Thankful for Angels....

Yesterday, September 29th, was the Feast Day of the Archangels, Michael, Raphael & Gabriel, while the Guardian Angels are celebrated on October 2nd. During school, Sophia and I read the accounts of Angels from our picture Bible, The Beginners Bible, prayed the Guardian Angel prayer at the beginning of school, colored assorted angel pages, and planned to make an Angel Food Cake. Little did I know how real an angel would be to us...

We went to the grocery store to get the cake mix after lunch. As I was putting Nicholas into his car seat, the grocery cart in which Will & Sophia were standing tipped over off of the sidewalk onto the pavement of the parking lot. Sophia seemed to be okay, but Will was face down on the pavement. When I picked him up, he had a nasty red abrasion on his forehead. I took him straight to the doctor's office to have him checked out. He cried when it happened, but then settled down, talked all the way in the car, and walked into the doctor's office on his own. The PA checked him over thoroughly. He basically ended up with "road rash" on his forehead.

I couldn't believe it! By all reckoning, he should have had some serious head trauma. I firmly believe his Guardian Angel was working overtime for him. Praise the Lord!

Now, before you say anything, I know it was really my fault as they should not have been standing in the cart. (I had them in the cart to contain them in the store.) I think in the future it will be easier to convince them that- if they do end up in the cart - they should SIT.

When we got home from the store and the doctor's office, we made the Angel Food Cake to celebrate the Angels' Feast Day. We also fashioned St. Michael's swords and helmets from card board boxes. Will thought the sword was great fun. He ran around the rest of the day fighting the "bad angels."

Here are some photos of the kids with their armor....

The helmet sort of hides the head wound!

This is Sophia's fierce, red-eye look!

Grandparents & Great-Grandparents

My kids are so blessed to be able to know and interact with their grandparents. We live quite a distance from them, so we don't get to see them daily or weekly or even monthly sometimes. But this past summer both sets of grandparents plus their great-grandparents have spent time with them, either at our house or at family gatherings. I had one set of grandparents living when I was growing up. They, too, lived a long ways off and I didn't feel very close to them. With the advent of unlimited long distance, camera phones and digital photos, I hope to keep my kids "close" to their grandparents' thoughts during the day. The more they know about what is going on with my kids, I hope the more they will want to visit ... and smile ... and keep living!

Here are some photos of the kids with their grandparents:

Bubbles Grandpa & Grandma with the kids in June.

Play-Do Grandma & Grandpa visiting in September.

Horsey Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa at our house in September.

You might ask, "What's with the funny names?" When Sophia was really little, in order to distinguish the grandparents from each other, they were described by activities at their houses. Michael's parents always had bubbles ready to blow, my parents always had play-do at the ready, and Michael's grandparents' house is adjacent to a field where horses graze. Hence, the sort-of silly, yet very endearing, nicknames.

my little Wildcat...

Here are some pictures of my cute little Kansas State Wildcat, Nicholas! We are having a little return of the sun so it is waming up in the afternoons. He probably won't fit into this 18 month outfit when he is actually 18 months next summer!



Nicholas snuggling with a bunny.
Okay - I added the bunny for the sake of the picture.
I couldn't resist.

Reflections on First Week of Homeschooling

Sophia and I just completed our first full week of homeschooling. (We did a few days together the week before to start us off.) BOY - do I feel good! I can hardly believe it. Ever since Sophia was born we knew we would like to educate our kids at home. I admit that during the last five years I was usually happy to know it was still in the future. I was a little - okay, a lot - apprehensive about how it would go, or even IF I could actually do it. I guess I'm feeling very empowered as both a woman and a mother. Another way to describe it - I'm finally feeling like I've arrived at my vocation. You might call this the homeschool honeymoon!

My days have been spent doing school with Sophia in the morning (most days - some days we had activities, so we did school in the afternoon) and doing the household chores in the afternoon. Now, my kitchen wasn't very clean every single day, but we did manage to do laundry, pick up toys, and vacuum.

Some of the fun things we did this week include celebrating the Blessed Virgin Mary's Birthday on Monday, September 8th. We talked alot about it, read some stories about Mary, found a beautiful picture in our Art book titled, The Virgin, and made a chocolate cake to celebrate. On Thursday, we marked Patriot's Day by attending a homeschool group function at the National Guard Armory. We watched the guardsmen fold a flag, listened to some AMVET volunteers, and had a chance to visit (and run around) with other homeschool families.

Sophia also really enjoyed our "letter play" on Thursday and Friday. She wrote letters and numbers in shaving cream on a plastic place mat at the table. What could be more fun!
The drawback from all this very fulfilling busy-ness is that I have had very little time to talk to my sister and mother on the phone, as is our want, or spent much time on the PC, which is actually pretty good.

Now, not every single moment has been picture perfect, but we are developing our rhythm together as teacher and student. I have heard people say that homeschooling draws families together. I can attest to that after our first week. I already feel so much closer to Sophia through sharing these meaningful moments together.

So, one week down, only 11.95 years to go!

the wonders of the internet

Here are a couple of links to some awesome videos I've found on-line regarding the Election 2008: Dear Mr. Obama and CatholicVote. Plus a great link to an article about Sarah Palin, Why They Hate Her.

Last weekend we were blessed enough to take a trip to Denver to visit our friend, Bishop James Conley, who was just made the Auxiliary Bishop of Denver in May. We had also arranged to visit with our friend, Felix, whom we hadn't seen in several years as he lives in San Diego. It was a small Newman Center Reunion! We had a great time reminiscing and talking about what is currently of interest to us all, including the Election of 2008.

Here are some of the photos from the weekend:

Our Family & Bishop Conley after the 7 AM Mass at Mother of God Church.

Felix & SophiaFelix with Will, Nicholas, Emily & Sophia

Bishop Conley with our two boys, Nicholas & Will. Sophia, Nicholas & Will at the top of the Mother Cabrini Shrine, Golden, CO.
Emily, Nicholas & Felix
Family photo
Nicholas exploring the gate at the top of the Shrine. Great view!
Beautiful statue of Mary at the top of the Shrine.

We also spent the night at my cousin's house in LaFayette, CO.

It was fun to watch Sophia, Will & Nicholas play with little Leo & Domi.

We had a nice visit catching up on each other's families.

Thanks, Erin & Manuel!

Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie

As a little reward for our first day of school, I thought some cookies were in order. I just found this recipe online today for the Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were scrumptious! I substituted shortening for the butter and did not use the full amount of chocolate chips (ran out).

First Day of School

Sophia's 1st Day of School

Reflecting on our first day of school, we will have to re-arrange some of our day. She really enjoyed math and handwriting (thanks to those great MathUSee & Handwriting Without Tears manipulatives), and drawing, of course. Religion (learning prayers), Big Thoughts for Little People, and our reading lessons did not go over so well. My thoughts ... prayer work should be less formal, more natural; the Big Thoughts book more cuddle book, less formal; learning to read ... not sure yet how to make that more interesting. We didn't even attempt the music (WeeSing Bible Songs). We'll need to do that just as a natural part of the day.

We started at 9 sharp with opening prayer and flag salute. Ended at 10:25 AM, but then read aloud for 30 minutes.

Will & Nicholas did as I expected. Will wanted to be right there watching & participating. So, our wooden letter pieces became swords and saws while Sophia did handwriting. Nicholas sat on my lap, nursed, got down, tried to eat crayons and manipulatives, nursed, crawled around, nursed.

Little funny side note. One of the more experienced Moms told me at the picnic last week that I shouldn't expect my plans to work perfectly. "Only in a dream do kindergartners learn quietly and peacefully while the Mother has bread dough rising on the side!" Well, she was right about learning quietly. At least, no one ran screaming form the room. But, thanks to my bread machine, I did have fresh bread mixing, rising and baking while we were learning this morning!

Truly a Home School. Learning with your siblings.

I'm also pondering names for our school. Some that I like are Divine Mercy School, Holy Trinity, Holy Family, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It's a good thing I don't have to decide today. I have to fill out some paperwork with the local school district during the year she turns six, so I have at least until then to make up my mind!