~ Wednesday ~

My body is healing!!  Woke up this morning with a slight headache (day 3 of this headache), but no stiffness in my ankles!  It seems like whenever I return to eating grains I am miserable with stiffness in my ankles and hips.  I think I'll stay away from the grains for good.  It's nice waking up and being able to walk without limping!

Breakfast this morning was 2 cups of coffee with homemade coconut cinnamon creamer, two fried eggs, small amount of sauteed kale and some delicious homemade "cereal".  It was actually very good, and just what I was craving on Day 5 of my Whole 30 Challenge!  Here is what I did ~

Handful of slivered almonds and sunflower seeds, toasted

1/2 small apple chopped into small cubes

full fat coconut milk w/ cinnamon (Mine was chilled in the fridge. It's also what I use for my morning coffee)

Mix together and ENJOY!!  Yum! :)

Our children have had a good day ~

Minecraft

Playing house
Morestarfall.com
Read about St. Felix of Valois
Read/discussed lesson 2 in The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism
Took Unit 1 test on My Catholic Faith Delivered ~ aced it!!
Completed Chapter 5 of Jesus Our Life (on My Catholic Faith Delivered)
Read "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" from the book Today I Made My First Reconciliation.  This is an absolutely AMAZING book.  I highly recommend it!  It is broken up into sections that are the perfect size to read and discuss.  It is great for either a Charlotte Mason or Classical education approach. The story line is great and is holding our children's attention.  They actually stop what they are doing to see what's going to happen next.  They are truly learning about reconciliation.
The boys attended their last Sacramental Prep class with daddy.  The next step is their first reconciliation!
4H meeting
Created habitat pictures :)

Sunday...

My favorite day of the week ~ the Sabbath!  Lots of fun, relaxing going on :)

Started our day with Mass (of course),

lots of drawing,

"Mom, I need to know how to spell...

stacking,

counting broccoli sprouts,

Mario,

Dora,

The Wizard of Oz,

drawing tornado pictures,

watching tornado videos,

Making Music, Praying Twice,

Signing Time music,

singing and dancing...

See what I mean?  Fun & Relaxation!

 

Blue Knights... #2

Last night was our second Blue Knights meeting!!  I'm so excited to share what we planned for the boys!



We first set the table in preparation for the "Knights" arrival.



After the opening prayer, Bible memory shout, and a wonderful story about St. Ambrose, the boy's got started on their helmet of "hope". This was such a cool and easy craft!!



The helmet pattern is found at the Clevenland Museum of Art.  To get to it, click on the link.  Next click on "Art to go", then "elementary school", then "Cool Knights".  Great craft!!



We struggled with a game/activity for the virtue of "hope" this month.  Because of the cold weather here, and the early darkness this time of year, an outdoor activity would be tough.  We finally decided on a treasure hunt, since we "hope" to reach our treasure of Heaven someday!  We started out by creating little treasure "clues", then put them in balloons.  We also put blank strips in balloons, so the boys wouldn't be able to tell which ones had clues and which ones didn't.  :)



There were 4 "stops" in their journey to their "treasure".  There are 5 boys in our group, so for each stop we blew up 5 balloons.  We numbered the balloons, so that the boys would be able to pop them in order of their "stops".  Then we threw them on the floor!  When the game started, the boys each grabbed a balloon with the #1.  Their goal was to pop their balloon, and see which boy got the clue.  It was really exciting to hear the boy's yell "I GOT A CLUE, I GOT A CLUE!".  Each clue led them on a hunt, then they would go back to the balloons and get the next clue.



Their first "stop" was Mary.  The clue stated " Your journey begins with the hope of a Savior.  Find Mary and pray 1 Hail Mary."



Their second "stop" was the crucifix.  The clue stated "Your journey continues at the feet of Christ, where our Savior willingly died for us, so we may have eternal life.  Find the crucifix and pray an "Act of Faith."



Their 3rd "stop" took them to Calvary.  The clue stated "Next on your journey is Calvary, where Christ was crucified.  Find the picture of Calvary.  Pray an "Act of Hope."



The last clue stated "Final stop on your journey ~ find your treasure in the clouds of Heaven."  K cut out a cloud from poster board, and I created these sweet bags.  They are the perfect size for carrying their Blue Knight member books, and other goodies.



Then, it was time for snacks.  St. Ambrose is the patron saint of bee keepers, so K and E created these awesome Hunny Bee Cookies from Family Fun!  E added faces and stingers!! :)

The boys all had such a good time!!

Blue Knights...

     There aren't many Catholic activities for homeschoolers in our area.  There is a wonderful christian homeschooling community, but nothing specifically Catholic that I'm aware of.  We are members of a Catholic homeschooling group in another city about 1/2 hour or so from here, but that drive gets to be a bit much.  So, we decided to try and get something going here in our home town with a few local Catholic homeschoolers!

    Hubby has started up a Blue Knights club for Catholic boys.  The Blue Knights club provides an opportunity for young boys to have a great time, while learning about their faith.  Here is an excerpt from the Leader's Guide ~ "Using the concept of Knighthood based on virtue, the seeds are sown so that the boys can understand St. Joseph's role as guardian of Jesus and Mary.  The martial aspect of Knighthood also is used as a springboard to develop the obedience of faith."

     The first meeting was last night.  There are 5 wonderful young men in the group.  The first meeting was about the virtue of faith, and St. Peter.  I took a few pictures before the meeting started, but stayed out of hubby and the boy's way after.  I wanted this to be their time with dad, and the other young men who came.  hubby did have the help of another dad that came and stayed to enjoy the time with his son.  Hubby appreciated that, because the other dad helped keep things on track :)

     I think they all had a great time ~ I heard LOTS of laughing and yelling!!  Usually a good sign that boys are having fun!!  Here are some before pictures:



This is the table all set and ready to go! Hubby started the meeting with an opening prayer.  He used a toy sword to knight all of the boys after placing the breastplate/capes on them and calling them "Sir (name insert)".



These are the "Shields of faith" I made for the boys to paint for their craft time.



These are the SAD looking cupcakes I made!!!  They overflowed all over the pan while baking, so #1 they are larger than your normal cupcake, and #2 I had to cut them all up just to make them some what resemble a cupcake!  They were supposed to resemble these cupcakes!  Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to make the boats, so I just tried to make due with what I had on hand!



This is the Bible Memory Shout board!  I did hear some shouting for this, which was great!

     After making their craft, the boys went out and played a game outside!  There was so much laughing and yelling!!  We opened up a window in the room we were hanging out in to listen!!  It was a glorious sound!!  I LOVE hearing children laughing and having a great time ~ we all giggled just listening to it :)

     I'm looking forward to planning for the next meeting, and having all of those wonderful young men back!!

Live Stations of the Cross...

     Thursday evening, Katie participated in a 'Live' Stations of the Cross at church.  She was a narrator.  I actually took a ton of pictures but only a few turned out.  It was dark in the church, even using the flash didn't help.  Oh well!  At least I got a few :)  I also got a few pictures at the reception afterward.  Katie did a GREAT job!  She does not like speaking in public, so this was a HUGE deal for her :)  She was very nervous the day of the show, so much so that she was basically unable to do a whole lot of focusing on anything else!  It didn't help that the day before she had burned her chin with the curling iron ~ it left a pretty good sized burn blister on her chin.  This made her even more anxious about narrating!  We covered it with make~up for the performance ~ that helped a little :)

 

That is Katie at the podium, she did a really good job!

 

This young man is portraying Jesus when he begins to carry the cross to Calvary.

Here is Jesus again, this time he see's his mother.

Here the crowd is looking at Jesus after he has died on the cross.  All of the kids did a great job!

 

This is at the reception after the performance.  Jonathon was very excited to see green cupcakes at the table!  Samuel was also excited ~ he found green cookies!  (Can we say "HULK"?)

 

This precious little thing (who isn't so little anymore!) behaved very well during the show!

 

Our sweet, sweet Emma had a great time too!

Baptism Celebration...

 

Opening Madelyns' gifts...

Sarah sharing the cards...

Aunt Kelly holding the newly baptized...

The girls...

 

Uncle Tim, Uncle Dan, & Katelynnn watching the gift opening...

The cake!  Nothing fancy ~ white cake with crushed pineapple and syrup on top with a homemade whipped cream!  Yummy :)

Madelyns' Baptism...

 

 

 

 

Baptism...

Sunday Our Little Peanut was baptized!!  It was a great morning.  All of us, along with all of daddy's family, were there to watch the blessed event!!  She was immersed and she wasn't too sure she liked that.  The water was very warm and comfy, but I think it shocked her.  She didn't cry though.  There were 3 other little ones being baptized that morning.  Afterwards everyone came back to our house for pizza and salad to continue the celebration.  We also celebrated a very special someone's birthday - Granny L.'s.  There was yummy cake and ice cream which was of course enjoyed by everyone but me! :(