B-Mama was wondering a little while ago what it would be like if she had to pump milk for her daughter with a small army of people running around her house. I can tell her exactly what it would have been like. When pumping, your small army of people may have decided that today is the birthday of Ribbit the Stuffed Frog. Then, they may have decided that they needed to celebrate said birthday. With friends. Lots of stuffed friends.... Read more
On the Feast of St. Therese, my son decided to read aloud the prayer in his book of saints at breakfast. Among other things, he asked for St. Therese’s “interception” 🙂 He wanted to take the book with him to school so that he could share the prayer with his class, and I’m secretly hoping that he didn’t correct himself – I think that his teachers, one of them a football coach, would get a good chuckle. I always think... Read more
My preschoolers are transitioning from apples to pumpkins. My early elementary will learn about Columbus this month, then the settlers/Thanksgiving, then the revolution (Washington Crossing the Delaware), and then Washington’s presidency leading up to Presidents Day. That will take us through February in simple cultural history, all using book baskets. My older ones would like to spend October exploring the Electoral College and then stay up late on Election night and fill in a map as the state results are... Read more
Later this afternoon I’ll set my bread maker to “Dough” and away we’ll go. Children will gather and we will measure ingredients and get the dough mixing. Later, they’ll oil the pan, roll and stretch the dough, spread the sauce, sprinkle the cheese, and add the toppings. It is an easy task for little helping hands and they love to watch the pizza puff and bake in the oven. These are simple delights in our kitchen, but ones I hope they’ll... Read more
As a person living in 21st century America, it might seem that our whole existence revolves around consuming. We consume readily available food and drink, we buy clothes and items for our household, and we consume larger than ever amounts of media in all its different forms. Truly, if we are honest with ourselves, we spend much of our time each day in “consumer mode” without a second thought. Consuming is not an evil in and of itself, but it... Read more
On Saturday and Sunday mornings as I drive through the neighborhood, I inevitably see a couple of homes and yards that have been artfully decorated with long white strands of toilet paper. Every time I drive past one of these homes, I think to myself about how annoyed I would be if I woke up on Saturday morning to find toilet paper all over my trees and bushes, and I inwardly groan! Our neighbors have a new 6th-grader, and just... Read more
I want to thank all of you who gave advice on dressing my tween, I think we have made some really good progress! Here are some of the things I learned from you: 1) Spend more, be choosy, have less. She is old enough to take care of her clothes, and the styles at the big box stores are too tacky, so we had to spend a little bit more. This meant that I just bought one dress for church,... Read more
Red and I took our families on an apple picking outing at a nearby family owned orchard. This is the 4th year that we have picked apples together, and it struck me that annual projects like this really allow us to see how much our children have grown. We brought 12 children to the orchard, but they really were easy to manage – two babies in Ergos, two toddlers helped by older sisters, two preschoolers who could walk alone, some... Read more
Over the summer, one of the more unpleasant experiences that our family dealt with was that of having several family members with head lice. The experience came at a most inconvenient time, as we were traveling to visit family and developed strep throat along the way. However, we dealt with the lice, and within a little over a week we were lice-free. Here are some unexpected lessons that I learned from our experience: 1) Keep calm and carry on: Try... Read more
We are in full swing into the new school year with classes starting and sports and activities filling our afternoon schedules. It is a bustling lifestyle and one which my kids seem to enjoy. They love taekwondo and the discipline and focus it demands. They greatly enjoy soccer and the chance to run around with their teammates in the fresh fall air. They don’t like piano, but they are doing it anyway. Mom’s request. Learning a musical instrument is a... Read more
Building Cathedrals
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