Riding Lesson Pictures

It has been so cold that lessons were cancelled last week. It was super cold today as well but Katie braved the cold anyway. Today she got to use the reigns to guide the horse herself.

Winter Crafts

I had the art stuff out for the Frontier Girls meeting but we had a small crowd and lots of stuff left so the boy's got in on the action after the meeting.

Winter Camping

Bryan and Sean just returned from a winter camping trip.  There was supposed to be a bunch of snow but the weather did not cooperate so many of the outside activities were cancelled. They did still get to go tubing and walk out on a frozen lake.  I'll admit that I am not quite sure why you would actually want to do that just for kicks but I'm fairly certain I would have been totally gung ho about doing it with my scout troop in high school given the amount of time I spent crawling around in caves and jumping off the sides of buildings. (Yes, children. Your mother used to be much more fun before she had kids.)  Even though Alan says he was cold for most of the weekend, I've been told everyone pretty much had a great time.

In case you can't tell, this is the crew out on a frozen lake.

Teen Class at Home Depot

One of the local Home Depot locations has started teen classes once a month. Alan took the older 3 boys this month. This month they focused on wood working.  The boys were able to get their hands on several different types of saws and made bookshelves for their rooms.  Apparently the plan with these classes it to take the kids through several different aspects of home repair to give them some basic experience in fixing all those little things that tend to go wrong like leaky pipes and such things. Do I have to bother to say how awesome an idea like this is?

Another Bed

This is what was happening around here today. I'm very impressed with the results. Very impressed that Alan can now put these things together so quickly. Even accounting for putting a drill through his thumb and having to pull the top two bunks down to lower them, it went up quickly. And the girls are thrilled.

The Queen & the Cross

All of my Grandmothers shared the same first name: Helen.  Our 3rd daughter also shares a version of their name: Eleanor. And yet I'd never taken the chance to learn much about Saint Helen other than knowing vaguely that she was known for finding the true cross.  That changed when I read the book The Queen & the Cross with my children.

This picture book guides young readers through the life of Queen Helen and her journey to find the true cross of Christ.  From bidding farewell to her son, the Emperor Constantine, to meeting Bishop Macarius in Jerusalem, the stage is carefully set to give ample historical references to place the story in properly in a child's mind. Queen Helen is portrayed as a humble woman with a strong faith in God.

When three crosses are unearthed instead of just one, it takes a miracle to determine which one is the true cross.

I enjoyed the illustrations in this book and the simple storyline that effectively shared the life of Saint Helen without bogging down younger readers with extra details. A more detailed biography on the saint is written in the back of the book for those who want to learn more.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Queen and the Cross-The Story of St. Helen. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Our Week

I've been rather quiet because we've been busy.  On Saturday, 2 sheep were slaughtered, skinned, gutted, and hung.  Yes, most of the kids helped with it. They seem to like that sort of thing.  Even Ellie seems ok with it given her constant banter later that night regarding the dead sheep and how it no longer had a head and we would be eating it.

On Sunday, said sheep were butchered.  One is now in our freezer and the second one was picked up by a friend on Monday.

On Monday the boys' bedroom was painted in preparation for a construction project. On Tuesday a set of triple bunk beds went up in their room.  Between using paint from the oops section at the hardware store and doing all of the building ourselves, the project was very inexpensive.  The paint was about $13 for 2 gallons and the wood and hardware for the beds was around $160.  We also had to buy a new stud finder and a few extra things that day so we spent a bit more than that but it was still a rather inexpensive trip.  Now we just need to buy another mattress for the beds and are planning to put a similar set of beds up in the girls' room in a few weeks.

Tuesday also left us with our 4th trip to urgent care this year as Ellie fell backwards out of a chair and cut her head open.  We tried medical super glue on her head but she wouldn't stay still and it just didn't work so she ended up with 2 staples in her head.

Several kids are now/still sick so I'm hoping we can just enjoy a couple of quiet days at home now and let everyone rest up.