Snuggle Bug's "Dove"

I shouldn't have been surprised by Snuggle Bug's choice of copywork from When it Snowed That Night. She's my nature lover - birds especially. She was extremely excited when an American Goldfinch stopped to take a rest on the deck on Saturday. It was the first she had seen in our back yard. She said, "Mom, it must have migrated here for winter." :)

She used one of these Christmas Notebooking pages.

My Daybook ~ 2nd Week of Advent

For Today ~ Monday, December, 7th 2009.

Outside my window ~ Cloudly. The snow has melted. The kids were soooo excited to see it on the ground Saturday morning. I can't remember the last time it snowed here in Alabama in early December!

I'm thinking of ~ How wonderful life is when you live the liturgical year. There's Always something to look forward to. Always something to help you grow to be the person God has created you to be. We are definitely back to staying "Busy With Our Blessings!" Thank you Jesus for that!

~Liturgical Year Living ~

Sunday Dec 6th - The Second Sunday of Advent and The Feast of St. Nicholas.

The kids slippers were still like new from last year so I had them put them outside their bedroom doors before bed. The "spirit" of St. Nick was in the house last night leaving coins and goodies in their slippers. Just like St. Nicholas used to do to help those in need. His coins were real - ours were chocolate :) Each child also had a book placed under their shoes :

I just LOVE this book that we use in the atrium! I'm so glad to have added a copy of it to our library. Buck likes his "Battle for Heaven" book and we all enjoyed the new Veggie Tales DVD. We had a little family movie time watching it and Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa. Another of our favorites. The Housecat and Snuggle Bug got these beautiful books I found at Dollar Tree with these beautiful Christian notepads.

Monday Dec 7 ~ Saint Ambrose ~

St. Ambrose is also known as the "Honey-Tongued Doctor," a pun on the saint's
name (the word for honey in Latin is ambrosia); his preaching was said to be
mellifluous, as sweet as flowing honey. Also according to legend, when Ambrose
was a baby, a swarm of bees settled on his mouth, an omen that he would be a
great orator. St. Ambrose is the patron of bee keepers, bees, candlemakers,
domestic animals, learning, Milan Italy, and students. He is often depicted with
a beehive or bees in his iconography, symbols which also indicate wisdom. (Taken from Catholic Culture)

We'll read the story from Once upon a time Saints about Saint Ambrose. You could also make ambrosia fruit salad today. My mom made some for Thanksgiving and it was so yummy :)

Many people make a Christ Candle today. Jessica has a great post on this. You could also try your hand at candle making.

I haven't gotten our Christmas Candle yet. There are soooo many things to learn about living the liturgical year! I don't mind though - I love to learn. I hope I'm instilling this in our children as well.

Tuesday Dec 8 ~ Feast of The Immaculate Conception ~

We celebrate the sublime privilege by which Mary, alone among all human beings
and in virtue of the future merits of Christ, was preserved at the very first
moment of conception from the stain of original sin. It is true, of course, that
in origin and in principle this great feast does not have any relationship with
the time of Advent. It was fixed on December 8 in order to separate the feast by
nine months from the date of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin on September 8.
However, in celebrating this feast we may easily enter into the spirit of
Christmastide, for the feast is like the dawn of the Sun of Christmas. Mary is
our hope, guide, and mother along the path of salvation. (Catholic Culture)

Cover your Christ Candle with a blue cloth today. Leave it covered until Christmas Eve. Go to Mass if not on the vigil.

Wednesday, Dec. 9 ~ Saint Juan Diego ~

I'll pull out these tilmas the kids made last year and we'll watch this video about him. I also hope to start making a pinata to have for our mexican celebration on Saturday.

Thursday, Dec. 10 ~ Our Lady of Loreto~

Sweet were the days the Blessed Virgin Mary spent with Saint
Joseph and the Holy Child in their modest little home. Their life within the
clay walls was affluent with poverty, resonant with silence, and illustrious in
humility. "Her actual life, both at Nazareth and later, must have been a very
ordinary one..." said Saint Therése, the Little Flower of Jesus, who once
visited the Holy House. "She should be shown to us as someone who can be
imitated, someone who lived a life of hidden virtue, and who lived by faith as
we must." This beautiful and much needed lesson of extraordinary sanctity in
very ordinary circumstances, is precisely what the humble and Holy House of
Loreto bespeaks to us.

A Year With God has a wonderful activity to accompany The Litany of Loreto.

Saturday, Dec.12 ~ Our Lady of Guadalupe~

How about a fiesta? Enchiladas, tacos, Mexican wedding cookies (a fav.of my honey) and a pinata for the kids. One day I hope to see Saint Juan Diego's tilma.

Sunday Dec.13 ~Third Sunday of Advent and Saint Lucy ~

Make St. Lucia crowns. Here's a picture from Shower of Roses celebration. If time permits Saturday, we'll try making this beautiful braided bread crown for Sunday breakfast. Maybe we'll even wake the troops with the candlelight:)

We are reading ~ Lots of great books from Christmas Mosaic. Also, The House Cat, Snuggle Bug and I are reading Beautiful Girlhood together. We are thankful to have been asked to be a part of this bible study. We met yesterday and had a wonderful time! I was surprised and blesssed by the girls sharing.

May we all be blessed abundantly as we live the week for God!

Visit Peggy for daybook inspiration.

7 Quick Takes ~ Wrapping Up ~ 1st Week of Advent

1. Thanking God today for another year lived growing closer to Him! My sweet honey is making Craw fish Fettuccine for my birthday supper tonight. YUM!
2. Shopping with my mom for a while this afternoon. Will be like old times :) Then home for supper with my parents and honey and the kids :)
3. We are really looking forward to confession tomorrow morning. We try to go at least once a month but, haven't been since before my surgery.
4. 3:00 tomorrow - SEC Championship - Alabama vs. Florida - ROLL TIDE! Planning on going to my parents for the game. Got a feeling it will be another nail biter :/ Hopefully we'll get a good family pic. for our Christmas card.
5. Sunday morning we will have our Advent Celebration in the Good Shepherd Atrium. The House Cat's been working on songs to come in and share with us. The kids just LOVE this :)
6. The Knights of Columbus are having a blood drive Sunday morning. My hubby will be in the parish hall sharing and helping after Mass. I tell you, I have a new appreciation of blood donation after needing a blood transfusion in the hospital myself a few years ago. Thank you to all who give blood to help others!
7. The girls and I are reading Beautiful Girlhood and looking forward to joining in a mother/daughter bible study after PSR on Sundays for the next few months.

Visit Conversion Diary for more quick takes. Have a Great Weekend!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mommy Can I Help? ~

Honeybee loves her new vacuum!

Visit WW for more wordless fun.

Our Saint Andrew’s Day Celebration

We had a great time yesterday celebrating Saint Andrew.  This is a special day in our home.  My honey choose Saint Andrew as his Confirmation patron saint.  He said he did so because he loved Saint Andrew’s zeal for the Lord.  He chose to follow Jesus and was strong in doing so.  I pray for God to continue to strengthen my honey through the intercession of Saint Andrew.

The kids and I had fun making St. Andrew Scones.

 We marked each scone with an X in rememberance of him dying on an X shaped cross.

They enjoyed playing with the extra dough while the scones baked. Then we had a nice tea partyI asked my honey what he wanted for his special supper….  My fisherman is a country boy! We ended our day with a short clip from Jesus of Nazareth.  (Including of course St. Andrew)  We also lit our Advent wreath, sang our Advent songs, opened a door on our Advent calendar, and prayed together before turning in.  It was a wonderful end to a great day!

My Advent Daybook

For today ~ Monday November 30, 2009 ~ Happy New Year Everyone! What a wonderful way to begin our preparations for the birth of Our Savior. A new liturgical year - a fresh start- preparing our homes and our hearts!

Outside my window ~ Rain. It isn't dampening our spirits though!

Around the house ~ Snuggle Bug set up our beautiful Advent wreath with purple and pink candles standing tall ready to welcome the King. The entertainment stand is freshly dusted (and cleared away of the junk it attracts.) Now you can actually see the liturgical candle burning brightly! Our new Advent calendar is waiting for us to begin peeking in it's doors tonight. Yes, we were planning on starting yesterday but, God had other plans for us :)

Last night ~ A call from my hubby's oldest brother. He's passing through town with his two sons. Would we come and visit with them at their sister's home here in town? You bet! You just can't let that opportunity pass you by. Even if it is passed the little one's bed time and Honeybee is still coughing :/

One (or some) of my favorite things ~ Excitement in the air. Spontaneity. Laughter!

I'm working on ~ Our Christmas list. I'm really leaning towards doing most of my shopping on Amazon this year. It just seems soooo much easier. Easier on the body and on the nerves :) I'm also getting ready for a run to the library. Time to drop off Thanksgiving books and pick up the Advent ones :)

I'm hearing ~ Snuggle Bug, Buck and Honeybee singing The Advent Wreath Song. No doubt they are sitting around it upstairs :) The dryer is running. Do I hear The House Cat shuffling around upstairs after a late night?

First week of Advent ~ Read aloud a story from The Jesse Tree each day. This is a book about Our Lord's family tree. Fling Wide the Doors Advent Calendar, prayers, and Advent songs each evening before bed.

~In the Advent basket ~ Cobweb Christmas, the tradition of tinsel on the tree. The Cobweb Curtain. The Christmas Cobwebs. Christmas Is..... by Jan Brett. B is for Bethlehem. Christmas in the Stable. S is for Star. When it Snowed that Night. All For The Newborn Baby. Apple Tree Christmas. The Attic Christmas. Christmas Tapestry. The Anne of Green Gables Christmas Treasury. Christmas With Victoria (2002).

Looking forward to ~ Celebrating my birthday this week with my family. The music of the season. I'm especially enjoying The House Cat bringing her guitar into atrium and sharing Advent songs with all of us. She'll come for our Advent celebration next Sunday morning.

Feast Days This Week ~ Monday Nov.30 ~ Saint Andrew. Plans: Print these fish for Buck and Honeybee to color. Explain why the fish is used as a Christian Symbol.

The fish is a symbol of the Christian faith because the letters of the Greek
word for fish, "ichthys" form an acronym for the Greek phrase, "Jesus Christ,
Son of God, Savior". Early Christians, during the time of persecutions when it
was not safe to be a known as a Christian, drew a fish in the ground in order to
secretly identify themselves to other believers. Even today one sees this fish
symbol, often containing the Greek letters spelling "fish", on religious
articles and even on bumper stickers.

Maybe make Saint Andrew Scones for snack time. Watch the part of Jesus of Nazareth that has Saint Andrew on it. Here are some other links for your Saint Andrew Day Celebration.

Other Saints we celebrate this week: Saint Edmund Campion, Saint Francis Xavier, Saint John Damascene and on Sunday Saint Nicholas. I hope to share more plans for these celebrations later.

~ My Picture Thought ~

This is how my mom's pecan pie looked when we arrived for Thanksgiving dinner. My dad can never wait until Thursday for his first piece of pecan pie :)

I pray for God to richly bless you and your families as we begin our Advent season. Love, Lori

Visit Peggy for more daybook inspiration!

Wordless Wednesday ~Fall Outside and In~

Go here for more WW fun.

Our Thanksgiving Menu 2009

~Turkey~

~Mama's Cornbread Stuffing~

Made the way her mama made it - scratch cornbread, onion, celery, eggs, chicken broth and lots of sage. YUM!

~Honey Glazed Ham~

~Sweet Potato Crunch~

One of my favorites :)

~Green Bean Casserole~

For my honey :)

~Squash Casserole~

Granny's recipe. A new addition this year.

~Mashed Potatoes and Gravy~

For The House Cat and Snuggle Bug

~Nae-Nae's Macaroni and Cheese~

For Buck and Honeybee

~Cranberry Sauce and Crescent Rolls~

For Dessert

Mama's Pecan Pie~

~Sour Cream Pound Cake~

~The House Cat's Apple Pie~

~Snuggle Bug's Pumpkin Pie~

Lemon Lush~

My stomach is growling and my mouth is watering as I work on this post! You know - the first Thanksgiving lasted for three days.....Looks like we'll need three days to eat all of this food!

P.S. I've spent WAY too much time today working on this and trying to get all of my pics and captions lined up. It's still not how I want it.... It all looks fine on the page I compose it. But, when I post it it looks like this :/

If anybody knows of a good book or link I can use to learn more about how this works PLEASE SHARE :)

My Thanksgiving Week Daybook Entry

For Today ~ Monday, November 23, 2009

Outside my window ~ The sky is grey and the ground is covered with a beautiful blanket of colorful leaves. Only a few pretty red leaves are left hanging onto the top of our Sugar Maple in the front yard.


I am hoping ~ To get outside with the kids and collect some of these beautiful leaves before they are all gone. I have this wonderful book checked out from the library. I hope to be able to do a little something from it. It's very informative. It tells you how to clean and prepare the leaves you bring in. I also read an article on decorating your home with them. It said to press them in a book and display in small glass beakers and vases. Very Beautiful :)

I am hearing ~ More stuffy nose sniffles and coughs :( We all just finished a round of antibiotics for strep throat and sinus infections. I sure was hoping that would get us through the end of the year.

I am praying for ~ The House Cat's nerve conduction study to go well tomorrow. I'm hoping it will give us the answers to why her arm is still bothering her after all this time. I'm also keeping a dear friend and her family in my prayers as she takes care of her aged father who was just diagnosed with pneumonia and 4th stage lung cancer.

I am thinking of ~ My time spent in our Good Shepherd Atrium yesterday. I just love working with little children. Seeing the wonder in their eyes as they listen to a lesson on The Land of Israel or The Annunciation is just so enduring. I tried to be a good girl and sit in a chair for my lessons... At one point I found myself down on a mat with a child helping them to paste the symbols on the land of Israel map. A sweet brown eyed 4 year old placed her hand on my shoulder and said, "Mrs. Lori, You're not supposed to be on the floor!" :) Too cute!

The House Cat came in and shared Advent songs with us at the end of class. I am so glad she's able to play her guitar again. The 3 year olds enjoyed learning these new songs and the 4 and 5 year olds picked right up on them from last year. I think their favorite was the Advent Wreath Song....Sitting with my brothers, sitting with my sisters, sitting by the advent wreath. Waiting with my brothers, waiting with my sisters, waiting by the advent wreath. Why are we waiting boys? Why are we waiting girls? Who are we waiting for? Stand up and sing. HE is the KING! He is the Lord of Lords! That's who we're waiting for, that's who we're waiting for!

Preparing for Thanksgiving ~ We are enjoying Reading ~Cranberry Thanksgiving, P is for Pilgrim, One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, and Watching Mouse on the Mayflower, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving,and William Bradford and The First Thanksgiving.


I'm also making our Thanksgiving shopping list. I'll share more on that later :) We will celebrate with my parent's this year. I'm so thankful to have them so close now.

I am planning on perusing Enchanted Learning's Site for activities for Buck and Honeybee. Last year we had fun with this.

Living the Liturgical Year ~ Today we celebrate St. Clement and Bl. Miguel Pro. We read a wonderful poem on Miguel Pro this morning from Cloud of Witnesses II. Once Upon a Time Saints had a great story on St. Clement, the second bishop of Rome. Tomorrow we remember St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions. Wednesday, it's Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Thursday - St. John Berchmans. Saturday we celebrate Saint Catherine Laboure. This will be a great day for a craft on The Miraculous Medal!

Then on Sunday ADVENT begins!

One of my favorite things ~ Music. All kinds. As long as God likes the message :) Right now I'm listening to I'd Need A Savior by Among the Thirsty.

I actually Enjoy ~ Clothing my family. Yes, that includes doing the laundry! I'm so thankful to be back in action there!

May God Bless You and Your Family This Week :) Love, Lori

Visit Peggy for more daybook fun!

7 Quick Takes From A Very Blessed Week

1. The week started off wonderfully. We were all together for Mass on Sunday.
2. I was able to go back into the atrium after Mass and co-listen to God with the children.
3. Sunday evening me and my honey made it to our Teams of Our Lady prayer group meeting. It was so wonderful to see everyone and to pray for our marriages and our families! We felt like we were on a date :) The kids had a good time hanging out at Nae-Nae and Pap-Paw's house.
4. We celebrated my honey's b'day on Monday with a wonderful meal and special time together.
5. Buck and Honeybee both did an excellent job with their reading lessons on Wednesday.
6. I was able to make it to The Confraternity of Christian Mother's meeting last night. Yesterday was the nine week mark since my surgery! It definitely took NINE weeks to feel almost back to normal. I am so thankful to be feeling better and to be able to drive without discomfort!
7. Today I took the kids to gym day. They all had a great time and I enjoyed "watching" them all running around smiling. Who knows, maybe next month I'll be running around with them ?

I'm so glad I took a minute to sit down and think about my week. I am so thankful to be getting back into the saddle again! I so needed to be back in the atrium with the kids, at the prayer meeting with my honey, and at the CCM meeting. These things all fill up my cup!

Visit Conversion Diary for more quick takes:) Have a blessed weekend. ROLL TIDE!

Wordless Wednesday ~More B'day Fun

We are blessed to celebrate lots of birthdays this time of the year.

Monday was my awesome honey's turn.
Thank you God for him!

Visit WW for more fun.

Happy 6th Birthday Buck!

Yesterday we celebrated Buck's 6th birthday



We had a busy, fun-filled day.

First, he made his cake (with the help of his sisters).

As we were cracking the eggs, I remembered the book, The Hen Can't Help It, in the library basket. We took a minute to compare our egg to the fertilized one in the book. A quick science lesson :)

While the cake was cooking we made a batch of homemade play dough.

Once the cake cooled, we set out to make the Alabama - Roll Tide Cake he wanted. Unfortunately, I failed to make a picture of the first icing attempt. Note to self: I'm not on Food Network for a reason. I thought I'd try out Paula Deen's wax paper trick. You know, the one where you put the wax paper on your serving dish to keep it nice and clean while you are frosting the cake. My mistake....The wax paper should have been only on the edges of the cake bottom. Guess what happened when I went to remove the wax paper? Yep, the cake spilt into thirds.

God gave me the grace to laugh.

My mom was sweet enough to bring another container of icing.

The second attempt turned out great and twice as sweet :)

ROLL TIDE ROLL! (9-0)

He was about to burst to open his presents!

First he got some camouflage duct tape from Honeybee.



Then a guitar from his sisters: Passed down from The House Cat to Snuggle Bug to Buck.

A BB Gun from his daddy. (To be used under strict supervision only with daddy!)

And last but not least....

A fiddle from my parents. He's been wanting one ever since we saw L'Angelus live on Life on the Rock. He was soooo excited!

He had a BIG birthday!