My Daybook :: July 18, 2011
I am thinking… about our curriculum for next year. So many decisions… However, I think I have it almost finalized. I spent most of the weekend working on creating plans and book lists for an American History course next year. It’s all starting to come together and looks like it will be a fun year!
I am thankful… that God always provides, even through the most random places! Thank you to all of you that ordered books from my recent used book sale. I still have two more packages to mail tomorrow morning, and then I will be caught up. I’ve been slowly filling another box with books we are no longer using and thought, if anyone else is interested, I’d host a “Book Sale Blog Hop” link-up here at Shower of Roses. I’m thinking the 1st of August might work out well, giving us all about 2 weeks to go through our bookshelves and put the posts together. . . Is anyone interested?
From the kitchen… The smell of homemade Spaghetti Sauce is starting to take over the house as it simmers on the stove. I also have some Rolls ready to go in the over and a Green Salad in the fridge. Dinner will be ready soon!
Learning all the time… Last night I heard my husband tell the big kids to all get a book and sit down and read for a little while. They weren’t the only ones that listened to their Daddy!
Living the Liturgical Year at Home… We celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel this past weekend, and this week my children are attending VBS each day, for the first time locally. I am looking forward to using the few hours each morning to organize and finish planning for the upcoming school year – that is, if I can get use to having just the babies at home! 😉
I am creating… a plan for Captain’s 11th birthday this Wednesday! Between Vacation Bible School, followed immediately by a funeral at which the boys will be serving, it is going to be a very busy day! I am hoping to be able to get most of the preparations done by tomorrow, which means I had better get started!
I am wearing… some black knit fold over maternity pants and a long sleeve Reebok Maternity T Shirt. I’m hoping to find a little time to exercise this evening. Once again it has been way too long…
I am reading… The Brides of Montclair
… Again. I remember saving up to purchase these books (along with the Love Comes Softly Series) from a Christian bookstore, one at a time, as a teenager and I still enjoy reading them.Pondering these words… written by Louisa May Alcott:
Noticing that… I have once again fallen dreadfully behind with answering emails.
Towards personal care… It’s hard to believe that I am already 16 weeks pregnant! I’ve just recently started feeling the little one moving around, and I am not feeling nearly as sick as I was. Heartburn seems to have replaced the morning sickness, but at least it is a little easier to control. 🙂
Around the house… I came home today with a box filled with beautiful treasures from a dear friend from Church. I am enjoying finding places to display them in our home! Here are pictures of a few of them:
I am hoping… that I have a chance to spend a little more time with my sister JoAnn while she is in town. The summer is going by way too quickly, and pretty soon she will be flying off to Rome for the next semester!
I am praying… for the soul of my Great Uncle Philip (my Dad’s uncle) who passed away on Friday. May he rest in peace!
One of my favorite things… My iSi Easy Whip, 1-Pint, White, Cream Whipper! How did I live so long without knowing this amazing little gadget exists?!? My friend Jamie (our contractor’s wife) introduced me to it, and I knew I just had to have one. All you do is fill it with a pint of heavy whipping cream, add some sweetener (we have been having fun trying out some of the flavored Stevia drops – my kids LOVED the chocolate!), attach a cream charger for a minute, and then shake 4-5 times. It’s so quick and easy, and you just can’t beat the wonderful fresh whip cream it makes!
A few plans for the rest of the week:
- Vacation Bible School Every Mon-Fri
- Funeral Mass on Wednesday
- Celebrate Captain’s 11th Birthday
- Continue sorting through clothing and bookshelves/organizing bedrooms
A Picture thought I am sharing:
The Junior World Golf Championships
My little brother Kevin has been competing against other 15-17 year old boys from all over the world this week, at the 2011 Callaway Junior World Golf Championships!
We are so excited for him and have been watching the Leaderboard for updates. Yesterday afternoon, following Round 3, cuts were made allowing only the top 50 players to continue on to the final round. (At that time Kevin was tied for 13th place!) It looks like he struggled a little bit today, but still finished with a tie for 21st place out of all 211 boys!
Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Fortitude
I didn’t intend to take nearly a week off of blogging, but the days weeks are just flying by! Despite my lack of pre-planning, everything fell into place last Friday for our final Little Flowers Girls’ Club meeting for Wreath III. Following the meeting we went out to dinner with friends, I spent Saturday packing books to mail, Sunday after Mass we had another family over for dinner, Monday we made a trip to the Post Office, Park and Library, and yesterday I had my monthly OB appointment in town where I was finally able to hear our little one’s heart beating on the fetal doppler – 140 precious beats per minute! 🙂 We have even more plans this evening, but I do have a few minutes this afternoon, while the little ones nap, to share a few pictures from our meeting:
For this month’s Virtue Notebook/Scrapbook Page, I used the memory verse for Fortitude, an image of St. Julie Billiart, the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling (which also helps complete one of the assignments in the Member’s guide), some images of pink hyacinths, and an inspiring quote from St. Julie Billiart:
Amy gave the lesson for this virtue, and apparently I missed some wonderful photo opportunities while I was inside setting up the craft. I hear that she set up a fun obstacle course for the girls to complete outside. Maybe she can tell us a little more about it in the comments! 🙂
I have been wanting to decorate Flip Flops with my girls ever since seeing the idea included in Sunshine’s Hawaiian Birthday Party! When I saw that the memory verse for this virtue said “stand firm in the faith” I thought this would be the perfect time.
I had each girl bring a pair of flip flops to the meeting, and I picked up some Fabric Fusion, various Ribbon, and some embellishments for all the girls. It was one of the more challenging and time consuming crafts, but thankfully I had three of the moms around to help.
When I was looking for ideas, Charlotte mentioned that Pink Popcorn came to mind. I thought that was a perfect idea, but since I didn’t have all the ingredients I opted to make the pink hyacinths using some pink Smooth & Melty Petite Mints
St. Therese, the Little Flower, pray for us!
Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Patience
A couple weeks ago I hosted our 8th Little Flowers Girls’ Club meeting for Wreath III. I thought I published this post that weekend but, in the midst of wrapping up the baby shower and golf camp, followed by a camping trip for my boys and our local parade the next day, I never did and I just ran across it in my drafts folder… Oops!
Since we went a little out of order in May, skipping ahead so we could focus on Mary Mother of God during her month, we went back to the virtue of Patience for this meeting, learning about St. Bathildis and St. Elizabeth the mother of St. John the Baptist. (I loved that our meeting happened to fall on June 24th, the feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. So appropriate!)
For this month’s Virtue Notebook/Scrapbook Page, I used the memory verse for Patience, a beautiful prayer for patience, an image of St. Bathildis, and a Lily of the Valley (the flower for this virtue). You can download my document here.
As I was trying to come up with a way to create Lily of the Valley cupcakes, using the supplies I could find in my pantry, I decided to try out some white chocolate chips along with a little green frosting. What do you think? Do those look like Lily of the Valley Cupcakes to you? I thought they turned out cute.
St. Therese, the Little Flower, pray for us!
Organizing the School Room :: A Used Book Sale!
In a recent Daybook post I asked for suggestions on the best way to go about selling some of our books that we have duplicates of or are just sitting on our shelves, to make room (and a little money) for next year’s school books. After a bit of encouragement from a couple visitors (who mentioned Tracy’s recent Used Book Post), I decided to go ahead and try listing them here at Shower of Roses! I hope you all don’t mind. 🙂
If you are interested in purchasing any of the books, please leave a comment with your email address and I will send you my PayPal info. (If you’d rather not leave your email address, you can email me directly at jessica(dot)showerofroses(at)gmail(dot)com) Please add $5 to your order to cover the cost of packaging and media rate in the continental U.S. unless you want a lot of books, then the shipping might be a little more, and I will get back to you with the actual shipping total.
I still have a ton of books to sift through, and I may end up adding to this post, but at least this is a start. Here is what I have available so far:
UPDATE :: Thank you all so much for your interest and purchases! I’ve updated this post, listing all the books that have sold, or that have sales pending, and have also reduced the prices on some of the remaining items. Thank you again!!
7/11: The sales on a couple items fell through. Those items are now updated as available.
These are all in like new condition, though a couple have a little shelf wear to the covers:
- Religion 1 for Young Catholics, Asking $10.00
- Religion 2 for Young Catholics (2005 Edition), Asking $12.00
- Reading 3 for Young Catholics (2009 Edition),
Asking $10.00(Sold) - Spelling 1 for Young Catholics (2007 Edition), Asking $7.00
- English 1 for Young Catholics,
Asking $10.00(Sold) - Spelling 3 for Young Catholics (2007 Edition), Asking $7.00
- I also have English 3 for Young Catholics (2009 Edition – not pictured above) This one has been used and has writing on pages 7, 11-13, 19-21, as well as a few other marks (circles, checks) in the first 2 chapters. Otherwise it is in like new condition,
Asking $10.00(Sold)
- Voyages in English 1st Year (Lepanto Press, $10)
- Voyages in English 2nd Year (Lepanto Press, $10)
- Teacher’s Manuals for Voyages in English 1st & 2nd Years (Lepanto Press, $12)
- Pre-K Teacher’s Guide,
Asking $5.00(Sale Pending) - Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide
,
Asking $5.00(Sale Pending) - Printing Teacher’s Guide,
Asking $5.00(Sale Pending) - Cursive Teacher’s Guide,
Asking $5.00(Sale Pending)
- Daily Language Review, Grade 2, Pages 19-112 are loose but in excellent condition, I had my son look at the pages and write the answers in a notebook,
Asking $7.00(Sold) - Building Spelling Skills, Grade 2, New-Never Used, Asking $10.00
- Building Spelling Skills: Grade 3, Weeks 1-8 of 30 have been completed, Asking $5.00
- Building Spelling Skills: Grade 5, New – Never Used, Asking $10.00
- Daily Language Review, Grade 1, (not pictured above) Pages 07-112 are loose but in excellent condition, I had my son look at the pages and write the answers in a notebook,
Asking $7.00(Sold) - Building Spelling Skills, Grade 1, (not pictured above) MISSING WEEK ONE and first page of Week two, Pages 39-142 are loose but in excellent condition, I had my son look at the pages and write the answers in a notebook, Asking $6.00
This set of Science books/materials is used by Kolbe Academy in the 1st-4th Grades – I purchased it all used from Amazon, Ebay and Cathswap. I have the Grades 1-4 texts, two workbooks for Grades 1-2, and the Course Plans for 1st and 2nd Grade. I would prefer to sell all the Harcourt materials together for $50.00.
- Harcourt Science Grades 1-2
- Harcourt Science, 2nd Grade Workbook (I have two more unused workbooks – the cover on the back of one has a small tear)
- Harcourt Science Grades 3-4
All of these various science books are in very good/like new condition, with only a little shelf wear to the covers:
- Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Like new – (I purchased two of these when my boys were studying Astronomy, and have decided to just keep one),
Asking $25.00(Sold) - Dinosaur Model and StoryBook Ferocious Flesh-Eaters (Includes models to make and fact-packed stories)
, Asking $2.00
- Dinosaur Model and StoryBook Mega Plant-Eaters (Includes models to make and fact-packed stories)
, Asking $2.00
- By Day and By Night (Explore Your World)
, Asking $2.00
- Planet Earth & Art Activities (Arty Facts)
, Asking $2.00
- The Usborne Internet-linked First Encyclopedia of Science
,
Asking $3.00(Sold)
This United States Map Felt Board set is great for teaching the states, capitals, rivers, oceans, lakes and mountain ranges. It is still in nearly perfect condition, asking $10.00 (Sold).
Various History and Religion Books – we happen to have duplicates of all these great books :
- Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution
, wear to cover,
Asking $3.00(Sold) - If You Lived With The Sioux Indians
, old edition with wear to cover,
Asking $2.50(Sold) - Adam of the Road (Newbery Library, Puffin)
,
Asking $4.00(Sold) - Children’s Retreats, new,
Asking $11.00(Sold) - A Life of Our Lord for Children
, new,
Asking $8.00(Sold)
- Saxon Math K Home Study Kit with Meeting Book,
Asking $35.00(Sale Pending) - Math K Meeting Book (new, not pictured), Asking $7.00
- Saxon Math 1 Teachers Edition,
Asking $33.00(Sold) - Saxon Math 2 Home Study Kit with Workbooks and Meeting Book,
Asking $50.00(Sold) - Saxon Math 3 Home Study Kit with Workbooks and Meeting Book, Asking $50.00
This Manipulative Kit includes Hundred’s Board, 1 Mini Clocks, 77 (of 100) Plastic Pattern Blocks, 2 Geoboards with Rubber Bands, Tangrams, 100 Color Tiles, 100 MathLink Cubes, 48 Baby Bear Counters, Double-Nine Dominoes, and Tote Tray with Lid. Does not include beginner’s balance board, one of the clocks, and rulers.
- Saxon Home Study K-3 Manipulative Kit,
Asking $38.00(Sold)
Various card games and math manipulative items:
- Student Clocks – Set of 2,
Asking $2.00(Sold) - Melissa and Doug Wooden Abacus
,
Asking $8.00(Sold) - Cranium Zigity (Tin)
, like new,
Asking $5.00(Sold) - Discovery Toys Wiz Kidz Card Game
, Asking $8.00
- Telling Time with Flashcards
, new/never used,
Asking $6.00(Sold) - 50 Things to do on a Journey
, some wear to corner of box, otherwise like new (just realized we had two of this game), Asking $5.00
- How to Draw Animals,
Asking $7.00(Sold) - The Usborne Book of Papercraft
,
Asking $7.00(Sold) - I Can Do All Things – A Beginning Book of Drawing and Painting
, Asking $10.00
The following are all wonderful books, we just happen to have duplicate copies on our bookshelves. They are all in very good condition:
- Beorn the Proud
by Madeleine Polland,
Asking $8.00(Sold) - Saint Isaac and the Indians
by Milton Lomask,
Asking $7.00(Sold) - St. Pius X : The Farm Boy Who Became Pope
by Walter Diethelm,
Asking $7.00(Sold) - Patron Saint of First Communicants: The Story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini by Mary Fabyan Windeatt,
Asking $5.00(Sold) - Saint Rose of Lima: The Story of the First Canonized Saint of the Americas by Mary Fabyan Windeatt,
Asking $5.00(Sold) - Francis and Clare Saints of Assisi
by Helen Walker Homan,
Asking $7.00(Sold)
Set of 6 Saint Joseph Coloring Books, all in new condition. I have 8 sets 0 sets of these 6 books, and I’m asking $5.00 for each set of 6 (All Sold). Includes:
- Stations of the Cross Coloring Book
- Coloring Book about Lent
- Easter Coloring Book
- ABC Coloring Book
- Coloring Book about the Rosary
- Coloring Book about Angels
Various Coloring Books and Workbooks, most from Our Lady of Victory, in new condition:
- Let’s Follow Jesus,
Asking $2.50(Sold) - Saints of the Eucharist,
Asking $2.50(Sold) - Bible Pictures to Color,
Asking $2.50(Sold) - 24 Catholic Songs for Children,
Asking $2.50(Sold) - Primary Skills Workbook – Seatwork, Asking $2.50
- Primary Skills Workbook – Writing Capital and Small Letters,
Asking $2.50(Sold)
- The Way I Feel , Asking $4.00
- Stories to Learn By
, Asking $5.00
- Ready for Writing
,
Asking $3.00(Sold) - Alphabet, Colors, and Shapes (My Little Heavenly Helper)
,
Asking $3.00(Sold) - Do-A-Dot Art Mighty Trucks Activity Book
, Asking $2.00
by Dr. Pius Parsch, was published in the 1950’s. Volume One: Advent to Christmas, Volume Two: Septuagesima to Holy Saturday, Volume Three: Easter to Pentecost, Volume Four: June, July, August, and Volume Five: September, October, November. The dust covers have wear due to their age, but the books themselves are in excellent condition. (You can read a little more about this set here.) 
I also have the following picture books that I would like to sell – most of these are duplicates of books we already own and in like new condition:
- Saint Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy
, wear to dust cover including a slight tear on the back, otherwise in very good condition,
Asking $5.00(Sold) - The Life of Christ
, like new (duplicate copy), Asking $10.00
- Stories from the Life of Jesus Puzzle Book
, like new (duplicate copy), Asking $6.00
- The Story of Easter
, like new (duplicate copy),
Asking $4.00(Sold) - Saint George and the Dragon
, like new (duplicate copy),
Asking $5.00(Sold)
Here is a variety of other miscellaneous books, dvds, and cds:
- A&E Literary Classics – The Romance Collection 2 Megaset ( includes Horatio Hornblower / Nicholas Nickleby / Vanity Fair / The Flame Trees of Thika / The Mayor of Casterbridge /)
(missing Catherine the Great, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and The Great Gatsby),
Asking $20.00(Sold) - Little Flowers CD Virtues and Verses Wreaths 1 & 2, New in shrink wrap since I accidentally purchased 2, Asking $10.00 (or $11.00 ppd for just this item)
- The Christmas Shoes Collection: The Christmas Shoes
, The Christmas Blessing
, The Christmas Hope
, The Christmas Secret
, The Christmas Promise
, all in like new condition,
Asking $18.00 for all five books(Sold) - The Courage To Be Catholic, like new, two copies available,
Asking $3.00 each(Sold) - Christmas Joy
, like new,
Asking $4.00(Sold) - Jane Austen’s Book of Good Manners
, like new,
Asking $6.00(Sold) - A Miracle for St. Cecilia’s
, like new,
Asking $5.00(Sold)
May God bless you and your families!
Saintly Summer Fun :: St. Maria Goretti
, appropriate for young children, written by Mary Fabyan Windeatt. I also decided to focus on forgiveness, teaching the children about how St. Maria forgave the young man that killed her, and later appeared to him in prison, which led to his conversion. I also shared that St. Maria died in 1902, and her mother was present at her canonization in 1950, the first time a parent was present for a child’s canonization! Originally I planned on reading the story out of the St. Maria Goretti Coloring Book
, I haven’t asked the company for permission to copy any of the pages so I went on a search to see what I could find elsewhere. I was also able to find this illustration (though not technically a coloring page) at The Catholic Illustrator’s Guild, as well as an option on my Faith Keepers Holy Card Maker Collection from Catholic Artworks. 
- Pencil
- White Card Stock
- Scissors
- Green Card Stock
- Hole Punch
- Green Plastic Straw
- Tape
- Yellow Pipe Cleaner
Directions:
Have the children trace their hand onto a piece of white card stock and cut out the shape. Cut two double leaves from green card stock and punch holes in the centers where the leaves meet.
Curl the paper fingers and leaves by wrapping them around a pencil.
Wrap the hand around the top of a green plastic straw and secure it with tape. Slide the leaves onto the straw and tape them in place. For the flower’s stamen, fold half of a yellow pipe cleaner in half and curl down the ends. Insert the folded end in the straw.
.: Forgiveness Tag :.
I had a hard time deciding on a game for this saint. I ended up modifying the traditional game of “Freeze Tag” – with the person that freezes you symbolizing sin, which freezes/cripples us and the person that un-freezes you symbolizing the priest in confession, forgiving us and giving us the grace to fight sin.
When we were done they all begged to play Blind Man’s Bluff again from last week, they enjoyed it that much! 🙂 I also wanted to make up a Crossword Puzzle, but just didn’t have the time. Perhaps next year!
As I was trying to come up with a snack for the children I decided to focus on tying in the lily, the symbol for St. Maria, and the vision Alessandro had of Maria, leading to his conversion:
“While in prison for his crime, Alessandro had a vision of Maria. He saw a garden where a young girl, dressed in white, gathered lilies. She smiled, came near him, and encouraged him to accept an armful of the lilies. As he took them, each lily transformed into a still white flame. Maria then disappeared. This vision of Maria led to Alessandro’s conversion, and he later testified at her cause for beatification.” ~ SQPN
The King of the Golden City
The St. Philomena Foundation has recently released The King of the Golden City on a 2 CD set! The original version, which was only available on cassette (and was our first introduction to this beautiful story), has been completely digitally remastered and is finally available on CD.
“Simonetta’s “King of the Golden City” is a dramatic reading of a book written by a nun, Mother Mary Loyola of the Bar Convent in York, England in 1925 (with Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat). The book was written as an allegory, which means that it uses fictional characters and events as symbols for real characters and events. In this case, the true meaning of the story tells us of Christ, the Church, the Sacraments, guardian angels, Heaven, Purgatory and hell, among other Catholic truths too numerous to mention. Our family loves the story and so does everyone we know who has ever read it. Simonetta takes this great and touching Catholic story and brings it to life, with her engaging reading and all original music and sound. I know you and you’re families are going to love it and that it’s going to touch you in the same way that her music does. It comes on two, full-length cassettes, including a new song written by Simonetta just for this recording: “Dilecta”.”
I have used this story as part of my children’s First Holy Communion Preparation, and my oldest daughter will be studying it soon, along with the study guide available as a free download (this is no longer free but can be purchased here) from CHC.
You can purchase the CD (for a donation) from The St. Philomena Foundation or from Amazon, or you can download the CD here or here. As always, you can order 1 free copy of this CD by mail. (We also own another audio dramatization of this story, which is available from Pro Multis Media.)
Anyhow, I just thought I would pass this along in case any of you have been waiting as long as we have for this version to be released on CD!
Wordless Wednesday :: My Husband, the Forester
Red, White and Boom!
Games
and “War” as much, if not more than they do!) back for the summer. 
We have company coming over tomorrow for some more Saintly Summer Fun and I need to go and finish getting ready… But, before I go, here is one of the highlights from the birthday BBQ we attended on Sunday for another friend. The kids absolutely LOVED this little hands on off science lesson given by Rascal’s Godfather:
{this moment}
0 Comments