Making a Father's Day Craft

 Don't worry! I'm not giving away any spoilers. ;) I'll wait to let this post until after Father's Day!

This was a hilarious craft project for us. I cannot stand feet, Jacob definitely has a foot phobia...particularly his own feet. And James is never a fan of anything he'd consider out of the ordinary. Oh, and let's not forget John David. Yes, he thought painting his feet was rather strange!

Nonetheless, we did make footprints with paint. And, we enjoyed it. It was kinda fun to get messy.

 I can only imagine the spectacle we were!

But, we finished! Jacob did not like how his foot turned out. He was pretty convinced that now everyone will think he has squished up toes. And John David's foot mostly looks like a blob. I'm pretty sure though, that in spite of it's shortcomings, Daddy will love his gift.

 Happy Father's Day, Daddy! We love you!

Love,

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Monstrance Craft Project

  We love celebrating major Feast Days with a craft project, or special recipe. It helps to reinforce the reason we are celebrating, and builds a love of our faith in the youngest of hearts.

For the Feast of Corpus Christi, we made a monstrance. We took paper doilies and painted them with gold paint pens. We cut the base of the monstrance out of gold paper. For the Blessed Sacrament, we took white craft foam and cut a circle, then used the gold paint pen to draw on a cross. We used rhinestone stickers to decorate the monstrance.

Joseph was very careful with his paint pen. He wanted his monstrance to be perfect!

The boys chose James' finished monstrance to be on display in the dining room for our Feast Day supper. He was so pleased!

We also made a "Happy Feast Day!" banner to hang in the dining room. I look forward to using it for many Feast Days to come!

Love in Christ,

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Trinity Sunday

 In honor of Trinity Sunday, we decided to make a Trinity Triangle. The boys love making crafts of treats, or doing other hands on activities that encourage their faith!

We used red for the Holy Spirit, Blue for the Father, and Yellow for the Son. On one side of the craft stick we wrote the Names in English and on the other we wrote in Latin. The boys have been learning the Signum Crucis (Sign of the Cross) in Latin, so they were quite excited to include it in their craft!

To God be the Glory!,

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Happy Stitching!

I have been working on a table scarf with cross-stitched flowers on each end. I will have to remember to share a picture once it's finished!

Love,

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Story Time at the Library

This morning the boys and I went to Story Time at our local library. The boys had so much fun, although Jacob was a little shy about participating. There was a puppet show, and a movie, singing, and several books all about crocodiles. At the end there was craft time, and the boys made crocodile hats.

The boys are already asking to go again next week!

The outing was my first chance to test drive our new double stroller. We have had several of the tandem double strollers before. The first one fell apart, and the second was nearly impossible to steer and push, and eventually became unusable. We finally decided it was time to make an investment in a better stroller, and we decided on one that is a totally different style, with the two boys sitting side by side. It is a jogging stroller, and I found it to be much easier to maneuver.

This afternoon I have been making calling cards. They are sort of like business cards except with our personal information on them. I thought that would be nicer to have on hand, rather than scribbling down our phone number on a scrap piece of paper. :)

Well, I am off to finish marinating the London broil for dinner, and then upstairs to work on my closet.

With Love,

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Stitching and Growing Up

I finished stitching my Bible cover to match the bookmark I made. I have been so blessed by a dear friend who sent to me a package of cross-stitching supplies, she was so kind and generous and her sweetness has truly been a precious gift. I know I will think of her whenever I am stitching!



My little ones have been just blossoming it seems. Joshua is really beginning to talk in clear and understandable sentences. It seems like every day new words just come pouring out of his mouth! I am amazed at how quickly he is picking things up, and his determination in learning how to use his new found ability to communicate. Jacob is growing up so quickly that when I look at him he seems to be bigger each minute. He is beginning to look so much more like a "big boy" and less and less like my little baby. And Joseph is on the verge of crawling. He seems to be growing up even more quickly than his brothers did. This week his baby babbles are beginning to sound like baby talk. He has started saying "dada" and is quite pleased with himself. He is all smiles and squeals when he realizes that we know what he has said.

With Love,

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Stitching and Schooling

We've had some busy days around here. Some good, some not-so good. We have all been fighting through a yucky little cold bug. Nothing serious, just bad enough to make us not feel good, but not bad enough to have to stay in bed. It has made the boys rather cranky, which I am quite sure has made me a little cranky as well. I just keep reminding myself that this will soon pass, and that we will not feel this yucky forever :).

I did finish the little book mark that I have been cross-stitching. I have now started working on the matching Bible cover. I must thank my dear friend who was so kind to send me so many stitching supplies! What a blessing that was! I have been rather enjoying all of the wonderful things she sent and am eager to stitch, stitch, stitch!

I have been busy gathering materials for preschool. We had taken a bit of a break from schooling. Jacob was so excited and just could not wait to get started! I have been making him some file folder games, and a few little activities in bags that he can do while I am busy. He certainly loves school, which makes him a joy to teach. It is interesting too how seeing him makes Joshua want to learn more. Isn't that just wonderful?

Happy Stitching!

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A New Apron

GRANDMA'S APRON

"The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder for removing hot pans from the oven; it was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken-coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those old aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids; and when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling-wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, it was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out on the porch and waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields for dinner. It will be a long time before anyone invents something that will replace that old-time apron that served so many purposes."~ Author Unknown

I found that little passage a few years back, and I love reading about how aprons were once such a part of a homemaker's day. I love aprons, I have cooking aprons, and cleaning aprons, and a gardening apron. There's something about putting on an apron that just makes me feel ready to face the day.

This morning I made a new apron. I made this one from half of a top sheet from a set of twin sheets that we did not have a need for. ( I used the other half to cut pieces to make a slip). The boys "helped" me sew. Jacob loves to watch and ask a hundred questions :).

I found it neat to be able to take one thing, which did not have a purpose for us and turning it into something that I can use. And I still have the entire bottom sheet to use for something else!

In His Abounding Grace,

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