Beach Party Crashers!

Last week Steven had to work in Houston and we wanted to tag along.  We weren't sure where the kids and I were going to stay even the day before, but his sister offered for us to come join a bunch of their family at the beach house they had rented for the week in Surfside since there was extra space after some weekend guests had left.  The kids and I had a blast with the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents and it was just what we needed to help get us through this hot and hard summer!  Only wish that Steven (and the other family members) could have joined us.  Thanks for welcoming us and letting us crash the beach party, B family!  (These are my good camera photos, iPhone photo collages here)

One of my favorites of the weekend...

My lens kept fogging up from here on, so lots of the photos are fuzzy.

Not from the beach, but a few photos from the pool with my parents later in the week...

And a few favorite iPhone photos...

These are all of Steven's dad's "flags" that he has for all his kids and grandkids.  He puts them up whenever we are together.  We just gave him the new one on the left for our "Katie bug."

Grampatti's Birthday

And my other favorite photo of the weekend!  Adorable!

~~~

And I can't end this post tonight without acknowledging the deep loss of dear Aunt Katie this morning.  Here she is smiling at the walk for pancreatic cancer a few months ago.  We hope she has flown swiftly to Heaven and will be praying for all of us!

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.  

May she rest in peace.  Amen.

Lip Sync Battle-"Can't Hold Us" by Blair and the Kids

Joining Kelly's Lip Sync Battle with a crazy living room performance by Blair as Macklemore, Mary Clare (who didn't want to dance, only crochet), Ellie as Ryan Lewis, and Steven and Thomas as back-ups, with little Katie in attendance.  Enjoy!

 

Sanctity of Human Life

This has been at the forefront of my mind this week.  First of all, Steven's Aunt Katie is in the final days of her fight with pancreatic cancer.  She is a beautiful, joyful woman who served the Church with love for many years.  I've never had the privilege of meeting her in person, but I feel grateful that we were able to form a relationship through email and Facebook in the past few years.  It's been so touching to read others' messages to her on her Facebook wall.  It makes me cry every time as I read what an impact she has had on so many people.  Students, friends, and family are all praying her through these final days with their focus on Heaven.

This weekend I read the touching story of Mary Lenaburg of the Passionate Perseverance blog.  Her story is so moving, and it takes awhile to read, but it is truly a message of hope.  Her daughter Courtney has significant special needs, and yet her life is a reflection of God's love and faithfulness.  She witnesses to the sanctity of life to so many people around the world, and I'm grateful to be able to follow her story and read about such a special soul.

Today was a local adoption celebration for a little boy from our local community.  He is Thomas' age and his mother is very involved in the Church in our area.  It was an honor to get to share this evening with them.  Although our friends are already grandparents with all but one child grown and out of the house, they welcomed this sweet boy into their family with open arms.  A friend recalled when someone asked if anyone could take some children who needed an immediate home, and this woman immediately said YES.  I can imagine the feeling of being almost empty nesters, and yet starting over again with a new child.  What a message to the world on the sanctity of life and the blessing of adoption.

The party tonight was hosted by the most dear mother and grandmother I have had the privilege of getting to know while living in Corpus Christi.  I should add her to my list of the Things I'll Miss About Corpus Christi.  Sharon is one of those people who makes you feel loved just by the way she looks at you and speaks to you.  She has a huge heart and a great love for Jesus and for the pro-life cause.  She has seven children, three of them adopted, and I believe she fostered dozens of children before we knew her.  She homeschooled before it was "cool" to homeschool.  I think she said it's been 25 years of homeschooling, and she feels truly blessed and not burdened to be able to do it.

But the thing that moved me the most at Sharon's home tonight was her mother-in-law.  In the midst of the chaos of a big party with children running everywhere, there was a little room right off the living and kitchen area where this great grandmother lives.  The door was open and she was in a hospital bed, with oxygen and an IV and other tubes, right in the middle of their home.  Sharon and her daughters care for her, and I've never heard them complain.  In fact, Sharon tears up when she talks about her daughters and the way they care for their grandmother, doing difficult medical tasks with such love.  The great grandmother can no longer speak and may not be aware of her surroundings, and yet they keep her in their home and care for her day after day.  I believe her husband said it had been 15 years, and during that time they also cared for Sharon's mother in her final illness.  What a way to live out our call to respect all human life, from womb to tomb.

I can only hope that I will be able to live out this message of life and love now in the present, and as I grow old.  I pray that all my human frailty and weakness pales in comparison to God's grace in allowing me to continue to live out this calling, first to be open to life in our marriage, and also to be able to care for those who are vulnerable when we are able.  As we also mourn the tragic death of Robin Williams and pray for persecuted Christians in the Middle East and around the globe, it's hard to not be pessimistic about the future of our world.  And yet, I've seen hope this week.  I've read about it, and I've experienced it first hand.  I know that our God is a God of Life, a God of Hope...and that every human soul has a future in Him.

Answer Me This...Are We Moving? and Beach Fun

Joining Kendra's Link-up for a quick post before a new week of fun begins!

1. What do you still want to do this summer?
WELL...We have a weekend vacation/Catholic family conference at a cool resort in San Antonio in about 11 days!  I can't wait!  I was also hoping we'd be MOVING at the end of this summer.  The plan had been to move to our old house in mid-September, after the current renters move out.  BUT...We are currently reevaluating this decision and actually considering buying a home there.  That had been our initial plan, but it got derailed because we were looking for quick and easy, which meant moving into a home we already own!  For a lot of different reasons we're reconsidering the quick and easy route.  Which might mean more time here in our current home for me to stare at the wall (well, the iPhone) while my husband spends the majority of his days and nights in different cities, primarily the one we're moving to.  Patience is a virtue I am learning.

So if you have a question like one of these:
When are you moving?
Are you moving back into your old house?
Are you selling your current house?
The answer is "I don't know."
(I'm not annoyed when others ask these, I just wish I did know the answers!)

So I'm thinking maybe we should just start homeschooling tomorrow and pretend we're never moving and summer is over.  Thankfully we did get to crash Steven's family's beach house party last week (without him), so the kids and I had a fun last minute mini-vacation at the beach for a few nights last week, then we got to spend a couple nights in Houston visiting with my parents and our friends who were supposed to be visiting us this weekend until our crazy limbo life got in the way of that.  It was still a fun week!  I'll share some phone photos here, and should have some good pics in another day or two...

iphone pic memories:

detailed car (thanks, honey!), boys at the beach, girls entertaining the baby in the car

beautiful beach, aunt mary holding katie, nice clear water

tommy loving the water, the B family set-up, and me with katie in the ergo

2. What's your favorite kind of pie?
I'm going to be boring and say apple pie.  A la mode, that is :)  And preferably made by one of my children.

3. How much sleep do you need each day?  How much do you get?
I think I need about 8 hours, but I usually get 6-7.  I had been taking naps while pregnant and when Katie was a newborn, but recently I just can't seem to fall asleep, or when I do someone runs in with an "emergency" like a yogurt tube that needs to be opened. My goal is to be asleep by 11pm and awake by 7am, but that doesn't often happen.  I'm just a night owl and enjoy my quiet late night time on the computer, doing chores, or reading.

4. Do you prefer to swim in a pool, lake, river, or ocean?
That's a hard one!  I guess if you say "swim," the answer would have to be pool because I get the heebie jeebies while swimming in bodies of water that having living things swimming around me.  I still do it, but I'm a little weirded out.  Overall, I just love being by any kind of water and am thrilled I got to experience both ocean and pools last week :)

more iphone pics:

tommy and lunch of champions, iPad love, cousins enamored with baby

lots of crabs, napping angels, nursing mama on the beach 

tommy at sunset, good morning triplets, and grampatti's birthday!

5. Do you know any poems by heart?
Lots of kid poems.  I know most of the ones they learn for homeschooling, and have memorized some books that are poems.  One of my favorite little ditties is the first poem the kids learn with Mother of Divine Grace:

Happy Thought 

by Robert Louis Stevenson

The world is so full of a number of things, 

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

Truly.  With what's going on around the world right now, we should be so grateful and happy to live in the USA and to have the freedoms we enjoy.  I am thankful for all of "Blair's Blessings" and although I've been in a melancholy mood recently, I have nothing to complain about and have a lot of sunshiny days to look forward to and so many good ones to remember too!

and a few more pics from our couple days in houston:

finally at nene and papa's house, a crazy hotel breakfast (one on the floor and the other screaming), ellie and a cute selfie

checking out rods at orvis, treat at orange leaf, silly with nene

and some cute ones of pajama baby visiting some friends for a birthday

6. Do you use the public library?

I am currently laughing out loud.  I noticed my friend Andrea posted her Answer Me This right before me, so I clicked over to read and noticed that I forgot this question!!!  And I think I forgot for a reason, because I had a library situation yesterday.  I got a few emails on Friday to let me know that books were overdue.  I thought I did a double renew for all the books online (which would be for one month), and maybe it has been a month.  I'm kind of in a twilight zone where the days are incredibly long but the weeks fly by.  Anyway, we got back into town last night and had 5 voice mail messages about these books.  We spent about an hour trying to find all the many books on CD we had checked out, and I kind of lost my temper and threw a bunch of silly threats at the kids.  In the end there was only one CD missing, but it's probably at least $10 worth of fines since each book is 25 cents and they were a few days late.  And I just paid off all our fines a few weeks ago!  I have a love/hate relationship with the library.  You?

Clay Cake Creations

Created by Mary Clare and Ellie 

The girls have been enjoying playing cake bakers this summer and designing clay cakes. These are some of their creations from the past couple weeks. Aren't they so cute?

Five Things I'll Miss About Corpus Christi, And an Apology

1. The People.

We've met a lot of lovely families since we moved here to South Texas.  When we first came to visit and check out the city, we went to mass at St. Helena and immediately met quite a few homeschooling families and found a nice church community that has been a second home to us for the past almost-three years.  I often complain about my lack of friends and community and my feelings of not fitting in, and I was reminded recently that this might be off-putting for any of my local friends who might happen to read my blog.  So I wanted to apologize if my words have ever come across as if I don't like the people here or as if no one has tried to form friendships with us.

Many kind people have opened their hearts to us.  We've enjoyed celebrating birthdays, holidays, feast days, and welcoming new babies with families here.  We've been the recipients of meals, help with moving, and frequent offers of babysitting help or trading off children, too!  The community is different than what I'm used to, and the homeschooling group isn't the most active, but it's still been a loving and Christ-centered community for our family and we will miss the smiling faces of so many generous souls who have welcomed us here.

2. The Beach and the Bay.

Often people share just how much they'd LOVE to live by the beach!  And it has definitely been a treat.  During the summer we usually visit the beach at least twice a month, and we get to do things like go to lunch on the bay looking out at the beautiful water, which we did today!  Watching the seagulls and feeling that cool ocean breeze is quite relaxing, and it makes the hot Texas summers bearable.  We've become pros at loading up our car for an afternoon at the beach, and we've enjoyed having visitors come to stay with us for these special outings.

Rockport Beach has been a fun place to go with the kids, and Port Aransas is also a lovely area with a fun touristy town.  The Padre Island National Seashore is such a beautiful preserved beach, and the peacefulness of spending hours there by the shore without seeing anyone else is very special.  We've gotten to go to a Sandcastle Festival, a Beach Cleanup, and the kids have gotten to go on some fishing excursions with Steven too.  I know he is going to really miss those frequent fishing outings and tournaments, but I'm guessing he will still get to come down for some of them since he will be still be working here often.  We enjoyed a membership at the Texas State Aquarium our first year here, and have also visited the Art Museum, Art Center, Museum of Science and History, and the Rockport Science Center which all look out over the beautiful bay.  The Botanical Gardens were also a frequent outing for our family.

3. The Laid-Back Attitude.

Sometimes it can seem like those in Corpus Christi are just not in a hurry for anything!  Everything moves slowly and no one seems to get very uptight about things.  If an activity or event doesn't work out, oh well!  If it takes an hour to get through the Chic-fil-a drive-thru line, so be it!  This has taught me a lot of wonderful lessons since we came from a Houston suburb that seems to be in fast-forward.  It can be frustrating, but overall it's a reminder to recognize the beauty of slowing down to "smell the roses" or listen to the waves.

4. Simplicity.

I think this goes along with the laid-back attitude.  Most people are not using their money on frivolous things, and so it seems a much more simple place to live.  There's hardly any traffic and you can get to most places in 20 minutes.  There isn't even a fraction of the number of activities and events that we had going on in our previous communities.  It has allowed us to evaluate our family's priorities and will hopefully be something that sticks with us as we start to be challenged again with all those "glittery" events once we move.

All that glitters is not gold, and prioritizing our home life and our schooling is paramount. All those other activities are a bonus, but I want to be sure they are not adding to our overall stress.  Keeping things simple will be an important motto when we move!  It's been a simple summer that I know I will look back on with fondness, even though we've been a little bored.  Boring can be good, and I want to be sure our kids still have that unscheduled "boring" time in the years to come.

5. Our House.

We will definitely miss our home here in Corpus.  It's the first time we've lived in a home that has been updated with all the special finishes.  It's been so nice to sit in my home and not be constantly evaluating all the projects that need to be done.  Having a second floor has been nice, so that the kids can keep most of their toys there, and some of the noise!  We love our big covered porch, the large grassy backyard with so many shade trees, the birds that we see all throughout the year, and the cul-de-sac street where the kids can play.  We often say that we wish we could just pick up this house and move it to Houston.  It will be another exercise in simplicity and detachment to move back into a smaller, older, update-needing house.  We will treasure all the special memories we made here.

~~~

Every few weeks it seems like someone is contacting me to ask about Corpus Christi and the pros and cons of living here.  I hope I haven't been all negative in my posts.  There have been a lot of challenges for me, but there have also been a lot of joys and many important learning experiences.   I keep referring to it as our "three year retreat" and I truly believe that God had us here for these restful years by the ocean to quiet our souls and focus on the important things in life.

I'm much looking forward to moving back to our community of family and friends in Houston, but this city of Christ's Body and Blood, "Corpus Christi," will always hold a special place in my heart and fond memories of our special years here together.

Homeschool Year in Review 2013-2014

I realized I never did a review of our school year, so as we prepare for the new year coming up I'll take some time to share what worked and didn't work for us in 2013-2014.  We had a successful year, even with a lot of travel for the pregnancy.  We went back to Houston for my monthly appointments and then moved there for about six weeks when she was born.  They still did their work in our rental cabin, and we were able to finish most of their books by mid-May, so we've had a nice summer break and are getting ready to start the fall semester in a few weeks.

Steven Joseph-K
This was Steven's Kindergarten year.  I take this year slow, simple, and at the child's pace.  Steven worked fast in his Math and other workbooks, but Reading is still a difficult subject, as it was for his sisters.  I know it will click in the next year or two and so I try not to feel pressure to have fluent readers this early, especially since it has been a hard subject for all of my children so far.  In the first half of the year, we also participated in a Classically Catholic Memory Co-Op which covers a wide range of memory work, from Latin prayers, to a world timeline, to science classifications.  So that was part of all their learning, for half of the year at least!

Religion: We tried to start each day with a bible story and sometimes saint stories too.  We also learned different prayers like the Angelus, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and Morning Offering.  He listened in on some of his sisters' lessons and also participated in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with our homeschool group (Montesorri faith formation).

Math: He only has a few pages left in the Math U See Alpha (1st grade) book.  He has done really well with this.

Reading/Phonics: We continued All About Reading Pre-Level 1 in the fall (which I probably wouldn't use again) and then started Level 1 in January (which I would recommend).  We are working slowly through Level 1, and still trying to master all the letter sounds and blending short 3-letter words.  We also used the Seton K Phonics workbooks, which I like them to do for extra practice.  And I made sure to do daily read-alouds to him with bible stories, fairy tales, fables, and story books.

Handwriting: Seton K.  I really like their workbooks, and he did alright with handwriting, but hopefully will improve each year.

Ellie-3rd Grade
Ellie had a good third grade year and is slowly becoming more responsible with doing schoolwork on her own. Next year will be a big jump for her, but I know she will do great!  I'm looking forward to some of the things I'll be doing with her, like History and Grammar, and I think she'll enjoy her online Latin class!

Religion: Faith & Life.  Sometimes we read this together and sometimes she did it independently.  We also did some pages in the Faith & Life Workbook.  Then we finished before the year was done, so she read some saint books.  She also attended the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd weekly.

Math: Math U See Gamma.  My kids all do well with this program in the early grades.  The videos are wonderful and I think it's an appropriate amount of work for their ages.  We still need to work on some fact-drilling.

Spelling/Phonics: All About Spelling Levels 3-4.  Ellie is doing great with this program.  It's mom-intensive and takes me 20-30 minutes per child, but I feel it is worth it.  I wholeheartedly recommend this program, particularly for families who want to teach intensive phonics/spelling with the Spalding Method.  She also did the Seton Phonics workbook for extra practice.  She read for 30 minutes every day.

Handwriting: Seton 3.  I love the beautiful Seton workbooks, for subjects like Handwriting and Phonics.  They are also easy for the children to do independently.

English: Seton 2.  I feel their English program is advanced compared to other homeschool curricula, so we have worked slowly and a year behind in these books.

Science: Apologia Zoology Flying Creatures with Notebooking Journals and Lab Kit.  We have enjoyed the thorough Apologia science programs the past two years.  In fact we completed Anatomy around November of this past school year because it was quite advanced (wouldn't recommend for elementary).  Zoology was much more age-appropriate and we enjoyed reading it together a few times each week.  I'm not sure I got my money's worth out of the notebooking journals and lab kits, but they did have fun doing a few experiments.  There is definitely a creationist/"young earth" bias, as well as some evangelical protestant slants, so I had to keep that in mind and explain where necessary since I was reading these books aloud.

History: Abeka 3rd Grade.  I like this book, because each chapter is a simple biography of an American figure.  We read it aloud one chapter a week.

Geography: Map Skills 3rd Grade and States & Capital Flashcards.  She'd do two pages in the map skills book each week and work on her states and capital memorization with flashcards three days a week.  We also have some fun board games, puzzles, and iPhone games for US Geography.

Latin: She watched the Latina Christiana videos with her sister and used the Latina Christiana flashcards.  I wasn't thrilled with this program (or Prima Latina) and probably won't use it again.

Music/Piano: Ellie took weekly piano lessons and practiced every day.

Mary Clare-5th Grade
It's hard to believe that we are through the elementary years with her!  Time has gone by so fast.  She has been homeschooling for 6 years!  She had a good year with new challenges, and is looking forward to the new adventure of a set program and online classes for 6th grade.  She is very responsible with most of her work, and is often found working in the schoolroom before most of the family is awake!

Religion: Seton 5th grade.  I'm not sure I would do the Seton religion textbooks again.  I let her work independently on these the past two years, but I'm not sure how much she retained or if she really worked carefully.  Sometimes they tend to rush through the workbooks to check them off the list!  She also helped in the Atrium for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

Math: Saxon 6/5.  This was a HUGE transition for her.  She fought tooth and nail at the beginning of the year.  There were lots of tears and she opted to quit using the DIVE videos in January and just read the chapter on her own.  I struggled to keep up with the grading and she struggled with simple calculation mistakes, but she retained most of the concepts and did very well on her assessment at the end of the year.

Spelling/Phonics: All About Spelling Level 3-4.  Again, I love this program!  I plan to continue it through middle school since my kids are not natural spellers.  She also did a Seton Phonics workbook for extra practice.

English: Seton 4.  Again, I think their English is advanced, so we worked a grade below.  She did fine and did this independently.

Handwriting: Seton 5.  Well, this was a doozy because I didn't check up on her (until June), and realized she wasn't doing enough work each day.  So she has been doing it this summer!  I won't continue handwriting in middle school.

Science: Apologia, see above.

History: From Sea to Shining Sea (Catholic Textbook Project).  This seemed advanced for 5th grade.  The chapters were very lengthy and detailed.  I read them aloud with her for over half the year, and then she took over.  We tried to do the questions at the end of each chapter but I didn't follow through with checking them as well as I could have.  I still feel that she has a pretty good grasp of American History as we move into middle school and Ancient History next year.

Geography: Map Skills Grade 5.  The kids do these on their own and have a pretty good grasp of map skills.

Latin: Latina Christiana, see above.

Music: Church choir, Gregorian Chant and Latin Polophony.

Next Year
As I've mentioned before, we have enrolled with Mother of Divine Grace School for next year.  I'm very excited about having the extra support and having the girls both take their Beginning Latin course online.  Mary Clare will also attend a twice monthly History Book Club online, and I've signed up for grading for History and Religion.

We will be following their syllabus and lesson plans for the most part, except for using All About Reading/Spelling, Math U See for Steven Joseph (the girls will both be using Saxon), and some of the Seton workbooks for Handwriting and Phonics.  I hope that this will give me some freedom since I don't have to choose books for each subject and figure out our yearly pace on my own.  I'm also glad that we will be doing a more thorough history program including LOTS of "living books" as supplements.

I think this will get us on pace as we approach high school for Mary Clare, and I'm so glad we will have this accountability and assistance with the consultant and umbrella school which keeps records.  I'm hoping to start back with piano for Ellie and maybe some kind of choir/music for MC once we move.  They will be back at their old ballet school and Steven Joseph will probably do baseball and/or year round swimming.  We may end up chartering a new 4-H club and will join back with their girls and boys clubs they have missed.

Hopefully Thomas will follow along with some of our lessons.  He's already spelling small words and adding in his head.  Although he's a September birthday and technically still has two years before Kindergarten, I think he will probably be ready much sooner.  He may be my easiest student yet, with lots of interest in reading and math so far, and I'm very excited about that!

Feel free to ask questions and I can give links if needed.  I'm too tired for photos or links tonight.  Daddy's traveling again, and Mommy is ready for the weekend!