5 things I love about Colleen...

We celebrated my little Colleen's birthday on March 18th. Her little party was on St. Patrick's day and was delightful - simple and full of sweet friends, playing outside and lots 'a green! It sounds trite, but I really can't believe that my baby is 2. She seems so little and new and yet as if she's been here for decades.

This is for you my little Colleen. Just 5 of the hundreds of things I love about you...

1. Her name
Colleen = Girl
Bernadette = Brave as a bear
She is my girl who is as brave as a bear. I like that, especially as I look at her little whispy blonde head bouncing around the back yard in her big sisters' boots. St. Bernadette is one of my favorite saints as well. She was a simple peasant girl who was faithful enough to stand strong in the face of doubt and disbelief. She stood by her story, because she knew it was true - she was definitely a girl who was as brave as a bear.

2. Her smile.
Colleen smiles with her whole self. There is nothing false about her smile... her whole little chubby face transforms when she is happy and there's no faking a joy like that. I hope that her smile stays like that forever.

3. Colleen is very easy-going. To a point.
Colleen is wise for her years. She already knows to pick her battles. Being the youngest of 4, sometimes things just aren't worth getting upset over. 2nd and 3rd generation hand-me-downs... whatever.  Riding in a carseat for hours almost every day while siblings are shuttled to and from their activities while you eat a ziplock of cheerios... that's life. Sharing just about all of your toys with everyone... nothing new there. Yet, her wise, discerning spirit knows when enough is enough. If you go too far, watch out. I think that by the time she leaves our home, this will somehow serve her well...

4. She adores her brother.
In a house dominated by women, my sweet son, Jonathan, gets picked on from the lower and upper branches of the family tree. Thankfully, their age difference is such that Colleen thinks the boy can do no wrong.

With Emelie bossing him around and Katherine pushing every button she can find, I find comfort in hearing Colleen call out to her big brother and beg him to play "people" (little people) or "go ou-side" to swing. There's no ulterior motive. There's no trick. There's no doubting or double-crossing. Just little kid love. And they both are pretty sure of it.

It may not last forever... but I sure hope it does.

5. She's shown us how to love... again.
It might sound strange unless you've experienced it... but Colleen is the first child we've had where our other children have been old enough to enjoy her fully. Katherine probably won't remember much about Colleen as a baby, but Emelie and Jonathan will.

They get it ~ how utterly delightful a little child can be. They laugh at her funny expressions. They run to tell me something cute she's done. They dress her up in weird clothes and then sit back and show her off. They fight over who gets to wake her up in the morning and who gets to unbuckle her car seat. They brag to their friends about her newest achievement. They teach her new words and read her their favorite books. They run to her when she's hurt and melt when she asks them to "hold you?" They let her go first, she scribbles and they tell her how pretty her picture is, they let her knock down their block towers and don't get angry, and they'll probably let her win at a board game or two someday.

She's taught them unconditional love. And I think they like it. 

Thank you, Colleen, for being a part of our lives. We love you!

Here are some of my favorite photos of Colleen...

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My 5 Favorite Education/Homeschool Resources...

1.  The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.

I can't say enough about this series. Susan Wise Bauer starts with the earliest nomads and ends with the end of the USSR. The books are great read-a-louds and the cds are even better. We listen to them in the car, on road trips or on our extra long drive to piano lessons every Tuesday. And then, after the kids are out of the car, I keep listening... because it is so dang INTERESTING!  She also has tests and activity guides. This is a great resource for any family... homeschooling or not.

2.  History Through the Ages from Homeschool in the Woods

History Through the Ages by Homeschool in the Woods.

This is an amazing, family-owned business run by a homeschooling mom of 4, Amy Pak. In her former life, she was a professional illustrator. And you can tell!

Way back when, she was unimpressed by the quality of resources available to her when she started her homeschooling journey. So, once life allowed, she began creating her own resources. She has personally illustrated and created all of the products offered on her site. I have the timeline notebook shown above, but you can just purchase the Timeline Figures in either print format or on CD. Her work is just pretty, pretty, pretty! Someday I will wallpaper a room with historical figures...

She also has many other products, including the Time Travelers History Study Series: She has "New World Explorers", "Colonial Life", "The American Revolution", "The Early 19th Century" and "The Civil War".

They are all beautiful, comprehensive and leave you wanting to learn more and more about history!

Then, she also has her "Hands On Activity Paks" that include "Composers", "Artists", "Old Testament" and "New Testament". These are directly downloadable from her site (after payment) or you can get them on cd.

Needless to say, this woman has vision... and I like it!

3. HomeschoolShare.com

homeschoolshare.com

If you have an idea, then they have thought it, and done it... 

This is a website with a wealth of information. Last week, I used it to download FREE (everything is free) pre-school projects for Katherine and an entire lapbook project for Jonathan on Lewis and Clark. Materials are contributed by homeschoolers... so you are gleaning wisdom and experience from countless families. GREAT resource!

4. Illustrate & Write

My new friend, Heather, over at ohmystinkinheck.com blogs on the Pioneer Woman site about her homeschooling experiences. Her post about Illustrate & Write changed my method of teaching Jonathan writing.  I just loved the way Heather chronicled her son's journey with Illustrate and Write. She give so much detail... with photos, direct copying of her son's writing and then her "translation". For example:

“puekepolls rea goweng to ther homs bkus tha got in a fit”
(Porcupines are going to their homes because they got in a fight.)

This photo is from her post on www.thepioneerwoman.com

It's Jonathan's favorite part of school and now my 4th grader, Emelie, who is not homeschooled, has her own illustrate and write journal... "because it looks like fun!".

Thanks Heather!  (Did I mentioned that she has a daughter named EMELIE???!!!)

5. Amazing, beautiful, scream-out-to-be read books!...
We are using Sonlight for some of our homeschool curriculum. What I think I love most about Sonlight is their booklists. They're awesome! Jonathan's reading has taken off this year, mostly due to increased reading time and the very interesting books that he gets to read. I found in early February that he had read all of his books for the year... uhhh... that's a good thing, right?

Here are a few examples:
Jonathan's book list from this year

Grade 3 and 4 read aloud list - just another example of Sonlight's great choices of literature. What I like about Sonlight is that they categorize their books by grade level, by read aloud level AND by maturity level. So, if you have a reader who is ahead of her grade level, you can search their list for books that are more advanced, but still appropriate for her maturity level.

I have used the booklists to order straight from the sonlight website, which is often a very good deal, or to check the books out at the library.

I think of myself as a well-read person, but was surprised at how many books on the list that I hadn't heard of ... and they were GOOD!

I also love this series of classics: the Junior Illustrated Library. I received my first one when I was 8 years old from my Grandma. Little Women. The first of many beautiful books I'd read... My mom gave me a few, my sister has lent me a few and this Christmas we received a few as gifts. Talk about inspired reading. I like to use these as read-alouds. Most of them run from $12-15, pretty affordable! You can't help but invest yourself in a story with illustrations, fonts and paper like these classics!  Or maybe I just like taking photos of pretty pages...


Anywho... that's all for now. Hope these gave you a few ideas for things to do with your kiddos. Really, you don't have to be homeschooling to use any of the resources... we may not homeschool next year, but I'll still be all over these great products, because they are well-made, inspiring and make me and my children WANT to learn... and that's what life is all about, right!?

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5 things I've read...

I love to read. I am anti-Kindle. I think I am going to start the "resisting the kindle" fan group on facebook. I love books. With pages.

I first was going to post on my 5 favorite books of ALL TIME, but that was impossible. There are too many. I would never write again, because I would be lost in piles of books, comparing, flipping pages, stacking and sorting and never coming down to just 5. So, I decided to go with 5 books that have been meaningful to me over the past year.

Here they are

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

The Better Part By Fr. John Bartunek, LC

The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander
A lovely, rambling glimpse into the heart and mind of this amazing woman, Caryll Houselander, who should be up for beatification if she isn't already. The book is about Mary, but unlike any Marian book you've read before.

"Because He is in the little house of our being, we will learn to control our minds, to gather our thoughts to silence, and to crown them with peace, just as we learn to control our voices and to move softly when a child is asleep in the house of bricks and mortar."

''When I was a small child, someone for whom I had a great respect told me never to do anything that Our Lady would not do; for, she said, if I did, the angels in heaven would blush. For a short time this advice 'took' in me like an inoculation causing a positive paralysis of piety. It was clear to me that all those things which spelt joy to me were from henceforward taboo ­ blacking my face with burnt cork, turning somersaults between props against the garden wall, putting two bull's-eyes into my mouth at the same time-all that was over! But even if I faced a blank future shackled with respectability, it was still impossible to imagine Our lady doing anything that I would do, for the very simple reason that I simply could not imagine her doing anything at all."

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

This book represents all the Steinbeck books. It really is my favorite of his, maybe. This fall, Curt and I had the opportunity to go to the Steinbeck Museum in Monterrey, CA. They had to drag me out! Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row, which I love almost as much... I guess I enjoy the "end of the story" in Sweet Thursday.

"Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass."

"Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there’s time, the Bastard Time."

The Better Part by Fr. John Bartunek, LC

This is my daily companion (on good days!:) The Better Part contains reflections on the entire 4 gospels as well as discussion questions and catechism references. It is a very special book!

The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy

Picking up this book reminded me of those days back in middle school, when I used to go to the "classics" section of the bookstore, look for the thickest, most obscure book I could find and then see if I could read it. I'd get a stack o' books and sit right in the aisle, flipping through pages, reading prefaces, deciding which book to challenge myself with. (can't do THAT with a kindle!) I'm sure people thought I was weird. I think Tolstoy intimidated me even then... if I had even heard of him!  And this book could change your life. I guess you can probably figure out what it's about.

"It occurred to him that his scarcely perceptible attempts to struggle against what was considered good by the most highly placed people, those scarcely noticeable impulses which he had immediately suppressed, might have been the real thing, and all the rest false."

 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

It's just such a good book. I will love it forever. Now that my children are getting older, they love it, too. 

Why everybody liked him was what puzzled Jo, at first. He 
was neither rich nor great, young nor handsome; in no respect 
what is called fascinating, imposing, or brilliant; and yet he was 
as attractive as a genial fire, and people seemed to gather about 
him as naturally as about a warm hearth. He was poor, yet 
always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet 
everyone was his friend ; no longer young; but as happy-hearted 
as a boy 5 plain and odd; yet his face looked beautiful to many, 
and his oddities were freely forgiven for his sake. Jo often 
watched him, trying to discover the charm, and, at last, decided 
that it was benevolence which worked the miracle. If he had any 
sorrow "it sat with its head under its wing", and he turned only 
his sunny side to the world.

I'd love to hear about your favorite book - leave your thoughts in "comments".

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5 things I love about Katherine

This will be the first of a new series I'm starting. 5 Things. Keep an eye out...

5 Things I Love About Katherine

Katherine's 4th birthday was Tuesday. She has been waiting for a long time to be 4. She's disappointed that she wasn't quite a bit taller when she woke up on January 5th. But she had a good day anyway!

1. I love Katherine's name. Katherine Therese Gulde. We named her after the 3 women Doctors of the Church: Catherine of Siena (cool lady who told the pope to get back to Rome), St. Theresa of Avila (founder of the discalced (shoeless) Carmelites and author of Interior Castle) and St. Therese of Lisieux (the little flower hardly anyone knew about till her sister published her memoirs after her death at the age of 24).

Such a strong name. For a girl who will do amazing things in her life. Whether they get public acclaim or are done quietly in the sweetness of her heart. She will do great things.

2. I love Katherine's words. She says things like, "Can you please help me with my hungry situation?" and when she doesn't want us to get her face wet in the bath, she'll yell, "Don't touch my property!" (that one might come in handy in another way some day! :) )

If she's the slightest bit happy, she'll hop up and down, clap and squeal, "I LOVE IT!" like the ultimate cheerleader.

3. I love how Katherine's SO not like me!  She's an eternal optimist. She's an extrovert. If we were the same age in middle school, she'd probably be one of those girls that totally intimidated me. When she was an infant, the more people in the room, the more she smiled, giggled and cooed.  She tries to see the good side of everything. She's a performer through and through. She loves to sing. The other kids have dubbed her the "constant radio". She'll sing Christmas carols in June (as well as ALL Christmas long) and belt out Mylie Cyrus' "Party in the USA" like it was written for her.

At the dinner table, she want us to listen to HER. If we're all talking and she has something to share, she'll get up on her knees in her chair, clap her hands three times and yell, "Everyone listen to ME right now!" Sounds a bit bratty, but she's usually very justified. She doesn't let us ignore her. Which is good when you're the third child!

4. I love Katherine's girliness. She's very silly.She sleeps with her purse. She changes clothes on average of 4 times a day. She runs across the room and puts her hands behind her head so she can feel her hair flying behind her. She walks on her tip toes. Her favorite thing to do after dinner is wash dishes and sing. We think she thinks she's Cinderella.

5.  I love her mind. She thinks. At Curt's mom's funeral, she was the one of our children most concerned with heaven and where Grandma was.

During the Rosary, she told her cousin Michelle, "I don't want to die. Then I won't ever get to wear this dress again..."

On the way to the burial, she told us that Grandma wasn't dead, she was in the car behind us.

Last week she told Curt, "Grandma is in heaven. But she goes with Grandpa... Grandma and Grandpa are just supposed to go together, right? Like Nana and Pop and Grandpa and Dottie."

Last night, she decided that she might want to go to heaven. But, she had one request:

"Mom, can you just go up there real quick and see if there is ground. 'Cause I like ground."

"I'm afraid to fly."

I told her that if she wanted ground in heaven, Jesus would cover the whole thing up just for her.
That's how much He loves her.

We love you too, little Katherine!

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