Our Goddaughter’s Holy Sacrament of Baptism
 |
| Our beautiful new goddaughter on her Baptismal Day – August 17, 2013 |
 |
| Our older boys were honored to serve at the altar for the Baptismal Mass, which was also a 10th Anniversary/Renewal of Vows Mass for our dear friends. We had missed their actual wedding 10 years ago since I was on bedrest with our oldest daughter. |
 |
| Rose loves her godparent’s new baby, her brand new godsister! |
 |
| I ended up helping with all the food for the party and was so pleased that their Costco had a beautiful white cake on Saturday morning. I had also happened to pack along a candy cross “just in case” to use as a cake topper. Perfect! |
 |
| I ran out of time before our trip to order a Baptismal Blanket, which ended up being just fine since another blanket (the one used for her five older siblings) was going to be used anyways. Instead we gave our goddaughter a Sacramental Certificate and Pink Rosary Roses as a little baptismal gift. |
Celebrating the Assumption
 |
| Rosary Album: A Visual and Scriptural Meditation of the Rosary, an Easy and Devout Method of Reciting the Rosary is pictured on the left and a page from The Life of Mary for Children is on the right. |
 |
| All ready for Mass with one of her favorite bags… (Thank you Miss JenniferAnne!!!) |
 |
| … wearing her pink veil, and making sure to tuck her “My Little Prayer Book” inside. |
 |
| Mary by Demi, Rosary Album and The Life of Mary for Children |
 |
| Heavenly Assumption Parfaits… |
 |
| … you can find the recipe at Catholic Cuisine! |
 |
| Snuggles definitely takes after my Dad… (Yes, that is my Dad’s trademark silly face!) There’s a real smile! Silly boy. |
Celebrating the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe
Video Highlights From Our 3rd Latin Mass
Video Credit: Marc Salvatore
Summer Daybook :: August 13 and 14, 2013
Outside my window…
Sunshine and Sunflowers! We have been enjoying the (moderately) clear skies the past few days, but it looks like the smoke will be a problem again beginning on Wednesday.
I am thankful…
that Sean was able to take Sunday off and has a break from the fires this week. He has a project that needs to be caught up at his regular job, which will take all of this week, then he will probably return to the fire lines next week. He is still working extra long days, but thankfully he has been able to get a little more sleep.
 |
| Morning Picture – Paint looks lighter |
 |
| Afternoon Picture – Paint looks darker (and so does the whole house) but this will give you an idea of how it looks |
Learning all the time…
This past week I had a call from the principle of the local Catholic school offering our family a very generous scholarship for our children to attend this coming school year. The school is small (many of the grades are combined) and, if I had to put the children in school, it would be our best local option… And yet the thought made me so sad. Home Educating is such hard work, but I do love it. I love having the children home, I love being able to customize our curriculum to their learning styles, and they love homeschooling too. Plus, what would I have to blog about if we sent them to school! 😉
Celebrating the liturgical year…
the feast of the Assumption is this Thursday! We will be attending Mass and then enjoying some delicious Assumption Parfaits after dinner.
From the kitchen…
we came home from town this afternoon to discover a fun package that had been overnighted from dear friends in the midwest. These amazingly yummy sugar cookies reminded us all immediately of our last visit and tide-pooling. Come back soon, we miss you!!!
I am working on…
projects around the house. I hope to finish before school starts. Is it possible? Probably not…
I am creating…
color coded checklists! I have the oldest two boys’ lists completed… Just three more grades to go! I am already starting to feel so much more prepared for this coming school year, which will begin on September 3rd.
I am going…
to be a Godmother again, for the 10th time! We are all so excited to be able to make the trip north this weekend to attend Rose’s Godparents 10th Anniversary Mass and Celebration, which will also include the baptism of their newest little girl who was born last month! We missed their wedding 10 years ago, since I was on bedrest while pregnant with Twinkle Toes that summer. It is going to be such a fun weekend!
I am hoping…
I am praying…
for more rain, minus the thunder and lightning, and for the safety of the firemen. We are also praying for some dear friends who could use extra prayers.
I am reading…
Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing. I preordered this book awhile back, to save for the feast of St. Nicholas, and it arrived this afternoon!
Pondering these words…
from today’s page in Small Steps for Catholic Moms. My copy is out of print but it has recently been republished by Ave Maria Press and can be pre-ordered for 24% off at the moment!
I am listening…
to Knee Deep! It gets us dancing and singing along (and wanting to jump in the van and head to the ocean!) every time the smokey skies start getting to us. 😉
Around the house…
My mom and dad came over last week to help me hand some curtains in the living room (they match the ones in the dining/family room and were on clearance!) and a couple weeks ago the boys helped me switch around the couches. It was quite the challenge getting them through the kitchen, but after flipping them upside down we were able to make it work. Once we settle on a color for the accent walls we hope to find a chair in coordinating colors, as well as a new fan, table, and a couple lamps. In the past our focus has always been on remodeling and adding on to our home, it’s been fun to put a little more thought into furnishing and decorating lately.
home educating our children. And color coded checklists! 😉
Swimming Lessons, haircuts for a couple of the girls and I, finish creating the color-coded checklists, Mass on the feast of the Assumption, and then head out of town for a fun-filled weekend with friends!
Curriculum Sale Blog Hop :: Thank You & Giveaway!
I hope you all enjoyed browsing though all the great books for sale on all the various blogs or, if you joined the link up, were able to pass on some of the books you no longer need to new homes during this year’s Online Curriculum Sale Blog Hop! I was so excited to pass on so many of our own books (post one and two) and help my mom sell some more of hers as well. (I did just reduce the prices on some of her remaining books and will continue accepting requests and forwarding them to her.) I’m headed to the post office right now to mail the rest of the orders that have been completed!
As a little thank you I wanted to offer a giveaway for a copy of the brand new 2014 Saints Calendar & 16 Month Planner, which begins September 1st of this year. (I blogged a little about it here. If you have already pre-ordered a copy it would also make a great gift!)
For anyone who would like to be entered in the giveaway for this Saints Calendar, just leave a comment on this post. Make sure your email is either linked on your profile or included in the comment so that I am able to contact you if you win.
If you participated in the link-up by hosting a blog sale on your own blog, purchasing books from one of the links, or helping to spread the word on your own blog or Facebook, please leave a second comment for a bonus entry in the giveaway!
A Boy and His Blocks
{pretty, happy, funny, real}
This year our garden is doing much better than last, but we still have so much to learn.
Oh, how I am missing this oldest boy of ours!
Captain left for a boys camp on Monday morning and will be home again on Friday. This is his first time attending a summer camp, other than camping with our whole family. He has spent the night away from home a few times for various reasons, but always with at least a brother or two.
Actually, this week has been the hardest on Rascal, who has never been away from his older brother overnight. (Except for one night when he was 9 months old, when we left Captain with my parents for an overnight trip to the coast on our anniversary. Actually, he didn’t do well with the separation that night either.) Rascal is definitely my hardest worker and on Monday he spent the day cleaning out the van, mopping the floors, doing dishes, and any other random job that he could think of to help me. He said that “If I stay really busy the week will go by faster.” Awwww… The afternoon at the Science Museum with friends yesterday helped, and the week is already more than half over! Captain will be coming home tomorrow! All his siblings are making cards and little handmade gifts to surprise him with when he gets home. He has been missed!
Smokey Summer Daybook :: August 7, 2013
Outside my window…
Smoke… Way too much smoke. We have been dealing with a thick choking layer of smoke in our area, due to severe wildfire smoke, which has been causing unhealthy to extremely hazardous air quality. We had a very short break from the smoke last Friday, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been over the weekend, but it is back. All the local outdoor activities for summer, including the swimming lessons the kids were taking, have all been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. We have dealt with smoke from wildfires before, but it has never been this bad. Please continue to pray, especially for the safety of the firefighters, including my husband.
 |
| August 6th – Not as bad as before, but still “very unhealthy” |
 |
| July 30 – Hazardous (Highest Level, the most dangerous/harmful on the Air Quality Index) |
I am thinking…
it is going to get worse before it gets better. Thunderstorms are on the forecast all week, and the last couple days/nights we had hundreds of lightning strikes in our country which have ignited some new wildfires. We currently have a “Red Flag Warning” for our area, which means that “critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly.” Hopefully the storms will at least clear up the smoke for a little while. I am so ready for fall.
I am thankful…
for our air conditioner, which helps filter the air in the house, and for respirator masks, which make it a little safer to go out and water the garden and complete other outdoor chores when the smoke is really bad. Fun times.
Learning all the time…
The kids have been finding lots of ways to stay busy inside, despite the fact that I sold the television and have been busy selling truckloads of books… It only took the older boys a few days to complete the 1,000 piece puzzle Captain received for his birthday!
Celebrating the liturgical year…
We had our 3rd quarterly Latin Mass this past Sunday! Despite summer schedules, a date change, a time change, and all the smoke, we still had nearly 100 people in attendance. These masses have been such a blessing!
From the kitchen…
I haven’t had much energy left to spend much time in the kitchen lately, and with my husband not eating any meals at home, I’ve been even less motivated. It’s time to put together a meal plan and start creating some “real” meals again.
I am working on…
redecorating and organizing the girls’ bedrooms!
I am creating…
check-lists for next year. I do plan on finishing them as soon as I have a chance, but I’m starting to get a little nervous after hearing stories of a couple friends losing their finished documents (due to various computer issues) and then running across this last night. Oh, that would be so frustrating!
I am going…
to continue working on shipping out books! I took the first batch to the post office earlier this week and will be making one more trip with the rest of the books just as soon as I can get my hands on some more boxes and envelopes. Hopefully this afternoon!
 |
| I wasn’t exactly the person you wanted to be in line behind at the post office 😉 |
I am hoping…
I am praying…
for the soul of a a 19 year old who died fighting our local fires this week… May he rest in peace.
I am reading…
pictures books to the little ones at bedtime. They miss their Daddy, especially on the nights he gets home after they are asleep.
Pondering these words…
from Padre Pio:
I am listening…
to the washing machine. My husband usually does his own laundry, but he is nearly out of socks so I am chancing the possibility of coming down with poison oak again (I am highly allergic and he works in it everyday, especially now on the fire) and catching it up for him. It was either that or go buy a couple packs of new socks, which I actually considered! 😉
Around the house…
I wasn’t expecting the new bunk beds until next week, but they arrived, in five large boxes, on August 1st, just after posting the Book Sale link up! With the fire, and my husband getting home at 9 or 10 each night and leaving early in the morning, I wasn’t sure when we’d be able to get them assembled… Thankfully he was able to take off this past Sunday for our Latin Mass and we tackled the project in just a couple hours that day. The beds are so beautiful and I’ll take pictures to share soon!
new t-shirts from the fires their Dad fights!
Monday-Friday: Summer Camp for Captain!
Monday-Saturday: Stay Indoors… Complete Book Sales and try to finalize school plans.
Sunday: Annual St. Anthony’s Festa (I was informed at Mass last Sunday that Father Carmelo expects the boys to be there to serve, and to bring the cassocks and surplices. I can pull it off without Sean’s help, right? I hope so!)
3rd Annual Online Curriculum Sale Blog Hop
- Create a blog post with your gently used curriculum (and any other books/items) that you’d like to sell or pass on to another family, with pictures if possible.
- Add a link to your post, referring back to this post, so that others can find the link up.
- Using the linky below, enter the direct link to your post.
- Thank you for participating!
0 Comments