Catholic Company Review: The Queen and the Cross

The Queen and the Cross: The Story of Saint Helen beautifully weaves together fact and legend to tell the story of St. Helen and her quest to find the real Cross of Jesus.  When I saw this book on The Catholic Company's review list I immediately thought of my daughter (who will be six in January) and now that I've read it I can't wait to share it with her.  It is definitely perfect for the K-1-2 group.  The story is told in a simple way without sounding like it is "talking down" to its readers and the illustrations are just beautiful.  I love how St. Helen is portrayed.  I also really appreciated the fact that this book was hardback.  Gemma will be getting her own room here in a year or two and this book will definitely be on her bookshelf to share together or read on her own!  I like the idea of sharing good saint biographies with our children and instilling in them a love for and knowledge of the saints and their place in the Church from an early age, and books like this that focus on the story of one particular saint are a great way to do this.  This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Queen and the Cross-The Story of St. Helen. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Journal: Pumpkin patch

TODAY

Out my window: Fall is definitely here, it looks and feels like Fall.  And we have pumpkins on the deck!  Everyone is finally well and we made it to the pumpkin patch the other day.  It was a beautiful Fall afternoon and the kids and I had such a wonderful time.  Fun memories, I'm glad Gemma kept nagging me about taking them, we had so much fun and were there for every bit of two hours.

Clothing myself in:  Jeans, tank and an Old Navy sweatshirt.  

Around the house: I have a gal who buys stuff and then consigns it coming over tonight to go thru a big tub of stuff.  I will be glad to have it gone, even better to (hopefully) make a couple bucks!!  I did pretty well last time she came.  Also, we had family pictures taken this past weekend.  OH pictures stress me out ridiculously, but they turned out good and I'm getting excited to get some new pictures in frames around the house.  I have our order all put together and OK'd the final edits from the photog, so now we just wait for pics.  I ordered all our pictures for Christmas cards too so it is nice to have that taken care of and ready before Thanksgiving (and Advent!)  Now to think about a letter.  And presents.  and. and. and.......  holidays.

 

The baby: I'm going to eek a couple more weeks out of "baby" then I should probably change this to "toddler".  When did that happen?  He has definitely started acting more like a toddler...  Naps have been marginally better now that I've just resigned myself to the fact that he naps better on me.  And honestly, when he naps less he goes to bed earlier and that's kind of nice.  You just can't have it all.  ;-)  He is so cute, after I undress him before baths he goes and puts his clothes in the dirty clothes in our room all by himself, and then I love watching his naked little baby butt running to the bathtub. TOO cute! ! !

 

The kiddos:  Gemma's reading is starting to show some improvement, so that is fun for her and me.  Like I said, she was my nagging force when it came to going to the Pumpkin Patch and I'm so glad she nagged, we just had such a great time.  It is fun beginning to see traditions like this develop with the kids.  She is little miss rule follower.  We had an issue with her not wanting to take her coat to school on a cold day when she really needed to wear one, and realized it was because her teacher said they couldn't wear coats in the classroom.  She translated this into she couldn't wear a coat to school and by golly she wasn't going to break that rule.  Once she realized she could wear it and hang it on a hook, we were good!

 

Kolbe has been a little tricky lately.  I'm not sure if it's still just "recovering from being sick funkies" or if he has, erm, turned over a new leaf.  He has always been soooooo stinkin' sweet, and lately he's just been a little bit of a stinker.  But he is always very remorseful for his stinkiness so that helps a bit.  Even so, my can he try my patience sometimes...I find myself failing in the patience department more than I succeed lately though, and I'd like to change that.  Sigh.  He was really looking forward to shooting baskets at the Pumpkin Patch like he did last year (I couldn't believe he remembered, completely unprompted) and we didn't find the basketball goal until we were getting ready to leave.  Needless to say we stayed longer.  Kolbe is currently obsessed with "poppers" (bubble wrap of any shape or form) and every time Aaron comes home he asks, "did you buy any poppers for me?"  One day we found some in the basement and he popped it all.  Now every day we have to go down to the basement and check if there happens to be more.  Haha.  

I love this picture of the two of them

In the kitchen: This week's menu: Park Cutlets with Sweet Potato Fries and Three Bean Salad; Beef and Veggie Stew; leftovers; Honey Chicken and sides TBD; Shrimp Linguine maybe.   We bought a frozen Hawaiian Pizza (we never buy frozen pizzas) and it was pretty tasty, so I think I am going to try my hand at homemade Hawaiian Pizza sometime soon.  Anyone have any tips?  And speaking of in the kitchen, our big renovation is NEXT WEEK !!! !!! !!!!!!!, so it will probably be a couple nights of carry out and chinet while we don't have running water or functional appliances.

Crafting: nothin' nothin' nothin'.  Maybe I should make a YouTube "how to" series about crafting.  Now that would be stellar. 

Learning:  Ii week and activities this week...inchworms, insects, ice cream and iguanas.

Reading: I am currently reading Deus Caritas Est.  YAY for free downloads.  Kolbe enjoyed Isaac the Ice Cream Truck for Ii week and Gemma and I have started Saturday Cousins.

Watching:  Tomorrow, people!  TOMORROW is the season premiere of GOLD RUSH!!  So excited!!!  Oh, and of course the playoffs and World Series has been on in the background many an evening.  Aaron and I have also finally started the Catholicism series.  

Bringing me joy: Pumpkin Patch with the kids.  Pretty Fall leaves.  Mums and pansies.  Footie jammies (on the kids, not me).  Busy fun Saturday.  Family pictures being OVER (and turning out reasonably well). 

Thinking about:  The line between being selfless and putting others first but still taking care of myself.  Does that make sense?  Love.  Trying to be happy with my life the way it is and not getting resentful over things. 

Pictures to share:  

Pumpkin Patch kiddos.

Clem really did have a good time, he was just ready to go. 

Catholic Company Review: The New Evangelization and You - Be Not Afraid

What is The New Evangelization?  Had I been asked this question six months ago I probably would have ambled around, wordily grasping for an answer.  Sure I'd heard of it, and kind of knew what it was, but after reading The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid by Greg Willits, founder of The Rosary Army, I feel like I can clearly and succinctly answer that it is knowing, living and sharing my Faith in a way that is relevant to today's culture and society.  The message isn't new, it's the same 'ole Good News of Jesus Christ that has been preached now for over 2000 years now, but it is delivered in a way that speaks to people today...whether that's people who have never before heard the Good News of Jesus, people who have heard the Good News but have maybe gone astray, and all fellow Christians on the road to Heaven.

This book was very reader-friendly, and made clear early on that one does not need to be a theologian or Biblical scholar to be a 'new evangelizer' (whew!).  

My favorite part of the book was chapters nine and ten (towards the end), that talked about Twenty-First Century Fishing Tips (think Fishers of Men x 2000 years) and gave 52 practical ways (one for each week of the year) to 1. Know, 2. Live, and 3. Share your Faith (yes, there were three lists, so 156 items in all!!).  I actually sat down with my calendar and jotted down one item from each list for the next 6 weeks or so to spur me on the road to New Evangelization.  But then, I am kind of a list person anyways...

The other thing I really liked about this book was at the end of each chapter (there are 11 chapters in all) were some questions for reflection and a prayer.  The prayers were very well written, I could definitely see revisiting them in future prayer-time.  This book was great to read on my own, but would be a wonderful discussion book for a Catholic Book Club or study.  It was something that, given the time, could have easily been read in 1-2 sittings.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The New Evangelization and You. The Catholic Company is a great resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Journal: sick

TODAY

Out my window:  Cloudy, breezy and cool.  Very fall-like, and it's not supposed to get out of the sixties for most of the next week.

Clothing myself in:  Grey sweats and a t-shirt.  I got some new sweats and a couple sweatshirts (exciting, I know) from Old Navy that I'm sure I'll get to try out this week.

Around the house: Oh my, have our children been sick.  It started a week ago Thursday, early in the morning, when Gemma started running a fever.  Then, she seemed better, and then she was sick again, and then she went back to school Tuesday and Wednesday, and then Thursday she was so sick she literally slept all day.  I *think* *hope* *pray* she is better for good now.  The boys...same story.  This is the virus (I assume) that will not leave.  Not too many symptoms besides fever and lethargy.  Both big kids' ears were a bit red but have since cleared, and Gemma had a cruddy cough and Kolbe a croupy one, and the baby threw up several times the first day he was sick...whenever that was...It has been a week.  I was able to run a couple errands yesterday afternoon when Aaron was home, so that was nice.  We picked out the clothes that we'll wear for family pictures next weekend (if we are well and photographable by then).  What else?  Not much, not much...

Oh yes, I've had my eye on this crucifix for quite some time now, and recently needed to make a purchase from Autom so I added it on and it has since come.  I like it a lot for prayer-time/our liturgical decorations on the kitchen table, as it's a bit bigger/sturdier than the other one we had. 

 

The baby:  Is super-snuggly when he is sick and has slept a lot more than his usual nothing-ish during the day.  He has also started "hitting", aka rambunctious toddler-boy behavior.  Lots of redirection and "give me fives" and reminders for "soft, gentle touches".  He is growing up so much, it's ridiculous.  Pretty soon I probably need to change the heading of this category to "toddler"...

 

The kiddos:  By Friday Gemma was champing at the bit for our friends to drop her schoolwork off and started working on it immediately after it came.  She also told me how excited she was to go back to school.  I was glad to hear this.  She is pretty matter-of-fact about school, not really loving or hating it, so I was glad to hear she missed going.  She will get her "report card" next week, and has Adoration at school this week.  Gemma is also very into nature, each time she is outside she comes back with leaves, flowers, acorns etc. so I had her start a nature journal notebook.  We'll see if her enthusiasm for it continues.

I have been meaning to document this here, whenever Kolbe wants you to hold him he asks you to, "come sit on my lap, mommy (or daddy)."  It's so cute!  He has been one sick little dude, he literally slept almost non-stop (albeit restlessly) from 5PM yesterday until about 3 this afternoon.

Both big kids are scheduled to start Catechesis of the Good Shepherd classes this week.  I do not think Kolbe will make his first class, sadly.

In the kitchen: Fried Chicken (store bought, I know...) tonight; have the fixin's all ready to put together a taaaaasty meat and veggie lasagna tomorrow; something easy (quesadillas?) with broccoli salad; linguine or some other shrimp dish; whatever else I feel inspired to make, that's the loose menu for the week.  I will probably make some more whole-grain banana choco-chip muffins as well, the kids really enjoy those for breakfasts and snacks.

Crafting: Noth.ing.

Learning:  We managed to get in a few Gg week activities last week and did a neat Rosary activity a friend brought by (since we had to miss out), but all in all things were pretty subdued.  Gemma is learning about bats at school, and has been bringing home word lists to learn sight words and her phonics decodable words.  She has learned about Creation, Jonah, and it appears they are working on Noah now.  I am beginning to see her making some bigger strides in her reading which is exciting.  I am so excited for her to get to the point where she can sit down and read (and understand!) books all on her own.  Her teacher puts together a little newsletter online with their lessons/objectives for the week, so it is nice to see what she is working on and do some enrichment things at home as we're able.

Reading: Almost to finish The New Evangelization and You.  The last few chapters have been great, very inspiring.  For Gg week we enjoyed Chavela and the Magic Bubble, Days of the Blackbird (a story about a girl named Gemma), Growing Vegetable Soup and The Gingerbread Man.  Gemma got her materials for BookIt! and has already read (been read to) her goal of 8 books for the month. 

Watching:  MLB playoffs, lots of Little Bear with sick kids, I discovered the show Little Einsteins, and have really enjoyed it with the kids too!  A couple Pawn Stars are on the DVR queue ready to watch, we have been watching this show on Sunday nights sometimes called Alaska: The Last Frontier, and it's pretty neat.  Less than two weeks until the Goldrush season premiere!!!!!!!!!  Yes, I'm really that excited.  

Bringing me joy: A quiet Mass and witnessing the Baptisms of some new parishioners.  Kolbe's speech teacher telling me what a pleasant kid he is.  Working on Gemma's homework with her.  Cute new soft-sole shoes for my little toddler.  Spending a fun Tuesday afternoon with the kids when everyone was healthy for a whopping 3 hours!  Beer dates "in" with Aaron.  Snuggling my sick kiddos.

Thinking about: Charity.  Evangelizing. 

Pictures to share:  

I took these a couple weeks ago for our frames in the hallway.

Being very silly.

Journal: Fall break

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunny, warm and windy.  Supposed to be a big cool down tonight.  

Clothing myself in:  One of those days where I know I'm not leaving the house, so I'm dressed like I'm not leaving the house.  We'll leave it at that.  Looking forward to breaking out the hoodies tomorrow!

Around the house:  Got all the kids' clothes out and ready for Fall (did I say that last week?), and have some of their warm-weather stuff packed away.  It usually slowly dwindles out of their closets and we're completely done with the warm-weather stuff by November-ish.  OH clothes.  They are taking over my storage room.

 

The baby:  I am convinced he just doesn't like naps.  Seriously, I am lucky if he gets an hour a day (typically much less), and most of that time is spent with me either rocking or laying with him.  He does go to bed early though, and sleep until a decent hour in the morning, so I am trying to make peace with the lack of naps.  I find that if I set the bar low with my expectations, things go a lot better; because if I put him down expecting him to get a good nap and then he doesn't (surprise surprise), I am suuuuuuper grumpy when Aaron is home for lunch, and that's no fun for anyone.  He also like to nurse.  A lot. Some days (and nights!) it is endearing, some days/nights it is exhausting.  He is not the world's greatest eater either, and he is my first who will not drink cow's milk at this age.  Tricky, tricky babies.  He has been pooping on his little "poop chair" lately though, so that's been nice.

He likes our toy broom a lot.  He carries it all over.  Weird?  Now I just need to teach him to sweep a little more effectively.

 

The kiddos:

Gemma is on Fall break from school (PT conferences) and the poor girl is SICK.  We were supposed to go to the Pumpkin Patch with some friends today so she was realllllly bummed to miss that, but I told her we'd try to go some afternoon.  All she has is a fever and lethargy, no other symptoms really so hopefully it runs its course soon.  We'll see if the boys get it too, sigh.  It has been a low-key couple of days.  Her conference went well, it sounds like she is doing well academically and socially at school and really thriving while she is there.  I really enjoyed visiting with her teacher (Aaron was supposed to go with me, but ended up staying home since she was sick) and it made me glad all over again that she is at our Catholic school.  Hearing about/seeing all that she does at school makes me really relieved we are not homeschooling.  I just can't fathom that for our family now.

Kolbe is a three-year-old little boy.  What can I say?  He is so sweet though, he is always very remorseful for his mischief, which I find terribly endearing.  The other night he was throwing food at the dinner table and I was calmly (amazing, right? doesn't always happen that way but I've been working on it...) trying to help him stop and the baby had the gall to sit in his high chair and just laugh his little head off every time Kolbe threw a piece.  These next few years with two boys at home all day should be, um, interesting.

In the kitchen: Fish Tacos tonite with fresh avocados, and we had some flounder and shrimp (surf and surf) last night too.  First batch of chili for the season last Monday (and I even made my own taco seasoning for it...easy and tasty) and some crock pot chicken, WW pasta and green beans earlier in the week as well.  Up next week: Meatloaf, Chicken Tostadas, family bday dinner (spaghetti!) and baked salmon.  Whatever fresh or frozen veggies that strike my fancy as sides...maybe some sweet potato fries too.  Aaron has also decided to start refining/educating his beer palette so he's brought home some various tasty ales to try.  Last night he ran to the liquor store after the kids were in bed and got some Ovila (Sarah, have you or Ryan had this?) and we had a "date".  It was so nice (and the beer was very tasty).

Crafting: Nothing. At. All.

Learning:  Ff week for Kolbe, with our typical letter of the week activities.  We also made Angel Cookies for the Feast of the Angels and had some special activities for Sts. Therese and Francis this week as well.  So many good Feasts the first week in October.

Reading: The New Evangelization and You, and I pulled out my copy of Hinds Feet on High Places earlier this week and have been reading from it.  I really never re-read books, but this one is sooooooo good.  I am thoroughly enjoying it the second time through.  We've enjoyed several of our favorite picture books this week too: Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, Saint Francis and the Wolf, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, May I Bring a Friend? and Too Many Pumpkins!  I love reading books to my kids.  Clem still isn't so much into books, but Gemma and Kolbe both really love being read to. 

Watching: Every children's show we have recorded on the DVR, it seems, with Gemma being sick.  Our latest children's faves around here are WordWorld, Wild Kratts, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, Bob the Builder, Barney, Clifford and of course the age-old favorite, Little Bear.  What are we missing out on?  Anyone else have faves to share?!

Bringing me joy: Watching the kids at the parish picnic this past weekend, they had so much fun.  Aaron and I are both what you would probably call introverts (hello understatement), especially when it comes to crowds, so the Parish Picnic isn't really our cup of tea, but we knew the kids would enjoy it and OH they did.  I am sooooo glad we went, it still brings me joy thinking about the fun they had...  Hoodie weather (to come).  Reading good books.  Playing in the basement with the kids.  A "date in" with Aaron and just chatting with him.  Good friends.  A fresh haircut.  Listening to Aaron read the Mo Willems "Pigeon" books to our kids.  Meeting with Gemma's teacher, especially starting the conference off with a prayer gave me so much joy and gratitude.

Thinking about: Daily Mass.  We have been going twice a week (when Gemma goes with her class) plus Sundays obviously.  It is so hard.  The boys are nuts.  Gemma does fine on her own (and really Kolbe does too) but both boys + her (on Sundays) is often the recipe for a very bad nightmare in which you don't wake up.  I know we are gaining grace and teaching our children about God and worship, but oh dear heavens it is just plain scaaaary bad some days...    Stewardship and to what exactly we are being called to do as individuals and a family.    Christmas.  OOOHHHHHH holidays.... 

Pictures to share:  

Gemma was so excited to get her face painted with a rainbow and butterfly at the parish picnic.

Kolbe was quite proud of the swag he won at some of the games.  He carried it around almost constantly the first few days of the week.

Clem signing "more"