Today it was...

... Preggie Pops and Spices.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
More baby proofing, by the looks of it...
You'd think I would have our home baby proof by now!!

Tagged Again...

...this time by Shelly!

She would like to see "the 6th picture in my 6th folder on my computer."

I was a bit nervous about this one, but I think I got off easy. My folders are all listed by date, and so folder #6 is 2005-12-16, which is the day my brother came over to try and take a Christmas Picture for us so I could have cards made. Did I wait till the last minute or what?! You know what's worse? The next year we didn't do pictures until the 19th! Yep, thank GOODNESS for Costco's great (inexpensive) Photo cards and 1 hour developing! I was still able to get the cards out in time for Christmas.

Anyways, enough rambling... Here is the photo:


This wasn't the one we used for our card. We used #5! But I do love Twinkle Toes glare in this photo! She use to glare like that ALL.THE.TIME. It was very funny!

Anyways, thanks Shelly! That was fun!

Now, I'm going to tag:*

1. Amy
2. Marci
3. Ruth
4. Charlotte
5. Aubrey
6. Margaret
   

*Play along if you'd like... I totally understand if you don't have the time, but I'd love to see your photos!

Christmas Tree Advent Calendar: Review and Giveaway

Recently, after posting about a few of our Little Saints Flannel Board Pieces, I was sent a sample product to review for Story Time Felts. My children all *LOVE* playing with Flannel Boards, so I was more than willing to look through the catalog, and check out their products.

When the sample arrived, I was very excited to receive a Christmas Tree Advent Calendar. (Thank you Karen!!) I know it seems early to talk about Christmas, but did you realize that Advent begins in less than 8 weeks?

Anyways, this little Christmas Tree Advent Calendar is sooo cute!

Here are a few of the things I liked about it:

1. I was very pleased to see that the company used the words "Christmas" and "Advent" (A very important detail to me...), as well as quite a few religious pieces.
   


2. I was excited to find that it came pre-assembled! (I can't even begin to count the hours I spent cutting felt, preparing for the Little Saints Pre-School program when Captain was little! The few dollars extra to have this arrive ready to go, is well worth it in my opinion.)



3. I also *LOVED* the small Velcro pieces that are scattered on the tree and background for attaching the ornaments. (I think I may just use this idea for our Jesus Tree, since we had such a hard time getting our pieces to stick!)


4. It comes with paperwork that explains the meaning and/or history of each felt symbol! For example: "Red Christmas Ornament -- Red is the first color of Christmas. It was first used by the faithful people to remind them of the blood which was shed for all people by the Savior. Christ gave His life and shed His blood that every man might have God's gift to all, Eternal Life. Red is deep, intense, vivid--it is the greatest color of all. It is the symbol of the gift of God."


5. There are even activity suggestions for some of the pieces. For example: "Gingerbread House -- At the Christmas season there are plenty of good foods to eat and parties to go to with their delightful Christmas decor. It's not this way for everyone. Fill a bag with canned goods and take them to your local food bank to help someone less fortunate than you enjoy the Christmas season."


6. My kids *LOVE* it!

The Figures Include:

Star, Donkey, Poinsettia, Christmas Caroler, Blue Christmas Gift, Red Christmas Gift, Red Christmas Ornament, Christmas Tree, Ice Skates, Three Wise Men, Shepherd Boy, Manger Scene, Church, Gingerbread Boy, Bell, Candle, Wreath, Christmas Card, Candy Cane, Santa Claus (we'll call him St. Nick!), Angel, Present with red ribbon, Gingerbread House, Soldier, and Dove.

The only thing I don't like about it, and this goes for any pre-made Advent Calendar, is that it is not an accurate countdown of Advent. Advent Calendars should begin on the first Sunday of Advent and end on Christmas Eve. Every year this date changes and can be as early as November 27 or as late as December 3. HOWEVER, the nice thing about this Felt Advent Calendar, unlike our Wooden Advent Calendar, is that I can easily add a few pieces on my own to make up for those days.

I also really *LOVE* their Religious Advent Calendar.

Anyways, to wrap this up, Karen Clark (Executive National Director of Story Time Felts), has graciously offered $25.00 Worth of Story Time Felts to one of my visitors!! All you have to do to be entered, is head over to Story Time Felts and take a look at a few of the other products, and then come back and tell me your favorite... OR... just tell me what you like most about this Advent Calendar!

Please do so by Thursday night, and I will hold the drawing and post the winner on Friday!

GOOD LUCK!

The Feast of the Most Holy Rosary

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary! In fact, the whole month of October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary!

We have been making a point to say the rosary together as a family each night (it had been hard to do when hubby was gone!). Later today we will also be meeting a couple other families at the park (unless the weather stays yucky... then they'll come here), to Pray the Rosary, color Charlotte's beautiful Our Lady of the Rosary Coloring Page, and eat our Cupcake Rosary!

Queen of the most holy Rosary, in these times of such brazen impiety, manifest thy power with the signs of thine ancient victories, and from thy throne, whence thou dost dispense pardon and graces, mercifully regard the Church of thy Son, His Vicar on earth, and every order of clergy and laity, who are sore oppressed in the mighty conflict. Do thou, who art the powerful vanquisher of all heresies, hasten the hour of mercy, even though the hour of God's justice is every day provoked by the countless sins of men. For me who am the least of men, kneeling before thee in supplication, do thou obtain the grace I need to live righteously upon earth and to reign among the just in heaven, the while in company with all faithful Christians throughout the world, I salute thee and acclaim thee as
Queen of the most holy Rosary.

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary ~ Pray for us!
(Indulgence: 500 days, per Leo XIII, July 3, 1886)

My little snuggly baby...

... has been too busy to snuggle lately!

This all happened within a couple hours...
I can't keep up with him! ;)

**And yes, that is the same bruise from 3 weeks ago... I think he permanently dented his head!

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ Oct 6th

FOR TODAY: October 6th, 2008, The Feast of St. Bruno

Outside my Window... there is still quite a bit that needs to be done to prepare for winter, but the sun has come out for the moment, and the forecast is predicting more sunny weather come Wednesday!

I am thinking... about our upcoming All Saints' Party at the end of the month. My children look forward to it all year long!

From the school room... we have a bit of catch up work that needs to be done. We have had a difficult time settling into a routine this past month.

I am thankful... my hubby is home! Now things are calming down, and it is nice! We really missed him!

From the kitchen... Hot Chai Tea and Biscotti! Yum!! A dear older woman from Church just had eye surgery, and is on bedrest for two weeks so I'll be taking her dinner tonight, so I have chicken cooking in the crock pot. I am planning on making Chicken Enchiladas, Corn, Salad and Mexican Rice for dinner, with brownies for dessert.

I am creating... a list of games we have played in the past at our All Saints' Party.

I am going... to make sure I make it to Gymboree this week. I have a couple Gymbucks that *HAVE* to be used! ;)

I am wearing... a big warm cozy sweatshirt. It is really cold in our house today!

I am reading... through the Serendipity Plans and trying to figure out what we will be focusing on this week.

I am hoping... to celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary tomorrow. I may call a couple friends and see if they want to get together to say the rosary, color pictures, and eat a cupcake rosary! I plan on using mini cupcakes for the Hail Mary beads, and regular sized ones for the our Fathers. I've seen this done (or read about it) before (was it you?), and I have been dying to try it myself. It's not like we have had too much cake around here, or anything!

I am hearing... the children playing together, and the washing machine humming. Very familiar sounds in our home.

Around the house... Roses! Fresh, Candy, and Paper Roses!

One of my favorite things... Our First Class Relic of St. Therese. Since Nancy asked about it it is a tiny piece of her bone, and was a given to us by one of hubby's brothers.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...

• Catch up on our school work.
• The tutor will be coming Tue & Wed.
  
• Mass and Benediction on Friday, followed by lunch with Father.
• Keep it simple!
  

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

I always love seeing my girls in their veils for Mass.

To see more Daybook entry's, click here.

I hope you all have a simply wonderful week!

A Shower of Roses

We had so very much fun celebrating the feasts of St. Therese last week! I knew I wouldn't be able to get to everything I planned, but we sure had fun trying!

Here are the highlights of our celebration at home:

Anniversary Roses from Hubby



Homemade (French) Crepes and Mini Éclairs


Chocolate Roses


Excellent Audios and Videos



A hand painted Wee Wooden St. Therese


Beautiful Coloring Pages of St. Therese


Strawberry Rose Cupcakes


Delicious Rose Wine in our wedding champagne glasses!



Paper Roses placed near our St. Therese relic


Rosy Punch


Rose Petal Coconut Cake


My happy children... My "Shower of Roses!"

It's raining, It's pouring...

It's been raining like crazy this week, so today, hubby started storing away our (uncovered) porch furniture for the winter. sniff... sniff...

It always makes me sad when the time comes to take down our porch swing each year. We all just love sitting out there to read books and just visit. I guess the good thing is, pretty soon there will be a nice cozy fire to sit by instead.

Well, I am glad that we took advantage of our porch as much as we could this past month! In fact, here are a few pictures from this past week of us just swingin'!

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...

"Momma! I am the oldest girl, just like you were!!!"

Looks like we are starting to outgrow the swing!! It is FULL!
We can still ALL fit (the kiddos just pile on top of hubby and I)... although I wonder if those chains will be able to take it for much longer! :)

(Oh! and in case you are wondering... Snuggles was laughing like crazy in that bottom picture. He *loves* his older brothers so much!)

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

As I mentioned earlier this week, this has been a great week for celebrating the Saints. On the Calendar for today is dear St. Francis of Assisi.

To be honest, I am a bit wiped out from all the festivities, but I couldn't let this feast pass without doing a little something in his honor.

So, today we will be:

• Watching: Francis: The Knight of Assisi
• Coloring: This great coloring page
• Reading: The Good Man of Assisi, Francis Poor Man of Assisi, Saint Francis and/or Clare and Francis (Another one we *love* but will save for Advent is Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey)
• Eating: Animal Cookies and Amy's Awesome Pizza (For more inspiration, don't miss Jenn's post at Catholic Cuisine with even more great recipes for this feast!)

O God, Who, by the merits of blessed Francis, didst increase Thy Church by bringing forth a new progeny, grant us to imitate him in despising earthly things and ever to rejoice in partaking of heavenly gifts.

St. Francis of Assisi ~ Pray for Us!

Thank You!!

We are busy continuing our celebration for the feast of St. Therese. (Since today is her feast day on the Traditional Calendar... Plus one day was just not enough time to do all the fun things we planned!) We've been having so much fun... I'll try and upload photos soon!

Anyway, I just wanted to get online real quick to THANK YOU all for all the prayers and well wishes on our Anniversary! We enjoyed reading each and every comment! You are all so kind and thoughtful! It was so fun to look back at our wedding day and share a few of our special memories with you all. Also, THANK YOU to my little brother who babysat so we could go out to dinner and a movie. (A rare treat indeed!) And THANK YOU to my in-laws and Marci for the beautiful cards in the mail... that was so very thoughtful of you both! You all helped make our anniversary very special!

"The smallest actions done for His love are those which charm His Heart."

~St. Therese, The Little Flower