September Daybook

Outside my Window...

are the fun bike rides and walks we take to the cemetery.  It's right down the street, and it's a very safe place to have the kids bike ride.  We mix fun with prayer on our little rides.  They take turns picking a person/family to pray for, and then they get to enjoy riding down the big hill at the end.

(Oh my...I was cracking up during our last walk to the cemetery.  Jordan took off with Tobias' bike, and Magdalene said to Tobias to take her bike so he could catch up and get his bike back.)

(Mena kept trailing off the hill into the steep grassy area.  She seemed so frustrated by it, but I am amazed how determined she is to bike ride along with her siblings.)

I am thinking...

about Magdalene turning six this week!  She helped me pick out some decorations for her birthday party, and she definitely had some opinions!  I look forward to our annual mother/daughter alone time after her doctor's appointment.  She picked Panera for her meal, and it will be so nice to spend time just listening to her without interruptions.  









We had so much fun at a Mother/Daughter Book Club we had a coffee shop!

I am thankful...

for the tornadoes not coming near our Nashua or Greene homes last week.  What a scare!  I heard the water is gone from our basement in the Greene house.  Jordan said it was probably about five feet of water (maybe more) in the Greene basement.  He arrived just in time with some family to help move the furnace and water heater (etc.) to the upstairs so it wouldn't get damaged by the flood.  He made it just in time!  The water started to come in after he moved them.  Our poor neighbors weren't so fortunate though.  It looked like the water got to the main level of their homes.

Our poor neighbors

I miss my hydrangea!

Water reached about the third step down when you go down the flight of stairs.  

Learning all the time...


















Celebrating the liturgical year...

We honored Our Lady of Sorrows and have been continuing this entire month.  We moved our statue given to us by Grandma Marian to the family altar.  Holy Heroes had some great coloring pages for us to think about her sorrows.  Very soon it will be the feast of St. Michael on Magdalene's birthday.  Fr. Wood, the priest who baptized Magdalene, mentioned fighters are born on St. Michael's day.  I couldn't agree more with that!   

From the kitchen...

I am hoping the sunflower cupcakes will come out how I plan for Magdalene's birthday.  I bought a sunflower mold.  I enjoy melting chocolate and using molds.  I overheard her mentioning to Jordan about how she wanted cheesecake cupcakes...gotta find a recipe!


I am working on...

hopefully tonight I will make some "snowgies" for Magdalene's birthday party.  Snowgies are the cute little snowmen in Frozen Fever.  

I am creating...

plans for unit studies for the fall especially for the upcoming leaf projects.  I saw a good blog post to help out!  

I am going...

hopefully to our first Story Hour tomorrow morning before Magdalene officially turns six.  

I am hoping...

for better naps for Theodore.  The 18 month "sleep regression" can be so hard....  Is it too late to get him a crib?  haha

I am praying...

a novena of Holy Communions renewing my resolution from the marriage retreat.  

I am reading...

Nature books (gotta keep up with Jordan) and blogs about future projects.  
  


I am listening...

to classical music and the other day I found my old Martina McBride Greatest Hits.  So I belted out some tunes!

Around the house...

our basement isn't finished anymore.....so I am back to square one with unpacking and putting things away.  We have what we need right now so I'm not concerned, but I really wanted to do some more unpacking before the baby arrived.







One of my favorite things...

is to hear the little ones be so kind to each other.  "Sissy, you look like a princess."  "Thanks Tobias!"



There are so many funny things that come out of their mouths....sadly I just don't remember the exact wording.

*Shopping at the Party Store today:

"Mommy, I need a necklace for the party.  Princesses have necklaces."

"Philomena, not a necklace with the number 60 on it."

"Oh yeah Mom that's for your party." (Magdalene)

(Excuse me...haha!)

Theodore is really trying hard to communicate.  If he can't say the word, he will just take my hand and lead me to what he wants (and usually it's the snack area).  Today he said banana for the first time, and it was so cute.  Of course he got a banana after that!




This week's plans...

Celebrate our sweet girl's birthday!  

A little peek at my day...

This little man is getting so big!  He is trying to put on shoes, is climbing on everything, and really enjoys getting Thomas books to look at from the library.  "Toot, toot...choo...choo" are his favorite sounds these days.

He loves Percy. Percy ran outside and Theodore chased him saying, "Come!"  He loves to sit near him.  It's so sweet to watch.

Virgin of Childbirth

Virgin of Childbirth

Basilica S. Augustine--Rome

Prayer

Holy Mother of God, Virgin of Childbirth, we

come to you to sing your praise.  You are the

beloved daughter of the Father, the Mother of the

Word Incarnate, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  

You are the Virgin of God chosen from eternity to realize

our salvation: ask your Son Jesus to grant us a

strong faith, a solid hope, and a generous charity.

Virgin Mother, we put under your care all the

mothers who pray for the integrity of their children

and for a successful birth, so that the life in their womb

may be preserved from all dangers.  

Grant them to come back to you with their child

to give thanks to the Lord who works wonders

for those who hopefully trust in Him.

Virgin of Childbirth, protect all children with

your love, so that, cleansed from sin by baptism

and received in the Holy Mother Church, they 

may serenely grow up, full of virtues, in order to

become courageous witnesses of your Son Jesus, 

and may persist on the path of sanctity, with the 

favor of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Ave Maria...

Virgin of Childbirth, pray for us!

Festivity:  2nd Sunday of October

New School Year Daybook

*  I have really enjoyed reading showerofroses.blogspot.com's daybooks, and I think I will attempt doing some of those to help me write more on this blog.

Outside my Window...

I saw very excited children looking for insects for their nature study project with Principal Daddy after school time.  Jordan loves to explore the outdoors with them.  The newest creature I was introduced to yesterday was a blind snake.  I was amazed how big it was!  I think by the time their study of insects is over, I will be the student learning from the children "teachers".  

I am thinking...

about too many things right now.  I reread Teaching from Rest to be sure I started on the right foot.  I was really thinking about what rest really means.....that between state between being overly anxious and negligent.  I must confess that I am guilty of both at some point in my life.  I really started to think about how I try to do too much at once, and just needed to really break up the day better to ensure a peaceful day.  As long as the house was in a workable order for school time, I decided to start right after breakfast while Theodore was in a pleasant mood.  I have attempted cleaning up while trying to start school, and honestly, I was not doing my best at both because I was pulled in too many directions.  I felt great peace just starting right away, and the kids were happy as well.  

I am thankful...

for my husband.  During pregnancy and humid weather, I just don't enjoy going outside for long periods of time.  Thank you for spending hours outdoors catching insects and showing your excitement for learning!  





Learning all the time...

to be patient with my faults because they are many!  To focus more attention on little short prayers throughout the day and remaining faithful to my duties.  

Celebrating the liturgical year...

This is absolutely one of the biggest things I enjoy about being the primary educator of my children.  We spend our time celebrating special feast days, and truly living as a Catholic.  Part of our school day will be spent doing something called "Mary Morning".  We have a "merry" good time with the different activities.  It's like a Morning Time, Circle Time, Morning Meetings, etc.  I have always enjoyed doing these sort of activities in the past with my former students, and it has been fun doing it as well with my children.  In the past, we have called it circle  time, but I wanted a change from that title.  My sister helped me with the title.  Thank you!  

Mary Morning is a special time when we are being "merry" with each other.  Magdalene giggled a lot at the play in words.  We have Catholic Calendar time.  We discuss the weather, day of the week, the date, and any feast days coming up to celebrate.  Today we introduced St. Joseph's Jobs.  We brainstormed duties they have to do, but then there are the special jobs to do around the house that help Mommy and Daddy.  We came up with a good list, and they seemed happy about which jobs they had for the week.  

We didn't do this today, but in the future I hope to spend time teaching virtues/character traits.  Our first topic will be church manners.  Then we end the Mary Morning with St. Peter's Patriots.  We want our children to develop a love for their country.  This gives us a good opportunity to sing "God Bless America" and pray for our leaders.  

From the kitchen...

Magdalene wants to make an apple pie this week.  We will see how that goes!  

I am working on...

trying to develop a new hobby.  I saw a tutorial on how to make a crochet rose.  

I am creating...

and updating lessons plans.  It's hard to know how much each of them can handle in terms of attention.  We accomplished all our tasks today, but we will see what happens in the coming week.

I am going...

nowhere the next two weeks, but we have our first nature study field trip scheduled this month.  I am excited for the upcoming experience!  

I am hoping...

for a peaceful and restful school year.  

I am praying...

for our precious baby boy, and for all the other babies.  I received a beautiful prayer card from my brother-in-law.  I will share the prayer soon in a future post.  

I am reading...

school books and ways to simplify material more.  I love integrating when I can.  
Pondering these words...

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.  Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.  

St. Francis de Sales

I am listening...

to Magnificat Radio when I need a friendly adult voice in the room.  I am also listening to a purity talk from Fr. Beck, but I have to replay certain parts a lot, because it's loud around here!

Around the house...

We have room!  It's such a good feeling to have room to do things that we found really hard to do before like eat as a family....together.....sitting in chairs....you know simple stuff like that.  Theodore is climbing on everything.  His newest thing is my desk and the kitchen counter.  Oh my!  He seems to enjoy pressing our answering machine on and off.  I guess the stairs and the dining room table wasn't adventurous enough anymore.

One of my favorite things...

happy children.  I love to see them excited!  Magdalene had her outfit on for school before I had a chance to even put my own clothes on.  Tobias was really excited to check out his fun folder.  Philomena was excited, because they were both happy.  I hope our days can be filled more with smiles instead of fighting.  I must pray for more patience with the amount of fighting that can go on in the day with them.







This week's plans...

This week we are focusing on setting good habits for school and everyday life.  We even have a special supper planned with family this week.  Magdalene hopes we make the apple pie for that supper.  I am thinking apple crumb something with caramel sauce on it.  I am not a good pie maker!

A little peek at my day...

 Tobias' first day of Kindergarten!

 Philomena joined Tobias in his Phonics lesson.

Tobias was excited for his fun folder to work on.  Daddy helped him focus more attention on the assignment right in front of him and to not finish so quickly.  Thank you, Daddy!

Mena was excited about playdough (it went into hiding this past summer).

Magdalene started her art lessons using household objects to create a baseball.  Daddy found the circular objects for her.

 Her two favorite subjects this year (so far) are Spelling and Art.

Sorry Dr. English!  You rolled around in something foul so you couldn't join us for school today.  Detention for you!

 We even had family visit when we finished school!

Happy first day of 1st grade!

Yes, sweet Mena, you can do school time with us too.