Mother's Day

So, today is Mother's Day, and in honor of that one of my children has hacked onto my blog and decided to say a couple nice things about me.... While speaking in the first person. I am an amazing mother, and am always there for all my children when they need me. I sacrifice everything I have out of love for them. I am constantly trying to make their lives more fulfilled and full of the grace of God. I would lay down my life without a thought. In fact, I already have. They are my life, everything I do is first for the glory of God, and then for my family. I am extremely generous and loving and have taught my kids to be the same. I would never actually say all this about myself because I am humble and trusting to God's will. I may qualify as the second best mother of all time, (Jesus' mom has me beat...) Well, I could never say everything that I do as an amazing homeschooling mom with eight children who love me dearly, so I'm off to eat some great food made by my husband, and an amazing mother's day cake made by my children. God bless!

(This hackage was brought to you by one of Terri's kids, this is not a post from her. God bless you all, especially the mother's that put up with offspring like me)

A Great website!
http://www.saintmichaelusa.org/

Singing The States by region

I like to teach my kids things that are difficult to remember through song. I usually make up a hokey tune and we sing it again and again until they remember. I have several "catecism tunes" that I will post at a later date.

Fun in the Snow!

It is our tradition to go sledding at least once a year. If the snow doesn't come to us, we go to the snow. We went up to Tollgate on Sunday for some fun in the snow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqIlM27s3kI

Our Christmas Card Rosary

We have now prayed our yearly "Christmas Card Rosary." We were joined by my nephew Paul this year who stopped in for a visit. Each year after Epiphany, we divide our Christmas cards into piles of 10. We then say our Rosary and reverse the Hail Marys so that the group begins the prayer and the leader (with his pile of cards) ends the prayer saying "Holy Mary Mother of God pray for ______now and at the hour of their death. "We insert the names (however they sign the card) into our prayer. It is a wonderful close to Christmas. We have looked at all of our cards again and remembered and prayed for our love ones by name. We thought of this about 15 or more years ago and have done it every year since.

Annie getting ready to ride in the carriage! She was early(imagine that) for a friends birthday party and her grandparents had rented the carriage as a surprise.

Epiphany 2012

On Epiphany, it is our practice to have a family over for a big breakfast after Mass.One of our courses is Muffins with medals and money planted inside. After breakfast, we have a reflection and usually a song as the kings are placed in the manger scene. This year we had John playing the Saxophone and Blase on the Bongos. The younger kids joined in with tamborines and we all helped to sing. After prayer we pick a saint for the year that will be a "star to guide us"  closer to Christ, by emulating his or her life and learning about them and asking them to pray for us. Here is a link to writings by some of the saints that we picked this year.

 St Margaret Mary Alacoque

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Margaret%20Mary%20Alacoque%20-%20Letters.pdf

St Benedict

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Benedict%20-%20The%20Rule%20of%20-%20Latin%20and%20English%20Edition.pdf

St Elizabeth of Hungary

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/The%20Count%20of%20Montelembert%20-%20Life%20of%20Saint%20Elizabeth%20of%20Hungary.pdf

St Thomas Aquinas on The Gospel of St Matthew

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Thomas%20Aquinas%20-%20Catena%20Aurea%20-%201%20-%20The%20Gospel%20of%20Matthew%20-%20A%20Commentary%20on%20the%20Gospel.pdf

St Bonaventure on the Life of St Francis

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Bonaventure%20-%20The%20Life%20of%20St.%20Francis%20of%20Assisi.pdf

St Faustina's Diary

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Faustina%20Kowalska%20-%20Diary.pdf