Feast of St. Jerome

From the Word on Fire Blog:

There is another quality of St. Jerome’s character that will console many of us who struggle to be virtuous and holy, a quality which surprises many whose image of sanctity lacks a sense of how Christ’s holiness transforms human character. Jerome was known for being a cantankerous fellow. He struggled at times with the virtue of patience, could be overbearing with those who disagreed with him, and had a reputation for being cranky. One commentator on Saint Jerome’s life noted that perhaps Jerome chose to be a hermit, not so much as a heroic act of sacrifice, but because had he not lived alone, he most assuredly would not have been a saint!

The spiritual lesson for us in this might be to remember that saints are not born with perfect characters and that even the holiest among us has become that way over time. This means that saints have shared with us all the qualities and weaknesses that vex us. However, flaws in character did not assuage them from seeking to know Christ and to live in such a way that their relationship with him was evident in their way of life. 

Arbor Day Square

Arbor Day Square written by Kathryn O. Galbraith, illustrated by Cyd Moore

Another library gem found on the new acquisitions shelf!

This book was perfect for us because we just planted a tree in our front yard a few weeks ago... it only took us 5 years to decide on what we wanted. Hah! Can you tell my grandfather's farmer genes didn't get passed down? Hey... a tree is a big commitment. It's not a little bush you can dig out if you change your mind. I felt serious pressure here!

Anyway... I think it's interesting that Arbor Day is in April since all of the information we collected (over the past 5 years) said that it was better to plant a tree in the fall. Something about the the leaves going dormant means that the tree only has to deal with the stress of growing roots, not roots and leaves. Maybe it's one of those things that you can bend the rules on.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah... the book! This is a sweet little book and a wonderful way to introduce your children to Arbor Day. The illustrations are very pretty and delicate and are reminiscent of the beloved Garth Williams Little House drawings. There is a pioneer connection so it would work well with a unit study or a history study of the time period. The inhabitants of Katie's prairie town pool their money and plant 15 trees in their new town square. It becomes a tradition that Katie eventually introduces her daughter to as they picnic underneath the flowering dogwood Katie first planted in memory of her mama.

Happy Feast of the Archangels

Our rodent situation is only partially taken care of (they travel in pairs, you know?), so we won't be doing a pinata today, not even a paper bag one being as the only place to hang one is in our garage... where the mice are. Grrrrr! BigBoy was very disappointed. I didn't realize how much he loved that little tradition. I will have to find a way to incorporate a pinata into another feast day in the future.

But we are planning to enjoy an angel food trifle today. Since my kids aren't very fond of real blackberries, we opted for the gummi version!

Check out the recipe over at Catholic Cuisine!

And don 't forget the coloring pages! 
St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael

St. Michael and all the Mighty (insert fist pump here) Archangels, protect us!

The Black Book of Colors

The Black Book of Colors written by Menena Cottin, illustrated by Rosana Faria

I grabbed this book off the shelf after Sunshine and I had a conversation. She remembered an autobiography of Louis Braille which had the Braille alphabet printed on the back for the reader to experience for himself. It inspired her to know more about how someone who was blind would make their way in this world. We did a few experiments in which we limited our vision capabilities and only relied on our other senses. This book is a similarly inspiring means of exploring color through senses other than sight, especially if someone read the words to you but that's not totally necessary. The pages in this book are all black but the words provoke your imagination to envision colors outside of what you see...

But black is the king of all colors. It is as soft as silk when his mother hugs him and her hair falls in his face.

The illustrations are also all in black but in bas relief. The raised illustrations give you the opportunity to learn what it means to experience a picture through touch instead of sight. My kids were all fascinated by it. Thought I'd share it with you.

P.S. You can see for yourself what I have inadequately described over at this blog. Disclaimer: This is not a blog I read regularly, just one that I found with a great review of the same book.

Tuesday Randomness

1. Here is the Library Scavenger Hunt in printable pdf format. Most of the questions are pretty easily transferable to your own library. If your library doesn't have any kind of display shelves you could use a bulletin board or other display or just skip that question altogether. Also, you might want to check that your library has a copy of Funny Letters by Famous People before answering question #18. If not, use any other book's call number. This question was designed to demonstrate that the student knew how to do a call number search using the computer catalog.

Komodo Island by Tazran

2. Nothing gets you moving and cleaning out the garage like a crisp cool morning. That... and finding mouse droppings all over your sewing stash cabinet! Blech!!! Husband has already been called and will be coming home at lunchtime to set traps. My hero! I don't do mice.

3. Listening to a little boy read aloud about komodo dragons makes my morning. Hopping on the internet to find a picture of a komodo dragon on Komodo Island makes his!

4. And now, for total randomness, check out the breathtakingly beautiful pictures on this website:

Nature's Best Photography ~ Ocean Views

P. S. Really cool Komodo dragon coloring page here.

Library Hunt

Our librarians are so cool! They put on a scavenger hunt for us this morning! We showed up with other members of our homeschool group and were taken on a tour of the library which included information on using the computer catalog followed by a scavenger hunt. Teams of children were racing around trying to gather information like "find the call number of a book about sharks" or "write the title of a local newspaper in the library" or my favorite... "write down one of the librarians names along with one interesting fact about that person". I found out that one of our librarians has been there for 23 years and is learning to quilt.

So much fun! If anyone is interested, I can post the questions that we used. They can be used in any library, or slightly altered to fit your own library. We had 14 children and split them up into teams, but you could let your children do it on their own. You'd just have to figure out the answers first or just have fun right along with them.

Let me know, 'kay?

Opinion Bleg

Tell me about your oven mitts... Anyone use one of these? Or something like it? I think Shortcake would flip if I got this puppy one. I need some new oven mitts. I'm tired of the old fashioned fabric ones I've been buying wearing out on me. Something will spill on it, then it has to be washed, then the protective padding gets thin so that I find myself rushing to set the hot pan down before my fingers get too hot to hold it.

So... tell me what you use and why you love it. Thanks!

Easy Biscotti

I have a beloved biscotti recipe that I use as a base for making those toasty logs of deliciousness we usually give to family and friends at Christmas. Husband's family is full of some serious coffee lovers and what goes better with coffee than biscotti? Now that recipe is a bit involved as super secret family treasures usually are and calls for all kinds of special ingredients but it's my favorite. This recipe that I linked to yesterday looked like a simple, basic recipe that I could whip up with things I had in the house but I didn't expect it to be as good as my unrivaled favorite.

Let's just say... when baking biscotti is as easy as this and turns out as tasty, why wait for Christmas? (Not that my other recipe is in danger of being replaced or anything, but this one whips up so quickly.)

Another discovery... spoons for cappuccino mousse become irrelevant when you have biscotti to dip.



P.S. My alterations to the recipe: Instead of 1 Tbl. of anise extract, I used 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract. I also added chopped almonds.

Monarch Moments

Thank you, sweet friend, for this gift more precious than gold!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Feast of St. Padre Pio

Coloring one of these, again.

Reading this post, again.

Making Cappucino Mousse, again. This time with some biscotti. Yum!

Happy Hobbit Day!

Bilbo and Frodo happened to have the same birthday, September 22. 'You had better come and live here, Frodo my lad,' said Bilbo one day; 'and then we can celebrate our birthday-parties comfortably together.' At that time, Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three.

                                                                                              ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

I only have time for links, no pics. Sorry. My camera seems to be collecting dust more than images these days. Today is celebrated as Hobbit Day and since The Professor is finishing up a study of The Fellowship of the Ring for literature, we decided to have some fun. And don't worry about those sticklers for Tolkien time. The books says September 22, so September 22 it is!

First, get yourself a hobbit name. There are lots of places online that will oblige, we used this place.

Then, of course, we had to look up our names in elvish. The boys had to use their middle names but us girls were on the list. Or, you can write your own name using the Elvish alphabet. That looks like it might take some brain power. Best attempted after your morning Cup A Joe.

Then, there is the food. Isn't that what Hobbit's love best. My sweet Shortcake already asked, as she looked at the pile of welcoming scones on the table, "Does this mean we get TWO breakfasts!?" I am going to just wing it today with the food, but if you need some inspiration, here's a good place to go.

Happy Hobbit Day!

With warm regards,
Brwlonna Proudfoot of Fair Downs 


HT: Nicole for the Elvish links (which are so cool!) I think I want to change my name to Elvish. Anybody know the word for "waltzing"?

Something Skinky in the Garden

We found this guy wandering around our flower beds. The kids wanted to keep it for a little while in an empty ladybug habitat. We had never seen a skink before so everyone was curious. Especially the puppy...

We call this one... Crouton and the Skink

Kitchen Madonna ~ revisited

Shortcake is reading The Kitchen Madonna right now so I am revisiting some of these posts. Also, I see that the kitchen angels mobile craft was linked to from Catholic Icing. That post didn't have links to the printables, so I added them.

Beatitudes and Beads

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. ~Matthew 5:3

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP is announcing the publication of his latest booklet, Beatitudes and Beads, from Liguori Publications

From Fr. Philip:
The booklet contains an original rosary with prayers and meditations based on the Sermon on the Mount. It is available in English and Spanish.

Each booklet is $2.50 .  Buy in bulk and give them as gifts!  

All the royalties from this booklet go to my province.

You can read my review of one of Fr. Philip's other prayer books here and a sampling of one of his prayers here.

Speaking of Texas History...

Matagorda Bay from space

While discussing Marques de San Miguel de Aguayo's three pivotal points of action that anchored Texas to the control of the Spanish government in the early 1700's one of which was to establish a presidio down at Matagorda Bay on the site of the previously destroyed French colony, Sunshine pipes up with, "Matagorda Bay? Matagorda Bay! It's a party in your mouth. Matagorda Bay!!! That's really fun to say!"

Yep. That's my Sunshine!

Go ahead. Say it out loud. You know you want to!




P.S. Here's a link for all you link lovers to a photo gallery by Tracy Johnson that includes a gorgeous picture of a Matagorda Bay sunset.

Tuesday Randomness

1. Sunshine just finished Little Women this morning as part of her literature study. As a little treat, I let her spend some time on the computer digitally touring Orchard House, the family home of Louisa May Alcott. BigBoy, lover of technology, asked for a turn too. After making us all dizzy spinning around May's Room, he clicked over to the outside view of the house and remarked, "Wow. Were those all their cars?" OK... so we need a little more history in that kid's lessons.

2. The girls are also doing a little Texas History study this year using Catholic Texans as a guide along with a few other books along the way. On every other page, there are phrases or names to Google to help you expand your exploration. We have found some very interesting resources online namely this website which lead us to a page about La Salle and the artifacts his expedition left behind and also this page containing a map showing the location and time period of each of the Spanish Missions. Texas Beyond History has a plethora of information as well as a dedicated Kids Page with Fun & Games but was especially useful in providing a map to show the children just how an explorer like La Salle could have been more than 400 miles away from the mouth of the Mississippi and never know it. And this website with a section on the La Salle Shipwreck Project definitely wet our whistles for some more archeological themed research.

Do you ladies in other parts of the US do state history? I'm just curious. I only plan to spend a semester on it. Even though Texas history is very interesting and kind of unique compared to some other states, too many years of public school Texas history sucked all the enthusiasm out of me. (Thanks for that, Mr. Cates!) I am slowing regaining some of it thanks to these great resources and my delightful girls!

3. Our Fantasy Football Team might need a new quarterback for this weekend's games. Kevin Kolb is healing from a concussion and is tentative to play. The girls and I share this team in our extended family/friends league. They helped draft by choosing players with interesting names and pleasant smiles. You think I'm kidding! LOL! I couldn't even pronounce Visanthe Shiancoe's name when we drafted him! My choices are: David Garrard, Donovan McNabb, Sam Bradford, Kyle Orton or Matt Hasselbeck. What do you think, ladies?

Special Delivery

We received a very special delivery this morning from a local caterpillar aid organization...

 Meet Stripey, Samantha, Debbie, Demi and John.

I don't foresee anything else but staring at these voracious little wonders being done this morning. Good thing we can just call it nature study and check it off!

Green Thumb

Green Thumb by Rob Thomas

OK, so you might be saying, "This doesn't look like the typical Waltzing Matilda fare." And you would be right! I picked this book up from the library for one a few reasons:

1. The Professor has dabbled a little in science fiction and kind of enjoyed it so I was on the look-out for something similar and found this.

2. Um... I'm very much a fan of the Brazilian Rainforest?

3. OKAY... the real reason is because Rob Thomas was my high school journalism teacher.

I was not a journalism student, but I had friends who were dedicated members of the Rampage! (Cool name for a newspaper, right? Maybe I should have mentioned that our mascot was a ram.) But I remember Mr. Thomas, um... Rob... um... him... from my high school days better than some of my own teachers but that's because he was this cool, young teacher who seemed to enjoy hanging out with his students and talking about his band (in a decidedly less creepy way than that sounds, of course!)

I was first made aware of his writing talents when a friend turned me on to the Veronica Mars series. Have to confess, I was eerily suspicious about this former high school teacher writing a story about an outcast-high-school-Nancy-Drew genius wondering if I was going to see any of my old high school show up in the fictional world he created. I think I did, in a subtle way, but that doesn't have anything to do with this story which, funny enough, is about an outcast junior-high-school-Albert-Einstein genius.

Here is a quick synopsis from School Library Journal:
Grady Jacobs, a 13-year-old botanical genius, is invited to participate in a rain forest study supported by international business interests. He has won several science fairs, and his research into the cloning of plants has interested Dr. Phillip Carter, head of the reforestation Embryo Project. When Grady arrives in Brazil, he is relegated to grunt work. In between gathering food, cooking, and cleaning, he investigates Dr. Carters New Forest, a grove of super-growth trees used to reforest a clear-cut area. The secrets he discovers send him fleeing into the wilds, with Dr. Carter hunting him at every turn.

I can't say that I'm going to let my kids read it just yet even though it targets their age group because there is some pretty graphic bullying going on in the beginning that frankly, would be really confusing to my homeschooled children. They understand the concept of bullies, but school yard smack downs are foreign to them along with typical middle school insults and things called "wedgies". I know... they are very sheltered. What can I say?

But I enjoyed it and I think I discovered why Mr. Thomas is no longer a high school journalism teacher. He has a definite talent for story telling. The characters were amusing and likeable, I was definitely drawn in by the action even though the ending was a bit predictable, I don't think he intended to shock and awe the reader with suspicion inducing misdirection. After all, it was written for middle school children, not adults who never get to see the library beyond the walls of the children's department.




FYI: Based on other reviews I have read of Mr. Thomas' books, it appears that he is very permissive when is comes to the morality of his characters, more so than what most of my mommy friends would probably be comfortable with (and myself). I picked this one up, instead of another one of his tales, mostly because it was located in the children's section, not YA fiction.

Patriot Day

Embracing my precious ones and reading this today.

We remember...

May Our Heavenly Father bless all those who had a loved one taken from them, those who laid down their lives for the sake of another and those who continue to sacrifice to secure our safety and liberty. 

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

HT: Life in a Small Town via Patty

Very clever!

This just tickled me.

Congratulations!

To Ian and Paula from Aquinas and More! Baby number nine is a bouncing baby boy! Isn't that a great picture of their family? In lieu of a casserole, I think I might place an order (like I really need to use a baby as an excuse)! ; )

Look familiar?

That's what makes a tradition, right? I must admit that because I got started late in the day and had to wait for the Jell-O to set, I only had 30 minutes to assemble, frost and decorate this cake before we left to go share it with some friends. So the frosting was a little, um... rougher... than I would have liked, but it was blue on the inside and that's what matters, right? :)

Our friend's kids said it tasted like Captain Crunch cereal and I kind of have to agree. A Blue Jell-O Poke Cake truly looks more impressive than it tastes. But the company we shared it with... never disappoints!

And wasn't this a nice surprise to return home to!

I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  ~ Genesis 9:13