Teatime for Saint Vincent de Paul

Last Thursday, we had a very cozy teatime. It was the kind of day that just begs for a cup of hot tea. It was such a chilly, rainy Autumn afternoon. Skylar had her Girls Club at 2 pm. After running her there and dropping her off, I came back and began baking Cranberry Orange mini muffins. The house smelled so good as I finished up the last batch. Then I darted off to pick up Skylar. I think she enjoyed coming home to the warmth and sweet smells of our home. I know I did.

We set everything up and began our Teatime right away. We said a Litany of Saint Vincent de Paul before we began eating our treats. I had also planned to at least start reading this book, but Evan awoke from his nap and he was not in the best of moods.
One of Saint Vincent de Paul's quotes was "God Sees You". So we made these God's Eyes to remind us of that.
Well, I gotta run. Evan has the start of a cold and needs mommy now. Have a wonderful night!

TTFN

~Tina

Liturgical Year Preschool Boxes (Part 1)

I purchased the supplies for these some time ago, late summer, I think. And just last week found time to paint and put one together. This one is for Mary, so I painted the box light blue, naturally to represent the Blessed Mother. Then I picked a holy card from my supply.Then I decoupaged the picture onto the lid.
I put a little paper doily at the bottom and it rounds up the sides a little bit. I think it gives the inside of the box a dainty look. And then I filled the little box with small items I had either made or collected. So far I have a plastic, light blue rosary, a plastic figure of Mary, a wooden, homemade figure of Mary similar to the ones that Jessica made. I saw these on her blog and loved them! What a great idea. Oh, and I have the Mary Match Up game tucked inside this box, too.

I plan to add more little things as I come across them. It's a small box, but there's plenty of room for items to peak and hopefully hold Evan's interest, but not so much to overwhelm him.

I am working on gathering items for a Saints box, too. So far I only have a few painted wood saint figures and a Saints Matching Game. I have an idea for one more thing to make, but I don't have the time right now.

I think Evan will enjoy these boxes with all of their interesting "goodies" inside. I'm probably going to wait until he's closer to 3 to gradually bring them out and introduce him to them. I might even wait until next school year.

Hope you have a wonderful night (day?!!) Wow, it's late! I need to get to bed!

TTFN
~Tina

Feast of the Exhaltation of the Cross (I know I'm late with this.)

Even though this was a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to post it anyway. I use this blog to share ideas and keep in touch with family, but also to keep a sort of online scrapbook of our days. So here's a quick rundown of this special Teatime. We enjoyed these chocolate (store bought, obviously) mini cupcakes with our tea (or milk). We just shaped them into a cross and wanted chocolate (aside from the fact that it is DELICIOUS) to represent the wood.
We read this book which is pretty much a tradition for us on this feast day.
The girls made "stained glass" crosses using contact paper, construction paper crosses and tissue paper of various colors.
And we enjoyed the children's bulletins that my mom always sends us. We discussed the reason for this day's celebration and did the activities.
The "stained glass" crosses look so lovely in our school room window. Don't you think?

They were placed above some "stained glass"we did last school year and a collage that Evan did last week.

Sorry to be so short on details, but I really do have to run. And I hope to post about our most recent Teatime this past week for St. Vincent DePaul. It was our coziest Teatime yet, thanks to a chilly, rainy Thursday.

TTFN

~Tina

Today's Post

Well, I started writing a post on Tuesday and saved it as a draft. When I completed it tonight, Blogger threw it back in my posts on the date I started it. ugh. I can't seem to fix it. So to see today's post, just click here. Sorry about the confusion.

TTFN
~Tina

Life Comes at You Fast

I think it's a Geico commercial that says this.....not sure. But it's true sometimes. Yesterday, around noon, I was getting a shower, since the bulk of our schooling was done for the day. The plan was to finish my shower, make lunch, get Evan down for his nap, finish school with Alexa and Skylar, have our weekly Teatime, do some cleaning, make and eat dinner, etc.

During my shower, Taylor shouts in the door that Daddy was in an accident. He had gone to Costco. My reaction was, "WHAT?!!". It was just a fender bender in a parking lot. "Wheww!". But, this fender bender looks like it might have totalled his car. His little economy car couldn't compete with the SUV that backed out into him. We'll know more today. So I, with wet hair, drove the kids and we went to pick up Daddy (who was more than a little frustrated with the insurance company).

So my plans for the day went out the window.....no big deal. I was just so thankful that this wasn't a bad accident, and that he didn't get hurt.

We ended up shopping at Costco, together as a family (that always gets some looks from people~ us and our 4 children, out shopping, in the middle of the day, while children are supposed to be in school). Then we came home for lunch and for John to make calls to the insurance company, a rental car place, a tow truck company and a place to give him an estimate on the damage to his car. Oh, and he called off work, too, just because he had so much to take care of with his car.

After he sorted that all out, and got his rental, and Evan had his nap, we all met John at Logan's for dinner. After that crazy day, it was nice to end it this way. We had a very sweet waitress, too. Her husband and 2 children were seated behind us. When they left she told us that he had just returned last night from a year in Iraq! I felt so happy for her. I remember when John was in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for only 3 months, and how hard that was. On his way out with the children, one of the staff of Logan's made the announcement about his very recent tour in Iraq, so the whole place cheered for him! That's the least he deserves!

We still don't know what will happen with John's car. I'm hoping it's totalled so he can get a safer car for his drive to work. Think about it......if an accident in a parking lot smashed in the front corner of your vehicle to where you can't drive it, what could happen in an accident on a major highway?! I don't even want to think about it.

TTFN
~Tina

Memorial of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

We didn't have a Teatime today, but I did want to remember Padre Pio and teach my girls about him. We used coloring pages found in this post.

(Skylar's, Alexa's and Evan's coloring pages.)

And we listened to this while the girls colored. I was surprised that I could not find any stories on Padre Pio in all of my saint books! I'll have to prepare better next year. We also had some (Americanized) Italian food for dinner......pasta with sauce and meatballs.

Have a wonderful day!

TTFN

~Tina

Our Contribution to Nature

We knew something had been tearing up our swing. We didn't know what, exactly. Until I caught him in the act! A squirrel peered through the sliding glass door at me one morning as I was eating breakfast. He was on the back of the swing with a mouthful of white stuffing from our swing. He looked right at me. He had so much fluffy stuff sticking out his mouth, that I couldn't help laughing. He looked like Santa Squirrel. I wish I could have taken a picture, but he was away in a flash!

The swing was old, anyway. And now we can feel good knowing that part of that swing will go towards making a warm, snug home for a little squirrel family. I'm hoping that as the leaves continue to fall in the woods behind our house, we'll catch sight of the coziest looking squirrel nest around.

TTFN

~Tina

Learning From My Children

Evan loves to be outside. He is all over the place (I'm so happy we got that fence!). He will run, jump, climb, knock over, roll on, uproot, throw and explore anything and everything he can get his hands, feet or whole body on. I can see that there is no stopping him. I prefer things neat and clean. Not that I don't enjoy nature. I just don't dive into it, head first like he does.

But I can see that it's not just a want with him. It's a need. If I try to deny him this in-depth relationship with the natural world, I'm denying him an essential part of his childhood....of his relationship with God. After all, this is one of the first ways a child, especially a boy, experiences God. We are teaching Evan to pray. He attends Mass with us, (sometimes~that's a challenge at his age). He watches Holy Baby or a similar video as the girls and I pray the Rosary. And he is familiar with images and statues of Jesus, Mary and the saints. Not to undermine those important parts of his faith training. But I think that there is something so personal about a relationship with God through His creation.

All of my children love nature. Just some more than others. Skylar tends to be like Evan. Very much into exploring every part of the great outdoors. She wants to splash in the rain, dig in the dirt, catch (small) wild animals, bugs and even slugs and really experience nature, not just view it from a comfy spot (like her mother is inclined to do).

Maybe with the two of them, and their love of nature , I'll grow in that aspect of my relationship with God, too. But I'm not catching any slugs ever in the near future.

TTFN

~Tina

TTFN

~Tina

A Family Birthday

I'm actually not late with this one! That's a shock, I know.

Today, my "little" nephew and godson turns 20!
(Boy do I feel old.)


Happy Birthday, AJ!

We love you!

Uncle John, Aunt Tina, Taylor, Skylar, Alexa and Evan

Big News!

What's missing from this picture?

Her tooth, of course! Alexa lost her first tooth tonight! It was very exciting and she is so happy! I'm happy, too, especially because no tears were shed. (Except maybe by me.....I'm a teensy bit sad, just at the thought of her growing so fast.) But she is thrilled and ready for the Tooth Fairy to come!

TTFN

~Tina

A Fun New Website for Kids

One of the blessings of blogging is that when we come across a great idea, or a toy the kids love or a recipe we enjoy, we can share so easily. Lately, Skylar has been really enjoying a website called Woogi World. One of the things that makes it unique is that not only does it teach the child through fun games and activities online, they get rewarded for things they do in the real world! Since Skylar has started playing at this site, she has given me many "parental hugs". The children get rewarded online for doing community service type things offline, in the real world. There are so many parts of Woogi World to explore and countless things for children to learn, play and do. It even teaches about internet safety. Skylar is having a blast with it! It's free, so check it out sometime to see if it's something your child might enjoy.

TTFN
~Tina

Catching up

Well, things have gotten busy around here. Friday was our first co-op meeting of the school year. I don't have any pictures because I forgot to bring my camera. I think it went pretty well. Skylar had fun with her group. They are having a year of Art. It will consist of both art appreciation and creating their own art based on the masters. That's right up her alley. At this meeting they worked on mosaics. They always take time, too, for a game of Capture the Flag. That's a favorite with her gang.

Alexa had fun, too. Her group is using picture books to learn about geography of the United States. They will be making a notebook over the course of the year. On Friday, since the weather was so nice, they also got to eat their lunches as a "picnic" on the lawn.

Evan's group is the 2 and 3 year olds. I work with them and Taylor is one of the assistants. There is another girls her age who assists, too. And boy do we need them! After some sudden unexpected changes in that group, things are working out just fine, now. And I'm really looking forward to how these little ones will grow and build skills while building friendships. There are now 2 little girls (both under 2) and 4 boys (2-3). There are 2 adults along with the 2 twelve year olds working with these little ones. We will do bubbles, parachute, lots of action games and fingerplays, songs, a small art or craft, outside time, and a movie and/or story during a picnic lunch on the floor. Evan is already asking "co-op today?". He had a great time.

So that was our Friday. In the future, I will try to take some pics to give you more of an idea of how it works. This is a great group of moms and children and we are blessed to know them.

I'll try to post more later today. There was a Teatime we had last week that I never posted pictures of. I'll try to get to that. But for now I'm off to enjoy this beautiful Autumn Sunday. Have a lovely day, whatever you do!

TTFN
~Tina

Our First Nature Day of this School Year

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to take the older 2 girls for a nature walk, just a short one through the neighborhood because Evan was asleep. Taylor was finishing up schoolwork and didn't mind watching him. So off we went. It was a beautiful day. Not too hot, not too cold, and actually starting to feel like Autumn. The girls were excited. We grabbed some paper bags to hold any treasures they might find along the way. First we spotted these growing on a pine tree:

Then beneath it, we saw that a bird's nest was lying on the ground. I think someone trimmed out the branches of the pine tree so people could use the sidewalk and they probably didn't realize there was a bird's nest in there.Then, we spotted these, which the girls and I thought were mushrooms at first, but upon close examination, we weren't so sure. We took one to examine further at home.

But then it happened.

The enthusiasm for all of the nature we were exploring went right out the window. It was replaced by enthusiasm for ..................PUPPIES!

4 Adorable white Maltese (I think) puppies!My girls enjoy nature walks, but puppies, nothing beats one puppy, let alone 4!We were across the street from a woman taking some trash out. She yells to us that she's about to bring out THE puppies. I don't know this woman. She lives at least 10 or so houses away from us. But she talks like I should know about THE puppies. Well, my girls were going crazy at the thought of seeing some puppies, so we walked very slowly, to give her a chance to bring them out. And she did. She invited us over and let my girls play with them in the yard for at least 15 minutes. They had a blast! This neighbor of mine is selling the pups for $800 each and there are 2 left. She had to announce this in front of my girls. Ugh. Oh, and in our conversation, I realize that when she yelled across the street for us to see THE puppies, it was because she thought we were somebody else! Some other neighbors, who apparently look similar to us, had expressed an interest in purchasing a pup and wanted to see them. So that's why she invited us over. So it was kind of a fluke that my girls got 15 unforgetable minutes with those sweet little pups.

That was such a nice gift.

Sort of.

When we got home I told the girls to draw and color a picture of Skylar's pumpkins for their nature journals. So they sat on the porch and drew and talked together. I saw their pumpkin drawings and they turned out nicely.

Then they wanted more paper to draw outside. I was thinking, "This is great! They are so inspired by our first nature walk of the year, they can't stop drawing !". About 10 minutes later, I look out and see that they are off the porch and the paper is gone. All that remains are the clipboards and colored pencils.

Hmmmm.......

I go out and I find them, a few minutes later, knocking on doors with homemade flyers. The flyers read, "Skylar and Alexa's Pet Business. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX" ( our actual phone number was on it). We had a discussion. The girls wanted a pet business to 1) show us how responsible they can be and 2) raise $800 to buy a puppy.

Although I sympathize with their plea and commend their efforts, we are not getting a puppy. The girls are not too happy with me.

How is any future nature walk supposed to top this one? *sigh*

TTFN

~Tina

Skylar's Pride and Joy

I was going to post this last night, but it got too late. Skylar planted these back in May. She took very, very good care of them. She checked on them and watered them every day. Yesterday, she came in, very excited saying that the vines were brown. So we headed out, first chance we got. And here is the result of her hard work and effort.....

Great job, Skylar!

TTFN

~Tina

Homemade Feltboard Geography

With our Social Studies and Geography Unit this year, I wanted a way for the girls to get a "hands on", Montessori-type feel to learning the continents and the oceans, but the Montessori geography puzzles are so expensive. We colored a basic map printout today, making each continent a different color, but they were not so thrilled with this. So, using an idea my dear friend came up with for the Toddler/Preschool Activity Bag Exchange that we did over the summer, I created a felt board puzzle of the continents.

The first thing I did was purchase pellon at the fabric store (around $5 total and there is some left).

Then put a foldout map of the world under the pellon and traced the continents with pencil. I went over the pencil with permanent marker. Once the world and continents were done, I used more pellon to trace another set of continents. I cut these out and colored them. Then I wrote the names of the continents and the oceans on little rectangles of pellon.

I haven't shown it to the girls yet, but I think it will hold their interest and help them to memorize the continents and oceans. This kind of "hands on" learning appeals to them. And it only took about an hour and 1/2 to make (I did it over 2 nights) and the cost was around $5.

The true test will come when I see how the girls react to it and how well they learn with it. I'll keep you posted.

TTFN

~Tina

A New Favorite Thing

My crockpot.

I don't really care much for cooking. Baking, yes! Cooking, no.

But, this I can do. This was so simple, it might not even qualify as cooking. I simply poured 1 bottle of BBQ sauce over 4 frozen, boneless chicken breasts and cooked it on low/med. for about 4 hours. Then I pulled the chicken apart, put it back in the sauce and cooked it another hour.

Voila! Pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches on fresh buns. Add carrot sticks, corn or another veggie on the side and dinner is done!

Now I am on a mission! I'm in search of more simple ways to make yummy dinners with this new favorite thing of mine.

So do you have any such "recipes" you use in your crockpot?

If so, do share........pretty please?

TTFN
~Tina

Here Are The Plans, Part II

It took me a while to get back to this, but here they are.

Science:

1. Fall Session I:

• Study pumpkins. (Sky grew her own this year! She planted 2 seeds and has 2 pumpkins. She's very excited about them!)





• Use these cards from Montessori for Everyone to learn the life cycle of a pumpkin.


• Draw the life cycle of a pumpkin to put in their Nature Notebooks.
  
• Read pumpkin books such as From Seed to Pumpkin, Picking Apples and Pumpkins and The Pumpkin Patch (many others, too).
  
• Make pumpkin chip cookies like my mom used to make (love these!).
  
• Go to a local pumpkin patch with our home school group and pick some more out and enjoy the other Fall festivities that are available there.
  
• Make a jack-o-lantern from one of Skylar's pumpkins.
  
• Roast some pumpkin seeds.
  
• Make an acrostic poem about pumpkins for their nature notebooks.
  

2. Fall Session II:

• Study apples.
• Read apple stories like Apples to Oregon, and One Green Apple (this one will tie in nicely with what we are learning about in our We Are All Children of God lessons), and educational books like How Apples Grow.
• Go to a local apple orchard to pick our own.
• Make apple crisp (another favorite that mom used to make!)
• Use more cards from Montessori for Everyone
• Diagram the life cycle of an apple for the Nature Notebooks.
• Make apple prints onto blank aprons from the craft store as gifts or to keep.
• Learn about Johnny Appleseed.
• Write a story about apples using a "story starter".
• Anything else I can think of to enhance our studies.

3. Fall Session III:

• Tree and Leaf study.
• Read informative books like Why Do Leaves Change Color? and The Big Tree (this is part fiction, part nonfiction).
• Read stories like The Giving Tree, The Great Kapok Tree, A Tree is Nice and Leaf Man.
• Make leaf prints on fabric to make an Autumn table runner for the diningroom table and small round tablecloth for the entryway table.
• Make leaf rubbings for the nature notebook.
• Use cards I found at Montessori Materials in the botany section to learn parts of a leaf.
• Draw a leaf and label the parts for Nature Notebook.
• Copywork from Flower Fairies of the Trees.. Put into Nature Notebook.

For any of the above: do narrations, poetry and art that reflects the topic.

These plans are not set in stone. A new idea might pop into my head or I might find some inspiration online. Or I might decide something in my plans is not going to work.

The rest of my plans for Science for the year are very general at this point. I want to study astronomy and possibly snowflakes in the Winter and butterflies, frogs and possibly ocean life in the Spring. I'll break it down and get more into details as the year progresses.


Teatime Plans:

All I can tell you about our Teatime plans is the general outline. I plan this month to month and sometimes week to week as the inspiration strikes. If I get an idea for a book, craft, prayer, activity, etc., I write it in my Teatime notebook. I also put any worksheets or coloring sheets I come across into the appropriate file in my file box (from Dawn's Filing System). And I start to gather my materials up to two weeks ahead of time and put them into my Teatime Basket, so everything is in one place when I need them. All of these things have help quite a bit. And my Liturgical Year Boxes help me to keep the decorations and candles organized. I'm still working on these special boxes for Evan (and possibly Alexa).


An outline of our Teatimes:

1. One child helps me set up and decorates the head of the table in liturgical colors using candles and a cloth. Also added are statues, framed holy cards and possibly flowers or a book.
2. We set out the food and heat the water for the tea or hot cocoa, although we do have cold drinks when the weather is more suited for it.
3. We try to set the table in a special and somewhat "fancy" way. We use napkin rings (for our paper napkins ;)
4. We say the prayer, read from the Bible and/or read the story of the day.
5. Then we eat and talk. We discuss what the day is about and why we have come together for this special time.
6. Onto cleanup and crafting. I try to prepare two crafts, one that ties into the theme in some way and one that is using the holy card and prayer (to go into our Liturgical Year Notebooks). The 1st craft sometimes becomes a gift for a family member or a decoration for a future Teatime (such as a candle holder or napking ring).


7. Sometimes we have classical music in the background. That adds a nice touch.

Here is a photo of how my Liturgical Year Boxes are set up on the shelves under our family altar. I had posted details about what I keep inside and how they are arranged here, but at the time I didn't have an updated photo.

That's about all I have time to get into right now. I need to finish my coffee and start my weekend. The laundry awaits, on this cloudy September day, as does a trip to the craft store (one of my favorite places). Have a lovely weekend!

TTFN
~Tina

We Are All Children of God, Week 1

We started school this week and so we began our Social Studies Unit that I am calling We Are
All Children of God . It has been wonderful, so far. The girls are enjoying it, and so am I. I'm trying not to do too much each day, at least for this first week. I don't want it to feel like a lot of work and become something they dread. In the mornings they do their necessary hard work (math, spelling, phonics, reading, etc.), but when we work together in the afternoon, I want them to get more out of it than just facts. So here is what we've been doing this week.

I started by reading them the Story of Creation from the Bible. I used these flannel board numbers to make it more interesting.
My friend made these for our Toddler/Preschool Bag Exchange . She made these along with many others. All I had to do is cut them out and color them in. Then we looked at the globe and the world map on the wall and I pointed out the continents and the oceans. We discussed God's love for all of his children no matter where they live. We read People by Peter Spier and discussed how everyone is different because that is how God designed us and there is true beauty in those differences. This book really interested the girls. It's one that has a lot to look at on each page, so I encourage the girls to look at it on their own, too.

We also read Sister Anne's Hands. This is a beautiful story about how hatred of people just because of how they look, can really hurt. And how God wants us to keep our hearts open.

We did a painting project to make the message of this book stick. It was the one I described in our lesson plans. Cay Gibson recommends a similar project in Catholic Mosaic . (I LOVE her book and highly recommend it!) The girls had so much fun with this! They love to paint. It allowed them to be creative and end up with a beautiful, meaningful piece of art when it was finished.

(Skylar's are above, and Alexa's are below.)

Next week these lessons will continue and I'll try to post the highlights once in a while.

This Social Studies Unit, along with our Teatime for the Blessed Mother, was definitely a high point of our first week of school. Alexa even said to me as she was painting, "Mom, you are really making school fun for us this year!". Skylar wholeheartedly agreed.

Doesn't get any better than that.

TTFN
~Tina