Garden of the Good Shepherd ~ Week 4
My kids are just loving celebrating the Fifty days of Easter with “The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter
!” This past week, we didn’t get to do all the activities that we planned, since the little ones & I were so sick, but what better week to give the kids “rain checks” than during the week that is based on “The Weather”, right!?This next weeks theme, starting today, is based on:
“The Wind and Sea Obey Him.”
I added the bible versus to read, in case any of you would like to join in, but don’t have the Garden of the Good Shepherd. Matilda and I put our brains together to try and come up with ideas for this week. Here us what we came up with:
The Boat : Read Matthew 8:23-27
- Make an Origami Boat
- Read Boats by Anne Rockwell
- Make Banana Boats (Matilda suggested this, and my kids would love it! I picked up some bananas on the way home from Mass!)
The Mast: Read Ezekial 27:4-7
Since the Cross is the “Mast” of the Catholic Church, we will either:
- Paint cross on the sail of a model boat with daddy
- Make Bread Dough Crosses page 136 of Catholic Traditions
The Sail : Read Acts 27:33-44
- Hang sail on mast of model boat with daddy
- Experiment with “What sinks and what floats.”
- You could do this Halves Boat Craft
- Make Deviled Egg Sailboats (Michele sent me this link!) Aren’t they cute?
The Net : Read Mark 1:16-20
- Matilda recommended making one of these.
- Make a Sea of Galilee Touch Picture from Little Saints Program.
Sea of Galilee Touch Picture
Need: Pattern #67, print this picture; brown construction paper background; cotton balls; sandpaper; aluminum foil; netted produce bag cut in a 6″x4″ diamond; brown, dark blue, and light blue markers/crayons; glue stick; scissors.
- Color boat brown, sea and sky blue.
- stretch apart cotton balls and glue on clouds.
- Staple on netting over side of boat for fish net.
- Crumple aluminum foil and glue on as rocks.
- Glue on sand paper to make beach area.
- Mount onto brown background.
- Discuss and experiment with the sense of touch.
The Fishes : Read John 21:4-8
- Make a home for a Christian Fish. Crafty Catholic Kids
page 93.
- Buy a goldfish to have as our first ever pet!
- Play Go Fish
- Fish Snack: Need: Blue napkins, medicine cups, pretzels, gold fish crackers, peanut butter. Open up napkin and place fish in the middle. (The napkin is the ocean.) Have peanut butter in the cup. (This is the bait cup.) Use pretzels for fishing rods. Dip in bait (peanut butter) and catch a fish. Eat fish and bait. Keep fishing until all the fish are eaten.
- Fish in the Sea Snack: Need: Italian bread or French bread, Cream cheese, Goldfish crackers, Blue food coloring, Slice bread. Mix blue food color and cream cheese. Spread cream cheese on bread. Put goldfish in the blue sea.
The Barbecue : Read John 21:9-14
- Grill some fish out on the patio, of course!
The Leviathan : Read Psalm 104:24-30
- Matilda’s family will be heading to their awesome local aquarium… I wish we had one!!
- We might possibly have calamari with/for dinner–I think Costco has a frozen calamari meal that we have tried and liked in the past.
- We will also read the story St. George and the Dragon
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! God Bless!
Yesterday
My kids had a blast at my parents home yesterday. Usually my mom doesn’t want us to come over when we are sick, but she really needed me to take some pictures of her cabinets to list on craigslist. (She is remodeling her kitchen. I’m so jealous! 😉 Her old cabinets are 100x nicer than ours, but they just won’t fit in our tiny kitchen…sniffle, sniffle…) It worked out well though. The kids got tons of fresh air, and my dad even helped me pick up a table that he got for us, along with some desks I just bought from their neighbor, for our school room.
YES… I am changing my school room again. Hubby said, “Geez! You are changing it once a month!” I know… It’s just so hard to work with a mixture of hand-me-down furniture that isn’t really that efficient and practical… Right now my hallway is lined with too much stuff that had to be moved out of the old furniture, so we could move it to the already too full garage to be dealt with later, and move the new furniture in. Why does simplifying cause so much extra work?
I also purchased a set of bookshelves, so as soon as I get them, and reassemble the room, I will post a picture for you to see. I’m very excited!
Anyhow, my sister took some pictures of my monkeys kids acting totally crazy cute. I love how she edited them… You can’t even tell that Chiquita’s nose was running or that in between Twinkle Toes nose and lips was horribly chapped. Here’s one of my favorites:
Hop on over to her blog if you’d like to see the rest.
April Shower of Photos :: Day 12
Hubby had to work today, so the kids and I spent the day at my parents.
I just love their backyard!! The trees don’t even have all their leaves, and it still looks beautiful. I just love the Spring.Mittenstrings: Chapter 5
The fifth chapter of Mitten Strings For God is titled Simplicity.
When thinking about simplicity, the first thing that comes to my mind is dear St. Therese and her “little way.” She tells us,
“Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.”
Our Lord cherishes simplicity, so shouldn’t we?!?
With each passing year, each new baby, and LOTS of Reading, I have been s-l-o-w-l-y learning how to simplify my life. I always seem to be catching my self taking on more than I can possibly accomplish, and as a result, being completely overwhelmed and having a very unorganized life. As you know, I have been spending much time decluttering and simplifying, not only our home, but our time as well. I have found that simplicity is the key to living an ordered life.
One of the things that caught my attention in this chapter, was when the author said, “So often, it seems, we are the ones who make our lives more complicated than they need to be. We set the bar too high, take on too much, turn small doings into big ones.” She goes on to say, “With so many options and opportunities to choose from, it can be a challenge just figuring out where to draw the line.”
With my introduction to blogs this past year, I have been overwhelmed with the wealth of ideas out there! There is just SO MUCH!! I want to do it all!!! But, I have to remind myself, that this is not best for my family… I know, I’ve tried!! 🙂 My children are the happiest when I keep things simple. I believe that this is because, when I cut back on my planning and preparation, I have more time to spend with them! The things we do together, do not have to be extravagant to be loved and enjoyed. St. Therese says, “You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love at which we do them.”
My favorite quote from this chapter was, “Once we take the pressure off ourselves to do things in a big way, we find more reasons to celebrate life’s little moments.”
Getting Ready…
My boys were very excited to be able to vest in red today, since it is the feast of St. Stanislaus, bishop & martyr. Among other reasons, the color red is used by the Church as a symbol of the blood shed by martyrs who died for the faith.
Pray for us!
April Shower of Photos :: Day 11
I’m so excited!!! I am learning so much about my new camera during the April Shower of Photos!!
Today I realized the difference shutting the flash off can make. I also figured out how to use the macro feature on this camera. I’m still not sure how/or if my rebel has that feature?
Anyhow, check out these pictures.
I do like this picture, but you’d never know that it was taken at 2 in the afternoon. It was taken using the regular indoor setting with automatic flash (which went off).
For this picture I used the same setting, and shut the flash off. That made such a huge difference with the lighting.
Then, for this last picture I used the indoor setting with no flash and set the camera to micro. That made the picture a bit more clear, in addition to softening the background.
It is amazing the difference that the settings can make! Isn’t it?
(Other than my relatives… I hope you aren’t all getting sick of seeing pictures of my children… They are my favorite “things” to photograph!)
The Splendor of Spring: Simply Lovely Laundry
Today, Colleen is hosting the first Simply Lovely Fair of the Spring!
The first installment is all about
So, if you have a few minutes, grab that laundry basket, and head on over to Footprints on the Fridge for lots of great laundry wisdom, know-how and suggestions!
P.S. Thank you for the prayers everyone!! The girls are much better–though still coughing. However, Snuggles now has the fever, poor baby!April Shower of Photos :: Day 10
We are still working our way through The Chronicles of Narnia during our afternoon read-a-loud time. Today we listened to disc 1 of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The audio CD’s have been such a help, especially with the current bugs that are making their way through our home.
Rascal loves to draw as we listen:
I scanned it in for you all to get a closer look.
Rascal ~ Age 6
April Shower of Photos :: Day 9
This afternoon, while I was taking care of Snuggles & Twinkle Toes (she is getting really sick–we will probably head to the doctors in the morning), I let the boys and Chiquita go play outside.
I noticed the boys were riding bikes. Rascal has been, any chance he gets, since he realized last Friday that he no longer needs those training wheels!
You’d never know that it has only been a few days… He has just taken off!
But I couldn’t find Chiquita… She was up on the back hill picking wild flowers.
Here I zoomed in on her… I really need to get a better zoom lens.
“Look, momma, I picking fwowers!”
With no shoes on no less!!! “OH! Those are pretty! Come on down and get your shoes on!”
“But momma, I need to give them to Mare-we!”
Yes, she has her moments of being a stinker, but my soon to be 3 year old is turning into quite the sweet (and very determined) little girl. Now to get back to the sick ones…
Mary, Health of the Sick ~ Pray for Us!
WoW ~ Week 6
Exciting stuff!!! This week I am down 1.5 pounds!!! This is a record week for me so far.
Now, it is probably just because I was in pain all weekend, with a pinched nerve in my back, and have been sick with a cold since Monday… But, hey, whatever works! 😉
As far as my goals from last week. I didn’t complete them all, but considering the above, I did pretty good.
On Thursday the kids and I had a blast doing a 30 Minute Walk and Jog
Overall, I think it was a successful week!
My goals for this next week:
- Get better!
- Walk at least 2 days. (Since 3 is just not happening.)
- Head out to my parents to use their sauna again.
- Continue research on Allergy testing.
Summary:
- Week five progress: -1.5
- Total lost in WoW: -4.5 pounds
The most exciting thing is, that I FINALLY weigh less than hubby!!! We are about the same height–he is slightly taller if I’m not wearing heels, and he is in great shape. It has been depressing, weighing more than him, the last couple years. So, I am very happy!
Well, it’s time to head to town for Captains class once again… (Which is going GREAT!)
How did you do this week? If you’d like to see others results, click here.
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