First Day of School 2008-2009
What a DAY! I can not believe that it is only 9:45 pm, right now… I am exhausted!
Right about now I am sitting here reminding myself that the first week back in “school” is always challenging, and it does get easier, and I really don’t want to put the children “in school”… Am I the only one out there that starts the year off like this???
Our morning started out great and I got the children up and dressed and ready for the day. I had a hot pot of coffee brewing for myself and even made Belgian Waffles for breakfast, which was a hit! The kids had fun going through the basket of new school supplies on the school room table, which I had hoped to wrap up in Schultütes, but ran out of time. (My kids didn’t seem to mind.) My boys also loved their new student planners and got busy filling in their names, grades and various favorite “things” on the inside cover page.
I then had a call from the tutor saying she wasn’t going to make it this morning… My boys were disappointed, but not for long… They were thoroughly enjoying their new school books and supplies!
We spent the morning doing Language Arts (Handwriting, Phonics, Spelling, Grammar) and Math. Right Start Mathematics is GREAT! My children ALL loved it, and we are all looking forward to doing another lesson (or two) tomorrow. Math has been dreaded by both the boys and myself in the past, so this is wonderful.
We then took a break for lunch, and that was when things got crazy around here. My mom and sister (who had JUST gotten her drivers license… CONGRATULATIONS JoAnn!!!) stopped by with a birthday gift for Twinkle Toes. Snuggles seemed to be getting a flu bug or something, and had 4 dirty diapers. The children started bickering with each other. Blockbuster (a 20 minute drive each way) called saying our movie was due back TODAY or we would be charged for it. The library called to say I needed to pick up the rest of my holds since they had been sitting there for awhile. (They have been CLOSED!!) So, yep, it got hectic…
Somewhere in there we studied Religion and History. My boys had been begging to start History! They were not disappointed. Today they made covers for their Book of Centuries, listened to the Story of Creation from the Bible and a great picture book titled The Genesis of it All, and then colored a picture of Creation to add to their Book of Centuries while listening to Classical Music. The girls joined in, of course.
I guess, looking back, we really did accomplish quite a bit, even though we didn’t get to everything I had hoped. There is always tomorrow! Plus, that unexpected trip to town provided the perfect opportunity to visit the Taco Bell drive-thru for dinner. (Have you checked out their Value Menu? Not bad… We were able to feed our family of 7 for $6.98!) We finished the day with Ice Cream Cones for dessert (we had quite a few leftover) and a few read-alouds before bed.
Speaking of which, I need to get to bed myself! I hope that you all had a great day, with whatever it was you were doing… And if you have a spare moment, please say a prayer for me, that I can make it through this week! (If I recall correctly, the second week is always so much easier!) I will say a prayer for all of you! Goodnight, God Bless!
Pray for us!!!!!
Music Preferences
Me: “I think I am going to turn on some music while you boys color.”
Rascal: “Yay!!”
I then pushed the power button on our stereo and immediately the country music station came on… (I had been listening to it yesterday as I was straightening up the school room.)
Rascal: “Aaahhhh MOM! Can you please turn on some decent music???”
Alrighty then… Classical Music it is. (Like I was really planning on letting them listen to Country Music!) I’m sure Laura would be proud!
Speaking of music, don’t miss the beautiful Chant Cake posted by Anne (our newest contributor) over at Catholic Cuisine! It is AMAZING!!!
Deo Grátias!
On Saturday, August 30th, my hubby and I were blessed, through the sacrament of Baptism, with another beautiful Goddaughter, Madeleine Gloria.
“Baptism is the sacrament that gives our souls the new life of sanctifying grace by which we become Christians, children of God, and heirs of heaven…
…Baptism is necessary for the salvation of all men, because Christ has said: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
The Simple Woman’s Daybook ~ Sep 1st
Outside my Window… it is rather chilly… The sun is shining, the sky is clear. I love it!
From the learning room… “bouquets of newly sharpened pencils!”
I am thankful… for all the weight Snuggles has gained. He is doing AWESOME! He is finally crawling all over the place, and even started standing up last week!!! I am not so thankful for all 4 of his molars breaking through this week, not to mention 2 other front teeth. Poor baby! At least he is getting it over with all at once!
From the kitchen… a roast is cooking in my much-loved crock pot. We will be having shredded beef tacos for dinner. Yumm!!!
I am creating… back-to-school gifts for my children. I had hoped to have this done on Friday, but it didn’t happen.
I am going… to be staying home as much as possible this week as we begin our new routines for the school year.
I am wearing… old clothes since we were deep cleaning our home this morning.
I am reading… lots of wonderful book reviews on Alice Gunther’s book Haystack Full of Needles. I have been dying to order this book, but I’ve had to wait since all my book funds have gone into school books for the children.
I am hoping… to order my copy this week, since I just sold a couple old books online. 🙂
I am hearing… the vacuum cleaner. My hubby is busy cleaning our light fixtures, air vents and ceilings!
Around the house… lots of active children, as usual! 😉
One of my favorite things… Catholic Baptisms. (I’ll post a few pictures soon!)
- Our First Week of School, the tutor will be coming Tues-Thurs
- The boys are invited to a Birthday Party on Thursday
- Mass and Benediction on Friday, followed by lunch with Father and then errands and doctors appointments in the afternoon.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing:
Who needs a swimming pool?To see more Daybook entry’s, click here.
Birthday Highlights
Twinkle Toes had a wonderful birthday! She got to see some of her friends at a Baptism we attended in the morning, followed by a BBQ at our friends home. We then came home to eat cake and ice cream and let her open up her gifts… I used the opportunity to purchase her a new booster seat
Thank you to all of you for the prayers and birthday wishes. I read them to her and she says “Thank you!” with her cute and bashful smile. God Bless!
Happy Birthday Twinkle Toes!
I can’t believe that our little princess is turning FIVE years old today!
As I was making her Towering Sand Birthday Cake earlier tonight (or rather yesterday!), I kept finding myself reminiscing over the past years, and then found myself looking though our old photo albums. Anyhow, I thought I would take a minute and share a few pictures from her past four birthdays.
Here are a couple pictures from the day she was born. We were all SO excited to meet her. Our family was growing fast! Three babies in three years.
Here is our little girl on her first birthday. . . (along with my attempt at making a cake!)
For her 3rd birthday, we invited a couple families over for pizza and cake. She was very excited to have friends over. However, when it came to blowing out the candles, she wasn’t quite sure what to think.
For her 4th Birthday we had family in town, so we all went out to dinner at a favorite Japanese restaurant. Looks like I had started making a habit of just picking up Costco cakes! Oops! At least one had chocolate frosting and one had white!
She was soooo excited to receive a new doll on her 4th birthday.
(You see, we had recently had to throw out bury all her old baby dolls. During the prior winter, she was trying to keep them all warm and lined them up on the ledge of our woodstove. I wasn’t sure what I smelt burning, and when the fire alarm went off I ran into the living room to find a row of smoking dolls with melting heads. Not to mention my devastated daughter! My dear hubby put them outside (face down) to cool off, and later that afternoon we had a surprise visit from a couple Jehovah Witnesses. I couldn’t help but laugh at what they must have been thinking about the row of burnt dolls!)
Well, I better stop looking back and finish getting ready for tomorrow. Her cake is made and presents wrapped, but we have to leave bright and early for a baptism and it is getting late!
In Honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Well, summer is drawing to a close, and yesterday was our last:
Summer with the SaintsThe month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and so was this week’s Summer with the Saints.
“Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person: and as the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.” (Catholic Culture)
Here is an overview of our afternoon:
The Children started with some beautiful coloring pages of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
I must say that Marci is a very creative and resourceful craft planner. For this week she came up with a way for the children to make the Immaculate Heart of Mary using only a piece of red construction paper, scissors, glue and some crepe streamers in pink, red and orange.
Didn’t they turn out great?!? To make them, all you have to do is fold your paper in half to cut out a heart. Spread glue over the heart. Tear some orange strips of crepe paper for the flames and add to the top middle of the heart. Make little balls out of the red crepe paper and cover the heart. Make little balls out of the pink paper to add around the middle for the ring of flowers.
As they were making them, Rascal said, “This is the easiest craft ever! It is so much fun!” Need I say more . . .
Next my boys (Rascal decided not to be left out this week) got busy creating there Summer with the Saints Sidewalk Art based on the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I just love how you can so clearly see the difference between boys and girls in this last picture! My daughter is peacefully jumping next to a three boy pileup! 🙂For today’s snack, the kids enjoyed the cutest little ice cream sandwiches shaped like hearts.
OH! I almost forgot. . . We didn’t have time to stay and make Holy Cards this week, since we had to get to the children’s last swimming lesson of the week, aka Graduation Day. Nevertheless, we brought home the printed images so we could make them later.
We are most definitely going to miss the weekly Summer with the Saints.
It was so much fun!
Super Commenter
Aahhhh!!! Shelly, The Keeper of the Keys, is so very sweet and just passed on the Super Commenter award to me! Thank you Shelly!
Yes, I love to leave comments when I have make the time. . . almost as much as I love receiving them!!! 😉 I just really have enjoyed meeting and getting to know some of the wonderful bloggers out there!
Anyhow, the ‘rules’ of acceptance are that you nominate 7 other bloggers to receive the award.
Awhile back I added a widget in my sidebar that lists my “top commenters” on a regular basis. (It lists the top 10 from the last 500 comments.) So, to make it easy, I am just going to nominate the current top 7, or else I would never be able to limit my nominations it to just 7. . . all my commenter’s are Super!
- Amy at Knit Together in Love
- Aubrey at Prosapia Vita
- Christine at Living a Simple Life and a Pure Faith
- Shelly at The Keeper of the Keys (Right back at ya Shelly!)
- Meg (my cousin) at Meg’s Blog
- Jamie at Lord, Make me a Saint
- +JMJ+ at Totus Tuus Family and Michele at Galloping Grace Youth Ranch (these two are currently tied for 7th… At least until a couple more comments come through!)
Thank you to all of you!! ♥ Keep them coming!!! 😉
Graduation Day
Yesterday was Graduation Day once again for Myrna’s “Swimming Stars.” My boys were so excited to earn their 3rd Star of the Year. . . They completed six WEEKS of lessons, and went from barely swimming to diving to the bottom of the deep end and dreaming of the Olympics. The girls are also doing great too, and earned their 2nd Star of the Year for completing four weeks of lessons. Even Snuggles received a Star. It is so cute seeing him sit on the side of the pool and hold his breath, jump in, and roll over onto his back when I give him the cue, ” Ready… Go!!!”
Myrna did decide to add one last session to the end of this summer, starting next Tuesday, and she said she could fit us in if I was interested. . . I just don’t know if I could do another two weeks, especially with school starting. She told me to think of it as therapy. . . which is very true. . . since swimming does wonders for children with Auditory Processing Challenges. But still, I am not sure. . .
Anyhow, here are a couple pictures from our last day.
Oh, and even though Rascal may not be the fastest swimmer in the group. He definitely wins the prize for the best dives!
(This one was the best, but unfortunately I pushed the record button a second too late, and was wrestling with a squirmy baby! :S)
The First Shall be Last . . .
Rascal: “Mom, I don’t think that I am going to be able to be the best in the Olympics when I am older…”
Mom: “Why do you say that?”
Rascal: “Well, because I only won 5th place…”
Mom: “5th place is GREAT!!!!”
Rascal: “Not when there are only 5 people in the race.”
Which opened the door to the First Shall be Last Parable. 😉
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