Calendar Activities

Each morning we always begin our school day together with a Prayer, Pledge, Saint of the Day reading and then Calendar Activities. For our first two years, I had the Calendar Activities posted on the wall and the second year I read about and added a Calendar notebook to our routine.

This year, due to our temporary circumstances, we are just using our Calendar binders. Each child has a Binder with a Calendar page where they mark the day's date.  I also call it a "quiet work" binder because I intend to put activities they can work on quietly and independently in the binder while I'm working with another child.

William also has a page to write the date so he can get practice with writing the full date and "code date."

William and Miriam then "Make the Date" with money. I printed and laminated the coins from here (scroll down the page).

They then write (or put a sticker on) the number of days in school,

mark the day with tally marks and check and graph the weather.

I also added a Liturgical calendar page to encourage them to look at the color at Mass. I love that the Calendar Binder is an easy way to practice necessary skills on a daily basis and the kids enjoy this predictable and somewhat independent activity.

Happy Birthday Blessed Mother!

Today, September 8th, is Mary's Birthday (9 months after her Immaculate Conception) and we celebrated with some Apple pie :-)

We added 10 candles and a star for the 10 Hail Mary's in a decade and 1 Our Father and Glory Be.  I got the idea from Catholic Icing where Lacy has lot of great ideas to Celebrate Mary's Birthday :-)

The kids really enjoyed blowing out the Candles!

Happy Birthday Dear Blessed Mother, please watch over and guide our family!

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Pentecost Sunday is the "Birthday of the Church" when we're sent out to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. 

This Feast Day is the third most important feast in the Church (after Easter and Christmas) and has special significance to our family as the Holy Spirit has been guiding us in our journey of Faith.  Today in Pope Francis's homily  he spoke of the surprises of the Holy Spirit and that He calls us to strike out on new paths.  Truly this has been our family's experience especially the past few years and my own throughout my adult life:

"Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, programme and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness and change, and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an ark and is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand; Moses stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to freedom; the apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth with courage to proclaim the Gospel. This is not a question of novelty for noveltys sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day. The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good. Let us ask ourselves: Are we open to Gods surprises? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which Gods newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?" (Pope Francis' Pentecost Sunday Homily- emphasis my own:-)

Praise God for the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Come Holy Spirit, fill the Hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love, Send forth Thy Spirit and we shall be created and Thou shalt renew the faith of the Earth.  

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

It's Advent!

 Happy Liturgical New Year!

We are getting ready for our Lord's coming!

Our Advent Wreath is ready.

 









The Jesse Tree is up.

And our stockings are hung for St. Nicholas day tomorrow!

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!

Praise God from whom all Blessings flow!

This past weekend I was given an amazing gift - an early Christmas gift from our soon-to-be born Saviour to help me prepare my heart for His coming.

I was blessed to be able to attend an Advent retreat with 169 other mothers/ women who are living their vocation either in marriage or single life with the AMAZING and beautiful Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

The theme running through the retreat was the Love of the Father for each of us as His Chosen and beloved daughter.  The structure was simple - a good mix of delicious food (prepared by the Sisters), fellowship with the Sisters and other mothers, reflective presentations (given by the Sisters, by a mother and a by beautiful and holy priest) and of course and most importantly - Prayer.

Fr. Aaron Kuhn (who preached the retreat) holding Thomas...he offered to hold him for me when he was a bit noisy during one of the talks given by the Sisters.

The retreat takes place in one of the Sister's schools in Ann Arbor, MI.  (The schools are filled with reminders of our beautiful Catholic faith and it is a joy to spend time there!) Those on retreat sleep on the floor of the classrooms and there are no showers and limited bathroom facilities.

Our sleeping space in front of the teacher's desk - Thomas loved the various Coat of Arms

 
The retreat is only 24 hours long but is amazingly powerful in its simplicity.  The heart of this retreat is the all night Eucharistic adoration.

The door of the 5th grade classroom where we slept had this beautiful stained glass window.

I personally spoke with women from Ohio, Virginia and Minnesota and the retreat itself was filled three weeks prior to the date because there was not enough floor space for more than 170 (and there was a waiting list). 

Among those 170 women were 12 nursing babies (ranging from 10 weeks to 10 months) and at least 9 infants in the womb and it was an Amazing retreat!  As Sister Joseph Andrew said, "Women desire to pray.".. and it is true - why else would so many women sleep on the floor, crowded into classrooms and take turns waking throughout the night to pray a holy hour with our Lord?  Because we desire that time with our Lord and Savior.  We long for that intimate time when we can open our hearts to the One for whom we are meant. 

At the beginning of the retreat each woman chose a title of Mary from an envelope stuffed with her different titles.  Throughout the retreat each woman kept this title to herself and pondered what this could mean in her life - what is it Mary was saying to each of us...in closing the women were invited to come up and share their title and the fruits of their reflections and their stories were profound and moving.  We were each in awe of the Lord's work in the lives of each woman and His great love for each of us in our struggles, joys and sorrows!

 I had been blessed to attend a retreat with the Sisters 10 years ago and the format was very similar.  I had not recently reflected upon my "Title of Mary" from that retreat and in fact could not at first remember it...but now 10 years later, it came back to me.  And I could write a story on how this title of Mary was a true answer to my then discernment of my vocation!  The Title I had chosen was "Mary, Mother of the Eucharist" and though Jesus did not call me to be His spouse in religious life - it was in and through the Eucharist that I came to know my husband and vocation.  So now 10 years later as I drew my next title of Mary "Queen of Martyrs," it is with trepidation as I wonder what more she is calling me to!  And yet again this title speaks to the joys and sufferings, the call to witness and die to self these past months and year have been for Phil and me and I am grateful for the graces of this retreat!


"For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.  For it is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you." (2 Cor. 4:5-12)

There is much more I could write about this amazing retreat and the many gifts I was given as well as the beautiful witness of the Sisters but alas, time is not on my side so I will post this little taste of heaven I was given and share it with all of you.

Sr. Maria Guadalupe who held Thomas for me while I went to confession and spent some time in adoration (he slept peacefully in her arms:-)

Know you are in my prayers this Advent season that Christ may truly transform your hearts as He comes to dwell in them this Christmas!

Celebrating Our Blessed Mother's Birthday!

September 8th, 2012

Merry Christmas!

On this third day of the Christmas Octave, we wish you the great joy, peace and hope that only our Savior's coming can bring!  Merry Christmas!

We are grateful for our many blessings!

Special Days in December

December is a month that is packed with great Saints' feast days! We've taken a break from our regular school day schedule to prepare for Christmas and celebrating some of these great feast days has helped us prepare our home and hearts for Christ's coming.


December 2nd was the First Friday of December, and we gathered with the other homeschoolers in our Holy Family Catholic Homeschool Association for Mass, Breakfast, a holy half-hour, some fun projects and practice for our Christmas pageant.

Miriam tries on her cow costume for the Christmas Pageant

On September 3rd, St. Francis Xavier's feast day, we were able to attend a parade and children's concert in Iola. We also hung our stockings to get ready for St. Nicholas day on December 6th.

St. Nicholas left some beautiful coins in our stockings and each of the children received a puppet. Our fun project that day was to make out small puppet theater so we could put on a puppet show.

St. Ambrose's feast is on December 7th and we were able to go to Mass on his feast day and pray for the intentions of our Homeschool group.
December 8th is the feast of Mary's Immaculate Conception and in honor of this great feast we journeyed to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Hope. Here in Wisconsin we are blessed to have in our back yard a place where Mary appeared to Adele Brise in 1859, asked her to go out to the farming community and teach the children their faith and performed a miracle during the great Peshtigo fire. December 8th is also the one year anniversary of when the Shrine was approved by Green Bay's Bishop's and declared a Marian apparition site.
"This is the first and only Marian shrine in the United States that is on the site of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The Shrine and apparition site in the basement

The Church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Hope

 On December 9th it is St. Juan Diego's feast day and we listened to his story on the Glory Stories CD from Holy Heroes.

December 12th is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This beautiful image of our Lady, a true gift from Heaven, is only more amazing the more one learns about it!

December 13th is the feast of St. Lucy and I look forward to celebrating this feast with Miriam next year, she was a bit young this year.

December 15th is the feast of St. John of the Cross and on his feast day we actually sponsored a special day for the Seniors of our Parish. The seniors gathered for Mass, a special breakfast, bingo our Christmas Pageant and some Christmas music. It was a great day!

May our dear Lord bless your preparations for the celebration of His Incarnation!

Advent

Happy Liturgical New Year!   We are excited to be entering the season of Advent and beginning to prepare our hearts and home for Jesus's coming at Christmas.  Here are a few things we are doing in our home to get ready for Our Lord's coming:

We are practicing the New Mass responses and learning about the Mass using Magnifikids great resource for Sunday Liturgy.

We have our Advent Wreath hung and ready to be lit with our family meal each night.  We say a special prayer and sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel as we light the Candle.

We have our Jesse Tree up and ready and each day we read from the Bible and learn about the history of God's people waiting for their Savior to come.  Then we hang a simple ornament with a symbol to help us remember a main point from the Bible story.

I have wrapped enough Christmas books (in the Christmas Tree bag) for each day of Advent and so we will unwrap and read a book each day.  

Here's a peek inside - I used newspaper since it's easier, more economical and the kids are just happy to open the books:-)

I also wrapped the figures to the Nativity set we own and each day we'll add a figure to our Nativity scene for the children to play with and get ready for Jesus's arrival.  The children will be able to add straw (we're going to shred the yellow construction paper) to Jesus's cradle for each act of kindness towards others - so they can prepare a bed for baby Jesus. 

There are so many great ways to celebrate Advent!  I love reading blogs (check out my side bar for some great ones) and checking out ideas on pinterest for inspiration. How does your family celebrate Advent?

The Triduum and Easter at the Lawsons

On Holy Thursday the kids and I made this representation of the Last Supper  from Catholic Icing to get ready for the evening Holy Thursday Mass.  Not quite like the original but the kids really enjoyed coloring each Apostle and putting them in place.

On Good Friday we made Hot Cross buns.  The recipe came from Evelyn Birge Vitz's "A Continual Feast."

Then on Saturday, we took the kids to the longest Easter Vigil Mass St. Peter's has had yet since everything that could take place through the RCIA did including a whole family being baptized - just like the early Church :-).  It was beautiful!  The Vigil began at 8:30pm and ended after 11:00pm.  

The kids waiting for the Vigil to begin

William and Miriam
get ready for the Easter Vigil

Miriam, Luke and I spent a great deal of the time in the back at least while the Baptisms, Confirmations and 1st Communions took place. But what an amazing tradition to share in - waiting for Jesus to Rise and fulfil His promise of Redemption.  It is so beautiful to be part of this ancient vigil and celebration of Christ's eternal Love and to enter into the Easter joy shown forth in so many ways throughout this Vigil.  My favorite moment is after sitting in the dark through the readings of Salvation History, we get to sing the Gloria and all the Church is lit up and the bells ring to celebrate!



We enjoyed a nice Easter Dinner with Grandma Lawson and later for dessert had a yummy Ice Crem pie.



Christ is Risen Alleluia - now we can celebrate for 50 more days!!



Easter Egg Rainbow Cookies

We like to make special cookies for Easter.  The recipe takes a little preparation but it is a lot of fun.  The recipe actually comes from a children's craft book "I Can Make a Rainbow" that I bought many years ago.

1 cup of softened butter or magarine                        1 teaspoon of vanilla
3/4 cup white sugar                                                 3 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar                                                1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs                                                                     1/2 teaspoon salt
 Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla; mix all dry ingredients separately and add to creamed butter and blend well. Divide into four (or more) separate bowls and add food coloring of your choice.

The night before you make the cookie dough and separate it into 4 or 5 separate bowls and color the dough.  It takes a bit of work to mix the food coloring in but the kids like to help with this part.

Then you divide each color into two balls - you'll be making two "rainbows."

Next, you roll each color into a long strip between sheets of wax paper.

And stack them one of each color on top of each other.  You do this twice so you have two separate stacks.

When they are all stacked you put them in the refrigerator over night.



The next day, you slice them into 1/4" strips.

The form them into whatever shapes you would like - we like to make Easter eggs, rainbows, letters, and crosses but the dough is really easy to form and you can put two or even three strips together for a bigger cookie or more pattern variety.

Happy Easter!