My Daybook ~ Holy Week Edition
FOR TODAY: April 7, 2009Outside my Window… yesterday it was sunny, warm, and absolutely beautiful, but today it is overcast and rainy. I am actually a little thankful for the change in weather since I won’t be quite so tempted to spend the day outside, and just might find the motivation to finish my Lenten Cleaning.
I am thinking… about the extra crosses that God asked me to carry this year, and I trying my best to embrace them.
I am thankful… that I finally had a chance to file our tax return. January and February I focused on catching up my Aunt’s Bookkeeping, then in March I filed returns for two of my brothers and a friend. It’s about time I did our own!!
From the kitchen… another cup of Matcha. It is what has been getting me through the mornings this past week.
From the school room… we will be focusing on finishing up all our Lenten projects and Lap books. I am also determined to make sure we get to our Math lessons each day this week!
Living the Liturgical year at Home… I have lots of plans for this week, though I haven’t had much time to write them all down, or post them like I did last year. I kept wondering where all the time went that I had last year, but then I remembered the boys weren’t in Little League last year either!
I am creating… a clean home for Easter and a shopping list.
I am going… to try and find Easter Baskets tonight or tomorrow night. Does anyone have some nice, yet practical suggestions? Our baskets from last year (what is left of them) are in awful shape, and I would love to find something beautiful to replace them with, which will LAST.
I am wearing… a long sleeve green and grey stripped old navy tee and black gauchos. I am hoping to exercise as soon as Snuggles takes a nap.
I am reading…Olivia and the Little Way
to review. It is such a sweet book, and I will share more about it soon.I am hoping… to be able to fill seven more bags to complete the 40 Bag Challenge.
I am listening… to Way of the Cross for Children DVD
playing in the living room and the boys talking about their Grammar lessons.Around the house… still lots to do, but I am so happy to see the progress that we have been able to make despite all the delays.
One of my favorite things… is Paperback Swap!! Every book I have requested has been in such amazing shape! It has saved us so much money on books!
I am going to try and keep our focus on Holy Week. We will also have the boys first Baseball game of the season Friday night. (I wish they wouldn’t schedule games during the Triduum!) Then Sunday we will be celebrating Easter!!!
A picture thought I am sharing:
This picture was taken the day after my Grandfather’s funeral, just before we started driving home. It is a picture of my Grandma, my mom, my girls and I. Somewhere around here I have a picture of my great-grandma, grandma, mom and I…. I’ll have to see if I can find it!
Be sure to visit Peggy for links to other daybooks!
Little Flowers Girls’ Club ~ Humility
Last Thursday I hosted our Little Flowers Girl’s Club meeting on St. Catherine Laboure, and the virtue of Humility.
UPDATE: You can find a beautiful Miraculous Medal Coloring Page here.
Next I introduced the virtue we will be working on, Humility, and read a short biography of the saint for this month, St. Catherine Laboure. I was horribly unprepared for this meeting, probably since it had only been a week since our last meeting… However, since a couple of the girls visited the shine of St. Catherine last Fall, they brought pictures to show and told the rest of girls more about this amazing (and incorrupt) saint. The other moms came to my rescue explaining the virtue of humility to the girls… Virtues can be HARD to explain to children!!
Following the lesson the girls began making their notebook pages. Here are the links to The Violet and the image of St. Catherine that I choose. (You can download my document here.)
As usual, the girls did a beautiful job. Here are some of the completed pages:
Snack time was next. Erica had snacks for this meeting. The snacks were AWESOME!!
- Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Coloring Book
- Miraculous Medal : The Story Of Our Lady’s Appearance to St. Catherine Laboure
- St. Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal
Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 6
This morning Twinkle Toes asked if I would braid her hair for today. I am horrible at braiding, however, with practice, I am slowly improving!
Healthy Families: Safe Children – On Parenting
In this clip the Healthy Families panel talks about supervision and discipline of children:
I can’t believe how little Snuggles is in this video! And don’t you just love how Twinkle Toes just tosses her shoes when she takes them off?!
The Healthy Families panel talks about the ideal parenting style for children known as “authoritative parenting”:
Isn’t it cute when Twinkle Toes runs up to hubby complaining about something (or possibly someone!)? If only I would have known that Marc would be coming over to film that day, my home (and specifically kitchen) would have been *much* cleaner! lol!
The Healthy Families panel explains how to teach children self control and moral behavior:
The Healthy Families panel talks about the development of the brain through healthy relationships:
I love some of the clips in this video, especially the one of Twinkle Toes hugging Chiquita!Awwwww!! I also love the photo of my niece hugging Twinkle Toes… So cute!
For more information visit SecureChild.Org.
Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 5 (Palm Sunday)
Using an idea from The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions for Children’s Faith Formation, we made a palm branch using all the palms in our family and hung it on the sliding door in the kitchen. As you can see in the picture, it is an absolutely gorgeous day today so we are headed outside to BBQ and enjoy the sun, before the rain returns in a couple days. I hope you all are having a very blessed Palm Sunday!
Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 4
~ Little League Pledge ~
I love my country
And will respect its laws
I will play fair
And strive to win
But win or lose
I will always do my best
Easter Hope Challenge 2009 ~ Update
First of all, I’d like to THANK all of you that joined in the Novena for Peyton and Kayla Hadley from March 25th through April 2nd. Yours prayers are so very much appreciated!
I also wanted to remind you all that there is still time to add an egg (or two) to the basket, with your name inside for the raffle, by donating any amount large or small to the Easter Hope Challenge which ends on April 8th. (The paypal donation button is located in my right sidebar.) All donations will be given to the Hadley Hope Fund (a Federal 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization), to be used for medical expenses and to accelerate ethical scientific research for a cure for all afflicted with Niemann-Pick Type C Disease.
I’ve added everyone’s names that have donated so far, and even though so many of us are struggling financially this year, we already have $439.00 to give to the Hadley’s!!
Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 3
I took this picture this afternoon from my laundry room door, using my zoom lens. The deer in the backyard always make me smile! ☺
Healthy Families: Safe Children – The Power of Relationships
I was so pleased when I heard that Bishop Vasa was developing this series to be used as an alternative to the “Safe Touch Education” program, which is required by many dioceses, including our own (although we did “opt out”), and which he did not implement in his own diocese.
“The purpose of this program is to offer assistance to parents based on the science of child development to form healthy and secure relationships with their children. The secure attachment relationship assures that children will develop with empathy, self-control, and harmonious personalities. The most important protection children have against developing aggressive and violent behaviors, including sexual abuse, is the empathic and nurturing secure attachment to their parents beginning in the first year of life. In turn, this same relationship protects children from becoming victims of abuse.”– The Most Reverend Robert F. Vasa
In the following clip, Bishop Vasa explains the purpose of the Healthy Families: Safe Children video series:
Fr. John Cihak (do you remember this letter?) and Bishop Robert Vasa talk about the sexualization of our culture and the damage it does to the family and the young:
In this clip, Anticipatory Prevention Tactics, Bishop Vasa talks about the problem of exposing children to explicit sexual information before they are mature enough to handle it:
These are just a few clips of the 18-part video series which is available in an DVD Education set of 6 one-hour programs, on separate DVDs. This video series is extremely well done, educational and inspiring… (And I am not just saying that since hubby and I had the honor of doing a voice over, in one small part–which was SO much fun!–or because you may notice a few familiar faces throughout! 😉 ) It really is wonderful!
For more information visit SecureChild.Org.
Shower of Photos 2009 :: Day 2
Our Jesus Tree is blossoming beautifully, despite Snuggles continued attempts to hide all the symbols! My children just love it and it always makes me smile to see them looking at the tree and talking about the different bible stories that each symbol represents.
I took this photo this morning after reading the story for today.
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