3 Things This Weekend

We have been having an fantastic summer so far. We have gone on many adventures as a family (or most of a family, since Daddy has to go to work).  Our adventures have included a trip to the cabin, Gettysburg, an epic water balloon fight and many more fun adventures. It has been an amazing summer and the kids and I have been breathing in these summer days and nights.

This weekend we have even more fun in store for our summer adventures.  Today I want to tell you about three things we are planning on doing.

 

1. FRIDAY: We are going to Indian Echo Caverns!  Sebastian loves Minecraft, and this is the closest we can get to spelunking.  I am not entirely sure if the baby and I will be going down into the caverns, but at least the older two will enjoy this time with Daddy.  

2. SATURDAY: Last week we adventured in Philadelphia and hit up the "local" Ikea store for bunk beds. This weekend, my husband gets the honor of building it.  I get the honor of taking out all the clothes and telling my dear hubby where I want the furniture. I think I get the better part of the deal with this.

3. SUNDAY: There is an observatory not too far from us, and they have public viewings every Sunday in the summer.  If the kids behave and the skies are clear, we are going to go and check out the heavens with the telescopes that are provided. Both Mars and Saturn should be viewable

So, what are you doing this weekend?

My 3 Favorite Summer Things

Summer is here!!!  I love the summer. Here are just three reasons why (and I have so many more) :

1. Birthdays!

Sebastian just turned seven this week. Time sure does fly by. Wasn't he just two years old yesterday? His birthday marks the beginning of summer for me. His birthday party is a great way to jump start the fun of the summer sun. This year we did a Minecraft party. Oh, I can't wait to share some of the photo booth pictures we took (but we haven't edited them yet, so you and I will just have to wait a bit for that)

Also, I am turning 31 years old in less than a week. I get as excited for my birthday now as I did when I was seven. I love cake and feeling special and everything about a birthday. My birthday means that good sweet corn will be ready soon.

2. Anniversary!

My husband proposed to me in the summer and then we were married in the summer. Love love love! We usually go away for a weekend, just the two of us, but this year we have a new baby that needs me so we are planning on just a date instead. This will be our first date since Miles was born in February (and he is also going to be a third wheel, silly baby!)

3. Tigerlilies!

When I was born my parents did not have much money.  My father couldn't afford a "push present" or flowers for my mom.  Instead of buying anything, my father took some tigerlilies that were growing along the side of the road in to me and my mom. Isn't that sweet? It is a short and simple story, but that is why the tigerlily is my favorite flower.  The first man I loved brought me flowers the day I was born (or the day after- I don't actually remember). I have had a life-long obsession with the tigerlily.  They are my favorite flower.  When I was planning our wedding, the only thing I demanded were tigerlilies in my bouquet. When we bought our house these first thing I planted were some tigerlilies by my mailbox. Over the few years we lived here I have also transplanted some by the side of my house and in the back. They are starting to take over, and I love it!

Things to do This Summer

Summer is fast approaching. Many schools are already out for the year. In our school, All Saints Academy, we have four days left. Wahoo!  This teacher is more excited than the students. 

I love being with my kids, and even though we won't have any formal lessons, I want to keep them engaged this summer. As a family we came up with a list of adventures to embark on this summer.

We have this hanging in our living room.

In general, I want to have fun and make wonderful memories with the kids. I can't believe my oldest will be seven this year. I want him to look back on childhood and have memories filled with adventure. This summer we are going full throttle fun. Lock and load!

Here is a more general list you can use, if you also want to go on an adventure this summer. There is plenty of room at the bottom to add in specific adventures for where you live.

Things to do This Summer FREE PDF

We will be posting pictures and writing about our adventures, so stay tuned for an amazing summer. I hope you join us- I would love to read about what you are all doing too!

Mary's Month of May

Hail Mary Full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus...

I love reading about what other Catholic's do to celebrate Mary's month of May. Over at Home & School Mosaics, Renee had some good suggestions of things to do.  I wanted to share with all of you what my family has been doing this month to celebrate Jesus' wonderful Mother, Mary, Queen of All Saints.

"If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will leave you." --St. John Vianney

It is extremely important to pray together as a family.  The most powerful family prayer is the rosary. Since my children are young, in order to help them with their attention, we made rosary books. I printed coloring pages for them to color and focus on during the decades. Right now I am only doing a decade at a time with them.  I plan on working with them so that they can sit and pay attention for the full 15 minutes, but for now I am happy with doing a decade at a time.

Some of our rosary books

"Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary."
--St. Bonaventure

Also, when planning our garden we learned about flowers that represent Mary.  In our garden we included: sage, rosemary, chives, parsley, marigold, and lavender.  We wanted to include zinnia but we could not find any. One day I hope to have a Mary Statue to add to my garden (and also a St. Francis of Assisi). We have a very small statue of Mary on our home altar, but she is a bit too small to crown. 

"Mary is the sure path to meeting with Christ. Devotion to the Mother of our Lord, when it is genuine, is always an impetus to a life guided by the spirit and values of the Gospel."
~St. John Paul II

We have been enjoying low key schooling while focusing on our religious catechism and character training. We have been memorizing Bible verses, reading stories in the Bible, and focusing on the liturgical calendar and what these special days mean to us. The rosary is another tool we are using to battle the fleshly world and raise stewards of our faith.

...Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Oiralinde Preschool

I have enjoyed doing a boxed preschool with my three year old daughter this past year. We read books together and did a craft each day. It was minimal effort and work because the curriculum had everything spelled out for me and the materials ready for me ahead of time. It was a great purchase at the time because I was working most evenings and I was also pregnant.

For this upcoming year I wanted to do it myself because of price and being able to make it completely geared for my child. What is so much fun with the three/four year old age group is their LOVE of reading books. I could read books with my daughter all day long, and I am going to use that love of books in my curriculum.  She also loves anything crafty or hands on, so we will do tons of that as well.  This is a VERY low pressure "school" for her. Since she has an older brother, she likes to do school with us, so this is a way to keep it age-appropriate, fun, and still filled with things to learn. I  have no goals for her except to start to love learning. If she learns some letters, even better but it is not a necessity.

What I am doing for you, my readers, is putting the curriculum I am writing online FOR FREE for you to use, if you desire. Each week I will update you with pictures, tips, ideas, math activities, science labs, art projects, Bible and Catholic ideas, a book list, and a list of materials needed for the projects. I will also link to the Pinterest board I am using that week so that you can easily get the directions to activities I borrow from other places.

Both my daughter and I are excited to start this journey together and we hope you will enjoy it as well. We expect to start this curriculum in July, so we will see you then!