Sugar Plum's Autumn Wardrobe...

Shirts

Skirts and Dresses

Leggings and Tights

Boots

With the addition of a sweater, socks, pajamas, slippers, and a hooded rain jacket, Sugar Plum is all set for cooler weather!

Little Man's Autumn Wardrobe...

Shirts

Corduroy Trousers

Sweater

Pajamas

Boots

With the addition of socks, slippers, and a hooded rain jacket, Little Man is all set for cooler weather!

Button's Autumn Wardrobe...

Longsleeve Onesies

Cotton Pants

Warm Sweater

Pajamas

Warm Shoes

With the addition of socks, slippers, and a hooded rain jacket, Button is all set for cooler weather!

Clothing the Little Ones...

For the past year or so, I have tried to be mindful of how much is too much and how much is too little when it comes to clothing. I have re-read what I wrote last year on this topic several times over this year to try to renew my enthusiasm for being a good steward of our closets.

I have found that I am pretty spot on when it comes to our older children. They have about five outfits for everyday (from socks and underwear to pants and shirts) and one or two fancier outfits for Church and special occasions. The baby is a bit more tricky since he still goes through clothes quickly (though it is much better than when he was a tiny baby last year).

Having fewer clothes has meant that I have to do laundry more often. Washing, drying, and folding a load of clothes or linens each day has become a part of our routine. We have also been able to learn to take care of our things a bit more. One goal that I have for this year is to have a smock or a pinafore to put over our little ones when they eat or are doing something creative.

One area that I am still working on is out-of-season and outgrown clothing. We are fortunate to receive hand-me-downs from several families and we also have very generous family. As we receive clothing that we can't use at the moment, I go through it and take out what we can use and give the rest away pretty quickly. The problem is that as time goes on, our stored clothing grows. I have always felt that I should keep clothing for future children, but perhaps I keep too much.

Not too long ago, a friend was expecting a baby girl and she mentioned that she would be very grateful to have any girl clothes that anyone could spare. Initially I thought, "But what if I have another baby girl?" I realized how selfish I was being I did end up going through our girl clothing bins and found FOUR giant trash bags of beautiful clothing that I could give to her. I decided to keep the things that were special to our family and offered her nearly everything else. It is so nice to see her daughter in things that Sugar Plum wore as a little baby and it is good to have the clothing used and not wasted. Around this time, I also was able to re-organize how I store clothing that we are not using. I have one bin for each gender and each age (under a year, 12-18 months, 2T, 3T, etc.). I marked the bits and if I found that I had more than could fit into the bin, I needed to pair things down. This has really helped me to keep things under control.

Last year, we started the tradition of gathering clothing for donation on the feast of Saint Martin (November 11). It is such a sweet way of remembering the saint who cut his cloak in half to warm a beggar he met on the road. I would love to hear about what you do with clothing storage and what your children have in their closets and drawers. I'll try to do a quick post on our autumn wardrobes in the next few days.

Changes Afoot...

A few weeks ago, our mission discovered a property for sale that may be a God-given opportunity for our parish. It is an estate that provides room for a chapel, fellowship hall, and rectory on 15 wooded acres. So far, the parish is gearing up to make an offer to the owner and we have met with His Beatitude to get his approval for going ahead (which was granted). There are many steps in the process before we can say that we are moving there (one of which is getting an offer accepted!) If all goes well, I will be sharing more about this property as things happen. Please keep our parish in your prayers!

From the Mighty Oak...

This has been a banner year for acorns! I feel like everywhere we turn, there is a tree laden with them! Sugar Plum is very fond of collecting bits of nature and all of these acorns are so exciting to her... she specifically chooses her outfit for the day based on whether it has pockets to help carry her bounty. It is so funny to her little dress being dragged down by pockets full of treasure (or choking hazards, as my husband refers to them!).

Little Red Rocker...

I was at a thrift shop recently with Button. We were just poking around and he spotted this little red rocker. He loved it and cried when we left. A few days later I decided to get it, though. It was only $5 and even though we already have a rocker, this one is red! Plus, when you are on your third baby, you have everything he needs in hand-me-downs... he should have something of his own! It is hard to believe that he is getting a personality already... I forget that he is fifteen months old sometimes! He looks a lot like my older children did at nine months old because he is so tiny.

Elder Philotheos of Para...

From the Councils of Elder Philotheos of Para

True happiness is not the honors and pleasures of the body. True happiness is virtue. As many as fight to acquire virtue, to put into practice the commandments of God, these are truly happy.

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When the enemy tempts you with thoughts of faithlessness, with all your heart say, “I believe completely whatever the Church believes, whatever Christ says in the Holy Gospels, whatever the Holy Apostles and Holy Fathers said. I don’t, however, believe you, devil, for you are a liar and a thief.

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If a man builds a house and leaves it without a roof, this house can’t be used at all. In the same way, if a man acquires all the virtues but not love, the house remains roof-less and is of no benefit at all.

Wool for Kate...

My sister, Kate, is an avid knitter and so when a friend of our parish who is a sheep farmer (I know!) mentioned that he had a lot of wool and yarn languishing, I jumped at the chance to get some. The next time he came up, he brought a bag full of this lovely yarn and roving! I am mailing it out today... I can't wait for her to see it!

Coloring Icons...

Warming Breakfasts...

Tomorrow, it will feel like September has really come for our area! Today was in the upper 80's and tomorrow it will be in the 60's. For the past few days, I have been getting the urge to be in the kitchen cooking those comforting foods we all love in the colder months, especially for breakfast. Some of our favorites are: pancakes, muffins, hot cereals (oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc.), eggs, cinnamon toast, warmed-up apple crisp or apple pie leftovers, homemade bread, etc. One of our new favorites is Toad-in- a -Hole. I have no idea why we have never tried it until now... it is delicious and so easy!

What are your favorite autumn breakfasts?

100 Years of Style...

The Zoo...

Our little zoo has so few animals compared with the big city zoos around, but the smallness makes it so cozy and so familiar to our little ones. They can walk the whole thing with energy to spare (enough to play at the zoo's playground for an hour afterwards!) and they see the same animal friends every time. I love the dappled sunlight that filters through the trees. It makes for wonderful pictures.

Festal Learning Basket: Exaltation of the Cross...

Photo from the Vigil of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross at Holy Trinity Monastery

Commemorated on September 14th

Books
The Exaltation of the Cross
The Queen and the Cats: A Story of Saint Helena

Activities
Decorate a Cross with fresh basil leaves and flowers for your icon corner or feastday table
Give the cross around your neck a good polish
Talk About Making the Sign of the Cross (how and why we do it)
Make Basil Pesto to serve today

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Before Thy Cross
We Bow Down in Worship O Master,
And Thy Holy Resurrection,
We Glorify.

The Great School Post...

We have been officially homeschooling for twelve days! Things have been going well and I thought that I would take this opportunity to share what we have been up to.

Sugar Plum loves kindergarten! We have chosen to use Sonlight K for her to use and have so far found it to be a good fit. While I am probably more of a Small Things kindergarten educator, Father John wanted things to be a bit more academically oriented. So we compromised... Sonlight and lots of outside time, drawing and painting (and other crafts!), cooking and baking, cleaning and organizing, and anything else that catches our fancy this year. One of the things that I really like about Sonlight is that kindergarten work takes no more than half an hour to complete (though it may be a bit longer as the year continues). That is just the right amount of time in my opinion.

Little Man is three. He is just starting to be interested in arts and crafts, but his first love is imaginative play. It is not unusual for me to find him sitting on the second or third step going upstairs with a bit of yarn tied to a stick trying to catch bass (?) or building an elaborate train track system and using different voices for each of his trains. Under normal circumstances, I would leave my dreamy little boy alone and let him enjoy his preschool years playing, crafting, and reading. However, he needs speech and has been already tested, iep'd, and sent to a twice weekly speech preschool. He really seems to be improving and it is my hope that we will be able to transition out of the classes as the year progresses. If not, his teachers are lovely and I am sure that he will improve a lot and have fun in the process. I am appreciative of the fact that they strongly encourage play in their classroom.

What school situations are your little ones in?

Memory Eternal!

Painting on the Porch...

Joyous Feast!

Thy Nativity, O Virgin,
Has proclaimed joy to the whole universe!
The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God,
Has shone from Thee, O Theotokos!
By annulling the curse,
He bestowed a blessing.
By destroying death, He has granted us eternal Life.

Festal Learning Basket: Nativity of the Theotokos...

Commemorated September 8th

Books
The Nativity of the Theotokos
The Story of Mary the Mother of God
The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children

Activities
Bake a birthday cake or cupcakes to celebrate the Mother of God's birthday
Add a vase of flowers to your icon corner

Display an icon of the feast on your table or a feastday shelf
Serve special foods to celebrate the feast
Wear the color blue to Liturgy
Sing the Troparion of the feast before meals and during your morning and evening prayers

Saint George and the Dragon...

Please visit Orthodox Children's Book Review to read my thoughts on Jim Forest's latest book, Saint George and the Dragon.