and I noticed the Ox-Cart Man on the right hand side of her blog. I bought the Ox-Cart Man at a teacher’s shop after joining the ladies for tea at the Mad Hatter. Wow, how we have loved this book! It makes you think how little we truly need compared to what our ancestors had. Now Yona regularly asks me if our pillows have feathers in them. He wants to start saving feathers he finds outside to make a pillow.

It doesn’t hurt that Barbara Cooney illustrated this book.  My all-time favorite "Mommy book" is Ms. Rhumphis by Cooney (my dear MIL bought this for my birthday a few years ago because she knows how much I love books!). Truly it is a gem of a book. I am on a quest to plant a ton of lupines next Spring. Please do share…what’s your favorite "Mommy book?"

Link: By Sun and Candlelight: Afternoon Comforts.

Why Jesus Is Like The Sun

Recently my oldest son and I were traveling in the car together to go to Mass. He kept on getting upset because the sun was so bright and it was right in his face (even with the visor down). "Why does the sun keep on getting me Mommy? It won’t leave me alone!" he said. I told him, "Honey, the sun is like Jesus. He’s always there and he’ll always be around you and with you."

Later that night I was telling my husband about our conversation that morning. Daddy explained a little bit further about the analogy of the sun being like Jesus. "The sun," he said, "is still there even when it goes down at night, but it always comes back, doesn’t it?" Our son nodded and Daddy replied that Jesus is the same way.

Gotta love those teachable moments!

Upcoming Events for our Homeschool Group

Last night our homeschool group planning meeting went well! There were six of us moms there planning and organizing the upcoming homeschool activities for the year. Here is a short list of what we came up with (note we have dates and places established, however I will not be posting that sort of information online):

Pumpkin Patch Visit followed by a snack time at my house (We will also celebrate St. Therese’s feast day with hot chocolate and a quick "French" soup, probably served to everyone in paper cups or something else simple).

Dairy Farm Tour, followed by a snack of milk and cookies

Liturgical Calendar Activity-followed by a tour of the sacristry.

Lapbook Activity-Kids will present the lapbook they created beforehand.

Christmas Party with a presentation of a Christmas-themed short essay.

Dioramas with an Epiphany theme

Puppet Show practice and presentation on the following meeting time.

Sound like a lot? It’s really not when you have people that are involved and willing to organize a meeting. Some of the moms preferred to bring the snacks when we meet, and not necessarily be in charge of a activity/tour/etc. So it works well when everyone brings different gifts to the table.

To blog or not to blog?

That is the question. The past couple of months have been difficult for me to keep up with the blog. I’ve been discerning a lot about this blog business and am still undecided as to what to do. I know after talking to Mr. Dreamy about it I’ll be more clear-headed. For now I know that there are pros and cons to blogging.

Here are some of my pros:

• Connection to friends I otherwise wouldn’t keep in touch with very well
• Amazing support and inspiration from other moms in my same walk of life
• Ability to create (which I’ve missed since we sold Comfy Bummy Diapers)
• Tangible craft I can look back on later, i.e., journaling/homeschooling/etc.
• Great practice for my future writing career
• I just plain enjoy it! It’s been a seriously fun hobby!

Cons:

• Takes time
• Minimal cost (4.95 a month isn’t going to do a lot of damage, but it’s still 5.00)
• I experience guilt feelings if I don’t blog often enough
• Wondering if it’s the Lord’s will for me to be out in the "world" (even though my temperment says I should!)
• Perhaps interferes with my prayer life/study? Not sure about that.

Thanks for reading and I hope you will pray that I answer my vocation in the best way possible, whether that means blogging…. or not.

Homeschool Meeting Agenda

We are blessed in our area to have a Catholic homeschool group that is informal, yet meets on a consistent basis. We will be meeting (Moms only) for dinner tomorrow night to discuss our upcoming year. I created an agenda (am a strong choleric, can you tell?) and thought I would post it here in case anyone else is planning a meeting around this same time.

After downloading a template from Microsoft I switched a few things around. For each time we meet I put a blank line so we can write in what we will be doing. The biggest goal is to decide what "Theme/Fieldtrip/Project/Feast
Day" we will choose for each time we meet.

I also added the major feast days of the next upcoming months to help steer us in the right direction. I know I will probably forget to bring a religious calendar, and my palm still doesn’t have the Saints downloaded on it (more on that later).

Some of our moms are not as interested in organizing activities, etc. That is fine! We like to simply have a fun time of fellowship and time for the kids to play with their friends. However some of the moms do wish to organize an activity or project (can you tell I’m one of those moms?). If everyone else agrees I would love to have the kids create a lapbook on their favorite subject and then present it to the group. It may be a book they are reading (I’m thinking Red Sails to Capri?), a special feast day that month, etc.

Here are the links to the agenda I created, and one of these links is in a .pdf format for those coming tomorrow night. Feel free to use the Word document and change things around to fit your needs. Enjoy and happy planning!

Download MeetingAgenda.doc

Download HomeschoolMeetingAgenda.pdf

Homeschooling Activities for the week

This week has been a slower week for us… but after looking back on the week I think we may have actually accomplished more than I thought!

"T" (our oldest son) started hs’ing this Fall. We’re using primarily Sonlight Curriculum which has been challenging and fun. The past couple of weeks we’ve been reading a "read-aloud" called Red Sails to Capri. It’s about a boy whose family has a bed and breakfast off the coast of Italy. Three men come to stay who are in search of adventure. They discover a dangerous cove and want to go exploring even though there will be negative repercussions if they do.  The book has surprisingly kept the boys’ attention (perhaps because fishing is a central element of the book?) and now "T" wants to go for a visit there just with Mommy. I’m not sure that we’ll be going to Italy anytime soon, but if Daddy and I ever do, we’d love to bring him.

It helps that he has to work on map skills with each book we read, and even we study history. Right now we have the laminated map marked up with Venice, Naples, Rome, Italy, Capri, Egypt, the Nile and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

He has also been working on math and actually likes to do it which is a blessing. We’ve been listening to the Geography Songs tape and he tested great on the continents. He needs some more work on the oceans :).

The most fun this week was making a project for homeschool group which happened today. T chose the bald eagle and we are so blessed to see so many here on the river. He made his own book, complete with pictures and facts of the national bird. The very day he made the book, a huge bald eagle soared over our house and then down to the river. T was so amazed that he saw one that same day.

"Nator" is our second little ball of fire, and he also presented a project today about blue jays. Did you know that blue jays care for the elderly blue jays? It was really interesting. Nator brought along a blue jay finger puppet and a real feather we found outside about a week ago. Daddy informed us (wise nature man that he is) the feather was from the left wing of the blue jay (????).

The boys are enjoying Fall and love the autumn-themed table pieces I put out. Funny how such simple things can mean so much to them.

Oh, and today we had our first tea-time! Actually it was rich hot chocolate, but they loved it. It scared me half to death to have "Yona" (youngest of the three) holding a Currier & Ives teacup, but he did well and he has to learn sometime. Nator ended up belching at the table, so it’s slow going but manners are important and we will be consistent :).

Tonight is book club night and it is a my much needed "Mother’s Sabbath." It’s been a stressful week with the weather and the storms. I’m looking forward to the respite!

Impatience & Materialism

Recently I read an excerpt from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s book, "Way to Inner Peace." It always amazes me how timely his writing really was. According to Bishop Sheen:

"A person who believes in nothing beyond this world is very impatient, because he has only a limited amount of time in which to satisfy his many wants. The more materialistic a civilization, the more it is in a hurry."

While pondering this I realized how easy it is for our families, our marriages and our society in general to be immersed in the trap of attaining more and more. It is so very draining to constantly shop for this and that, or to be this or that. What treasure we have to relax in the love of the One who has no agenda for us, other than to be the lover of His soul. And when we are truly following his lead, love and duty and obedience always outweigh the need for those escalating materialistic desires.

First Day of School!

Here is our five year old on his way to kindergarten for the first time. Needless to say, he was very excited! He will be going every other day and seems to be enjoying school so far.

And what about the other two? Oldest son is homeschooling this year, and that is going pretty well, too. Youngest one is tagging along and actually is learning quite a few letters in the process. We started playing alphabet bingo about six months ago and we would laugh when youngest one knew so many of the letters!

Real Learning: This Rabbit Trail is Sprinkled with Fairy Dust!

A few weeks ago we went on an Elsa Beskow journey. The boys enjoyed reading "Peter in Blueberry Land," "Uncle Blue’s Boat," and "Christopher’s Harvest Time." I love the emphasis of these books on the natural world and bringing it to life. Imagine my surprise this morning when I read this at Real Learning about her books! Sounds like they are having multitudes of fun over there.

Oh, and how did I ever learn about her books in the first place? I think it was in a Swedish shop… I looked through a couple and just fell in love. The illustrations are heavenly and the spines are cloth-bound with coordinating colors. Ex., Peter in Blueberry Land is a blue spine, etc.

Reading is such a wonderful way to enjoy Fall. Enjoy!

Link: Real Learning: This Rabbit Trail is Sprinkled with Fairy Dust!.

I’m Famous!!

Tonight I got the chance to finally read some of my favorite blogs, and I just about fell over when I read the review of a book over at "Real Learning." The review of the book seemed vaguely familiar to me, and then I realized it was my review! Too funny! So thanks Elizabeth, and every word of it was true. So now you’ll just have to order the book, it’s that good!

Civil War Reenactment

Paula from A Catholic Harvest mentioned our upcoming Civil War Reenactment on her blog, (from our conservations at the Tea Room). This fall, a collective homeschooling group from Minnesota will be producing a Civil War Reenactment near Hinckley, MN (followed by a ball!). It is a cool project so I thought I would post a few resources for those interested in learning more about the Civil War (especially as a Unit Study).

Art courtesy of http://www.allenscreations.com/jstgs.html

Normally I would scout out several websites, but this one seems so comprehensive I don’t need to!
Visit Pro Teacher Resources for lesson plans, activities, maps, crafts, music, coloring, etc. Everything is here!

Oh, and I can’t help but post a link to Dover Books. They have the best historical coloring books for kids (although adults, especially Dads, enjoy them just as much!):
Follow this link to Sacred Heart Books for coloring books and other resources.

Enjoy!

Tea Party at the Mad Hatter

Saturday was a heavenly day for me and four other women from our beautiful state of Minnesota. We met for tea at the Mad Hatter Tea Room in Anoka, MN.  Tracy D. and I met years ago through an email list (Sonlight Catholic) and kept on meeting up at different conferences. The other women who attended were:

Laura the Crazy Mama (and yes, she is a little crazy (!!) and reminds me of myself way back when…)
Minnesota Mom whom I met briefly at the conference in June, thanks to Michele who beckoned me to go and meet her! Margaret is every bit as classy as she is on her blog!!! She also writes for CCL’s magazine (which was my dream)! Gotta love that :).
Paula of A Catholic Harvest is much more vivacious in person than I thought she would be… maybe that honeymoon stage of marriage does that to you? Paula lives about 20-25 minutes away, so we may have to have a coffee date soon. And yes, I’ll be praying that she and family will be coming to the Civil War Reenactment in the fall!

A couple things that I jotted down during my dinner at Lee Ann Chin later that afternoon:

There were so many different conversations that afternoon, but I remember taking a poll of everyone’s favorite blogs. Here were the top three:

Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight was huge inspiration, as well as:
Elizabeth from Real Learning
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman won for the best blog for a good laugh

At one point Tracy and Margaret got out the cameras and I begged them to put them away because of my recent sufferings. Alas, they kept them out and I’m glad, because otherwise we wouldn’t have such beautiful pictures. He is one from Margaret’s blog:

Seated from right to left: Myself, Laura the Crazy Mama, Margaret (Minnesota Mom), Paula (A Catholic Harvest) and Tracy D. Yes, we are all wearing hats (provided from the Mad Hatter). Margaret has some other lovely pictures as well, make sure to visit to see more! And Laura and Paula both have some great descriptions of what we talked about during our time at tea.

The best part for me was talking about our blogs and our faith…everyone really enjoyed sharing what they loved best about blogging, their favorite Mass, etc. It was really the BEST conversation for little ‘ol me to hear!

Now I’m just craving to organize a blogging/Catholic conference here in MN. Gotta get that out of my system!

Did he kill it with his bare hands?

Just found this picture from Laura’s blog and I almost laughed out loud. Well, not really. Fr. John Corapi is no laughing matter, but he’s extremely cool and that’s why I love this picture. We’ve listened to his Spiritual Warfare audio set (great gift from Mr. Dreamy’s parents, by the way!) and wow, the guy (actually the Real Guy up there who inspires him) is life-changing. Need a serious faith-lift? Check out his stuff.

Annual Book Club Retreat

This morning my life was made much happier when I received an email from my dear friend Geneve. She had uploaded photos of our book club retreat!! Yay! Fun day for me! Now I get to post pictures and text about the best time many of us mommies have all year :).

Here’s a bit of background: A woman from our church, Kelly, saint that she is, started a book club with moms from our church.  It is a Catholic book club in nature, we usually read a book dedicated to learning something about our faith. It may be a book on a special saint, growing in the Catholic faith, a biography, a fictional novel (think: Fr. Elijah) or anything related to growing in a relationship with Christ. Once a month we get together to discuss the book and we have a TON of fun. There is usually lots of chocolate and usually some tears (especially during the prayer time). We have a core group of about 15 women, and at the last meeting had about 25 women in attendance. The group has grown beyond the borders of our own church and we now have women participating who are members of other surrounding parishes.

Once a year we have a retreat. This is a weekend away where we get together to have a blast- no worries, no kiddies, no responsibilities (aside from each person providing a meal). In the past we rented a cabin from a nearby State Park. The last couple of years we have gone to one member’s cabin on a lake in northern Minnesota (and this year we went to their newly acquired island cabin, too! Only about 3 minutes away from the land cabin by boat). It is heavenly! We usually go boating and swimming, watch movies, play games and talk, talk, talk. It’s a special time of rejuvenation for every woman present.

So this year, we did a couple of extra fun activities in addition to the usual awesome stuff. We each completed a lunch bag scrapbook, played a very competitive game of Taboo and prayed the rosary every night together! It was so very spiritually enriching for us to all pray together in a relaxed format.

Now on to some of the photos. These are the photos taken by one woman there and we have other photos coming. But for now you can get a glimpse of what we did.

One of the first afternoons we were there, relaxing and talking up a storm!

Boating over to the Island

Sue and baby on the way to the Island

This the new Island cabin that our hostess just recently purchased. What fun! They have electricity and a phone line on this cabin. We had lunch here one day.

 

 

Chatting while relaxing on the deck at the island.

 

Heather’s Smile

 

This is our lovely photographer!

Kelly and me at lunch… I am so very blessed by her friendship! Isn’t she beautiful, too?? Just like her sweet soul!

This was the view looking up from where we were sitting on the deck

Kelly and Anne getting soaked on the ride back, but they were a great sport!

Sisters sitting together

Resting back at the land cabin with our "summer slush treats," compliments of Kelly

Breakfast talk… I think we were talking at this point about instilling purity and a love for chastity in our teens’ lives.

Lisa having a blast on the boat ride to the Island cabin

Back on the Island on Saturday

St. Francis and Digital Camera Withdrawal

This morning I woke up with Mr. Dreamy and got up at the crack of dawn. It’s good for me once in a while to pretend that I have to be up all day like he does. Anyway, I got up early and have accomplished so much without the three little rascals, it’s a wonder I don’t do this every day. Oh, that’s right. That means I would have to get up early….

So after Mr. Dreamy left I put a load of laundry in and then continued on to the kitchen. Got out a tin of cinnamon rolls (that were leftover from the book club retreat. I will be posting soon about the retreat as soon as I receive some pictures HINT HINT) and "made" cinnamon rolls for the boys and for my Mom. (Making those cinnamon rolls is more like preheating the oven and popping them in the oven, but it’s a nice treat about a once a year). Then I started on some Hero Sandwich Bread. The recipe comes from my favorite monk, Fr. Garramone from the old PBS show, "Breaking Bread." Got the bread together and started to feel quite proud of myself.

Next I started to tackle my baking area cabinet. This is a sore spot with me. Here we have all of these beautiful cabinets and I haven’t even filled some of the drawers. Not the baking cabinet though!! No, that puppy is chock full of items that I never use…you know, those old empty coffee cans, boxes of baking paraphernalia, egg cartons I can’t throw away, etc. Half the time I can’t even find the measuring cups. So I pulled it all out and then wondered, "What’s the point? I can’t even take a picture when I’m done for the blog!" HOW PATHETIC IS THAT? Now I have to have a picture of an accomplishment in order to do it? That actually striked me as funny, but unfortunately shows my true character.

Then the pathetic-ness turned to despair over not having a digital camera. Deep down this form of "want" is good for me. I don’t think we Americans truly want for anything. So once in a while when I do desire something it’s not going to kill me to put it off. St. Francis of Assisi iknew what he talking about.  Detachment from material things truly does bring us closer to Christ and away from ourselves. There is a reason why they are called "possessions." After a childhood full of riches and excess, he embraced Christ in early adulthood and turned away from the wealth of the world. It was only through the acceptance of simplicity in his daily life that he continued his journey with Christ. His walk with God would have been much more difficult with the distractions of all his wealth. So thank you St. Francis for helping me remember the beauty of not having a digital camera this morning, and for cleaning out the cabinet anyways. Because He would want me to.

Why we need a new camera

This morning I was chuckling while reading this over at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Funny.

Anyways, it was on the way home from this activity that I realized we would need to replace our camera. For some reason the lens on our Canon Powershot would not come out, thus the camera would not turn on. A bit irritating, but the sanguine in me assumed that the problem would disappear. I was horrified when it didn’t!

Later I researched the problem online and found that Canon has a history of making cameras with this  problem. Only they don’t fix the camera when it happens. This issue is commonly known as "Error 18." So for now I’m disgusted with Canon and can’t seem to even look at the option of buying another.

So we are on the search for a new camera, and also searching for the funds to buy it. There are so many other things that take precedence in the budget…. non-essentials like food and gas. In the meantime I am intensely jealous of my friend Christine. She has a killer camera (Canon G6), but I’ll get over it one day. And one day we’ll get a new one so then I won’t have to be jealous anymore. And while we probably won’t be buying what is recommended in the article above, hopefully we’ll get something even better than the last time. So St. Anthony, help us find the right camera, buddy!!

Lunch Bag Scrapbook

Here is a download for a "I’m not really a scrapbooker project). Enjoy!

Download scrapproject.doc

Beautiful Calendar Download

Michele over at Family-Centered Press has a beauuuuutiful calendar download available at her blog. I love, love, love the big numbers and the St.
Therese quote!! For months I have happily used the free desktop calendar
download from http://www.peterrabbit.com/funandgames/funandgames8a.cfm.
However, I really either need to eat more carrots or they need to make
the numbers bigger. Maybe the small type is an English thing?? Not sure but I’m much happier with Michele’s creation… and more inspired.

Best Marriage Books

The other night I was talking to my husband about our phlegmatic son (more about that later) and he was irritated that I was "labeling" our oldest boy. I am almost daily reflecting on our Catholic women’s book club’s recent book choice. And it’s driving my husband nuts. The book is called "The Temperament God Gave You" by Art and Laraine Bennett.

I told him that he should be happy I read the book and am so enamored with it. He asked why and I told him because reading about his temperament has made our marriage stronger. Of course he wanted to know more after that statement so we ended up having a detailed discussion about his "phlegmatic-ness," and how I understand and appreciate him more so now, than I ever did before. Reading this book will help you to reflect on your spouse, your marriage and even your kids’ strengths. I promise, you’ll start to look at your spouse’s irritating pet peeves in a new and more positive way!

The other book that has greatly benefited our marriage (and life in general) is the Five Love Languages. This should be plain to people in most marriages but mostly we just focus on ourselves. Imagine that! If you really want to love your spouse then learn how they want to be loved. It’s really as simple as that.

Two great choices for summer reading. Enjoy!

Contest for a Free Book!

By now you know I love books, especially when they are free! Here is an online contest to enter for a free book of your choice. Enjoy!

THREE THINGS I WANT MY KIDS TO SAY

THREE THINGS I WANT MY KIDS TO SAY

There are three phrases in the English language I would like my kids to use consistently. They are, in no particular order:

1. "PLEASE." Have you noticed people in our American culture rarely use this word?  Kids especially seem to be unaware of the benefits of using this word. "Please" is a considerate way to ask for something, show someone you have been taught proper manners, and even more importantly, creates a sense of gratefulness in a child. Many children do not seem grateful for all the blessings they have in our over-indulged world. Saying "please" is a simple way to encourage children to understand that everything they receive is a gift, not a given.

2. "THANK YOU." Of all the sweet things a child will say, this is always the most beautiful. I pray my children remember to tell their loved ones, their friends and even perfect strangers these miraculous words. For thanking someone is almost the same as loving them.

3. "I’M SORRY."  Using the words, "I’m sorry" shows the apologetic person that they are indeed, not perfect and that they are to be humbled just as we all are from time to time. I pray my children develop a sense of humility in their young little lives and thus understand they are not the complete center of our universe. Saying, "I’m sorry, I was wrong, I hurt you and I wish I had not done that," is one of the most welcome phrases to the wounded human spirit.

Most importantly, I pray that my husband and I practice these words ourselves. Our living pattern dictates what they will become. I pray for the courage of simple humility and gratefulness in our marriage, in our parenting and for our children.

Copyright 2007 Mary McCarthy

The above article was written for the MamaBlogga Group Writing Project.The theme for the June Group Writing Project is “Three things I want my kids to . . .”
You can finish that infinitive with whatever verb you like (do, say,
be, wear, have, get away with), and add any qualifiers you like (today,
this summer, before they drive me crazy).

My to-do list for the weekend

• Make strawberry jam
• Freeze sliced strawberries
• Make Texas Moppin’ Rolls (from Fr. Dominic’s baking book, yummy!)
• Clean and declutter boys’ room
• Finish laundry
• Walk
  
• Vacuum bedroom

 

P.S. Did get the frozen sliced strawberries in the freezer, we made 20 quart size bags!! yay!

New Organizing Magazine

Well I have probably found my newest favorite magazine-to-be. A special thank you to Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie for the info! It’s called Organize and it will be available June 26th at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores. I like the fact that the editor of the magazine has six kids herself, so she probably knows how to organize clutter! Actually, we can’t organize clutter, we can only get rid of it, right?

Happy Reading!

P.S. I think this will be TONS better than the Better Homes and Garden magazine that comes out now and again. I bought one once and it was not that great… then again I’m pretty picky about magazines!

Organized Blogging

Just found what I hope will be the perfect blog reader: BlogBridge. I am one of those Type A people who hate having my computer bookmarks disorganized. Finally I found a solution! This puts all of the blogs I love into one desktop reader. I have spent the morning adding my favorite blogs and getting it up and going. This kind of stuff puts me in a good mood all day (besides having more B-12 :). Okay, on to real things, like getting my day going for real!

Strawberry Festival

There is a Strawberry Festival going on over at Blessed Among Men. Suzanne asked what our favorite recipes are for strawberries. Every year we pick about 6-8 "flats" of strawberries. I make strawberry jam out of about half of the strawberries. The other half is mostly for freezing. To freeze strawberries we slice them, add some sugar to make a syrup and then freeze them in about 2-cup portions. Yummy for ice cream, shortcake (it’s heavenly in the winter!!!) and of course smoothies or strawberry milkshakes.

This year we are going to try the Dunsmore Family Farm in Mora, MN. This is the first year they will be open for strawberries. If the strawberries are anything like their farm-fresh eggs, I know we’ll be happy with the results :).

My Blogging Story- It’s Cheap Therapy!

There is a carnival going on over at Don’t Try This At Home. The author of that blog also runs Blogging Basics 101 which has been so very helpful in my blogging. Anyways, she is doing a carnival to see why and how people blog. So here’s my story:

How did you start blogging?

It all started with selling our business in 2005. For awhile I had a much needed computer "rest." Basically a time of decompression. Eventually I began to miss the daily interaction (especially e-mail, etc.). I also began to read a few blogs. Originally I found Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss and immediately fell in love with her blog. Real Learning is one of the absolutely best books on homeschooling, and mothering in my opinion, you’ll ever read. Anyways, I started reading, reading, reading. I realized that although I am a passionate reader, I used to be in love with the process of writing even more. For years I’ve let that passion slip away… so I decided to start a blog since having more time after selling the business, mainly for the benefit of writing. My big excuse with starting a blog was to show pictures of our new house remodeling. A good excuse, don’t you think?

However, writing a blog has also inspired me to do more, be more and become more in my mothering and in my faith. Hard to put into words but essentially, blogging has become a great outlet for me (it’s cheap therapy!!).

Did you intend
to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?

No, I did not intend to have a huge following and probably do not have one LOL. However, my passion for marketing/promoting (dratted business degree!!) will probably kick in sometime. For now I’m content to just try to publish the posts in the first place!

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have
you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

Mainly I wanted to keep a journal or scrapbook of sorts to share my favorite things and increase my love of Christ in the process. I love talking about living and loving my Catholic faith so this has been a perfect way to do that. I do not have plan as of yet, should do that. Maybe that would be a great idea for a Carnival hmmmm…

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

Originally I used it as an excuse to show far away friends and family our house remodeling with new pictures, etc. That was a great reason to start, but I soon realized that it was feeding my passion for writing again. Something I missed when we sold the business (writing articles, etc.). Now I get to write about much more fun stuff, like new products I’ve found, etc.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started?

All the technical stuff, how to increase traffic, etc.

Do you
make money with your blog?

Does the 1.19 I made off of my Amazon affliate count? No, really, I haven’t and don’t expect to. My goal isn’t to make money, it’s to share :).

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

Hmmm… not really sure if they do or not! Haven’t asked I guess. Friends more than anything are the ones that visit, which I absolutely LOVE!!!!! Their comments make my day!

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

That’s tough… I feel new to this myself. This has probably been said a thousand times, but:

1. Write, write, write!

2. Put it in your email signature so friends and family can visit. In a nutshell, get the word out! That’s how a lot of my friends visit.

Vitamin B-12 Journey

I have a dear friend. Actually she is much more than dear. She is truly my "Diana Barry" if I were an Anne Shirley. Lee Ann helps me see things much more clearly than I usually see on my own. For some time now she’s been nagging encouraging me to get some extra healthcare issues resolved.

Recently during my prenatal bloodwork, I dutifully asked the nurse (thank you, Liz!) to check out a few extra things that Lee Ann suggested. My vitamin B-12 level was one of those things. Lee Ann believes that I probably have some issues with low B-12.

Anyways, the nurse called back a few days later to let me know that mostly everything in my prenatal bloodwork turned out fine, except for one thing… that Vitamin B-12 count. Turns out I am extremely low on the stuff and have been for some time (it can take years for the body to slowly deplete itself of B-12). My count was 250, and the values are 1100 (being the most optimal) to 200 (being the absolute lowest). Looks like I’ve been living on the bottom of the pond for awhile LOL.

Does that explain my extreme lethargy the past couple of years? I (and my thankful hubby) are thinking so. I took my first B-12 supplement (actually the injection, because I am so very low) and today I have a few things that I’ve gotten done around the house I would like to share:

• Cleaned out the dirty entry way (been meaning to do that for 3+ months)
• Mopped the entire floor of the kitchen, living room, entry way and hallway
• Did a load of laundry
• Made a fantastic lunch for the boys and hubby

And get this, I did NOT take a nap today. I’m still quite shocked and can’t believe that all happened today. I’m slowly starting to feel like myself again. Thank you most of all to Lee Ann, who made it all possible through her constant nagging encouraging :), I will be forever grateful!!

Technorati Profile

Feeling used vs. utilized

Yesterday I started organizing a pity party for myself. I was feeling used as many of us humans do now and then. Then I realized that perhaps satan was using this feeling, or emotion, to get me all wrapped in myself… again. So I started to dig a bit deeper. I knew that I felt like nothing but a maid, but how to turn it around? Satan would like me to feel used, but how to flip this upside down according to what Christ would have me feel about my vocation? I went through some words beginning with "u" and came up with the word "utilized," or even "useful." Christ has created me into a useful and yes, utilized woman and mother. My skills are being put to good use at this time of my life. Never have I been so challenged to manage so many things. The enemy may want me to feel used during this season of my life but the truth is, Christ is utilizing the gifts He gave me in so many unique ways. I am truly the clay in his hands and it feels good to be utilized and not just sitting on the shelf :).

Blogging Etiquette

Recently I posted some questions to an e-mail group, Moms Who Blog, about the art of blogging. Here were my questions, and here are a compilation of the answers. Thanks to all the moms who answered!

1. When someone posts a comment to my blog, should I reply as a nice
gesture? What is the protocol replying to comments?

2. How often should I blog?

Now on to the replies I received:

1. Replying to comments:

Mostly everyone said that it’s nice to reply when you can, but certainly not expected, especially with a high amount of comments traffic. If someone asks a question it is polite to respond. Sometimes it’s nice to reply to comments to get a good discussion going. Other than that, comments are there for your benefit and for the benefit of your readers!

2. How often should I blog?

Some people prefer to post everyday, some only once every few days and posting at least once per week was suggested. Here are a few comments:

Meredith (love that name! That may be our choice of a name if the baby is a girl!) from Like Merchant Ships said:
"Every day, if you have something to say.  I love a well-crafted essay,
but freshness counts a lot. It is easy to get burned out by feeling
that you "have to" blog.  The best way to develop a blogging rhythm is
to make it a habit that doesn’t require too much agony."

Christine M said: "I’ve been trying to post every day lately – but I used to just hope for
once or twice a week. I think that if you want to build readership you
want to post fairly regularly so people feel like it’s worth their time
to stop by."

Lissa from Bonny Glen replied: "Sometimes I blog at Bonny Glen daily; other times I am busy, and days will pass between posts. One summer I missed entire months."

So in a nutshell, I am going to try to revise my goals with this blog and keep a fresh outlook on why I’m doing it in the first place. My goal is to blog more often, at least once per week. Thank you again to all the ladies who responded!

Day Planner for Kids

I am one of those women, like Lissa from the Lilting House, obsessed with day planners, organizing a schedule, etc. Will my children be, too? Only time (and their temperment) will tell! I came across this the other day… a Catholic day planner/organizer, for kids! Plenty of room for recording assignments, gospel readings, feast days, resource pages, where Jesus lived map, mazes/games, spelling word area, character-building suggestions, the list goes on and on. At first I knew that our oldest would never need this, we have the lesson plans to check off. However after writing this post and digging around more in the sample pages, I’m thinking he would want to love to use it. I just noticed the price, and it’s only 3.99!!! This one is no-brainer!

8 Things about Me MEME!

A Special thank you to Paula from The Catholic Harvest who tagged me for this! What fun!

Here are the rules:

Each
player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are
posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the
end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their name,
then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know
that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Here are my facts/habits:

1. My favorite show is Barefoot Contessa on Food Network (Mom has cable, we don’t 🙂

2. I love to read every night before bed… umm… okay, I HAVE to read every night before bed!

3. My previous career (before kids) was working at the Archdiocese of Denver in the Office of Marriage and Family Life. My supervisor was Christopher West and he and his wife forever changed our lives by introducing us to JP II’s Theology of the Body.

4. Favorite meal: Cheese Enchiladas

5. Favorite singer: Sara Groves (and I have been in some spiritual warfare lately concerning LOSING my all time favorite CD from her). Prayers for me to St. Anthony, anyone??

6. I’m joining P.E.O. tonight! P.E.O. is an organization that supports the college I graduated from, Cottey College. My life will always be richer from my experience at Cottey!

7. Big goals today: make some bread (too cheap to buy it!), do my calendaring (just printed out my Palm calendar for June), and need to clean my icky floor.

8. Favorite book right now is The Temperament God Gave You. It is our book club choice this month and simply fascinating!

Right now the boys need me so therefore I need to shut down the computer. So I cannot tag 8 others right now, but thought I would at least get the main part of the MEME up. Enjoy!

My Best Finds at the Homeschool Conference

Just got back from one of the biggest highlights of my year…. the annual Catholic Homeschool Conference in St. Paul, MN. Four of my friends and I went together and had a great time! We stayed overnight at a hotel, went shopping (have to love the Land’s End outlet store!!), ate a bunch of chocolate and enjoyed the hot tub at the hotel. Gotta enjoy those girlfriend getaways when you can!

The talks were inspiring as usual…. especially the keynote by Andrew Pudewa. His talk, "Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Build Forts All Day" was simply amazing. If you have ever wondered why your son cannot sit still, likes to bang an imaginary drum on your kitchen countertop, doesn’t like wearing a jacket in the Fall, etc., then you have GOT to get this CD of the talk. After I got home from the conference Tim and I talked about that talk in particular for well over a hour. Tim was amazed at all of the scientific reasons (brain activity/optic nerve connectivity) why boys are so very different from girls. It always strikes me as ironic that more parents who use the traditional schooling method (public or private-based education) do not attend these conferences. Parents need this type of support when helping their children with homework on a daily basis, interacting with teachers about learning issues, etc. It’s a great investment in your child’s education to attend one of these conferences!

Other great talks… of course I enjoyed the Marcie Stokman talk (along with her sister) about homeschooling/parenting with joy! One of my friends went to the Fr. Laird talk and said it will forever change my thinking about parenting in our culture. That is a must-have I will be borrowing from Kelly!

On to other things…. besides some fun products for the boys, I got to meet two remarkable women who I have only previously known online. Minnesota Mom was such a sweet person and I had to tell her how much I’ve enjoyed reading her blog (and of course, that my keyword for remembering her blog was "coffee." Love that byline)!! And Michele from Family-Centered Press was inspiring as well. My dream (besides starting and selling Comfy Bummy) was to create a Catholic Women’s Day Planner, full of feast days, readings, you name it! Michele created the most beautiful Catholic Day Planners available today! Visit her website for downloads and to order. I am still in my honeymoon phase with my Palm Z22, (and it’s been over two years!) but if I ever return to a paper system this would be it!

Fun purchases:

Actually my last purchase was lots of fun! Met the ladies from Bead by Bead and couldn’t help but buy the Joyful Mysteries book. Great resource for little hands during prayer time!

Of course no shopping experience is complete without stopping by Sacred Heart Books and buying their fun stuff! Especially the mini stained glass coloring books (only 1.30??? Why not??), mini Knights stencil book, Daniel Boone Coloring book, etc. A lot of the stuff I love are from Dover Books. Thank you to my dear friend Anne who encouraged me to request a catalog from them! And I got another Tomie DePola book to add to my collection! James O’Rourke and the Big Potato. Of course I dropped a very sly hint (at least I think so) to my best friend about how I would love to add more of his books to my new collection.

The best part of the conference? Meeting so many dedicated and beautiful parents who genuinely show their love for their child’s education by being there. It is so very encouraging to be around these parents. Thank you everyone who attended, especially my fun girlfriends and our great night out!

Withered Vine Disease

A few weeks ago I heard a homily at Mass that struck me. It struck me
hard. The reading was about how God is the true vine and we are the
branches. My mind started to race for answers because I have been
experiencing my yearly spiritual slump lately. Why am I struggling right
now? Why don’t I feel close to the Lord? Why do I feel so far away from
my faith and from my love of Christ? Why am I so entrenched with
material things, with myself, with the world?

It all came to me (thank you Holy Spirit!) from sitting there and
listening to Fr. Con. Right now I have a disease… the "Withered Vine"
disease. My branch is simply not getting enough nutrients to make it
strong and pliable. My vine (my God) is just too weak right now because
I’m not reaching enough into the deep wellspring of God’s holy ground.
My branch has nothing to grow from. My vine is withered. God has not
withered, however I have. There is no daily prayer right now. A nightly
examination of conscience is a thought of the past. My daily spiritual
reading has been too minimal to mention. Am I surprised that I (the
branch) am struggling to hang on?

Tomorrow morning I plan on completing a little bit of bible study
combined with some serious prayer (okay, at least five minutes’ worth).
After that I may put on a CD. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy sounds
inviting right now. My branch needs some food and the best form is in
prayer and praise to the Creator who loves me the most. May my branch
become stronger.

Daily Catholic Devotional for Kids!

I have to admit, I was not sure if we would ever find a true Catholic Daily Devotional booklet for kids. We used MagnifiKid for a short time but that wasn’t doing it. I wanted something that we could use on a daily basis to get our son into the habit of daily prayer and reading, especially following along with the liturgical calendar. Well, we found it! Check out Living Faith for Kids, published by Creative Communications. With contributing authors like Amy Welborn, you know it has to be good. Enjoy! Oh, and a special to our parish priest, Fr. Con for placing these booklets in the entry way of the church :).

Como Park Zoo

Yesterday the younger boys and I went on a fieldtrip with our local ECFE group to the Como Park Zoo in St. Paul, MN. This is one of those great outings for little people. The cost is minimal (a donation to the zoo is appreciated, but not required). The zoo itself is smaller and not overwhelming (important if you are a Mommy :). We bought a picnic lunch (which Collin carried in his Spider-Man backpack, he’s so strong!) and enjoyed looking at all the different animals. We rode a school bus down with the group which was part of the adventure in itself! The boys enjoyed the entire trip and Collin sat with a new friend on the way back. Christian couldn’t quite stay awake on the trip there or back but that was fine with me. Have those bus seats shrunk since I was a child, or have I gotten bigger?

Agate Lovers Unite!

My husband has always had a love (addiction??) to agates. Whether it’s because they are the Minnesota state rock, or the history behind each piece (is it from a volcano? fossil?) I’m not sure. It used to annoy me when I would walk with him and he would constantly stop and inspect rocks to see if they were the "real thing." Now I see the benefit because…..

We now have three little agate lovers following in his footsteps. I find their treasure in the washing machine, in the bathroom, by the phone and other hidden spots. Then the other night Daddy got out the motherlode of agates… THE DIRT DEVIL HAND VACUUM BOX! This little beauty is full of decadant agates; big, little, polished. . . you get the picture.

Daddy and the boys were engrossed for over a hour before I had to insist on them getting some baths. We are hoping this year to make it to Moose Lake Agate Days in Moose Lake, MN. They do a huge treasure hunt of agates in the middle of one of the main streets in downtown Moose Lake. Here we come!

Usborne Jigsaw Puzzles

Christian is starting to develop a love for completing puzzles. The kid is not even four years old yet!! This book is called the "Jigsaw World Atlas" and it is book with pages of puzzles instead. Sound puzzling? ha-ha! Sorry, couldn’t resist! Anyways, I assumed (wrongly) that this was way beyond Christian’s comprehension. Wow, was I surprised! I’m getting to the point of hiding the dratted thing so he doesn’t race after me during the day, taunting me with "Do puzthle wif me, Mommy? PLEASE???" I can only complete so many puzzles of Africa per day! And truthfully, I’m learning as much as he is… I guess I am a true "lifelong learner." Yay!

And if you are wondering… yes, he did complete this by himself!!!

Usborne Book Show was a Success!

Here is the letter I’m sending to all of the people who ordered through our bookshow. I just placed the order yesterday and they will probably be here Friday (that’s pretty fast!!-that’s from someone who used to be in the shipping business!).

 

Thank
you, thank you, thank you for ordering Usborne books through my home show!
Amazingly, the order totaled a little over 600.00!!

 

Now
on to the fun part…. Until the end of June, as a new consultant I was eligible
to receive “double free” books as the hostess of my own show (as well as any of
my other hostesses). So I received $205.00
in FREE books!!!! That does not include some other half-price books I
chose. Thank you so much for helping me
to get so many FREE books!!

 

Here
is what we chose (along with the input of Tim, Collin and Christian):

· 1001 Pirate
Things To Spot (9.99)

· Another Little
Book of Farmyard Tales (8.99)

· A Squirrel’s
Tale (10.99)

· Big Book of
Mazes (10.99)

· Easter Story
(4.95)

· Fairy Things
To Make & Do (6.95)

· Four Seasons
Boxed Jigsaw (11.95)

· Great Animal
Search (16.99)

· Hide-and-Seek
Dragons (16.99)

· Jigsaw World
Atlas Book (14.95)

· Knights and
Armor – IL (17.99) (IL means “Internet-Linked”)

· Little Book of
Train Stories (Book & CD Pack) (10.95)

· Poems for
Young Children (7.99)

· Sticker Dolly
Dressing Ballerinas (8.99)

· Sorcerer’s
Apprentice (8.99)

· Time Traveler
(22.99)

· Who Were 1st
N. Americans (IL) (4.99)

· Wizard of Oz
(8.99)

 

Thank
you again for ordering these great books through my show. It was truly a lot of
fun to sit and “talk” books! Because of you, we now get a larger, quality
family library! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

Warmly,

Mary
M.

 

 

This was NOT staged!

Collin and Christian had a ball when I received a bunch of Usborne Books from a friend for a homeshow. They literally devoured the books, and showed me their favorites right away. I promise I did not stage this! Collin happens to be holding up two of the best sellers. Christian is guarding a bible story book, simliar to the jigsaw bible book we currently have. He kept on walking around saying, "Mine, mine!" Okay, sharing will be the virtue we practice next week…..

Using a Price Book

Many years ago I read the book, The Complete Tightwad  Gazette. If this book is not currently on your shelf, it certainly should be! One of the essays was about starting and using a price book for the greatest savings on the grocery bill. For years I kept the goal of a price book in the back of mind. Then a couple of months ago, I came across a price book template somewhere on the web. Just for fun, I downloaded it and started going through some sale flyers for our local grocery stores. I tweaked it a bit here and there and am still working on it today.

After going through the sales flyers and my receipts, I was amazed at  price differences! You really do waste more money than you really need to when you don’t use a price book, I promise! I will print it off after adding in new prices and products, usually about once every other month. I just print it off on regular-sized paper, fold in half and viola! I’m ready to go to the store. Keep in mind you could also use a small notebook and record the prices in there. I know of people that do this and have kept this system up for years.

Here is the sample of my pricebook: Download pricebook.xls. If you are are from my area of Minnesota you’ll be happy. If outside my hometown, feel free to adapt it to your local grocery stores. Please notice that meat prices are not really filled in… we usually buy our beef locally so we do not have to pay the higher prices at the grocery store (and it tastes so much better!).

While I’m probably the world’s worst grocery shopper when it comes to saving money, this price book has definitely helped! Combined with a few coupons now and then, we have been saving!

The biggest money loser for me is shopping without a list and shopping on the spur of the moment. If I shop with a detailed list I seem pretty focused and tend to get out of the store much quicker. Here is a sample of a great grocery list I’ve used in the past. Very simple to use! You simply need to print and check off the items you need.

Happy shopping and best wishes on saving!

House Plans

A lot of people have asked about what we did exactly to the house. It’s much easier to show a visitor, however a houseplan also shows the addition, too. It was tweaked a bit here and there but this is pretty much it. The part marked in yellow is the original part of the house (built in 1915) that we kept (upstairs are the boys’ bedrooms). Everything else is new, with a new foundation, etc.

The only thing we had to do to the old living room and stairs was to refurbish the floors and paint. We had the floor refurbished (fir?) in the living room. We love the hardwood floor in the living room (which is now our TV room).

Currier & Ives Dishes are Here!

During Tim’s First Communion Party, Grandma and Grandpa McCarthy surprised us with the gift of heirloom Currier & Ives dishes! I’ve been wanting blue and white dishes FOREVER, so this was such a nice treat! One of the major benefits is that the dinner plates are much smaller than today’s oversized dinner "platters." In addition to overeating on larger plates, they are so irritating to try to finagle into the dishwasher. I’ve loved using the red dinnerware we purchased from Penney’s a couple of years ago, but I found that I really wanted something more old-fashioned.

Last summer my sister Jill had a garage sale. While "shopping" I just about fainted when I saw a huge box of C&I dishes for sale. She had started a collection, too and decided to use something else. She sold them to me for pennies, it was more of a gift than a sale. Jill has the gift of giving to others and it’s so much fun to be on the receiving end!

The picture above is the dishes from Tim’s parents. Here is a listing of the dishes we now have. This list is more for my benefit than anyone else’s, as I will need to add some cereal bowls ASAP. My biggest concern now is how to thank Tim’s parents for the dishes. A card seems so insignificant!

From Tim’s parents:
13 dinner plates
5 dessert bowls
3 cereal bowls
9 bread plates
13 coffee cup saucers
1 pie plate
2 large bread & butter plates
2 milk glass bowls (1 small, 1 medium) (planning on using these for serving pickles, beets, etc.)

From Jill:
1 creamer
1 dessert bowl
1 gravy boat with platter
1 large serving bowl
9 dinner plates
8 coffee cups
2 salad plates
3 bread & butter plates
3 coffee cup saucers

Our favorite part so far is the beautiful images on the dishes. The boys love looking at the horses, sleds, threshing scenes, etc. Just using them makes me appreciate the simplicity of an era that perhaps cannot be replicated now in our age, but can be remembered and still sought after, even today.

We can open the freezer!!

Yesterday was a massive kitchen project day! I got tired of opening up the freezer just to do battle with the contents falling out. So I rolled up my sleeves, started cleaning and got out the personal labeler!

One of the best ideas for organizing anything is from Susie Peterson from Mess Distress. She is a whiz with organizing the hard stuff. One of her most widely used tips is to use "drawers" (a.k.a., dishpans) for organizing hard to reach spaces. I purchased these red dishpans at a Wal-mart during my once-per-year trip. Usually you will jsut find the white, but Wal-mart has the red color, too.

Here’s what I did: I sorted out the freezer contents into the following drawers: Veggies/Fruits, Meats, Flour Coatings (I keep all of my flour in the freezer in a ziploc bag so I do not have to remake it, and it cuts down on waste), and for now we will keep ice cream cartons on the top shelf (because they are the most used!). Eventually I would like to keep  my nuts  and other baking stuff together, too. For now it’s on the side of the freezer.  We will also need to get another drawer for fruits, as we keep alot of frozen strawberries and blueberries on hand during picking time in the summer. I also freeze spices (big foil packets of Frontier Herbs, like dhicken soup flavoring) and would like to keep those in one drawer.

For now this will work. It’s so much fun getting organized! Now onto the rest of the house and especially the kitchen (ughh!!)…..

First Communion Banner

A few months ago one of my dear friends, Sue shared with me a beautiful book called "Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects". Instantly I started to think about what a beautiful project this could be if we applied the examples to Tim’s First Communion Banner. Viola! It is now complete and I hope you love it as much as we do!  We will still add the symbol for Christ in the center of the host (hopefully in red). For now, we are just enjoying having it up on the wall! April 22nd…. here we come!

Appreciation Brunch

A while ago I was talking with our Children’s Director of Religious Education. I approached her about serving breakfast to our Elementary Sunday School teachers as a thank you. We had many parents stay to help cook and serve and hopefully they felt appreciated. What a wonderful blessing the teachers are to our church community!

Here are some decoration ideas from our tables. My goal was to make it as simple as possible, but I did complete a lot of preparation before the actual day.

Because the brunch took place during Lent, we went with purple table cloths. The centerpieces contain:

• Round mirrors from Michael’s
• Candles decorated with purple sheer ribbon with a Miraculous Medal glued in the center (my wonderful MIL got these medals for us which Pope John Paul II blessed while he was in New Orleans).
• Iridescent grapes (both in clear and purple) from Michael’s
• Custom printed thank you card, accented with purple flowers and a Mother Theresa quote at the bottom