Friday, January 15, 2010

Becket Gets Wet!

Becket will be baptized on Sunday morning. I'm excited! There is also a certain level of relief I feel knowing my child will have the grace of God.

Part of our homeschooling this week has been spent focusing on Becket's baptism, the other children's baptisms, and what it means to us, as Catholics, to be baptized. Fortunately, several months ago, I received a set of children's books for review from the Catholic Company.


The set is called "It's in the Bag!" In the bag (a very cute little canvas bag) are seven books, each focusing on one of the seven sacraments. What I love about these books is that they aren't given plain titles such as "Baptism" or "Marriage." They're given very cute, even witty titles:

  • Noah Gets Wet! A Story Celebrating Baptism
  • John's Special Sunday! A Story Celebrating Holy Communion
  • Betty Says, "I'm Sorry!" A Story Celebrating Reconciliation
  • Cousin Kim's Big Day! A Story Celebrating Confirmation
  • Nana and Papa's Special Promise: A Story Celebrating Matrimony
  • The Boy's Special Dinner Guest! A Story Celebrating Holy Orders
  • Grandpa Gets Oily! A Story Celebrating Anointing of the Sick
All of the books were written by Doug Brummel and illustrated by Jennifer Brummel & the Brummel Kids. The books can be purchased for either gender - you can get the Three Sisters or the Three Brothers; I received a mix of both.

Also in the bag is a Go Fish! card game featuring the Sacraments and a prayer card.

I love this set - as do the children! And, we're all looking forward to Becket getting wet on Sunday!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

This is why my house is a wreck...


Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat- a- cake, darling and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard and there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.



by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Saturday, January 9, 2010

What's in YOUR bag?

We're venturing out as a family of 6 tomorrow. (Actually, we've already taken 2 trips as a family of 6 already, but both were to the pediatrician's office.) I've spent the better part of the last hour making sure my diaper bag has the things I probably shouldn't be without. So, I decided that I would post the items in my diaper bag. [A little useless information never hurt anyone, right?]

Here we go...

Contents of My Diaper Bag

[First of all, let me begin by stating that all of my diaper bags - I suppose I'm up to 4 or 5 by now - are backpacks. Backpacks allow me to stash everything on my back, Sherpa-style, and have my hands and arms free to wrangle children while not whapping them in the head with a shoulder-strap-style diaper bag.]

Black leather backpack
Weight: 10.6 lbs when loaded with the following contents:

* 3 Size 4 diapers for Tricky (we decided to wait until she's used to Chaucer before potty training)
* 5 newborn diapers
* diaper holder (the small floral bag in the picture)
* Kirkland wipes (love these wipes; love the packaging even more)
* changing pad
* dirty diaper duck (contains a roll of bags for stinky ds)
* Benadryl (that's for me, if I spontaneously break out into hives, which happens)
* snacks (2 fruit strips and 3 bags of gummies; you never know)
* 1 bottle of water
* ziplock bag with extra clothes for the baby: sleeper, onesie, socks, blanket) can put the dirties back in the ziplock bag. Nice, neat.
* small black bag: hand sanitizer, Lansinoh cream, Carmex, infant Tylenol, Boudreaux's Butt Paste, spray on first aid antiseptic, and bandaids
* gum
* pen
* notepad
* iPhone
* mp3 player
* wallet
* keys

Wednesday, January 6, 2010