On My Mind...

As the days cool down...

With our days beginning to cool down, it means more time inside for things like...

matching bears that play football...

pictures...

 

painting after rest time...

 

evenings of making cool stuff with a daughter who is at school all day...

*Halloween garland found here!

 

making cookies first thing in the morning...

 

dreaming about the rag rug...

found these at a junk store after I had just fell in love with the idea of making a rag rug from Amanda Soule's book!  Seriously how lucky am I??? 

 

dreaming up ideas for our bedroom...it's the one room that almost has almost nothing on the walls...

A morning plan...

I had all planned out that after the kiddos and I did our morning circle time, we would make pumpkins covered with orange tissue paper - doesn't that sound fun?  Glue, paper, tearing tissue paper...

I love to watch the difference in how a little girl will do an activity versus a little boy doing an activity - girl -

 

each piece carefully torn and glued onto the paper - so sweet!

boy -

 

put as much glue as you can possibly put on a piece of paper, grab a handful of torn tissue paper and smack it down on the paper!!

And then of course there is my child who thought that making pumpkins didn't sound like a good idea, but making a costume out of tissue paper sounded like lots of fun -

Mornings like these are good reminders that just because I think something might be a good idea, doesn't mean the children will think it is a good idea.  We got cleaned up from our activity, and while the kids went in to play cars I sat down to make Halloween candle holders from an idea I found.  With my modge podge, baby food jar, and tissue paper all out, the kids came running in and wanted to paint.  I put my stuff to the side to make room for paints for them.  When everyone kept painting, and kept painting, I realized how silly that the activity I thought up lasted maybe 10 minutes because they weren't that into it.  The activity that the kids thought up on their own lasted about 30 minutes - because they thought of it. 

This is not to stay that I will stop planning activities that I find, so much good comes out of offering activities.  With me bringing the kids in and getting everyone involved in an activity, letting them work at it as they wanted, and then letting them be done, they were satisfied - no struggles.  In getting supplies out, I was able to work on something I wanted to, which in turn brought the kids back in with renewed interest in another project.  Everyone enjoyed their rainy morning!

Best way to give your dog a bath...

 

Start with the hair while your getting yourself clean!

how patient a family pet has to be in...to have a 3 year old mess with your hair and still come back for more...that's love!

What's going on at the kitchen table...

Our table sees alot, it is rarely lonely or empty!  We eat all of our meals as a family at our table, it's a great place to sit and watch the birds out back, many times throughout the day it is a meeting place for a game, crayons, markers, play dough, or small things that want to be played with but can't be on the floor so that a baby doesn't eat them :)  This school year it seems that Emily has had more projects that require poster board and the space of the table to work on.  Tanner loves to hang out at the table with his sister and find some projects to work on near her.

*project for Emily's french class

*Tanner working on miscellaneous projects over the last couple weeks - he has discovered that oil pastels are "really cool"

I "heart" fall...

Fall is my most favorite season, the colors, the smells, the feeling...

I am a month and half behind on getting out my fall decorations.  There has been so much going on, that getting down fall decorations fell to the bottom of the list.  This past weekend my family and I went to the pumpkin patch, carved our pumpkins, decorated the house for the season, roasted pumpkin seeds...now fall is here!

 

 

*if you want to see us bigger, just click on the collage :)

Rainy day fun...

We have had some dreary weather so we have had alot of fun inside.

One of my families brought some wood masks for painting yesterday, then today we read about mixing colors and then mixed our own colors with shaving cream and food coloring.  After the kids were covered in the shaving cream, then I took a piece of paper and lightly pressed it on their color mixed to create a marbled look on their paper.  They loved it...they had shaving cream up to their elbows, and one even went so far as to start putting it on their cheeks!  Fun rainy day!

Thankful...

Thank you for showing us a beautiful morning to wander the Branson landing...

Thank you for the music along the landing for my little boys to dance to...

Thank you for a daughter that looks deep in thought even when not meaning to...

Thank you for the blessings of children...

Thank you for the beauty of a changing season...

Our Lady...

I took this photo a few weekends ago when we were up visiting my husband's family.  I have wanted a Mary statue for sometime now...do you know how difficult it can be to find a beautiful Mary statue that doesn't cost like a billion dollars?  Well, I have found it difficult - so for now I have this picture of my in-laws Mary sitting on a table in our living room.  It make me smile every time I look at our Lady.

At different times over maybe the last two years I have prayed the Rosary consistently.  I don't mean just when I need something - but prayed it even when I didn't "need" something.  I have prayed it at times when I had something specific in mind and I got wonderful graces out of praying...not saying I got my prayer answered the way I wanted it, but it was answered in the way that God knew was best at the moment.

My husband and I always pray with our children before bed.  We say our normal bed time prayer, ask blessings for our family, friends, our Pope, Bishop, Priest, a special Deacon friend, and all the other Priests and Seminarians.  We have started adding a Hail Mary and an Our Father after our normal evening prayer.  I am amazed every night at our 3 year saying his prayers right along with us.  I am amazed at the feeling I get when I hear my voice with my husbands voice as we pray together.  It is something I had hoped for so long...a husband to pray with.  Raising children with God in the front of our minds, not just an afterthought, of something we do together on Sundays is wonderful.  To start my day with our 3 year old son learning morning prayers, talking of Guardian Angels, reading books about Mary and Jesus is more than I could have ever imagined.  We went to see the Passion Play this last weekend, and I was sitting in between our 3 year old and my 5 year old step son - what a blessing to have them ask questions about where the bad guy is, wanting to know if Jesus would lay on Mary's lap after he was taken down from the cross, retell the story to a sister who wasn't with us...makes me think we are doing something right if they are asking questions like what they asked, keeps me reminded that truth can be interesting, even to children of 3 and 5 - action doesn't have to involve Superman to be cool. 

As wonderful as praying the Rosary is, I sometimes put it to the side on a day to day basis.  I read a blog instead of praying, I read a book during rest time when I could use the quiet to pray, I look for something new to learn - rather than thanking God for the gifts he has blessed me with...  Tomorrow as we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary, I will be taking the time to pray the Rosary and to celebrate our Lady!

A carrot...

We grew a carrot!  I had no idea how long they took, this is not the instant gratification that I like!  We haven't pulled the others after seeing how small - and not sweet this one was.  We will try again in a few weeks.  I would like to try a little corn next year...

*maybe the fact that these were a packet of free seeds we had gotten at a home and garden show made a difference...I have no idea what variety of carrots they are.

An evening of fun....

In August Emily and I were able to go see Wicked!  I have never seen the Wizard of Oz, so I have never thought to have my kids watch it...I know, I know...

I had no idea of what to expect from Wicked...I can tell you it was absolutely wonderful!  I loved every minute of it!  I don't know what is the best part about seeing the performances, the dinner Emily and I normally have before the performances, or the actual performance!  We will be going to see The Wizard of Oz when it comes next year!

 

*imagine the picture in focus  :)