Thankful for our Young Men

Each of these young men are so different and filled with so many unique gifts.  They bless my life and the people around them so much by their joy, laughter and grace.  People talk about how these are the hard years, and I am not going to kid anyone that these years are not difficult.  These years with all little children are filled with nights with only a few hours of sleep, moments of patience and formation, and lots of adjusting to new expectations.  Yet, these years are so beautiful.  Parenting these little ones who make mistake after mistake but who still love so fully make me think of how God the Father must think of all of us.  Even though we sin his heart overflows with joy, happiness and love for each of us.  I am so thankful for our young men.

Feast of St. Cecilia

We celebrate the feast of St. Cecilia on November 22nd.  St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians so it seemed only fitting for our new little musicians to use this feast day to thank their piano teacher! They have lessons on Tuesdays so it worked perfectly for them to make homemade cards and wish their teacher Happy Feast of St. Cecilia!

Ryan's First Reconciliation

Having the important role of preparing Ryan for his First Reconciliation over the past few months has been such a special experience for both of us.  God's gift of forgiveness has always been significant in my own life, but seeing it through the eyes of my own child has been a beautiful lesson.  

Ryan had been looking forward to and counting down the days to his First Reconciliation for weeks.  When the day finally came he wanted to use the "You are Special Today" plate that we use on birthday, baptism and saint name feast days as well.  I would not have even thought about bringing out the plate, but I love that our little tradition has become so meaningful to him to want to continue it on this special sacrament celebration day!

Before the ceremony started Ryan asked if he could go to the Adoration Chapel at our church.  I love that on this special day Ryan knew that he wanted a moment alone with Jesus to pray!  It was a great way for my husband and I to have some special time with Ryan before this beautiful sacrament.  

Our parish had a little ceremony with the reading of the Prodigal Son from Luke Chapter 15.  Ryan was so excited to hear this story on this special day as it was a story that we read and discussed often during our preparations.  After the reading and a short reflection about 120 children were able to celebrate their first confession.  I thought that Ryan would be nervous but he kept saying "I am SO excited!" Look at this grin after his first confession!  He was beaming with grace and joy!  What a truly beautiful sacrament and gift from God. 

Afterwards Ryan choose to go out for cupcakes for a special treat!

As a little gift to remember the day, my husband and I got him a box of special "heroes" or Saints.  We want him to always remember the Communion of Saints and how they were all sinners, just like him, yet found ways to turn their lives to God.  The very next day following his first confession he was already planning on his next confession!  

Owl and the Pussycat

 

This past week we studied the story The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and illustrated by Jan Brett.  We learned all about the Caribbean and the Rainforest.  We also read the book Owls by Gail Gibbons and took a special trip to the local zoo to determine how many owls that we could find!  It is these simple, easy things that add so much fun to our week!

Happy First Birthday Peter

My dear Peter,

I am not sure how this day came already for you to be one year old!  You have filled our hearts and lives with so much joy and happiness.  You have this amazing presence about you that makes simply everyone that you see and meet smile.  You are calm, cuddly and incredibly sweet!

Your birthday was as sweet and as fun as you are all wrapped up in one!  I cannot believe how much we love you and adore you.  Happy birthday our sweet boy!

Love, 

Mommy

The Caboose Who Got Loose

 

This week we read The Caboose Who Got Loose by Bill Peet for our Memoria Press Enrichment.  We love books by Bill Peet and have read this book before, but we love diving deeper into the books and learning more about the themes in the books.  We decided to add to our learning by pulling out all of our Bill Peet books, and also books about Trains that we have in our home library.  We have learned that we love to take out books at the beginning of the week and keep them in a giant basket in our living room.  Then throughout the week as we have free time we grab a book or two, cuddle up and read together!

 

 

Our art piece that we studied this week was Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway by J. M. W. Turner.  Our children do not often get very interested in the art, but for some reason they really loved this piece.  They loved the fog and steam and seeing the image beyond that of the train coming in, the boat in the water and the bridges.
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Doing so much learning about trains we decided to take a field trip to the Durham Western Museum to learn more about the history of trains and the Union Pacific Railroad.  Our train loving boys had a blast exploring.  Their favorite thing to do is to watch the extensive model train village and trains, which is especially special to them since their grandparents donate to the museum in the names of each of our children each year to have a train car dedicated to them!

 

In the story, The Caboose Who Got Loose, Katy the Caboose ends up un-coupling from the train cars, flying off the track and landing in between two trees.  She loves her new life in the trees with all of the animals.  We took the time to learn about trees reading Leaf Man, Trees, Leaves and Bark and I Can Name 50 Trees Today!  We also read the poem Three Little Trees.  The weather has been so beautiful here that we have been spending most of our time outside playing and having fun.  I also do love how when some of our children our playing our 6 year old will bring books outside to read!  It was another fun week of exploring and learning together!