Traditional Latin Mass: Feast of the Sacred Heart

Tomorrow I have the privilege and honor of hanging out with my three smallest ages 4, 2.9, and 10 months during Mass all by myself! Won't have my DH's help but sitting with some friends for help instead. It is a privilege and honor because my DH and eldest DS will be serving the Altar with Father Ferguson. I can't wait to see them up there! What a beautiful thing it will be.

Lord willing, one day one of our boys will be offering Mass...what an honor!

Catching Worms, Bright and Early!

From Nigh Owl to Early Bird: My Transformation

I'm a research-based kinda person, maybe because of my Reading Intervention background? I'm not sure but I like to find research or conduct research as to why things are the way they are. Sometimes I thought that I like being a teacher mainly because I get to be a learner all day all the time, this might prove to be true. So, as I analyzed my new life as a homeschooling mother of four and wife, I realized something: I am no longer the Night Owl I used to be. My WHOLE life I have been a night owl. My mom shares stories of me fighting my sleep as an infant. This has all come to an end at the ripe age of 35!!

I have noticed a couple of things: 1. I'm tired at around 10PM, 2. I like waking up before the kids to start my day, 3. I can't function as well as I use to with lack of sleep, so 4. I need my sleep! So strange to me! If you are anything like me (and so unlike my DH), I could function without sleep and not be grumpy or grouchy. I remember when Number 2, Josef Nicolas-Pablo had colic at six weeks old (for six weeks). He would wake up at 11PM and cry until around 2-3AM, I had to be up by 6AM and at work teaching by 7AM. I was fine...so I think, maybe I wasn't my 100%??? I thought I was.

Here's something I found regarding this topic. This new study shows that how we sleep often reflects how we function intellectually and socially. Researchers claim that early risers tend to “reach conclusions through logic and analysis. Night owls are more imaginative and open to unconventional ideas, preferring the unknown and favoring intuitive leaps on their way to reaching conclusions.

Morning people are more likely to be self-controlled and exhibit “upstanding” conduct; they respect authority, are more formal, and take greater pains to make a good impression. (Earlier research also suggests that they are less likely to hold radical political opinions.) Evening people, by contrast, are “independent” and “nonconforming,” and more reluctant to listen to authority—which suggests that teachers may have several reasons to prefer those students who wake

up in time for class.

So I guess that the Lord is forcing me to change my sleeping habits as well as many other aspects of my life. Unlike other Catholics, I need a metal hammer to the head to realize this, lol! Seriously, a couple of weeks ago I did my usual nightime web surfing in quest for the perfect homeschool curriculum, texts, etc.. By day five of staying up late and getting only about 5-6 hours a night, I got the migrane from hell! I never even get headaches so you could imagine how horrible this must have felt to me. If you have ever had a migrane, you know how bad I felt that night. I could not function, my DH had to take over from around 6:30PM until around 2AM when I woke up and showered. That was horrible, never again! This is when I realized, I can't do this anymore. Little did I know that it was the hammer to the head that I needed.

I've been on a quest to get curriculum planned and my entire life organized (and put on paper). During this process, many things have changed. Much to my surprise, I love it! The kids are happier as they are getting more sleep and better sleep patterns. I know this process will be slow and I need to pray for patience but I'm happy with the positive results thus far! So I am off to catch some worms...oh and in reference to my quest in planning and getting organized, I FINALLY found the right combination and I'm so excited! I've gotten my DH involved and he is happy (the pack rat that he is, lol). I can't talk I'm so much like him it drives me nuts because he does the things that I dislike about myself, it's a weird combination but we can laught together about it because we understand each other so much. I will post my organizational findings another day....gotta run and stay on schedule, lol!

Books!!!!

Did I mention how much I love books? I have so many children's books and now that my son is of age, my collection has been growing. In search of good Catholic novels, I came across a couple of books that are a total must have in our library at home. The first is, The Weight of the Mass by Josephine Nobisso and it's companion, Take It to the Queen. Both by the same author and geared for elementary age children.

It's Planning Time (again!)

So it's been almost a month since I was last on here...not that I haven't been thinking school (on the contrary). A couple of weeks ago, we got a chance to go back to Florida. I got a chance to dig through some of my teaching things, which was great because I found tons of things I can use with the kids at home as well as the Co-op!

I am also looking into ways to get more organized at home. With four children ages 11 months to 11 years, I need to be in full control of all the components of house keeping to maintain a happy home life. I have a close friend who is a teacher and fellow home schoolers who once told me, "when you get to number four, you'll get super organized, it will be second nature." Bless her heart, she was right! Well, atleast I have the desire to get more organized. So I'm planning, organizing, planning, restructuring, and planning some more...because with a plan, I firmly believe that you avoid many pitfalls! So a planning I shall go!