Motherhood = A Calling

As a member of an on-line Catholic mother's group I am continually coming across intriguing articles about being a wife/mother/parent. I have SUCH a passion for learning about my vocation as wife and mother. Yesterday, one of the mothers in our group shared this article and I found it particularly intriguing and thought I'd share. It certainly puts my life as "mother" into perspective. Happy reading!

Theotokos - Holy Mother of God, Ora pro nobis.

Happy Mother's Day!

 She remained hidden for thirty years at Nazareth with the Savior. There her chief concern was to raise her Divine Son, to merit increasingly the confidence of her husband, and to provide her family with what they needed by working as her strength allowed. - The Imitation of Mary

Today I am thanking God for all of the beautiful mothers in my life (physical and spiritual) who, by their examples, have taught me to be a better and holier mother. My Mary, the Mother of us all, guide each one of us on our journeys toward her Son.

PAX, b

20.5 Weeks...

To my dear family and friends...by your request...

pictures!

 

Note: These were taken 2 weeks ago (by my handsome Mister). I'll post current pics soon...I promise.

First Comes LOVE...

Then Comes Marriage...

Then Comes the Baby in the Baby Carriage.

We will be happy to hold baby number FOUR in our arms this September!!!

A Fun Solution!

Our new "backyard" (aka the fun-zone!) comes complete with a sandbox...

under-the-bed storage roller + 2 bags of Quickrete Play Sand (2.99 ea. @ Home Depot) = sandbox!

Look at that QT patutie! (...and please ignore my bare feet)

...a chalk/painting area...

Yes. They are painting (read: cleaning) with water!

 ...and a basketball court!

And after providing my littles with hours of entertainment, it can all be covered and put to the side.

So, what do you think? Do you like our new "backyard"?


Note: If it is too cold outside to leave the door open, I set up a baby monitor on the porch so that I can keep an ear out for the boys while I put the baby to sleep or clean up around the house.

A "Teensy" Little Problem...

For the last couple of years my family has lived in a two-bedroom apartment, on the upper-level, of a four-plex...with no yard.

Now I don't know about your little people, but at our house 3 littles + being cooped up in a tiny little house for an entire day = disaster waiting to happen.

My littles have a LOT of energy. I try to take them on a walk each morning and to the park each afternoon but some days, even that is not enough. My littles just want to be outside...all. of. the. time. Any season, any weather, any time of day. They love everything about being outside, especially the sunshine,  the fresh air, and the SPACE.

The reason this is problematic is because my 9 month old needs to eat and sleep in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon and cannot be left inside alone (duh)...and I have other things to do around the house that cannot be neglected all day, everyday, so that I can be outside supervising my boys.

Well, my Mr and I are not "problem" people...we are "solution" people...and when you live in a teensy little home, with 3 littles, and no backyard, THAT is a problem. It calls  for some creativity...just the kind of challenge we like.


Here is a picture of our "backyard" before...

boring...

 Do you want to see our creative solution?


If "yes", than you won't want to miss tomorrow's post! ; ) 

My New Best Friend

Last month I asked my Mr to pick up this DVD at the store...

He came home with a three pack of Leap Frog DVDs that came with a bonus pack of flash cards for letter recognition.

Exactly one month later, my "nearly three" AND my "nearly two" both recognize ALL of the letter sounds!!! As a phonics fanatic this makes me SO incredibly excited and proud! And though I'm completely embarrassed I should be embarrassed to admit it, as a teacher with a reading endorsement, all I really did was hit the "play" button a couple dozen times.

Now when we're out and about,  instead of pointing out excavators and swings and puppies, my boys point out letter "sounds" (i.e. when they see an M or an S they will say "Look mommy! "mmm" or "sss""). (Be still my heart).

Yes...Leap Frog Letter Factory, you are my new best friend.


P.S.
I'm not sure yet how these will work for my boys but we're on to blending (drawing individual sounds together to pronounce a word, e.g. c-a-t, blended together, reads cat) and these are the resources we'll be starting with...

Click here to look inside!

Click here to look inside!

and of course...

So how did you teach your child(ren) to read? What are your favorite resources?

Lenten Ideas for Littles

When I was in college, studying to be a teacher, I remember almost every one of my professors saying, at one time or another, that "Great teachers are excellent thieves".

What does this have to do with Lent?

Well, what was meant by that phrase is that as a teacher, in most circumstances, one does not have to come up with brand new ideas...the majority of the time, one has only to look at what another has already thought up and tweak it to ones liking. I decided to take my professors' word for it and become a "thief" of ideas.

That being said, I have "stolen" a fair number of these ideas for lent from others. The ideas listed below are not a conclusive list of every great idea I have come across, but merely the things that my Mr and I will incorporate into our home this Lenten season to use with our littles (specifically our 2 and 3 year old).

#1. Liturgical color wheel Craft (Sun/Mon before Lent)
Idea: Talk to your littles about the liturgical seasons and the significance of the liturgical colors. Explain that we are currently  in "ordinary time" but in the next couple of days we will be beginning the season of lent. Make a separate wheel for each child and let them turn the wheel to the appropriate season (this is something you can re-visit each day/week before going to mass - explain that the priest will be wearing purple, the altar will be decorated in purple, etc and them point out the colors and talk about their meaning when you get there)

(What exactly DO the liturgical colors symbolize/mean? Find out here.)

  

     This wheel is quite simple...perfect for little ones (bottom piece)

     

(top piece)

(click to enlarge)

                                                                      

This wheel is a little more elaborate and more appropriate for older children. (click to enlarge)

* This idea was originally taken from Catholic Icing, but I can't find the post to link it to. If you find it, let me know!

#2. Salt Dough Crown of Thorns (Tuesday before Lent)
Idea: This is a wonderful visual for littles when explaining the suffering of Christ. Each time your littles perform a good deed (share without being told to, help their siblings or friends, etc...) they get to take out a "thorn" (toothpick) from the crown. When all the thorns have been removed, the crown can be painted gold or decorated as you like, and used as an Easter decoration. Get direction on how to make this craft here.
                             
*This idea was taken from Catholics United For the Faith Website

#3. Merciful Cross (Tuesday before Lent)
Idea: This activity is quite similar to the crown of thorns activity in that it gives a visual reminder to little ones that their actions are directly united to the cross. Instead of pulling a thorn from the crown, your little gets to stick a flower to the cross each time they perform a good deed. I'm planning on making LARGE flowers and a small(ish) cross to make sure it is completely covered by Easter.

*See the original post by Kimberlee over at Pondered in My Heart here.

#4. Lenten Sacrifice Boxes (Ash Wednesday - Fasting)
Idea: Talk about the meaning of sacrifice with your littles. Also talk to them about Jesus' Sacrifice of Love. Have your littles choose a few items/toys to "give up/sacrifice" for Lent and put them in a box. Put the box of   out of their sight until  Easter.

"Good-bye for Lent...see you at Easter!"

                                                      
*See the original post by Lacey over at Catholic Icing here

#5. Stations of the Cross for Littles (to be prayed on the Fridays during Lent)
This is the BEST idea I've seen so far when it comes to praying the stations of the cross with little ones. It even has MANIPULATIVES! (If you haven't noticed...I'm a pretty big fan of manipulatives). You'll have to visit Kimberlee's blog to appreciate just how amazing this really is.
I am not quite sure if my littles are ready for this yet but we're gonna jump right in and give it a try...if it doesn't work this Lent, than it'll be something to look forward to next year.

Stations to color...

...and manipulatives to go with each station! Genius!

*See the original post by Kimberlee over at Pondered in My Heart here.

(I have to say that I just love this woman's blog. She is beautiful, intelligent, a first rate "thief", and oh so CREATIVE!)


#6 The ABC's of Lent
Idea: Make a new Lenten poster/picture each day to go with the "letter of the day". Write the "letter of the day" at the top of the picture, have the littles color the picture, talk about the picture, review the letter sound, and have the littles try to "draw" the letter several times.

Our two little boys are both learning their letter sounds and are VERY excited about letters right now so my Mr and I came up with these earlier this week.

A - Ashes, Alms giving
B - Bread, Blood
C - Cross
D - Divine Mercy
E - Eucharist
F - Fish, Fast
G - Give, Good Shepherd
H - Holy, Hope, Heart
I - I.H.S.
J - Jesus
K - King
L - Love (Jn. 3:16), Last Supper
M - Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene
N - Nails
O - Offering
P - Penance, Prayer
Q - Quiet
R - Repent
S - Sacrifice
T - Twelve Apostles, Tomb (ideas for "t" and "u" were contributed by Caroline, one of my readers)
U - Ubi Caritas (hymn traditionally sung on Holy Thursday)
V - Vinegar
W - Water
X -
Y -
Z -

#7 - Read!
Idea: Read as many age appropriate, Lent/Easter books to your littles as possible! I have listed two that our littles love below. (Please let me know if you have a favorite lent/Easter book...I'm always looking for great books that revolve around the liturgical seasons)

This historically accurate book is an adaptation of the award winning The Very First Easter and fills in the gaps left by other Easter books. It presents a fresh insight into Holy Week and Easter from both the Scriptural and secular contexts. Recommended for ages 4 and under.

Featuring the wonderful illustrations of Tim Jonke, this best-selling children's book tells the Easter story from a new and unusual point of view. Three trees on a mountain dream of what they wanted to become when they grew up. One wants to be a treasure chest, another an ocean-going boat, and the third a signpost to God. Their wishes come true in a way they never expected. Children will be deeply touched as they understand, perhaps for the first time, the significance of Christ's life and his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Recommended for ages 4 and up.

*descriptions taken from christianbooks.com

#8 - Sing
Idea: Sing as many of your favorite Lent/Easter songs with your littles as possible! We have 1/2 hr set aside each day for music time, so we'll just focus this time on songs for the season.


#9 - Pray
Idea: Pray a short morning offering with your littles each morning. We are also going to pray a decade of the rosary with them when they wake and one decade before bed using the rose counters and cards mentioned in this post.

This is the morning offering that we put together and will use with our littles:

Jesus, In my heart I believe in your tender love for me. I love you and give you all my thoughts, words, and actions today.
Amen. 

 


#10 - Plant Seeds/Bulbs
Idea: Flowers/plants are a sign of new life. Plant flower bulbs in a bowl of soil, covering halfway. Leave bowl in a dark closet for two months, keeping soil moist (a process known as forcing bulbs). When shoots appear, let them bask in the sun. Leave one bulb out as a reminder of how they began.
NOTE: If you plant your seeds/bulbs very soon then you will have some beautiful flowers for the Easter season.

#11 - Almsgiving
Make a little box with your littles and cut a slot in the top. Have them collect spare change throughout the week and empty the contents into the collection basket each week, or donate the money to a specific charity of your choice. Explain that they are helping to provide for those less fortunate/those in need.

find these and other ideas here

This sums up the main ideas that we'll be using at our house this lent. I hope that you'll be able to use some of them with your littles too!

It Begins With Ashes...

Ashes are a mark of penance, mourning, and mortality. For Catholics, on Ash Wednesday, they are a public sign that we have begun a journey towards conversion of heart. (What do ashes mean? Find out here).

I don't know about you, but taking a journey once a year that focuses on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving does my soul good. The idea of "spiritual self improvement" is refreshing. I know that the forty days of Lent ahead of us will be difficult at times, but in the end I hope that our individual journeys will lead us to a joyous and blessed Easter season.


In the next couple of days I will share our family Lenten resolutions with you (including lots of ideas for little ones). Stay tuned.

Meet the Littles...

My Mr. and I have had three lively and delightful babies in three years. We call them the "littles". Let me take this opportunity to introduce them to you.

My "nearly-three" (a boy) is now potty-trained, knows most of the letter "sounds" (on his way to reading), loves to doodle, color, sing, build, make pillow/blanket forts and play outside. He leads us in our mealtime prayers, is extremely imaginative, and has a beautiful and compassionate heart...he is also a frequent visitor to the time-out chair for reasons I won't go into here...ahem.

My "nearly two" (also a boy) is almost potty trained (we just bought him "big boy underwear" last weekend! I am pretty excited to have only one child in diapers!), speaks in 3 and 4 word sentences, and is our resident dancer. If there is music or any sort of beat he will drop whatever he is doing and dance. He enjoys playing with play-do, blocks, duplos, bubbles, and LOVES to play with the play kitchen and to run around outside. He has recently learned the word "chalice" and points it out several times each time we go to mass. He is very sensitive and affectionate...our little cuddle-bug.

My "9.5" month old (a girl) has been standing solo for 2 weeks but no first step quite yet (she's now in the competition with my "nearly three" for youngest walker and has to beat his record of 10 mo.). She just got through three painful weeks of teething  FOUR new pearly whites. We can see she is quite relieved now that they're finally out (as are we). She loves to play with her big brothers and get in on the action all around her. She also loves to eat (go figure) and to play with tiny stuffed animals and dolls (her favorites are "lulu" the purple lamb and "bear bear"). She is happy, very sensitive, loves to be held, and laughs a lot. She is also quite hyper at times.

These wonderful individuals are the hearers of my hearts melody and know first hand that it is not always harmonious. In fact, sometimes it’s just plain awful! But many times it is the motivation to love these babes that encourages and motivates me to pick myself back up and to create a harmony more beautiful then before.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm off to tickle some littles...