Daybook for October 5, 2009

Welcome to October ~ A chock-full of photos edition!

Outside my window... we had a grey and overcast day, but no rain since early morning. We got over 2 inches overnight!

I am thinking... how I love finding simple activities for the girls... like a big bin of dried rice. Add spoons, little medicine cups, and a few plastic toy animals, and there you have it! Note: only try this at home if you can tolerate some rice spillage on your kitchen floor!


I am thankful... for beautiful fall weather. Not today... but Saturday was gorgeous! So was last Wednesday, when I took the two photos below. I love how Cecilia holds on to the swing chain so high up. :)


I am wondering... how Cecilia can be this althletic and coordinated at 20 months old...

Learning at home... we have begun some new October circle time songs and rhymes. They include pumpkin and fall leaves themes, as well as the guardian angel prayer in song and the Hymn of St. Francis.

To live the liturgy... still recovering from last week! This week, we have Our Lady of the Rosary coming up, which is also the entire month's dedication (the holy rosary, that is). Last week, we celebrated St. Jerome by reading a lovely poetic version of St. Jerome and the Lion and then making these lion cupcakes:

rolling the edges in coconut to make the mane

Okay, so I know they don't look totally like lions...

The memorial of the Guardian Angels was on Friday, and we made some tissue paper angels with pipe cleaner halos and then hung them up as a mobile. Caroline named each one and wanted to choose different colored pipe cleaners for each one. We hung it above the table for the day and need to find a permanent home for it.

Here's a close-up of one of the angels

And this isn't really liturgical, although we did have St. Therese's feast day last week and she was a nun... Caroline decided that she and Cecilia and I were sisters in a convent. Cecilia was, of course, Sister Cecilia, and Caroline chose Sister Mary for herself. I was given the name Mother Margaret. Caroline kept talking about how we needed to clean the convent and do all our daily work. We vacuumed together while "Sister Cecilia" did her "Kinder-school" work (this is coming from Caroline's mind, not mine!):

I guess she is still one of the novice nuns. ;)

I am reading... stuff online, like this disturbing article about the beef industry. Glad we are now getting the little ground beef we use from the local college - only one cow slaughtered at a time!

I am creating... Saint magnets for our calendar. I have done October and November now... except for St. Andrew, the last saint in November, because I ran out of magnetic backing.

Around the house... not too much other than the regular stuff: laundry, vacuuming... and coming up with a reorganizing plan for all the closets. I did get a chance to get out some fall clothes this weekend and realized that most of Cecilia's pants are too long, and some of Caroline's are too short...

One of my favorite things...

From the kitchen... we made an apple pie today using our Ellijay-fresh apples (Granny Smith and Mutsu). Yummy! Later this week we'll have butternut squash ravioli... mmmm.


A few plans for the rest of the week... nothing. Wow, I am beginning to sound really boring here! We hope to get together with some friends - if Caroline's sniffling and coughing goes away. We have a birthday party to attend on Saturday at Kangaroo Jake's, too.

A picture thought I am sharing... okay, several pictures:

Chicken - she is quite a character and has the most personality of the four hens. She will bite anything you stick through the wire, and if you squat down beside the tractor, she is right there next to you! She is also the only one I can catch (okay, so I could pick up any of them right now since they are all sleeping on the roost, but that would be mean).

And a few more from the park last week...

Happy October to everyone!!