Urgent Prayer Request

I attended Elementary and Middle School with a sweet girl named Whitney. She is one of those people with a beautiful smile and sweet personality. Since our early school years we have lost touch but she will always be one of those friends I will always remember when I reminisce on those simple years of my childhood. Today I was stunned to hear that a man broke into her home and stabbed her along with three other people. Whitney's fiancee was killed in this brutal attack and it has left her in the ICU. The man responsible went on a crime spree injuring many people along his destructive path.

Please keep Whitney and her family in your prayers and those of all the other victims and their families that have had their lives turned upside down from this tragedy. I hope that God's grace will be the safe place these families turn to in order to help them navigate through the sadness, grief and confusion I am sure they are enduring. These are one of the moments that remind us that our time here on Earth is for a short time and we don't know when our time will be done. Live life fully, laugh unconditionally and love deeply.

Here is the most recent article.

Happy 5th Birthday Little Man!

Five years ago today I was given the amazing gift of Motherhood! My first born little boy weighed 5lbs. 14oz and was 18 inches long. Tomorrow is the party but today was one of the happiest moments in my life! We love you my sweet boy!

Haircuts For All!

Squishy is almost 20 months old and has never had a haircut. I am sure you can tell by the crazy curly long locks that surround his face in all of the pictures I have posted of him. Well today was the day we cut off all those long curls! I was able to snap a few shots of my sweet baby sitting in the hair dresser's chair. I was so nervous Squishy was going to be very angry and cry that we were having him "sit still". He only had a few seconds of unhappiness, then he saw his reflection. I guess he decided sitting still wasn't so bad as long as he could stare at himself. I am so glad he didn't seem to mind the process after that except the fact that his hair would fall into his face ever so often. After a few strands would hit his nose he would try to take off his smock.

After a few minutes Squishy felt confident enough to pose for a picture. Look at my sweet boy giving me a slight smile. I think he was wondering if the promise for a lolly would be fulfilled. Thank goodness the nice hairdresser was patient with the me even though she was dealing with me taking pictures of my squirmy child while she is taming his crazy hair. 

And as promised... a sugary treat as reward for being as well-behaved as possible for the First Haircut experience. He chose a watermelon flavored lolly :o)

This was not Little Man's First Haircut obviously but it is adorable to watch him get his haircut. I feel bad because it has been a long time since his last haircut and he has been asking to get it cut for at least a month. As you can see from the pictures...He is so serious and watches the hairdresser the entire time. He will even ask for his hair to be "just a little shorter please, I look really handsome with short hair. My mommy says so!" 

Squishy has a great example for a Big Brother and I couldn't be more proud of my two handsome young men.

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 3, 4 & 5}

I am sorry I wasn't able to keep up with the daily updates. Working extra shifts is starting to catch up to me and my schedule feels completely jumbled. Here is a small overview of the past three days at VBS. On Wednesday I did manage to get an adorable picture of Little Man in the lion cut out on my cell phone but I am still searching for the USB cord to download it onto the computer. I did get a cute magnet to add to the refrigerator that just so happens to have a picture of Little Man in the lion cut out! 

The pictures around him are foam stickers of lions, angels and a sign that says "The God We Serve is Able to Save Us". The picture is up close because it also has Little Man's name across the top of the magnet with foam letter stickers! Its absolutely adorable and looks amazing next to the magnet he made last year. My favorite new magnet was the only thing that was brought home this week. We had several coloring sheets portraying different parts of the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den. Little Man also made several finger puppets and a jewelry box. The jewels that adorn the box have already been sprinkled all over the carpet and on random objects but for one whole day it was Little Man's prized possession. He even asked me if I had any diamonds and gold that I needed him to keep safe. He was really disappointed I said I didn't have any diamonds or gold but offered my watch (which wasn't good enough for the jewelry box lol) but was happy when I told him he could use it as a treasure chest instead. 

I think the plant project completed on the last day of VBS is Little Man's most favorite. The jar is decorated with a lion and Daniel is on the other side. The paper on the side says "Please water me so I can grow big & strong like Daniel". We need to find a safe spot that little fingers or crazy cats can't reach our special plant this weekend. We may have to leave the little guy outside on the patio, at least until we get the house a little more organized. I wonder what kind of plant it could be?

During the week there have been several feast days I have yet to post about. Wednesday was the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua and Today is The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Sunday is Father's Day.

Above are the only pictures I have from Wednesday during our small celebration of Saint Anthony of Padua. We enjoyed some delicious spaghetti and meatballs. I know Saint Anthony is mostly known for his time in Portugal but he also ministered in Italy. We needed something easy and quick and who doesn't love spaghetti night? As you can see by the pictures... Spaghetti night is always accompanied with a long bath :o) I am planning to incorporate the Feast of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart on Sunday.

 Another craft that Little Man is extremely proud of was his lion hat which he shared with Squishy after his delicious pizza party. We are having a great start to the summer and have many more fun activities coming up including Squishy's first haircut tomorrow along with a friend's birthday party and an outside movie for the boys! Little Man's 5th Birthday and Going Away Party is also coming up next weekend! Please keep us in your prayers while we try to get this move underway.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet for Kids {Movie Review}

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I love that this movie makes it fun to pray! Check it out!

The Divine Mercy Chaplet for Kids is a beautiful depiction the Chaplet for the entire family. Sister Faustina is the host of this illustrated Divine Mercy Chaplet. Along with Sister Faustina is a group of young children that learning to say the Chaplet. Sister Faustina explains the way to properly pray the Chaplet and explains when to meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries. The Sorrowful Mysteries are accurately portrayed and but is still sensitive to the eyes of the youngest viewers. The reactions of the children with Sister Faustina help children viewers to understand the overwhelming love that Jesus has for us and the importance of his sacrifice he made for us all. The children characters are easy to relate to and are shown participating in activities such as studying, playing with friends and receiving Reconciliation. I love how all of these daily activities are tied back to the Catholic Faith and the importance of how Jesus wants us to be self-sacrificing and forgiving people.

There are several learning tools utilized in this DVD that make a profound impact on children's ability to retain the prayers and how to use your rosary. The Chaplet is said out loud with Sister Faustina as the lead but it is also captioned below in an easy to follow format. The rosary is also shown along the bottom and lights each bead as the corresponding prayer in the Chaplet is said. In addition to the teaching of this important prayer, I love the music that corresponds with the illustrated story. My oldest son, who is only four, knows the Chaplet by heart thanks to this DVD and very often sings the "Thank you, my dear Jesus" song.  This DVD is the best way to make learning the Chaplet for children of any age easy and fun! 

I wrote this review of The Divine Mercy Chaplet for Kids for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and First Communion Gifts. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River. Since writing this review the link to Aquinas no longer provides information on this product. Please use the link within the review to find the product on Amazon.

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 2}

 Today was the second day of VBS. Little Man had another amazing day with great stories and crafts.  It is so adorable to listen to him sing the songs he learned on the car ride home. I am pretty sure he makes up most of the words since he is still learning them but it makes it even more cute.

Crafts today included creating a stamp and picture from your unique stamp and a collar decorated rhinestones. It looks like the stamp was made my using a plastic lid from a peanut butter or mayonnaise jar that had foam cut out stickers on the top. The stamp was brought home with Little Man but when I tried to clean the ink off the stickers fell off as well. I had to throw away the wet project while no one was looking. The stamp craft seems like something that would be a great way to decorate handmade cards or scrapbook and I will be trying them out sometime too!

Here are the pictures of Little Man's prized artwork that will adorn the refrigerator until August. A color page of Daniel in Babylon to the left and his stamp artwork created from his homemade stamp to the right. I noticed today  that there is the cutest lion backdrop for people to take pictures with at Little Man's classroom. I didn't have my camera on me today but you better believe I will get a picture of Little Man with the lion tomorrow! Maybe even a picture of Squishy... I don't know if he will be tall enough but its worth a try!

Little Man wearing his decorated collar

Does anyone have any fun ideas to incorporate in Summer Learning? I have found a Book Adventure by the Sylvan Learning Center and The Summer Faith Adventure by Holy Heroes. We completed the Lenten Adventure with Holy Heroes for the first time this past Lent and it was an awesome experience for the whole family! I think I am just as excited as the kids about the Summer Adventure starting. This is our first time participating in the Book Adventure but Little Man is having fun creating a book list and reading some of the books we all ready own to get more reading points. I would really like to try a few more programs out if anyone has any suggestions... I would greatly appreciate it!

Time to make some coffee and get started on some cleaning and preparations for the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua tomorrow. If you are looking for some quick ideas check out Catholic Cuisine! They have some wonderful recipes... some of which I will be trying out tomorrow! Pain Perdue (Lost Bread) and possibly the Multitude of Fish Trail Mix.... God Bless!

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 1}

Vacation Bible School started today and Little Man was excited to have something to do for the entire week! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it has been raining non-stop this past week (there is a town not too far away that has declared a local state of emergency, so please keep the Gulf Coast in your prayers). I am so thrilled that our church is continuing with their lesson plans from last year's VBS. Last years the theme was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a Kid and this years theme is Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity. Hometown Nazareth was an eye-opening experience for Little Man. He knows many stories about Jesus and his life but the idea that "Jesus was a kid like me"was a concept that had never entered his mind before. I was relieved Little Man remembered the amazing experience he had last year woke up excited, knowing he had a great day ahead of him. Another reason I really enjoy the depiction of these Vacation Bible Studies is because it incorporates an abundance of arts and crafts while exposing the children to new songs and music.We still have several refrigerator magnets from last year and I hope we have more to add by the end of the week. I wish Squishy was old enough to participate in this religious program, he gets lonely without his big brother around the house for several hours.

I love that Little Man can describe his entire experience and relates it to how we try to live our lives. The first thing he asked me after his first day at VBS was, "Mommy, did you know when things change, God is always with us?!" I thought this was a great lesson for him to be learning at this particular time in his life. I felt like God was truly speaking to him (and our family) because Little Man has expressed some concern about our move. I have to admit I was raised a military brat and this move is already making me a nervous wreck. Finding a new home, school and church from such a long distance with little time... not exactly my idea of fun. Although, the excitement of a new adventure in a new place with new experiences and knowing God has a plan for us helps calm and reassures me that this is the best thing for our family.

Here are a few crafts and original artwork from Little Man today! As you can see... he loves color! I hope he is ready to help create our front door wreath and some Sacred and Immaculate Heart T-shirts sometime this week. We are also attending story time at our local library and picking up some books from our book list. There will also be a celebration in the evening for the library celebrating its 10 year anniversary! I will have some more on those activities tomorrow.I am going to wrap this up so I can get back to snuggle time with Squishy. We are watching The Little Engine that Could, his absolute favorite movie! Little Man is in bed early in preparation of Day 2 of VBS. I hope everyone is finding some great adventures to have with your families during this summer. Please check out our Book Adventure! I will leave you with a cute snuggle picture of me and my Squishy baby. God Bless!

You can check out the following information on the rest of Vacation Bible School:
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 2}
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 3, 4, 5}