My Favorite Things

My favorite things...

So after thinking of things I am thankful for I thought I would list my "favorite things". Kind of like Ophras list - only on the poor folk scale! I have seen Ophra's favorite items show a few times and I really like to see what new stuff she has on there but honestly... who can afford 1/2 of that stuff? So, I will list things you might actually use or purchase without taking a loan out! I will start with Purple Hippos... hippos are great and I think they are about my favorite animal. I have two of them staring at me right now as I type this list... but... I digress...here is my list. (Actually I think should have added - Putting three periods in a row like this... - pretty neat huh? Fun too, and one of my FAVORITE things to do!)

1)My Fiskars 12" paper cutter - It is one that cuts 12" papers - I use it ALL the time - probably daily! I love that you can get replacement blades. I have had mine forever and it still works like the day I got it!

2) C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine - I got this tube for Christmas last year from my mom (I think) - it is so yummy and really hydrates your lips, plus it gives them a little tint. I love love it!

3) Not really an item but something I use almost daily - the online library system. You go online and choose the books you want, then tell them which library you want them delivered to and wait for the email to tell me they are in. Then send my hubby to pick them up... :) I love this feature. I never can seem to find what I want when I am in the library and this way I get to search in all departments without leaving my chair! Now, I totally love going to the library as well and just browsing and touching all of the books but I cannot do it as often as I would like so this works!

4)Netflix - again, not an item but one of my favorite things. I get to sit here at night and find movies I am interested in and then put them on my Queue and presto they arrive in my mailbox. When we first signed up with Netflix we worried about not getting movies on time and having to wait but we haven't had that problem. We have a very fast turnaround. We mail the movie and it gets there the next day and then the next day they ship ours and then we get it the following day. We have three movies in circulation so we always have 1 or more movies here for our viewing.

5) Large visual timer - We originally got this clock to help with Kiera and her Sensory Processing Disorder but it has become a favorite tool for the whole household. It really helps with the kids because it is a visual reminder for them of the time they have left to complete or start something. We use it for all sorts of things, computer time, school work, taking baths, trampoline time, etc.

6)Pizza Stone - I use my pizza stone almost daily. It is perfectly seasoned (which means it will probably break soon!). I use it to cook most everything on. My favorite is cookies - it never burns them and cooks them very evenly. If you haven't used stoneware before - give a pizza stone a try. Only don't just use it for pizza - use it for everything (ok... not everything) you need to pop in the oven! And don't wash stoneware with soap. It is suppose to turn a dark color - that means it is seasoned well. They even have neat metal handles for holding your pizza stone. I have them but have never used them. I just use a hot mitt and that is that.

7) My Sigg Bottle - I have the Logic one. It goes everywhere with me. I LOVE it! I am a big water drinker and was buying bottles of water to take with me, or I was using a plastic reusable bottle. My friend Katie turned me on to these. She actually sells them in her home business. I linked to it above and I see that she has several of them on sale. Great Christmas idea! My sister also started selling http://www.sproutingup.com/kleankanteen.html. We have a few of them too. They are nice because you can get the ice cubes in them better but they don't have such cute designs. I love that I am helping the environment by using a reusable water bottle!

Happy Advent!

Happy Advent! I just love the Advent season. Today's Mass was beautiful with all of the purple around! Purple is for Preparation... I hope to post more in December on how our family is preparing for Jesus to come!

Here is a photo I took a few years ago of our Advent wreath. If you don't have an Advent wreath I would highly suggest getting one and lighting it nightly with your family at dinner. There are all sorts of prayers you can read while lighting the candle nightly. You will need one wreath and 3 purple candles and 1 pink candle. The pink candle is lit on the 3rd Sunday in Advent. You can find the candles at CnA (local Catholic Book store) or places like Prairie Gardens. My kids also enjoy making or doing a daily Advent calendar. You can purchase them at places like Michael's, Party Store, religious book stores, etc. You open a door or present every day of Advent. One year the kids got a Playmobil one - they opened a little piece to go with a Playmobil set each night. This year, I just got the candy calendars. I also saw online where you make your own calendar with rings of construction paper but on each ring you put something the child will "do" that day. I love that idea and think that we will make those tomorrow. We can use purple, pink and white as the construction paper colors.

Please feel free to share what you do special to celebrate Advent in your family.

Halloween Cuties

I never got to show off my Halloween cuties in their Costumes - here they are:


Meaghan was the White Witch from Narnia. She really wanted to wear an Indian Sari (like someone from India - not Native American) But she wanted to do this along with her Aunt Tori (and Tori was going to be in NY for Halloween) so... we created a last minute costume for her. We used an old white dress for the base and then I sewed on this sheer blue material and then made a fake fur cape. Meaghan made the icicle headpiece herself and it was the main attraction! The one drawback to her costume was that a lot of people thought she was the Statue of Liberty. I can see why they guessed that but she definitely didn't think so. :)

Nathaniel was a wizard. Everyone kept asking if he was a character from Lord of the Rings but he has never read nor seen LOR and so really has no idea who that is. He just wanted to be a wizard. I made his costume out of this beautiful brown velvety material. It has sequins every so often - beautiful material.

Connor was a clone from Star Wars. I have to say here that I just hate buying Halloween costumes. There is something in me that says that you should make them. I am sure this stems from my mom, who HATES Halloween by the way. She never let us trick-or-treat or anything like that but would make me these fabulous costumes every year. So, now I somehow feel I must do the same. Anyway... Connor saw this costume and LOVE LOVED it... I knew my homemade one, just wouldn't do the trick and so I conceded and bought it for him. He has worn it several times and I know will get good use out of it but I must admit (at least to you guys) that I just HATE IT! :)

And Kiera was a ballerina - of course! We found this costume at a used clothing sale and I scooped it up for her to play dress-up with. Well, she loved it so much that it became her costume for Halloween. Again - not homemade but very cute costume and I love the idea that it was a re-sale item.

Five Things I am Thankful For Today

My dear friend, from 4 is Crazy started a list of "5 Things to be Thankful for Today". With this being the day after Thanksgiving I thought I would create such a list too. I know I have lots to be thankful for but here is a start. Be sure to add this to your blog too and pass it on.

What I am thankful for today:

1) My faith - I am thankful that I am Catholic! I was raised without religion and so I began searching and questioning a lot during the high school and college years. I had a friend in college who was Catholic and invited me to go to Mass with her. I went and fell in love with the Catholic faith. I continued to go with her, then went through RCIA (formal program in which you learn more about the Catholic faith) and eventually was baptized in the Catholic church. My faith is very important to me and I cannot imagine my life without it.

2) My husband - I am thankful for Darren my dh (dear husband)! He works very hard at his job so that I can stay home with the kids. I feel so blessed that I get to do this. He provides for us and supports me at home. He is very encouraging about homeschooling and all of my crazy ideas (which can be many!). He also does those yucky things I hate to do around the house. Like mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, putting up the Christmas lights, taking the van in to have the oil changed, etc. He recently took the boys out to sell their popcorn and is now helping them deliver it. This is something I absolutely DETEST and yet he does it with a happy heart! I love him and all he does for me (us!) so much!

3) My family - I am so thankful for my 4 children (and those in heaven as well), they have made me the person I am today. I never knew life could be so fun, amazing and wonderful! Take tonight for instance... I spent the last several hours (yes hours!!!) with the kids playing a video game. It was such a joy seeing them play together, as well as with me. They seem to find great joy in beating me! I wouldn't change these "mommy moments" for the WORLD! I am also very thankful for my sisters, sister-in-laws, parents, in-laws, etc. I am certainly blessed to have so many loving and caring family members. I just love family get-togethers anymore - there are more children every year in my family(3 new babies this year!) and it seems to be more and more fun! There are definately great advantages to being in a large family, especially when everyone in that large family HAS a large family of their own!

4) My friends - I am thankful for all of the caring friends I have. As you all know I am not very good in the friend department and so I am thankful that I have the friends I do. I hope they know that I do care about them and thank God for each of them. And if I haven't called (you all know I hate calling on the phone), emailed or seen you in awhile - know that I am thinking of you and hope to see you soon!

5) Our freedom - I am thankful that I live in a country that has the freedoms that we do. We have been studying history in our homeschool lately and I must admit that I never loved history but lately I find it fascinating and cannot seem to get enough of it. Anyway - I just didn't realize how very lucky we were to live in a place where we can worship freely, have a voice, a right to vote, and so much more. I am thankful for this and those who took those big steps and changed history time and time again.

Busy November

Life here has been crazy as usual. We actually went to New York last week to see my sister, Pam, and her family. Darren had a job in Canada and so we hitched a ride. I was hoping that she would have her baby (#6 for her) while we were out there but she didn't. She ended up having a little boy (after 5 GIRLS!) on November 18th! The 18th is a pretty awesome day to be having a baby though! I am so excited that they finally had a BOY! We celebrated Meaghan's birthday while we were there. She really wanted to go see her cousins - so it was a nice birthday treat for her. We also went to the Strong Children's Museum in Rochester again- it was a great day! The kids had tons of fun and best of all it was FREE for us! We purchased a year membership to "most" Children's Museums in the US - we got ours in Decatur. It has sure been worth it! I think we paid a little over $100 for the year and we have access to all sorts of great museums. The last one we went to was in St. Louis - The Magic House! Fabulous museum - in fact we are planning on going again in December.

So this week we got back to work on school. It is hard to get back into the groove after taking a week off but I want to take next week and do a special Thanksgiving Lapbook and Unit so we had lots to get done this week. Here is where I got the Lapbook we will be working on. It is from Live and Learn Press If you haven't looked into lapbooking before - give it a try!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. Darren is on vacation. We don't have any grand plans though. I wish we were going to Disney World but here we sit in the cold... Although after Thanksgiving comes the rush of Advent and Christmas. Next week I have to find my Advent Wreath!!! And prepare for St. Nicholas to come!

I will have photos from Meg's birthday and my new nephew soon!

All Souls Day

Aladar Korosfoi-Kriesch
All Souls' Day --1910 Oil on canvas, 51,5 x 72,5 cm
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
(It is a Hungarian tradition to go to cemeteries to honor the dead)

Yesterday was All Saints Day and that is a day to remember the glories of Heaven and those Saint's that are already in Heaven.

Today we observed All Souls Day. As Roman Catholics we honor today as a day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away and are still in purgatory.

All Souls' Day reminds us of our obligations to live holy lives and that there will be purification of the souls of those destined for Heaven (in purgatory). We pray for the faithful departed, those who have been baptized, but who need to be completely purified of all stain of sin before they come into full union with God in Heaven.

I thought about one of the first people I ever knew who died - Florance Standley. She was a neighbor of ours growing up and she died when she was pretty young. I loved Florance. I remember biking to her house, we would stop in to say Hi and she would always have a cool drink and cookies. Now, as a parent I appreciate it even more! She also taught me to blow on a piece of grass and make a whistle sound.

I also remember my friend Mike Griffith today. We were good friends growing up and he committed suicide shortly after Darren and I were married. It was awful loosing a friend that way. It just made me wonder if I could have done or said something more to him. His mother was so heartbroken as I can only imagine.

My grandparents were both killed in a car accident right before my wedding. That was tough. I so wanted them to be there. They had never met Darren in person. And that spring was their 50th Wedding Anniversary. I couldn't get work off (which was a $5 NOTHING job!) and so I didn't go. They died shortly afterwards. I SOOOO regret not going to the Anniversary. It would have been the last time we all would have been together. I hope I don't make that type of mistake again. Family and family memories are non-replaceable. A job is! I miss my grandma so much! I think of her often and try to talk about her to keep her memory alive. I just so wish my kids could have known her.

And recently we lost Darren's brother - Mike. This loss is still very fresh in our minds. We miss him so much and we pray for his soul every day. I so hope that he is in heaven with our Lord. This Christmas is going to be very hard on everyone in the McCoy family.

I know I have lost many others through the years but I thought I would just remember a few on my blog. If you think about it - say a prayer for the loved ones you have lost today and maybe say a prayer for those that don't have anyone praying for them -the lost souls.