Pictures...

For those of you who feel i have been slacking off lately (and yes, maybe i have been a a bit...) here are some pics of the kids from mid-July on....

Finger painting - a much loved 'school' activity

Baseball ...not sure that catcher is properly padded!

The 4th of July... 

 Our July birthday...how many 6 year olds do you know who get baseball trophies and Blueberry pies for their birthday???

 Jedi training....

 Just a good picture!

 Some lego building....

 Dad, trying to look taller than B!

 What we do when a hurricane sends rain and visitors our way!
Cousin Vinny and Aunt Jennifer with Bear and Cat...

 Uncle Joe helped with this one!

yes, she is IN the tower ...somewhere!

And she builds with legos too!

 The newest addition (yes, the one in the blanket!)

 Chasing rainbows...thanks Uncle Brian and Aunt Monika!

Now, these following photos were taken on one of our first rather chilly days.  The previous day i was laughing at photos of our nephews and the clothing choices their parents had made... needless to say i was humbled by the choices our own children made concerning their attire...

 Cousin Vinny                                                                Cousin Rowan

Can't get much cuter than that!

Eating in Season

A big hello (some long over due) to our newest followers..... Eva, Richard, Raising & Teaching Little Saints, Jessica, Sancta Risus, Jen, and Giuseppe Ambrose!  We are so glad you've joined us!

Welcome to our blog! I hope you will stop in regularly and walk away with even the smallest bit of new information or at least a smile. This blog has a mind of its own, for sure. I write about more than i had planned to and on everything from homeschooling to parenting, feast days to our family life in general. Lately its been more just life in general as school and sports are winding down....

Please feel free to comment, but also to ask questions.
Welcome!
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Eating in Season...no fancy ideas or suggestions, just us enjoying God's bounty!  We wrote about strawberry picking some time last month (it might have just been a quick note buried in a post) and this month we had the opportunity to pick blueberries!  We never had before so this was a real treat. 

The farm was beautiful.  Just a small farm owned by grandparents of one of our homeschool group families.  Very family friendly.  Very knowledgeable and willing to teach.  We had a great time.
We picked, we ate, we came home and baked!

Walk for Their Lives

Over at HairBows 4 Life Bowtique they are  hosting a walk-a-thon that is easy to participate in and doable for anyone.

Starting next Sunday June 12 through August 28 (12 weeks) please consider participating in Walk for Their Lives sponsored by Hair Bows 4 Life ...


How many miles can you walk to help support the protection of Human Life, those sweet baby feet!

To participate:

1. Let Hair Bows 4 Life  know you are taking up the Challenge... then tell everyone you know that you are doing so.

2. Have friends and family sponsor you.  You can do a penny or a nickle for every mile you walk in the 12 weeks, or a flat rate of say $50 total or even $50 for 1,000 miles.  The options are many!

3.  Email Hair Bows for Life at walkfortheirlives @ gmail . com with your location and what kind of sponsor money you will donate (basically total $ per mile or flat rate promised) as well as which Pro-Life organization you will donate to.  You read that right!  You do not send them the money, you hand it directly to the Pro-life organization of your choice.   

4. Record your miles (their site has links to a weekly log as well as a Google Map Pedometer.)

5. Every Sunday, comment your miles.  They are giving away door prizes for your comments and some top walker prizes as well!


Please, join our family as we put on our walking shoes and spend twelve weeks using our feet to save theirs!  We challenge you to!

Comment here to let us know you're joining us! ... or that you'd like to sponsor us.  I will post more later about the Pro-Life organization we are donating to as well as keep you posted about how we are doing.

God bless you and your endeavor to help those who can't help themselves.

Stations of the Cross

On Friday we joined some homeschoolers to celebrate the end of their 8 week co-op session, by celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation.  We had a wonderful time!  One of the moms talked to the children about the Annunciation (usually they would read a story.)  Then the children did a craft.  They made a grotto that held a picture of the Annunciation in a popsicle stick frame, decorated with stones...all on a piece of cardboard.  (You can buy a ready-to-make craft like this from Illuminated Ink and Catholic retailers who carry their products.) After the craft the children were split up into two groups.  The 6 and unders went to Adoration.  Now that may sound crazy but after a quick reminder of what Adoration is and that they need to be very quiet, they were wonderful for the 3 or 4 minutes they were in there.  I was only able to stay a moment due to Miss Cat, but truly, it was a beautiful site.

While the younger ones went to Adoration the older ones started Stations of the Cross in the church, then headed over to Adoration after.  The little ones headed into the church for Stations not long after the older ones. 

Usually during Lent many people go at least once, if possible, to Stations of the Cross.  With children sometimes its hard to do that due to the hour the Stations are done.  This was a nice, child friendly time where if someone did act up they could be taken out without the looks and stares normally found among those who don't have children with them. 

The other thing about this morning was that it reinforced a beautiful tradition of the church as well as the facts behind it. 

Many times we forget...forget to say thank you, forget to remember, forget to be in awe of the love showered upon us and the graces that are freely given to us. Many times we forget about God.  We forget about how Christ gave His life for every one of us, how God gave His son, how the Holy Spirit continually fills us with grace.

The passion and death of Jesus is an ineffable mystery of love in which the three divine Persons are involved. The Father takes the free and absolute initiative: it is he who loves first and, in delivering the Son into our murderous hands, exposes his dearest possession. As St. Paul says, he "did not spare his own Son", that is, he did not keep him for himself as a jealously held treasure, but "gave him up for us all" (Rom 8:32).

The Son fully shares the Father's love and his plan of salvation: He gave himself for our sins ... according to the will of our God and Father" (Gal 1:4).

And the Holy Spirit? As in the intimacy of Trinitarian life, so too in this exchange of love which takes place between the Father and the Son in the mystery of Golgotha, the Holy Spirit is the Person-Love in whom the love of the Father and the Son converge. (Spirit Is Present in the Paschal Mystery, Pope John Paul II, General Audience, June 10, 1998)

Stations of the Cross should be done weekly, throughout the entire year.  We should be reminded to remember, aways. 

Sometimes, especially with the younger ones, that is not so easy.  Yesterday over at Catholic Icing Lacy posted about a Stations of the Cross File Folder activity she created.  (i have tried to post a picture but it just does not want to cooperate! anyway...)  What a beautiful way to teach and reinforce the Paschal Mystery!

I plan to make one for our kids as after Friday they have been reading the Stations to themselves before bed (mainly the younger ones.)  I found at the local catholic bookstore a very nice copy that is simple enough to do quickly yet well - if that makes sense.  They each have a copy and they sit on Ladybug's bed and go through them.  It does a mother's heart good. 

So as i said, i plan to make a set for our children ...and a set to give away.  It will not be identical to Lacy's but it will be similar in style.  Its an activity that can be used year round - Thank you Lacy, for such a wonderful idea!

Preparing for Lent - Part 2

So where were we?

What is Lent? 
Why i even tried to tackle this question is beyond me ... i have spent some time researching about Lent being more than just 'preparing for Easter.'

Diving in i found that Lent is to prepare ourselves for the sacraments of Christian initiation. 
Here is where my search led me....

Catholic Online states 'Preparation for Baptism and for renewing baptismal commitment lies at the heart of the season.'  (this was the first thing i found)

So how do we incorporate that into the whole season?  Many families focus on Baptism during Holy Week, but to spend the entire season learning about and preparing for THE Baptism is a mighty tall order. 
I have never really looked at Lent that way before...but it makes perfect sense.

#1227 According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and rises with him:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.(Rom 6:3-4; cf. Col 2:12)

The baptized have "put on Christ."Gal (3:27) Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies.(CE 1Cor 6:11; 12:13)

But then we remember that Baptism is the first sacrament of Christian initiation. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundation of every Christian life.  'The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life.  The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life.  By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1212)

So i read further through the Catechism. If  you do so you see that Lent is actually about preparing for all three sacraments

The Eucharist:
#1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:

[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit. (Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740; cf. 1 Cor 11:23; Heb 7:24, 27)

Confirmation:
#1287 This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. (Cf. Ezek 36:25-27; Joel 3:1-2) On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, (Cf. Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8) a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. (Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1-14) Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age. (Acts 2:11; Cf. 2:17-18) Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn. (Cf. Acts 2:38)

Phew!  Through prayer, fasting and alms giving we prepare our hearts and souls to receive these sacraments in light of Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension, as well as Pentecost.

Do you teach your children about this every year?  What resources are out there to help us do so?

Recently i found a great free resource at That Resource Site. Its called A Little Lesson on Via Dolorosa - The Road to Sorrows.

It begins all the way back with Adam and Eve.  From there it moves to Mary's yes, and then on through the life of our Lord.

There is beautiful art work, and pages appropriately placed for both journaling and lapbooking.  There are no directions on how to use these extra pages but they are placed where in the reading you would use them. (that is my only issue with this beautiful tool - some of us have enough going on to want to be told 'this is how you do it')

For those of you more interested in a complete lapbook, Faith Folders for Catholics has several for sale that would be appropriate for the Lenten season.

Preparing for Lent

There are so many options out there to help guide our children through the Lenten Season.  Do you have any special traditions in your family?  We have really never found that ONE thing that stuck with us through the years (yet) but it has not been from lack of trying! 

One of my favorites was the last year we were in the farm house.  We have a good size cork board that i covered with paper and we made a lenten calendar following the directions given at These Forty Days.

This is from These Forty Days - i cannot find our picture!

Isn't it beautiful?  We have a little plastic Caterpillar that sat on our board and each day the kids punched a hole in a leaf to show his journey.  The kids love calendars!  So i guess there is one thing that we do every year....i stand corrected! (it has only been these past few years but you gotta start somewhere)

This year we are still not in our own place so i have been thinking of ways to have a calendar without impinging upon the rest of the household.  Lacy, over at Catholic Icing, just blogged about lenten activities including a lapbook. 



This Lapbook comes from Homeschool Goodies

I love the idea - it gets things out of the common area of the house (though really the only area we have alone are our 2 bed rooms) and puts things in the hands of the kids.  One problem though - the big guys might not be as excited about this activity as the little ones ...so the thinking continues.....

A poster might work if i keep it small and replace our daily calendar with it in the school area.  I think i would like to add feast days that fall in the season as well as maybe a weekly activity for the family - whether prayer, fasting, or alms giving.

Growing up we always gave something up - didn't you?.  Once we had kids of our own that was our first thought, but as we grow in our faith as adults we have begun to understand the true reason for the lenten season.  We started looking at not necessarily giving up for Lent so much as giving up for good...a much harder, but truly lenten, plan.  We have tried but failed at many things too.  But it has all been a learning process - and will continue to be so for the rest of our life. 

Our hope is that our children will understand far better than we ever had and that they will carry this knowledge with them once they leave home. 

There are many confusing, though seemingly wonderful, lenten activities to help your children keep track of the season.  One year, long ago, we used a Noah's Ark activity that took us through the entire season.  After that the little kids kept thinking Noah had something to really do with Lent.  It prefigures or typifies the season but it is not what Lent is about.

So what is Lent? 
This is getting a bit long....i think i'll continue that thought in the next post...

Any ideas for a March give away?  I'd like to keep it in line with the season, should it be handmade or a book?  What would you be interested in?  Maybe a school item? .... guess i need to come up with something soon!  Tomorrow is March 1st! (and the birthday of our own little Ladybug!)

A Little Brown Book

Yesterday i headed out to find a birthday gift or two for a young lady about to turn 9.  Ladybug is very much into horses and reading and cooking and sewing ....it shouldn't be difficult right?  : )

I ventured over to our local Borders, which is closing sometime soon.  Everything is about 20% off right now and some sections are already wiped out - quite amazing.  So anyway, while there i found a few things in the stationary section (30%off!) that i thought she would like ... and one little thing that i knew was meant just for me.  Ok, so i should have resisted but sometimes mom has a good reason.

I purchased a little 3.5 x 5.5 spiral notebook for myself.  Yes, its cute - brown with tiny pink polka dots ...but that couldn't be helped. : )  
Now why? you ask, and that is a perfectly logical question.....

As a mommy we have a tendency to put aside our own interests while the kids are young.  There is nothing more important than being mommy.  If you can take your interests and teach your children about them and do them with the kids that's great, but that does not always work out.  Sometimes they just need to be on hold for a bit. 

Here is where the little brown notebook comes in.  Every so often (and sometimes more often then not) a brilliant idea pops into my head (i'm sure you understand completely!)  There are getting to be too many of them to remember!  My little brown notebook is my backup memory!  I have already started filling the pages..and while some ideas may sit for years (yes, they will) they will be noted and remembered for when i have the time to make them/do them.

Life is such a joy - to watch your little ones grow, to help guide and then watch them go.  But you are still you and sometimes you need a reminder that you are a pretty interesting person, and more than just mommy.  The little brown notebook is a reminder of all the God inspired ideas you hold in your heart for the times you have a free moment - both while the kids are little and once they are grown. 

I highly recommend getting one (any color and size you want!) and jotting down those project ideas for a later date.  They don't 'just happen' for no reason.

Life Skills

Saturday, if you looked for us, you would have found us in Greensboro, NC at NC A & T University.  NC A & T hosted this year's NC FLL State Tournament.

FLL or FIRST Lego League "introduces younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. FLL teams, guided by their imaginations and adult coaches, discover exciting career possibilities and, through the process, learn to make positive contributions to society."  Oh, but it is so much more...

Not only do they build lego robots but they program them, they research the year's topic, they come up with an original solution to a problem, and they present all these things to judges.  FIRST Lego League teaches many life skills far beyond the science and technology.

My husband and i like FLL because on top of academically challenging our children it helps teach them about teamwork, team spirit, communication, interviewing, courtesy, on the spot and critical thinking.  They learn to trust their ideas and question them as well.  They learn to push themselves beyond their initial ideas to look further up and out.  They learn to ask for help, teach others, find solutions or create your own quality one if none exist or are appropriate.  And they learn to do all these things while still working within rules and guidelines, while being good sports (FIRST calls it gracious professionalism). Gosh, and there is so much more....

Its definitely NOT about the Legos.

Anyway - the kids had a very long, very tiring, very educational day.  But they enjoyed it.  It was actually a pretty tough day as many things did not go as planned. 

 We left Raleigh around 5:00am so Dad could be there for the volunteer meeting (each team has to provide one in this particular state's events.) Team check in started around 7am.  Once checked in we headed to the Pit - the area set up for teams to use as their 'home base' for the day.  We get a 6 foot table and four chairs.  If you're lucky you're next to a wall and can then spread out a bit more ...we were lucky.

The kids and i spent the morning running around between the practice runs, teamwork interview, robot design interview, and project interview. 

We had our own small cheering squad....

and photographer (hopefully one day we'll get the pictures! :  ) )

The afternoon was spent practicing, 

queueing,

 and competing.

Overall it was a good day.  They did not win any awards but came away happy with their presentations and a little frustrated with their table runs.  The best part of the day was...

Ladybug: "the break in the afternoon" (they got to shoot hoops and play skeet ball)

T: "Just being there." (Not everyone goes to state.  They won 2nd place Robot Design at their qualifier to earn a place.)

B: "The robot design interview, because that was our best chance of winning something."

Me?  I liked spending the day with my kids! 

Nine Babies....

are only the beginning.

I was over at Catholic Icing as Lacy just put up a new post.  Its about Pro-life activities for children.  She has some great signs her family made last year and a couple other beautiful activities.  The one that i liked the most you can find here at Paper Dali.

Isn't it beautiful! 

You print out the Blessed Mother and the nine babies.  Then you pray a novena for the protection of the unborn - each day you say a rosary for all unborn babies.  After you say the rosary you color a baby and tape/glue him into Mary's arms.

Start now just in time for the March for Life on January 24th!

What a great activity for families to participate in if they cannot attend the March for Life in D.C.

Please join us starting this Sunday, January 16th, as we say a 9 day Rosary Novena for the Protection of the Unborn.