Seasons of Joy Looking for a way to bring peace and joy to your day?
Seasons of Joy is my 10-week seasonal guidebook to add rhythm and fun to your daily routine. Each guidebook has ten weeks' worth of circle times, stories, arts, crafts, and handwork, painting, playtime activities and more!
Seasons of Joy seeks to empower families to create peaceful rhythms and routines and joyful celebrations that follow the circle of the year. The blog also chronicles our adventures in living simply, loving exuberantly, and Waldorf inspired homeschooling.
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Phew! Homemade garden spaghetti sauce on the stove and a spare thirty minutes to come up with a post!
Here’s what’s going on in our little world this week.
Monday, August 8
Today is our second first day of school. The first first day of school didn’t work out so well. We won’t speak of it again.
Here’s to second chances!
It’s also the feast day of St. Mary MacKillop. What a great saint to celebrate on our first day of school! “We must teach more by example than by word.” What a great quote! And I adore her life motto: Read more...
We’re back home again! I know I’ve been short on posts lately. I struggle between blogging my life and actually living it. I just can’t seem to manage both. This week, with the Harry Potter premiere, a trip to the Lancaster Science Factory, a minor league baseball game, a get-together with college friends and a family reunion, I’ve been a little busy for blogging. It looks like we’ll have a bit of a less hectic schedule over the next two weeks, and then we’re off again! Read more...
Happy Independence Day! I am home with a lovely warm baby snuggled up on either side of me– “the pink baby” on my right and “the blue baby” on my left. Daniel is snuggled up in his bed asleep and my biggest boy was bribed… erm, I mean persuaded… with a promise of Wii time to come home from the Fourth of July celebration to help me with the little ones. Daddy is downtown with Katie Grace and Nicholas, and I hope he is having as peaceful and lovely an evening as I am. Read more...
From the archives
Midsummer and the feast of St. Peter are the favorite seasons for “rush-bearing” or “rush laying” in England: rushes or new-mown hay are brought in to be laid on the floors of churches.
Good Day to you, you merry men all
Come listen to our rhyme
For we would have you not forget
This is Midsummer time
So bring your rushes, bring your garlands
Roses, John’s Wort, Vervain too
Now is the time for our rejoicing
Come along Christians, come along do.
Bishop’s Castle Rushbearing Song, Shropshire
From The Feast Day Cookbook Read more...
Sunday, June 27
Today is the closing show for Michael. He has a cast party, we have a graduation party– there are parties all around!
Monday, June 28: Our Lady of Perpetual Help
If anyone ever needed perpetual help, it’s me!
Tuesday, June 28: Paul Bunyan Day
Time to get out the Tall Tales. We also have a library program to attend.
Wednesday, June 29: Sts. Peter and Paul
Things are up in the air right now, but I am hoping for a field trip to the Maryland Science Center today. Read more...
Phew! Hear that? It’s the sound of mama breathing a sigh of relief now that Vacation Bible School is over. Not that things are ever really quiet around here, mind you. Not with a 12-year-old who is in a musical, a 10-year-old ballerina, a 7-year-old with an invisible army of minions to control, a 4-year-old who seems to have found his screaming voice, and two babies who are just on the cusp of crawling AND getting teeth. Then again, if we had a quiet week, we probably wouldn’t know what to do with it!
Here’s what’s on tap for us this week. Read more...
Friday May 31 is the day we remember Mary’s visiting her cousin
Elizabeth. In our family, this is a day we traditionally go and visit
a pregnant friend. We bring a meal and a gift of flowers. Violets,
which are said to be in honor of Mary’s humility, are a favorite.
Another project we recently involved ourselves in was making “Spirit
Baskets” for a local pregnancy center. The administrator of the center
said that while there were many donations for new babies, there was
nothing to lift the spirit of new mothers. So, we filled baskets with
candles and lotions, books and combs, chapstick and breastfeeding
pamphlets, among other things. Read more...
from the archives
Today is the Feast of St. Matthias, who was chosen by lot to take the
place of Judas as the 12th apostle. Drawing lots can be a low-stress
way of settling small family disputes like who gets the front seat!
On this feast day, we like to make cheese straws, which represent one
of the ways they may have “drawn lots”- by drawing broom straws. If
you’re short on time or don’t have the ingredients, you could just buy
some Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes- a favorite!
Another thing to ponder on this saint’s day is that the Bible doesn’t
have a lot to say about St. Matthias, but this does not mean he was
not important in the grand scheme. We all add to the Great Story, in
big ways and small. Sometimes it’s all about how we step up when our
lot is drawn. To read what is known about St. Matthias, see the Acts
of the Apostles, Chapter 1, verses 15 through 26.
These cheese straws can be made up to 48 hours in advance and reheated
by baking in a 425 degree oven for five minutes. Read more...
From the archives
The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The Fifth Of May, commemorates the
victory of the Mexicans over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla
in 1862. It is celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla
and throughout the state of Puebla, but is also celebrated in
other parts of the country and in U.S.cities with a significant
Mexican population. Read more...
I love the week after Easter!!! Lent is over, Pastor Daddy takes the week off, we have a week off school, and spring is usually here. Alleluia, alleluia!
This week we have some big plans.
Monday April 25 is the feast of St. Mark. His symbol is a lion, so we might try one of these ideas from Catholic Icing. In the morning Michael has a check up and we might do the marketing, and in the afternoon the oldest two have rehearsal for their co-op play, a presentation of the Greek tragedy The Orestian Trilogy. Read more...
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Our Current Read Aloud: On the Banks of Plum Creek
In the car we’re listening to… The Incorrigable Children of Ashton Place and the Hidden Gallery
Nursery Rhyme Nursery School Rain on the green grass,
Rain on the trees,
Rain on the rooftops,
But not on me!
 Character Counts! This month we’re learning about… Sincerity
2 Corinthians 1:12
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.
Blessed Mother Teresa, Pray for Us! 
Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.
~Mother Teresa |
