Our Third Week of Advent {2013}

The third week of Advent started out with a very busy Sunday! Besides Sunday morning Mass, we had an Eagle Court of Honor to help with and attend for a family friend and a church Christmas party right after that. At least they were at the same location.

Goof balls!

Books we read this week:
* The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojceichowski (from our local library)- This was the first time we read this book and Tyler enjoyed it. Most likely it was the wonderful illustrations. It is a nice little Christmas story with a typical story line (harden heart turns soft by a child).

* Christmas Tree Farm by Ann Purmell- I picked this book out from our local library because it fit in with our science reading. It contained good basic information on how a Christmas tree farm is ran, but the writing is bland.  The illustrations were humorous though. 

*Finished up Kersti and Saint Nicholas by Hilda Van Stockham-I truly enjoy the writings of Hilda Van Stockham and she pleased me again with this story. The boys enjoyed it, but it wasn't their favorite.

* Finished up How a Christmas Tree Grows.

Typically of my boys, they finished up their school work a day early to extend their Christmas Break.

We have pretty much kept up with our Jesse Tree. Weekends don't happen though. We watch the videos from Holy Heroes and the boys color the ornament. This week the ornaments didn't happen though. Tyler is tired of doing the ornaments and our tree is pretty full. I think I will buy some ornaments for next year because it doesn't look like I will get the boys to make one for each day.

On Thursday we worked on making salt dough ornaments. The first recipe I used was a dud, but I was able to find another recipe and still had enough salt and flour left and it made a perfect batch! I sprinkled the ornaments with glitter that I had left over from a craft project from last Advent. The recipe said bake for ten minutes which I'm sure is a typo. I baked mine for 45 minutes and they still needed to sit out and dry over night (still not completely dry two days later).

 

Christmas Plans {2013}

I'm linking up with Pam @ Everyday Snapshots in her Living Liturgy series. Today it is all about Christmas planning!

With an easier schedule during Christmas, I plan for us to focus on celebrating some feast days and keeping up with daily gospel readings and prayer.

Something new we are doing this year is a gift for the 12 days of Christmas. There is a book for each day (two for Christmas Day) and the boys will be sharing the book. Some books were intended for just one boy, but the budget wouldn't stretch for 24 books.

Our Christmas book basket will include some of the gifts above and these:

* Christmas in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren

* Gifts of the Heart by Patricia Polacco (from our local library)

* Finish up Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (new to us this year)

* Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devlin (new to us this year)

* Silent Night by Will Moses (new to us this year)

* The Christmas Bird by Sallie Ketcham (from our local library)

* The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jan Brett

* The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie De Paola

* The Story of the Three Wise Men by Tomie DePaola (from our local library)



I've decided to put off baking Christmas cookies until Christmas and I see us doing that the day after Christmas Day. 

"Most" Post of 2013

I'm linking up with Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things for "Most" Post 2013 {link-up}.

I don't do any major blogging and I usually just blog about what it going on around here, but I wanted to take part anyway!  ; )

My post with the most clicks: 2013-2014 Curriculum Plans Seventh Grade

 

Post with the most comments: Advent Plans 2013

Post with the best picture:Late September Nature Study. Picking this one was hard. This post and another had some of my favorite pictures. I love this one of my boys!

 

Post that was hardest to write: Living Liturgy

Post that is my personal favorite: First Friday in September Nature Study

Our Second Week of Advent {2013}

This week started with decorating the tree after Mass on Sunday. We are not consistent about when we decorate the tree. My goal is to have it up around four weeks. The original plan was for the third Sunday in Advent, but we have events going on all day and night. The last Sunday in Advent is Christmas with my parents and my brother and his family, so the second Sunday seemed like the only time free for tree decorating.

Sorry about the bad picture! I just couldn't get the camera to work that day.

Some books that we read this week:
* The Christmas Cobwebs by Odds Bodkin (from our local library)- nice little story of a family from German and spiders.

* Still reading Kersti and St. Nicholas by Hilda Van Stockum - I'm really enjoying this book, but the boys think it's just ok. Maybe that is because there are seven girls!)

*Started How Far to Bethlehem: Plays and Poetry of Frances Chesterton - We have read a few poems and they are beautiful!

*Still reading Christmas Trees and How They Grow by Glenn O. Blough - This is a delightful science read! I'm sure techniques for growing Christmas trees has changed over the years, but the plant science hasn't. It's a nice science living book!

*Cobweb Christmas The Tradition of Tinsel by Shirley Climo (from our local library)-This was a nice folk story, again with spiders and a short, old, German woman.  

I'm finally understanding that all the books I picked to read during Advent isn't going to get finished. Some will save until Christmas and some will have to wait until next year. A busy end of the week caused for some feast days to go uncelebrated too. :(

We got our first snow fall! It was really just a dusting, but enough for the sleds. It has been very cold too! A second round of snow came last night. Still not enough to make the boys happy, but it did get them outside!

Tyler sledding down the sidewalk during first round.

Caleb!

Round 2 of snow. Just enough to get them outside.

A family puzzle was started and looks to be finished in record time.

 The manger is slowly building up with soft bedding for the coming Child.

 

I'm enjoying a new CD I bought for the Advent season. Advent at Ephesus is just beautiful music from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. My favorites are Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth, Gabriel's Message, and O Come, O Come Emmanuel. I'm having a hard time getting my boys to enjoy it though.

I'm looking forward to a more relaxing week coming next! I see us finishing up the books to end our school term. Gift wrapping to get ready for our first Christmas celebration. Making salt dough ornaments. And no extra activities!!

Our First Week of Advent {2013}

We decorated an Advent Altar with our Nativity set, Jesse Tree, and Advent/Christmas book basket underneath. I asked Scott two days before Advent to build me a little table for our domestic church altar . . . . I got a temporary rustic old outdoor bench. I got a place mat from Target last night to try and cover it up. (It doesn't help much!)

We have a bag of "straw" under the table ready to be put into the manager for sacrifices made. We've been talking about how to make sacrifices. This is very hard for my boys. I have to start being intentional and telling them sacrifices I make through out the day. I keep repeating, "Had you not complained about doing that chore, you could have put a piece of straw in he manager," very often! This is hard work!

 

We are reusing an Advent Calendar I got last year (Amazon, I think).

We have been watching the daily videos from Holy Heroes and Tyler has been coloring the ornaments. I just tape some yarn to the back and hang it on a branch. The boys cut down a branch on Thanksgiving and put it into a coffee can, spray painted green, with rocks and all tied up with some ribbon! I'm hoping to purchase or make a nice set of ornaments to use year after year some time before next Advent. The videos are nice, but Caleb feels they are too young for him. He does watch them without complaining though.

We also  have been enjoying free Advent Adventures and again Caleb is at the end of the age group for this. They also have the Jesse Tree video, an Advent activity explained, a daily Mass instructions, and various print outs. This has been a highlight of our day.

Here is the non-traditional Advent wreath that I bought. I went with cheap candles since I had to buy the wreath (Christian Book Distributors) and they burn about a half inch in 15 minutes. They won't be lit every night to make it through the season. I do plan to buy nicer candles for next year. I'm not sure I completely like this wreath and may get a traditional one for next year.

Our school work has changed to leave our afternoons free for other Advent activities. Well, that WAS the plan. It didn't go that way, but changes can be made for next week. Less formal school work and less time being out of the house during school time is on next week's plan.

We enjoyed starting our Advent reading, but we didn't get to far, yet.

St. Nicholas came for a visit too! We don't do shoes here. Instead we hang stockings that my Grandmother had for my boys at her house. We got those after she passed away and they have been used for St. Nicholas ever since. Caleb enjoyed a new pair of slippers and some chocolate candy. Tyler is loving his St. Nicholas wooden peg doll from St. Luke's Brush. He carried it around all day admiring it. The boys also got a new book, The Miracle of St. Nicholas. We checked this out from the library last year and loved it! I was able to get it for $9 new at a homeschool conference in August!! I'm happy to report that I got through reading it this time without crying. It's just a beautiful story. The boys like it too.

We made St. Nicholas cookies. I bought a large cookie cutter from St. Nicholas Center and the boys helped with making the cookies and putting icing on them. This activity was a hit! Icing artist we are not!

Today I'm doing some extra cleaning to get ready to do some decorating tomorrow. The boys are setting up a tree in Tyler's room. I really would like to get my hands on a Playmobil Nativity set. Anyone seen any?

What did you do during the first week of Advent? 

Seven Quick Takes Friday {December 6, 2013}

1) I really was planning on taking some family pictures (the above header is a year old now) on the "next nice day" and those days just passed and I missed it. Maybe some pictures in snow and cold this weekend! It's 18 degrees here in Missouri at noon!

2) Tyler let me take some pictures of him this week.

"No mom! I'm not going to smile!"

3)Finally accomplished something I saw on Pinterest and made mailboxes for everyone in the house to write letters back and forth. I just hung brown lunch bags on the bedroom doors with double sided tape. The rules are you have to write at least one piece of mail a day. And there is no peaking into your box until bedtime. Mail can be read at bedtime and letters need to be delivered during the day. Everyone's mailbox was very full on the first day. My intention was to get the boys writing just a little more and work on improving that skill. I also thought sending "love notes" to all my boys would be a nice gesture. I also included thank yous and to let them know that I noticed when they showed good character during the day.

4) I believe all the Christmas shopping is done! I'm pretty excited about that!! I did a lot online this year. It's just easier. I do want to support local stores, but inventory is lacking in our area so I feel forced to shop online at times.

5) Our first week of Advent didn't go as planned in the school department. I was hoping that our afternoons would be free for crafts and reading and that was hard to come by this week. A little school load adjustment for next week and a better game plan to be home more. Here is to a better week!

6) I ordered The Greatest Gift for some Advent reading for myself. It has a daily bible reading and some thoughts on the bible story. Ann writes beautifully! I can't imagine how she comes up the words and puts it on paper in such an elegant way! It certainly is a blessing to read daily. I wish I had only half her writing skills! 

7) I'll have a post on our first week of Advent activities tomorrow. I'm also working on a post on our Christmas plans to share at Everyday Snapshots on December 20th. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Do you Pinterest?

I do and you can find my boards here!

I do check those I follow pretty regular but I don't pin a lot of stuff.

Share your Pinterest boards with me!