Good Shepherd's Garden Party - Week Four

We celebrated our Garden Party early this week because of our plans for Adam's birthday this weekend. The theme for this week was, "The Wind and Sea Obey Him." We added a boat to our poster, including mast and sail. We also added nets, fish, a Leviathan, and a "barbecue" where Jesus cooked fish for his friends after the Resurrection. We talked a lot this week about Jesus' friends who were fishermen and what it means to be "Fishers of Men."



This week's dinner party menu included:

1. Banana Boats with Pretzel Masts and Fruit Roll-Up Sails (These included a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some blueberries and mandarin oranges in addition to the bananas. We had these for dessert.)



2. Net Shaped Pretzels

3. Goldfish Crackers

4. Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches (for Jon and me)

5. "Octo-Dogs and Shells" (for the boys) This "lovely" recipe came from this book:

(Photo credit: Amazon.com)


6. "Sea" Water with Goldfish Ice Cubes



We are still enjoying the Garden Parties each week. Tonight the boys were already asking what the next theme will be. I'm starting to wonder what we'll do once the Easter Season is over!

Happy 4th Birthday Adam!

This Saturday, May 1st, is Adam's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe my baby is four already. Granted, the first two years of his life are a real blur in my memory. (Ray is only 17 months older.)

Thank you, God, for the amazing gift of this spirited, imaginative, loving, creative child.

Here is one of the first pictures of Adam in the hospital. After Ray (8 days overdue) weighed in at 10 pounds 11 ounces (thank you, God, for c-sections), I was just so happy that Adam weighed in under 10 pounds. He was 9 pounds 15 ounces (at 39 weeks)! When they laid him on the examination table in the OR, we all laughed at how he loved stretching out his arms and legs.

Here is Adam right before his first birthday. You have to love the hair!

Here he is at age two, so proud to be into everything and always exploring. He has always been so confident and active.

Adam's zaniness and creativity definitely blossomed when he was three. He is strong-willed and also very fun-loving, adventurous, and creative.

As Adam has approached four, he has dived into what he calls his "imaginary world." He loves to pretend and conjure up games and stories. I am continually amazed by the things he says and does.

Four just seems to be a magical age. To Adam, the world is absolutely amazing and full of possibilities. He thinks he is "undefeatable." Tonight at bedtime he asked me if God could look down from heaven and watch him while he sleeps. When I assured him God did do that, he shook his head and said, "That is so incredible. I love it!"

I hope to truly enjoy and nurture his sense of awe and wonder this year.

We have already been celebrating his birthday for several days. We had a fun party at my mom's last weekend...complete with a smashed cake (because I dropped it in the driveway) and a SpongeBob pinata (which was whacked with the most gusto and delight by the ADULTS).

One day this week we met Adam's best friend Ryan and his family at Magic Mountain for a mini-birthday celebration. (Sorry, I forgot my camera.)

This weekend we will be celebrating with Jon's family.

So, it's a birthday marathon... but we are so thankful for this little boy and all of the excitement and joy he brings to our lives. Please say a prayer for Adam today.

Reflections on Pitfalls and Real Life

Lately I have been thinking and praying a lot about a pitfall into which I often fall. It is the dangerous habit of comparing myself and/or my children with others. I know that this is a significant challenge I face as I begin the homeschool adventure with my boys. I could easily drive myself crazy by comparing what I'm doing and teaching with what other moms are doing and teaching.... and more dangerously, by comparing how well my boys are learning and developing and behaving with what other children are doing.

I really enjoy reading blogs and I get a lot of inspiration and encouragement from them. I find myself in awe of what other moms and children are doing. The problem is that when I read these blogs I often pile expectations and a sense of inadequacy on myself without even realizing it.

I have been praying for the graces to be able to embrace my own calling and situation, to do my best to discern what I need to teach and do each day, and to love my boys unconditionally and take them where they are and help them learn and grow at their own paces. For me, a particularly challenging aspect of parenting and teaching is knowing when to push hard and challenge my children to do things they may not want to do or may be afraid to do.... and when to let go of my own issues and timelines and "let things slide" for a while, giving them more time to develop skills or confidence. It's harder than it sounds. It's a lesson that needs to be learned and practiced over and over again.

And so, I'm praying hard and trying to be fully present to my children each day. I'm trying to keep my planning and goal-setting in the proper perspective. I'm trying to allow God to be the Teacher and Leader of us all.

I think I need to find or write a simple prayer to help me avoid this pitfall. I need to post it at my computer, in our schoolroom, and many other places around here. I'll let you know if I come up with something helpful. (Your suggestions are most welcome!)

Finally, a few comments about the purposes and realities of blogging... Several of the mom-blogs I read were commenting on this last week... emphasizing that blogs don't really show the full picture of family life. Yes, the posts and pictures often show wonderful family moments, events, or projects. However, they don't usually show the nitty-gritty realities and challenges of daily life. Honestly, who would want to read or write about the perpetually-dirty kitchen floor, the incessant whining of a five year-old, the disgusting detritus living in the mini-van, or the grueling daily event that is bath/story/bedtime? We all have pull-our-hair-out, wish-I-wouldn't-have-screamed-about-that moments. Blogging is not meant to be a tell-all expose.

The purpose of this blog is to share reflections and insights on our family life, particularly our life of faith. I also share many of the projects, events, and interesting (?) anecdotes that happen around here. For me, this blog is a journal. I really enjoy recording thoughts and events of significance to me. I gain insight and save memories in the process of recording thoughts and images here. I love sharing these things with my family members and friends, especially those who live far away. I also welcome the opportunity to reach out to people I haven't met, but who share this same journey of life and faith with me.

And so, dear reader, I am glad that you are here. Please pray for me and my family and I will pray for you and yours. Please don't feel inadequate because you don't do the things I post about here. (Only crazy people plan six weeks worth of Easter Garden Parties that include making about 8 different kinds of cupcakes! ;) ). Please know that our family is very far from perfect. Also, please don't judge harshly what you read here. I am trying my best to do what I'm called to do and I offer my thoughts and experiences with sincere humility. May we travel together on this journey of family, faith, and life.... helping one another avoid pitfalls, grow in holiness, and embrace the blessings and graces of each day.

The Good Shepherd's Garden Party - Week Three

Tonight we celebrated our third Good Shepherd's Garden Party, continuing our celebration of the Easter Season. This week's theme was, "The Heavens Tell God's Glory."



I made pinwheels as table decorations. Below you'll see our artwork display for this theme. We used sunshine and rainbow projects that we already had and made some clouds, lightning, rain, and hail to go with them. Ray even came up with the idea to use the fan from his room to represent wind and make the rain and hail blow in the breeze.



Ray was a great help with the preparations this week. He loved making the sunshine cupcakes!



This week's symbols were:

1. The Sun (Sunshine Cupcakes)



2. The Cloud (We used mashed potatoes for this. We also served kielbasa sausage, sauerkraut, and green beans.)

3. The Rain (We made "rain drops" using blue "jello beans" -- made in an Easter mold I have.)



4. The Lightning (We taped "lightning bolts" to our water glasses.)

5. The Hail (We used mini-marshmallows to represent hailstones.)

6. The Wind (We enjoyed windmill cookies.)



7. The Rainbow (Rainbow Fruit Kabobs)



We really enjoyed this week's theme, readings, and symbols. They fit in so well with our Earth Day discussions and activities too! We find ourselves anxiously anticipating each week's Garden Party. It's a special family time for us! Thanks again to the ladies at "Shower of Roses" and "Waltzing Matilda" and "Catholic Cuisine" for these wonderful ideas!

The Bubble Lady

We had such a cool visitor today! My mom's cousin Margie lives in Baltimore. She and her brother Mike (who is also cool of course) came to Columbus for the weekend to visit relatives. Margie is one of those people who can't quite be described in words. She is wild and loud and full of crazy stories. She's always worked with children and knows just how to engage them. She does bubbles.... seriously. She has "bubble gigs" all around Maryland.


So this morning we had an awesome bubble party in the front yard with Margie. We just beat the rain. If I had known she was coming, I would have invited all of my friends and their children. It was amazing! I almost forgot to take pictures because I was having so much fun! Half the fun was seeing the looks on the faces of people who drove by and saw these gigantic bubbles. Here are a few of the shots I did get:

Check out Ray's face! It's so typical of him.... trying to figure out how this works I'm sure!

What a great way to start a Saturday! The boys were completely amazed and so excited. Margie told them about the water balloon sling shot and lots of other crazy toys she has at her place. So now we're apparently planning a trip to Maryland to play with Margie the Bubble Lady!

Our First Lapbook

This week, as part of our study of insects, we made our first lapbook. A lapbook is basically a compilation of facts and ideas on a particular topic. It uses file folders as its base and includes a series of mini-books, activity pages, pictures, notes, maps.... Lapbooks are a creative way to compile and display information on a theme. They are very popular with homeschoolers.

The lapbook we made is very simple. Most of it came from a "Funtastic Folder" kit I found online at http://www.firstfruitspublishers.com/. It was a fun project that we worked on all week. Here are some pictures of the finished product:

This is the cover. It opens in the middle to display the following:

The dragonfly picture actually flips up and there are several more activity pages underneath.
The page on the far right (with the green and yellow yarn) is a matching activity.
This is the back of the lapbook.

It is great to have this lapbook for the boys to look at and review what they've learned as well as for them to share what they've learned with others. I'm sure we'll be doing more lapbooks on many topics in the future.

Inniswood Gardens

It was a beautiful day today. After lunch my mom and I took the boys to Inniswood Gardens Metro Park. It is truly the most beautiful park here in Columbus (in my humble opinion). We especially enjoyed the myriad of flowers in bloom and the pond life (we saw two snakes, a mama turtle with two babies, and LOTS of frogs and tadpoles.) The boys were literally shrieking with delight as they "tickled" the frogs with twigs and made them jump. Miraculously, no one ended up in the water.

Also, the boys are thrilled that we are studying insects this week. They pointed out many insects at the park. At one point Ray told my mom that we are so lucky to be homeschoolers because we can study insects any time we want to.... not just when a teacher says to do it. Apparently plans to study insects quite a bit. He's been searching for them in the yard and carrying around a guide book. Neither of the boys has any qualms about touching and handling ants, spiders, beetles, worms, snails, or anything else they can find in the dirt! Aggghhh!! I still can't believe God gave me boys!

It was a pretty terrific Tuesday for us.... hope yours was good too.