Outside my window… it isn’t raining at the moment, and there are five little ones running around, climbing trees and enjoying the fresh air, while Rose naps.
I am listening to… Women in Chant: Recordare: Remembering the Mysteries in the Life of Jesus, Son of Mary
I am thinking… about how being a home educating mother changes the way I look at things. I never would have thought I would be so excited to receive flowers on my birthday, so that my children could dissect them for one of their Botany lessons! 😉
I am thankful for… my amazing family and all of my wonderful friends! I turned 33 on Sunday, and had such a lovely day. It started with Mass and a whole bunch of precious cards from my children. (Not to mention all the birthday greetings on Facebook!) My brother and sister-in-law then watched our kids so that Hubby could take me to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and then meet my parents for dinner. Then it was back home to for cake and to open a beautifully wrapped birthday gift which was sitting on the counter. It was such a nice day! I sure love my family and have been truly blessed!!
I am hoping and praying… that my niece’s MRI goes well today, for a very special intention, and that my father-in-law has a quick recovery from his surgery.
From the kitchen… lots of leftover chocolate birthday cake, which I am trying not to eat! 😉 I am also trying to come up with meals with the food I have in my pantry and freezer this week. I haven’t gone grocery shopping since just before Christmas, but I think I should be able to pull off one more week if I have Hubby pick up some milk, fruits and vegetables.
Monday :: Chicken Cacciatore with Dinner Rolls
Tuesday :: Tacos, Steamed Corn and Spanish Rice
Wednesday :: Baked Steak in Tangy Tomato Sauce and Scalloped Potatoes
Thursday :: Get Yo’ Man Chicken, Rice and Steamed Broccoli
Friday :: Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole
Saturday :: Grilled Tilapia with Steamed Veggies and Rice
Sunday :: Lasagna, Salad and Garlic Bread
From the learning rooms… I finally feel like we are making progress! Each (weekday) morning we have been working on Religion, Language Arts (Handwriting, Phonics, Spelling, Writing and Grammar) and Math, which leaves the afternoons free to study Science, Geography, History, etc. Following a schedule once again is really helping to get our days off to a good start, and use the time most efficiently.
Living the Liturgical Year at Home… we will be celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Altagracia later this week, on January 21st. Last year I painted a little wooden peg doll in her honor, read A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia
I am creating… a little village of paper houses with my girls, using the birthday
I am wearing… the next size down!!!
I am reading… I haven’t had much time for reading this past week, but I am hoping to get back to the books on my nightstand soon: Large Family Logistics, I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St. Therese of Lisieux, Olivia’s Gift, and Small Steps for Catholic Moms
On my iTouch… after seeing the Bob Books app suggested by others, I finally downloaded the Bob Books Lite version to try. Chiquita loves using it, so I think I’ll download the full app soon.
Pondering these words… from Chapter 10 of The Cure Of Ars,
Noticing that… blowing out 33 candles creates a LOT of smoke!!! (… and that it was really hard for me to post this “really neat” picture that my children wanted me to share with you all! lol!)
Towards personal care… I am trying to keep the weight off, which I lost while I was sick off, and so far have been successful. I was actually even able to lose a couple more pounds on top of the first seven, but those came right back due to the cake, coffee, and burger on my birthday… Now that the coughing isn’t nearly as bad as it was, I am hoping to start exercising again. I’m not sure the balance games on the Wii Fit
Around the house… The weekend before last, Hubby and I added curtains to the windows, to match the ones over the sliding glass door, in our bedroom and we just love them. However, I must say that it has made getting up a bit harder since it stays so dark in the morning when they are closed!
On keeping home… Here is a favorite quote from St. Frances of Rome:
One of my favorite things… The “Watch Instantly” feature on Netflix! While we were sick earlier this month we all watched (and loved!) The Sissi Collection. We also enjoyed watching Booky and the Secret Santa
A few plans for the rest of the week:
- Doctors Appointment for Snuggles on Wednesday
- Prepare for our next Little Flowers Girls’ Club Meeting
- Attend Mass on Friday and Sunday
A Picture thought I am sharing:
What a wonderful post for getting into the swing of things again in Ordinary Time. Would also love to hear the instant que suggestions. We just cancelled netflix out of frustration that all the movies we had wanted to watch weren't available instantly.
happy belated birthday! you were in my prayers.
congrats on your weight loss.
lovely quotes for reflection.
here are some of the kid's favs on netflix instant: pride of the yankees, country remedy, international velvet, the story of seabiscuit, and shiloh.
have a blessed week.
pax Christi – lena
Better late than never I guess so may I wish you a very belated and blessed 33rd Birthday! God Bless You, your hubby and your family! P.S. Love the drapes! Also love the color on those walls…..what color is it by the way.
Oh, Happy Birthday! Love the drapes. Great Post. We love netflix, never heard of those movies, will have to check them out.
Happy, Happy Birthday!!! I love the flowers, just beautiful. Thanks for the quotes. Wonderful for reflection.
I "talked with you" this weekend and didn't realize it was your birthday! Looks like you had a great time!! Happy Birthday! Let me know how you like your new birthday gift!
What a wonderful day – Happy Birthday!
Thank you all for the birthday wishes! It really was a great day, despite the fact that I just keep getting older. 😉
Robina ~ We've noticed that most of the newer movies aren't available to Watch Instantly, but we usually request one of those (via mail) for an at home "date night" on the weekend. My Hubby really enjoys some of the Documentary's and the boys love watching Extreme Engineering.
Lena ~ Thank you for the suggestions! I will have to add those to our Queue!
Anonymous ~ Thank you! The paint in our bedroom is a "Full Spectrum Paint" by Ellen Kennon. The color is Adobe. We really love the color!
Emily ~ I love it! I've used the larger size before, but was wanting the smaller version for convenience and storage, not to mention it is much better priced. I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but it will be so great for Lapbooking, the boys State-by-State Scrapbooks, various poster projects (like our Lent Calendar), and making greeting cards! I am very excited to have my own now!
Happy Birthday Jessica! It is always such a blessing to read your blog. I also love netflix. I really liked the movie Arranged, many of the saint ones you have probably seen, and have taken up a real liking to Indian "Bollywood" movies. They are clean, usually filled with their culture and have fun music and dance. The movies take many nights to watch because they are so long, but great character development.
Thanks Angie! I watched Arranged on You Tube a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, I hadn't noticed that it was available on Netflix.
Happy Belated birthday, it looks like a wonderful day!
Hey we are having the same thing on Friday! LOL And I like the picture of you blowing out the candles!
Happy Birthday! Your birthday is just two days before mine!
We love Netflix instant watch. I usually watch documentaries and TV shows on instant watch and save the movies for delivery because we like to watch the movies on the TV screen rather than on the computer.
Jamie
Happy Belated Birthday!:) We love, love, love the "instant watch" feature on Netflix. We started doing the Alphabet Path studies a couple weeks ago. Thanks for all your posts on that, BTW! I've enjoyed having the ability to start a good, educational documentary on instant watch for any number of A, B, or C related things for the little ones. So far they've learned about Butterflies (Caterpillars), Caves, and Bears! It's such a great resource for home-schoolers.
I have been watching the Sissi collection while I've been sick too! I loved it!
Some of the documentaries on Netflix are really good too. There's one called the Rape of Europa about how the Nazis stole priceless pieces of art out of European museums and even cathedrals! It's really interesting, and doesn't show anything too intense that I remember, like other WWII documentaries do.
The picture with the smoke and your cake is awesome. I love it. Happy Belated Birthday Cous!
I jusy watched a great movie on Netflix Watch Instantly called The Courage to Love. It's about venerable Henriette DeLille who went against the norm of common-law marriages of women of color in New Orleans (1800's). She stood up for the teachings of the Catholic Church saying this practice was against the sacrament of marriage. She also founded the order Sisters of the Holy Family.
This movie is well done, no bad language, great costumes, and Catholicism is represented through out the entire film accurately. Not great for young children because of dealing with the topic of adultry and the harsh treatment of slaves.