Sweetness and Light

Wordless Wednesday ~ St. Paul a l'Orange

 

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Links :: Summer Reading

:: I finally got around to updating my 4 x 10 Reading progress! I've added some more books as well and have been enjoying them immensely :)

:: Books seen being read around the house by various members:

• High Rhulaine
• The Boy's King Arthur
• Magic Tree House #3
• Swallows and Amazons
• A History of England I'm actually reading Volume 2 on Catholic History, but I can only find  link to Vol 8 here, sorry)
• How Your Child Thinks
• Saddle Club #6
• Homeschool Open House (guess who is featured in this book, take a peek ;-)

:: Always a fun visit is the Picture Book of the Day blog and the many Non-Fiction Monday posts for great reviews and suggestions for picture book reading. Here is  link to some of our past Non-Fiction Monday books!

::  In case you missed this elsewhere, here is a link to the May, Carnival of Children's Literature, grab a cup of tea and relax with some great books!

Hope your Summer reading is enjoyable and plentiful! Many blessings in your day.

Saturday Snapshot

 

What's on your agenda for the day??  Many blessings in your weekend fun :)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Beach Excursion

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wishing you a blessed Somentiy of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist!

Great New Catholic Home Schooler's Resource

I have recently been made aware of a great new resource for Catholic homeschoolers.  The Catholic Homeschool Society is a family run business uniting Catholic Home Educators and businesses around the country.

They offer a Newsletter, keep a blog, and  also have started a Yahoo group!

Please visit their online store and check out their business directory as well! From their web page:

"We connect Catholic homeschool groups together nationwide through activities, calendar of events, educational projects, and more throughout the Liturgical year..."

I hope you'll stop by and visit, I truly believe this will be a super way for Catholic homeschoolers to connect and make new connections around the country!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping in today, many blessings!

Weekend Joys

We had a lovely weekend, and I'm pretty sure my dh had  very pleasant Father's Day! Here's a little sampling of some of our weekend joy:

:: Scary Lion on the loose ;-)

 

:: Celebrating Jesus and Mary...

 

:: Annual Father's Day croquet tournament...

 

:: Violet dans l'arbour en rose...

Hope your weekend was filled with love and joy! Many blessings in your week ahead :)

Warm Summer Evening Picnic

We had an opportunity for a lovely evening picnic at the beach near our home Wednesday night. It threathened rain for a few moments prior to our departure, in fact the kids played on the deck just before we left:

 

I packed up my favorite Oven-Baked Fried Chicken which is our go-to picnic staple, some quick and easy Carrot & Cabbage slaw, fresh organic strawberries, some BBQ chips (yes, Lays) some yummy molasses cookies Violet whipped up day before and we were off!

 

This is what the kids were watching:

 

 

 

Sean-Paul had discovered some kelp and immediately began dragging it up the beach, he had barely eaten his dinner. After he realized he couldn't pop the large bulb he drug it back down to where he found it...and quickly started hauling driftwood around :)

 

I'd say, this little guy is definately going to move mountains someday, for sure!

Check out this cool sky! (We're wondering who burned all the driftwood too...)

 

The event for the evening for the bigger boys - skipping rocks and clam shells! You betcha, single bivalves make the best skippers...I think the current record for them both is five skips!

 

 

And more interesting discoveries were made...

 

A brick washed smooth by the sea, and yes, more kelp!

We also watched two Osprey for pretty much the whole visit diving and circling and rounding up their dinner, it was an awesome sight to behold as they are very beautiful birds!

 

There were so many things to just sit and ponder amongst all the busyness of the children playing, here is how Violet busied herself:

First find a suitable log....

 

...then, turn the hollowed out part on the end into a "Fairy Hollow"...

 

And here it is all closed up for the night...

 

A final picture to finish our evening...

 

Wishing you some summer evening picnics in your future :)

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus & Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Wishing you and your families a very blessed  Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus today and for tomorrow the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are two very special feasts for us as we are consecrated to both of these devotions and will renew them today at Mass and benediction.

The Two Hearts consecration is rich with spiritual graces bestowed by Our Heavenly Father. Please visit Ruth at Just Another Day in Paradise for more beautiful prayers for the month of the Sacred Heart.

Thanks so much for visiting today and have a blessed weekend!

Just in Case....

...you need a little inspiration to go and spiff up your learning area, visit Jen, you'll be glad you did!

That's all for now :)))

Cello Recital

Seamus played in his second cello recital this weekend. He has come so far in such a short time. His teacher is very pleased with his progress and has reallly taken him under her wing, and we are, of course thrilled about this! He played the Chorus from Judas Macchabeus, a Suzuki Perpetual Motion melody and The Happy Farmer by Schumann.

 

He played them beautifully and as all performances go, was very happy to have finished!

 

The cello is such a beautiful instrument, we are so blessed to have another child with a great love of music and passion for playing! Well done Seamus!

Thanks for visiting today, many blessings as you start out your week together.

My Book at the IHM Conference!

Just a heads up for all who may be attending the IHM Homeschooling Conference in Chantilly, VA this weekend, my book will be at the Hillside Education table, thanks to sweet Margot Davidson!

I wish I could be there in person, but I'm stuck on the West Coast this year! Have a great time and I would love to hear from you if you are able to pick up a copy of Mondays With Mary at the conference!

Many blessings in your weekend and have a great time to all who attends!

Remember This???

It's not too late to plan a great Saint Anthony's Scavenger Hunt for your feast day celebration this Saturday, June 13th!

 

Ironically we were at our favorite lakeside retreat this time last year too! Violet handmade the prizes and the boys were very eager to oblige her special treasure hunt!

 

Saint Anthony of Padua is a wonderful saint to invoke for many things, and most known for his ability to help you find something that may be lost!

Have fun and here is a lovely novena prayer to St. Anthony (it's not too late to say this, just double up or do a nine hour novena if you wish):

O White lily of purity, sublime example of poverty, true mirror of humility, resplendent star of sanctity. O glorious St Anthony, who didst enjoy the sweet privilege of receiving into thy arms the Infant Jesus, I beseech thee to take me under they powerful protection. Thou in whom the power of working miracles shines forth among the other gifts of God, have pity upon me and come to my aid in this my great need.

(Mention your intentions here).
Cleanse my heart from every disorderly affection, obtain for me a true contrition for my sins and a great love of God and of my neighbour that serving God faithfully in this life, I may come to praise, enjoy and bless Him eternally with thee in Paradise. Amen. 

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Sangria is a customary beverage served on his feast day, so if you're hankering for a little something special try this delicious recipe we have enjoyed:

A bottle of your favorite red wine
2 oranges thinly sliced
2-3 lemons thinly sliced
juice of 1 lime
1/4-1/2 cup sugar depending on your taste
splash of brandy or triple sec
Serve in a punch bowl or large enough pitcher with enough ice to chill but not water down, Enjoy!!

Thanks for visiting and many blessings in your feasting day! 

Chill Time

We had the pleasure of spending last week at our favorite Lakeside vacation spot with my parents. It was their birthday present to me this year and it was a welcome gift and such a delightful amount of "chill time" for us all! (Warning LOTS of pictures ;-)

Bucket Time ::

 

Boat Time ::

 

Discovery Time ::

 

Swim Time ::

 

Wonders of God's Creation Time ::

 

Climbing Time ::

 

Skate Time ::

 

Feast Day Time :: Pentecost Sunday

 

Kayak Time ::

 

Jumping In Time ::

 

Mama's Chill Time ::

 

Pool Time ::

 

Ball Time ::

 

Park Time ::

 

Goose Time :: (lots of these beauties around)

 

Dock Time ::

 

Water Slide Time ::

 

More Beach Time ::

 

And finaly Crash Time ::

 

This was a great get away and the pictures can only convey a morsel of our enjoyment and great family time together! I hope your summer is off to a grand start! 

I haven't forgotten about Summer School either, and will be back later this week with some more ideas and sharing from others as well!

Many blessings in your Summer days together :) 

Summer School??

This is the time of year I am often asked this question,

"Are you going to school throughout the summer?"

And, considering that we are learning all the time whether we're officially "in school" or not I always try and answer this one gently and without too much sarcasm :)

I love these end of chapter questions from Karen Andreola's A Charlotte Mason Companion, this from her section on narration (Ch 15, Tips on Narration): If you don't like the idea of "calling it quits" entirely during the summer, narration from whole books can leisurely supply any bored child with new ideas on long summer days. How could you keep it casual and informal, paying heed to any spontaneous narrations? Can you think of any fun books you'd like to introduce to the children this summer?

Uh, yeah, I think so!!! So, in answer to that question; for ourselves, we will indeed continue learning throughout our summer days, but definately in a much more leisurely fashion. We will purposefully engage in alot more nature study including walks, days at the seashore, visits to farm stands and Saturday markets, ferry rides, days at the lake, more visits with family and especially grandparents. We will talk about all these events in narration style which  in reality it will be in the form of retellings of our days, drawings, photographs, writings, including stories from the children in no particular order.

One of the best things about beginning narration with children from about age 6 and up, it helps to gently prepare them for the writing process, which is really just narrating on paper! Composition is the term Charlotte Mason calls written narration. This happens at around age 10, or sooner if the child is ready. If you have boys, this might be a little later (as is the case with mine) due to physical writing tends to be a tad more difficult. The ideas are all there, but sometimes getting them all down on the paper is tricky, so we do a little with him writing, then I may finish the writing as he dictates.

A good fine motor preparation is having them copy their own narrations they have dictated to you and then it becomes their written work after it has been carefully copied over. As it was their words all along, this is a lovely confidence booster as well and fits beautifully with Charlotte's motto of "I am, I can, I ought, I will" for the children.

What are you doing for Summer School?? If you are able to share I'll compile all your ideas into another post for others to ruminate and ponder!

Many blessings in your day, and as always, thanks for visiting.

Cupcakes for Pentecost Sunday!

Don't miss the lovely Flames of Pentecost Cupcakes at Catholic Cuisine today! These are so easy and beautiful.  Mary always has the best ideas!

Here's a snapshot of our Pentecost celebration from a few years back, the kids really like this visual with the strawberries pointing upwards to represent the "tongues of fire"...tastes pretty darn good too :)

I hope you all have a very blessed Feast of Pentecost in conclusion of this 50 days of Easter! 

Also, Ruth is giving away an incredible Pentecost Rosary on her blog, go check it out and enter for a chance to win!

We will be traveling for this feasting weekend so a cupcake is the perfect travel celebration companion! Let me know if you try them!

Many blessings and thanks so much for visiting today!

Something for Mary ~ A Gift

From Ruth, it's so very beautiful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart :) I will treasure it always knowing it was specially made by you!

My blurry picture doesn't do this incredible glass bead rosary justice, but take a peek at all the beauty Ruth is creating for Our Lady! You will not be disappointed.

Have a blessed day friends and remember to do Something for Mary today, it'll be a beautiful part of your day!

A Day to Remember...

...IT. WAS. WONDERFUL!!!

 

More later...

The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary

My weekend was busy, but not so much that I didn't keep picking up and reading the just released book by Karen Edmisten, The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary.  Karen's first book is simply delightful! From the moment I opened this tidy little tome, I knew it was going to be a permanent fixture on my nightstand :)

 Her purposeful writing has an eloquent style and an encouraging voice for anyone seeking solace and an understanding of the Rosary. Even for seasoned Catholics, this is a gentle reminder as to how important the rosary is to our faith and our spirituality.

She gives reasons for "Making it Work" and joyful applause for our perseverance in "showing up for prayer."  And the best part is that she shares her true love and fervor for Our Lord and acknowledges wholeheartedly that by learning and saying the rosary as often as possible can only lead you closer to Him.

Many congratulations Karen, your work is a true blessing for us all!!

A Stellar Review!!!

Well, I couldn't have asked for a more "star-studded" review of Mondays With Mary! Thank you Anne, I am so very grateful for your generosity and your beautiful words!  Anne's devotion to Our Lady rings through every note she shares at her Under Her Starry Mantle blog so it is with great humility and joy that I received this special write up!

What a great way to start the new week in this very merry month of May!

Another Beautiful Review

Such a lovely gift of words from the very sweet and always encouraging Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles.  She has written such kind words about Mondays With Mary, thank you so much Jen.

I am so pleased and encouraged that so many are already enjoying Our Lady's blessings! Many, many thanks to all!