My Daybook :: October 18, 2011
I am thankful… that I finally will get to meet Charlotte and her family. I am so excited!
From the kitchen… yummy treats from our field trip to Harry and David!
Learning all the time… I took a break from Little Saints this week, to focus on getting some extra school work done with the older kids, and we will continue our “Fall” theme next week when I get home. In the meantime, Snuggles is still loving All About Reading’s Pre-Reading Program. This morning, after his lesson on the letter D and some more work on rhyming words, he got to complete another letter from “My First Book of Letters.” The older kids have all moved on to their second unit of History and are now studying the Colonial Times. History has definitely been everyone’s favorite subject this year, and Writing With Ease the least favorite (at least for the boys – the girls have been pretty happy with everything).
Living the Liturgical Year at Home… I have started making plans for our All Hallows’ Eve / All Saints Party, and our children have been trying to decide which saint they will dress as this year. Snuggles has decided to be St. George and was so excited when his dragon arrived this past week!
I am creating… a few new games for our All Saints Party, including a Saint Bingo Game. I will have to share it with you all when I get back from Texas.
I am wearing… old clothes. All my nice clothes (that actually fit) are sitting in a suitcase next to the front door!
I am reading… nothing at the moment, but I did pick up a book
from the library to read on the plane.Noticing that… as much as I am looking forward to a vacation, I am really going to miss my family. All day today the kids have been counting the hours until my plane leaves with sad faces, and giving me extra hugs constantly. I am so blessed!
Towards personal care… I never did get around to making an appointment to get my hair cut, but I have until December to use my gift certificate, so I still have time. I can’t believe that it has been since February! I am so bad at making time for these sorts of things. . .
I am listening… to Chiquita singing “Work while you work, Play while you play, This is the way To be happy each day. All that you do, Do with your might, Things done by half, Are never done right!” It is the latest poem she has been memorizing in her First Language Lessons, and she has been practicing it so much I think the whole family has it memorized!
Around the house… the laundry is all caught up, lesson plans have been created for the rest of this week and next, and their is food in the pantry. I don’t know why I am worrying so much, I am sure Hubby will be just fine and my mom has even offered to come over and help a couple days!
I am praying… for a safe flight, and that I don’t have a panic attack. It has been 11 years since I was on a plane last, and I am just a little bit nervous. 🙂
One of my favorite things… playing board games with my kids!
A few plans for this week:
- School… School…. School…
- Hockey practice for the boys
- Tutor on Wednesday morning
- Early morning flight to Texas on Thursday
- Finally “meet” Charlotte and her family!
- Cupcake’s Baptism on Saturday
- Spend the night with my sister on Saturday night
- and attend Mass at the Cistercian Abbey on Sunday!
Behind the Scenes at Harry and David
This past Friday, our four oldest children and I had the opportunity to take a tour to see behind the scenes at Harry and David Factory and Kitchens! We met up with some friends at the Country Village Store, where we loaded onto buses and watched a short video while passing by the 200 acres of fruit orchards on our way to our tour.
When the tour guide asked what Harry and David is the most famous for, Captain eagerly answered “CANDY!” However, even though they do make amazingly creamy chocolate truffles, malt balls, and “Moose Munch” (one of my kids favorite treats!), they are the most famous for their mail-order sales and shipment of the delicious Royal Riviera Pears, which they first started shipping in 1934!
Our first stop was to see the pears being sorted and boxed.
From there we headed over to see the various Gift Towers & Boxes being assembled.
I thought this “tower taper” was the neatest thing, as it quickly taped the tower of sweet treats together, so another assembly line worker could hand tie a ribbon around the package.
The lady pictured on the top right (and her sister) are the fastest basked packers with the company. They average 45 seconds to pack a basket! We timed her, and from start to finish she had packed a basket in 41 seconds. If only I could pack that fast! lol!
Next we got back on the bus and then headed to the kitchens to watch Moose Munch being made, 50 lbs. at a time and up to 800 lbs. every hour! My kids were all very excited, and it totally cracked me up when Rascal said,
“Ohhh!! The GPS inside my head is leading me towards the Popcorn and Carmel!!!”
These modern day children… When I was growing up, I always referred to it as my nose! 😉
The tour ended with a little box of treats for everyone, including cookies and chocolates, and then we headed back to the Country Village for even more delicious samples of Moose Munch, fruits, jams, salsas, and coffee/teas!
The kids were also able to color a picture in exchange for an apple of their choice from the produce section. My girls both opted for a Pink Pearl, and the boys just searched for the biggest apple they could find!
We ended the morning with a little shopping and came home with a couple bags of seasonal flavored Moose Munch, a big bag of pears and some delicious relishes (that are so great mixes with cream cheese and served with chips). It was such a fun day!
Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ The Gift of Understanding
In addition to baking cupcakes, and all the other last minute preparations for the meeting, I somehow managed to find the time to iron on all of the girls’ patches that they have earned over the few years, in addition to the crown patch that their gemstones will be attached to this year, to their new (slightly larger) sashes! They were outgrowing the small sashes that I originally purchased for them, and so I purchased these lovely deluxe sashes for this year.
As I was working on this “little” project, it made me realize just how much we have accomplished in the past few years of Little Flowers! I still need to go back and secure/sew them to the sash, since the iron-on fabric that I used doesn’t seem to be holding too well, but at least it is a start and the girls were so excited!
Bonus picture of my latest favorite Little Flowers Apron, though I do have the beautiful new “Living the Little Way” design on my ever growing “wish list!” Aren’t the Catholic Aprons great?!
The girls had all completed the mini-books for their “Favorite Quote from the Book of Wisdom” (I posted the ones my girls choose here), St. Teresa of Avila, and Malcolm Muggeridge. They all enjoyed sharing what they wrote in the mini-books with each other, and then adding them to their lap books.
- Continue working on the cover, if necessary
- Review last month’s gift and add Mini Books that were completed at home
- Add Definition and Motto for the Gift of Understanding
- Add the correct Jewel to the Treasure Box
- Complete the Saint Profile*
- Complete the Convert Profile*
- Choose and write down your favorite “Quote from the Book of Proverbs on Understanding” to memorize and share at the next meeting*
So far I have been very happy with this new addition this year, and the girls seem to like it as well!
For the notebook pages, I used the motto for understanding, various quotes on understanding, an image of St. Catherine, a definition on the gift of Understanding from My Catholic Faith, a prayer to St. Catherine, and acrylic gemstones and sequins in emerald green. You can download my document here.
Since the Member’s Guide lists the symbol for this meeting as being “Water,” I decided to have the girls make Holy Water Fonts.
We also made them “Heart” shape, recalling an old custom that originated in France, that on St. Catherine’s Day, heart-shaped cakes are given to young women who have reached the age of twenty-five and are still single. Not that any of the girls need to worry about that! 😉
pray for us!
Shower of Roses Little Flowers Girls’ Club Link-up :: 2011-2012
You can read the details for the Shower of Roses Online Little Flowers Girls’ Club here, and you can also find the registration details here. Anyone is free to join us at anytime, but I can no longer accept any additional pen-pal requests from here forward.
Note: You can easily find all of my own plans and meetings on my Little Flowers Page!
To Participate:
1. Create a post about your Little Flowers Meeting and/or follow up assignments that are completed before the next meeting.
2. Using the linky below, enter the exact link to your post to the corresponding linky below based on which meeting it was that you completed (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).
3. Add a link your post, referring back to this post so that others can find the link-up as well! (Please feel free to include the Shower of Roses Little Flowers Girls’ Club Button if you’d like!)
4. Be sure to visit the links and see what everyone else in our group has to share!
5. This link-up will remain open until June 2012.
Preparing for Little Flowers
Yesterday afternoon, as I was baking more cupcakes for our 2nd Little Flowers Meeting, the girls were preparing as well. They looked so cute sitting at the counter searching through the bible for their “Favorite Quote from the Book of Wisdom” to be added to their Wreath IV Lap Books.
The Lap Books have been a wonderful addition this year! I will be back sometime soon with pictures from our meeting, and a link-up, but today we are headed to town for a field trip today, and then to the pumpkin patch sometime this weekend, so it may be a day or two.
I am also still working on finalizing the pen-pal lists for our Online Groups. I never imagined that I would have so much interest (over 80 children have signed up!!) so it is taking me a little longer than I thought it would to sort through all the emails and make the assignments. Thank you all for your patience!
New World Explorers :: A Pueblo Diorama
Little Saints Pre-School :: Colors/Guardian Angels
Continuing on with the Little Saints Pre-School Program, last week Snuggles completed his study of Guardian Angels and Colors! We have been having so much fun adapting the plans and adding fun foods and additional books and educational toys to the suggestions. Here are a few highlights from the week:
*Some of the books suggested in the LS Book list, the rest are additions from the favorites on our bookshelves.
The Mixed-Up Chameleon*
Planting a Rainbow*
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?*
Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business*
Pascual and the Kitchen Angels
I also pulled out our Catholic Childrens Treasure Box Set to start reading to Snuggles and Rose. They are really enjoying “A Story About an Angel!” My older kids loved re-hearing this story, and were telling Snuggles all about “Wupsy and Sunny!”
Note: As I mentioned in the comments of my last Little Saints Pre-School post, almost all of the books we have been using are from our own bookshelves, starting with some that are suggested in the Little Saints list, and then adding other favorite books we own that tie in nicely with the theme. Remember that I have been collecting children’s picture books for many years now! 🙂
The Little Saints Program suggests an Angel of God craft, Tissue Paper Color Prints, and Fruit Baskets… I wasn’t feeling well enough to pull together the supplies for the crafts at the time, but I did pull out a couple Angel themed coloring books for Snuggles to begin, along with a new box of color crayons:
by Color…
which includes the song “Colors of the Rainbow”
Chocolate Caliente on Columbus Day
Over the years it has become our family tradition to head outside just before bedtime on Columbus day to do a little stargazing while drinking some homemade Spanish Hot Chocolate.
“The Spanish are known to be locos for chocolate, since they “discovered” it in the New World 500 years ago. As in centuries past, today the Spanish drink rich hot chocolate for breakfast, so thick that you can stand a churro in it! If the only hot cocoa you’ve ever had is the kind made with powdered envelopes of mix and hot water, you won’t recognize this incredibly rich and flavorful drink. In fact, once you try the Spanish version of hot chocolate, you might be hooked!” ~ About.com
Ingredients:
4 cups whole milk
6 ounces baking chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch
Directions:
Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the cornstarch, whisk to dissolve. Heat the milk on medium heat just until it boils, then remove from heat. Add the chocolate immediately and begin stirring until the chocolate is completely melted.
Note: If the milk cools off too fast, place the pan back on the stove on low heat to melt the chocolate.
Add the sugar into the chocolate milk mixture and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Taste the hot chocolate for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary.
Note: Another option is to use milk chocolate instead of the baking chocolate and sugar. It is delicious both ways!
Place the pan back on the stove on medium low heat, stirring slowly, but constantly. As soon as you see it thicken, remove the pan from the heat so the cornstarch will not thin. Ladle immediately into cups and serve piping hot.
Little Saints Pre-School :: Alphabet Fun
Snuggles finished up his “Alphabet Fun” the week before last, but I am just now having a chance to finish up the post. He has since finished up last week’s “Color” study, and I will try and post pictures sometime soon… We had a super fun breakfast (which he wasn’t too thrilled about at first) that I have been dying to share with you all.
Oh, and Happy Columbus Day!! Tonight we will be enjoying our annual Stargazing and Spanish Hot Cocoa, and on Wednesday (October 12th – the date Columbus actually arrived in America) we will wrap up our Unit 1 History Study with an “Exploration Celebration!”
Dr. Seuss’s ABC
The Letters Are Lost!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
An Alphabet of Saints
An Alphabet of Catholic Saints
God’s Alphabet ABC
Letters from Heaven: An Illuminated Alphabet
A Is for Altar, B Is for Bible
The Bird Alphabet Book
Albert B. Cub and Zebra: An Alphabet Storybook
Curious George Learns the Alphabet
An Alphabet Of Animals
My First Book Of Sign Language
Roger Tory Peterson’s ABC of Birds: A Book for Little Birdwatchers
and one last book that isn’t pictured above:
Catholic Nursery Rhymes : A Life of Our Blessed Lord in Verse for Young Children
I was so excited when this book, which I had ordered from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts for only a few dollars, arrived at the end of our Alphabet Study. Especially when I saw that the Nursery Rhymes were based on the Alphabet!
It starts at the Annunciation, and continues through the alphabet with a short, 8-line rhyme for every letter with a picture on every page.
I planned on making our own Alphabet Soup, with some Alphabet Pasta that I purchased, but I never did get round to it. As an alternative, I picked up this can of “BernieO’s,”not sure if Snuggles would eat it, and not noticing that it only had the letter “O,” but it was actually a hit and he ate a whole bowl. I am hoping to make our own Alphabet Soup soon…
Missionary Saints :: St. Peter the Apostle
Over the past four years, our boys have completed Years One and Two of the Blue Knights Boys’ Club twice, first in a group that was led by all of the dads on a rotating basis, and then with another group that was led by a mom. This year our boys will finally be moving onto Year Three here at home with their Dad & I!
They are very excited, and even more so, with the knowledge that they have a new “online” group, and will each be assigned a new pen pal within the group to write on a monthly basis! (Thanks to everyone that has sent in the registration for this Online Group! I will be emailing you all soon with a list of all the members and pen-pal assignments. I am also in the process of setting up the private Facebook group for this Online Club! Thank you all for your patience!)
The third year of the Blue Knights Boys’ Club is based on Missionary Saints. I already posted our schedule and link-up dates, and you can also see that I’ve moved the meetings around to coincide with feast days we already celebrate. I had to simplify this as much as possible… I am already not able to keep up with everything I would like to do with my children! 😉
Anyhow, our first Meeting was based on St. Peter! Here is an overview of what we have been doing in honor of this great Missionary Saint:
The Leader’s Guide suggests making a Fishing Pole using 3′ dowels, string, duct tape, markers and 3×5 cards with various words written on them like grace, truth, goodness, virtue, etc.
However, instead of making the craft the boys actually went fishing with their Dad and my youngest brother, their Uncle David. They had so much fun, and they got to spend some special time with their Dad. My boys do enough crafts, and I hope to incorporate more physical activities for their Blue Knights projects when the weather and our schedule allow. (For example: Next month is Saint Paul. Instead of just crafting a walking stick, I am hoping that they can go on a hike with their dad instead!)
As another activity in honor of St. Peter, I planned a back-to-school field trip with a few other families, to go back to Crater Lake! It was a gorgeous day, and the lake looked even bluer than the last time we were there in August!
The Leader’s Guide suggests playing a Fishing For Men, which we played this last summer during some of our Saintly Summer Fun. (You can see pictures here: Saintly Summer Fun :: Saints Peter and Paul) It has been raining here this week though, so I opted to create a Fishing for Men (Go Fish!) game based on all of the Missionary Saints that the boys will be studying this year!
For a Blue Knights themed snack, we choose the St. Peter Cupcakes that I had come up with this past summer. The boys had been wanting to try out their idea of making the boats out of caramels instead of the orange candy slices we used last time. They also wanted to color the sails/shields for the boats, using the color yellow/gold for the keys and red for the sail, representing the fact that St. Peter was a martyr. I loved that they decided this on their own, with out any prompting or encouragement from their mom! 😉
They had so much fun flattening the caramels with a fondant roller and then molding them into the shapes of boats!
- Saint Peter the Apostle
- The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children
- The Man Who Never Died: The Life and Adventures of St. Peter, the First Pope
- Lost in Peter’s Tomb
Between now and the next meeting the boys will be working on the 10 assignments listed in their Member’s guides. I dug out an old “treasure chest” I have had since I was younger, took all my little keepsakes out of it and plan to stock it with prizes for the boys to choose from at our next “meeting” based on how many of the assignments they complete. I have been doing something similar with the my Little Flowers Girls’ Club since we started and it is always great motivation!
Note: For those that are joining us each month and would like to share pictures from your own first meetings, here is the link-up post for this month!
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