Family Fall Fun

 

 

Do you have those special places where your family memories are made?  One of those "places" for our family is the apple orchard!  We love making a special trip each fall and we lucked out this year with beautiful weather!  We had such a great time picking apples, exploring all of the fun things to do and most importantly spending time with family!

 

 

Each year we take a photo of each child by this old tractor that they love!  It is so much fun to see how they grow and change.  We missed one year when we were living in a different state for my husband's Medical Fellowship, but other than that we have made the fun trip each year!

 

Ryan

 

 

2010 (10 months old) & 2011 (1 year old)

 

 

2012 (2 years old) & 2014 (4 years old)

 

2015 (5 years old)

 

Connor

 

 

2012 (1 year old ) & 2014 (3 years old)

 2015 (almost 4 years old)

 

Luke

 

2014 (1 year old) & 2015 (2 years old)

 

Past Family Photo Fun!

 

2010

 

2011

Baby Brother Connor was born just a few weeks later!

 

2012

2013

 

This year we lived in Minnesota for my husbands Medical Training!

 

2014

 

 

2015

Our fun from this year!!!

 

 

 

 

Life is Precious Week 1 - Angel in the Waters

We started the Life is Precious Curriculum this week with the first book study of Angel in the Waters.  This book already holds a special place in our family as it was a gift for our boys when they found out that they were going to be big brothers to our baby Samuel who soon later went to Heaven after our miscarriage.  It is such a beautiful story with wonderful illustrations giving a glimpse of what life inside "Mother" might be like.

We loved diving into this story more and learning a TON about Fetal Development in a child friendly way.  The first day we learned all about fetal development and the growth of a baby inside Mommy versus the sizes of foods.  We also used the little baby model that came with showing the size and formation of a 12 week baby.  Our children also thought it was really fun to see how their brother inside of my tummy right now is growing and that he is currently about the size of a pineapple (8 months)!

On another day we made a flip book called the Miracle of Life.  It showed fantastic pictures of fetal development that we could use as a guide to talk about how life begins and how a baby grows.  We also watched the Baby Steps DVD included in the curriculum which showed 4D images of a baby in utero.  Also, since we have quite a collection of our own ultrasound photos we looked at ultrasound photos of each of the children from when they were in Mommy's tummy and how they grew!

This weeks lesson plans worked out perfectly with the liturgical year as well, as it was completed with learning about and celebrating our Guardian Angels; just in time to celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2nd!  We talked about who the angel was in the story, about each of their own guardian angels and made cards for our Guardian Angels.  We also went over the Guardian Angel prayer again (which our oldest two children know and our youngest is in the process of learning!) 

 

Guardian Angel Prayer

 

Angel of God

My Guardian dear

To Whom His love

Commits me here

Ever this day

Be at my side

To light and guard

To rule and guide. Amen

 

"Just as you do not know how the life breath enters the human frame in the mother's womb, So you do not know the work of God, who is working in everything." - Ecclesiastes 11:5

We are simply loving this new curriculum and cannot wait to continue with the rest of the books included in the upcoming weeks!

Celebrating the Feast of St. Therese

 

Today on October 1st, we celebrate the feast day of St. Therese of Leisieux or "The Little Flower of Jesus".  St. Therese has been one of my favorite saints for some time now, and although I could probably go on and on about her, what is most impactful about her to me is her own words.  I find myself constantly writing her words down in my prayer journal and them sustaining me through hard times and helping me praise the beautiful times.  So that is what I leave you with today, St. Therese's beautiful words (and with them some really beautiful pictures of flowers taken by my wonderful husband!)

 

"Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice.  Here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word.  Always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love." 

 



 

"To remain a child before God means to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from God.  It is not to become discouraged over our failings for children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much. "

 

"My strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; they are invincible weapons and touch hearts more surely that words can do, as I have learned by experience."

 

"How can I fear a God who is nothing but mercy and love?"

 

"Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing."

 

"Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude."

 

"I know that love strengthens every vocation, that love is everything, that it embraces all times and all places, because it is eternal."

 

"Jesus has shown me the only way that leads to the fire of divine life:  it is that of a little child who, full of trust, falls asleep in its father's arms." 

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us!