Have you voted for your favorite Homeschool Blogs for the 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards?  My blog has been nominated in the "Best Homeschool Variety Blog" Category! Go HERE to vote for your favorite! ;)

No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH) that I co-host has been nominated in the "Best Family or Group Blog".  Go HERE to vote for NOBH. Thanks!

Have you voted for your favorite Homeschool Blogs for the 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards?  My blog has been nominated in the "Best Homeschool Variety Blog" Category! Go HERE to vote for your favorite! ;)

No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH) that I co-host has been nominated in the "Best Family or Group Blog".  Go HERE to vote for NOBH. Thanks!

I just saw that Lacy over at Catholic Icing has made Mass Response Booklets for Kids because at the beginning of Advent (Nov. 27 !) all Catholic Churches will begin using the third edition of the Roman Missal and some of the responses during Mass will be a little different. And as our great music minister says in his weekly bulletin write-up about these changes..."some new words, a deeper meaning, but the same Mass."   So be sure to head over to Lacy's great blog post HERE and print out your booklet for Free! Thanks Lacy for sharing all your hard work! 


Speaking of Mass preparations, I wanted to share a fun way that helps prepare myself and my children for the upcoming Sunday Gospel readings.

Usually on Thursday afternoons, we have "Tea Time" which is an idea that I learned from the Catholic mother and author, Elizabeth Foss.  We used to drink tea during tea time, but now it's milk with our goodies. :)  Anyway, during tea time, I sit down with my children at the dining room table (a table we don't use that often except for tea time and other special occasions), bring out their own real tea cups, light a candle or two and read the scripture that will be coming up for the upcoming Sunday Mass.  I also lay out a colored piece of fabric to match the liturgical season.  So for awhile now we have had our green cloth out to represent Ordinary Time in the liturgical season. Soon we will display the purple cloth at tea time as we enter the Advent season. 

After we read the scripture for the upcoming Sunday, I print out the coloring page that corresponds to the Gospel reading that is provided by Lisa Hendey at CatholicMom dot com.  Lisa has a wealth of activities for each Sunday and it's a wonderful resource to prepare for the upcoming Sunday Gospels.

Have you voted for your favorite Homeschool Blogs for the 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards?  My blog has been nominated in the "Best Homeschool Variety Blog" Category! Go HERE to vote for your favorite! ;)

No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH) that I co-host has been nominated in the "Best Family or Group Blog".  Go HERE to vote for NOBH. Thanks!

A new park just opened on our side of town which is bike riding distance from our home and takes a few minutes to drive to in our car.  It is a beautiful park that we have watched being developed over the past 3 years or so.  There is a picturesque lake with a 1.4 mile paved walking/bike path around it.   On the lake there is a dock where canoes and kayaks can enter and the lake is filled with fish too and my children have enjoyed catching a few fish with friends. 


There is also a great playground for the kids to play on with a picnic shelter.  Recently the park officially opened and I shot some fun photos while my children and I enjoyed the beautiful weather at the new park.



I just found out that my blog is a Homeschool Blog Award Nominee for the annual Homeschool Blog Awards hosted by The Homeschool Post! Thank you for nominating my blog!  My blog is listed under the "Best Homeschool Variety Blog" (Category #14)  and you can go HERE to cast your vote if you think my blog is "vote worthy".  :)  There are over 1,000 blogs nominated in the 20 categories so have fun choosing your favorite blogs in each category.  Click HERE for more details on how to vote and for a list of all the categories. 

Although I'm a little late with wishing everyone a Happy Hallows Eve or Halloween, I thought it's never too late to share this great article from the internet that addresses what Halloween is really about.  The article is titled How Halloween Can Be Redeemed .

I especially agree with the two opening paragraphs in "How Halloween Can Be Redeemed" :

Among many Christians, there has been concern that things have gotten out of hand. After all, doesn’t Halloween glorify evil? Is it right to send our children out as devils and vampires, or is it better to emphasize the saints, whose nearly forgotten feast day is the reason for Halloween? Hallow is the same word for "holy" that we find in the Lord’s Prayer, and e’en is a contraction of "evening." The word Halloween itself is a shortened form of "All Hallows Eve," the day before All Saints Day. In this Update we’ll consider how Catholics can "redeem" Halloween. This holiday, properly understood and celebrated with all of its fun trappings, can be a way for us to deepen our understanding of our faith. The key to this understanding is close at hand for Catholics in our love of the communion of saints."

My family enjoys all the festivities surrounding this holiday and focuses on All Saints Day.  My children love to dress up and candy so Halloween is an exciting time for them.  They also enjoy learning about the lives of the saints and dressing up as their favorite saints.

So on Halloween, my kids and some friends dressed up before we went out trick or treating.  My oldest daughter was Artemis, the goddess of hunting (she loves Greek mythology), our son was a ninja, our 7 year old daughter got together with her friend to be a BFF locket, and our youngest was a cowgirl in a ballet leotard with boots :) Hey, whatever works :)  

Saint Faustina


Lots of saint games, holy cards, and candy prizes.  Here are a few out of many that the kids played:

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