A Bit of Music
Lots of Boy – Stuff
Lots of Fun for Everyone!
Our First Gathering at the New House
We’ve Moved!
Waiting to Hatch
I’m back, everyone! We have recently moved and are enjoying “country” life. Since we’ve been here, we have found a nest of baby bunnies in the backyard, watched a mocking bird build a nest on top of Phillip’s play-set (the nest now holds four eggs), and have been awakened in the morning to the sound of the neighbors’ cows mooing! This is all very new to us and we’re loving it!
Peering in the Nest
Homeschooling has become even more “hands – on” , as Phillip is discovering something new each day. The top left photo with the nest of Mockingbird’s eggs was taken by Phillip. In the above picture, Phillip is doing his daily “Checking- in” on the nest.
Will continue to post more of our “Country-living” in the near future.
Creating a Volcano
This year, Phillip’s Baba (grandmother) gave him a volcano set – just for the fun of it!
Creating plaster strips
Waiting for the plaster to dry
Then came the painting – but where did Phillip go ?
Once the paint was dry, Phillip wanted to bring the Volcano to his Baba’s house to set it off. Boy was it an amazing spectacle! We actually got a whole fizzle out of it! Oh well, it was fun, anyway.
Our Family Saint
She was born on April 3rd,1974 and died two days later. Her name was April Theresa, and she was my baby sister. I was four. I’ll never forget that day when Daddy brought Mama home from the hospital. I was so young and did not understand why Mama did not have the new baby with her. It was a sad time for all members of my family, yet we were consoled to know that we now had a little saint in heaven, for she had been baptized in the hospital. Little April had been born with only half of a heart, yet she lived a life of suffering which lasted three days. How much she was like Christ in that way. She was pure innocence and spent her whole life in suffering. Though her life on earth was short, she will remain in our hearts forever. Even my son, Phillip, knows the story of his Aunt April, our family saint. So, this is the feast day of April Theresa Ruli. May she look down upon us from heaven always.
St. April, pray for us
A Fun Way to Remember Punctuation
Here’s an idea for your “Hands on” learner that has worked for us. You’ve heard of musical chairs, right ? Here is what I call “Musical Punctuation”.
Begin the game with large cutouts of punctuation marks arranged in a circle.
Getting ready to walk around the punctuation marks!
Start the music !
Phillip will proceed to walk around the marks until music stops. When the music stops, he must stop on whichever mark he is on and “act out” what that mark represents.
Landing on a question mark.
When stopping on a period
Hurray! Phillip likes landing on the exclamation point best!
Another Lenten Activity
This year, in addition to our crown of thorns and “giving up ” things, we have created a “Family Prayer Box”. We started off by decorating a cardboard box to add ourspecial prayers to. Each day, we decide on an extra prayer to say ( usually by selecting onefrom the back of a holy card) and then once the prayer has been said, it is placed into the family prayer box. There are several ways of using a “Family Prayer Box”, but this is what works best for us.
Proud to have prayed from a St. Padre Pio prayer card.
A nice place for the prayer box
More prayers being added !
By the time Lent is over, our prayer box should be filled and our paper chain complete! God bless you all, and remember, Keep Love in Lent!
Beautiful Mama Blog Award
I have been nominated for the Beautiful Mama Blog Award by http://atlantamomofthree .
I am honored to have been nominated for this award . I love being a mom. Below are three things which I love best about motherhood.
1. As a mother, I have the honor of sharing in the same vocation as our Lady had during her life on earth. Mother Mary is the perfect model for all mothers. To be able to share in this same sacred vocation with our Blessed Mother is a privilege.
2. As a mother I am able to pass down my beliefs, and instill in my child the values which I hold so dear. Through a day to day life, I am able to help him to grow into the kind of person who will follow the example of Christ.
3. The third reason I love being a mom is that each day I am also learning from my child. Motherhood has taught me how to let the child within me reveal itself. Together, we play, laugh and learn.
And now, I nominate the following Beautiful Mama Bloggers:
http://faithfulmomof9.wordpress.com/
Cereal Box Jewelry
Cereal Box Jewelry
Please take a look on the “Activities” page to learn how to make jewelry from a cereal box! This neclace and bracelet set was made from cereal boxes.
Lenten Reflections
This Lenten season, I have chosen to make a spititual reflection following the booklet “Forty Steps to Easter” by Sr. Mary Theresita, S.S.J. It consists of beautiful, daily reflections which helps one to follow in His way day to day. Below is an excerpt from the booklet.
“Second Sunday of Lent
Thought - ‘But lifting up their eyes they saw no one, but only Jesus.’
Practice – Today I shall try to see Jesus in every person-even in those who may be in some way unkind,because in them Jesus is present but is not allowed to act because their free will refuses to give Him this freedom.
Prayer- Lord, increase our faith. (500 days indulgence each time)”
Giving and Loving
Cleaning the statue of Our Lady
Lent. A time for giving.
A time for love.
A Crown of Thorns to hold Our Sacrifices
This year we wanted to make the crown of thorns from dough as we had done the previous year but, seeing as I had forgotten how, we tried our hand at paper mache’. It was messy but alot of fun!
The Beginings of our paper mache’ crown of thorns
Using an old coat hanger, some masking tape, and newspaper strips we began to form our crown. The paste consisted of plaster(left over from a volcano set) flour, and water.
Strips of newspaper soaked in the plaster mixture
Once the crown of thorns was complete we placed our sacrifice strips (which we had gotten from an Advent/Lent kit from www.EquippingCatholicFamilies.com ) in the center. Each morning a strip is chosen and the sacrifice or activity on it is performed.
Once the action has been performed, the strip is colored and glued to become a link in our growing chain of sacrifices, showing our love for Jesus.
Our growing chain of sacrifice
By Easter we shall have a full chain that reaches across to the other side of the curtain rod – a perfect decoration for Easter!
Check back again for more ideas! God bless, and keep love in Lent!
The Altar Boys
Here is a picture of the altar boys in our homeschool group in front of the chapel where we all attend the Latin Mass. Yep. Mine is the one not looking at the camera, hugging his best friend!
How blessed we are to have the Latin Mass, such wonderful friends, and a close knit, loving community. God has blessed us in more ways than I could have ever hoped for. God bless you all during this Lenten season, and throughout the year.
Why Choose Life ?
Everyone has rights. Everyone. From the very young to the very old, we are all human beings created by God to know, love and serve Him in this world, so that we may one day be happy with Him in heaven. But what happens when a person’s rights are violated ? A person’s right to chose ends only when that choice brings harm to, or violates the rights of, another person. The unborn baby is indeed a human being with rights. Too small to defend itself, the unborn child instinctively depends upon the safety and security of his/her mother for nurturing and protection. What a travesty is the act of abortion ! A tiny soul, resting comfortably within his/her mother’s womb, awaiting the chance to enter the world suddenly has his/her life taken away ! What could be more horriffic than this, the robbing of an innocent life ? This election, vote life. Pray the Rosary for an end to abortion. And, if anyone out there is considering such a drastic “choice”, ask yourself this question, “What if my Mama had made the same decision ?” Please, for the love of God, choose life. God bless you all.
The Teacher
“I don’t know,I don’t understand.” The child cries again. “Will you explain it one more time ? I might get it then.” The weary mother gently begins to show her child once more. She won’t give up or quit on him, so she helps him as before. She prays a prayer silently, for guidance from above. And shows her child, gently teaching him with love. He looks to her,”Oh now I see.” he says with a sheepish grin. “Thank you for explaining to me. I just needed to hear it again.” This mother rejoices from within,for she knows the Teacher true, is the One who helped her explain to him, just what he must do.
Can Your Child be a Missionary ?
It all began as a reading project. Using a large tupperware container, we created a mission fund at our home. I remembered how, as a child, we (my siblings and I) used to participate in the M.S. Read – a – Thon, gathering sponsors to pledge a certain amount of money for each book read. This gave me the idea to do a similar thing with my son, only the money would be going to the missions in Hatti. My son had a goal of 10 books to read. This gave the pledgers a rough idea of how much to pledge. It was usually something like 10 cents a book (some pledged as much as a dollar a book.) First, I created a form where pledgers would sign their name and write the amount they are pledging next to it. The next step was to get some pledges. This was mostly from granparents, relatives and close friends. The idea took off! Even after all 10 books had been read, and the money from pledgers collected, people still continued to contribute to the fund. When visitors saw the tupperware container on the counter filled with money and labeled, “Help the Missions” they gladly added to it. By the time we turned it in to a Decon friend of ours who does missionary work in Hatti, we had collected over $500. The money was used to provide the people of the villiage with clean drinking water.
My son was so excited to know that reading can be used to help others – to this day he loves to read!
Now, we had previously tried earning money for the missions a different way, but it was not very successful.
Seven year old Phillip attempting to raise money by selling homemade cookies
It’s hard work being a missionary!
