"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." - G.K. Chesterton
Outside my window...
Hockey season is coming up! The boys have been sorting through all their gear and getting ready. So has their Dad... He just completed a training so that he can be assistant coach for their high school team this season!
I am thankful...
We celebrated our 17th Anniversary on the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, right in between the new and traditional feasts of St. Therese. I was so impressed that our girls pulled off this {100%
AIP dairy-free, sugar-free, grain-free, gluten-free, egg-free}
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Gingersnap Crust completely on their own, before and after our power outage that afternoon and evening!
"I hope you enjoy your anniversary cake! (I have no idea if it turned out alright :P) It was fun making the cake even if [Twinkle Toes] and I thought it would poison you. ;) I love you!"
- excerpt from the homemade card from our 11 year old
They said they felt like they were doing a chemistry experiment, using all those weird ingredients like
beef gelatin and
arrowroot starch, but it turned out amazing! I enjoyed some of the leftovers the next morning for breakfast. Mmmmmmmmm!
Learning all the time...
Every morning this little "preschooler" of mine is up, dressed, and ready to "DO SCHOOL!"
He is really enjoying
Primary Arts of Language. I'm really enjoying using the program with both of my little ones too! Such a great program.
Time for a break! "Awwww, MOM! Can we please keep going?!? Pleeaaaassseee!"
Celebrating the liturgical year...
Our favorite fall feast day celebrations were very simple this year, but still fun and memorable!
From Instagram on Michaelmas:
"I'll just be at the office 2 hours" this afternoon turned into 6+ hours and I didn't think I was going to be able to pull anything together for today's feast... but the girls took care of the decorations and little gifts (including sewing St. Michael's leg back on!) for their brother, and I just pulled some cupcakes out of the oven. They should be ready by the time the boys get home from a football game! #wehaveanamedaytocelebrate #happymichaelmas
I love being able to stretch one batch of cupcakes to cover three feast days! Eight cupcakes were frosted for Michaelmas, eight more became our "lion" for the feast of St. Jerome (I dyed the frosting yellow with some
turmeric and nobody noticed), and the remaining eight were decorated with strawberry roses for the feast of St. Therese.
Rose was excited about her little nameday gift. She loves her collection of
Shining Light Dolls so very much and
St. Therese is definitely our new favorite!
"Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity."
- St. Therese
From the kitchen...
On the feast of St. Therese: "Life has been so incredibly full lately and I've been struggling to keep up... After spending some time at the office (payroll to process before Monday), I came home to catch up on some school lessons from this past week and deep clean the little boys' room... Now I'm making some AIP Hamburger Stew for dinner, decorating the last eight chocolate cupcakes (leftover from Michaelmas) with strawberry roses, and enjoying a rose colored strawberry kombucha! Cheers!"
I'm still loving all the recipes in
The Healing Kitchen: 175+ Quick & Easy Paleo Recipes to Help You Thrive. I made a few little modifications (I used sweet potato and turnips instead of plantains) to the Hamburger Stew recipe and it was amazing! Everyone loved it and I'll be making it again soon.
I am working...
on rebuilding this year's curriculum post... still... and making sure I save a back up copy this time. I'm also working on scheduling some fun giveaways for next month, leading up to Advent and Christmas!
I am creating...
I haven't been creating much lately, but our 4th-8th graders have been creating
New World Explorers Lap Books. The covers turned out awesome! Our 6th grader used
oil pastels for her cover.
I am going...
We recently took our high schoolers to see Hamlet at the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival! Our boys read Hamlet last year, as a supplement to their
history class, and this year they will be studying it in their
Introduction to Literary Analysis class. The tickets are usually too expensive, but we were able to purchase our tickets at 40% off during a
weekly web special for this particular showing!
I am hoping...
that my permanent retainer doesn't break again. It's broken twice (the metal actually snapped!) in the past few months and my orthodontist spent a few hours on a Friday afternoon recently removing the retainer (and all the glue!) and replacing it with a Kevlar version. I guess it's the strongest option available. My husband joked that my mouth is now bullet proof... So far it's working!
I am praying...
the rosary, with my family, every night at 8:00pm just before the little kids go to bed. The month of October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. The
Rosary Flip Book from Sacred Art Series, with beautiful art images from the 16th Century work of Goswign van der Weyden, is an excellent aid to help avoid distraction and reflect on the mysteries of the Rosary.
I am reading…
The Friar and the Knight: Bartolome de Olmeda and Cortez aloud a few days each week. I've also filled a basket with lots of
picture books about New World Explorers. Sometimes the older girls read them aloud to the little ones, sometimes I do, and sometimes they re-read them again on their own.
Pondering these words…
from St. Therese. I find them so encouraging and inspiring, especially during this month of October which is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary:
"Reciting the Rosary costs me more than using an instrument of penance. I feel I say it so bad; in vain do I strive to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary; I am unable to fix my attention. For a long time I was sad because of this lack of devotion which surprised me, for I love the Blessed Virgin so much that it should be easy for me to say in her honor prayers which please her so much. Now, it saddens me less; I think that the Queen of Heaven being my Mother, she must see my good will and be content with it."
I am listening…
to my four year old pointing out "Squeally-e's" all the time... Even at the end of Mass, on Sunday morning, while we were praying our diocesan
Prayer for the Jubilee of Mercy!
Around the house...
A new
little computer desk. It's not ideal, but it fits in the corner of the dining room and it's so nice to finally have somewhere other than the kitchen counter (or my closet floor!) for the iMac.
One of my favorite things...
I love giving my mom birthday gifts that I know will become one of
her favorite things! For her 60th birthday this year I ordered her the
St. Benedict Tenner from Loreto Rosaries. My mom is a Benedictine Oblate and every year, on the weekend closest to her birthday, she attends her annual retreat at Mount Angel Abbey. I loved being able to give her this tenner before she left this year! We also gave her some
finishing salt purchased during my
recent trip to Portland, and a journal and some spring water from the
Mother Cabrini Shrine I visited this past summer just outside of Denver.
This week's plans...
It's going to be another full week with our homeschool schedule, co-op, work, Mass, and a few other activities. It's off to a great start!
A little peek at my day...
{or yesterday, since it's taken me two days to finish this post} we met up with my brother and his family at a pumpkin patch.
"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."
- Anne of Green Gables
(One of the girls was reading her
Puffin in Bloom edition of Anne of Green Gables on the drive to Mass this morning. The quote seemed fitting.)
Happy October!
