7 Quick Takes Friday

1.

The brand new ten-month-old has begun climbing furniture, and in a lot more precarious ways than in this photo.

It begins.

2.

Meals This Week

• Saturday
• Quarter ham
• Corn on the cob
• Crescent rolls (from the tube)
• Salad
• Sunday
• Chris took the oldest two to a concert and out to dinner
• Mama stayed home with the younger three.
• For Pentecost Sunday, I served Pentecost Sundaes.
• Monday
• Brats on buns
• French fries (frozen)
• Salad
• Tuesday
• Leftover quarter ham fried in maple syrup
• Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes
• Frozen blueberries and blackberries cooked into a fruit topping for the pancakes
• Wednesday
• Ribs (thanks, Aldi's)
• Corn bread
• Salad
• Thursday
• Change of menu plans (pork tenderloin), as we went to Confession as a family, then to a restaurant. Double yay!
• Friday
• Who knows? Mama went to a homeschooling conference!

3.

We got some great little purchases from the community garage sale last week.

We have now all been introduced to the game of Othello, of Chris' fond childhood memories, and it is a really fun, compelling game.

John asking me to play Othello first thing in the morning, over my coffee

I picked up this dart set with nicely strong magnetic darts in particular to occupy Joseph (3) during school time. Little did I realize that the occupation would be between both of the littlest boys fighting over the darts!

We found this beautiful wooden easel and art set, full of brand new pastels, watercolors, and pencils. The art supplies alone were worth the cost of the set. Mary is eager to take the set outdoors and draw something in nature.

Mary coloring during Morning Basket read-aloud time

4.

Family Books of the Week (in progress or completed)

• Read-alouds
• "Baltimore Catechism No. 2" (originally published 1885)
• "Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints" (Loreto Publications, originally published 1894)
• "Under Angel Wings: The Autobiography of Sr. Maria Antonia" (originally published 1949)
• Children's version of "Midsummer Night's Dream" (audio CD)
• Many little books to the younger children
• Mama
• "Holiness for Housewives and Other Working Women"--finished
• "Emily of New Moon"--finished and now want to read the next book in the series
• "The Upside of Downtime: Why Boredom is Good" by Sandi Mann--my Mother's Day gift
• "Guidance to Heaven" by Cardinal Giovanna Bona (written in the 1600s)
• John
• "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (1950)
• "Boy Knight of Rheims" (originally published 1927)
• "James and the Giant Peach" (originally published 1961)--finished
• "Alvin's Secret Code" (originally published 1963)--finished, two thumbs up!
• "Lad, a Dog" (original published 1919) 
• "Robert Schumann" by Opal Wheeler (1947)
• "William Shakespeare and the Globe" by Aliki (1999)
• "Bard of Avon" by Stanley and Vennema (1992)
• "A Story of St. Germaine" (1956)
• Mary
• "King of the Golden City"(originally published 1919)--finished, two thumbs up
• She's been spending her free time reading the Bible and various prayer books.
• "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (1950)
• "Robert Schumann" by Opal Wheeler (1947)
• "William Shakespeare and the Globe" by Aliki (1999)
• "Bard of Avon" by Stanley and Vennema (1992)
• "A Story of St. Germaine" (1956)

This week we began studying Shakespeare in History and Literature, focusing on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," including memorizing passages. So much fun for me!

5.

On Wednesday, we dodged the rain-all-week and joined numerous homeschooling families for an Almost-End-of-Year party at Stallings Municipal Park. The children had a grand time playing for three hours and eating a potluck picnic. This is our second year of this delightful tradition we hope to continue.

Chris joined us for the event!

6.

The babysitter is hired, the chores will be completed, and I'm due to attend our local homeschooling conference Friday and Saturday. I've been unable to attend a homeschooling conference in two years, which is a real loss since a conference so well refreshes and encourages the parent-teacher. Please pray that no disaster happens in my absence, like Mary getting a concussion 30 minutes after I arrived at last year's conference (click here for a trip down Memory Lane)!

7.

Bonus Reading

(1) "In one state, more children homeschool than attend private schools" by Genevieve Wood--Yes, that's our state of North Carolina!

(2) "The Post That Never Happened" by Jenny Ryan--You may want to sign up for "Mothering Sunshine" if you haven't already. Even a mother who comes across to me as SUNSHINE wrote something I feel regularly:

"I wrote a blog post in my head last week. It went something like this:

"Life is really hard. And it will always be hard. And you will never figure it out. So just give up trying now. The End."

(2) "James McKenna and Breastsleeping" by Mary Francell--Love, love, love. I want to encourage mothers who wish to "breastsleep" to do so! It has been a joy of the last ten years I will fondly remember all my later years when there is no little nursling baby latched on all night.

"In the current issue of Acta Paediatrica, 1 Dr. McKenna and Dr. Lee Gettler propose the concept of breastsleeping, because;

'neither normal human healthy infant sleep, nor normal human optimal breastfeeding is understood independent of the other.'

"Breastsleeping refers to a sober, breastfeeding mother sleeping with her baby on the same surface in the absence of all hazardous factors. In his research, Dr. McKenna has found that breastsleeping dyads synchronize their breathing and sleep cycles so that baby latches on and mother adjusts coverings, kisses baby’s head, etc. without either waking up fully. Breastsleeping babies also maintain higher body temperatures and breastfeed double or triple the number of times during the night compared with solitary sleeping infants. Both increased nighttime arousals and breastfeeding protect against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)."

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.