Valentine Cards for the President

The following comes from Totus Tuus Family:

With Valentines approaching, this gets to the heart of the matter.

Get a red envelope. On the front, address it to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

On the back of the envelope, write the following message.

This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.

Put it in the mail, and send it. Then forward this to every one of your friends who you think would send one too. I wish we could send 50 million red envelopes, one for every child who died before having a chance to live. Maybe it will change the heart of the president?

Another woman wrote, "Good idea but if you get the flimsy envelope then it will not work and it will jam the Post Office's Automated Machines." She suggested putting a blank white poster card or card stock in the envelope.

MY IDEAS -

If you don't have red envelopes, let your littlest color or paint white envelopes red so they can be involved. The potential of a child......

Another idea for inside the card is a white card stock note saying....

OPEN your heart to the lives of your unborn CITIZENS. Be a President to ALL Americans!

Put in a bunch of prayer cards while you're at it! :) PASS IT ON.

We will be mailing ours out tomorrow. Won't you join us?

Has it really been 7 years???

One Day Old

1st Birthday

 

 2nd Birthday

 

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

5th Birthday

6th Birthday

All ready to go Bowling... 

Happy 7th Birthday Rascal!

Ideas for the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

On February 11th the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

This feast day "marks the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to fourteen-year-old Marie Bernade (St. Bernadette) Soubirous. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared eighteen times, and showed herself to St. Bernadette in the hollow of the rock at Lourdes. On March 25 she said to the little shepherdess who was only fourteen years of age: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Since then Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and many cures and conversions have taken place. The message of Lourdes is a call to personal conversion, prayer, and charity." ~ Catholic Culture


Last year I posted our plans for celebrating this feast, followed by a few pictures. I thought I would update my links and add a few more great ideas I remembered seeing on a few of my favorite blogs.

We will be using just a few of these ideas in our home. Now if I could just decide which ones!

Storytime

Our Lady of Lourdes by Father Lovasik
Bernadette: Our Lady's Little Servant (Vision Books)
Our Lady of Lourdes (Catholic Story Coloring Book)
More Saints: Lives & Illuminations Page 34 on St. Bernadette

Family Movie Night

There are a some WONDERFUL videos worth watching on this feast day! One of our all time favorites is The Song of Bernadette, it is SO good!! Our children also really love watching Bernadette - The Princess of Lourdes.

A couple other great movies about this apparition are Bernadette and The Passion of Bernadette.



Crafts

• Illuminated Ink sells a beautiful Marian Grotto Kit for Our Lady of Lourdes. "This striking kit will allow your child to create his or her own miniature grotto for the Blessed Mother from wooden sticks, beautiful illustrations and polished semi-precious gemstones." If you are like me, and planned to order this kit last year, and never got around to it, it still can be done! Charlotte picked up a few supplies for her family, and they did an amazing job.
  
• Charlotte also has a beautiful coloring page of the Immaculate Conception that could be used since Our Lady said to St. Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception."
• Mary at Our Domestic Church shared a couple great crafts for this feast last year on her blog, including directions for making lovely little holy water fonts! Over at Cottage Blessings you can find the directions for a couple different holy water fonts, and yet another one over at St. Athanasius Academy. How fun!!
• If you are blessed with lots of snow at your home, which we are not, what about building a snow grotto?
• I hope to paint an Our Lady of Lourdes to go with St. Bernadette.
• Or how about making Spoon Saints for St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes.
• Make a homemade grotto and place a holy card or small statue of Our Lady of Lourdes inside. Dawn shared a simple suggestion for one using a disposable loaf pan!
  
• Last year we made the simple Grotto Craft suggested in Seton's Art 1 for Young Catholics. All you need is an image of Our Lady of Lourdes (one is provided in the book, but I am sure there are many available online -- in fact, Charlotte's coloring page would be perfect!), brown and yellow construction paper, tissue paper for the flowers and leaves, and a bit of gold glitter and glue for Our Lady's halo. My children really enjoyed making these!

Food

• You could make the Crepes for the Feast of St. Bernadette or Candlemas Crepes. (Crepes are a favorite in our home, though I always just use my Grandmother's simple recipe which calls for 12 eggs, 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of milk, and 1 cup of water.)
• Blueberry Muffins, or Blueberry Pancakes, would be another great option for breakfast. I posted the recipe for our favorite Blueberry Muffins over at Catholic Cuisine.
  

• You could serve an all white menu symbolizing the purity of Mary's immaculate soul.
• Last year we also made a blue jello mold which represented the Spring. This year I might use the foil cupcake liners and make mini "springs" for our snack.
  
• In this 4Real Thread a grotto made with Fruity Pebbles Rice Krispie Treats was suggested. My kids would LOVE that!! UPDATED: Here is a link to the recipe/directions.
  
• A Blueberry Cheesecake Pie would also be fitting. The all white cheesecake (white and angel food cakes are other excellent options) symbolizes Mary's purity, and the blueberry topping is is symbolic of her blue mantle.
  
• Another fun option would be to make a cupcake rosary since, when Our Lady first appeared to St. Bernadette, she smiled and told her to pray the rosary. Oooohh!! How about making the rosary with mini blueberry muffins!?! Although, the pink could symbolize the roses at Our Lady's feet... Hummm...
  

Prayer

Say the Rosary together as a family.

Pray the Litany of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Sing the Lourdes Hymn, Immaculate Mary.

Using holy water from Lourdes, give your children a parental blessing.

The following is the beautiful novena prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes:

O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfort to the Afflicted,

you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Deign to cast upon me a look of mercy. By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors; and already many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal.

I come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain, O loving Mother, the granting of my requests.

Through gratitude for favors, I will endeavor to imitate your virtues that I may one day share your glory.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Amen.
(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.)

Our Lady of Lourdes ~ Pray for Us!

Peek-a-Boo

I just download a few pictures from my camera (for a recipe I am planning on posting at Catholic Cuisine), and I noticed that my hubby had taken a bunch of photos! This was my favorite:

WoW ~ Week 4

I had this post ready last night, but forgot to click publish. Oops! =)

I haven't had much motivation or time this past week, and it really showed on the scale this morning... Or could it have been that White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks last night?? Anyhow, I weigh the same as last week. I had better luck with my measurements though, dropping another 1 1/2 inches.

My Summary:

• Week Four Weight Loss/Gain: ± 0
  
• Inches Loss/Gain: -1.5 inches
  
• Overall Results: -5.5 pounds and -7 inches

Goals for this week:

Get back on track. My knee is better now, so I plan to resume the 30 day shred. (I was having the best weight loss with that). I also plan on walking at least 3 times.

To see everyone's stats, or report your own, head on over to Regina's!

Winter Fun

A couple weeks ago, our "Little Saints Pre-School" theme was "Winter Fun." Here is a glimpse at a few of the fun things we did:

Storytime

We read some of our favorite books about snow:

• White Snow, Bright Snow
• The Big Snow
• The Snowy Day
• Katy and the Big Snow
• Snow Is Falling (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1)
• The Little Island
  

Winter Dessert Sculptures

Making Snowflakes

The girls love using scissors...

Here is what happens when momma leaves the room for a second and a scissor happy little girl cuts too much!

Ah! That's better!

I thought I took a picture of the door covered in snowflakes, but I guess I didn't... Oh well!

I wonder if they are ready for these??

Decorating Snowflakes

These are part of the Snowy Day Lapbook from Homeschool Share.
(which doesn't seem so be working right now)

I wanted to make this Snowman Dessert, but my kiddos had had enough sugar as it was! The girls did have fun with this Virtual Snowman.

Last week the girls continued the theme and worked on lapbooks. Chiquita is doing a simple Snow Lapbook and Twinkle Toes is making one based on The Snowy Day.

My Daybook ~ February 3rd, 2009

FOR TODAY: February 3rd, 2009

The Feast of St. Blaise

Outside my Window... the sun is shinning, but it is COLD!

I am thinking... about the Feasts of Candlemas and St. Blaise, and I am so disappointed that we weren't able to make it to Mass each morning since Chiquita is sick. Nevertheless, we have been celebrating at home and a little later today the kids will be decorating candles and folding some napkins for with dinner.

I am thankful... that, even though Chiquita was throwing up early yesterday morning, none of my children are throwing up today! Maybe it wasn't the stomach flu after all?!? Time will tell...

I am also thankful that, even though we missed Mass this morning, we can still have our throats blessed this coming Sunday at one of the local parishes.

From the kitchen... Stuffed Peppers, Clam Chowder, and Spinach Salad for dinner.

From the school room... lessons as usual. The boys finished up a couple of their workbooks this past week. This should free up a bit more time for History and Science! Yay!! The girls are finishing up their Winter lapbooks and then we'll move on to a new theme.

I am creating... a checklist for Rascal's birthday this coming Saturday.

I am going... to try and finish up a couple of the posts in my drafts folder, starting with THIS post! I haven't had much time for posting and/or reading blogs lately.

I am wearing... a heavy sweater, warm socks, and my slippers. It is cold in our house today, and I am having a hard time getting the fire to burn well.

I am reading... Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal to my children.

I am hoping... that Snuggles hair grows back quickly. Hubby decided to give him his first haircut this past Saturday. Poor baby!

I am hearing... AJ, Skiff and the rest of the Gang. The boys asked to listen to them while they are working on their Copywork. Twinkle Toes is looking at a few books, and Chiquita and Snuggles are sleeping. I am not hearing my washing machine -- time to change it over.

Around the house... hummm... It is actually in pretty good shape still! Marci spoiled me last week by having ALL my kids over to her house for the day so I could clean my house and prepare dinner since we had Father coming over that night! I was AMAZED at how much I could get done. Thank you Marci!

One of my favorite things...is being able to look back through old posts and see what we were up to at this time last year!

A Few Plans For This Week...

I am hoping to finish up my Aunt's bookkeeping for 2008. I am getting close!! I also need to make up some gift bags for Rascal's friends that are coming to his birthday party on Saturday. I wonder how they would like Fr. Lovasik books! ;)

A picture thought I am sharing:

Snuggles loves his new "God-brother"