Nemo and Little Man's Adventures

Nemo is Little Man's class pet from school. I think this idea is so incredibly cute. Nemo came home with Little Man this past Thursday. Nemo came in a travel bag with a Journal to record all the adventures he goes on with our family. It is encouraged that the kids take photos along the journey and draw pictures in the journal for them to discuss with the class. I will also write a brief description of our fun filled weekend for the teacher to read to the class. To be honest, I had no clue that Nemo would be coming until Little Man was attempting to bring an extra backpack home from school. Thankfully I was able to throw together a special "Welcome Nemo" dinner complete with Sparkling apple juice. I love how the little things can make my boys so happy. Little Man had a blast making sure Nemo had a wonderful dinner and making sure our dinner guest was comfortable. We ended our night by watching The Lorax together snuggled on the couch.

On Friday, Little Man was invited to a sleepover at his friends house all by himself! I think it was the first time he has stayed the night at anyone.s house without me or Squishy and he was thrilled. Little Man's friend doesn't attend the same school as Little Man but had also completed a weekend with his class pet, Buddy the Beaver, just a few weeks ago and welcomed Nemo with open arms. Both boys are the biggest Scooby Doo fans of their generation, so they had a Scooby Doo party with cartoons, pajamas and Scooby snacks. Nemo loved cuddling with the Mystery Machine pillows and blankets. I wasn't there to witness the craziness that evening but I heard everyone passed out from all the singing and dancing. 

Even though Friday was full of adventure, Saturday was even better! I met Little Man and his friend at the local skating rink. This was the first time I have skated since Middle School and a first for both of the kids! I have to admit I was impressed with how quickly the kids caught on to skating. I consider my boys to be quite clumsy, just like their mother, but they had amazing coordination on the roller skates. They used the side walls at the beginning but after 30 minutes Little Man was skating around the rink all by himself! Squishy was chasing after his big brother too! It was so adorable and we didn't forget Nemo either! He was a natural at skating too :)


We skated for a couple hours and then loaded everyone in the car to take a quick nap. We didn't drive out of the parking lot before everyone was fast asleep. We stopped by the house and packed their overnight bag before heading off to take the boys to my sister's house for their sleepover with her. I have been trying to work a couple evening shifts on the weekends and the boys love getting special time with their Aunt! I snapped a quick pick of the kids asleep on the couch and the dog watching Nemo while they were sleeping.

Sunday we picked up the boys and went to Mass. We did not bring Nemo to church because the boys do not like to be quiet when they have distractions with them. Instead we took Nemo on one last adventure at Turkey Creek and showed him the beautiful nature trail. It was an extremely busy weekend! Now I am printing pictures from the computer to add to Nemo's travel journal and preparing a short summary of the weekend. I wonder if it would be acceptable to just a copy a link to my blog? :)

Little Man was so glad that he was able to take Nemo to meet his friends and family and have some amazing adventures everyday. I am so grateful he has a great teacher that makes learning and experiencing life fun. We are still experiencing a lot of changes in our daily lives and it looks like we are getting back into a good routine and possibly moving into a larger place. Yay! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on our journey.

Christmas Pictures

Getting in the Holiday Spirit

Sorry I have not been blogging much lately but thank you for the kind emails asking how myself and my children are doing. Your prayers have touched our hearts! I am finally getting settled into a new routine with my kids. I am hoping to incorporate blogging more but since it has been such a long time here is a summary of our Advent and Christmas preparations and celebrations.

God truly provides. My kids and I have been blessed with my friends and family members coming to aid us during our greatest life change. At times it's hard to imagine what plan God has for us but I am beginning to see that his plans are more amazing than anything I could plan for myself and my family. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue down our new path.

Since I have not been blogging consistently there is so much I would like to share so I will apologize in advance because the rest of this is going to look like a mini scrapbook with random thoughts and pictures. I will try to keep everything short and sweet :)

Picking the Perfect Christmas Tree
We decided to purchase a real tree this year and the kids were so excited running through the forest or trees on display. It was a beautiful night and the smell of the Christmas trees and wreaths was amazing. I hope one day I can take the kids to actually cut down a Christmas Tree. 

Decorating the Tree
We were going to wait to decorate our beautiful tree but the boys were so excited after buying ornaments and lights that we couldn't say no. Eric let Little Man and Squishy take turns putting our gorgeous Star on the top. I think it was their favorite part of the entire experience.

Feast of Saint Nicholas

I absolutely love reading Jessica from Shower of Roses blog on all her traditions with her family. I wanted to write letters to the boys from Saint Nick but I had been working extra shifts due to the seasonal rush this time of year and starting a second job.

This year Saint Nicholas brought the boys some Christmas books, The Legend of the Candy Cane and A Christmas Prayer. There was also chocolate coins and candy canes with Christmas socks filled with several real gold $1 coins.

Squishy's Holiday Program

Squishy had the cutest holiday program at his daycare for the children ages 3 and under.

His class sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Although none of the children really sang, it was more the parents in the audience since the children were overwhelmed. Squishy was sitting next to a little boy wearing a Rudolph nose and stared at the blinking light on the little boys face until half way though the song he decided to poke the poor kid on the nose. It was hilarious! I will always remember this production and I am so excited to see Squishy participate in more programs like this soon.

Baking Gingerbread Cookies
Decorating cookies has always been a favorite activity for Little Man during the holidays. This time Squishy was able to participate but he chose to eat the cookie decorations instead of decorating his cookies.

I am hoping to post about Christmas Day soon... I have until Candlemas though right? In addition to the activities above we also decorated gingerbread houses and went for a walk through Christmas Reflections. I tried my best to incorporate our normal traditions but this Christmas was a very simple one due to lack of time and money. I think it actually made it one of the most meaningful Christmases we have shared as a family. I also have some ideas about celebrating The Baptism of the Lord this upcoming Sunday I would like to share along with a review of The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their friends and families!
God Bless!

God's Plan

I don't really know how to go into writing this post... It's been several months since I have been active in blogging. So... I am just going to say it. I am getting a divorce. My husband and I are ending our marriage. It is still difficult to talk about and I never saw this as something my family and I would ever have to endure. The past few years have been hard and I would rather not give reasons to the end of the marriage but I do want to say that in all honesty there are no other options for us. I know that sounds crazy to many people but I have to admit it sounds crazy to me too. I do not believe in divorce and I truly meant "until death do us part". I have discussed everything with our family priest and he is preparing me for this journey and is helping me through the annulment process as well. I never thought I would be a single mom with two children. I have faith that this is God's plan for me.

It feels strange to be so far from my comfort zone and relying on God alone to truly provide for me and my family. I was blessed with a nice home that provided everything we needed and now I no longer have that. Me and my two children are essentially homeless but have been blessed to have amazing friends helping us as we get back on our feet, allowing us a roof over our heads and food to eat. I am starting to truly realize the extent of God's love for us. I just received the Holy Heroes Glory Stories CD about Saint Claire before St Claire's Feast Day in August and I was so touched by the reoccurring theme that God provides for the birds who neither sow, reap or store food and so we who are made in his image will be provided everything we need and more. I am living this reality.

I am asking everyone to please pray for me and my children as we are finding ourselves on a new road in life. We are finding so many blessings that have been bestowed upon us. Please pray for my ex-husband too, that he may find happiness and a stronger relationship with God.

I am hoping to find a new normal routine for myself and my children very soon. I feel horrible admitting but we have not been attending mass regularly nor have we celebrated any Feast Days. This is a time when we should be holding to our faith with both hands and I have allowed it to slip. I will be trying harder and I am optimistic about our future celebrations as a family! Thank you for stopping by and I will be back soon :o)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

It seems life is getting crazier by the minute! It is crunch time for us preparing for this move and we still need to have a garage sale, pack our stuff, clean and million other things. I was disappointed that we were not able to have our scapulars enrolled before today but I am trying to set up a time before me move. If you are interested in enrolling your scapular check out my previous post here. Anyone with tips on how to move into a new state, I would greatly appreciate it. Or if you just want to move my stuff that would be even better! :o)

Today was a quiet feast day as we are getting use to our new schedule with the boys in daycare and me working longer hours.  I printed a few coloring pages but the kids fell asleep in the car so they were not colored. Everyone is awake now but I'm sure it will be a late night. We had a meatball sub dinner and ending the night with a warm cup of caramel hot cocoa with the rest of our star marshmallows from the 4th of July. Now to start a movie and relax until my amazing husband gets home :o) I hope everyone had an amazing day! 

Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

O most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother.

O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succor me in this my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein that you are my Mother.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us that have recourse to thee. (3 times)

Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (3 times)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!

Sunday Snippets: Catholic Carnival

Here are my contributions for Sunday Snippets: Catholic Carnival at This That and the Other Thing.

I didn't do much blogging this past week but here it is :o)
The Miracle! {The Lost Rings}
The Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

Its lots of fun so join in the Carnival!

Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

What an amazing day! To start the celebration of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, I decided to take the kids on a family field trip to the Indian Temple Mound. It was such an awesome experience and I am glad we decided to make a trip to the Heritage Park and Cultural Center before our move in a couple weeks.

I was extremely disappointed when I discovered our library has NO BOOKS to checkout on Blessed Kateri. The closest book store is over an hour away so I am contemplating making the drive to purchase a book for our personal collection.

My sadness has been greatly lessened when I received an email notifying me that Holy Heroes had a FREE coloring book download for Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Saint Imelda and Saint Juan Diego. I printed the coloring book for our Lily of the Mohawks and Little Man is ready to get started. I love that the coloring pages tell the short story of her life. While he colors with his brother we are going to pray the Litany of Kateri Tekakwitha.

In addition to our field trip today I wanted to make some Native American crafts. I decided on completing some Sand Art. From what I know about the custom, Native Americans would make pictures using colored sand to depict symbols from their tribes. I decided that making sand art would be fun but I incorporated the Chi Rho as our symbol. A turtle or lily symbol would make a great sand art picture as well. The turtle was the symbol of Blessed Kateri's tribe and she is known as the Lily of the Mohawks.

Since we have had typical Florida weather (Pours rain for 20 minutes while the sun is shining, stops and then starts again). I was unable to go to the beach to get sand. I am sure you can buy colored sand from the craft store but why buy it when God has created it for us for free? We have our symbols ready to go so hopefully this project will be finished tomorrow. I am really hoping to have a nice relaxing Sunday as a family since my husband will be off work too!  To the right is a sample of some Native American Sand Art. To complete sand art you need is any color card stock that has a symbol printed or outlined on it. Use white glue and place colored sand over glue. After you leave the picture to dry overnight shave off excess sand and you have a beautiful sand art picture!

For dinner tonight I made chili and Mohawk jiffy corn bread. I wanted to bake some fish instead but I have to admit I never cook fish, so I prefer for my culinary husband to do all the seafood cooking in our household.

The one thing I really wanted to do today was pray the rosary on the beautiful nature trail near my parents house. It was raining so I decided against it. I thought it would be so peaceful and we could make stick crosses to leave along the trail like Blessed Kateri  did. Maybe I should have bought some ponchos and let my children dance in the rain? Hmm...

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!