It’s a Girl!
Go say “Hello” to Sarah’s new Little Baby Girl, and wish Sarah, Andrew and the rest of the family Congratulations!
The sweet little one arrived last night, and she is just beautiful!
Thank you, Elizabeth!
“Sometimes–often–when something seems wrong in someone else’s world, that’s the very thing that’s troubling you, only you were so close to it you couldn’t see. By the same token, if you know someone with a family similar to yours who has knack for running a household, do ask her how she does it. Gather ideas, learn from each other, be open and honest and willing to learn.”
Now, head over to Elizabeth’s blog, and read About those lists… And, while your there, don’t miss her post On Being Intentional either.
Thank you Elizabeth for taking the time to share your wisdom with us!! You are such an inspiration!
April Shower of Photos :: Day 8
I just love hearing my boys yell, “MOM, the mail is here!!!”
This is what arrived today:
In an attempt to become more creative, I ordered a couple books that sounded wonderful: Crafty Catholic Kids
Now all I need is a bit of extra time to do some reading!
Is it Saturday yet? 😉
Simply Lovely Laundry
This weeks Loveliness Fair is on Simply Lovely Laundry.
Simply LOVELY Laundry? Is laundry ever lovely, or simple for that matter!?!?
A few weeks ago, I spent a day cleaning, organizing and decluttering our laundry room. That was the easy part. The hard part, is actually keeping it that way, and keeping up with the never ending laundry that comes along with a growing family.
Now, I have never been a very organized mother, especially when it comes to our laundry. It seems that each time I begin to get a handle on it, another little person joins our family, and it takes me a while to adjust… That said, I am always on the lookout for ways in which to help this necessary chore run more smoothly. For me, it seems to boil down to one thing, Consistency.
I find that if I stay on top of my laundry, it becomes quite easy and manageable– this is the only time I ever think of our laundry as being either simple or lovely! On the other hand, the more laundry I have piling up, the less I feel like doing it, and the more I dislike it.
Now, being consistent doesn’t mean that you have to do laundry every day. I don’t. But I do try to set laundry days that I am able to stick to. Right now, they are Monday (clothing only), Tuesday (clothing & towels), Thursday (clothing & sheets) and sometimes I will do a load or two on Saturday.
Something that has helped me more than anything is following Marcia Ramslands “Same Day” Laundry Principle that she suggests in her book Simplify Your Life
I also want to share the list of suggestions in Simplify your Life that has really helped lighten my load, so to speak:
Ten Timesaving Laundry Tips
from Simplify Your Life
- Place a wall clock above the washer and dryer. [I use a timer]
- Be ready to move clothes to the next step after thirty minutes.
- Wash those items first that require the most sorting afterward. [I wash my “hang dry” items first, since they take extra work.]
- Minimize wrinkles by immediately folding warm clothes from the dryer. [I hate to iron, so this is high on my priority list!]
- Save time by making the bed with sheets straight from the dryer.
- Stack clean towels by bathrooms to speed up delivery.
- Leave the washer lid open as a signal to empty the dryer.
- Save steps by keeping a lint box or wastebasket nearby.
- Hang the empty laundry basket on a hook. [or better yet, get one of these, it is on my wishlist!!]
- Close the lid after your last load and congratulate yourself for finishing all your laundry for the day.
In addition to the above list, I have a sectioned hamper in my laundry room for the kids to sort their whites, colors and darks. It really helps to keep our laundry room so much neater and makes it easier for me to see at a glance with type of load I should do next.
I have also trained my children to put away their own clothing. Even my 2 year old is able to help with putting away some of her own clothes, although, I do have to go into their rooms and straighten their drawers occasionally. She even loves to help by pairing the socks, which doubles as a learning activity!!
More than anything though, I think the thing that has helped most is changing my attitude about doing laundry. Although I usually have many other things I would rather be doing than laundry, it is indeed necessary, and through doing it I am taking care of my family and showing them, in one more way, that they are loved… And that is indeed lovely!!!
April Shower of Photos :: Day 7
For these next three, I was trying out a few different settings on my camera: outdoor, regular, and portrait:
I’ve had a pinched nerve in my back all weekend–which, thankfully, was starting to get better today! But, it looks like we have just caught another cold/flu. Right now Rascal & Twinkle Toes are sick, and I think it is hitting Snuggles and I. I’m off to take some more vitamin C and get some sleep! Good night!
The Fifty Days of Easter
Easter is the most important feast in the Christian calendar–even more important than Christmas. Since Easter is such a great feast, the Easter season lasts 50 days, from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday.
This year, I got so wrapped up in our Lenten Activities that I wasn’t very good about planning out anything for the 50 days of Easter… Our Easter week was wonderful, as was Divine Mercy Sunday, but this past week it seemed that our celebration of the season was fizzling out.
After seeing the wonderful plans that Dawn & Matilda had for celebrating the Easter season this year I ordered The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter
Well, it arrived on Saturday, and so yesterday I thought, “Why wait… Let’s just do it!” There’s nothing wrong with starting late, right? If I put everything off till the perfect time, I’d never actually do ANYTHING!
So, yesterday afternoon I took a few minutes (literally) to get it ready. I started out thinking that I would hang the eggs, but then I decided that could wait till next year, and shifted gears to numbering the eggs 1-49 (day 50 is actually Pentecost Sunday) and placing them in a basket. One for each day, since the Easter season lasts seven weeks — a week of weeks— of course, since 7 is the perfect number! 🙂 My thought was that this could also double as math practice for my little ones, by finding the correct number each day.
After dinner, the children gathered around our learning table and we did a bit of catch up! Yesterday was day 15 of the Easter season. It was quite fun, and got us off to a great start. The symbol for yesterday was “the sun” so we finished up by making a modified paper plate sun craft and hung it on the window of our school room.
My plans are to refer to Matilda’s ideas for each day, modify them for our family, and then fill the correct eggs. So far she has posted ideas for Week 1 and 2 and Week 3.
Week 3 is all about how “The Heavens Tell God’s Glory!”
I surprised the boys with a Weather Kid Kit
The Sun : make a paper plate sun craft- The Cloud : Cloud experiments found (by Matilda!) here
- The Rain : Make a Rain Gauge and read Down Comes the Rain
- The Lightning : Read Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll
- The Wind : Learn how to measure wind speed, Blow Bubbles and/or make a Paper Bag Kite
- The Rainbow : watch Signing Time # 6 and sign/sing Colors of the Rainbow
- The Hail : Play “Here comes the
RainHail”
Here Comes the Rain/Hail Gamefrom Little Saints Pre-School ProgramPrep: Take 2 aluminum pie pans and place 1/4 of beans in one of them. Staple the other pan on top. You will also need couch cushion and/or child’s special blanket.
1. Discuss how animals seek shelter when it rains. Have child choose to make believe they are an eagle, dove or butterfly. Instruct them that they will have to listen carefully in this game so they can hear the storm coming and seek shelter before they get wet.
2. Have them place the cushion (nest) or their blanket (tree) where their nest/tree will be.
3. Have child pretend to fly around; butterflies seeking nectar, doves and eagles seeking food.
4. Hidden from view, gently start to shake the pie pan, building up to storm level.
5. Once the children have landed in their nest or under their tree safely, slowly stop the “rain/ hail” and repeat.
Well, that’s the plan… Now I feel like we are still celebrating Easter at home!!!
Another Great Post…
Don’t miss reading Amy’s Thoughts on Motherhood.
I agree 100% with her when she says, “I know, without a doubt, that I have been blessed by blogging, especially by the great people on my blogroll and more. I have learned so much! I have become a better Catholic, I have learned incredible ideas for homeschooling, all these things have helped me be a better mom and enriched my kids lives.”
Yes, we all make choices on how to spend our time, and blogging is one of mine. The key is balance.
UPDATE: While your there, make sure to wish Amy Congratulations!!!
April Shower of Photos :: Day 6
A few snapshots from our day:
Here is Twinkle Toes, being treated like a princess after Mass.
Home again, and the sun has come back out, at least for the moment!
A couple of our visitors… I wish I could have gotten a shot of all of them, there are at least 12 deer in our yard right now, they are just spread out.
Lots of excitement over our crawling baby.
And, BOARD GAMES–a favorite Sunday afternoon activity… Or anytime for that matter. The boys had been begging to learn how to play The Hobbit
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!
Baby News!
Tonight Snuggles was bound and determined to “get the ball,” even if it meant crawling!!!
I missed seeing the first time, since he was back in his big brothers room with daddy… Hubby then brought him out to the living room to show me:
Aahh! I’m not ready for this, even if he is!
April Shower of Photos :: Day 5
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