The Old and Wonderful City Park

I can still remember as a kid riding the train through the tunnel and screaming at the top of my lungs. I remember going round and round on the Carousel. I also remember riding the tiny little boats and ringing the bell. Little did I know that 20 years later I would be taking my own children to the same park to have the same kind of fun! 25 cent rides went up to 75 cent rides but oh well it is still worth it! Since then they have improved by adding Airplanes and Helicopters and Trucks and Tractors. They have also covered all the rides to keep them shady. Nothing like a mini theme park 5 minutes from your house!

IHM Conference and Basilica (DC)

Two weeks ago my friend Jennifer and I were able to travel to Washington DC for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Home school Conference. It was a blast but very exhausting! I swear we didn't even have much time to eat the whole weekend. I totally forgot to take pics but the wonderful Lacy over at Catholic Icing got some great pics (Jennifer and I are in one!) and explained it wonderfully. So make sure to go check it out! I am glad I had a chance to go and glad that I was able to meet some pretty awesome people while I was there.

We cut out early Saturday afternoon and went to visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was a wonderful experience that I will never forget! I took some pictures with my little rinky dink camera but Jennifer got some awesome shots so I will share hers instead! Also, all captions are by her as well. Our tour guide had a very strong accent and talked in a deep voice so with my hearing loss I wasn't able to understand much that he said. Luckily Jen Explained it all to me afterwards! The Basilica of the National Shrine is the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America and one of the ten largest in the Nation. It has over 70 Chapels throughout! This place will truly take your breath away. I recommend anyone visiting the area (Catholic or not) to check it out!

Depiction of Mary in the Book of Revelation. The Baby Jesus is being carefully taken out of harm's way by two angels. Everything is in mosaics.

The relief is 58' X 17' high and is made from a slab of Travertine Marble. It depicts the Universal Call to Holiness.

Jesus stares down at you while you are at Mass. His right eye is relaxed and looking upon you with love, his left eye is raised and he is looking upon you in judgement. His hands are 5' tall and his head is 7' tall. Everything you see is in mosaics. I think the 3 angels below Him represent Faith, Hope & Charity.

There are 5 domes in the ceiling of the Upper Church. The largest dome is the 2nd largest in DC - only smaller to the Capitol building.

Depiction of Pentecost

This is the gorgeous Blessed Sacrament chapel where the Eucharist is exposed for adoration and prayer. Everything was breathtaking.

This is the Eastern Rite chapel where Bishops & priests of the Eastern Rite can celebrate Mass.

Our Lady of Vietnam.Everything on the ceilings and walls are done in mosaics.

Elon Farmer's Market

Yesterday was an ultra busy day! The kids and I (with my hubby's help) baked brownies and a bunch of different types of muffins, bagged them up, and headed over to our local farmer's market for kid's day. We set up a table and got to selling! They actually made out with some good dough! They made a total of $21 and came home with only three bags of muffins. there were a total of 24 to start with! They had fun and it was a great way

to help teach EJ all about money. She did really good! I was very proud at how

quickly she caught on. Of course I priced everything at $1 to make it easy for her. At one point a lady handed her a $5 bill and she gave her correct change back without me helping!

The Butterfly Lady made a visit while we were there. She taught the children about the life cycle of a butterfly, how to tell the difference between a moth and butterfly, and released some butterflies. EJ was her helper and got to dress up as a butterfly. We also bought some of her caterpillars and will let them live their cycle in our butterfly tent. If you are interested in her caterpillars she offers them free as long as you pay shipping/handling. Her caterpillars will turn into beautiful Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) Butterflies! This is ten times cheaper than buying them from Insect Lore.

All in all we had a blast! We did have a brownie thief while we were there though. He got caught red handed!!! Or should I say chocolate handed!

And just so you know the little one doesn't get left out here is that beautiful little girl! She was an angel the whole day just like always!

Multitude Monday

22. Blessed to have my friends. They understand me and don't run for the hills!

23. Blessed to have the most wonderful husband in the world. Even after keeping the kids all weekend long he still greets me with a smile.

24. Blessed to have fellow Catholic homeschooling friends. There is nothing like facing this journey with other like minded friends.

25. Blessed to have prayer. Such a serene feeling after speaking to God.

26. Blessed to Have food on our tables. I know that there are a lot of families who cannot be blessed for this.

Tasty Tuesdays

I am going to try and start something new where each week I will post a recipe of our family Favorites! I love to make something out of nothing... especially when the cupboards are empty. This past week I tried my hand at making Fried Cheese Sticks. here is how I did it.

Ingredients:

Mozzerella Cheese Sticks (I bought the ones that were Mozzerella and cheddar. These are the String Cheese sticks you get for snacks.)

2 Eggs (beaten)

1 cup of Flour

1 1/2 Cups of Bread crumbs(if you dont have these you can used crushed up Cheerios, Corn Flakes, Crackers, ETC.)

2 TBS Garlic Powder

1 Cup Oil

Heat Oil in Pan until you can drop a litle flour in it and it sizzles. Put flour in a pan, eggs in a pan, and breadcrumbs and Garlic Powder in a pan. Break Cheese Stick in Half and roll in Flour. Roll through Eggs. Roll through Bread Crumb mixture. Drop in Hot Oil and Fry on Each side for about 1 minute.

Seeing the everyday Giveaway

Over at Raising Olives Kimberly is giving away two subscriptions to Seeing the everyday Magazine. Sounds like a wonderful magazine that would b a great inspiration in my House! Thank you Kimberly!

Short and Sweet

I am going to make this short and Sweet. My Letter e is broken on my computer so I have to paste an e when I need to use it. Yea takes a long time! so for now, the blog will be down until I can get it fixed! :)

My Grandma King

She was a wonderful Women! Helped Raise me to who I am today. Thank you Jesus for allowing me to have her in my children's life, even if it was for a short period. This Easter Season will not be the same without her. She always made it special. I made this video for her Funeral. RIP 08/01/09 FYI: Make sure to turn the Music off at the bottom of my blog! :)

Multitude Monday

This week has been a very inspirational week. I fill as if my heart has opened up to my Lord more than ever. Between feeding the homeless, finishing an awesome book, confession, and our last RCIA class before we are initiated I am feeling overwhelmed with Joy that I can say I Love my God more than I did yesterday, and Tomorrow I will say the same. I grow in our relationship every single day!

12. Grateful for friends. especially the new ones from RCIA.

13. Grateful for calm after the storm. In our life and the real storms

14. Grateful for Education. That my children can learn in a controlled environment

15. Grateful for the Crucifix. Everyday we have a reminder of exactly what Jesus did for us!

16. Grateful for Siblings. They will always have a best friend!

17. Grateful for Vacation. Its coming in Four days!

18. Grateful for family pets. they keep my children occupied and our hearts warm.

19. Grateful for Nap time. so I can have alone time or even a nap on some days!

20. Grateful for Nature. That my children have a clean environment to play.

21. Grateful for our Military. They do way more than they our rewarded for!

This Post is linked up to A Holy Experience.

Seven Quick Takes Friday #2

1.

Today has been such a relaxed day! My Mother in Law took EJ and Bubba last night and has had them all day today. We have relaxed today and paid a few bills, taken in the beauty outside and how nice it is! I love my Babies but every once in a while it is nice to have a little break.

2.

Finished up one awesome book last night. I definitely will be doing a book review on this book. I started Reading The Shack a few nights ago and have been engulfed in it ever since. Since reading this book I have a stronger Faith then I have ever had. I feel closer to God because of it. It will probally be a few days before the review gets up because I have a feeling it will be a long one. I look at the trinity in new light now and understand better than I ever have!

3.

Tonight our church is having a fish fry so i get the night off from cooking! YAY! luckily though they will have cheese pizza as well since I doubt my kids would eat the fish. I have tried but they just don't want it. I can get them to eat some popcorn shrimp every now and then by persuading them that it is chicken.

4.

I love how much my Oldest daughter loves her baby sister. She is always wanting to take care of her. I have caught her a few times picking her up and carrying her around! scares me to death but I know she is just trying to be a mommy. I will wake up in the morning and she will have crawled in bed with us and lays beside the Baby.

5.

I didn't have many of EJ's outfits left from when she was a baby but I had a few and she thinks its the coolest thing when JAJ wears her clothes! Here is one of the few she wore as a baby. I need to find a pic of her in the outfit so I can see them side by side.

6.

I am getting ready to order JAJ's Easter Basket. My Grandmother ordered EJ's and Bubbas a few years ago and i really want her to have a matching one. I love the fact that they are personalized and fun for the kids as well. Can't wait to go Easter Egg hunting this year. the kids will have a blast! here is theirs from last year.

7.

What are your plans this Easter? I usually would have a big Easter get together at my house but this year we are swamped. Since Easter is falling late our anniversary is Good Friday. WE always go to the beach for our anniversary so we will be gone until Saturday before Easter. Then Saturday night we have the Big Easter Vigil and Easter Morning we will take the kids back for Easter Mass. I decided to opt out of it this year and let someone else do all the work and we would just participate!

Helpful Homeschool Hints: Copywork

We just recently started Copywork at my house. I wanted EJ to get some practice on writing her letters the correct way. We have our Uppercase down but but still having trouble writing our lowercase and staying "below the fence" as we say it. I had read many different ideas on doing copywork. I liked the idea of copying bible verses but I didnt want her to start hating the bible becuase she didnt like copying all the verses. I finally thought of an idea that might actually work and it did! We bought an easy reader with a topic that really really interests her at the time... BARBIES! Each day we Copy a page out of the book and allow her to draw a picture with it. When we finish the whole book I will staple it together so that she can keep it as a real book.

She definately loves doing it! I think we will stick with this idea and just get a harder easy reader each time around.

WFMW: Spring Cleaning tip!

Spring Cleaning Tip

my Spring Cleaning Tip is not for Spring Cleaning. It is for all the time! A friend of mine from http://www.imstillhenry.blogspot.com/ introduced me to a wonderful Site. It is from Motivated Moms. they have put together a weekly cleaning plan to follow so you don't always feel like you are cleaning. Everyday you do the normal load of laundry, load Dishwasher, wipe counters, sweep Kitchen, ETC. Then each day has a few other things you need to do as well. Some of these are Mop Kitchen, Vacuum main living area, clean top shelf of Fridge. They break it down so that you don't feel overwhelmed when it is time to clean the fridge. you do one shelf at a time. This gives me tons of more time for School work, time with my kids, ETC. you can also get a special version that has bible readings for each day so that you can read through a standard Protestant Bible in one year. If you are Catholic you will need to add in the other books of the bible to your liking. I highly Recommend this calendar type list to get you through your weeks in a much more mannerly fashion!

Visit them at http://www.motivatedmoms.com/

This Post is linked up to http://www.blogger.com/www.wearethatfamily.com

Humble

Are you Humble? I always want my Children to be. I want them to be helpful too. I have been pondering this a lot today and yesterday. My Children and I worked on baking a bunch of cakes to serve to the Homeless shelter last night. My four year old tagged along to help serve. She was wonderful! I was extremely proud of her at how sweet she was. I explained to her that day what we would be doing and that there were people in our community who weren't able to get food at the grocery store like we could. They didn't have a house to live in and no money to buy anything. I explained that when we cook for them we have to pray over the food that God might help these people have a home and all the things that we sometimes take for granted. She was very sensitive on the subject and said she wanted them to have food in there belly like her. As you Fast this Lenten Season and give up something special to you, remember why you do this. Remember that you want to lift up this food to God that he might give it to a needy person who needs it worse than you.

Thank You Jesus for Dying on the cross so that we may have the things we have! Amem!

Multitude Monday #1

Thankfulness is a gift. It is not something you have to do or be. It makes other more appreciative as well as yourself when you are. I know I am extremely Thankful for a ton of things in my life. Some of these things I take for granted at times. Thank You Jesus For Allowing me to be Thankful!

1. Thankful for the wonderful family I have.

2. Thankful for a roof over my head and Clothes on my body.

3. Thankful that we are all healthy

4. Thankful that I am able to stay at home with my kids and educate them how God wants me to

5. Thankful that we are able to share our love with others.

6. Thankful that my Stomach is always full

7. Thankful that my husband has a job that pays our bills

8. Thankful for two vehicles.. this is one we take for granted that we need to thank God for more often.

9. Thankful for Music. It calms your heart and lifts your spirit when you need it the most.

10. Thankful for my Parish Family

11. Thankful for the Man whom allows me to be thankful... GOD

What are you thankful for?

Linked up to Multitude Mondays 1000 Gifts at http://www.aholyexperience.com/

Seven Quick Takes Friday #1

1.

Tomorrow I am going to having a grand ol' Yard sale and I still have yet to go through the house and find stuff! We already had a bunch in storage that we will be selling but there is ton's I need to get rid of here! I guess if I got off this blog here I could get some things done! I am hoping we can make some extra cash for our week long beach trip in April! We look forward to this every year. The kids are already getting excited. Here is our beach trip last April!

2.

Speaking of Beach trips.... Mine and Seth's Five year anniversary is coming up while we are at the beach. Is there a certain thing you are supposed to get them for the Five year anniversary? I mean I told him I was good with just some shopping money while at the beach but he looked at me like I had two heads! We usually just go out to eat somewhere special (Dixie Stampede, Medieval Times, ETC.) but Poor Seth will not be able to eat meat while we are there (Gave it up for Lent) Unless we did it on Sunday... I know totally not thinking about the real reason for giving up something for Lent. Lord, Forgive me! :) Anyways Any Ideas of something I could get for him or make for him for our anniversary? Here is a pic of us from our wedding day almost five years ago!

3.

It is 11:00AM here and I have yet to figure out whats for Dinner tonight! I know you can tell I am being Lazy today..... Maybe Leftover Potato Chowder from Last night? Fish Tacos? or heck with it and just go to McDonald's for a few fish sandwiches?? Let me tell you about this Potato Chowder! It came from a cookbook called Fix it, freeze it, Feast! I have to say it is awesome! You cook a big bulk of something at one time, bag it up individually, and freeze. Then when you are ready to eat you pull it out of the freezer and heat it up! Dinner time has been incredibly easy here since using these Recipes! Best yet, you can get it on your Kindle!!!!

4.

As I sit here typing I have a cute little ten week old in my lap. She is just cooing away at me and smiling like crazy. I have to remember how short this time is and how fast she will grow up! I wish sometimes I could freeze time and the universe not be moving at lightening speed. It feels that everyone is in a rush nowadays... It is always the Fastest Car, groceries brought to you after ordering online (I love this though!). Everybody always watching the clock to see if it is time to get off work yet, How soon till bedtime for the kids. I just wish everyone (including myself) could slow down and savor the special moments. They don't last long and in a blink of an eye they will be married with Kids of their own. here is the Three most Beautiful Kids in the world! YeaYea I am partial! :)

5. Let me tell you how dangerous a Can of Ravioli is! I just went to change my son's steri Strip on his toe. A few days ago he was rummaging in the pantry like always and knocked a can of Ravioli off the shelf and it feel on his toe almost cutting his toe off. I had never seen so much blood! We took him to the er where they cleaned and Bandaged it up for us. I never would of thought it could do that much damage but I guess I was wrong! Here it is!

6.

Today was a no school day. I always feel like I am missing something when we don't have school. I fill like my day is missing something. I guess we do get a lot of education in though. we baked cookies, watched Leapfrog Letters, Folded Clothes Together, ETC. I guess it is just the action of "Doing School" that I miss :)

7.

I'm done now! Between taking care of the kids, cleaning house, and getting ready for the yard sale it has taken me from 11:00Am this morning until 5:19PM now to get this post done! Now to go load the car with all the Yard sale goodies!

This post is Linked up to http://www.conversiondiary.com/ and http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/

Mcruffy Math Review

Mcruffy Math Kindergarten Review

We are now halfway through Kindergarten Math using Mcruffy Press. I have to say I am extremely impressed with it!!! For the Whole Curriculum including Manipulative's we payed $66.95 for it. The Price was reasonable so I said hey! we will give it a try. So glad we did!

It started out pretty easy for my Daughter learning numbers 1-10, shapes, etc. She already knew this so we went quick through those lessons. We are currently on lesson 43 and have started learning counting by tens, easy addition, Equal/less than/more than, ETC. Each Lesson takes us about 20 minutes which is perfect for a beginner learner. She loves to do her math work because they make it in a fun way. There are Lot's of games involved in this curriculum which makes my Daughter Ask to do it. There is a ton of Parent involvement in it and not so much independent work. I am a fan of Parent Involvement though so I love being able to sit down with her and help her through it all.

I definitely will most likely be doing Mcruffy 1st grade math when we are finished because of the ease of use! I recommend this Curriculum to all my friends!!

If you are interested the website is: http://www.mcruffy.com/ Check it out!!!

Linking up to http://www.manylittleblessings.com/ Helpful Home school Hints!

New Faith, New Additions, and more!

Lot's has happened in the past few months!!! Next month We will be attending the Easter Vigil at our new church and will be initiated as Catholics. This Journey has been a wonderful Journey that I am so happy God Led me on. I now know this is where our family belongs. We have made some new friends along the way and I cannot wait to keep leading our own children with their help in this new life!

Anastyn GettingBlessed by our Bishop

Another wonderful thing happened as well! Little Baby Judy-Anastyn was born! She arrived at 2:19am on January 14, 2011 weighing 6lb 10oz and 19 inches long! The smallest of the Tucker Clan so far! She is absolutely Adorable!

I am having a blast raising my tiny little family!

Happy Siblings!

Away we go!

I read a Blog post by another mommy a few days ago and it was how to make a blog successful.... I liked the post but it wasnt what I blog for. I dont blog for money, I dont blog for other people, I blog for myself. It is a way for me to keep an archive of our lives so that I can look back and read it one day to remember some of our greatest moments! I dont mind sharing my blog with others and I hope that it becomes an inspiration for them.