A Blessed Woman's Daybook ~

Outside my window ~ More clouds and rain.

On the Menu ~

Eggplant Parmesan ~ another of Gina's recipes. I've got this ready to pop into the oven. If it's anything like her other recipes I've tried, it will be Yummy!

I bought myself a little treat at the Weight Watchers meeting this morning. I've lost 5 pounds :) so I got myself this new water bottle. My focus this week is to drink more water -

I think this will help :)

I'm creating ~ A new and improved recipe binder. Only smart, delicious recipes allowed!

I'm hearing ~ The Rookie. Buck asked me to pick this up for him from the library -AGAIN- . I've got a little guy who is ready for the season to start!

Notebooking fun ~ Here's Snuggle Bug working on the cover for her bird book.

Here's the completed project along with The House Cat's Liturgical Year Binder. The girls are really enjoying working on these!

A peek inside the liturgical year binder...

More to come....

Have a blessed week!

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Saint Agatha

Catholic Culture : Liturgical Year: "St. Agatha is the patron saint against fire. Take this day to establish a fire escape plan for the family and to practice a family fire drill. Also check the smoke detectors, fire alarms, and carbon monoxide detectors to see if they are all working. Change the batteries on all the alarms! (Idea taken from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families by Monica McConkey. Used with permission. Write to ArmaDei@aol.com or see Arma Dei for more information about this great book. Treasure Chest is filled with unique ideas for activities, crafts and recipes to help families celebrate the various Seasons and Feast Days of the year.)"

I'm thinking this would be a great day for a lapbook! Check out Jessica's Fire Safety Lapbooks.

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A Blessed Woman's Daybook

Outside my window ~ Rain, clouds, sweet birds singing....


Recipe of the week ~ White Bean Turkey Chili. I made this for supper yesterday and it was YUMMY! (I used a 1.25 lb pack of ground turkey, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 cans of navy beans and about a can and a half of the chicken stock. At the very end, I added 1/2 cup of sour cream) Mine was a little soupier than her picture looks). I'll definitely be making it again!


Around the house ~ Whole lot of schooling - living going on. I've got so many thoughts in my head to share... it's just finding the time!


Weekend plans ~ We've got a lot going on this weekend. Friday, a field trip to a nearby Museum of Natural History. Saturday, the House Cat has her Confirmation Retreat - Journey to Emmaus. My honey and I also have a marriage retreat on that day with Teams of Our Lady. Sunday, we are blessed to start the day off with the Holy Mass. The House Cat's coming back into the Good Shepherd atrium to lead us in some more songs. The Knights of Columbus are having their quarterly blood drive, so my honey will be busy helping with that. Then, the two older girls and I will head over to our Beautiful Girlhood bible study. We are enjoying this soooo much. Afterwards, I'll come home and CRASH :) Then we'll watch the Super Bowl - GO SAINTS!


My picture(s) to share ~ Honeybee and Buck making St. Brigid cloaks. I didn't have felt for them to use so I just grabbed a couple of cloth napkins. By the way, my honey read this book aloud to us after supper on Monday. How very blessed we all are!

Too cute!

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Prayer Cards

CHC's: A Year with God had these pages to print out to use today. So we made these prayer cards this morning. These will come in handy as we add The Divine Praises to our morning prayer time. I think they will also make great bookmarks and can eventually be added to our Liturgical Notebooks.

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The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple

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Baptism Folders/Lapbooks

I really enjoyed making these baptism folders with our blessings! The House Cat had started hers a while back but, I hadn't done anything with the others. It was great looking back through old photos and remembering their Christian birthdays. We added photos of the priest who baptized them, their Godparents, family and friends who were there. I also tried to make sure one of the pictures had their baptism candle in it. I noted the date and church where they became children of God. See CHC's A Year With God for the baptism sheet we used.

The House Cat
Snuggle Bug

Buck

Honeybee

I will treasure these always! They will kept with their baptism candles and pulled out to share on their baptism anniversaries.

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A Blessed Woman's Daybook

Outside my window ~ Blackbirds, blackbirds, and more blackbirds. Boy they sure are chatty! The birds gave us quite a show Saturday morning. I don't think I've ever noticed so many in our yard at once. We could barely get finished with our lunch without someone jumping up and grabbing the binoculars. A special treat for me was seeing our Blue Jay and his mate. Another first!

I'm hearing ~ silence. It's after ten and everyone else has gone to bed. I've been trying to type this post all day to no avail.

We're looking forward to ~ 19 Kids and Counting: Special Duggar Delivery will air Sunday night at 7 central time on TLC. We enjoy watching the Duggars. They are such a beautiful Christian example to the world!

I'm wearing ~ my new University of Alabama shirt (Roll Tide), black pull on pants, and my hair is still in the braid that Snuggle Bug fixed this morning.

Around the house ~ Buck has successfully knocked all three of the pictures off the wall leading from the living room down the hall. How, you may ask? Playing football - of course :) I'll buy new frames later. For now he needs to be a boy.

Recipe of the week ~ Baked Zucchini Sticks with Homemade Marinara Sauce. This was Yummmmy! Thanks for the recipe Gina. This one is definitely a keeper....Yummy and Low point!

Weight Watchers ~ I am not focused on the scale. Repeat -I am not focused on the scale! Today was my meeting day. I was determined to be happy no matter what the scale said! I am peaceful with knowing I am being temperate with my food, sticking to the plan and not overeating . I took a new notebook with me to write down goals, recipes, and other info that comes up in the meetings. Yes, I'm a note taker :) It's good to be back and I already am feeling so much better - even if the scale doesn't show much of change ;)

Thought of the day ~ Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!

Healthy Goal(s) this week ~ Walk at least three times and eat breakfast first thing in the morning.

We are creating ~ A Book of Centuries for The House Cat and Snuggle Bug. Also, we picked up needlepoint and cross-stich packets at Michael's this weekend.

I'm planning ~ on Snuggle Bug starting a bird book of her own. I'd love to hear suggestions if any has them.

A picture thought ~
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Winter Geography with Buck and Honeybee

I love the way God works! He put together this wonderfully fun geography study for me. It all started with the thought that I should read Mr. Poppers Penguins to Buck and Honeybee. Then I had an email from CurrClick with this free Kindergarten Mini Study. The first part of it focuses on what else but geography. I also randomly (or so I thought) picked up The March of the Penguins DVD from the library. We also just happened to have a penguin playdough cutter. Hope you enjoy!

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A Blessed Womans Daybook

Outside my window ~ The birds are back! My honey brought home some more suet and our downy friends are back :) The kids are all outside enjoying the warmer weather. All except for the House Cat whose back in her room immersed in Jane Austen :)


Praying for ~ All of the poor people in Haiti.


To be fit and healthy ~ I'm not focused on the numbers on the scale.....right? Right! Today is weigh in day at Weight Watchers. That scale is not my friend! Just kidding :) When mama eats good food, everyone does. The whole family is making healthier choices and feeling better for it!

God is making sure that I don't forget why I'm really doing this. I must learn to be temperant with food! This weeks focus is to move more. My commitment - walk on the treadmill at least twice.


On the menu ~ Tonight we are going to try this Spinach Lasagna recipe and this on the side. A couple of nights ago we made Taco Soup. It was yummy and only 2 points for a cup. Here's the recipe if you want it.


Recipe of the week ~ Weight Watcher's Taco Soup

1/2 pound lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey
1 chopped onion
1 can of black beans, drained
1 can chili beans
2 cans diced tomatoes (we used Rotel and it was very spicy) Use diced tomatoes to suit your taste.
1 can corn
1 pkg Hidden Valley Seasoning Dry Mix
2 cups water
1 pkg low sodium taco seasoning mix


Brown meat and onions. Add all remaining ingredients. (The only thing we drained we the black beans. Otherwise just pour the whole can in.) Bring up to a low boil and cook over med. low temp 45min. Enjoy!


One of my favorite things ~ Honeybee's curls. They form little ringlets at the bottom of her long hair.


To live the liturgy ~ Have you visited Lacy over at Catholic Icing? She does a great job gathering and sharing ideas for celebrating upcoming feast days.


We are watching Saint Jon Bosco - Mission to Love this week. His feast day is on the last day of January which falls on Sunday this year. So, we will be watching during our evening family time this week.


In the school room ~ Which is of course the whole house :) We are still working on the baptism folders. I've got lots of work printed and ready to go for Buck and Honeybee. Snuggle Bug and I are continuing to gather books for her sunflower basket and The House Cat and I are looking into starting Shakespeare Fridays. I still need to order the January Science Basket books for Buck. I just love Serendipity - don't you?




My picture thought~ Reading is great - especially when your sitting in a tree!

Have a blessed week!

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The Updated Morning Basket

I recently had a friend ask me about our morning basket of work.  Well, it got me to thinking of how it had been a while since we had actually done the work I had posted about earlier in the school year.  Things change….Life happens….  So for now, the morning basket has been moved upstairs into the kitchen.  It’s been too cold to school for any length of time in our downstairs-basement-school area. 

So, once again we are starting our day off at the kitchen table.  It’s so good to be getting back into more of a routine and gathering first thing for morning prayers .  For January, we have added an act of faith, hope and love to our prayer time along with reading about the saint of the day.  Once prayers are concluded the older girls set out to tackle math.  We try to get that knocked out while they are fresh!   Buck and Honeybee are enjoying working with the Hooked on Phonics series and their Explode the Code books.  I’ve also got some art supplies in the basket to occupy one while I’m working with the other.

I also have a folder in the basket for them to hold their finished work.  This week we will be adding this, this, and this to their folders.   God Bless :)

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An "Ordinary" Daybook Entry

Living the liturgy...

Ordinary time began today. We lit the green candle this morning during morning prayers. Actually, it stayed lit on the table all morning. It's nice to get back to work. Last week it never really happened. I caught Honeybee's virus. Not fun!

Focus of the week...

Baptism ~ I am a Child of God. We made these cute shell candles and Snuggle Bug arranged them into a pretty centerpiece. We are also going to try to find photos/video of every one's baptism and enjoy watching together this week. A Year With God has a neat page for baptism too. Hopefully we will make these and I can share them this week.

Around the house....

The Christmas decorations are all put away. Except for my small nativity downstairs on the mantle. I agree with Pope John Paul II, I hate to take it down. All of the Christmas cards/pictures have been taken down from the fridge. We are blessed to have so many beautiful friends. Thank you to all who sent pictures of your beautiful families!

I'm creating....

Folders on my new computer for all of the children. I hope to use these to keep up with what all that's going on around here and also for planning purposes. I find it hard to stop and write everything down. I have notes all over the house :/ I also cringe at following a boxed curriculum. I've tried it and it quickly became more drudgery for us than anything. I'm not saying these aren't great for some... just not for me.

I'm pondering....
"How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?"

Healthy Habits....

The scale was nice to us Saturday morning. We all are feeling so much better eating right. Weight Watchers is such a good plan. I love using the eTools. It really makes the plan so much easier to follow. It tracks your points for you and has tons of recipes to use. I cringe to think how many points we were consuming these last few months. Tomorrow I go for my second meeting. I'm not really focused on the numbers anymore. I just want to feel better and be healthy.

From the kitchen....

Red Beans and Rice

Pork Chops, Rice and Gravy, Green Beans

Boiled Shrimp, Salad

Chicken Stir-fry

Breakfast

I'm thankful for...

Seeing my parent's today. My dad hasn't been feeling well so it was good to see him out and about today. I'm also thankful for the school supplies they dropped off :)

I'm immensely thankful for...

A husband who comes in from work and cooks for us!

One of my favorite things...

A clean house. I'm thinking of making a cleaning schedule for Lent. Maybe deep clean one room per week?

I'm reading....

Graced and Gifted by Kimberley Hahn (still). I'm stuck on the chapter where she rises before dawn.... I am trying to get up by 7 though :)

Serendipity ~ Literature for the young lady for Snuggle Bug, science baskets for Buck

My Picture Thought...

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One of My Favorite Things

Reading wonderful books with your children and then watching them act it out.
Notice how the camel is right over baby Jesus? If you've read the book you know what I'm talking about! :)

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Two Words.....

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009 National Champions

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Small Things With Great Love

As I drove Honeybee to the doctor today, I popped one of our Danielle Rose CDs into the player. She always brings me closer to Our Lord and helps me feel better. There are so many things I want to do. I want to be a homeschooling mom who spends equal time with everyone living in our domestic church. I want to make a schedule for the week and stick to it. I want to really feel like I've got it together and am in control of our schooling. I want to share here the way I see God working through all of our children. I want to learn everything I can each day about living the liturgical year and implement it in our home. Not to mention that I want to be able to find one of our ten pairs of scissors when I need them! There are sooooo many things I want to do! I read other blogs and feel so inadequate. Wait a minute......what's wrong with all of these sentences? Well, they all begin with that bothersome way of thinking. The "I" mode. Like I said in my last post, only God knows exactly what I'll be doing this week. I have to give it all to Him and trust in His plan. How could I know that I'd have a little one miserable with viral tonsillitis the last couple of days? I had planned on working on our progress reports today and getting our "desk work" going again. Ok - that wasn't in His plan.

St. Therese taught us to do small things with great love. This is my prayer. I've added a new element to my sidebar. Song of the day. The song of the day is a place for me to share music that has touched me and given me strength for the day. I hope it will bless you too.

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Plans Change....

God had other thoughts for our day. When we got home from Mass this morning, Buck laid down on the couch and didn't move. He stayed there six hours without moving. Bless his little heart - he was looking pretty puny. At first he didn't feel warm but, by the end of the day his temp was up to 102.7. We didn't get to go and visit with our beloved priest, friend. We did get to hear his pleasant, joy filled voice on the phone though :) What a gift our priest are to us! To live for God and His Church and administer the sacraments to us. Again, what a gift!

Tomorrow The House Cat and Snuggle Bug are back to hitting the books. I'd love to post a wonderful plan for our week. Truth is - only God above really knows what we will be doing.
I love reading Elizabeth, Jessica, and Jennifer's day book entries. Their plans always sound so wonderful. They are all such wonderful writers. I struggle trying to put all that's in my heart to words. I guess that's not one of my gifts :) However, I do give God all of my heart. I want to do all he calls me to. There are so many inspirations I want to try to fulfill. However, most of the time I feel disorganized and am trying to find a better way to do something. I'm reminding myself - you don't fail until you stop trying.

I love living our beautiful Catholic faith. We are truly blessed. I'm so thankful for being led to blog land and all of the support and inspiration I've found. I truly love living the liturgical year! I'm working on a better way to organize all of my "stuff." It's frustrating to waste precious time looking for something you know you have but just can't put your hands on it. I'm thinking of using big plastic bins to sort candles, statues, books etc. by liturgical season. I'm definitely storing our Advent wreath, Saint Nicholas statue, stockings etc separately from our Christmas decorations this year. Anything to save time....

My sweet husband surprised me with a laptop of my own for Christmas. Hopefully, I can learn to utilize all its features and be more proficient in my work for God.

Honeybee needs mama - so I'll go for now. I pray your week is filled with many blessings :)

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Looking Forward to tomorrow…

Tomorrow we celebrate Epiphany, the day the wise men made it to Bethlehem and laid eyes on the baby Jesus. How incredible that must have been! To follow a star and find a new born king, Our Lord and Savior. January 3rd is also a very special day for us. It is the day Buck became a Christian. God is blessing us with a very special treat tomorrow. Our dear priest and friend Fr. Emmanuel is in town and we are planning on spending some time with him. We haven’t seen him in about a year and a half and through God’s providence we will see him tomorrow. Oh, I failed to mention that he baptized Buck! How cool is that? We made star cookies tonight to take and share tomorrow. Check out Catholic Cusinie for the easy sugar cookie recipe.

Buck and Honeybee wanted to play with the extra dough and ended up making these pretty king cookies cakes.

I also have Buck’s baptism candle ready to go with us. I can’t wait for Father to light it and pray over him! What a special blessing that will be!

Last year we had fun making this cake. Also, here’s a post I did on celebrating baptism anniversaries (Christian birthdays), if you’d like to check it out. God Bless and Happy Epiphany!

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Happy New Year!

Mary, Mother of God ~ Pray For Us

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Our New Years Eve Plans

Today we celebrate Pope St. Sylvester. He is remembered for baptizing Emperor Constantine,who was cured from leprosy afterwards. He was the first pope to be called a saint who wasn't also a martyr.

Austrians dedicate this day to him and celebrate how he brought about the dawning of a new era for all of Europe. Sylvester Punch is served on this night.

Well, I don't have the ingredients for that and I know my kids wouldn't drink it! So.... instead I think we will have some yummy ice cream punch instead. To make it you let 1/2 gal (box) of vanilla ice cream soften in a punch bowl. Once it is soft you pour Cream Soda in until full. This is my kind of recipe! Quick, Easy, and Delicious! I'm definitely the semi-homemade kinda cook! :)

I started my day off wondering what movie we could watch tonight as a family. After reading about Austria, I'm definitely thinking of The Sound of Music. I'll get my honey to pick up pizza from Sams on his way home. So we'll enjoy pizza and ice cream punch while we watch our movie. We may as well have one last calorie blow out before tomorrow. Yep, 2010 is our year to get in shape :) I know, I know, you've heard me say it before. But, this time I pray God will give us the grace to do it for HIM! Weight Watchers is calling my name and I'm starting back going to the meetings next week. I've already gone online, picked a meeting time, and added it to my calendar. I weighed this morning -OUCH- :( No wonder I'm staying tired all of the time. Please pray for us as we start this new journey towards eating right and exercising. Watch my sidebar for updates on how we are doing.

I pray you all have a wonderful last day of 2009. May God Bless You All Richly in 2010!

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St.Thomas Becket

Today we remember St. Thomas Becket bishop and martyr. Bethlehem Books has a wonderful living history book about him called, If All the Swords in England. Here's a little about it...

"Young Simon, recently and tragically orphaned, becomes a scribe in the
following of the exiled Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. The uncertainty
of the tumultuous years leading to the infamous cathedral slaying is heightened
by Simon's separation from his twin Edmund, who is in the service of King Henry
II. With an expert pen Barbara Willard deftly recounts events leading to the
bishop's martyrdom in 1170."

Snuggle Bug read it recently and LOVED it.

Saint Thomas Becket ~ Pray For Us!

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Blessing of Children on Holy Innocents (Prayer)

Taken from Catholic Culture.
The feast of the Holy Innocents is a good time to teach the children about their special patrons. There is also a traditional children's blessing for the feast of the Holy Innocents that can be performed by the parents in the absence of a priest's blessing at church.
The father leads everyone present in the Our Father. Then he says the versicle, 'O Lord, hear my prayer,' and all respond, 'And let my cry come unto You.' The father proceeds with this prayer, taken from the blessing for children:
Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, once You embraced and placed Your hands upon the little children who came to You, and said: 'Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and their angels always see the face of my Father!' Look now with fatherly eyes on the innocence of these children and their parents' devotion, and bless them this day through our ministry. (The father signs the forehead of each child with the sign of the cross.) In Your grace and goodness let them advance continually, longing for You, loving You, fearing You, keeping Your commandments. Then they will surely come to their destined home, through You, Savior of the world. Who lives and reigns forever and ever.
All answer, 'Amen.'
Then the father says to the children: 'May God bless you. And may He keep your hearts and minds — the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.'
All answer, 'Amen.'
The father then sprinkles the children with holy water. (The Church's official blessing of children is included in the Roman Ritual.)

Prayer Source: Twelve Days of Christmas, The by Elsa Chaney, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 1955"

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