Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Instagram Recap

I have so much I'd love to blog about but right now I only have a few minutes to spare so I thought I'd pop in real quick with another Instagram Recap! As soon as my kiddos finish up their school work for today we are going to start making some little rosaries to send to children in an orphanage in Nigeria for Christmas. ❤  I hope you are all having a blessed Advent! 

December 1st:

 
We just finished reading about Saint Eloi whose (historical) feast is celebrated today. He is the patron of metalworkers and jewelers. St. Eloi, pray for us!

December 3rd:

As much as our little guy loves his wooden saint dolls, when it comes to nap time he has to have his Saints n' Stitches Pillow that his Godmother made him last Easter! For a limited time Charlotte is offering the KITS in her Etsy shop, Waltzing Matilda Makes... They'd make great stocking stuffers! You can find the link in my most recent post on the blog. She also has two pre-made dolls available, but isn't accepting any custom orders at this time.

December 4th:


At the theatre with my little sis and a couple of my girls... Fiddler on the Roof is about to start!
The girls with Tzeitel! #meetingthecast #fiddlerontheroof #previewnight #somuchfun

December 6th:

After a fun morning at home, complete with treats from St. Nicholas on his feast day today, the boys just won their Hockey game for the first time this season! It ended up at 12 to 11, and they scored two-thirds of all the goals for their team! Our oldest scored six goals, our second scored two, and the youngest playing didn't score any since "Nobody was passing me the puck!!!" (lol they were) It was also the first game I was able to go watch this year... They said "Mom needs to come to every game!" Happy St. Nick Day!

Touring the historic Catholic Rectory built in 1861! #catholic #victorianchristmas


@thesideoflove tagged me for #widn It's after 10 and we are at our parish hall following the Quinceañera Mass for one of my past Little Flowers! The tamale dinner was amazing and our little ones (especially the two year old in the background!) are loving the cake pops! The party is just getting started but it's almost time for us to head home... It's been a FULL day and this mama is tired! 

December 7th:

Exploring downtown with their Daddy after attending a Christmas Concert!  (They really enjoyed watching their piano teacher sing!) 

 
Nutcracker Soldiers! They had such a fun night! #daddydatesarethebest

December 8th:

 
On our way to find this year's Christmas Tree!


Enjoying the gorgeous sunset on our drive home from the woods with our Christmas Tree!

 
The next time we decide to buy a $5 permit and go cut down our own Christmas tree, we need to make sure we take along a tape measure!!! Our beautiful 11 FOOT tree didn't look nearly as tall out there in the woods! #rearrangeallthefurniture

It's a little early for us to go get our tree, but remember last year?! :)  The tree is all set up, but we haven't decorated it yet. We are going to add the lights Friday night to turn on the next morning for Santa Lucia Day (Lucy means light!) and then add all our ornaments and decorations on Gaudete Sunday!


The older kids are really enjoying their literature study of A Christmas Carol! Last week they all wrote biographies on Charles Dickens and started studying some of the vocabulary. Today we discussed the characteristics of a narrative story, inferences, the setting, characters, and they started rewriting a scene from the story in their own words. They are excited to be working on a Lap Book again!

For all those who have asked: We are using most of this Lap Book. It's pretty extensive. I'm not sure if we will be able to finish it before we go see the play on the 20th with everything else that has been going on plus two birthdays next week, but at least we've gotten started. I'm also reading the story aloud, we've listened to the audible version, and we are also incorporating this new picture book about about The Story Behind A Christmas Carol.

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Friday, December 5, 2014

Preparing for Christmas :: Seven Fun Finds for Advent


Advent has arrived and the Christmas countdown has begun! This past Sunday, in addition to celebrating the feast of St. Andrew, we lit the first candle on our Advent Wreath, drew names for our Christkindl, read The Beautiful World (chapter one of Read-Aloud Book of Bible Stories) for our Jesse Tree, and unwrapped our first book after our family Rosary and Christmas Novena. I love the season of Advent and preparing our hearts for Christmas! 




Christkindl Angel Ornament

I also love sharing some of my "Fun Finds for Advent" each year. Here is my list for 2014 in Seven Quick Takes:

#1: New Advent Wreath and Candles 

Enesco Pillars Advent Wreath 5-piece Set and 100% Beeswax Taper Candles
(pictured on this Heritage Lace Silent Night Runner)

I've been admiring this beautiful wreath for a couple years now and purchased it during a great sale last month after discovering the lovely 100% Beeswax Taper Candles made by the Cloister Shoppe. We will still have our usual large Advent Wreath in our family room, but this has been a nice addition to our dinner table. My only complaint is that it's a little small, but that could be just because our dinner table with a family of nine is so huge! ;)  Someday I would love to have a hanging Advent Wreath above our table, but for now this has been a lovely addition to Advent in our "Domestic Church."  



#2: St. Nick's Goat Milk Soap

St. Nick's Goat Milk Soap

Speaking of the beautiful new Advent Candles, I also purchased the St. Nick's Goat Milk Soap from the creative sisters at the Cloister Shoppe. It will be a great addition to our home for the rest of the Advent and Christmas season, following the feast of St. Nicholas.  I also ordered a couple books that I'm looking forward to giving our children in their Stacks of Books on Christmas morning.


#3: Advent Adventure Activity Books

Advent Adventure Activity Books

From Instagram: On our way to Mass on the First Sunday of Advent! I have some #AdventAdventure brochures to hand out to other families, our new Advent candles to be blessed, and we just finished going over the Mass Quiz in the children's Advent Adventure Activity Books. I love #Advent

The 100% Beeswax Advent Candle Kit can be found at Holy Heroes.  
You can also see pictures of our children creating the candles here.


#4: Advent Calendars

Since Advent began on November 30th this year, on the official "Day 1" we unwrapped and set up all our Advent Calendars, our original favorites and some new ones as well. 

Playmobil Santa's Workshop Advent Calendar

I wasn't going to do the toy Advent Calendars again this year, but our children had so much fun with them last year that I couldn't resist… This year we have four, one for each bedroom.  I already had last year's Lego City Advent Calendar (for the younger boys to share) and I ordered the new 2014 LEGO City Calendar for the older boys and Friends Calendar for the older girls.  (NOTE: The best time to purchase these is during a Buy-one-Get-one-50% off sale at Barnes and Noble sometime before Thanksgiving with the extra member discount, which brings them down to about $20 each from $29.99.) 



Lego Friends Advent Calendar, Lego City Advent Calendar (2013), and Lego City Advent Calendar (2014) - all way overpriced at the moment… These always sell out quickly each year.

I really wanted to order this Schleich Christmas on the Farm Calendar for Bud (I'm considering a Barn/Farm themed Birthday for him this year) but it seemed overpriced for what is included… 


I was a little skeptical when I placed an order for the new Playmobil "Santa's Workshop" Advent Calendar for Rose, but I LOVE IT!!!!  


Look at that!  It even has a HANGING ADVENT WREATH!  Go buy it now for next year! ;)  You could even swap out Santa for St. Nick! 

Rose has been having so much fun opening a new box each morning and discovering the little toys to add to her scene.  


I also ordered the Playmobil Christmas Room and Nativity Scene to give to Rose for her birthday.  (These have also increased in price since I placed my order…) Once again it was the beautiful Advent Wreath, as well as the sweet little nativity and traditional candles on the tree, that made me want to add these sets to our collection. 


#5: New Family Puzzle

Stained Glass Nativity Puzzle

Our family really loves to assemble puzzles during Advent!   In 2010 we assembled the Our Lady of Guadalupe Puzzle. In 2011 the kids loved The Nativity in the Woods Puzzle, followed by the gorgeous Holy Family Jigsaw Puzzle and the They Come Bearing Gifts Puzzle for Epiphany. In 2012 we assembled the beautiful Glorious Nativity 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle and this lovely stained glass puzzle.  Last year we assembled "The Invitiation" - a gorgeous Noah's Ark themed 1,000 piece puzzle and also assembled this lovely 12 Days of Christmas Puzzle during the 12 days of Christmas.

This year I was excited to discover this beautiful new Stained Glass Nativity 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle! Isn't it gorgeous?! I will probably wrap it up as the special treat for the "O Emmanuel" Antiphon.   I also have this Christmas Angel puzzle that I purchased last year that I hope to assemble with the children as well, just as soon as our Christmas break from school begins.

A Christmas Angel


#6: Saint Blessing Blocks

Saint Blessing Blocks

Charlotte emailed me the link to this brand new Etsy shop! I've made my own Saint Blocks in the past and they were a lot of work… These little blocks are reasonably priced at just $5 each!  I placed an order for the Deluxe Nativity (birthday gift for Bud), the December Feasts Saint Blocks, and 5 additional Catholic Saint Blocks. There were additional saints that I would have loved to add to my order, but those will have to wait until Easter.

UPDATED with new photo: These weren't suppose to arrive until tomorrow afternoon, but the mailman just dropped them off! St. Nicholas must have helped get them here in time for his feast tomorrow! :) 

Speaking of Saint toys, Last year I shared the Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Nicholas Collectible Vinyl Figure from Shining Light Dolls… It looks like they have a couple new dolls available including St. Patrick and Our Lady of Fatima. 

Also, be sure to keep an eye on Charlotte's Etsy shop. She sold out of Saints n' Stitches Kits pretty quickly the other day, but she might list more on Monday. 


#7: Gift Ideas


I posted about Christmas in Harvard Square when it was first released in October, but wanted to remind you all again that it would make a lovely Christmas gift!

I also wanted to mention Treasure and Tradition for anyone out there who would like to learn more about the Latin Mass. It is a gorgeous new book from St. Augustine Academy Press and I'm looking forward to reading my review copy! 


You can find my past "Fun Finds For Advent" in the archives:  


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Thursday, December 4, 2014

Feasts & Seasons :: Our December Book Basket


At the beginning of each month I fill a basket with books featuring the the various saints whose feast days will be celebrated during the month and place it in the living room. Throughout the month I will find the children curled up on the couch reading books they have chosen from the basket, either on their own or to their younger siblings.  I also choose books from the basket for some of our afternoon family read-alouds. Our collection started very small and we have continued adding additional books over the years which we have either purchased or have been given as gifts. Some are picture books, some are chapter books, and some are collections of saint stories. This post is a work in progress and I will continue adding links as I sort through our collection.


Advent & Christmas:

December 1st, St. Edmund Campion (Hist.):

December 1st, St. Eligius (Hist.):

December 2nd, St. Bibiana (Trad.):

December 3rd, St. Francis Xavier (New, Trad.):

December 4th, St. Peter Chrysologus (Trad.) (New – July 30th):

December 4th, St. Barbara (Trad.):

December 5th, St. Sabas (Trad.):

December 6th, St. Nicholas (New, Trad.):



December 7th, St. Ambrose (New, Trad.)

December 8th, The Immaculate Conception (New, Trad.)

December 9th, St. Peter Fourier:

December 9th, St. Juan Diego (New):

December 10th, St. John Roberts:

December 10th , Our Lady of Loreto (Hist.):

December 11th, Bl. Franco Grotti:

December 12th, Our Lady of Guadalupe (New, Trad./some places):

December 12th, St. Finnian:

December 13th, St. Lucy (New, Trad.):



December 13th, St. Odilia (Hist.):

December 14th, St. Spiridion:

December 14th, St. John of the Cross (New) (Trad. – Nov. 24th):

December 15th, St. Nino (Hist.):

December 16th, St. Adelaide (Hist.):

December 16th, Los Posadas:

December 17th, Pope Francis’ Birthday:

December 17th, St. Olympias (Hist.):

December 18th, St. Flannan:

December 19th, Bl. Urban the V (Hist.):

December 20th, St. Dominic of Silos (Hist.):

December 21st, St. Thomas, Apostle (Trad.) (New – July 3rd ):

December 22nd, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (Trad./some places) (New – Nov.13th):


December 23rd, St. Servulus (Hist.):

December 24th, Bl. Paula Ceriolo:

December 25th, Christmas, The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ (New, Trad.):

December 26th, St. Stephen (New, Trad.):



December 27th, St. John the Evangelist (New, Trad.):

December 28th, The Holy Innocents (New, Trad.):

December 29th, St. Thomas Becket (New, Trad.):

December 29th, St. David the King (Hist.):

December 30th, St. Anysius (Hist.):

December 31st, St. Melania:

Other Links for December:

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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Saints n' Stitches

Back in October I shared a couple pictures and mentioned that our older girls have been enjoying learning how to embroider using the Saints n' Stitches kits they received in their Easter Baskets earlier this year.  (You can see a couple pictures of our youngest two with their completed dolls on Easter morning. They still love their precious saint dolls!)  These sweet little kits or the completed dolls would also make perfect stocking stuffers! 




Charlotte is offering the kits once again for a LIMITED TIME!!! 

Click over to Waltzing Matilda Makes to place an order! 

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