End-of-the-Year Luau!

Our local Catholic homeschool group gathered at a park yesterday for a really fun end-of-the-year picnic. Sixty-five families attended the luau-themed party! It was a fantastic, beautiful day and we all had a great time.

Hawaiian singing and dancing at the "Music Hut"

Fun for the little ones in the ball pit

Enjoying lunch.
This is the only time I really saw Ray during the whole picnic.
He was off and running with lots of friends all day.
Standing in the background is my friend with her SIX DAY OLD little one!

Cute little friends

Adam participating in the limbo contest.
He LOVED participating in all the planned activities.

We were so blessed to be joined by some of the Dominican novices and Franciscan Friars.
The Franciscan Brothers Minor are new to our diocese.
We had the privilege of picking up two of the brothers and bringing them to the picnic.

Tons of fun with Coach Q.

This picture just makes me happy!

This little one - a daughter of a friend of mine - had just had ENOUGH luau-ing! ;)
She took a great long snooze right in the middle of the action.

Adam getting his face painted... a Mario mustache of course!

A lovely, sparkly friend!

I was in charge of a bubble station. Lots of fun!

Time for a group picture!

And they say homeschooled kids aren't socialized?
What a bunch of great kids!
We are so blessed to share this journey with them.

It's A Wrap!

We have officially finished our homeschool year! Adam has completed Kindergarten. Ray has completed first grade. Yeah! Mommy is ready for a summer break!

Ray's first grade portfolio and photo book.

I designed end-of-the-year photo books for each of the boys and had them printed at a very reasonable price. They will be great keepsakes and reminders of all of our learning and adventures.

Today we had a certified teacher come and look over the boys' portfolios. She talked to them about all the projects and work they have done this year. She had them both read to her. She told me that both boys have exceeded the requirements for this school year. She signed the official paper we need to submit to the school district. After she left, we picked up Jon from work and went out for a celebratory lunch -- pizza! Jon and I are so proud of the boys. They worked hard and learned a lot this year.

Our various classes and activities have been wrapping up and winding down over the past several weeks.

We ended our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd/Montessori/CHAT class over a month ago! We wrapped that up with prayer and a picnic.

Closing gathering for CGS.

Ray holding his DNA model in CHAT class.

Ray's periodic pillowcase, which he made at CHAT class.
I can't believe what he's done in first grade!

Our Academic Enrichment Program (States' Study) ended a few weeks ago with a Hawaiian luau! Both boys are so proud of the binders of work they compiled from this program. We all learned a lot about the United States.

Luau party -- Check out Ray in his crazy orange Hawaiian shirt!

For the last week I've been sorting through all of our work and organizing it. An entire year of work boils down to this ---

Ray's 1st grade work

Adam's Kindergarten work

 We were all very happy to have today be our last day of school!

One last journal entry

Opening up the "time capsules" we made on the first day of school!

It was fun to see how much they've grown, how their printing and drawing have improved, and how their favorite things have changed.

Tomorrow we will attend our homeschool group's end-of-the-school year picnic. We have lots and lots of plans for the summer! In addition to tons of  swimming and other adventures, we will be reading and doing some Math everyday. We'll be keeping summertime journals.

But for now we're saying..... "Goodbye school schedule! Hello Summer!"

Adam is learning to ride his bike without training wheels!

Fun at the park!

Breaking News...

Today we discovered that Mario is actually a "Mariette!" As it turns out, calico kitties are pretty much always female. That is one thing that we learned at the kittens' first vet appointment today. We also learned that they have ear mites (gross!) but other than that they are very healthy. So.... Adam is insisting that we still call his cat "Mario" but we are all using alternate terms for her. Mariette? Maria? Marielle? Mariana? I am just excited to have more females in the house to bring a bit more balance. ;)

 

For the most part the kittens have been easy to care for and fun to have around. However, we did have a bit of a kitty saga a few nights ago. The weather has been so nice, so we've had the windows and back door open. The kittens have enjoyed being on the back (screened in) porch. When Jon closed things up for the night on Wednesday, he couldn't find the kittens. We looked and looked for them all around the house.... and then noticed that one of the screens on the porch had been pushed out, leaving a gaping hole. Although the kittens have stayed pretty much in the living room and at floor level, I just "knew" that they had escaped. Jon and I were out in the yard from 11:00ish until midnight.... in our pajamas.... with flashlights.... looking for kittens. We were in a state of panic as we spread our search to our neighbors' yards.

Finally we put some food and a blanket for them on the back porch and went to bed. I could not sleep. I was just dreading telling the boys that their kittens were gone. I was dreading the task of searching for them the next day. I kept checking for them.... and praying to God and Mary and Saint Anthony and Saint Francis and anyone else who would listen to my pleas.

Since I couldn't sleep, I went downstairs and sat in the recliner and watched TV. I dozed a bit. I felt something rustling beneath my chair. I looked under the chair and all around. Nothing. I dozed a bit more. After I'd been in the chair for more than an hour, the rustling started again. And then out climbed Mario, stretching  and yawning. He had been sleeping INSIDE the chair! I looked at the back of the recliner and saw a round lump behind the fabric. It was Gloria! Those little rascals were sleeping right inside the chair I was sitting in!

I was SO relieved! Jon heard me bringing in the stuff from the back porch and came down. We laughed so hard about it.... and thanked God and all the saints for bringing those kitties "back" to us. We didn't get to bed until 2:00!

WHEW!!!!!

It became obvious that night how attached we've already become to these cats. We are so thrilled to have them as part of our family.

Wrapping up the Easter Season and Celebrating Pentecost

This week we wrapped up our Easter garden parties with a great buffet lunch. We reviewed the readings and symbols from the last two weeks and enjoyed a lovely feast.

Our completed Garden of the Good Shepherd poster

"Oh, What a Beautiful City!"
The City Gates --- Built from pretzel sticks and cheese cubes
The Temple - "Shirley Temples"
Hallelujah! - We sang!
The Bride and Groom - White and dark chocolate covered strawberries
(and the candle holder favors from our wedding)
The Crowns - We all wore beautiful crowns for the celebration!

"The Heavenly Zoo"
The Water - Beautiful Pitcher of Water
The Deer - Deer Cupcakes
The Lion - Lucky Lion Lemonade
The Beehive - Honeycomb Cereal
The Peacock - Peacock Feather Decoration
The Pelican - "Pelican Toasties" (Toasted cheese and bread)
The Phoenix - Phoenix-Tail Shrimp

On Pentecost Sunday morning, I was awakened by this little "apostle" ---



 He was filled with the Holy Spirit.... tongue of fire on his head! I can't wait to show this picture when he's a bishop someday! ;)

Jon and the boys let me sleep in and they prepared a yummy breakfast. They decorated the house with red streamers too.

I love these streamers around the doves and tongues of fire we made last week.

 We attended a lovely Mass and the boys had their best behavior ever at Church! That afternoon we celebrated with a refreshing strawberry jello treat. We sang "Happy Birthday" to the church.

It's a shame to me that Pentecost isn't a more celebrated Feast. It's a really great and important one. We need to celebrate, honor, praise, and invoke the Holy Spirit more than ever in these days. His grace and power are awesome.

Come Holy Spirit,

fill the hearts of your faithful

and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit

and they shall be created.

And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God,

who by the light of the Holy Spirit,

did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

grant that by the same Holy Spirit 

we may be truly wise

and ever enjoy His consolations,

Through Christ Our Lord,

Amen.

A Visit to the Art Museum

We are finishing up the last requirements of our school year.... checking everything off the list. As a wrap-up to our art lessons, I took the boys to the Columbus*Museum*of*Art on Friday. We enjoyed looking for examples of the types of art we've learned about (sculptures, murals, still-life, portraits, and landscapes). The boys loved the interactive kids' area. I'm seriously considering getting a membership to the museum and/or looking into their workshops and classes. There is so much to see and do. It's another gem in our city.

My favorite exhbit --- floating glass

Right now the museum is hosting an amazing 1700 year old mosaic that was just discovered in 1996 in Israel. It's impressive! And there's a great interactive educational room all about this mosaic as well.