Back in the Spring of 2001, I was blessed to attend a conference on Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome that was being held in Verona, Italy. I flew into Milan and had to stay the night there before taking a train to Rome and then on to Verona (no trains leaving until morning). I found a hotel near the train station and walked around a bit. Wonderful grocery stores and bakeries. In the bakery there were these gorgeous lamb shaped cakes. I fell in love with them. I just happened to be in Italy the week before Holy Week, so Easter items were all over the place. Walking around Rome, I saw the same lamb cakes in the bakeries and again I saw them in Verona. One afternoon, I left the conference a bit early and decided to walk back to the hotel instead of taking the bus that had been chartered to bring us back and forth. I found myself wandering through the neighborhoods and streets of Verona. I was soaking up all the sights, sounds and smells. I walked into this tiny grocery store and bought a few items. I was excited to be there!
When I returned home, I decided to find a lamb cake pan and the rest is history. Each Easter, we make a lamb shaped cake using a pan similar to this: Lamb shaped cake pan
Friday, March 14, 2008
Spring is coming.....and we're stuck inside.
All homeschoolers have off days. Like the article I wrote the other day basically says-- we don't live in Perfect. While we do have the added medical challenges that creep into our school days (today we are doing SCIG as I type), they are not always the most frustrating part of homeschooling.
Sometimes I wonder about the children! They know what is expected of them and they know what they have to do.....yet they still whine, complain and drag their feet. (Sounds a bit like many of us when following the Truths of the Catholic Church, huh?) We don't want to do what Jesus calls us to do and when we finally do what He asks, we sometimes whine and complain....and even drag our feet when following His commands.
We're still stuck inside today because we had a lot of whining and complaining this morning. Everyone seems to be working hard now, and hopefully we'll make it outside to enjoy the nice weather before the sun goes down.
I found some interesting books at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Last year, Joseph was really into seashells. Grandma and Grandpa gave us a neat book because we did not have any on seashells (imagine that!). Now we have two. This one I picked up at the garage sale is a Science Nature Guide titled Seashells. It includes more than 12 easy to do science projects and has a few crafts that can be made. It is fairly easy to use-- it is divided by the beaches around the US coast. I can't seem to find it on-line to give you a link. The ISBN number is 1-85028-264-1
We're also getting ready for Holy Week. My oldest has to present the live Stations of the Cross again tonight at church. He has also volunterred to be in the live Passion play at church next week, too. I hope to plan a few family activities for Holy Week to help prepare us for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The boys are excited about coloring the eggs this year using color found in nature. We've done it before, but the two youngest don't really remember doing it. Of course, we have our Resurrection Eggs tradition that I have posted on before.
Sometimes I wonder about the children! They know what is expected of them and they know what they have to do.....yet they still whine, complain and drag their feet. (Sounds a bit like many of us when following the Truths of the Catholic Church, huh?) We don't want to do what Jesus calls us to do and when we finally do what He asks, we sometimes whine and complain....and even drag our feet when following His commands.
We're still stuck inside today because we had a lot of whining and complaining this morning. Everyone seems to be working hard now, and hopefully we'll make it outside to enjoy the nice weather before the sun goes down.
I found some interesting books at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Last year, Joseph was really into seashells. Grandma and Grandpa gave us a neat book because we did not have any on seashells (imagine that!). Now we have two. This one I picked up at the garage sale is a Science Nature Guide titled Seashells. It includes more than 12 easy to do science projects and has a few crafts that can be made. It is fairly easy to use-- it is divided by the beaches around the US coast. I can't seem to find it on-line to give you a link. The ISBN number is 1-85028-264-1
We're also getting ready for Holy Week. My oldest has to present the live Stations of the Cross again tonight at church. He has also volunterred to be in the live Passion play at church next week, too. I hope to plan a few family activities for Holy Week to help prepare us for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The boys are excited about coloring the eggs this year using color found in nature. We've done it before, but the two youngest don't really remember doing it. Of course, we have our Resurrection Eggs tradition that I have posted on before.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Having a Sense of Humor
My sense of humor gets me through each and every day! I wrote a humorous article on homeschooling. Homeschooling: A Humorous Real Life Perspective
I thank God for my sense of humor--not only on bad homeschooling days, but each and every day. My sense of humor also gets me through the medical obstacles we face. I hope you enjoy the article and feel like a super homeschooler after you read it. I'm definitely not a supermom!
I thank God for my sense of humor--not only on bad homeschooling days, but each and every day. My sense of humor also gets me through the medical obstacles we face. I hope you enjoy the article and feel like a super homeschooler after you read it. I'm definitely not a supermom!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Garden Fun
Spring is almost here! Break out the seeds, dust off your garden tools and get out in the yard! Kids love to play in the dirt and watch things grow. We've done some wonderfully fun activities over the years. I recently published an article on finding and using color in nature. Kids love to crush plant matter and color Easter eggs and paint art masterpieces! The article describes a bit about doing just that. We also love to garden and compost.
Two of my favorite books on gardening with children are:
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Garedening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy
Learn and Play in the Garden: Games, Crafts and Activities for Children by Meg Herd
Last year we grew tomatoes, mint, cayenne peppers, chives, cilantro and our flowers. I have a particular love for roses! We made a simple salsa from the peppers and tomatoes. My youngest just loves tomatoes! Emeril has two cookbooks for children and in one of them there is a recipe for mint peas. My children love to cook the peas using mint from our garden. I wasn't so sure how it would turn out, but they ended up being quite tasty. We spent most of the late summer and fall figuring out the best way to dry the peppers and now have an abundance of crushed red pepper. My youngest son is on a quest to make hot sauce. We may attempt that this year. I tried to find easy instructions for preparing pepper mash, but was unsucessful! maybe this year......
Our tulips are starting to come up, our daffodils have bloomed and froze, our star magnolia tree has also bloomed and frozen! We've for crocus in bloom along with a few grape hyacinths blooming. I love spring. Not only do we celebrate Jesus' rising from the dead, we get to experience earth's renewal and we are able to experience God's love through His creation! There is no end to what you can do with the beauty around you-- we've made rose potpourri, handmade paper (I hope to post about this in the future) and all sorts of wonderful things from our garden.
Two of my favorite books on gardening with children are:
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Garedening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy
Learn and Play in the Garden: Games, Crafts and Activities for Children by Meg Herd
Last year we grew tomatoes, mint, cayenne peppers, chives, cilantro and our flowers. I have a particular love for roses! We made a simple salsa from the peppers and tomatoes. My youngest just loves tomatoes! Emeril has two cookbooks for children and in one of them there is a recipe for mint peas. My children love to cook the peas using mint from our garden. I wasn't so sure how it would turn out, but they ended up being quite tasty. We spent most of the late summer and fall figuring out the best way to dry the peppers and now have an abundance of crushed red pepper. My youngest son is on a quest to make hot sauce. We may attempt that this year. I tried to find easy instructions for preparing pepper mash, but was unsucessful! maybe this year......
Our tulips are starting to come up, our daffodils have bloomed and froze, our star magnolia tree has also bloomed and frozen! We've for crocus in bloom along with a few grape hyacinths blooming. I love spring. Not only do we celebrate Jesus' rising from the dead, we get to experience earth's renewal and we are able to experience God's love through His creation! There is no end to what you can do with the beauty around you-- we've made rose potpourri, handmade paper (I hope to post about this in the future) and all sorts of wonderful things from our garden.