BamBam grows up ...

... and makes his First Holy Communion today!

Today is the anniversary of John Paul the Great's death and so we thought it appropriate for our BamBam to make his FHC on the date when his patron was sent home to the Father.  As an added bonus, it was First Saturday, so we had Morning Prayer, Rosary, Confession AND Mass.  

LegoManiac was able to serve and String Bean was happy to have a chance to dress up and look lovely in pink!

Congrats, BamBam ... we are very proud of you and love you very much!

Birthdays: String Bean turns 11 and hosts a party!

Our millenial baby, String Bean, turned 11 on the 1st ... we had a small family party Tuesday night but she really just wanted a party with her girl-friends so today, we sent the boys off (dh took them to see Rango!) and Max was relegated to the crate. 

Our "theme" was A Royal Garden Tea.

We set the table with String Bean's birthday gift from us:  a beautiful, real tea-set -- a service for 4 (including cups, saucers, luncehon plates, dessert plates & bowl and a tea pot).   The runner underneath the tea-pot is one that her grandmother sent her that her mother had stitched ... so it's old as well as gorgeous! 

The wooden flowers in the wine-glass/water-glass are the place-cards (with a magnet on the back for the girls to bring home and use).   For party-activities we painted flower-pots (which then became their "goodie bag"); a wooden initial letter and made fabric-covered scrapbooks (filled with traditional black thick paper).  BTW, in the picture below, that is a real baby sleeping -- he was the only male allowed to come to the party (the youngest brother of one of the guests) and he was a perfect guest -- slept the whole time!

We ate fancy, traditional tea finger-sandwiches (cucumber, honey-walnut, and ham-roll-ups), homemade blueberry muffins and cheddar muffins, crudite tray, deviled eggs (String Bean's favorite!), and a hot-tea punch (served in the tea cups, of course).  No birthday around here would be complete without a chocolate cake of some kind:  String Bean asked for the old Betty Crocker "chocolate joy cake" with chocolate fudge frosting!

Wow, what an afternoon.  But String Bean is such a blessing to so many ... every bit of work and worry was worth it!

God bless you, String Bean.  Happy 11th and may you have many, many more such glorious (but not so rainy) days!
 

Christmas Shopping: Plug for a store ...

Since I started having kids ... especially kids who believe in Santa (St. Nick, at our house) ... I've always taken full advantage of online shopping.  There really is nothing easier (especially if you homeschool and the kiddoes are ALWAYS around)!

I just wanted to put in a plug for Greenleaf Dollhouse Company.  String Bean has decided that she would like to start "doing dollhouses" ... not so much for the play-ability, but rather for the design and furnishing fun (I'm thinking she'll grow up to be a minitiarist or an interior decorator!).  Anyway, St. Nick has done TONS of research online and found the Greenleaf Dollhouse Company.  They make their kits here in the US ... have amazing customer service (I emailed to ask if the box came with ads on the front as the kids often bring in the packages -- I rec'd an email reply within 3 hours!) ... and great shipping (free and comes quickly).

Seriously, St. Nick ordered a couple of kits for String Bean (the Laurel and Primrose -- which can be a standalone or attached to the Laurel) on Wed the 1st and they were at our door today, the 3rd.  From all the comments online, the quality of the dollhouse kit is very good, the price is great and the chance to surprise my daughter on Christmas morning makes Greenleaf a company I will patronize again!

If you're in the market for a dollhouse for your daughter or son ... I highly recommend Greenleaf!

Feast Day: St. Margaret of Scotland

Today is the feast of St. Margaret of Scotland, one of String Bean's patron saints.  St. Margaret, born in Hungary to the exiled King of England, fled to Scotland to live under the protection of Malcolm.  They married and she brought sanctity, charity and love to the Scottish kingdom -- softening Malcolm and his court's ways and helping to reform the Catholic church in Scotland.  Margaret worked hard to obtain good teachers, to correct the evil practices, and to have new churches built. She loved to make these churches beautiful for God's glory, and she embroidered the priest's vestments herself (I wonder if she knitted, too?). 

Malcolm and Margaret had six sons and two daughters, the youngest son is St. David.

St. Margaret, you knew trials and triumphs in your lifetime and yet never wavered from your faith in God.  Let my faith be as strong in good times, and especially in bad times.  St. Margaret of Scotland, pray for us all ... especially String Bean!


 

Feast Day: Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross

Today we celebrate the Triumph of the Cross ... the victory of Good over evil ... the conquering of death, once and for all.

String Bean even got up early to whip up a coffee-cake from her Molly's Cooking Studio (which is a great, do it yourself cookbook for this 10 year old!).  Yes, she really does love her family (the clock on the microwave is showing 6:32 a.m.)!

Happy Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross!

 

American History: Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802), lovingly nicknamed "Lady Washington" by George's troops, was a major force during the American Revolution.  This petite (only five-foot-even), Virginia-born lady brought cheer to her husband's troops FOUR(!) times during the Revolutionary War:

• Winter of 1775 -- Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Spring of 1776 -- New York
• Spring of 1777 -- Morristown, New Jersey (where she spent the time nursing George Washington back to health)
• Winter of 1778 -- Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

She would travel days (up to two weeks) to winter-camp with the American Army ... spending the 3-6 months darning socks, knitting new ones, mending clothes, and bringing light and joy to the dispirited boys.  Because of her presence, other officers' wives came to camp ... and she had them knitting and mending and darning right alongside her.

Martha Washington had her share of grief and sadness -- her first husband died when she was just 26; all of her children predeceased her as well as some of her grandchildren; George Washington, sacrificing for our fledgling country, was gone from Mount Vernon seven years with the Army and then just as he was home to retire, they asked him to become President.  Martha went right along with him.

String Bean did a presentation for her co-op class on Martha's role in the American Revolution.  In her research for this project, she found this quote (which String Bean made into bookmarks for her class):

String Bean also found a cookbook, Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats (edited by Karen Hess), and made Martha's Sugar Cakes (a shortbread-like cookie that is really delicious):

Sugar Cakes –
Take 2 pound of flower, & one pound of sugar, & ye youlks of 2 eggs, & a spoonfull of sack, & a spoonfull of rosewater, & make it up into a paste with melted butter. & roule it out pritty thin, & cut them with a beer glass, & put them on plates & set them in an oueun meanly hot ye stone downe.

Our translation (for half a batch of cookies):
2 cups unbleached flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tbls vanilla or other flavoring, 3/4 cup melted butter, 1 egg, 1 tbsp milk. Mix together, chill for about an hour, then roll out thin; cut into circles (using a glass or biscuit cutter). Place on cookie sheet and place in a 375 oven till golden brown (about 10-15 minutes).

String Bean had such fun with this project, dressing like Martha chatting with the troops (her class) and knitting away on a pair of "socks for the boys".

Here are some of the books she used for researching this project:

• Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty by Helen Bryan
• Martha Washington (On My Own Biography) by Candice F. Ransom
• First Ladies: A Profile of America's First Ladies from Michelle Obama to Martha Washington by Stacie VanderPol
• Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady (I read this one for background and since I'd gotten interested especially with the references toMartha knitting for the troops.  It is an EXCELLENT adult biography of our First Lady)

 

Birthdays: thanks Aunt Steph and Uncle Tom!

... they are beautiful!  I love you! 

-- String Bean

Birthdays: she's getting older!

Today is StringBean's 10th birthday ... and she is becoming quite a little lady.  Curling her hair

or wearing it up in a bun

she is becoming quite the little lady and a far cry from previous years:

at 1

at 2 (and yes, I did knit this outfit and since we were in Austria ... it was PERFECT!)

at 3

at 6

at 2 months+ 6 days before 8

at 9!

Proof of her big-girlness is in the gifts she wanted this year.  Rather than a doll, or a toy, or a Wii game like Daring Game for Girls (which I would have LOVED at this age), she opted for a day spent with moi antiquing and eating lunch. 

We were SO excited to find the perfect piece for her room:

This 30s-40s style vanity is walnut-veneered with cubby-hole drawers!  It is so cool and she fell in love with it as soon as she saw it.  The really cool thing is the cloth in the center (just below the mirror) -- this is one of the hand-embroidered pieces Nanna sent StringBean.  StringBean's great-grandma did the embroidery!  It is gorgeous. 

The lamps on either side of the mirror carry out the old-style theme -- they were given to my parents 55 years ago for their wedding.  The lamps look so pretty lit --

Both top and bottom globes have bulbs, so if you want a night-light, you just light the bottom globe.  Beautiful!

To further this grown-up theme, StringBean's brother (now 11 and getting old himself), took her for a "date" to Subway for lunch.   N&P sent her a REAL sewing machine and even my sister, sensing StringBean's growing-up-ness, sent her a VERY special 10th bday present ... which we need to frame with Anne's note.

But, no matter how old you get, nothing can stop the joy of blowing out the candles on your very own chocolate-covered angel food cake with candles that equal 10 (7+1+1+1) ... which you have to eat all up since it's Lent:

God bless, you StringBean -- on this day and all year! 

You are a true joy and blessing to us all ... and we love you very, very much!

Feast Day: St. Lucy ... our very own ...

Here are pictures of our very own St. Lucy ...

String Bean was NOT pleased that I wouldn't trust lit candles in her hair ... she had to opt for the candles on the St. Lucy's Braid (which is just as fool-proof ... and yummy as Karen said!)

Unit Study: Norse Mythology

One of the things I'm doing differently this year is allowing each of the kids to pick a unit for one-on-one study -- in the past, we've all done the same unit.  String Bean chose doing history through the use of the Royal Diary series from Scholastic; we're going to go through them chronologically, attempting to hit all the high points in history and all the continents (so history and geography combined).  We've finished Isabel: Jewel of Castilla (1466, Spain) and have moved on to Anacaona: Golden Flower (1490, Haiti). 

BamBam chose mythology, fueld in part by his fascination with playing a computer-based game called Age of Mythology (whatever works, eh?).  We just finished up our study of Norse mythology and we're moving into Greek mythology.

The cool thing about studying Norse mythology is the variety of subjects we can include:  history, literature, geography, and yes even knitting!

Here's BamBam's (real) name in runes ... we found a few cool web-sites that taught us the alphabet and BamBam wrote his whole name (which is amazingly long!) and practiced other words.  I then transferred his fist name to graph-paper and designed a rune sweater just for the boy-child which will be a lasting reminder of our study of Norse mythology. 

We used the D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths as our spine and then supplemented with internet and other-book research.  I love the D'Aulaires' art-work and the stories are fun to read, while giving the pertinent details.  BamBam often pulled out the Dover's Norse Gods and Goddesses coloring book and colored the character about whom we were reading.  The cool thing about the Dover coloring books is that they have great additional information and stories on the opposite page of the picture -- when the stories didn't exactly gibe with the D'Aulaires' version, we talked about the differences, how they occur and why some aspects might be different.  It was great fun.

Here are some of the websites we also used to supplement our reading:

1. 
   
   Norse Myths -- great map of the Norse area, a "norse family tree" to help keep all the gods and others straight!
   
2. 
   
   The Gods and Goddesses of Norse Mythology -- additional source for background stories and additional hijinks of these "better-than-human" folks.
   
3. 
   
   The Vikings: Lesson Plans, Daily Life and More -- adds in lots of background on the Vikings; great links to lesson plans and activities with a Nordic theme.
   
4. 
   
   Runic Alphabets -- scroll down and you'll find the various alphabets used; we used the Medieval version that we got here (as it seemed the most basic)
   

This was a great unit for us ... and BamBam seems to like his sweater (and the hat that was the gauge swatch), coming:

or going ....