August Read Alouds

Library Picture Books:
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman

Geography ~ Canada (CHC inspired):
O Canada by Ted Harrison shares interesting information about each of Canada's provinces. We enjoyed reading about the polar bears that visit a certain province each March.
A Prairie Boy's Winter by William Kurelek

After Lunch Read-Aloud:Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling (fits in with our study of Canada)

Nighttime Read-Aloud:Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit (American History)
The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds (American History)

Sarah Palin's Acceptance Speech

Yeah! Go McCain!

It looks like Sarah Palin (the Governor of Alaska) is McCain's VP pick! If this is true, McCain has my vote!

Her youngest was recently born with Down Syndrome. Sarah Palin is truly incredible!

New Skirt Photos

As promised, below are photos of my eldest sewing and wearing her skirt. For some reason, I did not take photos of my second eldest. She will have to be the model when we make shorter, twirly skirts.

New Skirts

Thanks to Kimberlee's Girls Skirt Tutorial my two eldest have new skirts. However, due to the fact that I was feeling lazy, we made a couple of changes. First, we gathered the waist, instead of making pleats. Second, I did not measure the length or the width of the material and so the skirts are longer and narrower. Third, I only had double-fold bias tape on hand, so the waistbands are narrower. Both of my daughters were happy to wear their skirts to Mass yesterday. They are hoping to make two more skirts with my assistance in the near future.

Thank you, Kimberlee!

Obama: Covering up a Lie with Another Lie

After telling a lie, he used another lie to cover up his first lie and accused others of being liars instead of himself.

http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/08/liar-liar.html

If this man is elected president, will he continue to cover up what he does with lies?

Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

For our Blessed Mother's feast day we will be making the bookmarks suggested in A Year with God, making the project suggested in Art 1 for Young Catholics, and making a special dessert.

I pray that everyone has a happy Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary!

Help Washingtonians Oppose Assisted Suicide

Please listen to Fr. Robert J. Spitzer's thought-provoking case which he made against I-1000 (assisted suicide) at a Marian Conference in May and then please visit www.noassistedsuicide.com and make a donation.

Listen here!

As Fr. Spitzer, S.J. shares, the repercussions of I-1000 reach far beyond Washington state.

Latin Weekend

Well, I already shared that we assisted at a Dominican Rite Mass on Friday, August 8. However, I failed to share that we went to a Tridentine Rite Mass, celebrated by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., on Sunday, August 10. I feel so blessed.

Now, I am praying that the FSSP's parish in the Archdiocese of Seattle is within 20 minutes of our house. May God's will be done!

Feast of St. Dominic

Yesterday evening, we celebrated the Solemnity of St. Dominic in the best way possible. We went to Blessed Sacrament in Seattle because they observed the solemnity and their 100 year anniversary with a beautiful Dominican Rite Mass. The Mass allowed us to not only celebrate St. Dominic's solemnity, it also provided us with an opportunity to introduce our children to the rite with which I had fallen in love when my husband and I were dating.

During that time, we assisted at the Domican Rite Mass, celebrated by Father Joseph Fulton, O.P. +, every Sunday morning at Blessed Sacrament. A year later, our Nuptial Mass was concelebrated by Fr. Fulton in this rite. Twelve days after our eldest child was born, she was baptized in the Dominican Rite at Blessed Sacrament. Last night was wonderful! St. Dominic, pray for us!

Cold and calculating - that's Obama

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71571

Mon

Who knew that a three-letter word could be so powerful when coming from the lips of a toddler?

With this word, Finnian controls wherever I go. If I am sitting at the computer, he will pull on me and say, "Mon." He expects me to get up immediately and follow him wherever he wants me to go, and I do. When outside, Finnian will come and take my hand and say, "Mon", leading me to where he wants me to go. I tell you that "mon" is an incredible word in my toddler's vocabulary.

The only problem with this very powerful word comes when Finnian is in my arms. He cannot comprehend why I do not understand his command when I am holding him. If only I could read my little boy's mind when I am holding him and he says, "Mon." Many a temper tantrum could be avoided if I only understood where "mon" was at that particular moment.

Update: While speaking to a friend, I realized that I should clarify that "mon" is my little one's way of saying "Come on."

Woken by a Skunk

It's been warm here and so I have been leaving our window open at night. I won't be doing that anymore. Around midnight, last night, I had the pleasure of being woken up by the odor of a skunk. My pregnant body really objected to the smell and I felt like I was back in the first three months of my pregnancy. I still feel a little queasy. I shut the window, turned on the bathroom fan, and positioned myself close to my sleeping toddler, so that I could smell his freshly washed hair and not the skunk.

Somehow, I fell back asleep. However, two hours later, I was woken by a little boy who had wet his bed. I got him changed and in what is supposed to be his younger brother's bed, and returned to bed, still smelling the skunk. Approximately, ten minutes later (or so it seemed), my little boy who I had recently tucked back in bed used the bathroom and climbed in my bed, saying, "I used the toilet." Thus, I spent another sleepless night in our family bed which is usually inhabited by two little boys and their parents. The only things that were unusual were a little boy's wet bed and an awful odor.

Needles to say, I am exhausted. I don't know how my rock, my hero, goes to work some days. May God bless him and all fathers!

Read Alouds

When I first started blogging, I kept a list of read alouds, including library picture books, in my sidebar. Somewhere along the way, I removed an old list and never replaced it with a new list. This does not mean that we have stopped read alouds in our house. We continue to read many picture and chapter books in our home.

During the month of July we read the following library picture books (it is too hard to record the numerous picture books in our home library that we have read):

All of Edward Ardizzone's books about Tim

Ruth Heller's Kites Sail High
Because Your Daddy Loves You by Andrew Clements
The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Laurence Anholt

Our after lunch (read by me) and nighttime (read by my husband) read aloud books were:

Devotional Stories for Little Folks, Too by Nancy Nicholson

A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla

In addition to read alouds, we also listen to a lot of books on CD. A few months ago, I started to share these in my sidebar.

I feel very strongly that children, regardless of their age, benefit greatly from stories read aloud. I have been surprised to hear myself say to my husband on at least one occasion, "Please read just one more chapter." I have noticed that my children tend to talk more about the books that we are reading aloud with us at the dinner table and among each other than they do about books they have read independently. Therefore, I strongly recommend that if you are not already reading aloud to your children of all ages on a regular basis, start doing so.