Saying Goodbye

I'm sorry I have been MIA the past few days. I am trying to process the suffering of my dear friend. I have felt somewhat emotionally and physically weak and it has been hard to put into words what my mind is contemplating. But here is an attempt...

One afternoon this week I was blessed to spend a few short but precious minutes alone with my dear friend Kelly. I never knew how special a big hug and kiss could be...one of the most moving moments of my life. Her battle here is ending, but in faith we know her eternal future is approaching. Her suffering here must have merit beyond this earthly world. It must. Her spirit is strong, strong beyond that body that she has fought so hard against.

But The Father calls his children home. This is not our home. Every time I turn on the radio this week I am reminded that "there's a time to live and a time to die...He is with you....I'm by your side...My hands are holding you...I can only imagine what my eyes will see when your face is before me..." I know he is speaking those words to me and to my friends in this trying time. He reminds us that the end of this world is just the beginning of eternity. We trust in God's mercy and his promise of eternal happiness, but sometimes our faith is weak and we hate to see our dear ones suffer.

I have known Kelly from before we were homeschooling friends. Kelly was our apartment neighbor and we enjoyed getting to know her and our other neighbors, spending time at the park and the pool, enjoying that life before school years. As time progressed, Kelly became a homeschooler, a breast cancer sufferer, a single mom, and then a Catholic. How things can change in 5 years!

We all knew that the end would come one day. Her cancer was such that there was not hope for a full recovery. These past months many of the homeschool families have stepped up to become her true support network, day and night. Now she is back under the care of her family in her final days. I pray that it is a time of peace and reconciliation for all of them, and that her two young boys feel the comforting arms of the Father as they say goodbye to their mother.

It has been hard to enjoy the beauties of this week...the simple joys of the children, park days, ballet class, family visits, reading books, work successes, and even a visit to a state park...they are all overshadowed by the sorrow of my friend's suffering and death. I pray that God will grant us all peace and I humbly ask for your prayers for Kelly, her family, her friends, and her caregivers as well. Jesus, we trust in You.

Guess what?

It's working!!!

Can you beat this?

Anyone else have a kitchen floor as dirty as mine? Let's see if anyone has a day of sweeping that results in a pile worse than this...

To be fair this was probably a couple days' worth of damage and did include sweeping of the laundry room too (hence the random Valentine cards that keep falling from a shelf) and SJ had just been enjoying a "game" of tearing up bread and throwing it all over the floor.

Alphabet Path

We continued letter F this week, so keep an eye out for my highlights post next week!

A Fun Birthday Gift

A good friend turned 6 this weekend. We decided to make him a little wooden box and some special saints! Last Thursday we had painting day...we all went wild on the plastic patio table in the backyard, everyone was covered in craft paint (especially the baby!), and then the kids enjoyed cooling off in the hose. It's so much fun to work together to make gifts for those special people like precious Joseph :)

The girls helped me paint the box blue. I printed out the words so I could draw them nicely. Added a white border to give some contrast.


We put the saints in!


Painted the inside gold, to hold...


Joseph, Mary, Francis and Clare!


We're having so much fun with our painted saints, and I hope Joseph does too!

Ballerinas

I forgot my camera the first week, so here is the girls' second week back at dance class! Ellie is in a combo ballet/tap class, and Mary Clare and 2 of her friends join in the tap part before their own ballet class. They are having a great time so far and I'm so proud of their progress, especially Mary Clare with her knee issues from last year! Here are my beautiful ballerinas...

Ellie is now one of the older ones in the "Beginners" class. Here she is skipping with a flower bouquet and standing with her classmates along the barre.


She loves the little dance to "Jesus Loves Me" that they always do.


Playing outside with her brother after class.


A couple quick shots of Mary Clare. I didn't get many because the Director was helping with her class, and I was scared I was going to get in trouble for taking pictures; she's rather strict ;-) MC looks so old in her new leotard!


Hope you all had a magnificent Monday! Please continue to hold my friend Kelly and her family and friends in prayer as she completes her earthly journey. Thank you.

DUGRZ

is what Mary Clare typed into the Google search bar while I was out of the room. She wanted to watch "The Duggars." Sounds like the little "grandduggar" has arrived and Duggar #19 is on the way. What a fun family! Today was Duggar and The Office catch up days :)

Oh these blondies!

They are just too sweet for words!

Watching cousin Addison drink the from the "gas" can


Probably pointing out a ball to PaPa


Oh that sweet boy!

Can he get any cuter?


?



?




Yes

He

CAN!

Sound Beginnings Review

Our special table in the living room that they use only for phonics (Ellie just practices writing letters and listens in on the lessons, sometimes)

As you may remember from my posts in previous months, I really agonized over choosing a phonics program to use this year. So far we've used How To Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which wasn't that great of a fit for us. We plowed through it slowly but surely (started when she was 4), and made it to about Lesson 75 before quitting this fall.

We tried some MCP Phonics workbooks, and tried more of a "whole language" approach with easy readers and trying to construct my own reading lessons. I also considered Hooked on Phonics, the Explode the Code workbooks, and some of the other programs recommended by Cathy Duffy. But after debating back and forth, and back and forth, I finally opted to order a used Sound Beginnings program from Cathswap. This approach is based on the Spalding method of phonics instruction, and is very much similar to the Riggs program I used in my 1st Grade classroom at the Catholic school.

It teaches each phonogram (sound) with explicit handwriting instruction for every letter (which MC really needed), and uses flashcards. So yesterday she learned 4 new phonograms (v, w, x, z) and practiced writing them, choosing her best ones and analyzing her own writing. Then the next few days I will orally ask her all of the 22 phonograms she has learned, and she will write them in her best handwriting. I also give her "homework" to practice writing the ones she has trouble with. Even though she already knows her single letter sounds very well, this has been a great review and has been very good for her handwriting progress.

I'm looking forward to starting the double letter phonograms with her, because I know it will really help with her spelling, and reading. Speaking of reading, her reading is really coming along with the Little Angel Readers! I usually do the phonics lesson and have her read one story from the readers every day.

Here are some photos with explanation of some great things about Sound Beginnings.

They encourage children to use proper posture while writing, and ask that you use a special lined paper. At the bottom of the photo, you can see my book (has great instructions for the parent!), and the flashcard stack...I think that one shown is "ur the ur of nurse."


I like how the flashcards show a picture of how to write the phonogram on the lines, and also show the way you will usually see the letter written in a book. The program also includes worksheets, which Mary Clare is doing below, finding beginning, ending, and middle sounds to words that I dictate for her.


I got the idea from the Frugal Family Fun Blog to put worksheets in plastic page protectors to reuse them! Mary Clare loves writing with the wet-erase (overhead) marker, and of course the erasing is fun too!


I can't believe I agonized so much over this decision. I felt like I disliked the intense phonics program when I was a teacher and hesitated to try it with my own kids. But I think it was just what we both needed! I like how it's all working so far and hope that this program continues to help Mary Clare to be a stronger reader and writer!

Oh Tiny Cross!

At the brief park visit...toddler sleeping, trying to feed baby a bottle (didn't want it) and watch the preschoolers play right outside the car. Definitely a picture moment! Not sure I'm cut out for 5 children anytime soon!

I know my own crosses are tiny in the grand scheme...but sometimes they feel a bit heavy, don't they?

These past two days have each been one of those days. You know, those days when nothing goes quite right? Add two additional children to the mixture and things get spiced up quite a bit!

Yesterday we got the news that a dear friend is in her final days/weeks of her 5-year battle with breast cancer. Oh, she has fought so hard! She has taught me many a lesson in determination, acceptance, and trust. I know she appreciates any and all prayers as she says goodbye to friends and family, in particular her two young boys. May Our Lady of the Rosary cover Kelly in her mantle of love and peace.

Steven has started a new job which we are so thankful for! But his hours leave a lot to be desired, and his time at home is very, very limited. We have done this before; I know how to run the house without backup. But still we miss him, especially little SJ who talks about "Ball...Daddy" all day long! And waking up with him for work during the 4 o'clock hour is just not a natural thing for hubby or for me (but at least I get to go back to sleep for a bit). Lots of adjustments...

Yesterday the children spent quite a bit of time fighting over toys, and today we experienced more of the same. Steven Joseph has been great with little Baby "D" overall, but there are of course the moments when both are crying...one needs a bottle and the other needs nursing, the older ones are arguing, and I can't meet everyone's needs at once! Also add in a brief illness scare (which looks to be nothing), and this mama is worn out physically and mentally!

Yesterday after the boys had left, my kids were getting really whiny, when all of a sudden I realized it was National Night Out and there was a big festival at the park! So I packed them all up in the double stroller and braved the heat and mosquitoes for an adventure down the street. Free safety goodies, chips and hot dogs, and a fun park tired them out! The kids fell asleep watching one of the new PBS National Parks documentaries online--highly recommend it! Steven Joseph woke up today demanding to eat some of the Cheetos he'd gotten last night. Took me a long time to distract him on that one. Then he kept asking for something on top of the fridge (I assumed it was the chips), when I finally realized it was a fishing lure that he wanted! Oh boy!

This afternoon things started to go haywire when we readied ourselves for Mary Clare's Pickwick Meeting (little girls' club). We had the two additional boys over, so I started getting everyone ready about 40 minutes before we needed to leave. Both boys were supposed to get picked up before we left, but there was a chance they would come with us, so I was planning accordingly. I was trying to put on some decent clothes and makeup, find shoes for everyone, a dress for MC, diapers, water, and the like. Steven Joseph had been eating crayons from last night's goodies and needed a shirt change after drooling colorful crayon bits all over the one he was wearing! Then it turned out I would need to bring both of the other boys with me.

About 15 minutes before we needed to leave I realized that I had no carseat for one of the children! His mom came to bring one, and then I realized I also could not fit all 5 children in my van because of a broken seatbelt. I lost my keys, and was starting to lose my cool! I should have taken hubby's advice and called it a bust at that point. But C's mom followed us to our destination, I got Mary Clare to her meeting only a few minutes late, and I headed with the rest of the crew over to the park down the street from the meeting (only lasting a few minutes there because of the blazing sun!).

I somehow handled those two hours with 4 little ones out of the house...bottles, diapers, and all! A few friends with extra arms at the meeting were a God-send. Both girls went to the bathroom before we left to go home, but of course one of them needed to go again as soon as we started driving. Thankfully she fell asleep! Not sure how I would've managed that one. I got home just before the 2nd mother came to pick up the baby (today was his last day here), and I found the entire contents of our trash can...full of food and diapers...all over the kitchen floor. The dog had pushed open the back door while we were gone. I forgot to feed him this morning, so he did have a reason for rummaging, poor guy!

As I was picking up the last of the fruit peels and coffee rinds, the broom fell over smack right on top of my head. Ouch! It "hit the nail on the head"...a crazy end to a wild two days! I can do no more. My day is done. Off to find some dinner that I don't have to cook...

But also reminding myself how blessed I am to spend these days with my children and these other sweet boys. My heart is heavy for my dying friend...

Oh tiny Cross!

Tap Dancing Boy

Last Night's Giggle

Me: All those under 7, get in the bath. Mary Clare!!! Ellie!!!
MC: I'm 8
Ellie: I'm 8 too; I'm her twin sister!

This Morning's Giggle

MC: Mom, what's the date today?
Me: October 6th
MC: My daughter turned 10 months old yesterday!!! (her doll)

Wonderful Resource Site!

That Resource Site has an amazing amount of resources for Catholic homeschoolers, and even non-Catholics and those who don't homeschool (it would be great for Catholic school teachers)! They have everything from Catholic board games to print off, coloring pages, math games, booklets about saints, worksheets...more things than I can list! Check it out!

h/t to my friend Scarlett

Along the Alphabet Path--Letter E

Highlights from "E" week of Along the Alphabet Path by Elizabeth Foss, other ideas from Jessica at Shower of Roses.

E is for...

Eyebright Fairy and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Alphabet Path "E" Story from Serendipity,
Flower Fairy Alphabet book and CD
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton book by Fr. Lovasik,
and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton page from The Lives of the Saints for Girls

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton wooden peg saint
and paper dolls from Paper Dali



Eggs

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
An Extraordinary Egg
Rechenka's Eggs
The Egg
Museum ABC

Drawing eggs with watercolor pencils

Elephants

coloring page and fact sheet/worksheet

A pretty simple week this week. We also talked about Electricity one day, which I didn't get photos of. Thursday we celebrated St. Therese's feast day and are finally making our little rose cupcakes right now, on Saturday afternoon! Apparently licking cake batter is the "2nd best day behind Christmas and Easter," claims Mary Clare.

Friday we had our 2nd First Friday, our homeschool group classes at the church, followed by a park outing with our homeschool friends. Then the girls finally started dance classes! They were so excited to be joining their friends again and everyone was happy that we were back :-) I forgot to take photos of that too.

Now the cupcakes are in the oven, Mary Clare is dancing in pointe shoes, Stevie and Ellie are both in tap shoes, and we're anxiously awaiting Daddy's return; he had a full day of work today. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

4 year-old Theology

"Mommy, well we're like God's little Barbies. 'Cause he's the biggest guy in the whole wide world. He's bigger than the whole wide world...So how can he fit in our hearts?"

and another:
"Mommy, if I see a rich people, I'll tell them about Jesus."

Sewing in baby steps

I'm starting a "workshop" tomorrow that I found on the Frugal Family Fun Blog! I will get an email a day for 13 days, with a little assignment giving detailed sewing instructions. I hope it's easy enough for me...who doesn't even know how to thread my machine! This is just in time for me to figure this out before I need to make Halloween/All Saints' Day costumes, yay!

Tiny Treasures

Lerin hosts the Tiny Treasures Tuesdays
which I have yet to participate in, so here's my first attempt, a day late!

Miss Mary Clare, age 6.75--

My Mairsie Claresie is having a pretty good time with homeschooling this fall! Last year was quite the transition...she never wanted to do her work. But this year she is enjoying all our crafts and library books and artwork. She looks so old with those big front teeth and short hair! She lost her 8th tooth last week. Her reading and writing are really coming along, and I'm very happy with the Sound Beginnings program (I'll be writing a post about that soon). She is very creative and really gets involved with all our arts and crafts projects. Then she comes up with her own fun games and crafts with her sister. She has been so helpful with the baby I'm watching. She recently started her little homeschooling girls' groups, Little Flowers and the Pickwick Society. At Little Flowers they study saints and virtues, and at Pickwick they learn to be a lady, doing sewing and embroidery projects. I'm so proud of my big girl!


Elizabeth Ann Marie--age 4.4

Our Ellie is also enjoying the year of homeschooling. She is very interested in the books and is always wanting to do things like her big sister. But we've found she's quite the perfectionist. If an art project or handwriting assignment doesn't look the way she likes, she will sometimes crumble it into a ball and start crying. We're working on that! Ellie is always making us laugh with her funny little sayings. Yesterday we were learning about elephants. Tusks, she said, were made of "ivy" and she prayed last night "for the elephants who died." She cannot help but dance when I put music on. It's like it's in her blood. The other day, Mary Clare stated that she didn't want the Flower Fairy CD played because it's for babies, but Ellie claimed that she couldn't help from dancing when it was turned on! We've been having our own little ballet lessons, which I might be brave enough to post on here...we'll see!


Steven Joseph Jr--21 months

Oh my Joey-boy! (I tend to call him Joey or JoJo a lot) He is still keeping me on my toes! He is learning new words each day which is usually so fun for us to hear. The other night he took bread off of my dinner plate and when I asked if I could please have it back he yelled, "NO! MINE!" He's started with 2-syllable words now like mommy, daddy, baby and choo-choo. I know I say this every time, but he really, really loves balls. I've realized that we usually have 2-3 balls in each room. He just loves throwing them and playing catch with Daddy! When we were doing ballet in the living room the other day, he kept trying to hand me a soccer ball to get me to throw with him! He also loves wearing baseball caps like Daddy. He can sometimes be very shy and sensitive; he dislikes getting sand in his shoes or water on his shirt! It will be so much fun to watch him in the coming months as he continues to learn new words and grow into his own little person!

So those are my tiny treasures! What's the latest in the lives of your little ones?

Getting distracted at Walmart

can be a dangerous thing for me. For the most part, I've stopped shopping there because I get too distracted with the clothes and school supplies and crafts and fabric and electronics and shoes and baby section and clearance section...and by the time I make it to the groceries I have a baby who has more than had enough with my shenanigans.

Today was no different. I went to Walmart because I needed printer ink as well as a few groceries. The girls brought their money to buy some kind of treat, and just as I was ready to start the "grocery shopping" part of the trip, they insisted that their $2 could only be spent in the toy section. But believe you me, even at Walmart there are very few toys which cost $2 or less! There is the mini-doll that costs $1 (which we have a nice collection of already), some matchbox cars, and that's about it.

So we wandered for a few minutes until I got the most brilliant idea....



meet "Diamond."

I thought he'd be perfect when we learn about fish for "F" week next week.

I hope he makes it.

Cultivate Creativity in Your Kids

"It seems to me that most parents fall into two camps regarding their attitudes towards art. There are those who have a great interest in art, enjoy creating artwork with their children, and are regular visitors to places like the art museum.

The second camp claims that they are not artistic, are worried about messes, and feel that they have little understanding of the study of art."

Read more of my newest article at Faith & Family today!

Along the Alphabet Path--Letter D

Using the lesson plans from Serendipity, ideas from Jessica, and adding my own flair to them, here are the highlights of our 4th week of homeschooling!

D is for...

~~~Double Daisy flower fairy and St. Dominic~~~


~~~Dd letter practice~~~
Crayola Model Magic and flour on a baking sheet


~~~Daisies~~~

We used watercolor pencils for the first time! You draw with the pencils and then use water and a paintbrush to brighten it up!


~~~Ducks~~~

Duck craft--we used colored tissue paper ripped up and glued onto the back of a paper where I had traced these shapes:

then they cut them out and glued onto a new paper. They turned out cute!


~~~Donuts!~~~

We cut out holes in biscuit dough using the lids of spice jars. Fried them in oil, and then mixed powdered sugar with water for a glaze...


~~~Dancing~~~

Degas paintings of dancers--
We studied them and I had them "narrate" the paintings
(tell me about them without looking).
Then they tried to draw their own dancers!

They got a bit distracted and disappointed with how these turned out,
and I must have gotten distracted too (we also had Baby "D" over),
since I don't have any photos of the dancer drawings!


But remember I did get a photo of our little dancer :)


'Twas a really fun "D" week!