B is for....

...Being a Bit late. Only through the letter B? Shameful. Actually, we are about halfway through C, but still...it's going very slowly. What can I say? We have been crazy busy, and preschool-y projects sometimes have to be postponed. Between corn maze trips, Halloween, All Saints Day, and painfully adjusting to new schedules...plus, letter B covered a lot of ground, as you will see.

**edited to add, I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and forgot to finish it up and post it! So, B is for a Bit Befuddled...**

First we did the Little Saints unit on Birds...



(Henry stringing Cheerios to make a birdfeeder)


Here we are digging up some dirt to make an earthworm habitat. Not sure how this ties into birds...though some birds eat worms, yes? In any case, it was in the Little Saints unit, and it impressed the heck out of my kids!

Doesn't Tess look annoyed? I'm not sure why she looked this way. She is not bothered about getting dirty.

Even Mary wanted to "help".


I used bait shop worms..."baby" nightcrawlers. They were huge!


And then the By Sea and Sky unit. I don't think I got a picture of our books for that one. I'll snag a couple of images from amazon. In that unit we learned about airplanes, hot air balloons,

boats, and other things that float and sink. This is just a few of the books we read!



(making gliders with a kit from Oriental Trading)




a tray of items that float and sink






B is also for Beading rosaries...

And really long *Bangs* (she cut her hair again, sigh)


A Beaded letter "B"

and Jack's fall Baseball season...


and his ninth Birthday.

the cake is a Wii remote. You can tell that, right? Say yes....


Three freshly Butchered pumpkins (I had to get this picture in with the letter B somehow..)


Bingo games we made with this website. We have made a shapes bingo and a number recognition bing...great for reinforcing Tess's math.




Baking letter "B" bread


sorting Beans



Thanks for joining me on this Belated letter "B" Brain dump! Next up, the letter "C", for Cool fall weather and Colors. Hopefully I will get it up here before winter arrives!

{p,h,f,r}, completely random edition

Ok, I have not planned this at all this week so I have no idea what I'm posting. I'm just going to wing it!

This *pretty* picture is actually the last one I'm posting. I put this picture on facebook but I'm out of time...the baby is waking...so I'm going to post it here too. A *pretty* girl doing a picture study of *pretty* art cards. This picture was of Pot of Geraniums by Matisse.


*happy* kids playing in leaf piles!


a *funny* picture of Mary Claire at our neighborhood park. It's blurry and dark because it was taken at night. We had a spur of the moment pajama run for ice cream and a spontaneous stop at the park to swing in the dark. The kids thought it was hysterical!


I have one small person that loves meat. I have one that loves carbs. This is a *real* picture of their leftovers one night. We had bowtie pasta with bacon and tomatoes, italian bread...John says we should just have them swap plates halfway through the meal.

7 quick takes- procrastinator's edition

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, yes? Ah well...I am a procrastinator. I am, in fact, The Master Procrastinator. I don't know that I've actually ever DONE 7QT before...but here goes!

1. See this? It's a Jesse Tree Ornament Swap, if you are unmotivated to actually look. Procrastinated it! Still, did manage to sliiiide under the wire and get them mailed off. I can't wait until the collection comes in the mail! So many bloggers I have read over the years are participating, it will feel like having friends all over our Jesse Tree. :)

2. We didn't finish all our schoolwork yesterday. We have done even less today. This has been a pattern we need to break. I start off the week with a bang, and then fizzle out. Each week we slide a leeeeetle more behind in the syllabi. Sigh.

3. We haven't been to the Latin mass in several weeks now. I keep hemming and hawing on this. I love our parish..it's close by, we are very involved in the PSR and Life Teen programs, and our priest is wonderful. But, I love the Latin mass, and the priest there is also wonderful. I feel like we should kind of bloom where we are planted. But we have very few actual friends in our local parish even though we have gone there for years,,,there's this "not really fitting in" thing...so I think it would be better for my kids to see their Catholic homeschooling friends more than once in a blue moon. Waffle, waffle...any thoughts? Help me waffle some more?

4. I *finally* finished planting our fall flowers. Is this weird to northerners? I guess they don't plant fall flowers, huh? But we plant pansies and mums and they can do quite well.. In milder winters, I have had my pansies live through the next spring even.

5. I am having such a hard time getting a grip on housework. I mean, even more than usual. There are just so many little people here now, and I'm interrupted so often, and it gets undone so darn quickly. But I know I need to just put on my big girl pants and get caught up. I'm going to be pregnant like tomorrow, you know that, right? It's going to happen. And once that happens, I know it's only going to be so much more difficult to do these things and I will wish for the time back that I wasted...see? Master Procrastinator.

6. Our evening shift schedule has required further tweaking, mainly in the area of mealtimes. We are all kinds of weird now, having meals at 10am, 3pm, and 7pm. The kids' bedtimes are a bit later too, and I feel so odd about that. It's such an ingrained "good mom" thing, to have the kids up and at school early, and to bed early. I have to keep reminding myself that this is one of the advantages of homeschooling, this flexibility.

7. You long-time readers remember my nephew, Kain? Please pray for him. You might remember he has been living with my parents for a year and a half. It hasn't been going well. I can't really go into details publicly on the blog. He is almost 14 and I don't want to embarrass him. Just suffice it to say that the problems he had here have continued in spades there, and he is going to be in a long-term residential placement. It is heartbreaking for us all.

My inept attempt at a Veteran's Day post

I am not a veteran. I am not married to one now. I was, when I was very young, married to a very young private that was stationed in Iraq for a few months. My father is one, and he was active when I was very young, so young that I have no memory of it. My grandfather was a marine, a proud one (is there any other?). And my husband now works taking care of aging vets. That is the extent of my military experience. So I feel kind of stupid in a post like this, trying to give appreciation to someone who's sacrifices I know I can't even really grasp. I hope it's enough to know that I *do* try to grasp them, and you are loved and thought of today for what you do and have done.

A long time ago I did some research on some lyrics to patriotic songs I remembered learning as a child, wanting to teach them to my own children, and I was impressed by how God-fearing these lyrics were. I think I even blogged about it back then. I was doing this again today. Here's the last verse to the Star Spangled Banner:

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

How about "O Beautiful":


America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is just one big hymn, really:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

My personal favorite, a verse from "My Country Tis of Thee":

Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.


Are kids even allowed to learn these lyrics in public school today? I'll bet not. How very far we have fallen, and how quickly! I learned these lyrics in public school not that very long ago. Those long ago veterans must be rolling in their graves. May God shower blessings on our veterans, and have mercy on our country.

p,h,f,r- Costume Edition

I'm going to totally make this link up work for posting Halloween and All Saint's pictures. Let's see...Tess is an obvious pick for "pretty", in her pretty butterfly costume.

This was taken at the nursing home John is working at now. We trick or treated there, which was just about our speed this year. This is the third year I think Tess has been a butterfly or fairy. Any excuse to wear a tutu and sparkly wings.

She was Mother Teresa for All Saint's Day...her name Saint!


Jack was very *happy* Momma sprang for this overpriced costume. He very badly wanted to be Mario.

He was Saint Anthony for All Saint's Day. Notice all the missing objects glued to his robe?



Here's Henry, quite *happy* as a fireman!


Mary was a very *funny* little giraffe for Halloween.

And here's a *funny* picture of Maria after she returned from trick or treating with her friend.

And, in the name of keeping it *real*...

Here's Henry as Saint Blaise, in a costume idea I totally stole from Charlotte,,,thank you Charlotte! This picture was taken at our church.

But here's what happened at our All Saint's Day party when it was time for him to parade his costume for everyone. Anxiety attack.

Back at the church, this is what happened when I tried to get a picture of all the kids together. Hmph.


I finally had to have John hold Mary to get a picture of her as St. Lucia.

She actually wore a white dress with a red ribbon around her waist to the party, but when it was time for mass I couldn't find the dress...she ended up in this red one. Ah well.