Pinewood Castle

Quote Corner

“Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.”

― Anonymous

For Your Wintry Weekend

“One kind word can warm three winter months.”

― Japanese proverb

Quote for the Weekend

"No doubt about it, solitude is improved by being voluntary."

― Barbara Holland

Quote for the Weekend

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." ― Marcus Tullius Cicero

Quote for the Weekend

 

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Updates and Quotes for a Monday

We survived a weekend including two Nutcracker performances and one rescheduled boy's choir concert. Finally the Christmas concerts and reception cookie baking is over! Time to be at home, finish Christmas cards, gifts and crafts and do a little baking for ourselves and our neighbors. There are a half dozen craft projects I would like to do myself but will most likely spend the week helping the children make things for one another.

The Nutcracker, bty, was the premier production given by our new ballet academy (in their second year) way out in this corner of the outer metro. I was amazed at how well all the little details were thought out and planned for, on and off stage. Really amazing for an academy's first production. Chaperoning a roomful of three and four years old angels was an equally memorable experience.

(backstage)

I only signed up one of my girls for the show - the one requiring the least amount of rehearsal time. Our Little Princess was an adorable angel for the 2:00 show - by 7:00 she was sleeping in heavenly peace on the floor of the backstage dressing room, not to be roused. I had chaperoning duties so I called Joe to come and pick her up. Oh well.

My little prep choir boy sang with a group of eleven choristers. Their performance was noted to be the quietest in history and their group the best behaved, translated = the least entertaining! Kind of an odd compliment. The packed house enjoyed each of the five choirs and recorder consort. Hearing the top internationally acclaimed choir was a real treat. This has to be what the angels in heaven sound like.

(older photo - not from yesterday)

 

One more fun photo - the saxophonist's wife roped random shoppers into singing at the grocery store -

I promised two quotes in my post title so here they are:

"Charity begins at home, but should not end there." ~ Thomas Fuller

It is all too easy to wrap ourselves up in our own little families. Christmastime provides wonderful opportunities to reach out.

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." ~ Jane Austen

No explanation needed here. I would be perfectly content ot stay in by the hearth for days and days in the winter. I must have a bit of Mr. Woodhouse in me!

 

Quote for the Weekend

"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." - African Proverb

Quote for the Weekend

"You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older." - Anouk Aimee

Quote for the Weekend

"I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I lost is two weeks." - Totie Fields

(Seriously, I did join Weight Watchers in August and lost almost five pounds until the 9:30 am Saturday morning meeting time changed to 8:00 am. There's no way I can get there by then so I quit. Thankfully, I have not gained back the pounds!)

Overheard

Dino/Rocky while eating a chocolate and vanilla swirl Jello pudding cup, "It's so beautiful - just like an agate."

Quote for the Weekend

"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration."

- Lou Erickson

 

Quote for the Weekend

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love,

and to let it come in." - Morrie Schwartz

Quote for the Weekend

I finished Sally Clarkson's new book today: Dancing with My Father.

This is more than just a "stop and smell the roses" book. It is that but so much more. Sally tells of a time in her life when she made a conscious decision to choose joy. She encourages her readers to recognize God and enjoy the life he gives us through the wonder of nature, relationships, our relationship with Him, and recognizing His handiwork in our daily lives even in the midst of conflicts and stressful situations. Her own personal stories are memorable, both her accounts of miraculously answered prayer as well as her honesty in relating the times of her life when she felt downright discouraged and depleted.

If I could pick a passage that represents the biggest gold nugget I will take from this book it is the following:

Many Christians tend to defend fervently their theological underpinnings and argue rigorously the tenets of doctrine. Yet often I have observed that in choosing to live only in the cerebral world of "what I know intellectually about God," they miss so much of his personality and nature, which can be observed through his role as the Artist . . .

Such an overemphasis on the academic determines that a relationship with God will be dryly but obviously absent of feeling and delight. It would be like writing or defending a long treatise on the role of a father, his character, and the history of fatherhood - separate from relating personally and intimately with him. No "report on fatherhood" would ever satisfy our need to experience life with an actual father, the life that comes from engaging in the personality, friendship, and companionship of a real live person.

God intended that we become witnesses of his beauty, design, color, and pleasure to that we could gain a more intimate, real, and personal knowledge of him. God does not want to be just a thought to know, but a personally engaging friend and Father whose relationship with is is filled with memory, delight, and moments to be experienced and enjoyed.

This book is exactly what I needed to read. In this stage of life I am struggling trying to homeschool three children with a distracting chatterbox of a three year old who rarely plays quietly with the plethora of educational toys I get for her each day and a new baby who obviously needs and demands my arms and attention. By 10:00 am I often feel scattered and short tempered and anything but joyful. I help the children memorize answers to the Baltimore Catechism (and while it is helpful to develop the memory and have ready answers) I wonder what kind of personal relationship with God each of them are really developing. Do we "say" our prayers as a family or intimately pray them? Do we sit through Mass waiting for the end or really worship God? Does the beauty and reverence of the Traditional Mass we attend inspire closeness to God or make religion too formal and academic for our children?

Questions to ponder and pray about . . .

Quote for the Weekend

“I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.” ― Jennifer Yane

Quote for the Weekend

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ―Victor Frankl

Quote for the Weekend - The Value of a Quarter

Do your kids like to earn extra quarters? I tend to get them by the roll to dole out for extra jobs. Or just to help get their extra energy out.

Case in point -

Me to Dino: Go outside and run around, would you? I'll give you a dime for every lap you run around the house.

Dino: Nahhh.

Me: Ok, how about five laps for a quarter?

Dino: OK!!!

Quote for the Weekend

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” ―Mother Teresa

Quote for the Weekend

I know our children are candy deprived when they mispronounce the names of treats. It took forever to get my daughter to call Whoppers by their rightful name instead of "Whuppers". The latest took place the other night when she was sorting through her Halloween candy and announced her decision to have one of her "Three Mus-Skeeters".

I thought we were done with mosquitoes for the year!

Quote for the Weekend

“A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.” ―Dave Meurer

Quote for the Weekend

"A life without love is like a year without summer."
—Swedish Proverb

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a . . .

This is an example of the kind of thoughts Sunshine has in the van on the way to Mass:

"Mommy, what phone number will I be when I grow up?"

And I just have to add another:

Wild Strawberry was having a toddler episode and Dino with a big sigh observed,

"Babies always need what they want!"

(but they don't always want what they need!)

Universal Language

A keen observation by one of my children (can't remember exactly who) that many parents, especially Suzuki parents, will appreciate:

"I think that Twinkle Twinkle is the main song of the world."