Holy Week at Our House

Since we can arrange our school how we like, I decided to have half a week of school during Holy Week and the other half this week.  Somewhat of a spring break for us.  So on Holy Thursday and Good Friday we did not have any formal school, which was nice.  We could focus on the second half of Holy Week!  I thought I would write down what we did so I could be one step ahead next year. 

Holy Thursday:  I read to the kids while they colored in some neat Stations of the Cross coloring books, which I got from The Catholic Company.  They are produced by Pauline Books and Media.  The kids all loved coloring in these books, even the boys.  I read the story of the Passover from the Old Testament, then the story of The Last Supper from the New Testament, both from our children's Bible.  Then I read The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith, by Josephine Nobisso, which is a great book.  I also finished reading  Celebrating Lent (St. Joseph Picture Book), by Jude Winkler.  We also listened to a Gregorian Chant For Kids CD.  Dan took Catherine, Dominic, and Anne to the Holy Thursday Mass in the evening.  They did well, but we were glad we kept Joseph and Anthony at home as Dan and the kids did not get home until just before 9:00. 

Good Friday:  The kids again colored in their Stations of the Cross books, while I read to them from the children's Bible, going from the Agony in the Garden through the Crucifixion.  We listened to "At The Cross Her Station Keeping" from the Catholic Marian Classics Vol. VI CD, which is a nice CD made by Richard Proulx and the Cathedral Singers.  Dan came home early and we all went to the living stations of the cross done by the youth group at our parish.  Nicely done and the kids liked it.  I took the older three kids to the Good Friday service.  They were anxious to kiss the cross and they did well, although Dominic fell asleep during the homily.  :)  After the kids went to bed, Dan and I watched The Passion of the Christ (Widescreen Edition), which is difficult to watch at times, but oh, so good.  It will be more than a few years before the kids can watch that!

Holy Saturday:  This year my birthday fell on Holy Saturday, so we had a birthday party at lunchtime. 

In the afternoon, we colored Easter eggs (pictures still to come) and talked about Jesus in the tomb, and anticipated the Resurrection.  We did not take any of the kids to the Easter Vigil, as it did not even start until 8:00.  Sometime it will be nice to take them to that, but not any time soon!  I also wanted to make Resurrection Cookies, but I'll file that one away for another year. 



Yet to come:  Our celebration of Easter!

Did You Know?

The earliest Easter can be is March 22nd and the latest Easter can be is April 25th.  I was curious to find out this year because my birthday has never fallen in Lent before.  Yes, today is my birthday! 

I got the best birthday gift ever this morning.  Dan kept all the kids at home and I got to go shopping for some new clothes for myself!  By myself!!  It was great.  I felt guilty for not even looking at the clearance racks for the kids, but only for a minute.  :)  Then, when I got home, Dan and the kids had cleaned the kitchen, floor included, and we had birthday cake (I didn't make it!) and cards after lunch.  Thank you to my dear family!

We spent time this afternoon coloring Easter eggs (pictures later) and we are going to go out to eat for dinner.  What a wonderful birthday I am having!

Sandbox Woes

Oh, no, here comes Anthony!

He took my bulldozer.

Now he's sitting on me.

I don't like this!

Go away!

Okay, fine, I'm outta here.

I'll go play with my big sister, Catherine.  She likes to share with me.

It's all mine!

Starring Anthony

Buckethead!

Anthony with his cousin, Clara, at their joint birthday party at Grandma's house.

Here comes trouble!

Starring Joseph

Joseph getting a little brain surgery from his cousin.

Pausing during play for a cool drink.

Joseph looking fierce!

Starring Anne

Anne with her little cousin, Evelyn, and Grandma.

Lifting weights.

"Planting" flowers.

Anne with the new wheelbarrow.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Mommy (seeming to be singing mindlessly to herself):  Can you, can you tell me, oh who wrote the book of love?  I've got to know the answer, was it someone from above?............Who wrote the book of love?

Catherine (seeming to not be listening to Mommy):  God.

Starring Dominic

Climbing in the "thorn" tree.

Dominic playing in the rocks.

Dominic and his twin with all the little doggies.

Throwing horseshoes.

Starring Catherine

Playing horseshoes.

Catherine holding her little cousin, Elizabeth.

Making sand castles.

Catherine, one of our spring flowers.

Putting flowers in front of Mary statue and Mary Joseph's cross, in the grotto.

Movie Review: Padre Pio, Between Heaven And Earth

I don't know what I was thinking to send for a review copy of a three hour movie.  Especially when I was pregnant and then when I had a baby.  Yes, it has been sitting around for that long!

But, it was about Padre Pio!  After all, he is the patron saint of this blog.  After all, he died exactly one year before Dan was born.  I know, I know, we already had a movie about Padre Pio.  It also was three hours long.  How could this movie be any different? 

And then, we finally made time to watch it.  Afterwards, I could not understand what on earth took me so long to view it!  You know a movie is good when it is over and you look at your watch in disbelief that three hours just went by.

First of all, I must say, if you get this movie, you must watch it in Italian, with English subtitles.  After about 5 minutes, it will feel like you can understand Italian and it won't even seem like you are reading subtitles.  Yep, one of those kind.

And yes, it is different from the movie, Padre Pio, Miracle Man.  This movie dwells a great deal on his relationship with Dr. Guglielmo and Emilia Sanguinetto, who are his friends and collaborators in starting up his hospital to serve the poor.  It also focuses a lot on his reception of the Stigmata and the difficulties this caused him with the Church.  Of course there are also scenes of healings done through him and of his extremely long confession lines, but there was one scene in particular that stuck with me.  A young Karol Wojtyla comes to see him while he is studying in Rome, and there is an interesting little scene between them.  Of course, I couldn't help but notice that the actor who played the future Pope resembled my brother, the priest!  :)   Then later, the future Pope sends Padre Pio a letter asking him to pray for a very ill woman, and then another letter telling him of her miraculous recovery.  Then, what struck me most is that Padre Pio, who received so much mail, told his assistant to save those letters, "one day they'll be very important." 

So if you are looking for a good Easter gift or a Confirmation gift, or just want a good saint movie to add to your collection, go visit The Catholic Company and check out Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth.   They also have many other items good for First Communion gifts.  The Catholic Company is also on Facebook and they have giveaways every Friday!


Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this movie from The Catholic Company in exchange for an honest review.

Baby Brains!

Do you remember the fad of reading to your baby in utero and playing classical music all in the hopes of making your baby smarter?  Well, in the book, Baby Brains: The Smartest Baby in the Whole World, Mr. and Mrs. Brains do that and are they in for a surprise when they bring their baby home from the hospital.  Only a few days old, he starts by reading the morning newspaper and fixing the family car, then he quickly progresses to college and medical school(which he finishes in two weeks!).  The funniest part for the kids happened when he went up into outer space and realized he was without his mommy.  The illustrations are great and very funny.  We all loved this book and will be reading it again!


Disclaimer:  While I was not asked to review this book and did not receive anything for doing so (we checked it out at the library), I will receive some small compensation if you click on the link at left and buy anything at Amazon.

Update

One hour after I posted the previous post, Anthony figured out that he could open the freezer door (we have a side-by-side model).  Next, I suppose I'll be finding frozen goods in the trash!

Anthony's Antics

This picture was from a month or so ago.  Anthony is a very messy eater and usually gets food in his hair, hence the wild and crazy look after the wipe-down.

You know how babies/toddlers get fixated on one cabinet/drawer/hidey-hole for a while?  And just when you can't take it anymore they move on to the next latest and greatest spot?  I thought I would document a few of them. 

Ready to go fishin'!

For a while Anthony was fixated on the cabinet with my bakeware, and every day I would have to pick up all the cake pans, cupcake tins, cooling racks, etc.   Again and again.  Or risk breaking my neck every time I tried to cook dinner.

Got my specs on!

Then he moved on to the lazy Susan cabinet, which was bad, because he was getting out heavy stuff, like waffle irons.  And one day, he got out a giant container of lemonade mix and somehow managed to get the lid off and then he dumped it on the floor.  Luckily there was not much left in the container.   But there was also the problem of pinched fingers.  Ouch!  So to solve that problem I stuck a 25 pound bag of rice in front of the cabinet.  It doesn't do much for the home decor, but at least it keeps him out of there! 

First time in the sandbox.

Another thing he liked to do for a while was get into the Master closet and pull off any T-shirt type shirts that were hanging on the bottom row.  Every time I went in there I would find 20-30 shirts in a heap on the floor.  Finally I got better at keeping the door shut and he forgot about that one.  For now, anyway.

Hey, what is this stuff and why haven't I gotten to play in it before?

Of course, he loves to get into the bathrooms when somebody leaves the doors open and pull stuff out of the cabinets, spin the toilet paper off the roll, mess with the plunger or the trash.  You name it.  One day, I let him be with me in my bathroom as I was putting on some make-up.  I saw him pull some stuff out of the cabinet, including a huge brand-new refill bottle of liquid soap.  Next thing I know, I hear a glug-glug-glug noise and I looked to see the bottle of liquid soap lying on its side, lid off, with soap spilling out onto the floor.  Ack!  Good thing I was there! 

I think he likes it.

Then there are the multiple drawers in the kitchen.  Most of them are rubber-banded together, after the bread got stomped on, and he cut himself on the saran wrap sharp edge.  However, there are still the drawers of the desk, where I keep scrap paper, scrap envelopes, stencils and miscellaneous pencils and such for the kids.  That often ends up spread all over the floor.  As does the basket of shoes, the basket of hats and sunglasses, and the refrigerator magnets.

Anthony loves being outside with Daddy.

Now he is fixated on the trash can and he loves to throw things in there.  Or get things out.  Ick!  This also includes his diaper pail, which I had to move into the closet.  I did not want to dig things out of there!  So now I am paranoid that something important is going to get thrown into the trash.  Like yesterday when Dan could not find the keys to the truck! (He found them, no digging in trash can required.)

He loves to play with this yellow ball.  Or the soccer ball, the basketball, the football, the tennis ball... You get the idea.

Last of all, he currently likes to throw things.  Like hard toys and books at your head!  Another thing he likes to do, which is funny, is climb onto someone lying on the floor and sit on them.  Then he bounces up and down, whether it be on your stomach or your head, all the while saying, "Aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa."

Time to get cleaned up after a hard day's play!

Now you know why Dan did not start any plants from seeds inside this year!

Our First Harvest Of 2011

Yesterday we ate our first produce out of the garden: steamed asparagus!  I did not take a picture, but it was delicious.  All the kids liked it and wanted more. 

Hooray for spring vegetables!

The Saga Of The Trees

At the beginning of March, Dan went and got 64 trees to line the north side of our property, mostly for privacy and a little for a dust barrier.  Here he is unloading some of them while Joseph watched.

Then the hole-digging and planting was begun.  It was cold that first weekend of planting trees.

All three boys love the lawn mower!

Dig the hole, with lots of "help."

Get the tree out of the bucket.

Put the tree in the newly-dug hole and fill in with dirt.  In this manner, Dan got about half of the trees planted.  Don't worry, though, Anthony only "helped" with this one tree!

Then the saga started. First we got called by one of the town officials, concerned about keeping the view of the intersection clear for turning vehicles. Then, the next day, a man from the electrical company rang the doorbell, concerned about the trees eventually growing into the overhead wires. (He woke up Anthony after a mere 30 minutes of napping, so I wasn't happy!) So, to make a long story short, Dan decided to plant the trees closer to the house, so all those trees had to be moved. The next Saturday his 3 brothers came to help. So now we have 2 staggered rows of trees on the south side of our big field and another two rows on the south side of the garden. There are about 12 trees left which will get planted around the house.

Two of Dan's brothers helping plant the trees.

Joseph helps with the watering.