Wednesday, March 30, 2016

What We've Been Reading - March 2016



"What We've Been Reading" is a series here at Children of the Church to both keep track of what we are reading and to share with others what we have been reading in our home.  Reading is such an important part of our daily lives and also our homeschooling journey.  Thank you for following along and please feel free to share what you have been reading as well so we can all learn together!

March 2016

Children's Book List (Our children are 6 years, 4 years, 2 years old, baby):
  • Chapter Books
  • Children's Stories
    • Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
    • This is My Home, This is my School by Jonathan Bean
    • The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
    • Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony by C.W. Anderson
    • Blaze and the Forest Fire by C.W. Anderson
    • Stellaluna by Janelle Cannon
    • Keep the Lights Burning Abbie by Peter and Connie Roop
    • Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
    • Cactus Hotel by Brenda Z. Guiberson
    • Hide and Seek Fog by Alvin Tresselt
    • All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander
    • A Tale for Easter by Tasha Tudor
    • What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
    • A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
    • An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni
    • The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman
    • Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse
    • Wonders of Nature by Eloise Wilkins
    • Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure by Bill Peet
    • The Book of Jonah by Peter Spier
    • St. Patrick's Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting
    • The Weapons of World War II by Peter Benoit
    • Usborne Illustrated Stories for Boys
    • Usborne Illustrated Adventure Stories 
  • Easter Stories
    • Hosanna to You, Jesus! by Marisa Mignolli
    • The Week that Led to Easter - Arch Books
    • My First Pictures of Easter by Maite Roche
    • Jesus Washes Peter's Feet - Arch Books
    • Tomie DePaola's Book of Bible Stories by Tomie dePaola
    • Good Friday - Arch Books
    • Happy Easter Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond
    • The Story of Easter by Patricia A Pingry
    • The Story of Jesus by Patricia A Pingry
    • He's Risen!  He's Alive - Arch Books
    • The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward
    • The Easter Day Surprise - Arch Books
    • God's Easter Gifts by Brenda Castro
    • Family Easter Treasury by Michael Hague
    • Rachenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco
    • The Lamb and the Butterfly by Arnold Sungaard
    • The Easter Story by Gennady Spirin
    • The Very First Easter by Paul L. Maier
  • Catholic Mosaic Books
    • Children's Stations of the Cross by Susan Brindle
    • The Tale of Three Tress by Angela Elwell Hunt
    • Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola
    • Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi
    • Little Rose of Sharon by Time Jonke
    • Easter is for Me!  by Dandi Daley Mackall
    • The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith
  • Explore the Continents Booklist + Extras (Asia)
    • The Five Chinese Brothers by Bishop
    • The Story About Ping by Flack
    • Daisy Comes Riding Home by Jan Brett
    • We're Riding on a Caravan:  An Adventure on the Silk Road by Krebs and Cann
  • Homeschooling Books (that our 6 year old is reading during formal school time)

My Book List:
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Our Easter in Review - 2016

 
Here is a look and review of our Holy Week and Easter this year.  It was different traveling during Holy Week, but we had a great time on our family ski trip and it was much needed family time!  We did not attend all of the Easter Triduum Masses, but God met us where we are, at this phase of our life and blessed us abundantly.  We found and used those little moments to come together as a family and draw closer to Him and the true meaning of Easter.
 
Palm Sunday
 
We were enjoying our beautiful family vacation on Palm Sunday and explored a new Church to attend Palm Sunday Mass.  We stuck with our tradition of sitting in the very first row and it again did well for us for the children to all have a front and center view of what was happening.  They did great through the long readings of the Passion Story and had fun making crosses with their palms after Mass.
 
  
 
Spy Wednesday
 
We were on our ski vacation on Spy Wednesday, but we had a great time reading the Gospel for the day and also our Holy Week in Handprints book and the story of Judas handing over Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.  We then hid 30 pieces of silver and our oldest boys had a great time searching for them.  We had a nice conversation about what we can say to people who do not believe in Jesus and how to always show our love to Him. 
 

 
Holy Thursday
 
We were packing up to drive 9 hours home the next day so on Holy Thursday we took some time in the evening to read Jesus Washes Peter's Feet and then the boys took turns washing each others feet during their evening bath to learn how to be servants to each other.
 
 
 
Good Friday
 
We spent Good Friday driving all day long from Colorado to Nebraska, but it was a good opportunity to be together as a family and pray.  We listened to the Stations of the Cross with our Holy Heroes CD, prayed the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy and listened to Tre Ore: The Seven Last Words of Christ by Bishop Barron.
 



Holy Saturday
 
We had a great vacation (more about that later), but it was also so great to be home!  We did a quick grocery run Saturday morning then came home to decorate Easter Eggs and then just RELAX!
 

 

Making Easter Cookies

Making Easter Story Cookies was a new activity for our family this year, and although they were super fun to make, they did not turn out at all!  I have no idea what we did wrong, but it was kind of funny to wake up on Easter morning to flat pancake type cookies (not the hollow cave shape like they were supposed to be)!  Either way, we enjoyed putting them together and reading the Bible verses that correlate.  We can try again next year!


 

 
 
Easter Sunday
 
Finally, Easter arrived!  Alleluia, He has Risen!  We woke up and went to morning Mass and the kids did great.  They notice everything at Mass and loved to see all of the flowers, the priest wearing white and the brand new Paschal Candle!  I love seeing our young men all dressed up.  They also loved seeing our new Resurrection Set on display!
 


 

  
 Easter Egg Hunt

We came home and had a little Easter Egg hunt and Easter Baskets for the kids.  Not believing in the Easter Bunny makes it really casual and fun for our family.  The big kids were helping to hide the eggs and everyone helped to find them all.  They loved their Easter Basket gifts and some of the favorites included:

Catholic By Number Card Game
Trinity Toyz The Last Supper
Melissa and Doug Jonah and the Whale Puzzle
Saints Memory Card Game
Saint Francis of Assisi Shining Light Doll (our 4 year old's favorite Saint!)
Priestly PJ's (they have sizes 3months - 3T)

and the hit of the day was the Mass Kit and Monstrance from Almond Rod Toys!
 





 


  
Playing Mass
 
Since starting Catechesis of the Good Shepard our boys have really loved "playing mass".  I knew that they would like a Mass Kit, but I really had NO idea how excited they would be!  We bought the Mass Kit and Monstrance from Almond Rod Toys and it could not be more perfect for our family!  They also loved lighting our new Paschal Candle from Holy Heroes and putting up our Resurrected Jesus on our Stations of the Cross from Jesse Tree Treasures!



 
 
Family Dinner
 
We ended the day with a family dinner with my side of the family.  It was great to catch up and enjoy their company! 






We had a great and very blessed Holy Week and Easter Sunday celebration!  We look forward to celebrating the Easter Octave and also all 50 days of Easter.  If you are looking for things to do to continue celebrating Easter be sure to check out my post from last year:
 
 
http://childrenofthechurch.blogspot.com/2015/04/50-ways-to-celebrate-50-days-of-easter.html
50 Ways to Celebrate the 50 Days of Easter With Your Children
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