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{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: Lenten Days

Feb 22, 2013 | , , , , | 9 Comments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}
and the beginning of the girl’s Lent Lap Books… 
(I’m still working on our usual wall calendar… I’m running a little behind this year. Anyone else?) 
{happy}
I’m very happy that, despite Lent starting (way too) early this year, it is finally starting to look like the Lenten season in our home.  The children have changed the vestments to purple in the school room, and our Jesus Tree is hanging on the wall.   
{funny}
I always feel funny when I take a self-portrait of just myself, unless I’m pregnant, or have one of my other children in the picture too.  An even funnier sight, however, was me stumbling out of the Church after the Deacon put the Ashes on my forehead.  He pretty much showered me in them, filling my eyes and then leaving a long black streak across my face while he was trying to wipe them off.  As the altar girls began giggling he apologized.  Haven’t had that happen before!  Through the ashes I was still able to find my way to the restroom to wash out my eyes and dust off my nose and cheeks before returning to Mass.   I should have taken a picture of that!
{real}
I love my helpers!  The big kids are taking turns reading the little ones the bible stories each day before they hang the ornaments on our Jesus Tree.
 
 
As much as “we” try to read a story a day, there are still some days that we need to do a little “catching up” and read two stories (or more).  This actually ends up being a good thing, since each of the little ones gets to hang their own ornament! 😉 

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

The Early 19th Century Unit Study and Lap Book

Feb 20, 2013 | , , | 8 Comments

The next topic in our series of six Unit Studies for American History (plus the Presidential Election Unit Study and we also plan to end with an additional unit on World War II) is based on The Early 19th Century.  I seem to be on a roll this week blogging about some of our (somewhat) recent history and geography studies, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to add this post too!  🙂   The boys started this Unit last spring and finished it up in the Fall (while working on their Election Study linked above) before moving on to The Civil War which they are currently completing.

Here is the link to the CD that contains all the printable mini-books that we used for our Lap Book!

Resources and Books for Unit Four: 
(you can print our Unit Four Plans/Booklist here)

Core Text 

Additional Books read by the Boys:


Dover Coloring books:

Timeline Entries:

  • 1734-1820 Daniel Boone
  • 1774-1821 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
  • c. 1787-1812 Sacagawea
  • 1786-1836 Davy Crockett
  • 1788 Second Constitutional Convention
  • 1791 Bill of Rights
  • 1792-1799 The White House (Lap Book) 
  • 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition
  • 1812 War of 1812 – at War with Britain (Lap Book) 
  • 1817-1825 Erie Canal (Lap Book) 
  • 1832-1888 Louisa May Alcott
  • 1840s Oregon Trail (Field Trip) 
  • Feb 23-Mar 6, 1836 The Alamo
  • 1848-1849 The Gold Rush
  • 1846-1917 Buffalo Bill
  • 1847-1931 Thomas Edison (Lap Book) 
  • 1847-1922 Alexander Graham Bell (Lap Book)
  • 1860-1861 The Pony Express


I asked the boys to choose a few of the events from the list above to add to their History Through the Ages Record of Time timeline book during this unit.  The listings in bold are the ones that they choose to include this year.  Here are a few pictures:

 
  Timeline Entries by Captain

   Timeline Entries by Rascal 

Additional Activities:

 ~ THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY LAP BOOK  ~ 

~ THE FRONT COVER ~

~ INSIDE VIEW #1 ~
The blue center page/flap addition contains the following mini book: 

The Covered Wagon
Behind each flap you will find various items that the pioneers needed during their trip West. 

On the Top Flap: 

The Barbary Pirates
The Famous Duel
Innovations of the Early 19th Century
On the Bottom Flap:

The Erie Canal

The White House
~ INSIDE VIEW #2 ~

Indian Story Bag
The War of 1812
Pocketful of Presidents
The Center of Actual Lap Book Folder contains the Growth of the Nation Map. 


It looks like the boys are still in the process of creating their overlays, using transparency paper, showing “the Growth of the Nation.”  I think I need to add this project to one of their upcoming weekly checklists to finish up! 

I’m hoping that they can finally finish up their Civil War study by the end of this month, and then move on to the Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression while we are still working on the 3rd Quarter of our school year which will end in April.  At least we aren’t too far off track in our History Studies, despite how difficult it can be to squeeze in these “extra” projects!

State-by-State Baking :: Illinois Deep-Dish Pizza

Feb 20, 2013 | , | 10 Comments

“Now C is for Chicago
it’s called the windy city,
and also for the cardinal
singing clear and pretty.”

Yesterday afternoon the girls finished up their study of Illinois, the 21st state, by making Deep-Dish Pizza! Before choosing a recipe to bake, from their copy of The United States Cookbook, the girls read  L is for Lincoln: An Illinois Alphabet and then completed their Notebook Pages:

“Deep-dish pizza was first made at the Pizzeria Uno restaurant in Chicago in 1943.  Becuase it’s baked in a deep dish, it can hold more toppings than a regular pizza.”  ~ The United States Cookbook

Illinois Deep-Dish Pizza

Ingredients:
  • 2 teaspoons butter or shortening
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 1/2 cups all-pourpose flour (we used “better for bread flour”)
  • 1 15 1/2-ounce jar pizza sauce
  • 6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 4 ounces sliced pepperoni 
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425˚F.  Grease a 9×13 baking pan with the butter.  Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water.  Stir in the sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and flour.  (Our recipe suggested kneading the dough for 3 minutes by hand, but we used the Kitchen Aid with the hook attachment.) 

Place the dough in the greased pan, spreading it evenly along the bottom and halfway up the sides.

Spread the pizza sauce on the dough, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese, and then top with pepperoni slices.


Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is melted. 

One pizza wasn’t nearly enough for our family, so I helped the girls make two more!  Yummm!!

And, yes, I did eat some of this delicious homemade pizza… In fact, I didn’t regret it for a second, at least not until I stepped on the scale this morning.  :/  Still, this recipe is a keeper!   I think I am going to have the girls make it again, next time without the pepperoni and topped with lots of veggies instead for one of our upcoming meatless Lenten meals!

Resources we used for this State Study:
L is for Lincoln Teacher’s Guide (pdf)
Other Posts of Interest: 

State-by-State Scrapbook :: Illinois

Feb 19, 2013 | , | 0 Comments

“L is for Lincoln, 
Illinois is his land.
He was president long ago
and known to be fair and grand.“
  ~ L is for Lincoln: An Illinois Alphabet

The boys are still working towards completing their State-by-State Scrapbook that they began back in 2009.    Since it is an “extra” project and since they spend so much time on their illustrations for each state, it has taken so much longer than we originally planned.   They don’t seem to mind and, despite the increase in their school work in 5th and 6th grade, they still find time to add to their scrapbooks.   It is fun to look back and see how they have grown and how their illustrations continue to improve over the years.  I’m just hoping that they will be able to complete the project by high school! 😉 

.: Illinois by Captain :.

.: Illinois by Rascal :.

*The links to the worksheets used for these notebook pages can be found here, and here is the link to all of our State-by-State Study posts.

I’ll be back later with the recipe the girls made for Illinois yesterday! 


1824 – Josefina :: An American Girl Lap Book and Unit Study

Feb 18, 2013 | , , , | 6 Comments

The girls completed their Josefina lap books last Spring (as you can tell by the green grass and flowers in the background, and Chiquita’s long hair!  Oh, and Twinkle Toes braces free smile! lol) but I am just now finishing up the post since we just did a brief review and crafted the “Corn Husk Doll!”

Resources:

Josefina Doll and Mini Doll
Free Josefina Mini Books from Homeschool Share
*You can also find the girls’ bonnets here.  They make great Easter Basket gifts! 

~ Front Cover ~ 


 For the cover the girls each choose an image from the American Girl Website’s Wallpaper selections, cropping and pasting it to the front of their covers.  They then cut out the year “1824” with the help of our Cricut to add to the front cover as well.

~ Inside First Folder ~ 
 Free Josefina Mini Books from Homeschool Share:
  • Who is Josefina?
  • United States Map
  • In Josefina’s Day
  • Josefina’s Favorites
~ Inside Second Folder ~ 
 Free Josefina Mini Books from Homeschool Share:
  • Living in 1824
  • Conflict
  • Sombrieta
  • Spanish Words
  • Josefina’s World
  • Recipe Pocket (homemade)

The girls love embellishing their Lap Books with their American Girl Historical Dolls Stickers. 
~ New Mexican Hot Chocolate ~
New Mexican Hot Chocolate
Serves 4
Ingredients:  
  • 5 Tablespoons powdered, unsweetened coca
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:  

Combine the cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and honey in a saucepan and mix well.  Stir in the hot water.  Heat over medium-high stirring constantly until it begins to boil.  Immediately turn down the heat and simmer for 30 seconds.  Add the milk to the mixture and continue to stir constantly over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until hot, but do not boil.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla. Whisk until frothy.  Pour into mugs and top with a sprinkling of cinnamon. 

~ Bizochitos ~
We also made Bizcochitos, but I can’t seem to find the pictures… 
~ Additional Crafts ~

Make a Corn Husk Doll


We used an Early American Corn Husk Doll Kit to make our doll,
but you can also find free directions online.

Painted Memory Box

The girls also have the Painted Memory Box Craft Kit, but decide to save it for an upcoming special occasion! 😉

The American Girl Website has additional fun games and activities as well! 

The girls continued studying the Early 19th Century with the boys, in addition to working on a Kirsten Unit Study/Lap Book.

Celebrating St. Valentine’s Day 2013

Feb 17, 2013 | | 2 Comments

What a week!   Coordinating a Latin Mass last Sunday at our parish, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on Monday and finding out that our Holy Father is resigning, Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and then St. Valentine’s Day all back to back!  We then had the tutor here most of Friday – which was definitely a good thing since it forced us to keep up with our school work in addition to everything else… But boy was I cranky and ready for a break this weekend, especially since I started the week tired!  In fact, I went to Confession and Mass by myself last night so I could enjoy a few (very rare) quiet hours at home alone today!  😉  I am really looking forward to this coming week to focus on (hopefully) very simple Lenten days and school work.  We’ll see!  Anyways, here are a few pictures from St. Valentine’s Day, and the party we attended at our friends home.   
.: Saint Valentine’s Day Breakfast :.

Heart Shaped Eggs and Toast for Breakfast
.: Cupcakes for the Party :.
Triple Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
(one for each of the kids at the party and one for my brother who was born on St. Valentine’s Day!) 
Frosting:  1 pkg cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, and two big spoonfuls of Nutella
Top with heart sprinkles and marshmallows 

.:  Party Time :. 
.: Valentine Cards and Treats :. 
Delivering their Valentine Cards and Treats to all of their friends.
Twinkle Toes decided to CEREALsly bless her friends this year! 

Rascal (in memory of Sparkle) gave out Goldfish Snacks,  Snuggles and Rose choose fun shaped pretzles, and Chiquita opted for Candy Rings “to save for Sunday!”

.: Valentine’s Day Pictionary :. 

As Chiquita was trying to illustrate “Honey” with a Bear holding honey, Snuggles yelled out, “I KNOW!!! It’s a Reindeer drinking COFFEE!!!!”  We had to remind him that it was a St. Valentine’s Day theme, and not Christmas.  It was so funny!  Interestingly enough, he ended up being Santa Claus for the Valentines Day Matchmaker Game! 
.: Cupid’s Arrows :. 

Another game that my friend Trina had for the kids to play was Cupid’s Arrows.  She set up a table with two hearts (bowls), one for each team.  Gave each child their own straw, and each team a large pile of q-tips.  She set a timer and told the “Cupids” that they had to get as many “arrows” into their heart as possible. To do this you must place the straw in your mouth, load it with an “arrow,” and then blow the “arrow” out the end of the straw towards the bowl. The team with the most arrows through the heart wins.  They had a blast!

.: Saint Valentine’s Day Mailboxes :. 

First thing this morning my children pulled out all of their sugar cereals and candies to enjoy.  It is the First Sunday of Lent after all!

“The proof of love is in the works.  Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.” 
 ~ Pope St. Gregory the Great
St. Valentine, Pray for Us! 

{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: Toddler Days

Feb 17, 2013 | , , | 3 Comments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Pretty dollies riding around on the stroller with Bud.  He is always more than happy to play with Rose, when she is willing to give him a ride on her doll stroller!

{happy}
My last post included a video of a few of Bud’s first steps…  
Here are another couple videos taken the next day, on Ash Wednesday!  🙂 
{funny} 

Last Sunday I made French Toast for breakfast, topped with maple syrup and the rest of the Apple Pie Filling leftover from the Hobbit Apple Tarts.  Bud took his time eating his breakfast, and just as soon as I left the table for a minute to start cleaning up, he decided to rub his plate on the top of his head.   I turned around to see him looking like this as he set the plate back down on the table!

{real}

Thankfully we were able to get all the stickiness out of his hair in the bathtub and get ready for our first quarterly Latin Mass that evening!   My “baby” is growing up way too quickly…

I hope the first week of Lent is off to a great start for you all!   It has been so busy in our home this week, with Mass on Ash Wednesday, a get together in town with friends on St. Valentine’s Day, and the tutor here on Friday, in addition to other errands…   I’ve also managed to continue with my exercising/time on the treadmill each day and, after losing 2 more pounds (for a total of 15 this year) I have finally hit my pre-pregnancy weight from Bud!  It is definitely a start!  Now to focus on the weight leftover from my pregnancy with Rose… 😉

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

A Few More Pictures From Our Latin Mass

Feb 17, 2013 | , , | 0 Comments

Preparing to sing the Chant before Mass
Our sleepy little Rose
Handing out Missals before Mass
Having a very difficult time cutting the cake… Note to self: Next time bring my own cake knife! lol
Pictures taken by Marc Salvatore, posted with permission.  Thank you Marc! 

Celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Feb 12, 2013 | , | 8 Comments

French Vanilla Hot Cocoa

Immaculate Heart Marshmallows

Heavenly Father,

We, the people of God, gathered in solidarity as did the disciples in the Upper Room, pray for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the cardinals who will be in conclave for the election of the next Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the hearts of our cardinals be open to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, beyond any human judgment, to elect the candidate most pleasing to you, Heavenly Father, and who will guide the Church at this momentous time in history.

We invoke our Mother Mary, united in prayer with the disciples in the Upper Room, to intercede for our cardinals to select the next Holy Father in docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, her divine Spouse. With Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, we entrust this conclave to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, and offer these prayers for your guidance and protection over the choosing of the next Vicar of your Son.

1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory Be

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

(Be sure to join the Novena for Pope Benedict and the Papacy!) 


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, and our kids—known here at Shower of Roses by their childhood blog nicknames: Captain, Ranger, Twinkle Toes, Chiquita, Snuggles/Scout, Rose, Bud, Grace & Joy. (Ages 26–7)

A Little About Me

Hi! I’m Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings–the beautiful “Shower of Roses” that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

My Other Blog: Catholic Cuisine

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Prayer of Mothers

Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, and our kids—known here at Shower of Roses by their childhood blog nicknames: Captain, Ranger, Twinkle Toes, Chiquita, Snuggles/Scout, Rose, Bud, Grace & Joy. (Ages 26–7)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

My Other Blog: Catholic Cuisine

Please Visit My Sponsors…

This Week's Popular Posts

Shower of Roses Affiliate Links

All About Spelling
All About Reading
All About Reading Giveaways
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Our Advent & Christmas Books

Shower of Roses Gift Guides

Looking for Something?

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Posts About:

Shower of Roses Alphabet of Saints

A Papal Unit Study & Lap Book

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All original photographs and written material are ©2007-2025 Shower of Roses. I'd love for you to link back to me, but please do not copy or take content from this blog without permission. Click here for my Copyright Terms & Conditions. Thank you for visiting!