Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Holy Face of Jesus Feast Day

Here we are in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City
Lighting candles at the Holy Face altar.
Sept 30, 2008


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Jesus, covered in blood and much sadness, said to Mother Pierina: "See how much I suffer.
I am understood by so few. What ingratitude on the part of those who say that they love Me!
I have given My heart as a sensible object of My great love for man, and I give My Face as a sensible object of My sorrow for the sins of man.
I desire that it be honored by a special feast on Shrove Tuesday.
The feast will be preceded by a novena, during which the faithful make reparation with Me, uniting themselves with My sorrow."


This year, the feast occurs on February 24th, 2009 (Shrove Tuesday).

Saturday, February 21, 2009

many months behind on this Blog

Helloooo family, friends and fellow bloggers….
I’m home alone on a Saturday.
YEAH I'm loving the quiet.
Geoff took the boys out on our boat to look for whales. They migrate by San Diego on their way to Mexico.
Well, actually, Katie is home but she is being a Mom’s helper at the neighbor’s house and they come and go from our house.
The kids are 1 & 3 and our house is “THE PLAYGROUND”.
She brings them over to slide, swing & trampoline for a while and then they go back to their own house.

SO I’m having lots of time to catch up on months of entries on my blog.
Really, months & months!
If you are a regular reader… I think there are a couple of you out there.....
You might want to back-track a couple pages to check out some of the highlights of our months.
Please leave a comment just to say Hi… pretty please.

Derek’s birthday 10/30
11/5/08 to the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.
Katie’s birthday on Dec. 3 and her party pictures.
12/5 Field trip to Wolf Center Encounter
The Christmas Play 12/14
Christmas pictures.
Field trip to the Point Loma Light House. (a partially failed one)
New years @ Lego Land
Field trip to Cabrillo Monument. ...success with the park ranger!
Ski trips in January and February to Big Bear Mountain.

Thanks for sharing our Family & Homeschool Adventures with us on our Blog.
Come Back Soon.

Friday, February 20, 2009

tip for the day: hug your kids

Today draw a small heart on the back your hand.
Every time you see the heart give a child a compliment, tell them "I Love You", give a loving glance, a hug or kiss.
If your spouse or one of your children is not around give yourself a compliment or hug!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ski Trip videos

We were able to go skiing again on Wednesday.
California had a huge rain storm over Fri - Tues and we knew Wed was going to be clear so Geoff wanted to go up and ski. This may be the last time we go this winter. We had a fun day.
When went in January James took snowboard lessons while the other two did skiing. This time both boys did snowboarding and Katie did skis.

There was so much snow that it took 2 hours to get up the mountain road. Luckily our truck didn't need chains but other cars did and it slowed everyone down.

It was a beautiful clear day and the snow was so pretty on the trees and it sparkled in the sunlight on the ground. It was very good skiing snow. A little bit of powder and not much ice.

Video of Katie skiing. You can see Derek a couple times in the background in the tan jacket.





Here is Geoff helping Derek learn to Snowboard.
My perfectionist 6 year old strapped on boots & a snowboard for the first time in the lift line and rode the lift up the "bunny hill" and expected to be able to snowboard down.

He did so well!! But you can see him hitting his fists when he falls down in frustration. We couldn't convince him how awesome he was doing on his Very First try on a snowboard. We did this 2 times and then it was time to go to take his lesson. Unfortunately the lessons ended at 4 and the lifts closed at 4 so we were not able to take him up after the lessons to see what he learned.
Hopefully we'll make another trip this season.

skiing pictures

Katie on skis


Geoff gives Derek his first lessons.

Derek's first time on a snowboard.
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On the way to Ski


View of the mountain snow from the freeway in Redlands, Ca.


Stopping to put on chains picture.
There was a place to pull over and put on chains. A man in a snowsuit and orange vest came right up to us
and said, "Hey Mr. Denali" (bet he thought we were rich just because we drive a GMC Denali, Ha ha! no money here - just 3 kids)
His sign said $10 to put on chains. Geoff said NO thanks.
Then he said OK how much? The man said, "For you $30."
What!??
Geoff says '"NO thanks". Then after struggling with our chains for a while... laying them out, me backing up and pulling forward a couple times.... The vest guy asks if our truck is 4 wheel drive. Yes it is.....
Well, he says you'll be OK on the roads without chains. Why didn't he say that at the beginning? He was hoping for $30, I"m sure.

The kids had fun on the pile of snow while we tried to put on the chains.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

what's for dinner

Caught the Martha Stewart show today and saw this: Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

While Katie was at Little Flowers and James was at Boys' Club
Derek & I went to the market for fresh veggies and bought the ingredients.

I used button mushrooms instead - that's all they had today.
It turned out OK. The chicken was a little dry and I think I used too big a roasting pan.

I want to cook, I try to cook, my kids abhor the idea.

My dear husband thinks he is allergic to mushrooms so that may have been cruel of
me to make a dinner based on them. He skipped them and boldly ate the
squash (I think) and the chicken.

I also made quinoa. Derek really liked it. Hallelujah.
Geoff made chinese yellow mustard paste and drizzled it on top to eat it. Hmmmm, not sure his true feelings.
Derek ate Katie's quinoa and She fed her chicken to the dog.
I think James ate the chicken only.

Next we'll try the Green Beans & Pine nuts they made on the show.

And Derek & I bought Brussel Sprouts. I have NEVER made them Ever!
But I found "THE Best Brussels Sprout recipe" on The Vegan Lunch Box blog.

I'm working on being vegetarian. Which I've wanted to do for probably 13 years.
If you look in my cookbook collection......... I look like a vegetarian that does food combining.
But am I?? NOPE
Granted we don't eat meat every meal, and I try new veggie meals all of the time.
But serious effort is being made over here in my kitchen.
I'd even like to move into being vegan. Giving up milk, cheese & eggs.
Actually I think I may have become lactose intolerant and I've cut back on the milk.

IF you want to read the most HILARIOUS book (yes there are bad words in it; namely the f word and more) you have to read "Skinny Bitch".
See even the title is bad.
I laughed out loud and was cracked up. Most of the book is totally serious. Talking serious about how animals are treated so badly and how contaminated their food is, making the animals contaminated and thus their milk & eggs also full of poisons, chemicals and gross deadly stuff.
I've read most everything in this book before but they make it personal with their real look at things and their curt language.

Since I read SB I've been looking through my vegetarian cookbooks, a bunch of online sites and I ordered vegan books from the library.

I checked out an Italian food vegan cookbook a couple months ago and I just reserved it again because it is really good... . "Vegan Italiano" by Donna Klein.


I also got "Students Go Vegan" cookbook. by Raymond.


(I can't do underlining in blogger? So I have to put book titles in quotes)

A Cute website I like to check out is www.veganlunchbox.com. Its a mom and her adventures w/ a boy and a hubby that won't give up meat. She wrote a book - "Vegan Lunchbox".
It is on backorder @ library. Hopefully I'll get to see it soon.


Back in October I saw those videos of the poor animals on www.GoVeg.com when we were deciding on voting for Prop 2. I was the one voting, but I did research with the kids so they would understand why and how I chose my vote. Oprah did a few shows with Lisa Ling on the treatment of animals on farms too.

I have thought that cow's milk is for baby cows, not people, for a long time.
When James was born his birth mother said she was lactose intolerant and the didn't keep the formula down very well at the hospital. So I was very happy to switch him to soy based formula.
My other two I was able to breast feed for over 2 years. After breastmilk I gave both of them soy milk for a long time, and then eventually they moved to milk and that's what we have in the fridge. We've been going through a lot of it lately. I don't know how becasue only Derek drinks it, but I think he makes his chocolate syrup with some milk in there. Katie doesn't drink it and James rarely does either. None of them put it on their cereal. Only Geoff & I do that. But I have started drinking a lot of Lattes.
SO this week I got soymilk at the market and have my lattes made with that instead.



Monday, February 16, 2009

cool video about advance of technology

this is a great video about the advance of technology with statistics about the world

2008 Latest Edition - Did You Know 3.0 - From Meeting in Rome this Year

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

Geoff took the kids up to the local mountains to sled.
I stayed home all alone. All alone, even the dog went with them. Oh the quietness......

Derek returned and asked, "What did you do today?"
Well I sat on the sofa and went through hours of shows on the DVR, cleaned the kitchen and ate." That's about it.
I needed to clear out the DVR of old Oprah shows, a couple weeks of ER and some Larry King shows. One was with the pilots, crew & passengers from the Miracle on the Hudson airplane.

Here's the project I brought to Katie's Little Flowers group earlier in the week.
Oh and a picture of the heart shaped cupcakes. They didn't come out as nice as I'd hoped.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Michael Dubruiel, support his family w/ his books

Follow this Link to the LOVE 2 LEARN Blog with the post about the passing of Michael Dubruiel.

"The best place to purchase Michaels' books for the sake of helping the family is directly through Our Sunday Visitor, who are doubling the expected proceeds from each book in order to help the family. "

Friday, February 06, 2009

The Burj Dubai - worlds tallest building

Kids & I had fun looking up Dubai on Google Earth for the tallest bldg in the world The Burj Dubai and the new "Palm" communities.

I Recommend the Piers Morgan set of 7 videos on utube to learn more about the area.
Not really for the kids, they didn't watch, I watched them all. There's nothing bad in them
but kids under 12 will probably be bored.


Wednesday, February 04, 2009

helping with math

Sometimes the kids just don't want mom to be the teacher that day.
They might go off alone and do their work, or enlist the help of another sibling to help with the subject.
I was in the other room and took the picture of the kids on the sun porch doing math together.
What a great memory. Learning Sharing Growing.


Monday, February 02, 2009

One Heartfelt Hail Mary ....

I found this post on a Catholic board by a seminarian.

PS. Let's all pray a heartfelt Hail Mary for everyone who reads this and their special intention.
Hail Mary,Full of Grace,The Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now,and at the hour of death. Amen.

Millions of Catholics often say the Hail Mary. Some repeat it hastilynot even thinking on the words they are saying. These following wordsmay help some say it more thoughtfully. They can give God's Mother greatjoy and obtain for themselves graces that she wishes to give them.

One Hail Mary well said fills the heart of Our Lady with delight and obtains for us indescribably great graces. One Hail Mary well said gives us more graces than a thousand thoughtlessly said.

The Hail Mary is like a mine of gold that we can always take from but never exhaust. Is it hard to say the Hail Mary well? All we have to dois to know its value and understand its meaning.

St. Jerome tells us that "the truths contained in the Hail Mary are so sublime, so wonderful that no man or Angel could fully understand them."

St. Thomas Aquinas, the Prince of Theologians, "the wisest of Saints and holiest of wise men," as Leo XIII called him, preached for 40 days in Rome on the Hail Mary, filling his hearers with rapture.

Father F. Suarez, the holy and learned Jesuit, declared when dying that he would willingly give all the many learned books he wrote, all his life's labors, for the merit of one Hail Mary prayerfully and devoutly said.

St. Mechtilde, who loved our Lady very much, was one day striving to compose a beautiful prayer in her honor. Our Lady appeared to her, with the golden letters on her breast of: "Hail Mary full of grace." She said to her: "Desist, dear child, from your labor for no prayer you could possibly compose would give me the joy and delight of the Hail Mary."

A certain man found joy in saying slowly the Hail Mary. The Blessed Virgin in return appeared to him smiling and announced to him the day and hour that he should die, granting him a most holy and happy death. After death a beautiful white lily grew from his mouth having written onits petals: "Hail Mary."

Cesarius recounts a similar incident. A humble and holy monk lived in the monastery. His poor mind and memory were so weak that he could only repeat one prayer which was the "Hail Mary." After death a tree grew over his grave and on all its leaves was written: "Hail Mary."

These beautiful legends show us how much devotion to Our Lady wasvalued, and the power attributed to the Hail Mary devoutly prayed.

Each time that we say the Hail Mary we are repeating the very same words with which St. Gabriel the Archangel saluted Mary on the day of the Annunciation, when she was made Mother of the Son of God. Many graces and joys filled the soul of Mary at that moment.

Now when we say the Hail Mary we offer anew all these graces and joys to Our Lady and she accepts them with Immense delight. In return she gives us a share in these joys.

Once Our Lord asked St. Francis Assisi to give Him something. The Saint replied: "Dear Lord, I can give You nothing for I have already given you all, all my love." Jesus smiled and said: "Francis, give Me it all again and again, it will give Me the same pleasure."

So with our dearest Mother, she accepts from us each time we say the Hail Mary the joys and delight she received from the words of St.Gabriel.

Almighty God gave His Blessed Mother all the dignity, greatness and holiness necessary to make her His own most perfect Mother. But He also gave her all the sweetness, love, tenderness and affection necessary to make her our most loving Mother. Mary is truly and really our Mother. Aschildren when in trouble run to their mothers for help, so ought we torun at once with unbounded confidence to Mary.

St. Bernard and many Saints said that it was never, never heard at anytime or in any place that Mary refused to hear the prayers of her children on earth. Why do we not realize this most consoling truth? Why refuse the love and consolation that God's Sweet Mother is offering us?

Is it our lamentable ignorance which deprives us of such help and consolation. To love and trust Mary is to be happy on earth now and afterwards to be happy in Heaven.

Dr. Hugh Lammer was a staunch Protestant, with strong prejudices against the Catholic Church. One day he found an explanation of the Hail Mary and read it. He was so charmed with it that he began to say it daily. Insensibly all his anti-Catholic animosity began to disappear. He became a Catholic, a holy priest and a professor of Catholic Theology in Breslau.

A priest was called to the bedside of a man who was dying in despair because of his sins. Yet he refused obstinately to go to confession. As a last recourse the priest asked him to say at least the Hail Mary after which the poor man made a sincere confession and died a holy death.

In England, a parish priest was asked to go and see a Protestant lady who was gravely ill, and who wished to become a Catholic. Asked if she had ever gone to a Catholic Church, or, if she had spoken to Catholics,or if she had read Catholic books? She replied, "No, no." All she could remember was that------when a child------she had learned from a little Catholic neighbor girl the Hail Mary, which she said every night. She was Baptized and before dying had the happiness of seeing her husband and children Baptized.

St. Gertrude tells us in her book, "Revelations" that when we thank God for the graces He has given to any Saint, we get a great share of those particular graces. What graces, then, do we not receive when we say the Hail Mary while thanking God for all the unspeakable graces He has given His Blessed Mother?