Lent Lapbook

I was finally able to do the lent lapbooks with my Faith formation class. 

This week, I was able to visit the dollar tree store and found stickers of the stations of the cross.

Here are some pictures of my daughter's lapbook and our class altar.

You can find the printable Lent calendar at Catholic Icing.

Bonding Time

This morning, my daughter helped her brother with his homework.  I love when my kids are getting along and helping each other, instead of fighting over almost everything.

Later in the day, daughter thought of another way of bonding with her brother.  Legos! 

The idea came when she was thinking of something to do for her presentation of Ancient Greece.  She thought of making a clay figure of one of the temples but most of the other kids are already making things out of clay.

Then I suggested she build one out of legos.  We searched online for ideas.  The problem is that we have very few legos at home and she will only have to do part of the building.

This is part of her project.

Here she is putting her pieces together.

Her creation completed, this is all she could do with the blocks her brother owns.

And here is Julian's creation, an army base.  He photographed it by himself.

Here I Am

Today we celebrate the annunciation to Mary that she will conceived a son and his name will be Emmanuel, God with us.

I have a little devotional book of the daily readings and the opening prayer says,  " Here I am, to do your will, O God."  - Hebrews 10:7

I was writing this in my journal when my son asked me to make some breakfast for him. 

I hate when I  my quiet time gets inturrupted.   Its my fault for not getting up earlier than my children and spend my quiet time with God, then be ready for my children's request as soon as they are up.

I heard a little voice in me that said, " What you do to your child, you do to me."  I think it was God telling me to get up and attend to my child's request.

Later this morning, as I was browsing through emails, I read in a post this verse.

"whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42).

Again reminding me of my actions from  yesterday.  I got mad at this same child that was requesting my attention this morning.  I had asked him to do his homework first, then he could use the laptop.  He did not listen.  He was playing on the computer and watching TV at the same time. 

I could not control my anger emotions, and I screamed to him to do his homework first. " I can't find it.", he responded.  My mood kept escalating and I blew up.

Yes, its easy for a parent to loose control of their emotions and do things we later regret.  It made me think of those parents that do harmful things to their children.  I am not justifying my actions or their actions.  It is wrong to hurt a child, there should not be a reason why we should hurt any child. 

Anger management has been something that I had to deal with a lot in the past.  During my depression years, I suffered a lot of this blow-up scenarios.   I thank God and the help of relatives for helping me get control of this emotional roller coaster I was in.

I do need to spend more time in my quiet time and in prayer.  God is the source that helps me to control my negative emotions.  Without him in my life, I just do not know where I will be.

My prayers go out to those parents that do not know God.  That are not thinking of the harm they are causing their children with their actions and harmful words.

"Lord Jesus, forgive me for my negative behavior yesterday,  please heal my children from the negative effect I have caused them in the past and recently.  I pray they forgive me and that in the future this will not be something that they have to deal with in their own life as adults. In Jesus name I ask this, Amen."

Thanks to Jennifer for sharing her post There's no such thing as perfect people, at Getting Down with Jesus, it has been a blessing to me today.

Exercise is Good

I know that I have been talking a lot about exercising lately but just a few moments ago, I read an article about Michelle Obama and how its important for us as parents to be aware of our children's BMI.  And not just our children's but also our own.

We have been talking about losing weight in our women's group and I had been thinking about getting together with them and doing some kind of exercise. 

I have also seen lots of informercials about new workouts, dancing latin music and other hip hop workouts.  There is even a workout with gospel music.

I had a God breeze moment this morning.  How about if we pray the rosary while walking.  But what about the rainy weather?  Well we could do Leslie Samsone's workout on the days weather does not permit us to go out to walk.

My Mom has been doing this for quite a long time.  She walks on the threadmill while praying the rosary.

What do you do for exercise?

New Project

Next month is dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament.

My sister recently had her Little Flower Club meeting and their craft for this month was to make Monstrances. 

Monstrances are holders for the blessed host.  Every parish has a Blessed Host.  Catholics believe the presence of God is there in the host.  It is displayed on certain occasions and the parishioners venerate the Blessed Sacrament.

I do not know much of the origins of this celebration but if you visit EWTN or Catholics Come Home, you might find more acurate information or a link to a reliable source.

The above picture is a craft I did to resemble a montrance and the blessed host.

How did I do this project? 

Materials:  white paper doilies, plastic champagne glass, gold spray paint.

I sprayed paint a doily using the top part of the plastic champagne glass to cover the middle part of the dolly.  Doing this leaves a white circle to represent the host in the monstrance.

I sprayed both sides of the doily, then taped it to the stem of the plastic champagne glass.

My sister tried a different method.  Using an already colored doily, and white foamy for the host.  To cover the champagne glass, she used gold foil paper.

She found the idea at Catholic Icing.

I do not have the picture of my sister's finished project.  She uploaded it to facebook, and I am fasting from facebook for Lent.  I will ask her to email me her picture to include it here in this post.

added at 8:35 PM
Here are the pictures of the project my sisters did for their club meeting.  The Saint for this meeting was St. Clare. 

She used a clear plastic plate and glued the doily to the plate than to the champagne glass.  Now I see why it looks so much different from mine.   The girls added some colorful gems.

Overweight

That time of the year is coming up, when this lady turns a year older.  Yes, Me!

Sunday is my 38th Birthday.  Two more years and we will reach another decade.  I do not feel that I am getting older.  I feel much youthful than a few years back.  I guess things are much better know for me, less stressful.

I visited the doctor yesterday for a yearly check-up.  She did routine examinations, asked lots of questions, then let me know that I was overweight.  What?!  "I do not look overweight."  She showed me a chart and said that according to my height and age, I was 10 lbs. over the normal weight range.

I told her that I had recently started exercising more.  And she was happy.  Told me to watch what I eat.  To try to eat more vegetables and fruits.

Ten pounds that not seem that much.  I hope that by my next appointment, I will be able to at least lose half.  My second week of Insanity workout has begun.  I feel less sore with every day that goes by.  I have not seen much of a difference yet, but I feel much better.  I guess I just needed the exercise.  I had become  used to driving around everywhere.  At home, will be sitting all day at the computer, instead of doing some type of exercise.

I hope that I keep up the exercise routine, even pass my goals.  And I will continue to make changes in my eating habits to avoid going pass my normal weight range.

Around my home, I plan to purge the attic of all those things that are no longer needed.  Husband started making complaints that I have lots of things up there that need to be thrown out.  In the past he never said anything because I kept things under control and organized.   However, in the past few months, I have only had time to organize my son's toys bins.   I told him, that it did not get that way overnight and it won't get organized  overnight either.  I need at least a week, to tackle that project.  

But its one of my top priorities this Spring.  I plan to get rid of all the toys that my children have outgrown and no longer play with.    I was hoping to have a Spring Yard Sale and what ever does not sell goes directly to goodwill.

There are a  couple of boxes that are leaving tomorrow.  Just to get some stuff out before he starts throwing things out on his own.  This is what happens, when husband is home for a long time without a job.  He starts to see things he does not notice other times. LOL.

I hope I finally get to achieve this goal of removing all the clutter from  the attic.  Pray for me! I will definitely need it.  Thanks.

You can see pictures of how the attic looked the last time I  managed to organize some areas.

Post from June 2010
Post from September 2009

Update for March

Going back to my previous post, I remember telling you about my Menu planner.  Well, I managed to update and plan for all of the lent season.  Taking in mind that on Fridays we do not eat meat.  I have a different meal for each day. 

I found a pdf calendar, that I can type in and print.  I did this for March and April.  So now I can see all the menu for each month.  Instead of having a weekly menu.  It is easier to see what I cooked the previous week.  There are days, I do not cook exactly what I have planned, either because we went out to a restaurant or were invited to eat at a relatives house.  

I like planning ahead because it saves me so much time.  I do my grocery shopping weekly.  Last week I bought enough for two weeks.

I notice that when I plan ahead, I even save money.  I have also stopped shopping at the local supermarket.  I buy all the produce at a smaller store that recently opened, they have lots of Mexican products that I use often.  And their prices are much lower. 

Target recently opened near by too.  So now I have another option for buying groceries.  Plus with my Red Card, I am able to contribute 5% to the school of my choice.

We switched our car insurance too.  We have more coverage than before and we are saving up to $500 per year.

We cut down one tv receiver, and also switched provider.  I know have TV, Internet, and a home phone for the same price I was paying for just TV and Internet.

Adding the home line, allowed me to use my cell phone less bringing my bill down $30.

Here and there we have been cutting things down and we are now saving up to $300 per month.

And since husband has been without work for quite a long time, our savings have helped us to pay up our bills.

I continue exercising at home and walking to  school.  I was very sore for a few days from my legs but its going away now.

The women prayer group continues with only three women attending, myself included.  I continue to pray that other women will come and be blessed as we have been blessed.  We will not give up.

Keep me in your prayers.  And remember that I can pray for you.  Just let me know and I will add you to my daily prayer list.

God Bless YOU.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well, seems like the Principal at the school, decided to do away with the tradition of allowing kids to wear green t-shirts.  So we had to be creative with accesories.  For girls is so much easier but for boys its another story. 

I took a felt shamrock from a door decoration for St. Patricks day.   And daughter had a pin with a sticker attached that she had in her jewelry making kit.  We made a shamrock pin for my son to wear today.

For a treat, I decided to make marshmallow rice crispies treats.  Followed the recipe on the cereal box, but added some green food coloring.  I made the treats last night in order to have them ready in the morning.

My kids love them. 

Hope you have a very blessed day.

St. Patricks and St. Joseph Week

This week we celebrate St. Patrick and St. Joseph's feast days.  This year I decided to make  a simple altar.  Do to the rainy weather, I have not had the time to go and buy the fig cookies to make the decorations like last year.

You can read last year's post here

The kids get to wear a green shirt on Thursday with their regular uniform clothes.  Last year, I made some nice headbands for my daughter to wear on St. Patricks day.  You can see that picture at this post.

Does anyone know, how did the tradition came about for wearing green on St. Patricks day?  I read in a little devotional, that according to the Irish, they wore green to become invisible to the leprechauns. Leprechauns like to pinch people.  Other people say that green is the leprechauns favorite color so they never wear green.

I do not really know who is right.  All I know is that since I came to live to California every year at school, you had to wear green or you were pinched by someone.  So in order to avoid getting pinched, I wore green.  And I am glad that the school allows the kids to wear something green on St. Patrick day to keep with the tradition.

St. Patrick was a priest that became a bishop.  He was sent to Ireland to evangelize the people.  He used a shamrock to teach them about the Holy Trinity.  That's why now you see images of St. Patrick holding a shamrock in his hand.

Are you still there?

I am not sure if it is that I was writing in Spanish, but I have not gotten a comment in a very long time and I wondering, have I lost my readers.  Please let me know you are still reading my post.

Thank you.

En Movimiento

Hoy empeze mi rutina de exercisios en casa.  Son unos dvd's que mi hermana compro llamados Insanity.  Y de verdad que estan super dificiles. 

Por motivo de que vivo en un duplex en el sengundo piso,  No puedo hacer los exercisios correctamente.  Si brinco mucho, todo se mueve.  Tengo miedo que la vecina se moleste por el ruido.  Aun haci hise lo posible por hacer los demas exercisios que no necesitan mucho de brincar.  Sude mucho.  Señal que los exercisios dan resultados.  Imaginense si los algo completamente como se deben hacer.

Como el clima no ha sido perfecto en mi area.  Tengo que hacer los exercisios en casa.  Habia estado caminando a la escuela de los chicos a la salida.  Solo fui cinco dias en dos semanas.  Pero me ayudo mucho para ahorrar gasolina de mi auto.  Y como llovia un dia si, luego otro dia estaba soliado.  No podia ir todos los dias caminando a la escuela. 

Pero cuando los dias vuelvan a estar soliados, volvere a caminar a la escuela.  Se asen 20 minutos caminando a la escuela.  Seguire con los exercisios en casa por el tiempo necesario.  Mi meta es reducir la area del abdomen,  por lo menos bajar unas dos tallas de ropa.  No estoy de sobre peso, en realidad estoy bien.  Pero creo que hacer exercisio me hara bien.

Tambien estoy tratando de no comer comidas mas saludables. Y estoy tomando una multivitamina para ayudarme a darme energias durante mi exercisio y despues del exercisio.  Una malteada de proteina despues de los exercisios tambien ayuda a proteger los musculos.   Aprendi esto de mi hermano que va al gimnasio y su entrenador personal le recomendo tomar proteina.

Mi esposo tambien esta haciendo exercisio con una bicicleta.  El tiempo sin trabajar le ha aumentado unas libritas de mas.  Espero que pronto deje de llover para que mi esposo pueda regresar a trabajar.  Las lluvias no permiten que trabaje ya que el trabaja en los techos.  Es el primer año que descansa tanto tiempo sin trabajar.

Espero que todos esten bien y dejen un comentario.  Aveces pienso que ya nadien lee mis posts.  Tendre que volver a escribir en Ingles?

Melaleuca products

Have you heard about the company Melaleuca? 

I was introduced to Melaleuca three years ago.  Over these three years, I have tried different products from Melaleuca.   Household cleaners, beauty products and even vitamins and protein shakes.  They also have many over the counter medicine and first aid products.

My favorite product from Melaleuca is Renew.   This is a body lotion that has helped my children with their itchy dry skin problem. 

Why am I sharing this with you.  Well, because I want you to experience Melaleuca.  Go online and find out more about it.  It is a company that helps you save money on most of the products you already use in your home, but their products are much safer than the one you buy at stores.  Their household cleaners are concentrated, so you use less.

Visit Melaleuca's website and view the videos to find out more on their products.

Transalpine Redemptorists at home: The coming of calamities.

Transalpine Redemptorists at home: The coming of calamities.: "The tsunami that hit Kesennuma today is only 125 miles by road from Akita on the West coast of Honshu where Our Lady of Akita appeared in ..."

La llamada

Esta mañana fui despertada por el sonido de mi cellular.   Eran las 4:30 AM.  Mi hermano me estaba llamando a esa hora.  Me alarme, que podria estar pasando.  "No has visto las noticias?", "No".  " Hay una alerta de tsunami para las costas de California.", me dijo mi hermano. 

Vivo muy cerca de San Franciso, CA.  Cuando oyes hablar de un tsunami es causa para alarmarte.  Considerando que esta dicho que algun dia esta area sera ahogada bajo aguas en el futuro.  Es un area constantemente afectada por temblores.  

Estoy acostumbrada a eso, pero un tsunami es otra cosa.  Ambos pueden hacer bastante daño  pero nunca se ha visto algo similar a lo que paso en Japon esta mañana.  Mis oraciones estan con esas personas que perdieron familiares y sus casas y pertenencias. 

Son terribles estos desastres de la naturaleza.  Pero uno nunca sabe exactamente cuando van a pasar.  Un tsunami se pude monitoriar pero nunca se sabe exactamente cuanto daño hara hasta que pega tierra.

Espere buen tiempo antes de decidir si llevar a los chicos a la escuela.  Pero finalmente los lleve.  Parece que en esta area no ha hecho mucho efecto.  Gracias a Dios no eh hemos tenido nungun llamado de evacuacion.

Estoy bien, en este momento.  Tranquila, y poniendo toda mi confianza en Dios. 

El Tsunami pego a Hawaii mas temprano que California.  Tambien gracias a Dios no se han reportado grandes daños en ese lugar. 

Sigamos orando por las personas afectadas por este desastre en Japon y en Nueva Zelandia anteriormente.

Conociendo los Santos

De nuevo emprenderemos nuestra aventura conociendo la vida de los Santos.  Cada mes tendremos los clubs de Las Florecitas de Jesus y Los Cabelleros de Azul.  Los grupos se reuniran para aprender una virtud y sobre un Santo/a. 

Este Sabado, 12 de Marzo, sera nuestra primera reunion.

Gracias a Xhonane por compartir este link para hacer pequeños rosarios de sacrificio.

Sera el perfecto proyecto para la primera clase de las Florecitas.  Ya tengo la mayor parte de los materiales en casa.

Eh estado organizando todo mi material para los grupos y en mi oficina en casa tambien estoy organizando los estantes de libros.  

El unico problema es que mi maquina de copias no tiene toner y no puedo hacer copias de los dibujos para mi primera reunion.   Y no tendremos nuestros libros hasta saber cuantos chicos van a participar y podamos hacer la orden.

Estoy emocianada con estos grupos.  Voy a solicitar la ayuda de las Mamas para que hagamos recaudacion de fondos para los gastos de los materiales y las medallas de gratificacion por cada virtud que los participantes pongan en practica.

Estos Clubs fueron formados por Mamas que tenian el deseo de formar un club similar al de los Girls and Boys club seculares.  Gracias a los fundadores  nosotros y otros padres de familia Catolicos podemos ofrecer a nuestros hijos un pasatiempo que les ayudara aprender sobre su fe y como ser personas de bien en el futuro.

Mi hermana tambien a formado un club de niñas en su area.  Este es su segundo año con el grupo.  Ella solo tiene el grupo de niñas.  Pero,  como yo tengo un varon, y el se sentia  no incluido.  Pense en hacer, los dos grupos juntos.  Lo bueno es que si hay material disponible para ambos.  Los libros son en Ingles, pero yo trato de buscar la informacion en Español para que las Mamas que no leen Ingles puedan repasar la informacion con sus hijos en Español. 

Seria bueno que los distribuidores tubieran tambien los libros en Español.  Pienso que es un excelente programa.

Cuaresma

Hoy empezamos la cuaresma.  Miercoles de Ceniza.  Y hoy decidi empezar a escribir mis posts en Español.  Se que si eres un seguidor de mi blog y no lees Español podras usar el traductor para poder leer este post en tu Idioma.  Eh compartido este blog con amistades que no estan aun familiarizados con los blogs. 

Pense en aser otro blog totalmente en Español, pero tendria que estar actualizando ambos y pasaria mucho tiempo en eso, asi que decidi quedarme con mi actual blog y escribir en Español.

A continuacion comparto una fotografias de mi altar en casa.  La mesa de celebraciones liturgicas.

Comenze el mes de Marzo con este altar y colores del calendario liturgico Ordinario.

Hoy dia cambie los colores del mantel y organize las imagenes de otra manera.

Durante el mes de Marzo, celebramos la fiesta de San Patricio el 17  y de San Jose esposo de Maria el 19.
La imagen que aparece en la foto es de San Jose Obrero.  Despues la cambie por la imagen que uso durante la Navidad de San Jose.  Pense que se miraba muy pequeño en comparacion con las demas imagenes en el altar.

Tengo tambien a la Virgen de Guadalupe, por ser la patrona de Mexico.  Estoy orando por Mexico para que se termine toda la violencia.   Tambien tengo a Santa Rita y una tarjeta de Santa Maria Goretti, para intercession en un caso muy especial que esta pasando unos familiares en Mexico.  No puedo dar muchos detalles, pero les pido que oren para que Dios escuche nuestra oracion.

La imagen del Angel dormido, representa los bebes no aun nacidos.  Que Dios los cuide y proteja.  Tambien representa los Angelitos que se fueron al cielo antes de nacer.   Mi hermana me regalo esta imagen hace unos años.

La imagen de la Divina Misericordia siempre estara en ese lugar, ya que es el Patrono de nuestro hogar.
Y la imagen del Niño Jesus con su vestido nuevo que su madrina le hizo para este año.  Con nuevo sombrero y nuevas sandalias hechos a mano.   Gracias comadre Mati.

El color morado representa el tiempo de Cuaresma.  Decidi solo usar el color en el mantel y la cruz.  El resto de la sala aun tiene el color verde en los decorativos. 

La imagen de mi intercesor favorito, San Antonio de Padua la lleve a mi oficina de casa.  Junto con otras imagenes.  San Francisco, San Martin de Porres, Santa Teresita de Jesus, y la imagen de la medalla milagrosa.  En fotografia tengo a Santa Teresa de Calcuta, a Juan Pablo II y a San Rafael Guizar. 

Tambien tengo en cuadro una foto de Juan XXIII.  Tengo mas imagenes en otras partes de la casa.  Voy a organizar bien mis estantes de libros para poder usar uno solamente para guardar las imagenes que no se usan en el altar principal.

Pues como ven, sigo actualizando mi hogar con los colores liturgicos.  Sigo pendiente de mi blog aunque no escriba.  Espero que tengan una temporada de cuaresma acercandose mas a Dios.  Su amiga de siempre. Dios los bendiga.

Menu Planning

I have updated my monthly menu many times.  And again it needs another update.  Over the past weeks, I have not been following my menu quite well.  Since my husband has been off work for longer than usual, I have to be cooking almost everyday two meals per day. 

Money has also been an issue, and prices are very high at the supermarket that I have stayed away from buying meats.  Over $4 a pound. 

So I have been improvising meals.  Less meat in them.  Eating more veggies. 

The kids are quite easy to please, but my husband its a little picky. 

We will always eat out on the weekends or go out to a party.  But lately, very few parties have come around.  Which means, I have to cook something on weekends too.

This means I have to once again update my menu and add weekends too.

I have tried searching for Menu's online to make my job easier.  But like I said, my husband is very special of what he likes to eat. 

Once I finished with it, I will posted to share it with you.

Time Flies...

How quickly time has gone by.  I have not posted anything in almost three weeks.  I am still here, and I am still doing well. 

Husband has been home more this past few months.  It been quite a challenge.  But it has helped me to spend more time with him.  He has helped around the house too.  We did some changes to the master bedroom.  And we added some color to the walls in the living room and kitchen.

I have not taken pictures yet. 

We bought an exercise bike.  I have not used it.  I have been walking to the kids school, almost everyday after school.  Except on Wednesday because it was raining.  On Wednesday, I substituted the walking for in home exercise.  I will probably alternate.  But I had already made it a goal to use the car less this Spring.  To save up on gas prices.

I will only drive to the grocery store, or if I have to go to an appointment.   The school is less than a mile away.  So I can get there in less than 20 minutes walking.   There is also a shopping area near by that is a few blocks away.  

Well, I have to go now.  Time for bedtime.   Will write again soon.