AKA the Daily Mass Update:
As I expected, participation at noon mass has dropped off now that official classes are over. I'll usually have one or more volunteers attend with me, but if the teens are home, some littles choose to stay behind.
Still, this is more daily mass than I've attended in several years, and certainly more children are joining me than when 6:15 was my time of choice. So it is good.
BTW, my parish offers 6:15 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and noon masses M-F, and 9:00 a.m. on Saturday (which I haven't managed yet). What luxury!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Weekly Chores
Most of my recent posts seem to be about special events or other cheery, "yay me" topics. But yes, there is a real life and real work here too. A good Saturday morning is one that contains no outside activities so we can get a good start on the weekend chores. All the children except Rebecca have their duties. I have some chores of my own, the most important of which is keeping the children on track with theirs.
Yesterday was a good Saturday, and it looked like this:
Children: Ready bedrooms for vacuuming. Vacuum main level, vacuum upstairs. Take furniture and rugs out of kitchen and vacuum to ready for mopping (It's a big kitchen.). Empty all trash. Clean the guinea pig's cage. Wipe toilets (4) and clean soap dishes. Wash bathroom sinks and mirrors (3). Reorder kitchen after mopping. Sort and put away laundry. Clean litter box and move it to the basement for the cat with a broken fibula (poor Emma).
Mom: Mop kitchen. Hound Supervise children. Wash and dry laundry. Nag Encourage children. Help the little girls clean their room (includes pulling things from under beds and desks, looking in drawers, and getting rid of everything from paper scraps to rocks). Tidy my own room. (Not really--my room is always immaculate--I just wrote that to make you feel better--as if!)
Jobs still needing to be assigned: Vacuum stairs. Wash tub and showers. Dusting. Any takers?
There was a time when I did all our cleaning. The kitchen was kept clean, but there was NO dusting going on, and precious little vacuuming and mopping. I started training the children, and at first it seemed like more work than doing it myself. They did not vacuum as well as I do, but they were doing it more frequently, so I learned to count it as good.
As the years have passed the training is paying off. There is no way I could get all our current Saturday morning work done by myself. And the daily chores are helpful too, even when they're not done perfectly: taking out the compost, feeding the pets, setting the dinner table, emptying the dishwasher, sorting the clean laundry, and cleaning up after dinner (putting away food, clearing and wiping the table, vacuuming the kitchen, and washing the dishes).
Monitoring work, especially new tasks, is the key to getting it done right. I don't always follow through as much as I should, but the better I am at teaching, the more satisfactory the results.
There is also a "chore culture" here, if you will. Chores are part of the rhythm of our family's life. Everyone is expected to help, and knows it. It took a while to get here, but I like this place.
Yesterday was a good Saturday, and it looked like this:
Children: Ready bedrooms for vacuuming. Vacuum main level, vacuum upstairs. Take furniture and rugs out of kitchen and vacuum to ready for mopping (It's a big kitchen.). Empty all trash. Clean the guinea pig's cage. Wipe toilets (4) and clean soap dishes. Wash bathroom sinks and mirrors (3). Reorder kitchen after mopping. Sort and put away laundry. Clean litter box and move it to the basement for the cat with a broken fibula (poor Emma).
Mom: Mop kitchen. Hound Supervise children. Wash and dry laundry. Nag Encourage children. Help the little girls clean their room (includes pulling things from under beds and desks, looking in drawers, and getting rid of everything from paper scraps to rocks). Tidy my own room. (Not really--my room is always immaculate--I just wrote that to make you feel better--as if!)
Jobs still needing to be assigned: Vacuum stairs. Wash tub and showers. Dusting. Any takers?
There was a time when I did all our cleaning. The kitchen was kept clean, but there was NO dusting going on, and precious little vacuuming and mopping. I started training the children, and at first it seemed like more work than doing it myself. They did not vacuum as well as I do, but they were doing it more frequently, so I learned to count it as good.
As the years have passed the training is paying off. There is no way I could get all our current Saturday morning work done by myself. And the daily chores are helpful too, even when they're not done perfectly: taking out the compost, feeding the pets, setting the dinner table, emptying the dishwasher, sorting the clean laundry, and cleaning up after dinner (putting away food, clearing and wiping the table, vacuuming the kitchen, and washing the dishes).
Monitoring work, especially new tasks, is the key to getting it done right. I don't always follow through as much as I should, but the better I am at teaching, the more satisfactory the results.
There is also a "chore culture" here, if you will. Chores are part of the rhythm of our family's life. Everyone is expected to help, and knows it. It took a while to get here, but I like this place.
A Lovely Tea Party
We celebrated Marianna's 8th birthday with an afternoon tea. It took time to pull together, but was such fun! I'll post some party prep tips on my cooking blog soon. I was able to hire Lauren for most of the last minute work, which made that time much more relaxed--she was a great help.The party was scheduled from 12:00-2:30, since afternoon tea is filling enough to consider as lunch. In a sweet gesture, Marianna allowed little sister Rebecca (just 3 1/2) to attend her fancy party.
That morning found us all dressed up and laying a fine table. We used real china and silver, and the good table linens.
As the guests arrived they donned aprons and began decorating gingerbread cookies to be taken home as party favors. This activity was first so the icing would have time to dry and because not everyone could arrive promptly at noon.
The icing didn't dry as much as I had expected, probably because the girls were so generous in its application! ;-)
The girls sat down to a first course of tiny sandwiches (from traditional cucumber to much-less-so peanut butter) and wraps.
The wraps were ham/American cheese and turkey/provolone/tomato/ranch dressing.
Scones were served next, with strawberry jam and whipped, unsweetened cream.
All the guests enjoyed hot (decaf!) tea, which was served with cream, sugar cubes (VERY popular), and lemon wedges. Some tried all the condiments at once. The resulting curdled cream was quite unattractive, leading to several "do overs". I also served cold water in the crystal glasses.
By then everyone was ready for present opening and play time. These little ladies are also energetic children.Eventually we reconvened for the dessert course. The birthday cake (3 layers of butter cake filled with chocolate ganache) was tiny (6" diameter) and decorated with sugared roses from our garden.
It was served with an assortment of tiny treats: chocolate covered strawberries (made by a friend), raspberry bars, fudgy brownies, and lemon bars.
After that it was time for more free play. Soon all the guests were gone, leaving us with happy memories and lots of dishes to wash. ;-) 
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Say It Isn't So
It's not true. This isn't happening. It's all a dream. My sweet, firstborn baby (shown above, just last month) IS NOT graduating from high school tomorrow.
She HAS NOT been transformed overnight into a beautiful, talented, confident young woman. She does not have a driver's license or a facebook account. And she is MOST DEFINITELY not going away to college in 2 1/2 months.
Feel free to visit me in my new home state--DENIAL.
We love you, Lauren, and are so very proud of you!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Cookie Art
I used to make a large variety of Christmas cookies, sometimes sharing a "baking day" with Len's sister. The past few years have been less productive, but the ONE cookie my family MUST have is gingerbread. I mix, roll, cut, and bake as I can fit it into my life, and then we decorate later.
We decorate with icing and sprinkles, which look great against the dark cookies. I grew up decorating sugar cookies with egg yolk paint before baking, but I find it tiresome to roll, cut, decorate, AND bake all at once. Besides, the sweet (store bought) icing contrasts nicely with the spicy gingerbread.
Why am I writing about this in May? For Marianna's tea party last week, we used cookies as the craft and favor. We made the cookies a few days ahead and stored them at room temperature.
I set up the island with waxed paper work stations, piles of cookies, bags of icing (pint size freezer bags with a hole snipped in a corner), and LOTS of sprinkles and colored sugar.
As the girls arrived, they donned aprons over their party dresses and set to work.
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This was definitely NOT one of those "less is more" occasions!
We left the cookies out so the icing could dry during the party. Or, it would have dried if it had not been applied quite so thickly...
As the girls left, we piled the cookies into cute little buckets I bought after Easter. I'm not usually so coordinated (matching paper, elegant tag, etc.)--can you tell I had fun planning this event?
We decorate with icing and sprinkles, which look great against the dark cookies. I grew up decorating sugar cookies with egg yolk paint before baking, but I find it tiresome to roll, cut, decorate, AND bake all at once. Besides, the sweet (store bought) icing contrasts nicely with the spicy gingerbread.
Why am I writing about this in May? For Marianna's tea party last week, we used cookies as the craft and favor. We made the cookies a few days ahead and stored them at room temperature.
I set up the island with waxed paper work stations, piles of cookies, bags of icing (pint size freezer bags with a hole snipped in a corner), and LOTS of sprinkles and colored sugar.
As the girls arrived, they donned aprons over their party dresses and set to work.
This was definitely NOT one of those "less is more" occasions!
We left the cookies out so the icing could dry during the party. Or, it would have dried if it had not been applied quite so thickly...
As the girls left, we piled the cookies into cute little buckets I bought after Easter. I'm not usually so coordinated (matching paper, elegant tag, etc.)--can you tell I had fun planning this event? 
Friday, May 16, 2008
My Latest Excuse for Not Posting This Week
Tomorrow is Marianna's birthday tea party. We'll have eight girls here by noon, using the good china and enjoying tiny sandwiches and wraps, scones with cream and jam, and assorted little desserts, including a 6" cake decorated with sugared roses.Getting ready for this is a lot of work, but it is the kind of work that is oh-so-fun! As of this moment, the table is half set. Other things on the "done" list include:
- place cards made (silk flowers hot glued on)
- gift buckets lined with tissue, ribbon and tags attached (more silk flowers)
- lemon bars
- tiny layer cake
- raspberry bars
- scone dough rolled and cut
- gingerbread cookies made (to decorate and take home in the buckets)
- finish setting table (wash some dishes, too)
- bake brownies tomorrow
- bake scones tomorrow
- make sandwiches (cucumber, peanut butter)
- make wraps (turkey, ham)
- whip cream
- lemon wedges, sugar cubes
- flowers for table
- color icing for cookies
- decorate tiny cake
- arrange cookie decorating on the island with waxed paper, icing, sprinkles, etc.
By the way, the cup and saucer above were a birthday gift to Marianna from her godparents. Anne passed on these heirlooms (and a matching plate) that had belonged to her grandmother.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Inspiration
Today is Pentecost Sunday, and the Holy Spirit has been active here this week.
First, some background: I used to go to 6:15 a.m. mass several mornings a week. It made for an early start to the day, but I am a morning person, and it fit with the morning carpool. I even took Marianna and Rebecca along when they were little babies. The daily mass habit never lasted into the summers, and it fell away completely a few years ago. I now walk Dusty in the mornings and drive the afternoon carpool.
So there I was at Marianna's First Communion mass, listening to the sermon, which of course was on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I thought, "I could be here and meet the Lord of the Universe in person every day, and instead I'm walking the dog?" It just didn't seem like I've got my priorities lined up properly. We went to a lot of effort to go to mass with the pope, but at every mass I can be with Jesus. Who is more important?
Immediately the objections began: Who will walk the dog? Can I get up early enough to walk and then go to early mass? Argh! No way! What about 9 a.m.? That would mess with the school rhythm, and I 'd have to take everyone along--ugh. I know homeschoolers who go to noon mass, but that would mess up the school rhythm AND lunch. And on and on . . .
I didn't want to let this go, though. I was really struck on May 3rd that this should be my priority. On the other hand, I do have a vocation as a wife, mother, teacher, etc., and I need to take that into consideration, too. I lit a prayer candle and talked to a "nooner" who made it sound a little less scary. On with the discernment . . .
The day after Marianna's FHC, our family stayed after mass for the May procession and crowning of Mary (by Marianna!). As left, Marianna said, "I wish I could go to church every day." !!! How can I put a limit on enthusiasm like that?
Monday I talked with the homeschoolers, explaining my call and the scheduling dilemma. They (very casually, it seemed to me) suggested that we could all go to 6:15! This sounded too good to be true, and the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was. They normally get up at 7:00, and changing that by more than an hour would either not last long or would increase overall crankiness. But now that the children [except Rebecca :-( ]want to go, I need to find a way to bring them, too.
So for now we've settled on noon mass. We made it a couple of times this week, and will begin in earnest tomorrow. We'll either get a lot less school done, or work harder to be efficient. I don't know what will happen when summer comes. There's more free time then, but the lack of structure has somehow always kept me from even trying to get out the door. Time will tell.
That's our family's "prompting by the Spirit" tale of the month. Ask me in a while how it turns out. Pray for us.
First, some background: I used to go to 6:15 a.m. mass several mornings a week. It made for an early start to the day, but I am a morning person, and it fit with the morning carpool. I even took Marianna and Rebecca along when they were little babies. The daily mass habit never lasted into the summers, and it fell away completely a few years ago. I now walk Dusty in the mornings and drive the afternoon carpool.
So there I was at Marianna's First Communion mass, listening to the sermon, which of course was on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I thought, "I could be here and meet the Lord of the Universe in person every day, and instead I'm walking the dog?" It just didn't seem like I've got my priorities lined up properly. We went to a lot of effort to go to mass with the pope, but at every mass I can be with Jesus. Who is more important?
Immediately the objections began: Who will walk the dog? Can I get up early enough to walk and then go to early mass? Argh! No way! What about 9 a.m.? That would mess with the school rhythm, and I 'd have to take everyone along--ugh. I know homeschoolers who go to noon mass, but that would mess up the school rhythm AND lunch. And on and on . . .
I didn't want to let this go, though. I was really struck on May 3rd that this should be my priority. On the other hand, I do have a vocation as a wife, mother, teacher, etc., and I need to take that into consideration, too. I lit a prayer candle and talked to a "nooner" who made it sound a little less scary. On with the discernment . . .
The day after Marianna's FHC, our family stayed after mass for the May procession and crowning of Mary (by Marianna!). As left, Marianna said, "I wish I could go to church every day." !!! How can I put a limit on enthusiasm like that?
Monday I talked with the homeschoolers, explaining my call and the scheduling dilemma. They (very casually, it seemed to me) suggested that we could all go to 6:15! This sounded too good to be true, and the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was. They normally get up at 7:00, and changing that by more than an hour would either not last long or would increase overall crankiness. But now that the children [except Rebecca :-( ]want to go, I need to find a way to bring them, too.
So for now we've settled on noon mass. We made it a couple of times this week, and will begin in earnest tomorrow. We'll either get a lot less school done, or work harder to be efficient. I don't know what will happen when summer comes. There's more free time then, but the lack of structure has somehow always kept me from even trying to get out the door. Time will tell.
That's our family's "prompting by the Spirit" tale of the month. Ask me in a while how it turns out. Pray for us.
First Holy Communion
Well, Marianna received her First Holy Communion last Saturday (May 3rd). It was a beautiful, joyous day for the whole family. It was so touching to watch 66 lovely souls receive Jesus for the first time.
Marianna's godmother flew in from Michigan for the occasion, just a week after my trip there for her daughter's FHC.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Follow Up Photos
How are the room transformations going, you ask? We're almost done with all the sorting and moving; there's still one desk in the hallway. Lauren's room has undergone the biggest change. She painted it a lovely blue (which doesn't show up well here) and stencilled glossy black medallions on one wall. Len painted the ceiling, too, which really helped freshen things up. Note the coordinating (not matchy-matchy) comforter set.
Len has planted basil and parsley, and the chives are about to blossom. Here they are on the way. A fully open flower looks like a purple pom-pom. The blossoms are edible (but with a sharper onion-garlic flavor than the stems), and also last a long time in a vase. I'll get another photo when full bloom has been achieved.
First Communions
I've got all kinds of post ideas running through my head, but Marianna's First Holy Communion is this Saturday, so computer time is not a priority. Meanwhile, Anne wrote a nice post about my trip to Michigan for Emma's FHC.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Magnificat by John Michael Talbot
Youtube isn't working at our house, but Anne has given me access to post this beautiful meditation. I'm here in breezy Michigan for Emma (my goddaughter)'s First Holy Communion tomorrow. Thank you, Anne!
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