May Day!

Wow!  A whole month just flew by without so much as a post from me.  I've been keeping busy with the children, home schooling, keeping up the house (sort of!), and of course loving my baby boy.  He is doing well and growing like a weed.  He is fussy at night and desires his momma...as if I could say no to him!
Today we had some friends over to help us celebrate May Day and kick of Mary's month in style.  My friend Karen brought over some crafts for the children which were a hit.

Then each of the children put a flower into a vase for Mary and we sang "Immaculate Mary".

Lunch was next.

Star sandwiches were a hit...they especially liked eating the sandwiches that had the star missing from the middle!

Blueberry muffins

Tortilla chips which loosely resemble a crown.

Apples for Mary being the new Eve who brought the Savior into the world.

Blue and white mint chocolates.

Blue and white frosted cupcakes for dessert.

Then they all went outside for some "recess".

What a wonderful way to start the month.  I hope that you all had a great May Day!

My little man is calling for me...hope to post more later.  Joseph celebrated his First Holy Communion over the weekend.  It was fabulous!

God Bless!

Heather :-)

Our Lady of the Rosary

Our Lady of the Rosary,

Pray for us!

I am working to develop a deep love for our Blessed Mother in our home.  One of the best ways to accomplish this, I believe, is to pray the rosary as a family.  I started out a few years back with great expectations of us all kneeling in prayerful silence while I led the rosary and the children responded with reverence and awe.  Yeah, I know - WAKE UP!  That's not reality.  So, I had to figure out what could work.  I decided that we would pray one decade each day.  I made a rosary on a poster board that looks like this.

We placed the first Glorious Mystery - The Resurrection - on the board this morning.  This is a great way for the younger children to become familiar with and eventually memorize all of the mysteries of the rosary.

Each day, we place a 4 x 6 inch picture of that mystery next to the corresponding beads.  I read a short meditation on that mystery and we recite the prayers for that decade.  I wish that I could report the children sit perfectly still and really meditate for the 3-5 minutes of rosary time, but this is the reality in our house.

You can see the 2 1/2 year old doing a puzzle, the baby climbing on the otherwise attentive 10 year old, the 5 year old picking something off the cuff of her pants, and the 8 year old giving the evil eye to her brother who is messing around with his rosary.  But, despite the struggle, we do this every day.  The children and I know that our Loving Mother enjoys our time and will lead us closer to her son, Jesus.

God Bless!

Heather :-)



Exaltation of the Cross

Today is the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross which is a time where we really celebrate Jesus' triumph over death.  We reflect on how the cross is the instrument of our salvation.  Wanting to make this meaningful to the children, I got a few ideas for some crafts over at Catholic Icing (really enjoy that site!) and decided upon the first one using the oil pastels.  All the kids made one (or more!) and we had some good talks about why the cross is so important to us as Catholic Christians. 

I hung them on a bulletin board which is above the piano.  They turned out nicely, don't you think?

Then, on a completely unrelated note, I just have to show you what happens when the two year old is allowed to choose her own clothes....

Little Mis-matched Eleanor!  You've gotta love the floral, green sweat-band "bracelet", Halloween striped, kitty-cat look!

God Bless!

Heather :-)

Family Fun Day 2010

One of the greatest things about home schooling is the flexibility that it allows.  Todd has a couple of crazy weeks coming up at work, so we decided to take a family fun day today!  We brainstormed ideas last night and came up with going to some favorite parks.  We all packed into Big Blue and hit the road.  We said a family rosary on the way in honor of Mary's birthday, which I'll talk more about later. Our first stop was Staring Park in Eden Prairie.

Here's Haley cruising down the slide. 

They all had a great time...until, Lillian tripped on the way to the car and skinned up her knee.

After a lot of drama and a little TLC, she was fine.

Our next stop was "Chutes and Ladders" park in Bloomington.  We don't get here very often, but the children absolutely LOVE it!

Joseph climbing one of the huge cargo nets.

Madeline and Eleanor looking at themselves in the funny mirrors.

Esther watching me help Eleanor with her digging.

After park stop number 2, we were ready for some lunch.  We stopped at a mall, ate, and ran a few errands.  What?  Errands on family fun day?  You couldn't expect me to be at the mall and not check a few items off my list, could you?!  The kids spent almost an hour in Barnes and Noble - love that store.  Also, did you know that home educators qualify for their teacher discount card?  It's 20% off every purchase, all the time!  It doesn't take long for that to add up!

Our last park stop was close to home at Minnetonka Regional Park.

Lillian and Eleanor trying to figure out how to walk on this rolling thing without seriously hurting themselves!

When we returned home, we had a make-your-own supper.  You know, every man, woman, and child for themselves!  I do that once a week or so to make my life a little easier and the kids really like it.  Anyway, after the kitchen was cleaned up we had our birthday celebration for Mary.  I picked up some fresh flowers to put by her statue and we made some cupcakes with light blue frosting.  We all sang happy birthday to Mary and enjoyed a cup cake.  Madeline commented, "Isn't it nice that we got to have a fun day off on Mary's birthday!"  And in her adorable little two year old voice, Eleanor said, "Mary is the Mother of God." 

Here is Mary with her fresh flowers and birthday cup cakes.  Happy Birthday Mother Mary!

I got the idea for this from one of my favorite blogs called Catholic Icing - check it out!

Now the kids are all in bed and I've really got to get sewing.  The fall craft show season is upon us and I'm not ready....yikes!

God Bless!

Heather :-)