Watching them grow - Peter is 8 months

This past month was huge in terms of developmental advancements for our little Peter!  In the past month alone (7-8months) he has learned SO much and it is so much fun to watch and also see our other boys cheering him along!  He is growing like a weed and is already 22 1/2 lbs (our other boys all hit 20 lbs around 1 year) and 29 inches long!  Here are a few of the things that he has learned or gained skills during the last month.

• Motor Skills
• Crawling
• Pulls up from laying down to sitting
• Stands holding onto something

• Verbal Skills
• First word "Mama"! (Out of all of our four children he was the first to say Mama first and not Dada)
• Saying "Hi"

• Social Skills
• Clapping
• Waving
• Copying behaviors (Folding hands in prayer during family prayer time)
• Showing preference to certain toys/objects (he adores swinging at home or at the park and LOVES the water)
• Laughing in excitement / kicking his legs when his big brothers enter the room or want to play with him

 

 

 

• Physical Skills
• Sleeping 7-8 hours straight during the night without waking (he had been getting up every 2-4 hours to breastfeed)
• Eating Solid /Table Foods (He dabbled in baby food around 4-5months and did not take to it.  We tried again at 7 months old and he loved it but quickly transitioned to preferring to eat whatever we were eating rather than baby food!)
• Learning to use a cup for water
• He also still breastfeeds 4-6 times per day

• First tooth (after what seemed like months of teething)

 

 

We all simply adore him and his little personality (especially his big brothers)!  It is simply amazing to watch how much they learn and grow in the first year of their life.  Peter truly a blessing to our family and we cannot wait to continue to watch him grow and explore the world together.

Celebrating the 4th of July

 

Celebrating our country and freedoms is something that we want our children to remember and appreciate!  The 4th of July is more than just parades and fireworks but also about understanding where we have been as a country and what we need to do in our future. 

To learn more about our country our little librarian proudly went to our newly organized home library and went straight to the History section to find some favorites about America! Our days and celebrations are not really complete without some great read aloud time as a family!

 

We did also enjoy some fun fireworks and Firecracker popsicles to add to the fun as well!  We had a great celebration and I adore seeing the excitement in the children's eyes!

 

 

 

Happy 240th birthday America!

What We've Been Reading - June 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!

June  2016

Children's Book List (Our children are 6 years, 4 years, 3 years old, baby):

• Chapter Books
  • Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
• Children's Stories
  • The Ant and the Elephant by Bill Peet
  • Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
  • The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
  • The Bike Lesson by Stan Berenstain
  • Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent by Bill Peet
  • Farewell to Shady Glade by Bill Peet
  • A Fly Went By by Mashall McClintock
  • The Gardener by Sarah Stewart
  • The Library by Sarah Stewart
  • The Moon Shines Down by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Oscar Otter by Nathaniel Benchley
  • Aaron is a Good Sport by P. D. Eastman
  • Curious George at the Baseball Game by Margret & H. A. Rey's
  • The Pup Speaks Up by Anna Jane Hays
  • Pete the Cat A Pet for Pete by James Dean
  • Anasi and the Moss covered Rock by Eric Kimmel
  • Pete's A Pizza by William Steig
  • Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
  • Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton
  • Curious George Makes Pancakes by Margret and H.A. Rey
  • Erased by a Tornado by Jessica Rudolph
  • If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff
  • The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Sieska and Lane Smith
  • Pickles to Pittsburg by Judi Barrett
  • The First Dog by Jan Brett
  • The Hat by Jan Brett
  • The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson
  • Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
  • Wheels at Work at a Construction Site by Don Kilby
  • I Knew You Could by Craig Dorfman
  • Inside a Barn in the Country by Alysa Satin Capucilli
  • Henry and Mudge and the Forever Sea by Cynthia Rylant
  • Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble by Cynthia Rylant
  • Ivan the Great by Isabel Langis Cusack
  • Days with Fro and Toad by Arnold Lobel
  • Two Crazy Pigs by Karen Berman Nagel
  • Oliver by Syd Hoff
  • Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes
  • Survivors: The Night the Titanic Sank by Caryn Jenner
  • National Geography Kids: Frogs!  by Elizabeth Carney
  • Morris Goes to School by B. Wiseman
  • Donald and the Fish that Walked by Edward R Ricciuti and Pictures by Syd Hoff
  • It's Me, Hippo! by Mike Thaler
  • Book of Laughs by Bennett Cerf
  • Play Ball Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
  • No Fighting, No Biting!  by Else Holmelund Minarik
  • The Tree House Mystery by Carol Beach York
• Catholic Mosaic Books
  •  A Peek Into My Church by Veronica Kelly and Ginny Pruitt
• Give Your Child the World -
• Multicultural Week
• Children Around the World by Donata Montanari
• If You Lived Here (Houses of the World) by Giles Laroche
• Little Humans by Brandon Stanton
• Throw Your Tooth on the Roof by Selby Beeler
• My Librarian Is a Camel (How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World) by Margriet Ruurs
• A Cool Drink of Water by Barbara Kerley
• Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz
• Homeschooling Books (which our 6 year old reads aloud during structured school time)
  • My Book House:  Book 2 (Story Time)
  • American Cardinal Readers Book 2
  • Angel Food for Boys and Girls Volume 1

My Book List:

• Give Your Child the World (Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time) by Jamie C Martin
• The Longest Ride - Nicholas Sparks
• A Year with Mary: Daily Meditations on the Mother of God

Our Many Celebrations of June 29th!

June 29th is a BIG day of celebration in our home!  First of all it is my amazing husband's birthday.  We were lucky that he was able to have the day off from work so we went as a family to a state park for a lovely morning walk.  The kids love nature so much and explore all of the animals that they found including fish, ducks, deer, snails, butterflies and lots of different kinds of bugs!  We then came home to give him his home made cards, cake and gifts!

 

 

 

 

Also, on this day we celebrate the Saint Feast Name day for our Peter as we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and Paul on June 29th.  Check out how we chose Peter's name HERE on this feast day last year!  We also celebrate for our little Peter on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter on  February 22nd, but also wanted to celebrate today as well.  We got Peter "My First Cross" for a fun little toy to remember this day.  We also read about St. Peter together from our Saints: A Year in Faith and Art book.

 

Our other celebration on this day is celebrating our Wedding Anniversary.  This year we celebrate 9 years and I am more in love with my wonderful husband today than ever.  We were so lucky that my mom was able to come by to babysit all for kids so that we were able to go out for a nice dinner!  I thank God for being there with us within our marriage and look forward to many years to come!

 

 

 

What a fun day this is to celebrate the love of our faith, marriage and family!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real - Summer Edition

What have we been up to?  Well this summer has been pretty hot already so this will give you a clue of what we have been doing to try to stay cool. (Water, water, and MORE water)!

 

---Pretty---

 

Hanging out in the backyard watching the little ones play in our backyard pool under the patio umbrella is simply lovely!

 

 

---Happy---

 

The lake is my happy place!  We are so thankful that my in laws purchased land on an awesome lake just 40 minutes from our home so we are able to go out on the weeks to go boating, tubing, skiing and swimming!  It is amazing family time fun!

 

 

 

---Funny---

 

The kids love going to the splash parks, yet whenever we go our just turned 3 year old DOES NOT want to get wet!  Go figure!  He doesn't mind spraying everyone else though!

 

 

---Real--

 

We bought a pool pass to our city pool and love going there with the kids to cool off and have fun.  Our oldest kids have been taking swimming lessons the past two weeks and their skills have improved significantly!  It is so much fun to watch them learn and grow!

 

 

 

Happy Baptism Anniversary Luke

We love to celebrate Baptism Anniversaries in our home and make the day really special for each individual child!  Luke celebrate his baptism anniversary on June 22nd and we continued our tradition of lighting his baptism candle, saying a special prayer at breakfast, eating with the "You are Special Today" plate whatever their choice is for a meal, going to daily mass and receiving a special little gift!  Luke loves carrying around little objects (he loves the host from our Mass Kit, the ornaments from our Jesse Tree, etc) so when I saw the Fruit of the Spirit coin set I knew it would be something little that he would LOVE!  I love the thought of giving the coin with a note on the back when the child shows an intentional good behavior.  For a little three year old with a "lovely" behavior these might just be the ticket for some great positive reinforcement! 

 

Happy Baptism Anniversary Luke!

 

 

Fruit of the Spirit Coin Set

See how we celebrate Luke's Baptism Anniversary last year HERE!