Jacob's Toy Box {A Review & Easter Give-away!}

I had been hoping to compile an updated list of Catholic Easter Basket Ideas and Easter Symbol themed gifts, but I haven't had a chance yet and Easter is quickly approaching!

I haven't finished my own Easter shopping quite yet, but I did want to share a precious little rag doll from Jacob's Toy Box that one of my little guys will discover in his Easter Basket this year:   Father Martin with his vestments and story.



Isn't he great?!  Not only is he soft and cuddly (um... can you say that about a priest doll?) - perfect for my little toddler - I love the traditional cassock (over pants) and vestments (including an Alb, Cincture, Maniple, Stole and Chasuble)!  Now I can't decide if he is going to end up in Snuggles or Bud's basket this year... And I'm sure Rose would love Sister Marie...  But, I did order Hand-painted Bookmarks of their Patron Saints for the 5 oldest, including Snuggles, and plan to complete a set of blocks for Rose (which I still need to get going on), so perhaps he should go to Bud...  What do you think?

Anyways, I've really enjoyed "meeting" Christine through our email correspondence, and wanted to share with you all, with Christine's permission, the beautiful yet heartbreaking story of how she named her business:

"I started this business last summer--2012. It has been a rough couple of years--In 2010 I was diagnosed with a terminal pregnancy--My daughter had trisomy 18-- a fatal chromosome defect. We found this out at 24 weeks, and of course we didn't terminate the pregnancy. She died at 27 weeks. Those were a few tough weeks. Knowing that the baby inside of me wouldn't live. After she died I started a home-based fresh flower business and it did pretty well.

Then, surprise! At the end of 2011 I found out I was pregnant again. We were so excited--but scared. (Back and 2009 I was told by a medical specialist that I would never be able to get pregnant again--I proved him wrong!) The OB doctor watched me like a hawk--everything was going smoothly. Then when I was 32 weeks had a stress test/ultrasound on a Wed.--Jacob, our son, looked fine. On Friday I only noticed a bit of movement in the morning. Called the doctor that night and he said not to worry. Things had looked fine a couple of days ago. Saturday morning I still had not felt him move. The OB had me come into the hospital. Jacob had died. They were unable to determine what caused his death--he looked perfect!

This experience made me want to focus even more on my family and doing flowers I felt was taking too much time away. But, I wanted to be doing something and have enjoyed crafts in the past. My husband, kids, and friends encouraged me to start making and selling these toys.--thus the birth of Jacob's Toy Box. By the way, we are a homeschooling family too. My oldest is a senior and my youngest in kindergarten. My husband and I have been married almost 20 years."

I was very touched by Christine's story, and my heart aches for her as I know all too well what it is like to lose babies...  What a special tribute she has created for her little son with Jacob's Toy Box!

She also had a story to share about my husband's brothers:

"Oh--just a funny story about one of your brother-in-laws--When Fr. J. G_____ was at our parish, I went into the confessional to receive the sacrament. The voice of the priest sort of sounded like our priest but not quite. I asked the priest "Are you Fr. G____?" His reply:"I am A Father G____."

Yes, there are a few of those "Father G's" around, which is another reason I am thrilled to have a "Priest" doll for my children!  Hmmmm... I might have to see if I can eventually order another with dark hair that we can name "Uncle Father" as our children affectionately call those three dear priests! ;)

I sure do love supporting Catholic businesses and families when we can.  Some of my favorite gifts for our children have either been handmade by creative and talented Catholics like Christine!    These gifts are treasures for sure, and things you just can't find at those big box stores or websites!

If any of you would like to place an order, you will need to do so no later than March 25th for Easter delivery!   These sweet dolls would also make excellent First Communion Gifts, in addition to the other suggestions I posted last year.

Christine has also generously offered to give a Brother Hubert Rag Doll and Brother Hubert and The Battle with the Goat to one of my visitors here at Shower of Roses!   



He even has a tonsure!  I love it!!  He is definitely going on my "wishlist" for one of my little boys!

To enter this give-away:

Click on over to Jacob's Toy Box and check out all the adorable rag dolls created by Christine and then leave a comment on this post, telling me which is your favorite, before Midnight (PST) on Saturday, March 16th. Be sure to leave your email address, or have it linked in your profile, so that I am able to contact the winner.   I will update this post with the lucky winner on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day!

BONUS: Share this giveaway on either your own blog or Facebook page and come back and let me know that you did by leaving a second comment for an extra entry!  Like Shower of Roses and Jacob's Toy Box on Facebook for a third entry!   Be sure to leave a comment for each entry since they will be numbered for use with a random number generator to determine the winner.

And before you go, I wanted to add a little prayer request... Please click over to Kirsten's blog, Sonlight Garden, and let her know you are praying for a miracle for her own beautiful baby.

State-by-State Baking :: Alabama Fried Cherry Pies

"D stands for Dixie,
all Alabamians have great pride in.
Our state is "The Heart of Dixie,"
a heritage passed from kin to kin."

  ~ Y is for Yellowhammer: An Alabama Alphabet

We've been wanting to make our recipe for Alabama for a few weeks now, but we had to wait for a Sunday. (Since it is Lent and we gave up sweets this year, and since the girls were set on making this recipe!) The last couple Sundays didn't work out for one reason or another, but this afternoon (on Laetare Sunday!) we finally had the time to spend in the kitchen frying pies inspired by a quote from The United States Cookbook.  The girls had previously read  Y is for Yellowhammer: An Alabama Alphabet and then completed their Notebook Pages.

"Fried pies are a specialty of Alabama. Fried pies are made by filling dough, often with peaches or peach butter, then folding the dough into a half-moon shape, and frying it in fat."  

~ The United States Cookbook

Alabama Fried Cherry Pies

Ingredients:

• 1 can Cherry Pie Filling
• 1-2 cans "Flaky Layers" Biscuits
• Powdered Sugar
• Oil/Fat for Frying 

Directions:

On a floured surface, roll each biscuit into a thin circle.

Place one spoonful of pie filling into middle.

 

Fold over one part of the circle onto the filling, making a semi-circle. Press down to seal the edges using a fork.



Heat about 1/2" of oil in a frying pan. Carefully, fry the prepared pies for 2-3 mins on each side over medium-low heat until golden brown.

Note:  Be sure that the oil is over medium-low and not high, or the pies might burn on the outside and still be gooey on the inside!  Ask us how we know... ;)  After a couple attempts (and turning the heat down) we finally were successful!

Sprinkle the warm pies with powdered sugar.

 

Resources we used for this State Study:

Y is for Yellowhammer: An Alabama Alphabet

Y is for Yellowhammer Teacher's Guide (pdf)

Alabama Notebooking Page from United States Maps

United States Coloring Book (Dover)

State Birds and Flowers Coloring Book (Dover)

The United States Cookbook: Fabulous Foods and Fascinating Facts From All 50 States

Other Posts of Interest: 

State-by-State Scrapbook

State-by-State Scrapbook :: Alabama

Happy Rose Sunday! 

State-by-State Scrapbook :: Alabama

"Our official state bird's name, 
history does glorify.
The uniforms of the Civil War soldiers, 
Yellowhammer is our Y."

  ~ Y is for Yellowhammer: An Alabama Alphabet

.: Alabama by Captain :.

.: Alabama by Rascal :.

*The links to the worksheets used for these notebook pages can be found here, and here is the link to all of our State-by-State Study posts.

You can also find the Alabama Fried Pies that the girls made for this state here!  

Our Little School Room

Over the past few years I've continually tried to rearrange our small little school room to make it work for our family, and the sometimes overwhelming amount of school books we've collected over the years.  The last time I gave you a tour was back in 2009.   It was still pretty crowded and cramped, but we made it work.  The only problem was the table in the middle always seemed to collect piles of "stuff" and would make the room look so messy all the time.  I also had a very difficult time maneuvering around the table when I was pregnant... There just wasn't much space left over.  Last year I finally moved the table to under the window, between the two windows, which you can sort of see in this picture,  but it still looked funny. Since we needed all the extra chairs for our dining room table (yes, we have two very different sets of chairs at the moment, but at least we have chairs for everyone!) I finally just removed the table from the room and left an open area on the floor to pile all the stuff for the children to play games, assemble puzzles, and read books.   Anyways, last Saturday I finally spent some time cleaning, decluttering, and organizing this room!  

One day last week, when my mom stopped by, I asked her for a few suggestions.  (I had a few big boxes and baskets of books all with no where to go, in addition to lots of other stuff that needed to be sorted and put away.  I'm sorry I didn't take a before picture to share with you all.  I should have, but it really was rather embarrassing.)   Anyways, she suggested that I push the desks together, under the window, to allow room for another bookcase near my desk.  I had never considered that because there is a book case on the end of Rascal's desk, and the floor vent is directly under the window.  She said that if I switched the desks, putting Rascal's on the right and Captain's on the left it would work, and sure enough it did!   Not only does it look so much better, their desks are so much more functional!  (In the past Rascal couldn't open his bottom drawer because it was blocked by the computer plug, and Captain couldn't use the keyboard space, due to the little shelves on the back wall.)   

I also moved the printer back to the school room (from inside my closet) and placed it on Captain's desk!  Now when I want to print at night I can do so without upsetting my husband! ;)    My old iMac is set up on Captain's desk for the oldest four children to use for Math, and the CD player is on Rascal's desk for audio books and the three oldest to use for their spelling - Phonetic Zoo.   

On the back wall I have a stack of shoe shelves/closet organizers that we have been using as extra shelving.   The children each have their own shelf on which they keep their Timeline Books, Special Artwork Boxes, State Scrapbooks, and art supplies.  On the bottom/floor I have a couple tubs with extra crayons and safari toob figures.  

In the past I kept the rest of the art supplies on top of these shelves, but I moved some to the small curved book shelves to make room for our Puzzles (in a case similar to this one) and stacking blocks! 

Our puzzles include a set of four Schylling Wooden Puzzles (the school bus, the fire truck, the cow, and the duck), various Lauri Puzzles, a shapes puzzle, US puzzle, and a barnyard puzzle.  We have a few others that don't fit on the case which I placed on top of some books on the bookcase.  

I love wooden stacking toys!  They are so pretty and the kids have so much fun playing with them!  On this shelf you can see the Little Flower Wooden Stacker, a set of Stacking Birds, the Stone Cave,  Rainbow, Fire, Water Waves, and a little wooden Peacock from last year's family Easter Basket.

To the left of the shelves is our basket of puppets!   We have a couple large puppets (Ziggy the Zebra to go along with All About Reading and a fun Gray Squirrel) the rest are small Folkmanis finger puppets.  My children have discovered these in their Easter baskets and Christmas stockings in the past.  They are all so cute!

I purchased the book shelves from my parents neighbors years ago when they moved.   The corner shelf is huge, and had to be placed in the room through the window, but I really love these shelves!  I'm able to fit so much on them!   I had been using the corner shelves for various seasonal things, but since I needed the room for books I packed all of that stuff up and rearranged everything!  

The children each have their own Martha Stewart Magazine File Box (I purchased more with a teacher's 50% off all Martha Stewart coupon in the fall!) to hold their Lap Books.  They also each have a Black Closetmaid Fabric Drawer for their current school books.   

This past week, during our study of the past Popes, I hung up our old Pope Chart on the back of the door.   It only lists through Pope John Paul II, but the children have loved looking through all the popes pictures and reading a little about each of them. 

Also just inside the door, hanging on the wall is our Alphabet of Saints Dolls (there is a matching poster  on the wall, up above and to the right) , and to the left of those, on top of the shelf, is Rose's Wooden Fairy Tale Village.   It's another set of toys that comes down when she wants to play with it, and then gets put back up when she is done.  :) 

I've given you a little peek at the calendar I have hanging on the wall behind the door before...  It is  where we store any current Lap Book Mini-Books in clear ziplock bags until we are ready to assemble the actual Lap Book.  

Underneath the calendar I have our Geo Safari USA Search hanging on the wall.  It apparently decided to stop working this past year...  I was hoping new batteries was all it needed, but they didn't seem to help.  Oh well.  :( 

And that just leaves the other wall, where you find my desk.   I still need to do some work on this side of the room, sorting through the plastic bins of school and art supplies.  (One which came from my closet!) I'd like to eventually paint (or replace) the desk and then get one more bookshelf to place in the corner.  

On one of the shelves is a model ship my husband started building when we were dating (maybe someday he will have the time to finish it!) and on the other I have a few of our Pop-Up Books, safely out of the reach of the little ones:  Sounds of the Wild: Nighttime was a Christmas gift from my mom, The Sound of Music from Rose's birthday, and Snow White which was a gift from a friend a few years ago!   They are all such awesome books!

I did end up getting a few more curtains to cover the opening/shelf above the hallway.   We actually had to move the intake for the heater to the other side so now there is a big silver pipe going through that area, along with all the various Christmas, Easter and other seasonal items that need to be stored.   

It's nowhere near as organized and beautiful as some of the learning rooms I've seen online, but I've been able to make this small space work for us.  And after filling 3 bags of trash and 3 boxes/bags to donate, everything seems to have a place at the moment!  It has been so nice this past week to finally have an organized school room again!  Now to move on to my closet and the kids bedrooms...  I think I need a full week of Saturdays! ;) 

{this moment}

"Somebody rode his wheely bug into the (recently cleaned and organized) schoolroom and found a couple of his books immediately."

From Instagram/Facebook, because it was just too cute to not record on the blog!  

Papal Lap Book Unit Two: The Holy Fathers, Past and Present

As we continue The Primacy of Peter :: A Papal Unit Study and Lap Book, we moved on from our first unit about St. Peter, The First Pope last week and began our second unit based on all of the Holy Fathers, Past and Present, of the Roman Catholic Church!  Beginning with Saint Peter the Apostle and first Pope, and ending with Pope Benedict XVI the 265th Pope, who is now the Pope Emeritus.



What a blessing it was to have high speed internet and watch (via EWTN online) the Holy Father, during his last hours as our Pope on February 28th, say goodbye, leave the Vatican as the bells rang during Lent, give his final blessing from the balcony at Castle Gondolfo, and then watch the doors close and the guards leave their post...   I didn't expect to cry, but I did, and Bud clapped along with all the crowds!

Here is a peek at our extra studies this past week as we continue working on our Papal Lap Books:  

Unit Two: The Holy Fathers, Past and Present

Read:

Family Read Aloud

• Lost in Peter's Tomb (continued) 
• The Man Who Never Died: The Life and Adventures of St. Peter the First Pope (continued)
• Break-in at the Basilica
• Read “The Bishop of Rome” (pages 112-113 My Catholic Faith)

Younger Children

• Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as told by a Cat
• Max and Benedict: A Bird's Eye View of the Pope's Daily Life
• Lolek: The Boy Who Became John Paul II
• Be Saints: An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI
• Friendship with Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion
• Pope John Paul II
• Picture Book of Saints 
• Can You Find Saints? : Introducing Your Child to Holy Men and Women

Older Children

• Habemus Papam! Pope Benedict XVI
• Karol from Poland: The Life of John Paul II for Children
• Joseph from Germany
• St. Pius X: The Farm Boy Who Became Pope

Habemus Papam! Pope Benedict XVI had me completely confused when it arrived in the mail...  I took the dust cover off and tried to put it on "correctly" but it didn't work.  I finally figured it out when I opened the "front" cover...   I've never read a book from the back to the front, but the boys sure found it intriguing!

Create More Lap Book Mini-Books:


Who is the Pope?

For this mini-book I read “The Bishop of Rome” (pages 112-113 My Catholic Faith) while the children colored and assembled their mini-books.

Some Special Popes

For this Tab Book the children studied five different popes beginning with St. Peter and ending with Pope Benedict, and looked through the complete List of Popes.    We learned how St. Gregory the Great invented Gregorian Chant and called himself "Servant of the Servants of God."  We learned about St. Leo the XIII who wrote the St. Michael the Archangel Prayer.  And we also learned about Pope Pius X, the Pope of the Eucharist.

In addition to the original blank book I created, I created a couple additional books for my younger children.  The first has traceable text and a reduced size coloring page for them to color for each of the Popes!   You can download my document here:  Some Special Popes - Coloring/Quotes (Note:  you will need to print the coloring pages at a reduced size to paste into the provided spaces.  The coloring pages are from other websites and copyrighted.) 

Here are the links to the various coloring pages we used for our mini-book:

• St. Peter and the Keys of the Kingdom
• St. Gregory the Great from Waltzing Matilda
• St. Michael the Archangel from Waltzing Matilda (prayer written by Pope Leo XIII) 
• St. Pius X from Waltzing Matilda
• Pope Benedict XVI from Waltzing Matilda

Rose was so excited she started jumping up and down when I gave her the book to color.  

We read some short stories about each of the Popes.  For those who don't have access to these saints stories at home, here are a few online sources:

• Pius X and another at Loyola Press
• Gregory the Great (Holy Spirit Interactive) and Loyola Press
• Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael

My husband also helped create a "Fill-in-the-blank" version of this book as well, for some of our children.   I uploaded it here: Some Special Popes Fill in the Blank

Amazing Pope Facts

The children also started  working on their Amazing Facts mini-books.   These were inspired by the short chapter in the ebook Who is the Pope?   Here is also an interesting article with A Few Fun Facts about Popes in History.   Some of the topics I suggested to the children included:  

• Which Pope was the Pope the longest?
• Which Pope was the Pope the shortest? 
• What happened in 1978? Answer: 1978: The Year of The Three Popes (I found this especially interesting since I was born in January of 1978!)  ;) 
• What is meant by the infallibility of the Catholic Church?

We also read the section from My Catholic Faith on Infallibility of the Church, which I think is Amazing!

Question: What is meant by the infallibility of the Catholic Church?
Answer: By the infallibility of the Catholic Church is meant that the Church, by the special assistance of the Holy Ghost, cannot err when it teaches or believes a doctrine of faith and morals.

Question: Has the Church in fact proved itself infallible?
Answer: It is a historical fact that the Catholic Church, from the twentieth century back to the first, has not once ceased to teach a doctrine on faith or morals previously held, and with the same interpretation; the Church has proved itself infallible.

My Catholic Faith goes on to explain:

1. It is a historical fact that not one Pope, whatever he was in his private life, has ever taught error.
2. True, some high rulers of the Church have gravely sinned. Nevertheless, enemies of the Church have exaggerated even the lack of impeccability. In the long line of Popes the vast majority led virtuous lives. Many of them are honored as Saints and martyrs. The enemies of the Church can bring charges against only five or six Popes: Most of the charges are calumnies or exaggerations. But even if the charges were true, they prove nothing against infallibility.  (Of the Sovereign Pontiffs that have succeeded Peter, 84 are canonized Saints, of whom 32 were martyrs. However holy the Pope, he regularly goes to confession to a priest. No Pope ever considers himself above the laws of the Church and of God.)
3. The Church cannot change its teachings on faith and morals. But it may restate the doctrines more clearly and completely. Year after year the Church proclaims the same unchanging doctrines. Her doctrines need no reform, for they are of Divine origin, the work of the Incarnate God.  (No Pope or general Council in almost two thousand years has annulled or revoked a single decree of faith or morals enacted by a previous Pope or Council. This is history.)

Additional Activities:

Saints Who Were Popes

I pulled out our copy of Can You Find Saints? : Introducing Your Child to Holy Men and Women and had the little ones search for various Saints Who Were Popes including St. Gregory the Great who "developed a special way of singing praises to God called Gregorian Chant."

Research the Pope's Coat of Arms

Color Blessed John Paul II's Coat of Arms
Color Pope Benedict XVI's Coat of Arms and info
Study "What is a Coat of Arms?" and look up our own family Coat of Arms.


Add Pope Benedict to Timeline

When we were discussing Pope Benedict XVI this past week, and that he was had been Pope for 8 years, Chiquita wanted to know if he was elected Pope before or after she was born.   I remember very clearly the day Pope Benedict XVI was elected, and watching the white smoke (via a webcam) coming from the Sistine Chapel, but most of the rest of that year (pre-blogging days with 4 babies age 4 and under) is a blur... 

Apparently she was born the very next day!   And, yes, I do remember that day very clearly after all... I just never connected it with the election of the new Pope the day before.   In my defense, she was three weeks early, and not "due" until May 7th. I suppose she didn't want to miss out on all the excitement! 

Rascal choose to add illustrations to his timeline for both the date Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on February 11, 2013, and another for his last day as Pope on February 28, 2013. 

Now we are moving on to our next unit all about The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church!  To go along with this unit I just finished downloading Monica's Guess Who?! The Cardinals game!   I've come down with a bad cold/cough and seem to have developed a sinus infection, so this next unit might be slow going... 

I've also created another Novena book option which can be downloaded at Scribd.

You can find my original post and links to all the documents here.