Healthy Banana Muffins

3/4 cup Quick Oats (or 1 c. old fashioned oats)-soak in 1 1/4 cups milk
1 large Egg, beaten
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Oil
3 large Bananas, mashed (equaling 1 cup or more)
1 Tbs. Vanilla

Mix all above ingredients together and stir in the following:

2 cups Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup mini-Chocolate Chips

Grease Muffin Tins. May sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

When Home Calls You Back...

I remember how much tradition was a precious part of every feast day. How angelic a full choir sounds. The uniqueness of a small town with two Catholic churches, which both remain open. The faithful people who helped form you spiritually as a part of your faith community. How most of them still remember my name.

I'm reminded how much I miss tradition and precious beauty of that large, old church building that was such an important part of my life. And I am glad that in that small town there is a beautiful parish that I still call HOME.

As the Year for Priests comes to a close, I am again reminded how blessed we are with some very wonderful, holy men to guide and lead us.

What Do My Children See?

Today's meditation from Small Steps for Catholic Moms:



Think

"The insight of the most skilled doctors can't compare to a mother's heart"
~St. Therese of Lisieux


Pray

Lord, keep me mindful of the fact that motherhood is a privilege. Let me never abuse my authority over my children. Keep me forever a source of sweetness in their eyes.


Act

Do not correct any child with a loud voice today. Instead, go to the child in need of discipline, make eye contact, and use a quiet voice to correct him or her. Let your quiet, invested, persistent actions speak volumes of love to your children.




I only wish I had read this at 6 am, long before the day started with my children. Thankfully, tomorrow's a new day to try again.

First Week Of Summer Vacation

We've survived the first week of summertime schedule and routine-free days. We need the break, I know we do, but I can't help but feel as though I stumble through the day. Hours don't fly by as rapidly, but for the most part we are having fun.

It's a little rough due to the new discipline route that we've undertaken since hearing Dr. Ray last weekend. That's another post for another day. For now, let's just say that the kids don't like it and still they just don't get it. They seem to struggle with realizing that their privileges can (and will) be revoked for certain luxuries around our home. It's tough and combined with these irregular days, to say we've survived seems like a small victory.

In between all of that though we've made some memories and that's important.

We enjoyed time with my parents and a number of Reed's family on Sunday at a picnic and game afternoon/evening. Reed took the kids out on the dock fishing, which is a pretty big deal for them since daddy can't stand the activity himself. What a dad won't do for his kids!





Lily even caught her first fish! She was so excited!



The weather was perfect on Tuesday for a bike ride. The kids and I decided to ride into town for noon Mass and then a stop at the new play equipment by the fire hall. It was so much fun now that Jonah is riding his new bike on his own and he didn't complain about it being too tough even once. That's pretty amazing, if you only knew how much my little boy doesn't care for doing anything that demands physical exertion!

Wednesday we took an unplanned trip an hour away to the 'big' city to do a few errands and enjoy a few of our favorite hot spots. Of course, the newer library is one of our stops almost every time. I love the layout of this library and how spacious it is.



The kids, Jonah especially, enjoy the play area. It has a wooden railway he enjoys. You know, because it's not like he has a gazillion trains at home to play with every day. Hardly.



And then there's the park that my kids really like too.







We even met grandma for a picnic lunch at the gardens that both mommy and children enjoy.








Not bad for the first week of unscheduled, unpredictable, driving mommy crazy already hazy, lazy days of summer, don't you think?

Deal Of The Week

Do you drink SoBe Life Water? I've found that I really enjoy the treat of this drink and usually watch for it on sale. This week, I love it even more with the deal Target is giving on it.

Buy 10 bottles for $10 and receive a $5 Target gift card! So you only pay 50 cents a bottle! Now that's a deal.

I've also tried the Vitamin Water in the past, but have found that some of the flavors give me an instant headache due to their ingredients. Not with Life Water.

My fave flavors: Fuji Apple Pear, Yumberry Pomegranate, Agave Lemonade & Acai Fruit Punch.

When Like-Minded Adults Gather

This has become the better-late-than-never post. Each day I've wanted to promptly write my take on the Minnesota Catholic Home Educators Conference from last Friday and Saturday, but just haven't.

It won't be anything overly beautiful and wordy, just a brief reminder why I enjoy this conference each year. If you want to read more posts written far more eloquently, you can read Margaret or Tracy's version.

Ways Reed and I enjoy the annual conference:

-We get a little over two hours (one way) in the car together for uninterrupted talk time (or even silence).

-We get to meet up with a wide array of parents/educators, but mostly I enjoy meeting up with old friends and new ones too! So many ladies from my single days that I got to bump into again now that they are dear mamas who homeschool.

-A Bloggers Chat that gave me the opportunity to meet even more MN Catholic bloggers, along with those I've already gotten to know here in cyberspace.

-Curriculum shopping with my husband! He gently helps to keep me grounded and realistic on what I can or cannot undertake. Ultimately, he leaves decisions up to me but he helps immensely in weighing out all of those awesome resources out there. We bought almost everything we'll need for the new school year already! It helped to have an itemized list for each of the kids this year and we stuck to it.



-We found fun resources that other bloggers have talked about and get to see them in person. Like the Lapbooks for Catholics gals, of which we bought the Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist and The Holy Mass lapbooks for Lily and The Things I See At Church for Jonah. Lily's already looking forward to hers in preparation for her First Communion next spring.

-We get the opportunity to be inspired by amazing presenters...



Like Dr. Ray Guarendi, what a hoot that guy is! He has tons to offer on disciplining, teaching and guiding our children and he delivers it with such humor. It all just sounds so easy when he's saying it. I'd highly recommend his books or DVD's if you can get them.


Reed opted for fill-in David Rinaldi's 'Keeping Your Kids Catholic' and he really enjoyed it. I used to know Dave from my NET days, so I highly anticipated that his presentation would be dynamic and funny as well. And he delivered. A few of his points he delved into were: Family Prayer; Spend Time, Not Money; Speak With One Voice; Have A Spiritual Vision For Your Family; Renew Your Love For Christ and His Church; Renew Your Love For Your Spouse.



Of course, I chose to sit in on both workshops given by our favorite coffee loving blogger, Margaret. EXCELLENT! And no, I'm not just saying that because Margaret is Minnesota Mom and well, everyone loves Margaret so we all write nice things about her (although that is true too). She spoke with honesty and beauty and of course the wit that we've all come to love in her blog. She reminded me and the others to guard out heart and remember why we are home educating; not to be misguided and lured by the homeschooling family who has the perfect little crafts, the ideal curriculum, etc. That's not why we are at home educating our children. I think it struck a chord with many of us who jump around with curriculum, try to perfectly teach every little thing and spend too much time trying to create what is not best for us or our families.

Margaret had a lot to say in her second talk about perfectionism. Did you know she's a perfectionist? Again, this struck me so much. I'm still hearing her words repeat in my head asking how often we let our children bake with us? Because heaven forbid the cookies aren't perfect. We want all of these things all lined up and just so. Does that matter? She certainly gave me a lot to ponder on these last few days.

We both went to hear Maureen Wittmann, who presented 'The Thrifty Homeschooler' and had wonderful insight into easy ways of saving money in our homes and our homeschool too. She's author of this book, in case you didn't know it.


So, yes, we came home fulfilled and rejuvenated. Ready for the next school year, eventhough we had just finished the last one the day before. And tired.

All reminders why hubby and I enjoy this special date each year, why we attend it together and why we still choose to homeschool. We are so blessed.


*If you are interested in any of the sessions presented, you can purchase CD's too.

The Invitations Have Been Sent

We're looking forward to our Little Flowers Luncheon!