Peak 313 Challenge Checkpoint #3

I was somewhat under the weather this past week which really threw a wrench into many of my plans. One thing I neglected to do was cut and paste up my Soul Food verse as I did in the first two weeks. If I had done that I am without a doubt positive that I would have been much better prepared to withstand all the horrible food cravings I caved to last week.

See, last week's verse was all about cravings. Today cravings are around us everywhere. Every day we have more and more thrown at us. This applies not just to food but to things, belongings, and even people. "The cravings in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world." 1 John 2:16. It is amazing what some little visual reinforcement can do especially when that reinforcement is coming from the Word of God.

However, while I felt horrible all week and made poor food choices I STILL EXERCISED!! I pulled through. I picked up my socks, pulled myself off the couch and got up and at it 4X this week. Not my usual five or six but all things considered that four times isn't too shabby.

Monday- 1/2 hour interval jog (pushing that stroller again)

Tuesday-Yoga Meltdown DVD

Wednesday- OFF

Thursday-Music Video Exercise
This was a particularly fun thing to do. I just didn't feel like popping in the same old DVD and I am quite familiar with the majority of the moves so I made up my own circuits. The music video that Daddy made has three band mashups for a total of 5 minutes. This pretty much matched up perfectly with the interval system I am already familiar with. I chose my own cardio and strength and ab moves and worked through the video six times for a total of 30 minutes including my warm up and cool down. It was a lot of fun. I think I will do this a lot more often now.

Friday- OFF

Saturday- OFF

Sunday- 70 minute walk + 15 minutes strength

This week marks checkpoint three for the challenge. I can't believe it is already over half over. I hope it doesn't take long for another challenge to pop up. I love the additional motivation and accountability that it provides. I have a new verse to print off and I am praying to knock off five workouts this week.

Time to get Living And Active!

How About A Little Faith 2/2

If you made it through Part 1 and came back for more, good for you :) and Thanks!!

I'll add some more backstory here...

I have a fascination with other religions. I took a number of comparative religion classes in University. Not only did a gain a certain level of appreciation for other Faiths in this world but it gave me a deeper appreciation of even my own Faith. I feel that as a Christian/Catholic there is a lot that I can learn from other Faiths. In no way does the knowledge I gain from this affect my own personal beliefs. If anything it makes me that much more stronger in my Faith. I take that as a testament to my convictions.

At one point in my earlier twenties I took the Alpha Course. I don't remember a lot of specifics. I remember some speakers, I remember yummy dinners and I remember talks afterward. I know I learned from the experience. I know I grew in my love of Christ and began to see how while I understood Catholicism, I didn't really understand Christianity. I know I realized I had taken Christ a bit for granted. Without that course I also would be still stuck in a little shell where I could not talk about my Faith. At. All. I found it intimidating to speak about it. Going to the Alpha course and seeing how comfortable others were with sharing and praying together really helped me.

Speed forward to today. This moment.


I am at a point in my life now (I just turned 30! a month ago!!) where I feel a greater need to tend to my spiritual well being. I began the Good Morning Girls study of Colossians on Monday. I am three sets of verses in and I am already learning so much. The talk of hope and faith is right up my alley. I feel affirmed. I feel inspired. After reviewing the scripture and observations and discussing them with my Bible study buddy Becky I began to hear the music in my head and the perfect words. Words that are straight from Colossians. Hope. Faith. 

I dug out my Catholic study books the other day too. Getting them ready to be delved into again. Not often can you find a FREE resource that is so fantastic. The books are excellently thought out. They refer to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (which I often refer to as "the big green book"). The study booklets are great and the fact I can answer the tests online is perfect. Each time I finish a book and complete the test I can order a new book. So far I have worked through We Believe and We Worship. I currently have Mary, Christ's Mother and Ours on the go.

I also at this moment have my Women of Faith study guide sitting in my lap. The one about Living a Life of Balance. I am vowing right now that I will have finished chapter one of this book before I go to bed tonight. Balance, here I am, come and get me.

Speaking of balance I have done an overabundance of writing today. Time to switch gears. Dishes, laundry and a workout are begging to be done. I'll leave you with this...

How About a Little Faith 1/2

I decided to make this a two parter. This part is some back story with some kids involved. The next is more about myself.

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In the past I have been a bit tentative to speak about my faith, especially here on my blog. I have made a few mentions in past posts and a listen to any of my music is usually a good give away. BUT I have never really dedicated a post to it. I am however feeling a little inspired right now about sharing this part of my life.

So just a quickie back story. I was baptized Catholic. I received my first communion at age seven. I took weekly Catholic Catechism classes all through out my grade school years. I was confirmed at age 15. I attended Mass regularly in my early twenties. I was a Music Minister at my parish for five years. I have been on a pilgrimage where I had the awesome opportunity to hear the Pope speak to hundreds of thousands of youth on the banks of the Rhine in Cologne, Germany. My husband and I were married in the Catholic church and both boys have been baptized as Catholic. Evelyn isn't...yet. I worked as a secretary at a Catholic high school for 3 years and was an executive assistant for the executive director and board of the Catholic Women's League of Canada for 9 months (I discovered Evelyn was on the way when I started working there).

Confession: I feel guilty that I do not take my children to Mass regularly. I have a few poor excuses. First off, I feel overwhelmed taking kids to church. I always feel that their hijinx are distracting to the other parishioners. I also feel guilty going to my Parish and not being musically involved. It hurts my heart to be at a Mass without a note of music and know that I have the power to completely change that BUT I can't do it with three children in tow. Unfortunately my husband often has to work on a Sunday if the weather during the week was uncooperative so that puts a major crimp in plans. Pretty lame excuses. I know. I am working on this. No longer feeling a connection to my Parish doesn't help either. I have become a C&E Catholic and I don't like it much.

Moving forward. We may not regularly go to Mass BUT we have a A LOT of faith and spirituality in our home. My children know about God and Heaven and Jesus on the cross. They know that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ. Sometimes they wear one of my rosaries because it makes them feel good. We read stories from their children's bibles. They enjoy hearing Just In Case You Ever Wonder before bed. We listen to the Christian stations in the van and they hear me singing my own songs of praise all day. Without a doubt my children know that God is great and powerful and amazing and awesome.............

Given the ages of the boys now it is time to start some more official Bible studies and learning about the faith they have been baptized in. As a homeschooler I have the opportunity to add this to our day. While I did not choose to homeschool for reasons of faith I can not deny the possibility that God still led me to the choice to homeschool. I will be ordering very shortly two important resources. Our Bible study The Great Adventure Series and our Catechism study from the Faith and Life Series.

In addition to those we are beginning our character studies with the Kids of Integrity materials. That is some super cute stuff there. I am also looking forward to getting into the Truth in the Tinsel materials (but in due time, I'm not rushing fall, yet).

We are also going to be veering off in a different direction. Anyone who has seen a picture of my husband (there are a few on here) may notice that he is of Aboriginal descent. It would be shameful on our part to not teach the children anything about their Cree heritage. With that in mind we will be teaching them in a variety of ways the Seven Sacred Teachings. These teachings are very plain and very simple. They are at the core of one's being. They are: Love, Respect, Courage, Honesty, Wisdom, Humility, and Truth. Now some may run for the hills upon hearing us teaching our children aboriginal teachings but they do not stray that far off the Christian path. True they may refer to the Great Creator (but in this house we interpret that to mean God) and yes there may be additional symbolism (that we understand as such) but the core values are universal.

I can only pray that using the tools at my disposal and the guidance of God that I am doing a good enough job to lay a foundation of Faith in my children. Nothing like setting some lofty goals.

That about wraps up my Part 1 on this subject. Part 2 is coming up shortly.

Homeschool Mother's Journal Entry

This is my second Homeschool Mother's Journal Entry. I am already enjoying these. I enjoy the element of introspection. I normally don't have too much trouble looking within and deciphering my levels of oddness but this is different. I get to delve a little bit deeper. Here are my answers for this week...

In my life...we bid my parents farewell as they go on a long journey overseas. They will be gone for a month and visiting China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. We will follow along with their itinerary and check out our atlas and the internet to see where they are and what they are doing. Voila! Following Grandma and Grandpa on their trip becomes a Geography Unit!

In our homeschool this week...overall everything went well. We made great progress in our social studies units and got into our math curriculum. For more on what we covered this week please read my post Homeschool This Week (Sept 10-14) or my School of the Rock page where I will be chronologically filing our Homeschool This Week posts.

I am inspired by...the beauty of fall. I've had to stash my Birkenstocks and bring out my moccasins. I think the duvets are next. I love sweaters and scarves and cool noses. Fall flavours, colours, smells, and textures are invading my home!! I <3 fall. Thank you God for Fall.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...just our regular errands and seeing regular people. Nothing extraordinary. One thing for sure though is that we try to spread smiles and happiness where we go. A walk to the grocery store needn't be a chore. There is a lot to be said for making a conscious effort to enjoy life.

My favourite thing this week was...finally seeing the finished promo video for the bands that Daddy plays in. The videos were simply awesome. We watch them every day. The kids love dancing and singing along and pointing out when Daddy is on screen.

Things I'm working on...time management. I look at the hours in the day and I look at what I have to accomplish and while I know there is enough time I just can't seem to get things into the right time slots or segments. It's a juggling game. I'm working on it though. Experimenting if you will with what works best for us. I am not seeking a strict schedule per se but more of a general routine. We'll get there. Slowly and steadily.

I'm grateful for...my dear friend Becky. We met online over a year ago. We got to meet in person this past Spring. We chat online frequently, sharing ideas and stories. We have bonded over our similar age babies, faith, and our choices to homeschool. This past week she also started a blog. Please pop over to Raising His Children and show my friend Becky some love.

I'm praying for...the upcoming week. That it be filled with love and peace not only for our family but for everyone out there in the big wide world.

Now it is time to go and spread some happiness :)

Back At It

It is official. Our 2012-2013 homeschool year has kicked off. The boys are excited. I am jazzed. This is a journey that my children and I are taking together. Even just yesterday watching them learn together brought tears to my eyes. It was a strong affirmation that YES we are on the right path. YES this decision is still the right one.

I could say I was surprised by how well our first days went but I'm not so much surprised as I am relieved. I set fairly low expectations (in a good way). I know there is a lot for the boys to take in. Even in public and private school the first few days are all about review, going over curricula and gearing the students up. That is what the last few days has been. Gearing them up and they are right revved.

I have to say too that there has been significantly less whining and rough housing as well. The structure and routine suits the boys. They need more focus and this is going to help them get it. We are getting our groove and I already feel more confident than I did last year. Maybe I just feel more prepared (found a way to lesson plan that really works for me). 

The vision that I have for our homeschool is taking shape before me and I am loving it. In just a few days I can already tell what some ideal strategies will be for making our homeschool a successful place for learning.

Such as but not limited to:

-Doing Math and LA when Evelyn is sleeping (this requires more concentration from both the boys and myself and I don't want them to miss out on anything, plus when it comes to math manipulative time having Miss Grabby Hands napping is just wise).

-Don't force the day to start too soon. I once had this idea that I could get up by six and have school going by 8. Nope, not happening. Am I bummed? Not really. I don't mind the extra sleep, we can leisurely get up, have a nice breakfast, kids get some early morning energy out. It also makes no sense to be in the middle of things when Daddy is leaving for work. Once Daddy is gone we get ourselves started.

-Don't start the day too late. There is a fine line between too late and too soon. If we start too late the boys have lost their "school drive" and quite frankly so have I. For example we started later today so I skipped our Wind Up. That sucked and nothing else felt right or flowed. Seems as though 9:30/10 is the ideal time around here. 

-Keep activities and lessons short. I think the longest we can probably extend something is to twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes tops with a sweet spot of probably just fifteen. Anything longer than that and I have completely lost my audience. I also have to keep them engaged the whole time or I lose them. 

-Religion class will become an evening activity. I think. I am not 100% on this yet but I feel that bible readings and prayers and learning about our faith make a perfect wind down activity before bed. I like to think that filling their little heads about God and Jesus before bed will make for nice dreams. 

-Don't Cram! Ease Up! Lay Back! Don't forget that patience is a virtue. I have to constantly remind myself to be patient. The more I push the more they will push back. Knowing what and how to push something is becoming a fine art and I am becoming a skilled painter. 

-Let go of perfection. Vik likes to do goofy things when working on sheets. He likes to do it his way. It may say make an X over something but he likes to circle it instead. It won't be unusual to see an angry bird midway through a line of 5s. I know that. I accept that. That is him and I accept him unconditionally. We can work through that. 

With those observations out of the way, how about a bit of a run down of what we did during our first three days. 

Wednesday

My sister had the boys for a sleepover on Tuesday evening (she took them to a corn maze the lucky ducks!).

I picked them up Wednesday around noon and we headed home for lunch which was homemade Mac & Chz with these. Perfect right? After lunch we got a few of our plans underway. We went outside and took our 1st Day of School pix and afterwards we did a little interview of what their favorite things were. This is something I plan on doing each year with them. Here is a peak of it put together.

Then the boys got to go through their buckets. Not so fast though. It was an exercise in listening to directions. I had them pull out specific things to put into their pencil cases and look at their scribblers and binders. Kind of like Simon Says. Mamma Says find your pack of crayons. Mamma Says find your eraser. At the end each were left with a bag of smarties in the bottom. Smarties for my smarties :)

After that we looked through the variety of books we were going to learn from and I told them about the things we would be learning about. They really enjoyed getting a look at the Earth Science book. Every day now (and I am sure until we actually do it) I am asked about doing the volcano. 

That was about it for our first day. Nice and easy. See low expectations.

Thursday

This was our first full day. The first day where we would really get into things. Some started smoothly, some rockier but everything we started we finished. We began with our Wind Up. Some people call this Circle Time or Gathering Time or Calendar Time. I'll have to do a post on that itself someday soon. 

Snack time followed our Wind Up. Then we got into our Social Studies unit "Who I Am/Where I Am" with a little project I picked up from pinterest. I look forward to sharing it when it is finished. Next we started our History unit about Dinosaurs. I am basing this unit off of the Magic Treehouse Book Dinosaurs Before Dark. We will be taking info from the book, fact checking it, doing some timelines, some colouring, some flow charts.

After that we took a walk around our neighbourhood (which isn't out of the ordinary but did serve a greater purpose in this instance).  We capped off our day with some math. I made a last minute change to my math curriculum plans and will have to fill you in more on that later too. 

Friday

As I said before we skipped out circle time and were behind all day. Evelyn slept quite poorly last night and was quite cranky all day with a very short nap which meant a lot of our plans for the day wouldn't get done. Really the only thing we did do was some more activities for our "Who I Am/Where I Am". Today I printed off the map of our neighbourhood and we traced out the route we walked yesterday. This whole unit is for them to develop a greater understanding of where and who they are in the world which will lead nicely into our October unit on Maps/Globes/Compass. 

We didn't hit math today or science or history BUT there in lies the beauty of this whole homeschool thing. IT DOESN'T MATTER. We will do the things we missed very casually over the weekend and be back on pace on Monday without feeling like we didn't get a break or feeling like we got behind. 

Next week is going to be a big week. A full week. This is where the testing of ourselves starts. Testing the limits, boundaries, strengths and weakness of our own person. It is also where the learning really begins. It is where happiness will be shared. 

MACHS Homeschool Conference 2012 Pt. 2

"The best laid plans of mice and men...". That has to be one of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite books that were required reading in high school (my children will for sure read this when the time comes). It also for the most part adequately describes how our two days at the MACHS Homeschool Conference went.

In short we went, we saw, and we conquered. It was two days of a lot of learning, discussing, and discovering. To my dismay we didn't get to attend the workshops as much as I wanted to. This can be attributed to a variety of reasons from not knowing quite where to go to getting too absorbed in looking at the exhibitors to Evelyn getting a little cranky (girl just wants to be mobile). Whether it was missing a workshop completely or leaving early or just not being able to concentrate the workshops were a bit of a bust. Not to discredit the workshops themselves though, mostly I just wasn't able to mentally be there how I had hoped.

However, to my pleasant surprise all the workshops will be available on the MACHS web site in the members only section. You can bet I got me a membership real fast upon that little discovery. Can I get an AMEN???

AMEN!!!!!! This means that in the comfort of my home and in the quiet of sleeping babes I will be able to listen/watch the workshops over again and really be able to pay attention. As an added bonus the workshops that were cross timed with others that I couldn't go to before I will also be able to listen/watch. Talk about a workshop gold mine. I am hoping they will be available on the web site shortly. After I get my fill I will elaborate more on my thoughts and what I learned from each of the facilitators.

One thing that did go better than I hoped was checking out the exhibitors. To me getting a feel for curriculum was a major part of the conference experience for us. It is one thing to read about them in a book, see pictures of them online and read the reviews but getting an opportunity to actually pick some up and flip through them was fantastic.

I am happy to report that I found some direction and awesome resources. Among those that I am most excited about are:

-Draw Write Now
     Daddy is a fantastic artist. To him the concepts of Draw Write Now are perfect. Using art and writing and penmanship together just makes sense.

-Canadian Handwriting
     I have poor penmanship. At least that is what I have been told my entire life. I hope that my children don't inherit my sad skills. I think that practice will play a huge roll in that. I will use the Canadian Handwriting workbooks to reinforce what they are learning in the Draw Write Now program.

-Math U See and AL RightStart Mathematics
     One thing I have learned in regards to mathematics is that today it is all about manipulatives. Having children work with actual objects for counting and math visualization is where its at. I put both the Math U See program and the AL RightStart Mathematics together because they both rely heavily on visualization and tactile learning. They both have work book components along with the counting blocks, clock, tiles etc. I hope that by combining the more traditional style of the Math U See program with the game playing mentality of the AL RightStart that I will be giving my children a great foundation in math.

-Canada, My Country
     I am a bit of a geography and history nut. They were always my favourite University courses. To me it is very important that my children learn about the history of their country. When I came upon the Donna Ward/Northwoods Press exhibit I was very excited. Even more excited to realize that Donna Ward herself was explaining it all to me. The way it is laid out and how the curriculum integrates and can span several grades. I was hooked. I believe I have said before that Daddy says am a sucker for sets but even he couldn't scoff at this set. This is definitely something I will need to devote an entire blog post to when I get it.

I have not nailed down a phonics and reading curriculum yet which is mildly stressing me out. I saw a few there and I will be doing a lot of deliberating on them. Finding a good reading/phonics/grammar/spelling program is very important to me. I love writing. I love reading. I truly feel that with the right start my children will have that same love. Even now Viktor is making huge leaps in the reading and spelling area and I wish to keep that developing. Max is also watching his brother intently and is trying to mimic the spelling and reading already. Clearly I have work to do here.

To add to all this I saw some great science resources and programs and many very cool world history and geography unit studies. There was also no lack of bible study curriculum that I have to look at.

There is so much that I want to add here but alas those little minds I need to hold are calling me. I can tell already that I will need to do a Part 3 to this little series about the conference. I wish to expand on the workshops after I listen to them online. I want to add more on the curriculum. I also want to speak on how great it was for Daddy and I to be on the same page. Stay tuned for all that.

MACHS Homeschool Conference 2012 Pt. 1

When I first began researching and entertaining the idea of homeschooling last spring I was heartily dismayed that I had missed my local homeschooling conference. I missed it by a mere week too. Sadly, there would be no other conference that would come close in my area for yet another year. I really felt like I missed out. Just to have had the opportunity to look at the variety of curriculum would have been such a great starting place. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Then.

But now? I am just under a year later and Mamma is on the ball. I continued to scope out the Manitoba Association of Christian Home Schools (MACHS) web site for news on the conference so when information was available I was on it. I ordered up my tickets. I'm very happy I got in on the early bird deal because it meant that Daddy could come along for FREE! Can't beat free. Baby girl will be going along as they welcome nursing infants however the boys will be spending the day and a half at their Granny's. They are going to have a ball, and you know what? So am I.

I'm not even sure what I am most excited about. The workshops. Seeing the exhibitors. Spending the time with Daddy. Learning on how to give my children the best homeschool experience. It is all a ball of awesome in my books.

What exactly is a homeschool conference? From what I can tell it is a two day affair where people come and attend workshops, listen to a key note speaker and check out the tables where different companies are peddling their wares and vying for your money for their product. Essentially it is a trade show on homeschooling and I LOVES me a good tradeshow (hello farm kid over here).

As far as the workshops go here is what we are planning to attend...

Session 1 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Ballistic Homeschooling
Of all the workshops I am looking forward to this one the most. What a great way to start the conference. This workshop is going to be all about teaching BOYS!! I have two boys. They are bundles of energy. The description of the workshop described my boys to a T. I am hoping this will arm me with both better tools for teaching them as well as maintaining my sanity. Tall order right?

Session 2 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
Choosing Curriculum for your Unique Family
I often feel that choosing curriculum is one of the biggest stressors for a homeschooling parent. For me it sure is. Choosing the wrong curriculum can set back your child if it isn't the right approach and set you back in the pocket book department. I am hoping that this will give me a bit more direction. I have been reading 100 Top Picks for Home School Curriculum like a mad woman and hoping that between that and this particular workshop I will have a lot more confidence in choosing a curriculum that will suit my children.

Session 3 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
I decided that we would take a workshop break at this time frame. Not that there weren't any offered but considering we will have baby girl with us taking a break would be wise as well as too keep us from getting overwhelmed. It is during this time that we will browse the exhibitors. Talk to a few people. Maybe make some connections.

There is then a break from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. At this point we will continue checking out the companies represented at the conference as well as pop out to grab a quick bite to eat before the evening session.

Session 4 7:00 pm - 9:00  pm
This session will begin with a presentation update on the Home School Legal Defence Association which will then be followed by the Key Note speakers. The speakers this year are a husband and wife who will be speaking on the importance of Christ and how it relates to homeschooling. I will be interested in what they have to say. I differ from many who choose to homeschool as I am not doing it necessarily for religious reasons. As a religious and spiritual person though I am very interested in grasping some of the connection between homeschooling and faith.

Session 5 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Yup, not going to anything here. Getting our whole crew out the door and to where we all need to be in order to make it for a 9:00 am session would be a feat. One that I do not plan to undertake especially considering the busy day we had the day before. We will be dropping the boys off at Granny's for day #2 and plan to arrive in time for Session 6.

Session 6 10:15 am -11:15 am
Homeschooling 101
I am looking forward to this workshop as it deals with logistics. As much as I am a flighty musician somehow I am also very much about the logistics. This workshop will deal with things such as how to notify the government, how to keep records, teaching multiple grades and many more ins and outs of the system.

While there are a few more sessions that continue after that some of them just aren't what I am looking for right now. We will take that opportunity to return to some exhibitor tables if I have any more questions as well as discover a few that I may have missed the first day.

If you would like to see a full list of the workshops that are being offered please click here.

It is going to be a long two days but I am looking at it with much anticipation. I'm a tad nervous. I know I'll be a bit overwhelmed but I plan to come out armed with a much better sense of the direction we want to go.

Before I sign off this post can I just say that I love technology. I will point out a specific reference to this conference. The company which the ticket processing is done through is called Eventbrite. They run an app which you can use to access your ticket information. I was able to download the app then my actual tickets so that I don't even need to print or remember to take any tickets with me. The downloaded tickets are on my iPhone and since my iPhone is like a 5th appendage, or at the very least a permanent growth on my hand, odds are good I don't have any worries about losing or forgetting tickets. I get jazzed about the melding of tradition and technology.

Tomorrow is Thursday. I will be making some notes and preparing things to take with me to the conference for writing and referencing. Please check back early next week when I do Pt. 2 of my post on the MACHS Homeschool Conference.

Have a great night!

Oh and PS. I may have an solution to The Great Stroller Conundrum. The baby store with the strollers I have been looking at is two blocks away from the conference site. There will definitely be a field trip there.

The Holiday Wrap Up

Today is the "twelfth" day of Christmas. No, my true love did not give me 12 drummers drumming or 12 silver crosses as per the Twisted Sister version (hilarious by the way). I have an interest in these twelve days and I blame my mother (as don't we all, for everything) for that. Growing up we had a felted and fabric twelve days of Christmas banner and when that got old and tattered she made little wall quilts to represent the days. Mostly though it was due to a fantastic article she read in some random Christmas book that explained the symbolism.

It should be no secret that I love me some symbolism. Signs and omens, can't get enough of those either. Anyways, before I do the full wrap up I would like to share with you the symbols as I have learned them. It all goes back in history to the 16th Century when during religious wars Christians needed to keep their faith under wraps. These symbolisms allowed them to profess their faith without risk of persecution. Yes it is possible that it is totally a secular song with no religious intent however with out anything to disprove that I choose to believe because faith is about believing not seeing.

To begin...True Love (God)

1st Day...Partridge in a Pear Tree (Christ)
2nd Day...Two Turtle Doves (Old and New Testaments)
3rd Day...Three French Hens (Three Theological Virtues)
4th Day...Four Calling Birds (The Four Gospels)
5th Day...Five Golden Rings (First Five Books of the Old Testament)
6th Day...Six Geese a Laying (The Six Days of Creation)
7th Day...Seven Swans a Swimming (Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit)
8th Day...Eight Maids a Milking (Eight Beatitudes)
9th Day...Nine Ladies Dancing (Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit)
10th Day...Ten Lords a Leaping (The Ten Commandments)
11th Day...Eleven Pipers Piping (The Eleven Faithful Apostles)
12th Day...Twelve Drummers Drumming (Twelve Points of Doctrine in the Apostles' Creed)

Now, I don't know about you but many people, myself formerly included, do not like this song. They find it annoying and dragging and looooong. However, since discovering the symbolism contained I actually rather enjoy singing it. Testify!! In Code!!!

Click Here for for expansion on the code and the symbolism of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Now, tomorrow being January 6th, marks the Feast of Epiphany. When the wise men came to adore and bring gifts to Christ. In my family the end of the 12 days and the feast of Epiphany pretty much wraps up our Christmas and Holiday celebrations. Tonight we will take down the tree and tomorrow the village, nativity and remaining decorations.

With that in mind I better darn well wrap up this wrap up eh?

Overall, the whole Holiday ROCKED!!! Daddy got to stay home the entire holiday and we spent a lot of lovely time together (including a nice dinner out). Everyone was spoiled as usual (including myself). We made some great new years goals and are already well on our way to accomplishing them.

Here are just a few pix I would like to share...

Evelyn in her Christmas Mass outfit. I am in love with her hat. It is from Liv & Lily. Such beautiful children's accessories and big things are happening for them (Hello, Hollywood???)

Max laying out the stockings with care. My mum has made all these stockings except for one. Her own. She has never made herself one. It is already my plan to make her one for next year.

Under the tree Christmas morning. It is obscene every year the amount of gifts we give and receive. 

Viktor with his Angry Bird

Max and the Batcave

Evelyn and her first Dolly.

This boy loved the cranberry sauce!      MMMMMMM Christmas Dinner!!!

Auntie Ang and Viktor playing Sequence Kids and Ang teaching Viktor how to use a sling shot (yes, my sister got my sons sling shots for Christmas. We Love/Hate each other)

I took this with the Instagram App (it's fun). 

The boys were having a great time checking out Grandma's tree.

Some family Bingo fun after the big
Christmas Dinner. We took home a magnifying glass and a whoopee cushion.

I guess that about wraps up the wrap up. Except, what about Daddy and I you ask? Well,  I got him a new Crybaby Wah pedal and a subscription to Guitar Aficionado magazine. I also got him a Lush Massage bar for sore muscles. In my sock he put some guitar accessories and a promise to "hot rod" my guitar for me AND despite having told him that I didn't deserve any jewellery for Christmas because I lost my beautiful bracelet from last year he got me this...

Well, that's it for the wrap up folks. 

Check back soon for a fun little project I'm going to do for my blog!

That Closed Door Opened a Window

I'm sure you have heard the phrase "when one door closes and another window opens". There are a few variations of this phrase but they all mean the same thing. It's a phrase meant to pick you up when things go south. It is a way of looking towards the future after an upset in your past or present. In some ways it means that there are opportunities waiting in the wings that would otherwise be inaccessible if the door had remained open.

If there is one thing I am it would be upbeat and positive. I am always looking for that silver lining in a dark cloud and it usually doesn't take me long to find it. I may feel guilty about it but at times I can be gripped more by the happiness and excitement of the opened window than the grief and sadness of a closed door.

Perhaps one of the reasons that I can be so optimistic is that I know my life is only partially in my hands. The rest is up to fate, the Lord and the big wide universe. There is only so much I can do. My job is to make the best of what is handed to me. It is my faith in God and my faith in, well, faith itself that keeps me going.

With all that said I do have dark days. It's not happy happy all the time. Sometimes the rain melts away the sunshine and lollipops. I just rest assured though that when I open the window when I'm ready the light will shine brighter than before.

Having had a recent upset in my path I am using all my positive thinking to keep my eyes ahead on the big open road of life. I've always found writing to be cathartic and healing. Pain can make great poetry. Here is a little something I wrote recently. It still exists only as words but I have a melody forming in my mind to accompany it.

Ebb and flow baby
That's how life goes
Things come in
People go out
Life is one big show

Just like the tides baby
In and out they go
People leave
Leave for where
For places still unknown

The sun and moon baby
Always setting but never gone
Like angels watching
Lives unfolding
Life goes on life goes on

Yes it does. Life continues. Generations form. Families change. Babies are born and people pass. You can't change it or stop it even if you tried. If you have a similar faith to mine you can be content in knowing that while physical life has an ending the spirit goes on, and on, and on and on.....

Life and Love and Hope. THAT makes me happy.

The Big Show

A while ago I mentioned that Daddy and I would be playing a little show for a fundraiser. This past Friday, September 30th was the fundraiser. We practiced and practiced our four chosen songs over and over and over and over again. We organized our babysitting and closer to the day I began to wonder what I would wear (picked up a cute top and earrings and shoes the day before the show).

The day of the show was busy. I had practicing to still do, had to tidy the house and Daddy still worked a full day that day. My sister came over to watch little girl and the boys went over to granny's house for a sleepover. We were very lucky that our friend was available and kind enough to come and video the show for us (she has since said that if we have other shows then she would video that as well).

Seeing as how it was a fundraiser there was a $10 charge for entrance to the "coffee house" and they made extra money through concession sales (I had tea and sugar cookies). The church basement it was being held in was done up with twinkle lights and other decor which made for a nice venue.

Overall it was a FANTASTIC experience and a taste of greater things to come. There were a few mistakes and stumbles along the way but nothing that anyone could tell (or at least I think...you tell me). One thing that I really liked about it was that because of the venue set up there were still people talking which provided a distraction-a distraction that I did not succumb to, that in itself was a great learning experience.

Lastly, I was thrilled at how well my original compositions went over. Getting up on a stage and performing is one thing, but to perform you own work is both humbling and daunting. You never know how it will be received. In this case the audience was in approval.

As I said before we had a friend video tape the show for us. We played 4 songs, each of which has it's own video.

This first video is of the first song I wrote on guitar. I actually have two versions of it. There is piano version which I previously posted the youtube link to. This (obviously) is the guitar version which is a tad peppier.

IN GOD

THE SOURCE

ASK THE LORD

FEEL THE LORD

I hope you enjoyed watching the videos. Please feel free to share them. I need all the promotion I can get.

Rock On!

Videos

Last night while playing some piano I had Evelyn on my lap. I was just messing around with some rhythm in the bass clef while Evelyn slammed her fist into keys in the treble clef. By chance she hit a note combo that met my note combo in a sweet sound. One thing led to another and a song was written. This morning was a continuation of that inspiration where the song received words. I called it Evelyn's Song. It is a lullaby for my sweet girl, and all of my sweet babies actually.

Once the song had words I wanted to quickly record it so I didn't forget it. After a few recordings (using my iPhone voice memo app) it turned out really well. I really wanted to share the song on Facebook so some girlfriends could hear it. At this point I haven't figured out how to actually upload just a song to Facebook-I don't even think I can. If someone knows please, TELL ME!

So in order to share the song I had to use iMovie to make a video, it is a semi-random sampling of family pix. I say semi random because I chose pictures where they were sleeping (mostly) but I also just briefly scanned for good ones. Making the video also gave me a great chance to work with some of the iMovie tools (I've had this Mac for over 1/2 a year and still know just a scratch of what it can do).

With the video done I decided to finally make a youtube account so I could upload it. In addition to Evelyn's song I also posted a video in the same style which was the first project of this kind I did. Click on the following titles to go view the videos.

Evelyn's Song
In God