A few days ago, I received my Pottery barn catalog in the mail. As usual, I flipped through it immediately and must have been looking through it with Little Man on my lap. Apparently, he has also been reading Meredith, and came up with his own version of their Vintage Wood Pedestal to set up a tablescape... who needs to spend $60 when you can raid the dollhouse?
I haven't made these biscuits in a long time, but they were the perfect breakfast this morning. In addition to slathering them with butter and jam, we really like using them as the crust on our chicken pot pie!
We really like this moist cake topped with sweet and crisp crumbs. It is delicious for breakfast, a special snack, and even dessert!
We'll read some of books that have sunflowers in them and also read our High Five mag for this month (there's a poem about Sunflowers on one of the first pages). Our library system didn't have any of the books that I was hoping to read this week (one being Katie and the Sunflowers), so this is going to be a weak week when it comes to literature.
Finally, I am planning on taking the children to a farm stand where they sell sunflowers so that we can buy a few. Also, the local peach orchard has a field of sunflowers that are just beginning to bloom. I hope to stop there as well. It should be a fun week!
We had out dentist appointment earlier and found that Little Man is going to be okay! He has a great deal of bruising in his mouth (and of course he is also cutting five teeth as well!), so he'll be uncomfortable for awhile. The main concern now is getting him to drink. He's had some juice, a bite of ice cream, and the fruit pop in the picture so far. It is so sad to watch him suffer, but mouths heal quickly! Thank you for your prayers!
Peaches were 88 cents a pound at the market yesterday, so I bought a bunch. We ate four yesterday and today, a certain little nineteen-month-old took nibbles from three of the remaining four while my back was turned.
A few days ago, I received a copy of The Life of Saint Brigid: Abbess of Kildare by Jane G. Meyer to review. I am embarrassed to admit I knew nothing of Saint Brigid's life until I read the book. When the package arrived, I ripped it open and devoured the book right then and there (the children were napping or else I would have read it to them, too!). I loved reading about this saint and am so glad to know more about her!
For the past few months, Fr John and I have been enjoying one or two dinner dates at home each week. With two little ones, meal time can be chaotic, so our solution has been to enjoy a couple of dinners a week together once the children are in bed. We've kept things relatively simple: dinner and a movie or television show at the coffee table or dinner at the kitchen table while we chat. One thing that I'd love to do is string twinkle lights on the screened in porch and eat there. I am glad that we've been doing this because it is such fun to look forward to it during the day and plan out how to make it special. I do have to say that it doesn't take much... my husband is an easy man to please! 
I do not think that we will get through everything we have in the basket, but I'd rather have more planned than not enough. Ideas and materials for this week's basket came from:
In these days when “road rage” seems to be such a problem, it might do us some good to think about our own attitudes when we drive. As in all other aspects of life, we are not responsible for the behavior of others, but we are responsible for ours, and driving in traffic is not too unlike every other human interchange. Nevertheless, driving, somehow, seems to be able to release in us certain behaviors we otherwise do not manifest, and the most notable of these is, of course, anger.Since we tend to be alone in driving, we can have some opportunities to look at ourselves and ask ourselves why we react in one way or another, and whether it does or does not conform to behavior expected of a Christian, especially an Orthodox Christian, in the light of the Gospel and our experience of the Savior. And if we are reacting angrily at such times, we might not be surprised to find that it usually is because we are angry about something else; or that, as is so often the case, we have not forgiven someone somehow, and we are consciously or unconsciously holding a grudge. Perhaps, in the solitude of the automobile, we have opportunities to see our symptoms, and prayerfully come to a better self-understanding, opening the door to our own ability to forgive, and to be healed in heart.
The Ten Commandments for Drivers
I. Always begin a trip with a prayer, making the Sign of the Cross and entrusting yourself to the Lord.
II. Never drink and drive.
III. Never try to shorten the time of a trip. If you started out late, you will arrive late. Do not speed.
IV. Apologize to a driver whom you have interfered with, even when you did not intend to. After all, when we are walking, and bump someone, we apologize without thinking. So why should there be a different ethic behind the wheel?
V. Always yield was to someone who is in a great hurry, or is driving aggressively. If you do not yield, he will pass you, but the situation will be more dangerous.
VI. Give a wave of thanks to a driver who makes way for you.
VII. Drive in such a way that you won't fear seeing a police car. Remember that God is Watching, even if the police are not.
VII. Stay as far away as possible from cars that have dents or show signs of accidents. But be careful not to judge, or you may share in their misfortune.
IX. Never speed up when another driver tries to pass you, or get into your lane. Do not treat you neighbor in a way you do not want to be treated.
X. After every trip, thank God for its safe completion. Be thankful after any trip, and not just a successful one. After all, almost always it could have been worse!
On Saturdays in summer when I was a child, my mother would serve us a cold lunch on the shaded terrace overlooking the garden. The day would have started and ended, as it still does, with a tall glass of water. She took pains to be sure that we were never dehydrated; there would be a full pitcher, frequently refilled, all day long. Mother would bring a baguette. a couple of cheeses, some salami or ham, while I, with a visiting friend or two would go to the garden to pluck a few tomatoes, some radishes, and some fresh lettuce (we would rinse our pickings at the garden tap, never stepping foot in the house). That labor was rewarded later with free, exclusive access to the berry bushes; after eating our sandwiches, slowly of course, there was a digestive pause, and then we were each handed a bowl with which to forage. It's as if my mother knew we would otherwise just crouch there putting berries into our mouths without a thought for the others waiting at the table. We did, however. manage to make it back with bowlfuls for them, too. Afterward, we'd just sit and talk lazily til mid afternoon. Even with the doors and windows arranged for a cross breeze, it was simply too hot at midday to sit indoors,much less exert oneself outside. Evenings were when we played, and on the longest days it would be light out until ten.
My parents bought this children's Bible for Sugar Plum in honor of her namesday earlier this month... it arrived just in time this evening! We've been visiting both sides of our family since Sunday and are returning home bright and early tomorrow morning. I am so excited about reading it to our little ones!
Politonline.ru –
The Russian Orthodox Church has ordered a mobile church from the Volgograd Heavy Transport Equipment Plant, Politonline.ru has noted. The new
The church is square and olive-drab in color when it is mobile, in keeping with government standards for military vehicles. But it opens up into a chapel that meets all the canonical structural requirements of the
I am very happy that we added this book on icons to our collection and think that it will help our children to understand icons and notice details in icons much more than they would have without reading this book. If you are looking for a book to add to your children's library, I don't think that you will be disappointed with this one!
This week has been a very crafty sort of week. Sugar Plum often requests what she calls "art school" and will sit at the table for hours coloring, painting, playing with play dough, etc. Some of our favorite go-to craft items are watercolor pencils, beads, glue, paint, scissors, crayons, and markers. We're always on the lookout for other fun things to use. What do you like to work with?
Next, I punched holes in each page and put them into a slim binder. I carefully cut off the front cover and slid it into the front so we'd know what we were working on.
Now Sugar Plum can use wipe off markers and small squares of felt to use her books over and over, and over again! It works so well, I think that when Little Man is ready, we can use them with him too!
As Sugar Plum is able to work on harder activities from the books, I'll laminate a few more pages from each and she can build on the skills she already knows.
| The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit… Yet, at the same time, God considers Himself constantly obligated to repay you for whatever charities you do to your fellow men. -Saint Basil the Great
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How did you celebrate our nation's birthday?
