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...
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!!
miss that park... used to love to take the kids there.
ReplyDeletethink emmie & cecilia are cut from the same mold, b/c emmie is super coordinated and strong, always has been. they would be trouble together! so i feel your pain/joy!
I am so jealous of how crafty you are! I fail at that tremendously!
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh about your comment about Cecilia's coordination!! The 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) babies always seem more coordinated! It think it's because they generally have no fear, and if they see their older sibling(s) doing something, they just assume they can do it, too. Life by example!! All my younger boys have done everything WAY earlier than the first one. I am consequently, much more relaxed and less of an alarmist.....
ReplyDeleteIs that home-made ravioli? If so, is it hard to make? Where did you get the recipe? I love squash and ravioli...sounds like a delish combination!
ReplyDeleteMaureen, here is the link to the ravioli recipe:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.care2.com/greenliving/butternut-ravioli-parmesan-hazelnuts.html
Just a warning, it appears that the rest of the website might be a little enviro-nutty (meaning it might have some liberal stuff on it that would conflict w/ our faith), but it has some very good meatless recipes. I am baking the butternut squash right now so I can mash it and have it ready tomorrow to save time. If you live near Trader Joe's, they sell canned butternut squash puree, which would save even more time, although I don't know how many cans would be needed... Also, it calls for hazelnuts and hazelnut or walnut oil, but I have just used walnuts and olive oil and it is still yummy, and I use dried herbs instead of fresh usually. I use the wonton wrappers for the ravioli, which are already a good size. Oh, and it says to use fresh breadcrumbs, and I wouldn't pass on that for store-bought... I put fresh bread in the food processor and make the crumbs and keep them in the freezer in a baggie to make it easier.
Now that I have written an essay on the recipe... ha ha. Can you tell I love this recipe? It is so yummy!!! Caroline doesn't always eat much of it, though. Tomorrow will be the first time Cecilia has had it!
Carrie, I do steal a lot of my craft ideas from other blogs, books, etc. I love craft projects but am not always imaginative enough to think them up all on my own! ;)
ReplyDeleteKris, I have noticed that I have been much more laid back about the second child... I am not freaked out when she gets dirty or eats off the floor or climbs up on adult-sized chairs... I used to strap Caroline to a chair with the sling when she wanted to stand on a chair to help out at the kitchen counter, and I only did that a few times with Cecilia before I figured she was steady enough on her own. And she has only fallen off a chair twice (and I think she is on a chair in the kitchen at least once every day or two, and often more than that)!
Whoa, that sounds so delish! I can't wait to try it! Thanks for the heads up on the website, I will try some tunnel vision...
ReplyDelete