Tis The Season to Be Overwhelmed!

I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it, the traditions, the smells, the lights, the prayers, family, I could go on and on. But every year I become so overwhelmed with all that needs to be done that I sometimes lose the joy Christmas is supposed to bring.

I do the same Christmas every year. I do all the shopping, the cooking, (if any) and the schedule. I make sure all 5 kids and I look presentable for at least a couple hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I have thought many times I should give some Christmas jobs to my husband, but the type of person that I am will not let me do that. I need Christmas to be done the same every year, the way I do it. So I can't blame my husband. (darn it!)

This weekend coming up is the last weekend of peace until I become a Christmas mad women. I was dreading it. I have been filled with anxiety about how perfect everything has to be. A friend posted a blog about the exact things I was feeling. The blog is called Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering and the post so perfectly titled, Ready for it to be over? Six tips to lower the expectations for Christmas.

A great read if you are like me and feel you need to make Christmas perfect to the point of exhaustion!

I will still shop and do all the things I do for Christmas, but I will make a point to check the joy in my heart every once in a while. If it seems low, I'm going to stop the madness and snuggle up with one of my children, help my 6 year old read the story of the birth of Christ, crank up the song "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and sing at the top of my lungs. I'm going to find that joy again, because for me, that's Christmas.

And I think I will give my husband a job, he can do all the wrapping, as long as he uses the right paper. ;)

The friend I mentioned above has her own blog, From the Field of Blue Children. Cathy has written a post called, 'tis a gift it is a beautiful description of what the Joy of Christmas means.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas that is bursting with joy!

29 Diapers 29 Days of Christmas Give Away!

I have been cloth diapering for about a month now and I love it!

I am a bit obsessed with all the cloth diapers that are available and if it were up to me I would have all of them!

I was very excited to see that the blog 29 Diapers is having a 29 days of Christmas give away. 29 days with a different item to win each day!! Today they are giving away the cutest Nifty Nappy Peachy Keen Pocket Diaper

Check out the 29 Diapers 29 Days of Christmas Give Away and Good Luck!!

Farm Market

The kids and I went to our first local Farm Market. Nothing makes you want to eat your veggies like going to the Farm Market. Everything looks so beautiful and fresh!

Besides the vegetables, the kids and I had homemade pizza rolls, apple tarts, homemade chips and Salsa, and Detroit's famous, Evie's Tamales.

When I saw the green tomatoes, I had to make Fried Green Tomatoes for dinner.

I bought a basket full, and used THIS RECIPE. Instead of using cornmeal or bread crumbs, I used jiffy corn muffin mix.

The Fried Green Tomatoes were yummy! The tart fresh tomatoes with the sweet corn bread crust had these little beauties eaten up quick!

I'm planning a trip to the Farm Market next week. I think I'm hooked!

Our Homeschooling Day

We have been Homeschooling for over a week now and it has been going great. We are using the Seton curriculum. Our two oldest are enrolled and our 1st grader is not.

I read a lot about Seton and talked to a few homeschoolers about it. From what I gathered, you either love Seton or you think it's a bit harsh. I happen to love it. I was worried it would be to advanced but my children seem to be doing just fine. We are only on our 2nd week and haven't written any book reports yet, so I hope the good feelings continue.

I do think art appreciation is a good thing to have and my children do like looking at the art and learning about the artists but they need some more hands on fun art. I found this site I really like, The Incredible Art Department and the blog That Artist Woman, we will be doing the Fall Trees project.

Our days are going pretty much as planned. We have been starting school around 8:45am-9am. My first grader gets done around 12:30 (besides daily reading) my 4th grader gets done around 1:30-1:45 (besides reading and studying) and my 7th grader gets done around 2:30 (besides reading and studying)

Some people have been asking me if home schooling is hard and how do I do it with five children. I know people who do it with 10+ children. I am no hero!

Is it hard? No harder than any parent raising children and teaching them. You do need some discipline in place. The children need to know school is school and the are required to do what is asked of them. And I need discipline too. I need to get up and do it everyday and try to be cheerful about it. It's like anything, if you want to do something and enjoy it, it will be easy. I also feel Seton's curriculum makes it easy. There are a lot of ways to home school and many different curriculum. I like Seton because it spells it all out for me. Here is an example of Seton's daily lesson plans for 7th grade English.

How do I do it? My children have taken to homeschooling very well. Sure there are days that are not filled with sunshine and smiles, but that happens no matter if you're homeschooling or not. I count on my children to do what is required and they count on me to be an example of how the day should go. I guess I just do it. For me success has a lot to do with prayer. I pray for the confidence, patience, and grace to give my children what they need. No different than any other parent.

Watching my children learn and how they learn through home schooling is a big plus to me. My 7th grader was looking at art pictures in her History book. She wanted to know about the story that went with the painting of Judith beheading Holofernes. She also saw the painting at the art museum we went to. We found the story in the Bible (Which is in the Book of Judith 13) I believe my daughter said, "Judith is one bad lady." Bad meaning "tough" in tween language. :) We went from History to Art to Religion and Bible Study. I love that type of learning!

This has been our experience with homeschooling so far.

On to the new week, I can't wait to see what happens!

Staycation

My family and I had a wonderful week Staycation.

It was wonderful to have my husband home and be able to do everything as a family. I am so happy we had this chance before we started school.

We took the kids to the art museum. None of them had ever been before,they really enjoyed it. The little ones liked it too. My two sons loved the Knight armor and all the weapons. They pretty much were into any weapon displays the museum had. My oldest daughter was a fan of the American art. The other two were happy with the echo sounds their voices made in the museum. :)

We also went to the cider mill. Cider and donuts makes anyone happy. This mill also has a winery, that is something that makes moms and dads happy.

The rest of the time was spent at home being together. A fantastic week! I think my husband will have to take his vacation time right before school every year!

School starts tomorrow! I'm excited! Everything is ready to go. I'm counting down the days to our next field trip. :)

Wish us luck!

Our First Field Trip ~ Sweetest Heart of Mary Polish Catholic Church.

We had our first field trip of the year with a homeschool group to the Sweetest Heart of Mary Polish Catholic Church. We went to Mass, had a tour, and a picnic.

This Church is beautiful. Constructed in the 1800's many Polish immigrants made this church their home. Many Polish, and others, continue to make it their home today.

Everything about the trip was wonderful and informative. I especially like that I found out they have a Pierogi festival every year. We will be at the next one. Yum!

A blessing with the Holy wood of the Cross

Here Ya Go Kid

I love when prayers are answered! God has consistently answered my prayers during my life and sometimes I don't know it until I reflect back and see them answered.

I do become excited when I ask God for something and he drops it right on my lap, like He is saying, "Here ya go kid."

My family and I attended my first Tridentine Mass this past Sunday. All I can say is wow! The first thought that came to mind was, and they changed this Mass why? I do love the Mass we have now and I can always go to a Latin Mass when I want to, but this style of Mass really reached me.

This is where the answering of prayers comes in. This may sound silly because there are more important things to be praying for and I do pray for those things too, but I wanted to get out and visit the old churches of Detroit, go to more Latin Masses, be apart of it all.

Yesterday I found out that a home school group is going to Mass and getting a tour at a beautiful old church downtown and the kids and I were invited! Yay, but I don't really drive and can get lost going around the block. So I prayed that I would have the courage to get out there and just do it. If I got lost, I got lost. Well, my brother tells me that he has a GPS laying around that I can have! God is good!

Like I said this may sound silly, but if you knew me, you would know that me driving downtown alone is a feat. Not only has an opportunity to visit the church come up, but I now have a device that will keep me from freaking out.

I have been praying about Home school as well. The usual, asking for strength and courage. I also threw in that it would be great if I could meet more Catholic families, for encouragement, friendship, and just to be able to talk to people with the same ideas. Lo and behold I was invited to a group at a local parish for young Catholic families. We had our first outing and many more are planned. I am doing a happy dance!

Now I am waiting on the strength and courage to home school I have a feeling that prayer will be answered as I go along. That one is not as simple as a GPS. That prayer will take some work on my part.

We will see how my ride Downtown goes. I don't think asking St. Christopher for help would hurt any.

Peace