Blessed with Full hands: 2008

From the Simple Woman's Daybook . . . I am starting this to get back into a rhythm. I felt that we were in such a good rhythm before. We got off track while concerned about Andrew and now that all is well and we had a wonderful Christmas, I am determined to get back to a natural rhythm of life.

FOR TODAY December 30th ...

Outside my window...

It is sunny and nice. Cool, but a beautiful day!

I am thinking...

I am so happy to be home. We had a great Christmas in Buffalo, but life is easier in your own home!

I am thankful for...

My parents' generosity in opening their house to our busy family for Christmas. It was nice to feel taken care of and not worry about cooking!!

From the learning rooms...

Dec

Camcorder Giveaway

I stumbled on this while doing research for a new project . . .

Dec

That Was Magical!

Every year at this time, Santa comes through our town on a fire truck. For the four years we have lived here, we have seen Santa drive down our street on the truck, with all the lights and sirens going. The first two years, J was scared and cried. Now, he cannot wait, and this year was no exception. He gets so excited, in fact, that I usually do not tell him in advance, I just wait for him to hear the sirens. But, the day before, he heard some moms at playgroup taking about it.

Dec

The Cry Room?

This Sunday we went to another church for mass. We were running on time for the 10 AM at our church, but when we got to the van to go, we realized we had forgotten to take a bunch of stuff out and put the seat and car seats back in. Luckily, a local church has a 10:30 AM mass. The boys love going to this church because they have donuts after all masses, every Sunday (ours only has donuts once a month).

When we got there, Pete and I split up.

Dec

When in doubt, it is probably under the couch!

Sunday K woke up from his nap and, seeing the rest of the family in slippers, immediately began to ask for his. We keep shoes and slippers for the boys in a bin in the kitchen. I went to look for them and only one of his slippers was in there. I began my search over the whole house. I could not find the other slipper anywhere. Just when I was abut to give up, I figured I should look under the couch. There it was, along with about 10 toys that have been MIA.

Dec

St Andrew Chaplets

I am finally getting around to posting about these. We finished them about a week and a half ago and I really liked how they turned out. I wanted to make paper beads for all of them but that will but be a project I will not repeat soon.

To make the paper beads, I cut the strips and had J use the glue stick to put glue on the paper. Well. as any 5 yr old would, he used way too much glue, and as I rolled the paper, it stuck to my fingers and made it very difficult to roll.

Dec

Balancing Thrifty and All natural

We are a thrifty family. For many reasons, we are thrifty. To save money. Because things are so expensive. Because my husband works for the church. So we stay debt free. You name it, we have good reasons to scrimp and save.

We do not have a strict budget, but we do adhere to one. We do not have a lot of extravagant things.

Dec

An Early Christmas Gift

I am so happy I did not have to wait until Christmas for this gift!!

Yesterday, we found out that A does NOT have long QT syndrome. Let me update you. For the last two weeks we have gone back and forth with our insurance company, the cardiologist's office, and the lab that does the blood test. Right before Thanksgiving, we decided to get the blood test done, even though our Dr was still on vacation.

Dec

Great Website for Coloring Pages

Each day in advent the kids have been doing coloring pages from Advent Adventure. K really wanted to color baby Jesus and since today's coloring page did not include baby Jesus, I searched the internet for a good coloring page. There are some great coloring pages at Praize Kids. The boys are working at coloring the Little Drummer Boy.

Dec

Theology 101

I am not one of those moms who teaches her kids all the names of the Popes, what happened at what Church council, nor have I had them memorize Jesus' lineage. For right now, I want to develop in my children a real love for Jesus and for the Church. But, every once and a while, I try to slip in some of the amazing revelations of our faith.

This morning we started our school day in prayer sitting in front of our Jesse tree.