Daybook a Day Late

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Outside My Window ...
It is bright and beautiful and promises to be a glorious spring day.
 

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I am listening to...
Nicky and Stephen and Katie and Mary Beth discussing the state of their NCAA brackets, following the weekend. Nicholas is ahead of some pretty big names in the ESPN Washington office pool. Not sure what that means about his education, but I'm thinking it might be heavily weighted in the sports stats department.
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To Live the Liturgy...
We are going to be focused on First Holy Communion notebooks from now until Easter. Katie (who has decided to be called her given name--Kirsten) will receive her first holy Communion on Easter. Nicky never finished his book in all the hubbub of last fall. It's so incredibly hard to do scrapbook style narration with a babe in arms. This is going to take a good deal of effort.

I'm feeling the need to be ever more silent as the second half of Lent begins. I reviewed my resolutions and I recognize that I will need to be more dependent and obedient in order to bring those good things to our Lord.
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To Breathe Deeply...
I think we'll go outside a good bit this week. It's so hard to stay indoors when the spring beckons.

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I am thankful for ...
good test results following a serious medical concern for one of my children. I'm so relieved. And so very, very grateful.
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From the kitchen ...
The focus will be on fruits and veggies that sing "spring": strawberries and cream for breakfast, asparagus instead of green beans in the dinner menus, artichokes with melted butter for dipping.

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I am wearing ...
 new sunglasses. Well, not right now--but I will be later today:-).

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I am creating ...
a revised spring cleaning list. We got very behind last week. 

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  On my iPod...
George Winston Gulf Coast Blues.
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Towards a real education ...
I've got some thoughts on celebrating van Gogh's birthday;some plans for a spring nature walk; some ideas my children had for some game boards after they read the first few books on the Native American reading list.
Here's a fun basketball-themed math drill game.
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Bringing beauty to my home ...
I think I'll just go back to this thought, from October, when I truly could not move about my house at all. Right now, my hands are so full, literally, that I need to remind myself of this pretty much all day, every day:
Ever notice how beautiful a house becomes when Mama smiles? I have and I'm endeavoring to make my house so beautiful much, much more often.

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I am reading  ...
Genuine Friendship

and

The Gift of Faith, recommended on Faith and Family Live! This book very well may be the best book on faith I've ever read (I'm not finished yet).It's written simply enough to be readable even in translation. It incorporates Scripture,sacrament, Tradition, and the wisdom of the saints to offer a fresh perspective on the spiritual life. I started it during Advent and then lost the book. It "just appeared" on the theology shelf in my library closet yesterday when I was looking for something else. Perfect timing for Lent!

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I am hoping ...
one of my children is being protected by his guardian angel and will be comforted by his Savior.

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Around the house ...
I'm going to keep on keeping on, trying to create and maintain a peaceful, ordered, pleasant place for us all to grow. I think sometimes that I expect that my house will look the way it did when I was growing up. But we were a family of four, with two little girls. We were all gone all day and a cleaning lady came in often enough to make things pretty darn near perfect. Homeschooling a big family is God's way of curing me of perfectionism.I'm a stubborn patient. He, thankfully, is the Great Physician.
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One of my favorite things ...
Watching my big girl snuggle my baby girl. Mary Beth is growing into a lovely young woman and it's a privilege and a joy to watch it happen. 

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Baseball season starts tomorrow.There's soccer all weekend long. Mary Beth is dancing at a local church. Mike begins his soccer travel. My dad is going to come up to help me be everywhere at the same time.

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~

Be sure to visit Peggy for links to more daybooks.

Lent Day 23

Fast: Clean out the refrigerator today instead ofeating lunch. Pull everything out and wipe it all down. As you do it, thank God for providing food in your family.

Pray: Give thanks for food, clothes, and shelter. Listen to His plan for stewardship.

Give: “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.“ — Mother Teresa
Assure the people in your home that they are wanted, loved and cared for. Don’t use words.

We've Reached the End of the Alphabet Path

Late in the summer of 2007, I was rather melancholy. Michael had left for college. I had a baby approaching a first birthday and lots of other birthdays looming on the horizon. In my thoughts and prayers, I wanted the mama who started a home education adventure with Michael to sit down with the mama who just left her first child at college and was wondering how to muster the enthusiasm to offer the same adventure to her very young children. I wanted the experienced mama to benefit from the enthusiastic, idealistic mama. Mostly, though, I wanted to capture the joy for my children and to commit again to being a good mama.

Through the end of August and most of September, I mused aloud in this space. I was pretty much misunderstood and for the first time in my life, I comprehended the limitations of words. It was a very lonely time. Lonely times are good, though. They provide clarity like no other time can.

During that time, there was a dear friend who was hearing what I was writing and understanding it perfectly. She knew what I was trying to convey here and she knew what I was holding close to my heart.Privately, we shared ideas and theories with a joy that comes so rarely in a lifetime. While people parsed words and bandied about arguments, we began to dream a story. Just when the chatter around us reached its loudest cacophony, Katherine retreated quietly to create something beautiful.

Katherine took very best I ever dreamed for my children and made it so much more beautiful. She understood that what I wanted was an intentional education, rich in faith and literature and beauty and creativity. She wove it all into a beautiful package and surprised me with it one morning.

"I stayed up all night creating this blog," she said. "I think I got right. You can do what good teachers do. You can show, instead of tell."

And so it was that I was formally introduced to Michael and Mrs. Applebee. The story, the art, the books--it was all like we had imagined it would be in those long conversations together. Only it was so much better.

After the first few installments, I began to write the stories, to weave the magic of it all, happy again to be creating a beautiful education for my children. And then, my daughter began to collaborate, writing stories to delight her little sisters. Time went on and we were blessed with other contributors.Kindred spirits caught the vision and help to convey it.Good mamas who were caught up in the enthusiasm of great education. Serendipity became more than just the Alphabet Path. And over time, The Alphabet Path story grew and grew and grew until Cindy designed a website so that we could find our places easily.

Today, we find ourselves at the end of The Alphabet Path. Our characters--now a part of our family culture-- have reached the end of their adventure. Every single contributor on Serendipity has had or will have a new baby this school year. We've only just begun. God has smiled on us and blessed us with precious new souls to share His truth and beauty. This journey is and always has been about those children. Just as she did with Mrs. Applebee, Emily has created the art for our final story. And Mary Beth has woven all the characters into a final story. Michael and Mrs. Applebee are having a grand parade and party. It's a celebration. A celebration of so many things, really. I'm struck by the implications of the artist and the author. Katherine's daughter drew the picture; my daughter wrote the story. These precious girls, more than anyone else, understand the gift of The Alphabet Path. They understand the treasure of a rich education in truth and beauty. Because of them, it's easy to look with joy towards the future of our real life path. Because of them, I have a good idea where this all leads and I am giddy with anticipation for what is yet to come.

(Psst, Katherine moved her blog back to Typepad. It's really pretty. You can see it here.)

Lent Day 22

Fast: Rise a little earlier and bring your husband breakfast in bed. (If it’s too late today, plan for tomorrow).

Pray: Move your wedding band to your right hand. Every time you notice the difference today, pray for your marriage. Listen to His answers.

Give: Plan a date night.

The Feast of Eric Carle

At the end of this week of feasting in the middle of Lent, I found myself this morning utterly charmed by the Google logo. At my friend Donna's site, I learned it was a special occasion, the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I did a little mental inventory of craft supplies. I did some googling. Mary Beth did some googling. We had a little conference. And the day began to wiggle along most delightedly. I needed this day. I needed the charm of delight-directed children. I needed the relative ease of pulling off some fun learning. I needed Stephen's bemusement as I frosted a caterpillar cake. "I think," said he, "it must be the Feast of Eric Carle."

Indeed.

Mary Beth took pictures to capture the day, of course. So, she's going to take this post from here.

I took more pictures and I'm going to do this just like the St. Patrick's Day Post. Enjoy!

I printed these out at DLTK, here! Then I made the numbers to correlate to the day--not to the number of items.

 

 

 

 

Science Today: The life cycle of the butterfly. Nicky and Katie both did this. It was printed out from here and they put them in the right places and then made their own.

 

 

Pattern Block Mat Printed out here! Katie, Kari, and Nick all did this one.

Thumbprint Caterpillars! From Ed Emberley's book

Egg Carton Caterpillars after we had omelets for lunch. Even Paddy was inspired to do this one!

 

 

 

Then, from our very old book (which is now out of print) we made our own Eric Carle collages.

 

 

 

I made all of the things that the caterpillar ate.

Mom topped the day off with going to the store and collecting ingredients for this.

 

Isn't he very cute?!

 

 

This was a very fun day, even if we planned as we went.

Next time, we're going to do this project.