Sunday School! Post #13

I really need to get better with posting on Sundays for my Sunday School post on the Catholic things we did in our classroom that week, but the weekends have just been insane lately! I still want to share these things and if I waited on them, the one Sunday post would end up being far too picture heavy! So here it is, Sunday School...on a Tuesday! All the other posts in Sunday School can be found HERE! In the photo above you will see a cross that we made out of metal clips. I love crosses as wall décor because they not only speak of our Faith, but seeing them everywhere is like a reminder that the Lord is always with us. I picked up these clips at Michael's with a 50% off coupon and really had no clue what we would do with them, I just loved them. When I figured that we should try and make something with them, my youngest thought a cross would be fun! After a lot of trial and error we came up with this and I love it. As we were working together, we discussed what we loved about being Catholic and what we still wanted to learn more about. This is a GREAT discussion to have on a regular basis, to see just what changes in and with your kids!

Why have we been so busy? My kids work (volunteer) their time at our local history museum and this past weekend was World War I days. My children dress as village children from that time period and perform different tasks as interpreters from that time. In this photo from my INSTAGRAM account, they are selling ice cream. They don't always work together, but I love when they do, because it makes for some great photos! I try to post daily over there, so feel free to follow me on INSTAGRAM and I will follow you back too!

One of my favorite things that we did this past week was make pendants out of cork from wine bottles! This was so much fun and we got to use up papers that would normally see the recycle bin! We use SETON as our curriculum and I absolutely love it, but one thing I don't like? Seeing all their gorgeous pictures hit the recycle bin as we finish a workbook. I try so hard to cut out the photos, but then my scrap bin begins to overflow and I have to think of what to do with them all...this was the perfect solution! I am even gathering enough supplies to do this with my Little Flowers Catholic Girls group! The full instructions are HERE!

With Divine Mercy Sunday being the Sunday after Easter, we had a lot going on in school but one thing that I absolutely loved doing was making a small chaplet for the kids to keep on their person at all times. It's small and portable, not only to serve as a reminder that the Lord is all around you, but to use in times of nervousness and stress. I like reaching in and praying along with it or even just feeling the cross if I get anxious over something. The beads move as you pray and I have also told the children to use them for keeping track of all the good you do in the day. Make it a point to do 11 good things a day and slide the bead as you go starting at the top (the Our Father bead) and working your way to the cross, which I likened to "working your way closer to God". I really enjoy hands on things like this, which allow us to chat as we work and then to also give them a visual aid once we are through with them.

One thing I speak about often is the need to visit church, even when we are on vacation. I turn this into a fun part of our touring plans as we are seeing a new place that is full of history and going to mass too! This church was in Mexico at the top of a LARGE mountain that had a VERY rough terrain to hike up as well as many wild dogs. This road is very rough on cars and shoes but in the end so worth the breathtaking views and vistas. They are remodeling the inside but what we saw was still amazing and the best part is that mass still goes on, even with the scaffolds and drop cloths everywhere.

Enjoy every minute my friends!

 

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Sunday School...But On A Monday! #12

**Just hover over a photo to Pin it to Pinterest!**

Yes, I am back and Yes, I have been neglecting this here blog! I am so sorry but I have just been so out of it that I needed to unwind and then get back into the groove of heavy scheduling! Being out of the country for a few months can really wreck your schedule, even if we were still doing school daily and keeping on top of everything. The biggest thing that seemed to be the game changer, was having zero internet for most of our trip. It was amazing to see just how reliant I am on something so simple and yet so unnecessary. Coming back has made me want to change a lot of things we do but I also need to find a happy medium. This post should have gone up yesterday but I am realizing that our weekends are still overscheduled! I do have a vacation update post coming that will hopefully post tomorrow or Wednesday!

Our Little Flowers Catholic Girls group meets for Wreath II tomorrow and we are ready to start this new round! The girls had an absolute blast learning everything last Wreath and I know that they are eager to begin again! The first thing I did to prepare for the wreath was to prepare our Memory Verse cards. I like to do this so the girls have them all in one place but also so that they can work on learning them anywhere they go!

Wreath I memory verse cards: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16sHqX3gOkG67rFu8cQzh8Lie1-lrm9WQCxLCiHyPDZ4/edit
Wreath II memory verse cards:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ol_0L_ehETQCTcVzt7lDyDKdsPWSk4ZMSimwdCbfA0/edit?usp=drive_web

These are the cards that I created, please feel free to use them for personal use, if you are reblogging or pinning, please give credit to my blog. For Wreath II, I shrunk them in my printer to make them cards but I created them bigger for a visual aid during the meeting.

These are our Wreath II Memory Verse cards. They still need to be laminated but we are running a bit behind schedule and I just wanted them done for the meeting. I will go back and do them in the coming days. I find that these verses also work well in our daily homeschool, so I print up some for my boys and we use them in our school as well!

I LOVE that I was able to find these totes at Family Christian for quite a steal! I bought one for each girl in my group and they can use them to transport their books, sash, bible and any miscellaneous items that we use on a regular basis. It's great to have it all in one place and they know just where it is on club day! Autumn hangs hers on a hook in her room, so there is never any confusion!

This is Autumn's bag with the pin that we made during the Getting To Know You meeting. This is a meeting that we hold before we begin learning anything. It is a preparation meeting where all the parents discuss our goals and possible field trips and the girls play Saint games and do crafts in order to get to know one another. Having the bible verses on a binder ring allow them to not only become portable but also allow them to be hung anywhere!

I wanted to share with you a fun game I was able to put together using the Behold Publications Little Flowers Wreath Stickers! I purchased wood discs from Michaels and painted them on both sides, then I put a sticker on each one and sealed it with mod podge. SIMPLE! Now these discs needed to be paired up with 2 of each virtue in 1 bag and they became the most beautiful and fun memory game.

How To Play:
1. Turn all discs on blank side
2. Make a Match
3. In order for that match to be your point, you must recite the memory verse or Saint that displays that virtue. If you choose to mention the saint, you must also share 1 fact of her life.
4. Girl with the most pairs wins and both win because they have learned so much more!

Here is one game tucked neatly into a small pouch to make them easy to tuck into a bag or purse! These embroidered pouches were made by my daughter in a class she took in Mexico. What a great gift for the Little Flowers in our group!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

Check out all the other posts in our Sunday School section HERE!

 

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Sun...Sand and WINTER?!?!

Hi there! I am here and doing more than well but I know that we have pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth! Let me explain and share what we have been up to. Last year, we decided to spend the Winter in Mexico and come back in time for the snow to begin melting and the temperatures to be warmer. We plan on coming home in March. Unfortunately it began to snow and get chilly RIGHT before we left and I even worried that our flight would not get out...wait WHAT?! Yes...we flew...we had planned on making it a grand adventure by taking a bus cross country to Dallas, Texas. This was going to be a 48 hour adventure with many stops along the way to do a quick explore and learn. THEN...the weather went sour and my husband began to worry about busses on icy roads and the like...so we bought plane tickets...at the last minute...OUCH! That bit into our vacation budget but oh well, we were not going to get stressed out. Why are they smiling on this snow mound? Ohhh because we are off to the sandy beaches of Mexico and the shining sun of Texas!

Our plane ended up being delayed a bit, but not by much at all...the staff at Southwest was so awesome, even though we were last to board due to not checking in on time...they had saved a row of seats for at least my children to all sit together! That is always my biggest worry about open seating plans on planes but this was fantastic.

Believe it or not, they actually agreed on an order as to who gets to sit by the window seat and I did not have to encounter any arguments!

Dallas became our home for a week before we headed off to the warm weather and delicious food of Mexico. My kids found it quite humorous that at 60 degrees, they still had their heat on in the cars and were bundled up as we were in t-shirts and sometimes even shorts!

I will be updating this blog on a regular basis but the lack of internet and the plethora of exploring have us doing so much more than blogging. The main point of today's post is to share how we will be keeping a travel journal!

One thing we love to do is color and write, so instead of buying a premade journal, I decided to buy a large package of postcard sized thick cardstock. I placed the paper in a box with markers, pens, pencils, scissors, glue sticks, decorative tape, a hole punch and binder rings. This kept everything in one place and made it easy to travel with. This is a NECESSITY as we would be in and out of over 8 hotels and 4 different rental homes as well as staying with family members.

The reason for the tape is so that we can decorate the plain paper and turn them into postcards to send to friends and family about our adventure! Each hotel front desk sells stamps and offers a mailing service, postcards and cheaper than letters and it is a great way to get our art in too! The hole punch and binder rings are for our journal! Each night before bed and before we begin to read, each child takes a card and on one side begins to write about their favorite part of the day and then on the opposite side they can either draw a picture or glue a picture we print out or glue maps, receipts...anything they have as a memento from that day! These make for spectacular mini scrapbooks to remember trips by!

Enjoy every minute my friends! We are off to the pool!

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Mondays Come Too Fast...

I honestly believe that I ask myself 'how is it Monday already' every single week. We like to stay busy constantly and even steal away sometimes and I think that keeping busy 24-7 is what makes time fly by too quickly. My fit bit logged in so many steps each day this weekend, I honestly thought that I was on a Disney vacation! Do you know how many miles you log on those trips?! One thing I ALWAYS do when we steal away is bring a bag of school work and books, the kids moan and groan about it, but late at night when we are in the room, they are often found snuggling up in bed with a book and reading or playing some type of game. TV is a luxury that sometimes gets turned on the minute we get into a room, but they love going back to the books after the initial excitement!

Joann Fabrics has these adorable sleighs made of wood that your children can paint and they are the PERFECT size for your elf pet and Elf on the shelf along with some friends!!

St. Nicholas Day came and as we read all about him, the kids had fun exploring their new goodies! Books and candy and games along with a few other goodies!

Our elf has been having a war with the nut crackers every year since he arrived and this time they caught him coming back!! He is in popcorn jail, but it worked out just right as he brought along a family movie and a bag of popcorn!!!

Our book of the day is Courduroy's Christmas Surprise by Lisa McCue. I have been a Courduroy fan since I was a little girl and am always eager to share a favorite story with my kids. My husband knows of him, but he was never a fan, I think it's great that as an adult he is discovering an old friend and seeing him in a different way!

The silly elf took our coloring book that ST. Nick brought and he started coloring the pages we left blank!!

Enjoy every minute my friends, it goes far too quickly!

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Sunday School Post #11

*warning: picture heavy post*

Happy Second Sunday of Advent! How is advent treating you? I cannot believe how quickly the week went by. I truly feel as though we are rushing through too much too quickly!! Today my youngest makes his first Reconciliation this morning, please pray for him.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, we get 1 new book a day to countdown to Christmas, READ about it HERE! Fitting for today was our Saint Nicholas coloring book that is also a storybook! It was fun reading through each page as the kids took turns coloring and listening.

These 6 books are our daily advent books this year and we are using them together as a family in different way. We absolutely love hands on things where we are not just reading but living out our holiday season. (click each title for more information on each book)

1. Daybreaks Daily Reflections

2. Advent Family Prayers

3. Live Advent at Home

4. Coloring Book About Advent

5. Every Day of Advent and Christmas

6. Advent All Along the Way

Our Jesse Tree is doing well, the children alternate things to do with the tree each day. One child will pick the ornament of the day and read the bible verse. Child #2 will color the ornament as we read the context from the bible and then child #3 will hang it on our Jesse tree! I discussed our ornaments in particular HERE for more information.

Our Advent Calendar had different verses on each day and each door we open holds surprises from candy to crosses and rosaries to random other goodies. These just remain on the ring as opposed to try and fold them up into the calendar, that way we can keep them on a yearly basis.

Our Advent Calendar and ring of readings!

As I get my final child through Reconciliation and First Communion nostalgia begins to hit me. I cannot believe how quickly he has grown up and how I feel like I am missing so much and yet I see them all day and every day...how is it possible to feel that way? Well here are the 5 books we used to prepare for Reconciliation, as well as a binder of activities I would print from throughout the internet. We worked on everything together and had so much fun doing it. We used a Brother Frances DVD as well and he is more than ready to go! We have a different round of books for First Communion prep and I will share those as well when the time comes. Even though a couple of these are story books, we would still read them daily to help him retain the information. We also practiced going into the confessional (minus the sins) and then he took turns reciting his prayers to everyone he would encounter from our family, to ensure he was able to speak to not just me but to anyone! What fun we have had preparing for such an important sacrament!

We are working on our Rosary skills once again this month and our Rosary box is quite full of fun stuff! I talked about our color as your pray Rosary Page HERE. We also have a sheet of Prayers of the Rosary and laminated oversized pages with the mysteries of the Rosary on them. Both of those sheets we found online and just printed them out. A book on how kids can pray the rosary as well as a ring with the mysteries on the rosary on it that has the description of each mystery on the back. The pill bottles each contain 2 rosaries and are so cute!! To feel better, pray 1 rosary a day!

A few smaller books and pamphlets round out our rosary box and offer us a variety when we pray our rosary. This way the prayers are not always the same and the kids learn different things as we go along. We also use a fabulous app every now and then called The Rosario. It has the songs as well as the rosary itself all read aloud. This is good to listen to when I am driving and the kids just want to listen and not read.

I only wish our coloring book would fit in the box, because this coloring book has been colored in by all 3 kids at different stages in their life. It is full and worn but I love it and we love to thumb through it for basic information.

How is it that I save the oddest things and yet always have a need for them? This brown bag is full of toilet tubes and paper towel tubes of all sizes.We ended up needing them for our Little Flowers Catholic Girl Club of Rockford this past week. The girls each made a 16 piece nativity set and they came out so beautiful!

This is our completed Nativity out of toilet tubes! I love how it turned out! We thank Catholic Icing for the printable!

 

These are the last pieces we will be doing with the toilet paper tubes. I printed them out from a Google Search and then cut each one out. Each child will paint their tube any color they would like and as they dry the Angels will be colored and then glued onto the tube. Hmm...I wonder which Angel Gabriel will pick?! Each child will then research each Angel and give me 5 facts about each one. I love when they can learn through hands on activities! I will be sure to share the finished project in the future!!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

FIND ALL OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL POSTS HERE!

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Hello December?!

Thanksgiving came and went in no time at all and before I knew it, we were putting up the tree and welcoming in the month of DECEMBER?!?! I think I reflect on this every year, but I really do feel as though these years are just being swept away so quickly that I will be an empty nester before I know it! I am sorry that my blog goes days and sometimes week without action but life seems to take over. My kids are older now and we are always on the road. We are not so much as crafty now but more explorers. I try to get away from the camera and put it away in general so that I can be IN the moment with my kids. Soon they will be gone and off on their own lives and living with their families and then I will be able to say that I do not have one regret, that I gave them all my time and now it is time for them to do the same with their family. Then it will be time to get to know the newer, older, wiser version of my husband as we explore more of the world together in a different way. Life changes daily and I am trying to take my own advice and not miss one minute!

One tradition that started with our elf and will continue for as long as I have children under my roof, is the 25 books of Christmas. Charlie brings wrapped books that we can share together as a family by the tree with our evening tea and cocoa. Each unwrapped book elicits smiles and cheers as the kids clamor around to read aloud or listen quietly to what is to come. They are usually holiday books for the most part both religious and secular but some other books sometimes sneak their way in too! They are all picture books, because NO ONE can outgrow a picture book and they are just the right length for kids to snuggle up with a parent, no matter how big they get! I will try to post daily about the elf and his antics as well as what book we unwrapped that day as well, otherwise I will catch you up if I can, as I am doing tonight!

Our elf is still up to his crazy ways as he tries to sneak a ride in the car on our way to an Elf adoption event! When the kids got in the car, they noticed new jammies brought just for them from Charlie! He doesn't always bring gifts, but when he does they are always something the kids have been needing.

December 1st brought us The Little Snow Plow by Lora Koehler

This book is absolutely wonderful and even my oldest kids looked over each photo and listened intently.

Our elf was caught scaling our fridge to get into the top where we hide all the candy! At the bottom of his rope was his pet Hot Coffee holding the rope steady!

December 2nd brought us The Very First Christmas by Paul Maier. I was hoping to hold onto this one until it was a little closer to Christmas but it's size made it an easy one to grab. Next year we have to be sure to leave a note for the elf to number the books!! A beautifully illustrated book that helps remind the kids what this season is all about.

Oh Look at who we found here! Charlie the elf was found in the living room reading to all of his friends! It was a good thing that no one had to use the screen porch this day, because we would not have been able to get to the door!!

December 3rd brought us Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney! Oh boy do we love this llama, he has been a family favorite for many years now and we don't see ever letting him go! He is up to his typical antics in this book, but always with a heartwarming close!

Well now look who is in the bathroom!!! Charlie has taken off his sweater and made himself into a toilet paper snowman! His smile tells us that he knows wasting toilet paper is a bit naughty but he just had to do it to make sure the kids are brushing properly and washing their hands!

Enjoy every minute my friends!!

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