Author: Stacie

Daybook

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Outside my window…it is windy.  Very windy, yet I can still hear a dog barking somewhere in the distance.

I am thankful…for joy, laughter, and the time to share it.

I am thinking…about some wise words that I recently heard.  I now find myself asking often, “Will this … get my child to heaven?”  Be it a book, a game, a playdate.  Each moment should take us one step closer.

From the learning rooms…you wouldn’t know this yet, since I haven’t posted the promised plan for this school year, but we are traveling down the Alphabet Path again (we just can’t resist) and this week is A week.  Our house is filled with excitement…who knew that a letter could be so incredibly inspiring!

In the kitchen…an apple pie, of course.

I am wearing…a pink t-shirt and black gym shorts.

I am creating…plans, plans, plans!

I am reading…Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper, which I was tempted to quit a few pages into it, but now I’m intrigued and can’t seem to put it down.

I am listening…to the sound of a car passing by, the hum of the computer, and that barking dog somewhere out there.

I am praying…for our beautiful friends, Kateri and Joey, as they prepare to welcome their newest little one into the world.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing…

{this moment}

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Daybook

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Outside my window…it is beautiful and sunny, although terribly hot.  Forecast is calling for rain, but I don’t see a single gray cloud.

I am thankful…for sign language.  Andrew communicates so well with those little hands.

I am thinking…just when I think I’m back into the swing of blogging, I regress.  Someday I will be consistent.  This is not someday and I think someday may be far, far away.

From the learning rooms…today was the official first day of our new year…before I even saw Joseph this morning, I could hear him, “Yea! It’s the first day of school!”  We’ve been schooling lightly all summer so it wasn’t a very dramatic change, but we did start all of our new curriculum and I promise to post our plan very soon.

In the kitchen…lots and lots of fresh berries.

I am wearing…a white skirt and a striped tank top.  Mom asked me last night if I was going to wear a skirt for our first day of school and I said, “Enh, I don’t know.”  Mom replied, “Well you should.”  Well, Mom, I did.  Mostly because you said so.

I am creating…plans for this next school year.  Always planning, but I’ve learned that I’m happier this way than trying to fit in a box.

I am reading…Charlotte Mason’s original works.

I am listening…to Andrew blow raspberries as he takes down every. book. from. my. shelf.  AGAIN.

I am wondering…who was really having more fun here?

I am praying…Stay with me Lord by Padre Pio:

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You.  You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes; death, judgment, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows.
O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all it’s dangers. I need You.
Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.    Amen

Around the house…the boys helped clean this weekend, so now it’s just a matter of picking up toys.  Again and again.

One of my favorite things…brothers.

Here are some pictures for thought I am sharing…

Fig Cobbler

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I’ve already made fig pie, fig preserves, and fig and strawberry jam this summer, thanks to the plethora of figs from my father-in-law’s tree.  I’d be happy to just eat these figs just the way they are, but I can’t convince William that fresh figs are a good thing, so tonight I made fig cobbler…and it definitely makes our favorite dessert list.  Here’s the recipe, just in case you’ve got some fresh figs nearby (this is adapted from the recipe for cobbler in the Betty Crocker cookbook and I made ours dairy and soy free by replacing the butter with a dairy/soy free butter substitute and by using rice milk in place of the regular milk):

In a medium saucepan, mix 1 c. sliced, peeled peaches, 1 c. sliced strawberries, 2 c. fresh figs, unpeeled, quartered, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp lemon juice.  Stir constantly over medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until boiling and thickened.  Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Pour into a 2 qt, ungreased casserole and set aside.  Keep warm.

In a separate bowl, mix together 1 c. flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.  Cut in 3 Tbsp butter.  Stir in 1/2 c. milk.  Drop the mixture in spoonfuls over the warm fruit.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

{this moment}

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Bedtime

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

It is bedtime.  Our family no longer all fits together in the family bed…little boys are growing big, so Joseph and William now sleep together in their own room.  We have read our stories and said sweet prayers, so I tuck both big boys in, turn off the lamp, and then…I climb in, too.  Andrew, already sleeping, lies between his two brothers.  I’ll take him into our bed after Joseph and William fall asleep, but for now, we are all together.  I lie on my side, nursing Andrew.  Joseph lies on the other side of Andrew.  His hand reaches over Andrew and finds mine.  He wraps his little hand in mine and squeezes tight.  William is on the other side of me, snuggled close to my back, his leg thrown over my side carelessly.  It is quiet.  Completely and totally quiet.  The quiet is a rarity for me; me who lives in a world surrounded by three boisturous little boys.  I revel in the stillness.  I breathe deeply, inhaling the scent of just bathed little boys and I listen to the rhythmic sound of each one’s breathing, slowing and steadying, preparing to drift off.  This time is so brief.  Soon these little boys will be big boys.  Soon these little boys won’t compete with one another for snuggling space with me.  Soon these little boys won’t need me close by to help them drift off into dreamland.  Daxson can’t understand why I continue to lay with them until they are asleep.  How can I not?  These might just be a few of the best moments of my day.

Daybook

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Outside my window…it’s cloudy and threatening rain.

I am thankful…for air conditioning.  Whew, it’s hot out there, but quite nice in here.

I am thinking…this is the 3rd time I’ve tried to write a daybook.  Not quite sure why I can’t seem to keep up with my blog these days.  Could it be that these three little boys keep me so busy that it’s hard to dash off even one sentence?

From the learning rooms…we ditched our WinterPromise preschool curriculum and we’re back to Five in a Row (just for the summer).  I promise to share our fall plans soon.  This week we’re working on Lentil by Robert McCloskey.  Today Joseph built the town of Alto with his blocks and acted out the story using his Little People.

In the kitchen…lentil soup…what could possibly be more appropriate for our story this week?

I am wearing…khaki shorts and a seafoam green tank top.  There was much discussion about the color of my shirt.  After much debate, I win.  It is exactly this color.

I am creating…a Charlotte Mason education plan.  I’m doing lots of reading, lots of planning, lots of dreaming.

I am reading…Home Education by Charlotte Mason…finally I’ve gone to the original source for inspiration.

I am listening…to Uncle Tom’s Cabin on my Ipod.

I am pondering…quite a few things.  The one that weighs most heavily is the loss of a dear friend’s son.  I want to reflect on it for you, but right now I’m still pondering it in my heart.

One of my favorite things…art.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing…

U and V

/ Stacie / 2 Comments

Since there is no U flower fairy, U and V were combined.

U and V are for…Vetch fairy, St. Ursula, and St. Vincent de Paul.  After reading Serendipity’s Flower Fairy story, Joseph and William colored pictures of the fairy.  Joseph also did some copywork from the poem that is in the Flower Fairy book (which he did while listening to the Flower Fairy CD).  Then we looked up the actual wildflower in our field guide.  We read about the saints in our Alphabet of Catholic Saints.  Joseph did some copywork.  We also used the picture from the book to practice the letter formation.

U and V are for…the letters U and V.  We practiced letter formation using the Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet Book, Do A Dot, Gray Block paper, and Pin Punch letters.

V is for…vegetables.  Joseph decided first thing Monday morning that he wanted to make vegetable bread.  We’d already been to the grocery store for the week, so I suggested maybe he could make some vegetable bread in his kitchen.  “Yes, that’s a great idea!  I’m going to make a list and pretend to go shopping,” he replied.  Well…that led to setting up our own grocery store complete with price signs and our cash register.  Joseph did make his list and then, together with William, grabbed his shopping cart and loaded up on supplies.  Once he had everything on his list, he brought it to the cashier and we added up his purchases.  He did some math and figured out how much change I needed to give him.  We put his purchases in a bag and he was off to make vegetable soup.  He used the book Growing Vegetable Soup to guide him.  It was delicious soup…he made it dairy, soy and egg free so even Roo got to “try” some!

V is for…volcano.  After reading about volcanoes in Usborne’s Volcanoes book, we made our own volcano.  First we did it with “lava” (red food coloring) and then we did it with “dust and ash” (blue food coloring).  We also watched some volcano videos on Youtube.

U and V are for Understanding and Virtuous.  We’re still using these great coloring pages and we’re including one each week along with a virtue story.  We made up our own story about the Understanding coloring page, which I then wrote out.  I included some thoughtful errors and Joseph edited the story for us.

In our book baskets this week (I’m choosing one book from each basket to have Joseph do a narration and illustration of):

Science (volcanoes, universe):  Usborne Volcanoes; Planets: A Solar System Stickerbook; Individual Planet books from Pebble Plus: Exploring the Galaxy

Favorite U and V Books:  St. Valentine; The Very First Easter; The Velveteen Rabbit; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; The Very Quiet Cricket; The Very Lonely Firefly; Growing Vegetable Soup; Very First Last Time; Violet’s House

{this moment}

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Daybook

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Outside my window…Joseph and William are playing with the umbrella on their picnic table, discussing the purpose of such an activity.  The birds are chirping, the sun is shining.  Life is good.

I am thankful…for friends like Cariann Galloway.  She took time out of her day on Sunday to show us a glimpse of what it’s like to be a vet.  She introduced us to many of her animal friends out at Glenoak Rehabilitation Center.  Joseph and William learned quite a bit about how to take care of a horse.  Our visit inspired lots of good reading including Vicky the Vet, Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, Mrs. Wishy Washy’s Farm, The Little Pony, Horses and Ponies, Things People Do, Scholastic Discover More Farm, The Big Red Barn and much more.  Cariann’s introduction to horses was a perfect prelude for our Winterpromise curriculum since our work this week focuses on horses and who lives at the farm.


From the learning rooms…we’re on week 4 of our WinterPromise curriculum.  We’re currently doing I’m Ready to Learn and Journeys of Imagination.  We’ll begin Animals and their Worlds in the fall.  We also started doing Sandi Queen’s Language Lessons for Little Ones.  It’s perfect for William (he does the copywork with my help).  It’s too easy for Joseph, but it makes for a nice phonics review and a gentle introduction to narration and the study of fine art.  Here are Joseph and William’s farm murals that they recently made.  We’ve since added all the words in Spanish since Grandma Nury has been covering farms:

WinterPromise’s curriculum has lots (and lots) of crafts to make.  Here are Joseph and William making roosters one Sunday afternoon:

Here’s little Andrew joining the big brothers at the school table.

In the kitchen…fresh apple pie.  It’s Daxson’s favorite and since it’s our anniversary today, it just seems appropriate.

I am wearing…jean capris and a brown shirt.  I finally got to ditch my glasses because I made it in to see the optometrist and am now wearing my new contact prescription.

I am creating…a mental list of things to do.  Laundry is on there, of course.

I am reading…Stupid Things Parents Do To Mess Up Their Kids by Dr. Laura Schlessinger.  I can never get enough Dr. Laura.

I am listening…to Joseph and William, chatting away as they play outside.

I am pondering…A Legacy of Grace.  Have you visited MomHeart yet?  Please, please go visit.  You’ll find so much inspiration there for your mothering journey.

One of my favorite things…spontaneous learning opportunities.

I am wondering…if you know that Signing Times is offering a free video on demand (and the opportunity to win an iPad 3).  Please go visit now and take advantage of the free video…if your kids haven’t seen Signing Times yet, they are sure to fall in love with Rachel, Alex, and Leah.  We’ve used Signing Times with all of our little ones and the benefits are enormous.  Andrew is just starting to use a few signs and it’s exciting to see that he’s already able to communicate with us!  Here’s Andrew at the Aquarium signing milk:

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing…