Fire Department Field Trip

We had our second homeschool group field trip a week ago.  This time we got to go see the Fire Department.  Maybe it was because it was in a small town, but it was not as professionally set up as the Police Department was.  It's a good thing that I don't have to rely on good grammar if my kids are in a fire!  All in all, the kids enjoyed themselves and it served as a good reminder to prepare are kids in case there is a fire in our house.

 

This would be the only picture I took during the tour.  Caroline has deemed herself the field trip photographer, so my camera rights were quickly revoked.  Here the girls are enjoying a sneak peak at the monitors used for tracking calls, weather and such.  I am thankful I have only one computer screen to deal with on my desk!

The inside actually looked very much like the inside of a house.  There was a full kitchen and living room and a few bedrooms too.  I guess since they work 24 hour shifts it's nice to have a bed around if there are no calls.



I just love being reminded of what things look like from a 5 year old perspective.  This is Caroline's shot of the fireman speaking in the conference room. 

 



Sticker badges are a must at any public safety event!

 



 

 

Here is the fire man all geared up.  He showed us how he gets dressed.  There are so many different layers!  I forget exactly, but I think his gear adds about 50lbs. And then they have to go fight a fire! 

 



I thought this was truly smart thinking!  It never crossed my mind about kids being scared of a fireman, but it totally makes sense!  Especially when they talk to you, they sound like an astronaut!  So, after getting all dressed for a fire, the fireman went around and shook (or at least attempted) all the kids hands.  This way they could realize that he is a friendly person and here to help. 

 

We also learned all sorts of handy fire safety tips that we reviewed once we got home.

 



 

 An old time fire truck.

 



 

Both my big girls took turns climbing through the fire truck.

 

Of course, Sydney was being her 2 yr. old self and didn't want to be in the picture, so here are 3 of my girls :)

Lent is a Family Affair

Obviously, as the mother of 5 daughters, pretty much everything in my life for a while is going to be a "family affair."  It is pretty much the accepted norm at our house that you never get to leave the house alone. 
Going to store?  GREAT!  Take two kids with you. 
Going to pick up a movie?  Who's riding? 
Visiting a friend?  Make sure you pack toys for the kiddos.
It's just a fact of life. 
I accept it.
And they are my kids, I did CHOOSE to have them, so I do kinda like to have them around.

But that's not what I am talking about right now.

This morning was our monthly Akathist for our children at our Parish.  Since most of us have children tag-a-longs, we often stay after and let the kiddos play while we moms chat.  Today was one of those days. 
It was good for my soul.
It is stressful to me as a mother sometimes trying to figure out all of this Orthodoxy stuff.  While a Protestant, I felt like I "knew" everything, or at least what to expect.  Orthodoxy is not so simple.  I have no idea what's going on!  I am constantly watching others to make sure I am understanding what's going on.  It is a daily learning process and it doesn't leave much room for getting ahead.  I feel like the blind leading the blind.  Which can be quite an uncomfortable place when parenting.
But today I had a good heart check.
"Relax!"
"Enjoy Lent"
"Don't make it so complicated"
Honest and helpful words of advice from my friends.  It was so nice to get to sit down and just share some mental anguish and then have loving advice from people who have been there and done that many times!  I love how there are so many people that are looking after me and guiding me through this foreign process with loving arms. 
One of my favorite reminders was that Lent is a family affair.  We are a church body, we are all experiencing this together, as a family.  If life is too stressful and I can't make it to a service, don't worry, your friend is there and is praying for you.  The church gives us beautiful guidelines to follow, together.  This is not an independent race, we cannot receive the full benefit alone.  It is always more fun to train with friends! 
I have no idea what kind of spiritual endurance I am in for this Lent, but I am very much so looking forward to sharing it with my family.

Shepherds Pie



I love an easy filling meal.  Especially when it's all one dish and you can hide all sorts of veggies that the kids won't notice!  This recipe is taken from one of my all time favorite blogs Passionate Homemaking.  Although the author is taking an extended sabbatical, her blog still contains so much great knowledge!  She has really helped guide me as I have journeyed to natural food and living.  

 

This step has to be my favorite.  Who woulda thought to cook your potatoes and carrots together?  Then they can be all mashed together and this kiddos can't pick them out!  Make sure to start the carrots a good 10 minutes before you add your potatoes, otherwise you'll never get them to mix.

I am STILL loving my Pampered Chef ceramic pan.  Because it is so deep, I can fit all sorts of foods at one time!    Here I'm starting the beef and onions.  And yes, the girls did help me brown the meat.

 



Next I added my tomato sauce and spices.  This simmers for about 20 minutes.  

Then I add whatever veggies I can find! This time I did black beans, corn, peas and green beans (that actually came from our garden!  I love canning!)  Mix them all together and let them cook for 5 minutes.

 



Then layer the two mixtures, the beef/veggies on the bottom and the mashed potatoes/carrots on top.  I chose to make two 8X8's of this dish. I baked one and froze the other.  If you are feeding a crowd, throw it all in a 9X13.

 

Top with cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  It is my winter comfort food! 

 

Thanks Passionate Homemaking for such a yummy recipe!  

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

I have been one Momma on a Mission this week!

For some reason I just feel this intense inner pressure to make Lent meaningful for my girls.  Along with that I am getting anxious about the long and plentiful services during the Lent season.  I have wonderful daughters, but you can only test their patience so much!  We love having our kids with us in worship, despite the hard work it takes.  We usually do not allow "entertainment" for our older girls, other than a kids version of the Liturgy to follow.  They are expected to stand and participate with us, or sit quietly.  Knowing that this will be not only a test of my endurance, but very much so theirs, I am compiling an activity book for them to work on during Lent.  It has coloring pages and activities for the themes presented during Lent.  (I have included some helpful links at the end of this post, so keep reading!)  Luckily, most of the hard work has been done for me, but I still feel this pressure to have things laid out and planned in advance in order to make this season as stress-free as possible.  All the while, trying not to be like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son.....



Did you like that segue???

Last week we were guided to focus on humility, this week the theme is Repentance.

The parable of the Prodigal Son can be found in Luke 15:11-32.  There are two sons with their father.  The younger son, even though his dad was still living, asked for his inheritance and went off to spend it, while the older son stayed and worked for his father.  The younger son had a blast and quickly spent all of his money.  He ended up working for a farm caring for pigs.  He was so hungry he was going to eat pig slop... Then he realized that his father's servants lived better, so he decided to go back to his father, beg for forgiveness and ask for work.  While he was still a ways off, his father ran to him, rejoiced, cleaned him up and threw him a party.  That did not go well for his older brother.  He had done everything right and he never got a party!  His father corrected his thinking, reminding him to rejoice because his son was lost and had now been found.

What a love story!  God is standing there, looking out for us, waiting for us to Repent.  And then when we do...He runs to us! 

While that is so comforting, I admit I can probably relate more to the older brother.  I like following the rules.  They are in place for a reason.  Don't give me a rule and expect me not to follow it.  And then if we all have the same rules...we must all be following them, the same way or it doesn't count!  Then I get prideful because I can follow the rules better than others can.....

Oh dear!  Double fail!  No humility and definitely a need for repentance!

The theme for this week is placed here for a reason.  If we make it all about following the rules, we are completely missing the mark.  Like the Prodigal, it would be better to blow it during Lent and then repent than it would be to be like the older brother and follow all the rules, but completely miss the point!  Vassilios Papavassiliou says in his book Meditations for Great Lent, "The purpose of Lent is to return to God, not simply to change our diet."  It's not about the rules, it's a return to God.

I love the beauty of the connection between humility and repentance.  Our Priest pointed out in class this morning that you can't have one without the other.  "The way to be humble is to continually repent," he said. You cannot repent unless you are humble enough to admit your mistakes. 

I can already tell I am going to be doing a lot of repenting in the weeks to come! 

I am thankful for a loving God who is looking out so that He can run to me when I finally make my way back home!




Here are some of the helpful links that I found as I have been compiling workbooks and activities for my girls this Lenten season.

• This is a complete document of activities that relate to all this Lent, written by an Orthodox member.  http://www.scribd.com/doc/49025598/Lent-Workbook-English-2 
• This site has a great step-by-step tutorial on how to make an interactive board for your kids to help experience the Lent season.  I love a well put together poster board!  http://www.antiochian.org/content/family-activities-lenten-journey
•  I thought this was a cute and easy idea for a Lent countdown calendar.  http://thesefortydays.blogspot.com/2008/02/project-lenten-calendar.html
• This website had a lot of helpful explanations to use to teach your children about the meaning of Lent.  http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/lentpask/share.htm
• This site had a lot of helpful links and it sells books about the Major Feasts that are great for young readers.  Conciliar Press also carries these books, but not all of them.  http://paideaclassics.org/index.php?sid=&cart_id=&admin=1&category_id=470
• I thought this was a cute and simple craft to do with the kiddos, a wreath showing the timeline of Holy Week.  http://www.weelittlemiracles.com/2012/04/make-easter-story-wreath-free.html

Our February

I realize that lately I have been posting more about my life than the lives of our children. 

Never fear! 

I have decided that unless there is a super fun special event, that I will do a monthly rap-up at the end of each month. 

As I was trying to think of what happened in this short month, I didn't think there was much, but now that I've looked back through the pictures, we had a pretty good month!

 

So enjoy this photo journey through our February!

 

 

Sydney's new favorite book is Pete the Cat.  She LOVES it!  We have yet to have a child fixate on something, but now we do.  She would sit and read the book all day if she could.  And when she's not reading the book, she singing the song in the book.  This is a picture snapped of Sydney "reading" to her baby sister (whom she loves!). 

 

 

Abigail is all dressed and ready for a fun day of play at Marbles.  We had an awesome field trip for all the homeschool and preschool families from our church.  It's great when you have families of lots of kids, it's easy to get the group rate!  Marbles treated us right and we were even able to reserve a room for lunch.  Because of this, I have now been selected as the Social Director for the kids at church :)

 

It amazes me how spiritually minded my Makayla is.  This is a cross that she made out of sticks and rubber bands.  She is constantly making crosses, singing church songs, drawing pictures about the Bible.  My favorite this month was a prayer that she wrote out.  We framed it and put it in our Icon Corner.

 





Sydney is patting the "baby" that is in her tummy.  I have no idea where she got this from, but she has become such the little mommy at home.  When she's not reading Pete the Cat, she is taking care of her "fragile doll."  She feeds her, puts her to bed, changes her diaper, you name it!  I am always being told what baby is doing.  It is so sweet watching her little imagination!

 

Josh and I were very desperate for some time alone this month.  Babysitters are not easy to find 1) because we have so many kids 2) Because we just don't have the money to pay!  So, we improvised and had an in-home date night.  We hurriedly got the kids to bed right at 7pm and then we had a nice candlelight dinner, ALL BY OURSELVES!!  It is so nice to be able to sit and eat dinner without the interruptions of little ones!

I thought this was so sweet, little Abby just snuggling with her sisters!  They aren't resting, we just don't have TV in our living room, so if the girls are ever treated with TV, they have to sit in our bed.  TV is just not a priority in our house, I'd much rather have them play outside or doing something creative inside, so it just hasn't been part of our day.  Although, there are times when  TV is appropriate.  This time we had just finished reading Peter Pan, so the girls were doing an "educational" review of the movie and shared with me similarities and differences afterwards.  

I really don't like all the junk candy that Valentine's Day can bring.  It is soooo nasty and we never eat it all, so there is nasty candy laying around my house forever.  Seriously, we still have most of our Easter candy left from last year.  So, when Josh went out to get Valentine's for his girls, I asked him to avoid candy.  So this is what he came up with and the girls LOVED it!  He got them supplies to make their own Valentine's cards and some fun snacks.  The girls spent hours at the table making Valentines for everyone they know, I even made a Valentine for my special someone :)

 

 

While all the girls were all artsy craftsy, Josh was outside being manly and building a fire pit.  So for a romantic Valentine's dinner we had fire roasted Hot Dogs and Smores for dessert.  The girls love a good camp fire! 

Believe it or not, it has actually snowed twice this winter!  Our second snow was definitely the biggest.  The girls were chomping at the bit to go outside and play in the snow.  I am a snow scrooge, so I stayed inside.  Luckily, their daddy enjoys the snow, so he took them out early Sunday morning and gave them one last romp in the snow before it all melted while we were at church.

 

You can't tell in this picture, but my Julianna is finally walking!  A week before she turned 19 months!  She had been playing around with the idea for a few weeks and then randomly she made up here mind that is was time to walk and she hasn't stopped since!  She has quickly learned all the fun stuff she can get into now that she is upright and moving fast!

Josh and I actually got to go on a REAL date!  Our sweet neighbors had given us a gift certificate to a restaurant and a coupon for free babysitting.  Our schedules finally coordinated and we actually got to go out and enjoy an evening as just adults.  The girls enjoyed watching mommy get all pretty for daddy.  We had a great time in peace and quiet with each other.  What could be more fun than dinner, Lowes, Starbucks and Walmart :) 

 

 

Like I said, Sydney loves her baby sister.  She is always asking to hold her.  Of course she doesn't realize that Abby weighs just a little less than she does, so this time it ended up that Abby layed on top of Sydney.  I love the sweet sister moments!



 

My mom got the girls some new dress up clothes.  All the girls dressed up and danced around the living room. Even Julianna, walking to dancing in just a few weeks!  It warms my heart!

 

 

Even Abby joined in on the dress up fun :)