Here is their fluting lesson!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
making pies
It was so much fun teaching the girls how to make pie crust.
Here is their fluting lesson!
Yay, pumpkin pie!
Here is their fluting lesson!
Christmas
What I loved most about Christmas. . .
1) Midnight Mass at our new parish--so beautiful I wanted to weep!
2) A party after Mass--1 AM! Such fun!
3) Clare being giddy and joyful all day--such a change in her life!
4) Leigh having a gingerbread party with her friends last week, a family party on the 4th Sunday of Advent, and then a joyful birthday today!
5) Ron and I having such a blessed marriage. What a GIFT!
6) The kids all loving going to so many Masses and saying so many prayers all week--they know the meaning of Christmas and love it.
7) The kids never complaining, fighting or being otherwise pouty about gifts--they do not expect much.
8) Annie leaning over during the caroling before Midnight Mass and saying loud enough for the whole church to hear: "I love you, Mom!" and then, "I love you, Dad!"
9) Annie clomping around all day in her new boots.
10) Asking the kids what they most wanted me to cook for Christmas dinner, and their response: broccoli, corn and artichokes. Vegetables!
What a blessing Christmas is to me! I love Jesus, God WITH US!!
1) Midnight Mass at our new parish--so beautiful I wanted to weep!
2) A party after Mass--1 AM! Such fun!
3) Clare being giddy and joyful all day--such a change in her life!
4) Leigh having a gingerbread party with her friends last week, a family party on the 4th Sunday of Advent, and then a joyful birthday today!
5) Ron and I having such a blessed marriage. What a GIFT!
6) The kids all loving going to so many Masses and saying so many prayers all week--they know the meaning of Christmas and love it.
7) The kids never complaining, fighting or being otherwise pouty about gifts--they do not expect much.
8) Annie leaning over during the caroling before Midnight Mass and saying loud enough for the whole church to hear: "I love you, Mom!" and then, "I love you, Dad!"
9) Annie clomping around all day in her new boots.
10) Asking the kids what they most wanted me to cook for Christmas dinner, and their response: broccoli, corn and artichokes. Vegetables!
What a blessing Christmas is to me! I love Jesus, God WITH US!!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Violin and Cello Duet
A lovely Sunday afternoon, working this up.
Clare is so much better than me! :)
Saturday, December 8, 2012
O Come O Come Emmanuel
I love Advent.
I love our family singing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" for a blessing during this season.
I love the Feasts of Our Lady, "without whom there would be no Nativity," said our priest this morning, and who teaches us to be humble, yielding to the will of God, and totally dependent on Jesus.
I love how few things our children ask for Christmas, and yet how rich their experience of the JOY of CHRIST is.
I love our friends, with whom it is so easy to enjoy this season.
I love preparing my heart for the Coming of Christ, who has saved me, who has set my life on high ground, who protects me, gives meaning and happiness to my life.
He is worth my life. He is my all in all.
I love our family singing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" for a blessing during this season.
I love the Feasts of Our Lady, "without whom there would be no Nativity," said our priest this morning, and who teaches us to be humble, yielding to the will of God, and totally dependent on Jesus.
I love how few things our children ask for Christmas, and yet how rich their experience of the JOY of CHRIST is.
I love our friends, with whom it is so easy to enjoy this season.
I love preparing my heart for the Coming of Christ, who has saved me, who has set my life on high ground, who protects me, gives meaning and happiness to my life.
He is worth my life. He is my all in all.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Yahoo!!!
Yahoo!! Clare has completed her reading Boot Camp!!! And I learned some important life lessons in the process.
She was not where she should be in Sept. So I pushed her. That failed. So I had to do the impossible: go backwards. I started over with "c-a-t" and like words. It was so hard for me to feel like each day, we were back in pre-K. But she needed to relax in order to learn. So I had her do old lessons, and master them, and do them quickly and smoothly.
We moved forward with 2 lessons a day, plus a phonics lesson from me, and then a phoncis workbook. So really, 3 or 4 reading lessons a day.
It was horrible. She stumbled on obvious words that she has known for years. Then I started making flashcards with phonograms on them. We added this to the roster, which made 5 reading activities a day.
Then somehow, she took off. She had been working through "The Diggingest Dog," a 64 page, first reader. She could only read 20 pages at first. Then she moved up to 25. Then 30.
This week, we sat down and began at the beginning. I said, "As I've said before, when you can read the whole book, I'll take you out to ice cream."
No kidding, she opened it up, and flew through the whole thing. I only had to help her with 4 or 5 words.
That evening, we went out for gelato!
Then yesterday, she started the Classic Start version of "Anne of Green Gables" (inspired by Aunt Kimmy's generous gift!). Truly! She has read one page of it for the past 2 days!
The lesson that I learned was not to fear going backwards. Sometimes it takes going backwards, and not being humiliated to do so, to move forwards. Sometimes you just have to give in to the fact of where you or someone else is, and not send the message, "But you OUGHT to be somewhere else!" That never works. Instead, we have to accept the reality of where we are, and then figure out how to take the next step! The gentleness of this approach seemed, in the case, to help her not just take one step, but take a hundred overnight. That gives me hope!
She was not where she should be in Sept. So I pushed her. That failed. So I had to do the impossible: go backwards. I started over with "c-a-t" and like words. It was so hard for me to feel like each day, we were back in pre-K. But she needed to relax in order to learn. So I had her do old lessons, and master them, and do them quickly and smoothly.
We moved forward with 2 lessons a day, plus a phonics lesson from me, and then a phoncis workbook. So really, 3 or 4 reading lessons a day.
It was horrible. She stumbled on obvious words that she has known for years. Then I started making flashcards with phonograms on them. We added this to the roster, which made 5 reading activities a day.
Then somehow, she took off. She had been working through "The Diggingest Dog," a 64 page, first reader. She could only read 20 pages at first. Then she moved up to 25. Then 30.
This week, we sat down and began at the beginning. I said, "As I've said before, when you can read the whole book, I'll take you out to ice cream."
No kidding, she opened it up, and flew through the whole thing. I only had to help her with 4 or 5 words.
That evening, we went out for gelato!
The lesson that I learned was not to fear going backwards. Sometimes it takes going backwards, and not being humiliated to do so, to move forwards. Sometimes you just have to give in to the fact of where you or someone else is, and not send the message, "But you OUGHT to be somewhere else!" That never works. Instead, we have to accept the reality of where we are, and then figure out how to take the next step! The gentleness of this approach seemed, in the case, to help her not just take one step, but take a hundred overnight. That gives me hope!
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