How Do I Do It All?

Scoops & Cereal: "It's a Good Thing!"

In the spirit of Martha Stewart's, "Good Things", I say that scoops/measuring cups are a good thing when it comes to cereal. This morning my kiddos happily served their own cereal out of the box virtually mess free using a small scoop type measuring cup. Why in the world had I not done this sooner? Even my soon to be 3 year old could do it. I am a happy mama today :)

Baby M's Home Water Birth

Thank you all for your sweet comments regarding our new baby girl! It is such a blessing to now have our 4 older boys and 2 little girls!

It was such a wonderful birth! Our first son was born in the hospital, and after that experience, we knew we wanted something different. Ever since then, we've had home births and really loved it, but this time I tried a water birth and it was great! The lovely woman I bought my birth pool from recommended an herbal tincture called Smooth Transitions by a company called Wish Garden Herbs. Wow! What a difference this made to me! In the past, Transition has been a time when I "start talking crazy!". I start doubting myself and thinking the pain is too much to bear. I asked my husband to remind me that when I start my "crazy talk",  I was likely in transition and the baby would soon come. After hearing me say that I would like to drive myself to the hospital and ask for a cesarean so I could be knocked out and not feel anything, he got really excited and said, "I think you're in transition!". Once I heard him say that, I went over and took Smooth Transitions tincture, and soon enough I was taking control over my labor and asking my husband to fill the birth pool and call our midwife. I was so blessed to have a short labor this time around. My contractions were very strong, but not as close as they were when I had my other children. We had our sweet baby girl just 1 hour after our midwife arrived!

Here are a few things that helped me have the best home birth experience ever this time around:

1. Letting myself go completely with each contraction when I realized I was really in labor. Moving around rhythmically really helped a lot!

2. ContractionMaster.com This website let me time the contractions and keep track of how far apart they were. As I tried to sleep because the contractions were still only 15 minutes apart, I had our iPad in the bed and just had to click start and stop.

3. Lavender Essential Oil! I have always used this in the past, and it has always made a world of a difference for me. This time I put some drops into a tissue and just put it up to my nose and breathed it in during contractions.

4. A wooden hand held massage tool. I used this on myself while my husband was filling the pool. During contractions as I was pacing around I used one hand to smell the lavender and the other to massage my back with the tool. It was really nice to be in control and know exactly how much pressure to exert and where.

5. Pandora.com I created a station on there called Nature Sounds, and had my husband play it for me in the background. It was really soothing and calming to hear waves and rain, etc. in the background.

6. We set up the birth pool in my daughters room. She went to sleep in the boys room that night, along with my aunt and mom, so I had it all to myself. We have a white paper star lantern in her room, and that was the only lighting we had on in there. I also really love the Giant Rainbow play silks hanging in her room. The soft glow from the star lantern and the pretty rainbow silks made for a very tranquil and welcoming environment for our new baby to come. It was so peaceful in there and the soft nature sounds in the background were the perfect addition to the environment.

7. Having herbal tinctures really made a difference! I used different ones at different times, during my hour of labor: Bach's Rescue Remedy, Bach's White Chestnut flower essence, and Smooth Transitions by Wish Garden Herbs. Smooth Transitions was absolutely wonderful in helping to snap me in to delivery mode when I was starting to "loose it" and feel the pain was too much to handle.

8. Natural ginger ale really helped for when I began feeling queasy and nauseous.

9. Trusting my instincts. Each birth is different and you never know what to expect. Although my contractions were still at about 4-5 minutes apart, I felt like I needed to push. Sure enough with the first push, my husband excitedly announced, "I see the baby's head!". I really wasn't expecting the baby to come so soon. In the past, I wasn't pushing until my contractions were coming like crashing waves, one after another without a break. This time around, I just went with my instinct and sure enough the baby came quite quickly. I was pleasantly surprised!

10. Choosing to have a water birth! The comfort the water provided was so awesome, I only wish I had done it before! The pool I got is called, Birth Pool in a Box, and it was very comfortable. It was large enough to fit both my husband and I, deep enough to be covered with water, and the floor was padded which was really great. The water soften the sharpness of the contractions, and when it came time to push it was easy to get into whatever position felt comfortable to me. The pain one feels when pushing was eased tremendously for me as well. If it is God's will for us to have more children, I definitely want to try for a water birth again.

Happy Feast of Pentecost!

We'll be going to our friends house for cupcakes to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost and the birthday of the Catholic Church! Check out some great ideas for Pentecost over at Catholic Icing!

Hymn

Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest,

And in our hearts take up Thy rest;

Come with Thy grace and heav'nly aid

To fill the hearts which Thou hast made,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O Comfort Blest to Thee we cry,

Thou heav'nly Gift of God most high;

Thou fount of life and fire of love,

And sweet anointing from above,
And sweet anointing from above.

Praise be to Thee Father and Son,
And Holy Spirit Three in one;
And may the Son on us bestow
The gifts that from the Spirit flow,
The gifts that from the Spirit flow.

I found this Youtube Video where you can listen to the hymn:

Having a Cow?

Our midwife came over for my first check up last night. The children were really excited to hear the baby's heartbeat, as were my husband and I. When our midwife asked the kids what they thought the baby would be, these were the results:
The oldest two boys: A girl
The five year old boy: A boy
The 3 year old boy: A COW!
Toddler girl: No comment, but I bet she's hoping she's not stuck sharing her room with a cow!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12

We had a little Mexican celebration for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
My husband is a full time musician and went to sing, "En tu Dia", (On Your Day) and "Buenos Dias Paloma Blanca", (Good Morning White Dove). Here is a quick video I took of his group practicing "En tu Dia" at our house a few days before the 12th:

On the morning of Our Ladys feast, my 7 year old and I woke up early to go buy roses and pan Mexicano (Mexican sweet bread). We enjoyed the pan after breakfast along with a cup of Mexican hot chocolate.After breakfast the children colored Charlotte's picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe and then later watched the CCC DVD, Juan Diego: Messenger of Guadalupe.

Finally, for dinner we had pork tamales, Mexican rice, beans, chicken mole (mol-eh), corn tortillas and tomatillo salsa. It was a real treat! To top it off we had an ice cold pitcher of horchata to drink:

Last Tribute to Autumn

I've wanted to post these pictures for a while and yet have been so busy! Last night I saw this post by Jessica who just welcomed her new baby girl, Rose, into the world. I thought to myself, "She just had a baby and is already blogging about it!", Surely I had to find the time to post about what we've been up to the past two months.

In November, we went to a beautiful lavender/organic farm with our Catholic Montessori home school group. They usually don't allow visitors unless there is a public event going on, but they were kind enough to let us have an Autumn nature walk with the children.

All Saints Day 2009

We had a great time preparing for the Feast of All Saints on All Hallows Eve. We had pizza & pasta for dinner, then listened to St. Anthony's Glory Story while we carved Saint O' Lanterns and munched on Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies and drank apple cider. Afterwards my husband lit a fire and read Father Phillip Tells a Ghost Story: A Story of Divine Mercy. It was a great night! On All Saints Day,the kids dressed up as St. Peter Claver, St. Patrick, St. Juan Diego, and St. Michael. We had more pizza and lots of treats and goodies mixed in with games. It was a great weekend for our family and we look forward to it again next year! Oh, and my husband won 2nd place in the Adult category for Saint-O-Lanterns, and I won 3rd!

Fun at the State Fair!

We had a blast at the State Fair recently and I just posted some pics on our Montessori co-op's blog. Check it out at St. Francis of Assisi Montessori Academy

For those of you who don't know, my husband and I are hosting a 3-6 traditional Catholic Montessori co-op in our home this year! All of the families involved have the hopes of opening up a Catholic Montessori school for the little one's all the way through high school. We have been working toward this goal since the beginning of June this year, and the start of the co-op is a wonderful beginning toward our school. Our group started a blog to document the journey and as time allows,we will post what the kids are up to, special outings, and feast day celebrations! Check it out at the link above!

What we did on Monday!

Photo courtesy of St. Francis of Assisi Montessori Academy

Check out our great day at our Montessori home school co-op blog:

St. Francis of Assisi Montessori Academy

Last Saturday of Summer: Farmers Market, Parade, & Urban Farming Harvest Festival

We had a great day yesterday. In the morning we went to the Farmers market and bought apples for our Montessori co-op this week, we also bought flowers so the children could arrange them and put them on our little class altar. We sat on the grass and enjoyed some bluegrass music and tasted some delicious fire baked pizza from an oven brought all the way from Naples Italy!

Later we went to a parade and festival at an art school where my husband teaches. The children enjoyed seeing some old cars turned into garden beds for pumpkins and sunflowers. We even saw a tumbleweed sculpture there. It was pretty cool.

After lunch and naps, we headed out once again for an urban farming harvest festival. We got to enjoy an afternoon hayride underneath clear blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds. It was a lot of fun and later we got to watch a short documentary on our local "farm to table" program. That got the children all worked up about eating the apples we bought at the farmers market earlier that day. It was a really great day, one that we'll surely remember! Thank you Lord Jesus for days like this! The pictures below are snippets from our day. Enjoy!

Too much writing?

Here is an example from my 6 year olds daily journal from yesterday. It's a lot of writing and I'm having to help him. My 7 year old is starting to like the daily journal entries and becoming more self motivated. I wonder if this is too much writing though? The NAMC classroom guide I have suggested they keep a daily journal. I asked my friend Mary, who is a teacher, what she thought. I'll share her answer with you once she responds if you are curious.

6 year old:
Thursday, September 3, 2009
8:45-8:50 am
Prayer and Pledge
8:50-8:55 am
Calendar
8:55-9:00 am
Worked on daily journal
9:00-9:05
Sat quietly
9:05-9:15
Presentation of minute sand timer
9:15-9:30 am
Decorated daily journal
9:30-9:32 am
Continued time line activity
9:32-9:35 am
Listened to 3rd day Creation story
9:35-9:52 am
Joined Diego in Bible Timeline cards activity
9:55-10:05 am
Colored pg. 2 in Genesis 1 book
10:05-10:12 am
Worked with Montessori small hexagon box
10:12-10:40 am
Worked with circles from Geometric cabinet.
Matched circles to solid, thick, and thin line cards in order of diameter
10:40-10:45 am
Worked on putting solar system cards in order of distance from the sun
Did matching extension activity.
10:45-10:50
Practiced reading names of the planets by myself
10:50-10:55
3-period lesson on recognizing: Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth astronomy cards
10:55-11:03
3-period lesson on continent globe. Recognized location and name of all 7
11:03-11:05 am
Used continent puzzle map to name continents
11:05-11:20 am
Chose to look at book on North America
11:20-11:39
Listened to Mami read book on North America. Discussed North America. Decided to check out library book on Greenland.
11:40-11:47
Worked with phonics 3-part cards
11:50-12pm
Read HOP book #9 to Mami
12pm
Break for lunch and recess

2nd day of School!

My 6 year old son working with cards of the planets at 10:20 am today

Today was the second day of school for our lower elementary class. For those of you curious, I thought I'd post both my 6 and 7 year old's journal entries today so you can compare how some things are the same and others can vary. We had another short day because of my husbands work schedule. As soon as school starts for the 3-6 class this will get better. I can't complain though! It is a blessing to have my husband's help to watch the little one's in the first place and it is a blessing that in this economy we are still getting business.

Journal entry for my 6 year old:
Wednesday September 2
9:25-9:30 am
Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance
9:30-9:40 am
Calendar and days of the week
9:40-9:45
Continued time line activity
9:45-10:05 am
Listened to creation story from the New Catholic Picture Bible pg.9 and discussed
10:05-10:20
Used colored pencils to color page 1 in Genesis 1 book
10:20-10:40 am
Worked on putting solar system cards in order of distance from the sun. Want to learn more about the solar system. Decided to check out library book on the sun for further study.
10:40-10:55
Repeated solar system card activity with matching extension.
10:55-11:10 am

Observed wasp and beetle specimens under magnifying glass.
11:10-11:15 am
Looked at World globe with magnifying glass
11:15-11:20 am
Reviewed 3-period lesson on continent globe. Will continue review of continents tomorrow.
11:20-11:25 am
Worked on daily journal
11:25-11:30
Clean up and dismissal

Journal entry for my 7 year old:
Wednesday, September 2
9:25-9:30 am
9:30-9:40 am
Calendar and days of the week
9:40-9:45 am
Continued time line activity
9:45-10:05 am
Listened to the story of creation from the New Catholic Picture Bible pg. 9 and discussed
10:05-10:20 am
Read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
10:20-11:05
Worked on daily journal alone and then with Mami
11:05-11:08
Looked at world globe with magnifying glass
11:10-11:20
Drew and colored picture of God creating the sky for my creation booklet
11:20-11:30
Cleanup and dismissal

The purpose of these journals is to document what the children are learning and to teach them planning, time management skills, and record keeping. I think these are great practical life skills for the elementary students! At the end of the week, we will go over the journals and set goals for the next week. Soon they will learn that they need to keep a well rounded balance of all the subjects and can plan to dedicate more time to what is needed. Given our time constraints and it being the first couple of days, it is looking pretty good so far. The daily journal is a new activity for them so we are having to adjust. The writing is taking a lot of time right now, but it is also great penmanship and spelling practice. So far, they really like being able to look at the written record of the what they've been learning and doing in the past couple of days.

1st Day of School!

7 year old at 10:15 am

Caught! 7 year old was supposed to be outside playing after lunch, and instead I found him reading in the classroom!

Today was our lower elementary first day of school. I've got a 6 and 7 year old in the class.
The children will keep a daily journal documenting their activities throughout the day. Here's a peek into my 6 year old's activities from his journal:
8:45-9:00 am
Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance
9:00-9:15 am
Classroom Orientation
9:15-9:25 am
Calendar and talked about time
9:25-9:40 am
Worked on creating a daily time line strip
9:40-10 am
Heard Creation Story and had discussion
10:00 -10:20 am
Drew a picture of darkness and God creating light
10:20-10:35 am
observed bug with magnifying glass
10:35-11:05 am
Practiced phonics
11:05-12:00 pm
Great Adventure Kids bible time line card game
12:00-12:05
Clean up and break for lunch

My husband works from home and helped to watch our 4, 3, and 17 month old, but had to go out for work in the early afternoon. Because of this, our 1st day was done at noon. On most days, school for the lower elementary children will resume at 1:15 and continue until 3:15. For today, we watched the Padre Pio movie in Spanish with English subtitles. I reminded the children how blessed they are to be able to understand and speak both English and Spanish. Some days it is a struggle to keep the Spanish language alive with them, but we are persevering. The children were really into the movie and my 7 year old said, "It touched his heart".

Our 3 and 4 year old will be starting on September 14th. We'll be hosting a 3-6 homeschooling co-op in our garage, Monday through Friday 8:30am-noon. There will be 5 (possibly 6) children in the 3-6 class and 4 families including mine are participating. I've been really busy with that project and our goal is to start an actual Catholic Montessori school. We're very excited and will most likely be starting a blog to document our on going project. I'll let you know when we get that up and running.

"Summertime, and the living is easy"

copyrighted photo by my handsome husband

Wouldn't that be nice?

Life is never really quite what you expect it to be. What's that they say?
"If you want to make God laugh, make plans."

I asked my husband to stop me if I came up with any ideas to start a new business. It seems my mind is always working and always coming up with something new, although this time around it was him who approached me with an awesome idea that we're going to work on in the "slower" winter months. Anyhow, I told him I was just going to concentrate on the kids schooling and try to double that as my hobby. If anything, for some variety, I would take up baking and sewing.
My plans for this summer were to visit at least once a week one of the following because we have memberships: the zoo, botanic gardens, aquarium, and local kids hands on science museum in addition to our weekly trip to the library.

We were off to a good start at the beginning, but got off track with a "spur of the moment" trip to visit family in another state. It was lots of fun and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I'm the type of person who is really happy following a routine with a little bit of flexibility. Once I get off that track, I'm kind of like an ant who gets off course when a twig or stone is put in the way of it's path.

Besides taking our out of state trip, I recently got involved with a group of friends wanting to start a Catholic Montessori school. So far, it has taken a lot of my time and brain power! However, a valuable lesson I have learned is to not put too much on my plate and remember to take care of my primary responsibilites.

On a side note, two weeks ago I got my four wisdom teeth taken out at the same time and my lower right lip and chin are still numb! I've been slow to heal and can't really eat much solids so I've been drinking a lot of V8 and eating yogurt and berries lovingly made by my husband. Looking at the silver lining, I've unintentionally lost a few pounds and could probably stand to loose a few more (5 babies in almost 8 years of marriage will give you a good baby pouch!).

So far, summer has been busy, but we've definitely had some great moments in there. Birthday parties, 4th of July, family sleep out in the clubhouse, concerts in the park, as well as many more to surely come.

Anyway,the UPS man has been good to us and brought some cool Montessori resources for this coming school year. I'm excited to share my excitement for the goodies with you, in hopes that it will help you in your own homeschooling/schooling endeavors. Stay tuned!

Blessed...

Today my eldest son, (6 going on 7) fell and cut his leg open. He sliced his leg right on top of another scar he already had. He takes after his mama in that he cuts and bruises so easily.

My heart was absolutely broken as I held his little skin together trying to hold it closed with gauze and band aids. I called my husband and had him take our son to the doctor for stitches. When he came home, as we sat at the table together I said to him, "Pobrecito mijito". Meaning, "My poor little son". At this, my boy looks up at me and says, "Mami, don't feel sorry for me. I'm offering this up. Feel sorry for Jesus and how he suffered for our sins". I was just in awe at his words. Such wise words said with such confidence. My little son. I get choked up thinking of his words to me. How I love him, how I love them all. Each and every little gift God has blessed me with. They are truly His, and I see Him working in them and through them and I blessed because of it.

For my Birthday:

When my husband asked me to choose a birthday gift last week, this is what I asked for:

The above wooden toys are from the German company, Grimms Spiel und Holz and can be bought at Three Sisters Toys here in the U.S.A. and elsewhere. Aren't they pretty? As far as toys go, I'm pretty picky about them. The less toys the better and the simpler they are the better too. I am a firm believer that if children do have any toys they should be carefully chosen to be open ended. Blocks, art supplies and play silks are my favorite items for them aside from having them play outside and enjoy God's creation in nature. Besides educational books, "just for fun books" can be wonderful fun too. Again I am very careful and prefer books with illustrations and content that inspires them with rich and wholesome storytelling, beautiful artwork, and that are not in poor taste with crude humor or gross drawings, etc..

I am looking forward for the package to arrive in the mail tomorrow! My husband wanted to get me something I would enjoy, so he was hesitant when I asked for the stacking rainbow and stepped rainbow blocks because they were for the children. For me, there's nothing like the joy of seeing children engrossed in creating something beautiful, be it with blocks, sticks and twigs, in art and more. I think I am going to enjoy these wooden blocks and arches just as much as the kids. I am looking forward to playing with them alongside them too. Just to test them out of course! ;)

READING RAINBOW!

Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high....

Who else loves Reading Rainbow? Although we don't really watch tv, my kids love the Reading Rainbow episodes our local library has on DVD. Last year our 6 year old won 1st place in the local portion of the Reading Rainbow," Young Authors and Illustrators Contest". This year both our 6 and 5 year old are entering, so our house has been a mess of paints, glue, colored papers and more for the past few days! It's a bit chaotic, but it is so cool to see their books coming along! They are really excited to make their submissions and have learned a lot about the writing and illustrating process along the way.

Here are a few books that the children have used as inspiration and for researching various illustrating techniques:



















I just love picture books, don't you? Someday I would absolutely love to hit the road and take the kids to the Eric Carl Museum of Picture Book Art. It looks so awesome! For now we'll just have take a virtual tour. Check out their website for some great resources!

Feast of St. Nicholas

Today we had quite an exciting begining! Papi and I were awoken to the sounds of our amazed children marveling at the tiny treats they found in their little shoes left by the fire place last night. They were so excited to see the little foil covered chocolates, candy cane, and tape. Tape? You ask? Yes, tape! :) Like the kind you wrap presents with! It seems these boys are never more content in this life than when they've got things like tape, rubber bands and yarn. What's funny is that they were not at all shocked that St. Nicholas had brought them something for being good little boys, but that St. Nicholas knew Papi liked Snickers bars and got him one ;) They just could not get over the fact that he actually knew!
After breakfast, the boys each got a different picture of St. Nicholas to color from SaintNicholasCenter.org and then our 6 year old read A Saint Nicholas Story to his brothers.

Jessica over at Shower of Roses had a great practical life activity for her children to do based on St. Nicholas. Her children made some St. Nicholas Hot Cocoa mix to give away to friends and family for Christmas. I think this is a wonderful idea and a great way to incorporate some Montessori practical life activities during this season of Advent. I know the children will be thrilled to do this! Thanks for the idea Jessica!

A Work in Progress...

Queen of Heaven Montessori Weekly Schedule

Monday: Open day: Field Trips, Library,

Daily Schedule: Tuesday-Friday

(Everyone)
8:30 am – Prayer time and Hymn in Classroom

8:40 am – Sitting on the line we do:
-Calendar, weather, season
-Talk about Saint of the day, holiday, feast day, etc..

8:50 am
-Music and Movement with Papi (Dad)

9 :00 am – Start Work:
6 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old son's:
-Make new presentations and free choice of materials already presented.

11:45 am – Tidy up

11:50 am – Read story to children

12:00 am – Conclude primary & elementary school day with Angelus prayer

12:05 pm – Snack: Children help to make and serve small snack to hold them over for lunch. For example:Slice cheese for cheese and crackers, wash strawberries, core apples and serve peanut butter for dipping.

1:00 pm - Lunch

2:30 pm - Catholic living teatime

3:30 pm- Independant focus with elementary son

3:45 pm- Elementary son independent work

... This is a work in progress I am tweaking to fit the children's needs.