Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord

My Grandma passed away this afternoon following many years of suffering and a final stroke.
O God, Lord of mercies, grant to the souls of Your servants and handmaids, the place of refreshment, the bliss of eternal rest and the splendor of Your light.
And may God give comfort and peace to those she left behind.

Craft of the Week

This week's craft is making paper plate owls. We made big ones a while back when we were studying owls, but this one is made from the 6-inch paper plates.
Supplies: 3 paper plates; yellow or brown construction paper; orange construction paper; scissors; glue (or a stapler); googly eyes (optional); crayons, paint, or markers; small brown feathers (optional)

On one paper plate, fold about a third of the plate over (have the bottom of the plate facing forward). This paper plate will be the owl's head.





On the folded part, cut two short slits and fold them back up. (These will be the owl's tufts - although they look like ears, they are only feathers. An owl's ears are simple holes on the sides of the head).
Glue the center section down.

Glue googly eyes (or construction paper eyes) on the folded-down section (or cut two large circles and glue them down, then draw a dark dot in the center).

Using construction paper, cut a small half-circle with a little square off the rounded side. Curve the edges around, forming a cone. Glue or staple it shut.


Glue the cone to the paper plate (using the rectangle, just beneath the folded part of the paper plate.
Glue or staple the head to another paper plate.

Cut another paper plate in half (these will be the wings).
Glue or staple the wings to the body at a slight angle.
Using construction paper, cut two tiny feet. Glue them to the body.

Color in the owl, drawing feathers, wings, or other patterns.

Hoot Owl Cookies are also fun to make in October, so I included them also. Have fun!

Crafty Monday

I'm often inspired by Alice' blog,
Cottage Blessings. Last year, I saw these cute spoon saints, and we're just getting around to
trying them. We started by making St. Therese for her feast day today.





We've also been putting off, er, I mean waiting for a good opportunity, to make these apple trees, which Emily had posted at her blog for the 4Real Craft-of-the-Week Club a couple of weeks back. Very fitting after our apple orchard visit on Friday. Things
got a little crazy, as usually happens when I get out the paint. The boys were so excited about getting to paint their arms!
We were all happy with the results. Two crafts in one day! Whew!

Happy Michaelmas Day!

Today we celebrated the Feast of Saints Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, Archangels. St. Michael is the patron of our homeschool, St. Michael the Archangel Homeschool. Having read a Bible story about each archangel earlier in the week, we made a special angel food cake for dessert. We prayed the St. Michael Prayer, then discussed what each archangel's name means, and what we had learned about them while we enjoyed our cake.

Apple Picking Time

Yesterday we joined our friends, the Wyss family, at a local orchard for some apple fun. At first, the littler ones had trouble finding any apples low enough to pick, but then enjoyed using the long apple pickers. We had a little trouble identifying some
of the varieties we ended up with, but think we came away with Empire (the kids said they taste like bananas), Golden Delicious (that one we're sure of, at least), Northern Spy (possibly), and Granny Smith (pretty sure about that one, too).



Half the fun was sampling the different varieties, as Sam is doing here.







Patrick peruses the shelves of honey while he holds his chosen Indian corn. The little store at the orchard also sold cider, honey, pumpkins, etc. We bought some of the local honey with the comb. The boys were fascinated that the honeycomb was edible.


Sam was eager to use some of our apple as table decoration. They do look pretty in a wooden bowl.

How could twenty years go by so fast?!?!

Twenty years ago today, I married my best friend. Yes, I know that sounds corny and cliche, but it's oh so true.




I was a lot lighter twenty years and five kids ago.

Here's to many, many more happy years together!

Check out...

a wonderful Autumn post on Elizabeth Foss's blog, Real Learning in the Heart of My Home. I'm so impressed by the myriad ways homeschoolers celebrate the Liturgical Year. Especially when there are so many feasts so close together, like in the next two months. Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing your celebrations with all of us.

My Daughter's Buying Her Own Clothes

and I'm not sure if I should jump for joy, or be really sad. So I'm doing a little of both. MJ  is 13, and just now really starting to get interested in clothes. She is tall for her age, and finding decent (meaning modest) clothes for her has been r-e-a-l-l-y
difficult in recent years. So I guess I'm glad she is finding good clothes, and Jim is so happy that she is paying for them herself.
It's just weird going into the teen stores with her, instead of the girls' department at J.C. Penney. *sigh*.

So Happy It's September!

For some reason, I'm really ready for Autumn to arrive. The coming of September has caused a debate in our household, though, over When Fall Really Begins. Yes, I know, technically, the first day of Autumn in September 23rd, but I never considered
September to be part of summer. Let's face it, in our culture, Labor Day is usually thought of as the last day of summer. That doesn't seem quite right, either, but for our purposes, I have always called September the first month of Autumn. Tiger insists that September 1 was the first day of Autumn, but my daughter M.K is holding onto summer as long as possible. She won't admit to Fall's advent until, oh, probably the first of October. Anyway, when we did our annual Labor Day Weekend shopping yesterday, I broke down and bought some Yankee Candles. It's a little early yet, but I can't wait to fill the house with the aromas of Farmhouse Apple, Autumn Wreath, and Spiced Pumpkin (saving that one for October).
I'm enjoying reading Dawn's Labor Day post from last year,A Harvest of Autumn Delights. Delights. It's really getting me thinking about what defines the beauty and pleasure of Autumn for our family. For Jim, it's Notre Dame football all the way! The kids like the cooler weather, looking forward to Halloween and Thanksgiving, and we all enjoy a trip to Hilger's Fall Festival.
Before that, though, is the Johnny Appleseed Festival, and this year I hope we will get to the Fall Harvest Festival
at Salomon Farm. I'm also planning to see if we can't get to an apple orchard this month for apple picking and cider buying. That's a lot to look forward to!

Well, we finally have gotten around to making Week 4 craft from the Craft-of-the-Week on the 4Real Learning Forum, these fun apple weaving projects.This craft was posted by MaryG at her blog, St. Athanasius Academy. I wish I could say truthfully that we have made each craft, each week, but I can't. Because we haven't. Hopefully we will catch up, although we may skip a few of them. Week 5's craft (actually it's two crafts) is posted here
and here. They are fun ideas from Maggie that I hope to use sometime this week.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Owl Time

We're using Five in a Row this year, and the first book we are rowing is "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen. This was a perfect
week to make owl cookies, which we traditionally make in October.




This recipe was a bake-off winner in the 1960's copied by my mom from a flour
bag. It's been a family tradition each fall ever since.

OWL COOKIES

2 1/2 cups four 2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup shortening or butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 unbeaten egg 1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate or substitute four Tblsp cocoa and 1 tblsp
shortening
1/4tsp baking soda chocolate chips
whole cashew nuts wax paper or aluminum foil

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Cream shortening and sugar in
a separate bowl. Add egg and vanilla, beating well. Melt or mix chocolate and set it aside. Mix dry and wet ingredients. Remove 2/3 of dough to floured board. Stir soda into chocolate and blend mixture into remaining dough in bowl. Refrigerate bowl dough
at least 1/2 hour. Roll out half of light dough to 10x14 strip. Shape half of chocolate dough into a 10 inch roll, place in center of light dough strip. Mold sides of light dough around dark. Chill 2 hrs.Cut into uniform slices. Place 2 slices together on greased cookie sheet, pinching top of each to resemble an owl's ear-like tufts. Place cashew in center for beak. Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

And so it begins...

Well, it started off fun. Some ladies on the 4Real Forums had discussed these treat filled cones, called schultuete, that are
given to students on the first day of school in Germany. These are the ones I made, filled with small inexpensive toys,
school supplies and some snacks. Of course, the older kids made dunce cap and Roaming Gnome jokes, but no one seemed to mind.

A Special Day of Prayer and Celebration

The Grotto


The Log Chapel

Mass was very crowded and long, but beautiful in the Joyce Center


The main tabernacle in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart



Our Lady atop the Golden Dome

I wish we had gotten more pictures at the Eucharistic Congress yesterday at Notre Dame, but honestly, the day moved so
fast, I scarcely had a chance. Here are some that we did get, though.

Eucharistic Congress tomorrow!

Today, besides the ongoing preparations for the school year, we are getting ready to
go to Notre Dame tomorrow. No, not to drop off a new undergrad, nor, to 8yr old
Tiger's disappointment, to watch football. It's the site of a Eucharistic Congress
to commemorate the Sesquicentennial of our Diocese. Some of the highlights will be:
praying the Rosary at the Grotto, touring the glorious Basilica, attending some
inspiring workshops, and the crowning event of the day will be Mass at the Joyce
Center, with the bishop all the priests of the diocese.Praying for good weather!

Things I hope to do more of this school year...

Our new school year is fast approaching, in fact, we start next Tuesday. This year I hope to:

* have teatime at least once a week (haven't worked out
when yet)
* do a better job of living the Liturgical Year
* do a lot more crafts with my kids
* work more patiently on good habits/virtues
* be more organized/keep the house cleaner/ keep the laundry
put away *sigh*
* read aloud more, let my kids play video games less
* find time during the day to work on quilting

I'm really trying not to get overwhelmed by this, to just take it a step at a time.
I love what Elizabeth Foss has posted on her blog under " A Considered Childhood"
here. These
beautiful goals so often seem far from where we are now, but they are good things
to reach for.

Hummer Fun and Stargazing

We've fallen in love with hummingbirds! We recently put up a feeder and are really enjoying watching these little charmers.
I think the birds in the above picture are the kind coming to our feeder, but am not sure yet. Since I haven't successfully taken a
picture of one yet, I found this picture at www.hummingbirds.net. At dusk on Sunday, my three little boys and I stood by the feeder just watching them flit over our heads, from the feeder to the trees, and back again.
We also piled in the van after dark, and headed out to the country to look for the Perseid Meteor Showers. Spent a lot of time driving around trying to find a place with little to no light pollution where we might actually see something. Finally we stopped at a nearby nature preserve and parked in the entrance drive, since the place was closed. A couple of the kids said they did see shooting stars/meteors/ I don't know what. It was a little disappointing, but I think we might have seen more if we had gone later. As it was, the kids were up quite late, but it was worth it because they did get quite excited just seeing all the constellations we were able to see.

A Furry Friend (?)

This small bat was hanging on my daughter's bedroom window screen yesterday. The kids were thrilled to be able to see him up close as he slept.

Jumping in...

Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I now have a blog. I'm not sure yet what direction this will take, but I hope to share some of our Catholic homeschooling family experiences. Looks pretty bland right now, but be patient with me, I'm a newbie at this. I never would have considered starting this blog if it weren't for all the ladies at the 4Real Learning Forums and their amazing blogs.