40 Bags of Stuff
Every day during Lent this year, empty one bag of ‘stuff’ that is no longer needed from your house, totaling a loss of forty bags of stuff!
1.) Taking a look at the size of your family and household, with an acknowledgement of how much ‘stuff’ is present, make a prudential choice on the size of bag to be employed during this challenge. Bag size should be small enough that the goal of 40 bags during the season of Lent is able to be accomplished, while not being too big that you are left with nothing. We must still live in the world, after all!
2.) If smaller children are a part of your family, a ‘gauge’ may be helpful to keep them engaged and help them keep track of progress. As part of your preparations, make a ‘paper chain’ of forty numbered links. As each new bag is started, place a new link in the bottom of the bag. This way, as the chain gets smaller, there is a greater sense of accomplishment.
3.) This challenge necessarily involves sacrifice. Each member of the family should be encouraged to give something to each bag, or there could be designated bags for each member of the family.
4.) Instead of just throwing things away, recycling is a great way to encourage good stewardship of the gifts we have been given, as it symbolizes that we are passing along our gifts to others. Families with children are encouraged to pass along clothes that no longer fit or toys that sit dormant in a closet to families in need instead of just throwing them away.
5.) Units of count need not necessarily be trash bags, either; however they should be equivalent. For example, a box of gently used toys or clothes could equate one bag off the chain. A stack of books donated to the parish library is another easy equivalent.
As the family accepts this challenge together, bonds will be created that will last a lifetime. Lessons are also learned not just by saying, but by putting it into practice. Here, the simple lesson will last throughout life that having fewer things can lead to a greater contentment in life.
(Credit due to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for this handout on vocations and family faith formation)
For more inspiration visit Simply Catholic, who did the challenge last year, and is doing it again this year.
I’ve decided for our home, I am going to use brown grocery bags. Not too big, not too small… Since we are already a couple weeks into lent, I am not going to aim for a bag a day, rather a total of 40 by Holy Week. I should have a good start with what I’ve decluttered this past week, since I wasn’t able to get to St. Vincent’s today. I am no where near done with what I had planned to accomplish this week, but I have made quite a bit of progress… Hopefully I will be able to “catch up” this coming week.
A wee bit o’ Irish art…
Rascal loves to draw… he loves scissors… and he *loves* tape…
He also loves celebrating feast days, and is busy getting ready for the upcoming feast of St. Patrick.
The other morning he was up early (before everyone else), and made himself an Irish flag with some construction paper, tape, and a long stick. He was so excited!
After lunch he decided to decorate the driveway with a lovely picture of St. Patrick!
Looks like I really didn’t need to plan any crafts after all! 😉
St. Patrick’s Day Lap Book
Right now Curr Click is offering a free download (regularly $17.99) of the St. Patrick’s Day Project Pack from Hands of a Child. (Thanks Regina!)
I downloaded it last night, and it looks ok, though I think I’ll be making a few little modifications (i.e. using definitions from our Catholic Children’s Dictionary for some of the Vocabulary Words — Saint, Mass, etc.– to keep it simple, and not to confuse my children.). I think we may use the Catholic Mosaic Stained glass coloring page for the cover… We’ll see how it goes.
Even if you don’t have time to make it this year, you can always download it for later!
Plans for the Feast of St. Patrick
March 17th marks the feast of St. Patrick, one of our favorite feasts of the year. Could it be because of all the Irish blood in our family, or maybe since it is also the birthday of hubby’s dad and brother? Whatever the reason, I already have a bunch of excited children in my home and we have begun making plans for the big day!
Storytime
Here is a list of books you will find in our book basket.
- Saint Patrick
by Ann Tompert
- Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland
by Tomie dePaloa (Study guide can be found in Catholic Mosaic)
- Patrick: Saint of Ireland
and A Child’s Book of Celtic Prayers
by Joyce Denham
- St. Patrick’s Day
by Gail Gibbons
- St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning
by Eve Bunting
- Saint Patrick
by Father Lovasik
- St. Patrick’s Summer: A Children’s Adventure Catechism
by Marigold Hunt
Movie Night
Every year my children ask to watch Patrick – Brave Shepherd of the Emerald Isle. I’ve never seen this movie, but I just ordered it from Netflix to watch. Usually, on St. Patrick’s day, hubby and I watch an Irish themed movie, after our children go to bed. Michael Collins
“Well, then. Now. I’ll begin at the beginnin’. A fine soft day in the spring, it was, when the train pulled into Castletown, three hours late as usual, and himself got off. He didn’t have the look of an American tourist at all about him. Not a camera on him; what was worse, not even a fishin’ rod… “
Crafts
- Last year we really enjoyed making a couple of the crafts out of this book, including Irish Handprint Cards.
- If you blessed to own Fenestrae Fidei: A Coloring Companion for Catholic Mosaic (one of our favorite coloring books), it includes a beautiful picture of St. Patrick that you can copy for your children to color. My children really enjoyed coloring it last year.
- This year I think we will color the lovely Coloring Page from CHC.
- I am also hoping to paint a little wooden Saint Patrick to go with our set and make Shamrock Prayer bouquets.
Copywork
“Good St. Patrick traveled far, to teach God’s Holy Word and when he came to Erin’s sod, a wondrous thing occurred. He plucked a shamrock from the earth and held it in His hand to symbolize the Trinity that all might understand. The first leaf for the Father, and the second for the Son, the third leaf for the Holy Spirit, all three of them in one.”
Music
I’ll be pulling out some of our Irish Cd’s. Not that they are too hard to get to! 😉
Food and Drink
There are SO many ideas to be found online, so I am just going to share our plans for this year. For breakfast, I’ll be making a pot of our favorite Irish Oatmeal, though my kids are already asking if I can pick up some Lucky Charms instead… We’ll see.
I am thinking about organizing a St. Patrick’s Day Picnic in the Park in the afternoon, and asking everyone to bring a snack to share. I’m thinking of making dipped oreos decorated with green and Shamrock Cupcakes.
We are not huge fans of Corned Beef, and I can’t have cabbage, so our favorite dinner for St. Patrick’s day is Irish Beef and Guinness Stew. I am planning on making it again this year and serving it with Baked Potatoes and Irish Soda Bread. I can’t wait to try Barbara’s recipe!
I am still deciding on a fun drink for my kiddos, maybe “St. Patrick’s Floats” using a scoop or two of lime sherbert, 7Up and Whipped cream. I picked up some Guinness last night for hubby (I’ll hide a bottle for the stew!) but didn’t have any luck finding Murphy’s… I’ll have to keep looking. 😉 In the meantime, don’t miss Mary Ellen’s post over at Catholic Cuisine, Slainte!
Prayer
St. Patrick’s BreastplateI bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this today to me forever by power of faith, Christ’s incarnation; His baptism in Jordan river, His death on Cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spiced tomb, His riding up the heavenly way, His coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today. I bind unto myself the power of the great love of cherubim; the sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour, the service of the seraphim, Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word, the Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls, all good deeds done unto the Lord and purity of virgin souls.
I bind unto myself today the virtues of the star lit heaven, the glorious sun’s life giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even, the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks, the stable earth, the deep salt sea around the old eternal rocks.
I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead, His eye to watch, His might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need. The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, His shield to ward; The word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard.
Against the demon snares of sin, the vice that gives temptation force, the natural lusts that war within, the hostile men that mar my course; Or few or many, far or nigh, in every place and in all hours, against their fierce hostility I bind to me these holy powers.
Against all Satan’s spells and wiles, Against false words of heresy, Against the knowledge that defiles, Against the heart’s idolatry, Against the wizard’s evil craft, Against the death wound and the burning, The choking wave, the poisoned shaft, Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name, the strong Name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three. By Whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
WoW ~ Week 9
My Summary:
- Week Nine Weight Loss/Gain: ±0 pounds
- Inches Loss/Gain: ±0 inches
- Overall Results: -9 pounds and -8.75 inches
To see everyone’s stats, or to join in the fun, head on over to Regina’s!
Mixed Emotions
As I’ve mentioned before, we have had a tutor working with our boys, to teach them Phonics and correct their mild Auditory Processing Challenges, since last March. Mrs. K has been coming each week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (excluding holidays and sickness), to first work with Captain, and then squeeze in a shorter lesson for Rascal and Twinkle Toes. I think I have mentioned what a blessing she has been to us, once or twice, or a hundred times!!! 😉
Yesterday, after finishing Rascal’s lesson for the day, she called me into our school room to tell me that she really didn’t think it was necessary for her to come anymore. There are a couple books
I am so excited for the boys, and thankful that we were able to find ways to pay for the lessons, but at the same time I am so sad!! It was so touching to see Mrs. K leave in tears and say how much we will be missed. We will miss her SO MUCH!!! She has truly become part of our family this past year. Even Snuggles would cry for her to hold him from the moment she arrived each day, and he would even start pounding on the school room door, if I lost track of him for a second while she was here teaching! As for me, I am going to have to retrain myself not to rely on her for my school schedule. This morning I noticed we had a very late start, since generally we begin our school days with her arrival. Now who will be “checking” on my progress, to make sure I am staying on track?? 😉
To celebrate, I let the boys look through the Bethlehem Books catalog, and told them they could each choose a book. Well, they each made a list of about ten books, and are still trying to decide which one they would like!! I’d also like to surprise them with a visit to Cold Stone this weekend. Better yet, maybe we could take Mrs. K. along too!
Lenten Daybook ~ March 10, 2009
FOR TODAY: March 10, 2009
Outside my Window… it is overcast right now, but the forecast says “Mostly Sunny.” Hopefully the sun will be out soon!
I am thankful… that we were able to attend a beautiful, reverent, Latin Mass this past Sunday. It meant spending almost 6 hours in the car, but it was so worth it!
From the kitchen… lots of snacks from Trader Joe’s. What a great store! We stopped on our way home Sunday, to pick up a few snacks for the drive home. I really wish we had one around here!
From the learning room… the boys are studying Ancient Egypt and the American Revolution. The girls are learning about “Zoo Animals” this week with Little Saints. I need to get my act together with Math… The boys love Right Start, but I am still having a hard time adjusting to it, and making sure we get to the lesson each day. At this rate, we will be doing Math all summer…
Living the Liturgical year at Home… our Jesus Tree is getting quite colorful as we make our way through lent and add new symbols each day. The boys have been working a little bit each day on their Lenten Lapbooks, which are coming along nicely. We’ve been reading lots of Lenten picture books. I’ve also requested a few Easter books from our library, and ordered a few more for in my children’s Easter Baskets.
I am creating.. a cleaner, more organized, home.
I am going… to Bunco tonight, after I take the boys to their first Baseball practice of the year.
I am wearing… a jean skirt, a white tee-shirt, and a green cable-knit sweater.
I am reading… to the children. I haven’t been able to find much time to read my own books, and the little time I have had, I’ve spent looking through my favorite planning books. =) Hopefully I can change that this week, and get started on a book or two for me!
I am hoping… that I am able to keep up with my “Lenten Cleaning.” I finished the girl’s room last night, but barely. Today I am taking on the boy’s room. Thankfully I did a thorough cleaning of it last month, so it shouldn’t be too bad. We’ll see!
I am listening… to the 2008 Lenten Mission at Audio Sancto. As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t been reading much, but I have been listening to a number of inspiring sermons, which have been such a blessing.
Around the house… the laundry is caught up for the moment! There is plenty to be done elsewhere though…
One of my favorite things… is Oregon Chai’s Original Sugar-Free Chai Tea. I am drinking some right now. Yummm!!
Clean…Clean…Clean… but, I do get a little break tonight for Bunco! The boys have two practices for Little League, and hubby will be the assistant coach for their team. Other than that, not much is planned, at least not yet!
A picture thought I am sharing:
Lenten Cleaning
Last year I tried deep cleaning our home in less than a week. This year I am giving myself a month! This should give me the time I need to really work on decluttering and not just deep cleaning! 😉
Below you will find the schedule I am going to attempt to follow… I am also planning on using last year’s list as a check sheet, to make sure I don’t miss any little details, since it worked out so well last year…
Monday, March 16th: Sort and Organize Hall Closets and Coat Closet
Tuesday, March 17th: Sort and Organize DVD/Video Cabinet and Living Room Bookshelves
Wednesday, March 18th: Sort and Organize Kitchen Pantry and Hutch
Thursday, March 19th: Sort and Organize Kitchen Drawers, Cabinets and Countertop
Friday, March 20th: Clean Laundry Room, and Declutter Cabinet
Saturday, March 21st: Sort and Organize Bathroom Drawers and Cabinets. Drop off all items to be donated at St. Vincent’s.
Monday, March 23rd: Clean Mini Blinds
Tuesday, March 24th: Clean all Windows and Doors
Wednesday, March 25th: Clean Oven and Range/Hood
Thursday, March 26th: Clean Refrigerator/Freezer, Microwave, and Coffee Pot (Run Clean Cycle)
Friday, March 27th: Clean China Cabinet and Wash all of the Wine Glasses
Saturday, March 28th: Front Porch and Back Patio
Monday, March 30th: Clean Ceilings and Light Fixtures
Tuesday, March 31st: Clean Inside Doors, Handles, and Switch Plates
Wednesday, April 1st: Dust and Vacuum (including under beds and couch, etc.)
Thursday, April 2nd: Wash Baseboards and Cabinet Fronts
Friday, April 3rd: Mop Hallway and Bathroom Floors and Remove Water Spots from Shower Doors
Saturday, April 4th: Clean Cars, Inside and Out
Monday, April 6th: Assemble Easter Baskets
Tuesday, April 7th: Prepare Easter Clothing
Wednesday, April 8th: Begin Easter Baking
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 9th – 11th: Observe the Easter Triduum (I still need to write out our plans for this year.)
Sunday, April 12th: Celebrate Easter Sunday!
Spring Blog-Cleaning
Inspired by Emma and Elizabeth, I am hoping to work on my plan for our Spring Cleaning this weekend, and get started on Monday. My “to-do” list will probably look very similar to last year’s, but since I’ll be starting a bit earlier, and Easter is later this year, hopefully we will have better results!
In the meantime, I am working on a little Spring Cleaning here at my blog… Over a year ago, I spent a ridiculous amount of time manually converted my blog template to three columns. I’ve had some more comments lately on how slow my blog is to load, and I think the cause may be poor coding… Now that there are many new sites that offer 3-column templates (this one is my favorite, for those of you that have recently asked), I’ve been wanting to change my template. However, doing so would mess up my photo layouts in so many old posts, and the ones I’ve seen are just not wide enough to keep putting my photos next to each other (like I like to do!)… I thought about hiring someone to make me a pretty new blog template, but since I just blog for fun, I couldn’t justify spending any money. Anyhow, now that I’ve learned more about HTML code, I’ve been working on a new template for myself. It should have a couple new features I’ve been wanting, plus (hopefully) shorten the loading time.
I just wanted to give you all a heads up, since as soon as I upload it here, I will probably lose all my sidebar widgets and lists. I will save the ones I can before hand, but it may take me awhile to put it all back together. I’ll work on adding back my Jesus Tree links first, since I know some of you are using those each day.
Hopefully I don’t delete anything that you all have found useful, or worse, delete the whole blog!! lol! Wish me luck!
Ten Commandments Lap Book
Update: You can find our most recent Ten Commandments Lap Book, along with links to the printable documents I created here.
Last month, Rascal made a Ten Commandments Lap Book, as he was preparing for his First Confession. The idea came from The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook, and it was a very simple.
This Lap Book is made with a Basic Fold (Shutter Fold), and then cut into the shape of stone tablets. The directions recommend sponge painting the Lap Book, using a mix of gray and brown, to resemble stone, but we didn’t have either of those colors, and our attempt to mix white and black to make gray was a complete failure, since our black paint has changed colors?? Oh well… Rascal resorted to just coloring the cover, which doesn’t look as neat, but works… He then used cut out letters to spell “The Ten Commandments” on his cover.
Next we made 10 small “Hamburger Folds” from gray card stock that was 4″x3.” Rascal cut them to resemble tablets as well, and glued them into his Lap Book.
We printed out the Ten Commandments and glued one inside each tablet. (The book recommends gluing them to the outside and explaining them on the inside, but Rascal wanted them on the inside.)
- I am the Lord, thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
- Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
- Honor thy father and thy mother.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not steal
- Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife
- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
He then numbered each Commandment on the outside of his mini tablets. To fill in the extra room, Rascal did a bit of copy work from Exodus. He choose Exodus 32: 15-16:
And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides, and made by the work of God; the writing also of God was graven in the tables. ~ Exodus 32:15-16
Here is how the inside looked when he was finished:
For the back cover, Rascal colored a page from Stories from the Old Testament.
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