Getting Ready…
Celebrating Michaelmas ~ 2009
with Homemade Blackberry Syrup for Breakfast
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O little Thérèse of the Child Jesus…
Today was the last day of my Novena to St. Therese. I was praying this novena for a special intention — particularly that this coming Christmas I will have a safe (and hopefully not too painful) delivery and a physically healthy baby which I will get to bring home to love and to hold. Yes, I was a bit more specific this time! Remembering “Love’s Delay, I wondered if I would receive a rose or not. I also wondered just where St. Therese would find a rose to send since I didn’t have plans to leave the house today, and the roses on my blog “don’t count!” 😉
Anyhow, early this morning, after finishing my novena to St. Therese, I found an email in my inbox from Gymboree. This is nothing out of the ordinary, considering most of my girls’ clothing comes from this particular favorite store of mine and that I am on their email notification list. The interesting thing about this email was that it was saying I could use my Gymbucks today, ONE DAY EARLY, since I recently signed up for their rewards program. This was a first! I hadn’t even started thinking about what I wanted to purchase with my Gymbucks… I had even made a “quick” trip to the Mall last night, but with less than an hour before closing, and Motherhood being my destination (on the other end of the Mall) to try and find a new outfit or two for this coming weekend, I didn’t have a chance to take a peek at their new Christmas lines.
Well, imagine my surprise and smiles when I clicked over to peek at the newborn baby clothes for Christmas and found that their whole newborn Classic Holiday Line was covered in ROSES!!!! I went on to look at the older girl lines to find that it is only the newborn baby girls clothing with the rose theme!
Thank you St. Therese!!!
I did have a super hard time deciding which dress to choose for our little “Christmas Rose” but finally settled on the Roses are Red collection with a Rose Cardigan.
“With sweet rosettes and a rich color, your baby girl is looking beautiful for her first holiday. Velveteen dress is layered with a rose ruffle tight and shiny patent shoes for an elegant finish.”
Won’t her little Rose Hat match perfectly!?! Now she is all set for Christmas Mass, that is if she is born before Christmas. (I have yet to make it to my due date…) Now that is one more thing I can cross off my Christmas list. =)
I also had enough Gymbucks to purchase a darling Rose Footed One-Piece as well.
Well, I had better get off the computer and get our day started… I just had to share my excitement with you all!!!
Novena to Saint Thérèse ~ Day Nine
O St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who during your short life on earth became a mirror of angelic purity, of love strong as death, and of wholehearted abandonment to God, now that you rejoice in the reward of your virtues, cast a glance of pity on me as I leave all things in your hands. Make my troubles your own, speak a word for me to Our Lady Immaculate, whose flower of special love you were — to that Queen of Heaven “who smiled on you at the dawn of life” Beg her powerful intercession the grace I yearn for so ardently at this moment…and that she join with it a blessing that may strengthen me during life, defend me at the hour of death, and lead me straight on to a happy eternity. Amen.
O God, who did inflame with the Spirit of Love, the soul of your servant Thérèse of the Child Jesus, grant that we also may love you and make you much loved. Amen.
DAY NINE
O St. Thérèse, seraphic virgin, beloved spouse of our Crucified Lord, you who on earth did burn with a love so intense toward your God and my God, and now glow with a bright and purer flame in paradise, obtain for me, I beseech you, a spark of that same holy fire which shall help me to put things of the world in their proper place and live my life always conscious of the presence of God. As I conclude my novena I also beg of you to secure for me the special favor I seek at this time…
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us.
Highlights from “F” Week
Learning Along the Alphabet Path
letter F’s, the girls also worked on making the letter F using Wooden Pieces and they also really enjoyed this Coloring Page.
book and listening to the CD
!)F is for Forest Fires and Firefighters
- Firefighters A to Z
- Fred the Firefighter (Jobs People Do)
- Curious George at the Fire Station
- Fire! Fire!
- Fire Engines
- Smokejumpers One to Ten
- Yellowstone’s Cycle of Fire
- Wildfires
- Flying Firefighters
- Blaze And The Forest Fire: Billy And Blaze Spread The Alarm
- Forest Fire
- The Charcoal Forest: How Fire Helps Animals & Plants
Flowers!
- The Reason for a Flower
- Flowers (First Discovery Books)
- Planting a Rainbow
- Miss Rumphius
- The Rose in My Garden
- The Flower Alphabet Book
, Museum ABC Nesting Blocks
, and Elizabeth’s pdf
St. Francis Coloring Page
Copywork from An Alphabet of Catholic Saints
by Father Lovasik
by Brian Wildsmith
Brother Francis and the Friendly Beasts
Saint Francis and the Animals
(I actually requested quite a few others, but didn’t really care for them and so I didn’t read them to the children. These were two that we really enjoyed!)
Handprint FlowersDip child’s hand in paint and stamp near the top of a piece of construction paper. This is the bud or flower part of the flower. Now stamp the child’s feet to make the leaves. Draw in a stem. Don’t forget to date it!
~ Writing the ABC’s on Little Hearts :: F is for Friendly ~
We made a number of Fun recipes for “F” week!!
First we made some Fantastic Fudge!!
(Thanks Jacinta for leaving the recipe in the combox last week!)
Fantastic Fudge12 oz. chocolate chips6 oz. butterscotch chips (we used peanut butter chips)14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk1 1/4 tsp. vanilla1 c. chopped nutsIn a saucepan, melt first 3 ingredients. Remove from heat, add vanilla and nuts. Pour into foil lined square pan. Chill. Cut into squares.You can be very creative with different Flavors of chips and nuts and dried Fruit!
Frog on a Lilly Pad
Tint some cream cheese blue and spread on an english muffin half. Put a slice of cucumber on top for the lilly pad. Put a gummy frog on top of the cucumber.
St. Francis’ Friendly Beasts Crunch1 cup animal crackers1 cup teddy bear-shaped chocolate or honey-flavored graham crackers1 cup small pretzel twists1 cup yogurt-covered raisins1 cup M&M’s10 colorful ice-cream cones, if desiredMix all ingredients except ice-cream cones. Serve snack in cones.Store in covered container.
Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Notebook Page Downloads
Last year, as an addition to the plans from Ecce Homo, I decided to have my Little Flowers Group make notebook pages each month based on the Saint and Virtue for each meeting. I’ve been meaning to try and figure out an easier way to share the documents I created with those of you that would like to do the same, since I am not always the quickest at responding to email requests. Anyhow, I finally figured out how to share them using Google Documents and so, anyone who would like to use them with your own group, or even with your own girls at home as an extra project, is more than welcome to download a copy!
I will continue to add more links and notebook pages as we continue to have our Wreath 2 meetings this year, and if I am able to, I will try and add the links to my old posts for each meeting as well.
My girls have really enjoyed making these notebook pages. Their notebooks are turning into such nice keepsakes and are so great for reviewing the virtues, saints, and memory versus!
Updated 8/16/12: I just added the remaining notebook pages for all four Wreaths! 🙂
Update 6/23/15: My documents are no longer available to download here at Shower of Roses. I’m currently working on revising all the documents (and creating documents for the new Wreath IV!) and they should be available soon directly from Behold Publications.
Novena to Saint Thérèse ~ Day Eight
Novena to Saint Thérèse
O glorious St. Thérèse, who, burning with the desire of increasing the glory of God, invariably attended to the sanctification of your soul by the constant practice of prayer and charity so that, becoming in the Church a model of holiness, you are now in Heaven the protector of all those who have recourse to you in faith, look down upon me who invokes your powerful patronage and join your petition to mine that I be granted the favor I seek in this novena…
Fire Safety Lap Book
This past week the girls worked on a Fire Safety Lap Book. We started the week with a Forest Fire Field Trip and then read lots of books on the topic before starting our lap book.
- Firefighters A to Z
- Fred the Firefighter (Jobs People Do)
- Curious George at the Fire Station
- Fire! Fire!
- Fire Engines
- Smokejumpers One to Ten (LOVED this one! We’ll be adding it to our own collection!)
- Yellowstone’s Cycle of Fire
- Wildfires
- Flying Firefighters
- Blaze And The Forest Fire: Billy And Blaze Spread The Alarm (My boys love all the Billy and Blaze Books!)
- Forest Fire (This one has been added to the wish list too!)
- The Charcoal Forest: How Fire Helps Animals & Plants (My husband brought this home from a fire once for the boys — great book!)
For the cover of the Lap Book I just printed out the words Fire Safety — quick and easy! 😉
It was a simple Lap Book, but very effective. We discussed what to do when a fire starts in our home, escape routes and plans, meeting spot, our home address and phone number, fire alarms, what to do when on fire, how to treat burns, and more. Here is a picture of the inside of Twinkle Toes’ lap book:
Here are links to the mini books we used from Homeschool Helper:
Smoke Detectors Circle Fan Fold – When should you change batteries and where should they be located?
Four Steps to Fire Safety – Write and illustrate the four steps to fire safety.
Two Ways Out Envelope – Show the two ways out of each room in your house.
Firemen Matchbook Fold – Name some tools that firemen use.
Escape Route Center Fold – Draw your family’s escape route.
Meeting Spot Triangle Petal Fold – Choose your family’s outside meeting spot.
Getting Out Flap Fold – Answer the questions about getting out safely.
Emergency Layered Book – Fill in information you need to know in an emergency.
Stop, Drop and Roll Indexed Tabs – Illustrate how to stop, drop and roll.
How to Treat Burns Envelope Fold – Describe how to treat minor burns.
Other Activities and Resources:
Fire Safety Word Search
Children’s Fire Safety Activity Book (My husband brought these home from work.)
Forest Fire Prevention Coloring Book
My Daybook ~ September 28th
FOR TODAY: September 28, 2009
Outside my Window… it is rather smoky, but nothing like it was in the valley yesterday when we headed to town for Mass. Apparently there is a large wildfire about an hour away and the smoke has been heading our direction.
I am thinking… about this coming weekend and still trying to come up with a 10th Anniversary gift for my Hubby. I am running out of time!
I am thankful… for my wonderful Hubby who let me sleep when we got home from Mass yesterday afternoon and it was all I could do to make it back to my bed “for just a few minutes.” I ended up sleeping for nearly 5 hours! He took care of dinner and everything! After a good nights sleep as well, I am feeling much better today.
From the school room… We had so much Fun during F week, that I am thinking I will need the beginning of this week to Finish all of the plans I had!! This week our Focus will change from Fires and Fairies to Flowers and Feast Days! So, it looks like we won’t be starting “G” week until next Monday. The boys have also been really enjoying the American Revolution Lap book they are currently working on. In fact one morning this past week I woke up to Captain working away on his other studies so he’d “have more time to work on his Lap Book!” Yay!
Living the Liturgical year at Home… Well, it is a big week for feast days, isn’t it?!?! Tomorrow, September 29th, we will be celebrating Michaelmas, as well as a nameday in our home! I am planning on making St. Michael’s Waffles with Blackberry Syrup for breakfast, Apple Chicken with Angel Hair Pasta for dinner, and cupcakes like last year for dessert. On the 30th, we will once again celebrate the feast of St. Jerome and turn some of those leftover Michaelmas Cupcakes into Lions while I read the story of St. Jerome and the Lion
Here are a few links to some of my older posts sharing a few plans and ideas for the upcoming feasts:
- Plans for Michaelmas
- Plans for the Feast of St. Therese
- A Shower of Roses
- Plans for the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels
I am creating… a Flower Lap Book this week with the girls, and hopefully I can start posting some of what we did last week during “F” week.
I am wearing… a fern green maternity long sleeve crew neck and a denim skirt. I am hoping to run down to Motherhood to pick up an outfit or two for our upcoming trip to the coast. This dress might be cute with some leggings or footless tights. (Update: It was WAY too clingy, even in a larger size.) I love this shirt, and I also am wondering about this sleeveless sweater… It looks cute, but I think I’ll need to try it on first.
Around the house… After contracting most of the day on Friday, I was really worried that I would be put on bedrest and have to stare at the pile for a couple months. So on Saturday, since I was needing to take it easy anyways, I sat and sorted through tons of papers and miscellaneous stuff for most of the day. I ended up tossing about 3 or 4 bags of trash, as well as finding homes for most of the rest. I still have a couple little baskets to deal with, but it is so nice to have our room back!
One of my favorite things… answering the question, “So is this your first?” The other night at the grocery store (I was there by myself) a dad, shopping with his 1 and 2 year old boys, asked me that question and when I replied “no” he followed it with, “Oh I was going to say you better get some sleep now since that will be it for a long time.” Wow, way to be encouraging to a “first time” momma! 😉 I replied with a big smile, “actually this will be our 6th!” Oh, it is so much fun seeing the mouths drop! lol!
- Monday – Get a good start on our school work for the week
- Tuesday – Michaelmas
- Wednesday – Feast of St. Jerome
- Thursday – Feast of St. Therese (It is also celebrated on Oct 3rd on the Traditional Calendar, but we will be celebrating it as a family on Thursday this year, since we have other plans for Saturday.)
- Friday – No School!! First Friday Mass and our 10th Anniversary!!
A picture thought I am sharing:
To see more Daybook’s visit Peggy!
Novena to Saint Thérèse ~ Day Seven
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