Why is Fasting Important?

Fasting was instituted by Our Lord as a remedy for our mouth, for our gourmandizing and for our gluttony. Since sin entered the world through the mouth, the mouth must do penance by being deprived of foods prohibited and forbidden by the Church, abstaining from them for the space of forty days. But it is not our mouth alone which has sinned, but also all our other senses, our fast must be general and entire, that is, all the members of our body must fast. For if we have offended God through the eyes, through the ears, through the tongue, and through our other senses, why should we not make them fast as well? - St. Francis DeSales - (1567-1622)

Honeybee Noticed

This morning I gave Honeybee this picture to color. She said, "She's getting ashes like I did last night!" Then she told me she had seen people with green hair before? What impressed me about the coloring was she got the color of the priest's chasuble right. When the priest came out last night she looked at me and said, "He's wearing purple!" She and Buck have been studying the liturgical colors in atrium. It looks like she's been paying attention.

Our Crown of Thorns

We told Jesus we were sorry for all of the thorns as we stuck them into the crown (dough).
Buck and Honeybee have been anxious to be good about things constantly asking to pull out a thorn. I suspect The House Cat and Snuggle Bug have reached the age of making sure they are alone before they remove any. They are such good kids.

Pretzels and Pancakes

Happy Fat Tuesday everybody. I hope you are all as excited as we are about the change of the liturgical season. Tomorrow we will leave the "growing time" (Ordinary time) for a while and begin to prepare for the most important celebration of the year. We have all been talking of ways to draw ourselves closer to Jesus this Lent. We decided to have at least two things we give to God this lent. The first we will share with each other and try to help each other stay on track. The second will be a personal denial that is only shared with Jesus.

We made homemade pretzels today.

We will have these with a simple vegetable soup tomorrow for lunch.

Tonight we will have a BIG pancake supper. In some places Fat Tuesday is called Pancake Tuesday. Buck's excited about this. He LOVES pancakes :) Then tonight we will talk more about replacing worldly activities with Godly ones this Lent. Before bed we'll collect all of the DVDs and videos that have no spiritual meaning and put those away. We'll fill the basket with all of our good spiritual videos. Then I'll drape a purple cloth over the TV which will remind us of our Lord's retreat into the desert and the beginning of Lent. It will stay there all of Ash Wednesday.

On Wednesday we will make our crown of thorns and begin on our Jesus Tree.

We'll go to Mass with dad in the evening and receive the cross of ashes on our foreheads. This is done as a sign of repentance for our sins. The ashes are made from burning last years palm branches. The priest reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return. We must strive to perfect our souls to live forever in heaven with our Lord.

Feb. 2009 Bible Coloring Pages

Here are the links I used for the Coloring Pages for Feb. 2009 Daily Mass Readings.

Feb 1st Jesus teaches in the synagogue
Feb 1st Word Search
Feb 2 The Presentation of the Lord
Feb 2 Simeon and Anna
Feb 3 Jarius' daughter
Feb 3 Woman made clean
Feb 4 Jesus is rejected
Feb 5 Jesus' disciples
Feb 6 John the Baptist
Feb 8 Jesus heals Peter's Mother-in-Law
Feb 8 Gospel Word Search
Feb 9/10 Creation
Feb 11 Adam and Eve
Feb 15 Be made clean
Feb 16 Cain and Abel
Feb 17 Noah's Ark
Feb 19 Noah and the Rainbow
Feb 20 Tower of Babel
Feb 21 The Transfiguration

Preparing for Lent 2009

Ok guys. Lent's almost here! Are you ready? Well, I'm not, but this is a beginning, putting my thoughts together in this post. As I posted before we ordered The Jesus Tree from Scripture Trees. I was sooooo excited when it arrived and somehow I haven't taken it out of the wrapper yet? hum, how time flies. I'd better lay it out and have my scissors ready! I know it is going to make Lent come alive for all of us just as the Jesse Tree did for Advent. Jessica at Shower of Roses has an awesome post from last year. I plan on using this as a guide. She includes coloring sheets, activity pages and scripture readings.


Jesus Tree week one week two week three week four week five week six week seven

More than likely we will read the daily scripture readings with coloring pages as normal with our morning prayers then re-read the bible story of the day from the New Catholic Picture Bible with dad in the evening. The kids will take turns, probably youngest to oldest, putting the symbols on the tree. I think this will be a wonderful way to bring our Lord and His life to "life" for us all. This will be a great way to grow closer to Jesus as we prepare to celebrate Easter.

Now, for self denial. This is something that is all but lost in our culture today. It is such a beautiful gift of self and truly pleasing to our Lord. He did teach us (it is in giving that we receive). This is easier to do outside the home. Especially when you are together ALOT as homeschooling families are. However, this is the MOST important place to start!!!!!
I'm thinking of giving each member of the family a jar with a lid (like a Mason jar). Each time that person gives of himself he/she will put a treat in the jar. (jelly beans, skittles, m&m s).
Older children won't need as much supervision as little ones ;)
After Easter Sunday Mass, we will take our jars and look at all the little presents we gave Jesus during Lent. Then we get to enjoy the treats during the Easter season.

Last year we made a Crown of Thorns. We'll probably do this again. Actually we may do this instead of the candy. I'm sure there will be more than enough of that around here come Easter.

Materials: 4 c. flour 1 c. salt Water Toothpicks

Directions:Mix flour and salt. Mix enough water to make a stiff clay. (A little warmth helps dissolve the salt.) Knead until smooth to remove any air bubbles. Roll three long ropes and loosely braid them. Form braid into a circle and stick toothpicks loosely throughout the entire crown (If they are embedded too deeply they cannot be pulled out intact.) Bake at 350° F for an hour or until it is dry and light brown.

On Ash Wednesday, follow the instructions above to make a salt dough crown of
thorns with your children, anticipating Lenten sacrifices your family hopes to
make. Place the crown in a prominent place in your home; it makes an excellent
centerpiece for your dining room table, and placing it upon a royal purple cloth
has a striking effect.
For each Lenten sacrifice a family member makes, he
or she pulls a toothpick out of the crown. This activity makes a great visual
reminder of Christ’s suffering: Parents can explain to their children that sin
brings additional pain to Jesus’ suffering and good works can comfort Him and
show our love for Him.
The goal should be to remove all “thorns” from the
crown by Easter. Once all the “thorns” have been removed, you can paint the
crown gold or otherwise decorate it with colorful craft jewels, beads, or
flowers where the “thorns” once were as a sign of the triumph of our risen King.
This makes a beautiful Easter Sunday centerpiece with a great story to share
with your guests. (Stacy Mitch in her article “Hearts at Home: Living the Liturgy as Preparation for Our Heavenly Home” in the November/December ’06 issue of Lay Witness)

This looks like a very informative lapbook. I'll probably wait a year or two and use this with Buck and Honeybee. As for The House Cat and Snuggle Bug, we'll see where the Holy Spirit leads us.

Snuggle Bug will be reading

The House Cat will be Reading

Thanks Mary for letting me know about the Lenten adventure from Holy Heroes. I look forward to getting the "free" emails and seeing what it has to offer.

That's all for now. I pray for you all to have a blessed Lent. God Bless

The House Cat's turn...

This is the cover of The House Cats lapbook she's been working on for February 2nd.

Up Next...

Snuggle Bug's Picture Collage of places we visited in Louisiana.

Playing Catch-up

Today we are trying to catch up on lots of work. I hope to have a lot of postings to share..

First up: Buck's Journal of our trip to Louisiana along with his coloring of a turtle. We saw tons of turtles "sun bathing" on logs in the bayou.

Happy Birthday Snuggle Bug!

We had a great day today celebrating the gift of our snuggle bug. It's hard to believe she's now double digits! She is such a joy!

I hope to get back to posting soon. I haven't been feeling too well since our trip.

I'll have to take a rain check on WoW this week. I'm not sure I want to know the tale of the tape

We picked up The Passion of Bernadette. I'd better get the little ones ready for bed so when can check it out. God Bless.

950 miles later.............We're home!

Well, you just never know what lies ahead. We had an unexpected death in the family on Tuesday. We headed out for Louisiana Wednesday morning and 950 miles later we returned home last night. It was a bitter sweet trip. My honey's cousin was taken to his eternal reward leaving behind a wife and two children. It was heartbreaking sharing in their loss and also wonderful to see so many family members whom we never get to see. We are thankful to our heavenly father for a safe trip.

The kids had never been to Louisiana. They saw so many wonderful things. I'll be sharing some of that soon. On our way home yesterday, we stopped in New Orleans and visited Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral. We even had beignets at Cafe du Monde. They were YUMMY! Although my honey said they couldn't touch his grandmama's! :)

St. Scholastica

Today we remember a holy nun who was the twin sister of St. Benedict. We started our morning prayers reading this wonderful book. It was a birthday gift to The House Cat many years ago from a dear friend. Thanks again if you're reading this. You know who you are :)

I couldn't find a coloring sheet of St. Scholastica so I went with this one of a nun.

For supper we'll have Chicken Linguine with Red Sauce and a side dish of spinach.

The kids spoke of acting out a skit of this today. We'll see if they put on a show for us after supper.

St. Scholastica - Pray For Us!!!

Picture from Yesterday!!!

This is Snuggle Bug's notebook page on the Snowdrop flower which blooms on or near to The Presentation of the Lord, on Feb 2. Don't you think she did a nice job?

A Blessed Woman's Daybook

For Today
Monday, February 9, 2009

Outside My Window...
Skies are gray but the temps. warmer. The kids are all in the backyard already. Even The House Cat's back there. She and Snuggle Bug discovered a tree they could climb and sit in for inspiration. They've been discussing what they should name it :)

I am thinking...
I'm glad we'll be home for the most part this week. Last week was very busy with blessings!!!
On Wed. I took my mom to see a Rheumatologist. They x-rayed her entire body and took lots of blood. He thinks she may have fibromyalgia. We'll go back next week for her test results. Please keep her in your prayers. Thursday was children's theater and art class and Friday we went shopping with our tax refund, which was fun but tiring. My honey and I went for a guitar jam on Friday night. Then on Sat. we signed Buck up for T-ball after that, we had lunch with friends from India. I see a big lapbook on India coming up soon. After lunch, more errands for my honey then I actually went to Kohl's for a couple of hours to shop for myself :) I got home around 9:30 and then studied for atrium until 11:00p.m.. Sunday was an early start with 8:30am Mass and then Atrium until 11:30. I can't relay in words how much of a blessing it is to learn The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd! God is so good! The more I give of myself the richer I become!

I am thankful for...
The two hour nap my honey let me get yesterday afternoon. I sure needed it!!!

From the learning rooms...
Let's see.....
The House Cat's continuing math(Saxon 8/7) as usual. She's also working on a lapbook for Feb.2. She's reading Shakespeare's Richard III and continuing to write her book, Kainra. Continuing Apologia General Science and Catholic World Culture (Seton).

Snuggle Bug finished her math(Saxon 5/4) and is waiting for her next book to come in. We went with MCP for now. I'm thinking it will be a little more relaxed than the Saxon. She is reading The Hobbit and books from Along the American History Trail.Continuing Seton's Science 4 and Intermediate Language Lessons.

Buck's continuing Hooked on Phonics, Explode the Code, and I'm waiting on Miquon Math Lab Materials: Orange Book Level 1 to come in. I used this with the older girls and think he's ready for it now. He loves playing with the Cuisenaire Rods so we'll see.

Honeybee's moving onto Letter B from Serendipity's Along the Alphabet Path. I still need to make her a folder for that. She and Buck continue to enjoy coloring the daily scripture coloring sheets (posted on my sidebar)

I am reading...
Precious Treasure The Story of Patrick


Around the house...
Things are pretty messy :) It's too hard to keep the house nice and tidy when you're on the go.

One of my favorite things...
The light in children's eyes when they speak of God.

A picture thought I'm sharing...
I'm having trouble getting the pic uploaded???? Not from the digital camera this time.... I scanned it onto the computer but can't get it onto my blog??? Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. For now I'll post without it :(

For more daybook enteries visit Peggy.

WoW - Week 2

I had a busy week and weekend but was able to hang in there and make smart eating choices. I even exercised a little and was able to keep going and going and going :)

Results for WoW week 2:

Week 2 Weight Loss/Gain: -2 pounds
Week 2 Inches Loss/Gain: -1 1/4 inches
Overall Results: -9 pounds and -9 3/4 inches


Plans for Week 3:

Continue to Walk Away the Pounds with the one mile walk. The House Cat did the two mile last night. Man is it FAST. I'll have to stick to the one mile for a while!!!! Way to go House Cat, I'm SOOOOOO proud of you!

Continue trying new recipes from Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way: Healthy Menus, Recipes, and the Shopping Lists That Will Keep the Whole Family at the Dinner Table

Spend some time looking through The New Glucose Revolution Low GI Family Cookbook: Raise Food-Smart Kids--100 Fun and Delicious Recipes Made Healthy with the Glycemic Index.

Stay away from as much refined sugar as possible!!!

To see more WoW results visit Regina. Keep up the good work girls!

Please pray for Amy Welborn and family

Amy Welborn's husband, Michael Dubruiel, was taken suddenly to his eternal reward yesterday. Please pray for the repose of his soul and for Amy and their family who are grieving.

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

The Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes begins today or yesterday if you remembered. :)
I'm hoping this will be our night prayers for the next nine nights. Then on the last night (Feb 11) we'll try to go to our parish for family movie night and watch the movie Bernadette .

January 2009 Bible Coloring Pages

Here are the links I used for the Coloring Pages for Jan. 2009 Daily Mass Readings.

Jan 15 Jesus heals the leper
Jan 16 Paralytic lowered through roof
Jan 17 The call of Levi
Jan 18 God calls Samuel
Jan 18 Christ changes Simon's name
Jan 19 Priest
Jan 20 Grain
Jan 21 Jesus heals man with withered hand
Jan 22 Protect the unborn baby
Jan 24 Angel blowing trumpet
Jan 25 Fishers of men
Jan 25 Nineveh repents
Jan 26 Psalm 96:1
Jan 28 Parable of the Sower
Jan 30 Parable of the Mustard seed
Jan 31 Jesus calms storm

The Presentation : A celebration of Light

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Another name for today is Candlemas We'll read about this as a family and I'll also read to Buck and Honeybee from their children's picture bible. I've shared two coloring sheets on the sidebar for today. They'll color those and add to their folders.


By Sun and Candlelight has a lovely post with sooo many ideas for celebrating today. She shares

"In the early sixteenth century the monks at Melrose Abbey in Scotland, dedicated to Mary, believed that the snowdrop, which grew in the Mary garden there, bloomed on February 2 in memory of the Virgin Mary presenting her child Jesus to the temple ... The pure white flower became an emblem of Our Lady's purity." (Mary's Flowers)

Also, Blessed Among Men shares a Candlemas Fair based on Time, Light, and Purification by Trial. There are many more ideas here you can incorporate into your celebration.


Here's an article I ran upon with a cute poem for copywork.

If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas brings cloud and rain
Winter is gone and won't come again

I'll probably have Snuggle Bug copy this and The House Cat copy the excerpt from "Mary's Flower's " above.

We are going to search the house and gather all the candles. Tonight we'll have a candlelight dinner. Then we'll end our day with these night prayers.

7 Quick Atrium Takes

This afternoon I begin my third training weekend of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Here are seven quick takes on the atrium:

1. Children gather in a room specially prepared for them, called an atrium, which contains simple yet beautiful materials that they use to draw near to God. In the early church, the atrium was the place where the catechumens were prepared. For the child, the atrium is a place of preparation for involvement in the larger worshipping community.

2. Older children who read often copy parables from the Bible, put in order the prayers from the rite of baptism, or label a long time line showing the history of the kingdom of God.

3. In an atrium the child can ponder a biblical passage or a prayer by taking the material for that text and working with it – placing wood figures of sheep in a sheepfold of the Good Shepherd or setting sculpted apostles around a Last Supper table.

4. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is the result of a long period of careful observation of children by Sofia Cavalletti and her Montessori collaborator, Gianna Gobbi, in Rome.

5. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd has grown and spread amazingly. At last count it is in 32 countries: Australia, Austria, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico, Serbia/Bosnia, Slovenia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Uruguay, and the United States. In the United States there are hundreds of atria in Catholic and Episcopal settings, as well as several other Christian churches.

6. There are three levels of courses, focusing on children ages 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12

7. The atrium is a place where children fall in love with God.


All information provided can be found at the CGS website

Our Lady of Altagracia - Lapbook

Snuggle Bug and I enjoyed working on this lap book together.

Some books we read for this study were:

What a sweet acrostic poem!

WoW - Week 1

Well, I'm very pleased with my first weeks results. I know every week won't be this drastic. I'm feeling sooo much better having cut way back on the sugar and white, processed foods. I love Walk Away the Pounds and look forward to it each day. I feel so much more energized!!



So..... here are the results from week one:

weight: -5 lbs.

inches: -2" (waist)
-1 1/2" (chest)
-1 1/2" (hips)
-1 1/2" (thigh)
-1 1/2" (arm)
Grand Total =
8 inches!!!!!! WOW. I do give myself a +/- 3 margin of error since I measured myself the first time. I had help today :)


Plans for the week:

' Continue to Walk Away the Pounds with my family
' Continue to research low glycemic foods and make good eating choices.

Visit Regina's blog for more WoW results.

History - Perfect Timing

The Snuggle Bug and I are headed off on an adventure. Can't wait for all of the library books to come in.

We've been loosely using How America Grew (by Sharkely, Margaret, Furlong)
However, we get burnt out quickly, sticking with one text. So you can imagine how blessed I felt to have Elizabeth over at Serendipity
post this unit study yesterday. She also blogs at In the Heart of My Home, which is one of the blogs I follow on my sidebar.

This just happens to be the exact chapter in history Snuggle Bug just finished reading.
God Is So Good!

My Daybook Entry for Jan. 26, 2009

Outside My Window...

A new day has begun. The birds are singing, squirrels are scampering, and I'm feeling blessed to be here.


I am thinking...

About seeing so many wonderful friends yesterday at our home school faculty meeting.


I am praying for...

My close friends who have life growing within and those who did and now have given that life back to God.

I'm creating...

A list of books from the Mater Ambalis site. I'm also starting a list of wants/needs for next year.


From the kitchen...

Sugar free French Vanilla liquid creamer in my coffee. It's a BIG change for me to give up the sugar. However, the results are worth it! I feel like a new person. My family's wondering about me. "Whys mom up at 6am????"



I am going...

To stay home Mon-Thur this week and get things in order for the weekend. My next training session for The Catechises of the Good Shepherd start Friday afternoon.

I am reading...

The Religious Potential of the Child: Experiencing Scripture and Liturgy with Young Children, How to Get the Most out of the Eucharist, For the Love of Literature


I am hoping...

My dear Sister in Christ, Lynn, has good news today



Around the house...

A few sniffles. Otherwise all is well and hopefully tonight we'll continue to Walk Away the Pounds together.


One of my favorite things...

Family Rosary by candlelight


A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Dig into our schoolwork, catch up the laundry and keep it going. Stay away from sugar and exercise. Then my "mini" retreat begins on Friday.


Here are a few pics I'd like to share...











Finally the computer recognized the camera and uploaded the pics. The first one was done by Snuggle Bug, the next ones are The House Cat's Christmas lap book. Good work girls!

Baga Fries

So what are Baga Fries? Well, I would have never thought of this - but I got the recipe from my new cookbook Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way: Healthy Menus, Recipes, and the Shopping Lists That Will Keep the Whole Family at the Dinner Table. They weren't too bad. Kind of a sweet french fry.

If you want to give it a try here's what you do.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Peel a large rutabaga and cut into french fries.
Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray.
Toss the fries in a bowl with 1 Tbls of olive oil. Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
Lay in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Bake 20 min, turn them over, and bake another 20 min.

Everyone ate them but Buck and Honeybee. Buck leaned over to me and said, "Mom, these aren't like dad's fries." Too cute.