Playing with Little People
She even found an “organ!” (Although I am not sure what the organist is doing with a cell phone during Mass???)
It reminded me of the Church the boys built out of Lincoln logs. Anyway, isn’t it cute?!?
Novena to Saint Thérèse ~ Day Three
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 THREE
O Thérèse of the Child Jesus, lily of purity, ornament and glory of Carmel, I greet you, great saint, seraph of divine love. I rejoice in the favors our Lord so liberally bestowed on you. In humility and confidence I ask you to help me, for I know God has given you love and pity as well as power. Tell Him, now, I beseech you, of the favor I seek in this novena… Your request will crown my petition with success and bring joy to my heart. Remember your promise to do good here on earth. “I shall spend my heaven doing good on the Earth. After my death I shall let fall a shower of roses.”
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us.
My little Artists
Captain: “Mom, now that we know how to paint frescoes, can we please paint the ceiling in our bedroom?”
Rascal: “Yeah, like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel! We could do it, really!”
A is for Art
Mona Lisa, Michelangelo,
For Art this year we are using the great book M is for Masterpiece as a spine, with Serendipity’s A is for Art lesson plans.
Here are a few pictures of *some* of the fun things we did for week one, “A is for Art!”
And I think we might just watch The Agony and the Ecstasy
Novena to Saint Thérèse ~ Day Two
Novena to Saint Thérèse
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 TWO
Almighty God, giver of all good gifts, who did will that Blessed Thérèse, being watered by the heavenly dew of your guiding grace, should bloom in Carmel with the beauty of virginity and patience in suffering, grant that I your servant may go forward in the order of her sweetness an may be found worthy to become a devoted and loyal follower of Christ. Amen.
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us.
Novena to Saint Thérèse
The feast day of St. Thérèse is coming up! Her feast is celebrated on the 1st of October (and on the 3rd of October on the Traditional Calendar). The novena for her intercession can be said anytime, but especially on the 9 days prior and ending on the eve of the Feast (Sept 30th or Oct 2nd).
“Many people {including myself!} report unexpectedly finding or being given a literal rose or roses (or smelling the perfume of roses) after praying to St. Thérèse, who said on her deathbed, ‘After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my Heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved…'” Quoted from Fisheaters
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 ONE
O Thérèse of the Child Jesus, well beloved and full of charity, in union with you, I reverently adore the majesty of God, and since I rejoice with exceeding joy in the singular gifts of grace bestowed upon you during your life, and your gifts of glory after death, I give Him deepest thanks for them; I beseech you with all my heart’s devotion to be pleased to obtain for me (…mention request here). But if what I ask of you so earnestly does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do you, I pray, obtain for me that which is more profitable to both these ends. Amen.
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us.
Learning about the Five Senses
Last weeks Little Saints Preschool Theme was “My Five Senses.”
We never are able to get to everything that is suggested in the teachers manual (although I do try!), and sometimes (if I am feeling ambitious!) I substitute or add additional projects, books, games and poems of our own that work along with the theme.
One of the variations we did this week was add a fun introduction to the five senses called “Popping Popcorn.”
I had the children feel and look at the the unpopped kernels. We then read a poem The Popcorn Song by Nancy Byrd Turner (Found on page 45 of Favorite Poems Old and New
The Popcorn SongPop-pop-pop, said the popcorn in the pan,
Pop-pop-pop, you can catch me if you can.
Pop-pop-pop, said the kernel white and yellow.
Pop-pop-pop, I’m a happy, dancing fellow.
Pop-pop-pop, I can dance and skip and hop.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
The children got to see, smell and hear it as it popped.
After it was done popping, they each got a bucket of warm popcorn to touch and taste.
We talked about what the popcorn looked like(blossoms on trees, etc…). Captain even found the “Easter Bunny!” (what do you think? It is pictured to the right)
It was lots of fun and my children were begging to “do it again,” even before they had finished eating their popcorn!
Here are a few of the other things we did this past week:
We Read:
- Squishy, Squishy: A Book About My Five Senses
- Under the Moon
- My Five Senses
- Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Various Searching Books (What do you “see” and for playing Eye Spy!):
by Rascal
by Twinkle Toes
by Chiquita
We did a few other fun things as well. My children love this program.
The girls pretty much have the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song down, and I wanted to video them again, but hubby has the camera now. (Unfortunately I still have the memory card… oops!)
I also had hoped to make a Five Senses Lapbook with the girls, but I was lazy was not that ambitious had too many other things going on desperately needed to scale back and give myself a break last week, since I am (and will be) on my own for awhile…
Clothing Clutter
I have been noticing that clothing is probably the number one thing that overwhelms me and robs me of sooooo much time… (Paperwork is right up there too…) After reading this post, and making this commitment, I have been sorting through TONS of clothing determined to pass some of our abundance on to others who may need it…
Last night I grabbed all the various piles that have been sitting around the house (or had to be moved out of the laundry room) and sorted them into piles. I then began with my own clothes, determined to give away another 25% of it all. (Back in April I gave away 50% of my clothing, and I still had/have way too much!) It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be!
This morning I began sorting through the girls clothing. I took everything out of their drawers and closets and laid it out on my bed. I couldn’t believe how much they have! (Although most of it is too small for Twinkle Toes and fits or will fit Chiquita…) No wonder they can never find “something to wear,” I even had a hard time figuring out what was whose and who fit what!
Even though they have so much I am having a much harder time deciding what to keep and what to pass on. Everything is “just soooo cute!!” At first I was going to try and get rid of 50% of it all, but instead settled on 33.33%. For every two items I return to their closet or drawers I have been adding one item to the donation pile. It has been hard, but it is so freeing at the same time!!
I am really looking forward to living (a hopefully more organized life) with less!
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil or spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”
For my Boys
My boys asked me to grab my camera and take a picture to share with you all… This is one of the reasons why I am not able to grow anything outside!
A (way too short) Visit
My hubby spent his 8 hours off the clock today driving home for a short visit. It was so nice to see him. Just look at the smile on our happy baby’s face! The morning went by too quickly, and hubby had to get back. It looks like we should be able to meet him for Mass again on Sunday morning. He looked exhausted, so please say an extra prayer for him tonight if you can. At least he has been able to take a couple naps each night…
You know, I really need to be careful what I blog about!!! Remember my Stressed Out Momma’s Daybook from Monday? Remember the graphic at the top, showing the leaky washing machine??
Weeelllll, hubby hoped to get a little laundry done before he had to head back, so I started the laundry and as we were sitting in kitchen visiting I asked Rascal to take something to the laundry room… He came back and said he couldn’t since the floor was covered in water. I ran to check and sure enough the whole room was flooded. This picture doesn’t do it justice and I was in too much of a hurry to mop it up to get a better one. It took all the clean towels in the house! :S
On the bright side my floor is now *really* clean, and my hubby wants to move forward remodeling this room — one of the two rooms we have left to do, the other being our kitchen — with the OT from this fire assignment. We already had prior water damage to the floor that has needed to be dealt with for awhile…
I am having a hard time figuring out how to change the layout, since I would love to be able to add a much needed extra fridge/freezer, as well as some cabinets. Hummm…. Any suggestions?
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