Pitochio

We just watched this movie, Pistachio, by VeggieTales:

It was a total hit w/our family!  I recommend it!  It focused on obeying and listening to your parents, and that is just what we needed to re-learn lately.  Perfect timing for Netflix to allow it to be on it's 'watch instantly' viewing!

About 10 minutes into it, my 6 yr old says "Mom!  I know this movie, it's Pitochio!"

I love how kids play on words! haaa haaa!

VeggieTales are awesome, they always have an underlining virtue, character quality and lesson to teach both kids and parents alike.  Their music is catchy too, cute and catchy ;)

I don't think I will ever not like VeggieTales!

God bless,
Mary

Sibling love

 4 year old sunshine sweetie is helping me make a special dinner.  A peanut butter and jelly dinner to be exact. 

"Here is just a peanut butter sandwhich for T.  And wait a minute, he likes it with no crusts so I'll take them off for him."

HOW DARLING!  I won't even take off his crusts but his 4 yr old sister sure will! 

What a buddy. 

Reminds me of the song from Toy Story "You've got a friend in me..."!!!



God bless,
Mary

Peer Pressure or torture?

Overheard while I was cutting blue jeans into shorts (easy way to have some quick 'summer clothes'!):

Big Brother:  "Look there.  No, you have to look directly into the sun.  Look at the sun."

Somewhat Little Brother:  "What?"

Big Brother:  "Just look right at the sun.  Ok?"

So, little brother did just that.  And then they went onto doing something different.

Obviously this was his particular way to make sure he was still an influence on his younger brother!

Indeed he was, and is all the time.

BOYS!

God bless,
Mary

Going nutty

What a day today has been.  Already.

Every little thing I am asking or telling my children to do so far, each one of them has put up a fit.  It is as though I am asking them to shovel dog crap or clean up puke or run a marathon or something. 

These Mondays are hard, indeed.  Some days are like this, though. 

I know...kids are going to be kids.  Their job is to drive us parents nuts.  Okay, so my kids have succeeded already and it is only 8:55am. 

'Tis going to be one looooooong day...

God bless,
Mary

Quote of the Day

"Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits."

-- St. Philip Neri

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!!!

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

Here is some background info on this great feast day of Our Lord's great Mercy!!!

What is not to love about Saint Faustina?!?!  What a terrific wonderful Saint!  HERE is some info on her.

The kids will be coloring THIS,  THIS picture and THIS one.  For my oldest, I printed out a word find for Divine Mercy-very cute!

We'll be listening to Glory Stories THIS one of St. Faustina for the van ride today.  If I cannot find it (which is not hard to do around here!) then we'll listen to it ONLINE from EWTN's kids website HERE.

This past year I have been really working hard on getting my prayers in daily.  I mentioned in a past post about having my super waterproof watch that, besides being totally cool, has 3 alarms on it-each alarm coorelates w/my daily prayer time. 

1st alarm is to wake me up at a ripe 5:37am (yikes) and have morning prayers/quiet time/meditation/coffee/devotion with our Lord (psssst...notice the coffee in there!! heee heee)
2nd alarm is at 12 noon for the Angelus to honor Mary
3rd alarm is at 3pm for praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. 

I love the chaplet for many reasons-the top one is how quick it is.  Is that bad to say?  whoops!  But really, so many things in life with little ones right now take forever to see results (disciplining, parenting etc...).  I love how I am set out to pray the Chaplet and before I know it, it is done.  yipppeee.   I am not trying to give you the idea that my praying is a checklist but it is nice to start and end something without being interrupted.  Within my life right now that leaves a window of about, oh...6-8 minutes!!!, and that is how long the chaplet is.  Get it now?  Great. 

Now, moving on....I have found a great refuge daily with this Chaplet.  Our dear Lord has shown me how merciful He is, and how as a mother, I am called in a special way to show mercy to my little ones.  It is not easy, but He is showing me slowly how mercy can change hearts.  I have been pretty faithful in doing these 3 special prayers daily and for that, I am so thankful!  What a miracle to get these prayers in, albeit only 3, but still!  I have had different seasons in life where I struggled to get even one prayer in for the day. 

"...Say unceasingly the chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death..." (Diary, 687)

Throughout this year I have also noticed even though my life is a usual loud and my life is hectic and chaotic most days and my life is full of unpredictability...there is great peace in my heart and my soul. 

"Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My merciful Heart, and I will fill it -with peace.  Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls." (Diary, 1074)

So, on this awesome Divine Mercy Sunday, I am thanking God for his mercy on me, and I am praying for Him to shed His merciful love on our dear country. 

May others find His peace and mercy and Him as their shelter in this storm of life.

"Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart... when will it beat for Me? Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone and giving them what they want." (Diary, 1728)


God bless you,
Mary

Books Books Books!

Our family absolutely loves loves loves books.  We love to look at them, read them, listen to them on CD or tape.  We seem to be the family that books just come to us, not frequently but when they do, it's a lot.  People are always giving them away.  You find them at tag sales or freecycle or craigslist for free and library book sales are obviously loaded w/books.  Ok, I have to admit, we tend to have a wee bit too many books compared to other households.  (awe, that's hard to admit!)  I am always thinking that if one child does not like a certain book, that another one will like it.  For that reason, I tend to hold onto them.  I do give some away every now and then, though. 

There are a few preschool books that melt my heart and that is what I am going to post now.  They are not considered to be homeschooling books, per se.  I do have a lot that I really really like, but here are a few that I really really love:

Eloise Wilkin Stories

Richard Scarry's books, esp. What Do People Do All Day?

I am a Bunny book

The Runaway Bunny

I love reading these books to my children.  Even though I love to read to them, oh I wish I could read to them more...  With 6 young children, life is busy, and they need me in so many ways.  I feel that reading to them gives them my attention, gives them still time to be held by me, and close to me, their Mommy, and gives them a love for reading that I hope they will have forever. 

Reading create bonds and memories.  My oldest son, 9, who is a fine reader, will read to his younger siblings, sometimes b/c I ask him to but other times just because.  I love to see that!  My oldest daughter, who is learning to read, will read to her younger siblings too a book she can read or even make up stories as though she is reading it or 'read' right from memory!  I love that too!

I find myself enjoying books just as much as they do.  Reading these same exact ones above to my little babies right now that I have read to my oldest ones just warms my heart.  I find that if I am sitting reading to my little ones, that my older ones will quietly and quickly join in listening to me read as though they never heard it before!  It is super sweet moments like that, that I am forever grateful.

If my husband or I are sitting down (ha!  how about that for a change!!! haa haa!) reading a book of choice for ourselves, we feel that encourages our children to have that desire to want to read too.  In fact, if they see us reading, they will many times grab a few books and just to be close to us, read their own books.  It is quite a sight to see my baby, my 18 month old, 'read' his hard board books for a good while, without a distraction!

Go read a book!  Even better, go read with your child!

God bless,
Mary