Mama's Notebooks {Sponsored Review & Giveaway}

Mama's Notebooks brings you helpful notebooks to organize your family life. All of our notebooks are designed from the ground up by a Mom for other Moms, and feature simple and effective charts, lists, and ideas to help your family life run more smoothly! Our notebooks are spiral bound for your convenience.



Mama’s Notebook: Weekly Planner and Organizer provides you with an easy, flexible, and efficient way to organize your life. In one glance, you can coordinate your meal plan with the whole day’s events and tasks, and there’s always ample room to take notes on the things that matter to you most! Unlike other planners, you can start up Mama’s Notebook on any week of the year, and you can skip weeks as needed. The back section of the planner provides you with easy reference sheets to help you schedule and shop efficiently.

The Budget Notebook by Mama’s Notebooks is designed to help you keep a household budget that is simple, easy, and accurate. It features charts for everything you’ll need to get your budget under control, as well as a Notes section at the back with ample room for planning, organizing, writing reminder and to-do lists, and tallying up sums. You can purchase this notebook for an academic year budget (September-August) or a calendar year budget (January-December).

As much as I love my computer programs and apps, I also really love my printed calendars, planners, checklists, and notebooks!  I have a few that I use on a daily basis for various purposes. I use my Saints Calendar & 16-Month Planner  (which is usually on my desk) for looking ahead to upcoming feast days and planning our celebrations, I use my Half-Sized Catholic Daily Planner (which is usually tucked in my purse) to keep track of all scheduled appointments, and I use Color-Coded Check Lists for our lesson plans and goals along with Weekly Check Lists for the children's lesson plans.  

This year, as I mentioned last month, I am enjoying my lovely review copy of The Mama's Notebook!  It is usually opened up on my kitchen counter or dining table and it has been the perfect place to jot down meal plans, the books we've been reading aloud each week, some of which I plan to (eventually) transfer to the children's checklists (we started our brand new copy of The World's Story this week!), along with any projects and other little things I need to remember to do each week.  One of my favorite features is that it doesn't include pre-printed dates and if I miss a week (which happens more frequently than I'd like to admit!) I can pick right up where I left off and not feel like I am wasting half of the book! ;)   I also love that there is plenty of room for writing down messages, notes, and listing goals, as well as many helpful planning sheets in the back. 

I'm hoping to start using The Budget Notebook each month and I'm really looking forward to checking out The Homeschool Notebook which is coming soon! 

Mama's Notebook currently offers the following products: 

• Mama's Notebook: Weekly Planner & Organizer
• The Budget Notebook
• The Knit & Crochet Notebook: Project Planner & Organizer
• The New Baby Notebook: A Planner & Organizer for the First Six Weeks 
• Watch for The Homeschool Notebook which is COMING SOON!

All notebooks are currently 15% until the end of February!

Would you like to win a free copy of Mama’s Notebook and The Budget Notebook? 

Mama's Notebooks has offered to send a set to one of my visitors here at Shower of Roses!

 Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bible Candy Valentines {Tutorial & Free Printable}

Love is Patient, Love is Kind 
1 Corinthians 13:4

This year for our upcoming St. Valentine's Day card exchange, Snuggles decided to create Bible Candy Valentines to give to his family and friends!  I've run across variations of this idea in the past, some using Avery labels to create the text or silver wrapped candies.  We opted to create our own text boxes so that the "gold gilding" (on the edges of the bible pages) would show.  It was such a fun craft. Snuggles really enjoyed assembling the Bibles and can't wait to hand them out next week on St. Valentine's feast!

Bible Candy Valentines

Supplies:

• 1 bag of Hershey's Nuggets *Affiliate link (I purchased the 18 oz "Family Bag" of Milk Chocolate with Toffee & Almond, wrapped in gold)
• 1-2 sheets of Black Card Stock cut into 2.25" x 1.5" cards
• 1/8" Red Ribbon cut in 2 1/2" to 3" lengths
• Scissors and Glue Stick
• Printable (or create your own)

 

I love it when our crafts/activities tie in nicely to our other studies.
 This week in Math we have been practicing counting by 2's! :) 

Assemble:

1. Glue about 1/2" of the ribbon to the middle of your black paper rectangle.  
2. Add additional glue to the paper and center the wrapped chocolates on the paper, side by side, over the red ribbon.  
3. Cut out the printed text (from printable or create your own) and fold in half.  Cover the back with glue and attach it to the top of the chocolates, sticking the folded center down the middle of the two chocolates, creating the appearance of an open bible.  
4. Take the ribbon and put a little glue in the center of the side facing you. Bring the ribbon over the two pieces of chocolate and place it right down the middle of the open pages. You might need to press the ribbon down gently (with your finger or a paperclip) so it will stick. Let dry completely. 

Snuggles added additional To/From labels to the back of each.  

Download Printable File Here

Meet the Masters :: Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was the next Master Artist, following Vincent van Gogh, in our Art Course this year.   We completed this unit study last Saturday afternoon.  Each of the units has taken us about three hours to complete - one for the lesson/discussion, one for the worksheets, and one for the art activity.  We prefer spending a whole afternoon completing the units, but they could easily be broken up and spread out over the week or month.   My goal for this year is to complete Tract A, which leaves us with Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet coming up this spring.

.: Master Artist Introduction :. 

Mary Cassatt (kah-SAHT) 

American (1844-1926)

Mary Cassatt was an American who traveled to France to study art. It was quite an accomplishment for a woman, and an American at that, to exhubit with the famous Impressionists. She beautifully painted portraits of women and children.

Art Activity Emphasis: Portraits, Hats

Media: Pastel on Colored Paper

.: Art Supplies :. 

*All links to Amazon are Affiliate Links. 

18" x 24" Newsprint (for practicing plaid/patterns)

Oil Pastels (we ended up using these oil pastels and not the pastels pictured above)

12" x 15" black paper (I only had 5 sheets, so Rose used brown)

6" x 9" sheet of skin toned paper (We used Ivory Card Stock trimmed to size) 

various Pastel Colored Construction paper (pale green. pale blue, pale pink, pale purple, etc) 

Scissors and Glue

Pencil 

Red Crayon or Red Colored Pencil

Paper Towel

.: Practice Technique  - Portraits, Hats, and Patterns :. 

.: Art Project - Girl In Large Hat :. 

.: Additional Reading :. 

Quiet Time with Cassatt

 (This book, along with more of the Mini Masters, will be added to Easter Baskets this spring.)

Young Mother Sewing (1900)

During our lesson we identified and studied the "line of composition" in some of her paintings including Young Mother Sewing and Breakfast in Bed.

Breakfast in Bed (1897)

Color Your Own Mary Cassatt Masterpieces

You can scroll through all of our completed Meet the Masters unit studies here. 

Meet the Masters :: Vincent van Gogh

This year we are studying some of the Master Artists using Meet the Masters.  My husband took art appreciation classes in college, but I never did study any of the artists growing up...  I've used Child Size Masterpieces (affiliate link)  and incorporated a few Leonardo and Michelangelo art projects with the older children when they were younger, but other than that I have never made much of an effort to incorporate art study into our lesson plans until this year.  

In the fall we all enjoyed creating our Art Portfolios.   We also completed the Vincent van Gogh unit study.  This was our first introduction to van Gogh's life, and wow. Studying the artists is so different than studying the lives of the saints! We ended the lesson with a great discussion about the importance of having our faith at the center of our lives, and a prayer for his soul.  

.: Master Artist :. 

Vincent van Gogh (van-GOE) 

Dutch (1853-1890)

The results of Van Gogh's unhappy and tragic life are beautiful, expressive paintings of a world that did not accept or understand him.

Art Activity Emphasis: Texture

Media: Oil Pastel on black construction paper card stock

Lesson: Complete Meet the Masters Slide Show

.:Art Supplies :. 

 Note: All links to Amazon are affiliate links. 

Black construction paper (we used card stock instead)

Oil Pastels (we used the Pentel 16 count) 

Paper towel (for wiping fingers)

.: Practice Technique - Texture :. 

 

.: Art Project :. 

Didn't they all turn out so pretty?! 

.: Additional Reading :. 

Katie and the Starry Night

I'd also love to do this Sunflower Art Project as an additional follow up activity and read a few other books on van Gogh including Katie and the Sunflowers, van Gogh and the Sunflowers, and In the Garden with van Gogh!

February Daybook on the Feast of St. Blaise

Roses are red, violets are blue, 

Angels in heaven know I love you.

- Old Song, excerpt from A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays
*Note: All links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Outside my window...
Yes, those were our children out there in the front yard wrapped in blankets early this morning, trying to stay warm while I searched the house trying to figure out what was burning...  The smoke was coming from a light fixture in the little boys' room.

I am thinking...
It's nice to have electricians in the family! My Dad and Mom were on an airplane headed to Hawaii this morning (My Dad rarely travels, but Mom talked him into going over to watch a golf tournament my brother will be competing in this week!) but my brother Brian returned my call and headed over to take a look at the wiring for me in exchange for some lunch. Even though it ended up being just the lightbulb (Whew!!!!)  I had him take down the fixture (wall sconce) anyways, since we need to rearrange the furniture to make room for a bunk bed for the boys.

I am thankful... 
for those the two new bookcases! I assembled them last week and filled them with some of the books from the little boys' room, which was our old schoolroom.  We still seem to have more books than shelves, but I'm getting a little closer to finding homes and getting them all organized once again.

Learning all the time...

Saturday, while Sean was at work, we spent some time learning about Mary Cassatt and creating some artwork before heading outside to enjoy the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon.  I'll post pictures of their completed art projects soon.

Celebrating the liturgical year...
St. Brigid, Candlemas, St. Blaise, and so many more wonderful saints and feasts to celebrate and read about this month!

From the kitchen... 
Candlemas Cookies with Drip Plates and Saint Blaise Sticks!

I am working on... 
plans for Rascal's birthday this coming Friday.  When I asked him what sort of theme he'd like this year he asked if it could be a surprise! :)

I am creating...
homemade Valentine cards with Rose and Snuggles! I'll share some pictures of our creations sometime soon, but in the meantime, aren't these Vintage Valentines adorable?

I am going...
to pre-order Lent at Ephesus.

I am hoping...
that I will hear back from our pediatrician soon. Last week we took our oldest to see his pediatrician for an evaluation and to begin some testing for a reoccurring problem (violently vomiting for hours) he has been having every 1-2 months this past year, and again last week. Hopefully we can figure out the cause (and a solution) before it happens again. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him!

I am praying...
for a few special intentions and an increase of true, sacrificial love within our family during this month of February, which is dedicated to the Holy Family.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, like you we are members of the Father's family. We pray that our family love may reflect his love on its openness to all people. May we forgive even when not forgiven, and be patient with others' weaknesses.

Jesus, give us peace, unit and strength to meet the difficulties of daily living. May we use our family resources to improve the quality of life for ourselves and all people. Let us show joy in serving, for whatever we do for others, we do for you.

Mary, inspire us, that our love may be strong but not possessive. Let our willingness to give depend on the needs of others rather than on the cost of giving.

Joseph, help us to be attentive to the Father's will. Let us be ready, as you were, to act whenever he calls us.

I am reading...
Cranberry Valentine and making plans with Snuggles and Rose to bake a Cranberry Upside Down Cake (using the recipe on the back cover) with the cranberries in the freezer.

Pondering these words...
which begin the chapter titled "The Wounds of Childhood" in The Context of Holiness (one of my birthday gifts!) by Marc Foley, and thinking back to some of those events in my own childhood.  I think I'm really going to like this book.

There are certain events in life, deaths, births, marriages, divorces, and critical life choices that cut life in two. They determine "before" and "after" for us. They are definitive moments after which life will never be the same... 

I am listening... 
to Snuggles and Rose having a hilarious little conversation. They are across the room from each other and talking on their calculators cellphones.

Around the house...
legos. This afternoon I was about to "kill a spider" when one of the kids said, "Mom!  It's just a lego!" That "lego" looked way too real on our tile entryway floor.

One of my favorite things...  
the smell of beeswax candles. Mmmmmmmmm 

This week's plans...

• Math Tutors (at home) on Tuesday and Thursday
• Post Office, Library, and a few other errands
• Rascal's 12th Birthday - 
• Dinner/Auction Fundraiser for the local crisis pregnancy home

A little peek at my day...
Nope.  I'm not going to share a picture of the smoking lightbulb, the little black "spider" I was about to smash, the mountain of laundry I have yet to catch up after falling behind while sick last month, the lunch crumbs on the floor, or the piles of school books on the countertops.  I prefer to focus my camera lens on the peaceful and precious moments that are sprinkled throughout the day in spite of the craziness of large family life. ♥ 

Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, 
the only one goal of our labors. ~ St. Therese of Lisieux