Tea Time.......love it!

Over the years I have had the comments about not going out for coffee and cake at a coffee shop, and how sad this was for me to miss out on, due to my full time commitment to being home with our children. However I have never thought this a great loss and I think the cakes, deserts and coffee are often overrated (and over priced) compared to what we produce at home.

However I do enjoy spending time with our girls  (and our boys when they are interested) over coffee and tea companionship together. This week however we were blessed with a little more specialness in our tea time treat.

On Saturday afternoon the girls and I had the privilege of having Bernadette over for  a girls Tea Time together.
Bernadette has been wanting to participate in our Orchard House Circle, which sadly we haven't been having lately, for some time.

As Bernadette works during the day and evenings are difficult we decided on Saturday afternoon to have this girly time together.

 

Stephen together with Saxon and Rogan took our little ones out on an outing to the playground with a  McDonald's ice cream for a treat.
We had the most wonderful time!!

We each of us worked on various projects we have been doing.
Bernadette was knitting some surprise booties for a special little guest arriving soon.
I worked on my crocheting of granny squares and my embroidered singlets.
Autumn was working on her knitted scarf
Eden worked on her embroidered table runner
Vellvin was casting off her knitting. She is a beginner knitter and after me casting on 25 stitches she managed to add another 100 stitches!!!!!!!

We had made some delectable goodies to eat as well.

Vanilla cake with cream and strawberries
Cucumber sandwiches with cream cheese or mayonnaise
A custard tart .......bought I am afraid

Of course we had a most entertaining time talking about this and that and just   spending the time un-interrupted by our most adoring little ones.

These are the days that I cherish, spending time with those I love and care about. Sharing the process of depending relationships with those who are like minded.

I especially love the relationship I have with our daughters as they grow and mature. The emerging, more adult relationship as they continue to spend time developing skills and communication with me.

Is there anything more special than this in the role of a mother?

Blessings to you and your homes,

Orchard House - Circle Week 3

♥ Once again the girls and I gathered for Orchard house Circle. As we have not been able to meet for a couple of weeks we didn't follow the plans we had organised and revamped them to suit where we are at the moment.
♥ Of course we read Little Women out loud together, each taking turns. This is such a delightful time together without anything else. I treasure this time listening to each of the girls reading and the differences in their styles of reading.
Vellvin was the Tea Lady this week and had prepared Strawberries and cream, savoury and sweet cheese with crackers, along with some bought little cakes I can't remember the name of.
Of course the work baskets were brought in as well as notebooks and the 2 Little Women books we are using.
After working out our plans for next week we decided the work baskets needed tidying of past projects and new ones put into the baskets. We had a few half finished projects put on the back burner for now as new ones have come to the fore.
Autumn with her basket, not too much in here yet. Lots of beautiful fabric bought a few years ago that she can't bear to put into a project yet.
Eden with her many projects. She has my habit of having many projects on the go at once. She does eventually finish but likes the variety of choice---- as do I.
Vellvin with her smaller projects as well. Some to go away too and some to be retained.
These are two of my Christmas projects:
The cross titch is beautiful but has a long, long, long way to go. Perhaps it will be finished by next year.
This is an advent calender countdown I started, hm mm, I ma not sure how many years ago. My guess is maybe 12 years ago. Totally embarrassing when I put it like that.
Well all I need to do is make the calico tree shape and sew on all the heart pockets and decorate it.
Not too much!!! ☺

The homework the girls were given for the week consists of ~
♥ An A3 page layout using sketched designs and fabric samples for summer clothes.
♥ Design the dividers for the Homemaking Folder they are creating.
♥ Start some/one of the clothes from the A3 design layout, using patterns and fabrics we have on hand.
♥ Start to make the St Nicholas stocking items we are making for this years feast day.
♥ Browse our Christmas and craft books for ideas for Christmas fillers and create a comprehensive list.
♥ Finish any reading from the last meeting.

♥ Next weeks plans ~
Read from the Little Women Book
Autumn is the Tea Lady- menu to be decided.
Work on St Nicholas items while reading aloud
Embroider the Sunflower Virtue Award on to a Sampler.
We are doing this instead of the Little Flowers version as I want the girls to have a sampler at the end of our study as part of the skills they have achieved.
Read a story of on the virtue of Faith.

Blessings,

Orchard House Circle -Week 2 Meeting and Plans for Week 3

This was our second week and we are enjoying reading aloud together and discussing the chapter. We discussed what we liked character wise about the girls this week. I am always inspired by Marmee and our girls each have a favourite character.
Autumn loves Jo, of course. Eden loves Meg and Vellvin loves sweet Beth.
Perhaps the girls relate to the characters they prefer.
I would certainly love to have Marmee's gracious manner and loving personality. I can only try to improve can't I?

We finished felting the socks and now we are working on patching jeans, mostly for Saxon.
Here is our room set up for our meeting. Once again the other children were coveting the goodies. We did have some prepared for them as well, Eden spent ages making her two Caramel Pies.
Tea time for Orchard House Circle and Little Flowers Plans
Eden's Caramel Pie to have with the Iced Coffee and Iced Chocolate. This was a very, very sweet pie. In fact, too sweet for us even with our sweet teeth.
Finished Notebooking Pages to add to the Home Management Folder.
Thank you to Jessica for sharing her pages
The girls in their Aprons they made during the week as per the homework.
Eden's Apron from the back she modified the pattern herself to make these straps
Plans for Week 3
Homework consists of :
1. Read The chapter on Faith from The Catholic Girls Guide
2. Work on Home Management Folder
3. Make a spring Skirt
4. Plan an age appropriate lesson for 1 of the younger children and do it with them
5. Write 5 ways you and our family live our Catholic Faith
6. Plan and organise the shopping and cook a meal for the family.
7. If you haven't read If Teacups could Talk ~ do so

The Tea lady for next week is Vellvin and we will be having Strawberries and Cream, cheese crackers, dip and vegetable sticks.
Special Coffee for Mummy and English Breakfast Tea for Autumn, Irish Breakfast Tea for Eden, and Be Happy Tea for Vellvin.

Blessings,

Sewing for Our Girls

For our girls who love old fashioned dresses and individual clothing.
Here is a great site with different sewing helps and techniques and this is the page with actual commercial patterns.
Start planning girls ~ and lets get together for a sewing Bee.
It also looks like a great resource for Orchard House Circle.

Blessings,

Orchard House Circle -Week 1 Meeting and Plans for Week 2

♥ On Tuesday the older girls and I got together for our OHC meeting. We had been planning and looking forward to this for some time and were all very excited.
It actually took quite a lot of planning to get the younger children - excluding Arwen to go and do something else.

♥ The envy on the boys face as Autumn was preparing the Tea time Snacks was so funny. For some reason they thought we were not going to give them any. ☺
♥ The older boys finally decided to take all the other children out side for a campfire down by the creek and toast crumpets over the fire. Then plated on the billy carts for ages. What a special time for all those involved ( I have no pictures as we had the camera inside....a great pity) to be able to do this spontaneously.

♥ Autumn's Tea time Snack and Tea Tray all prepared. These were very delicious sandwiches. however lesson number one: Allow your self enough time to prepare the food before your guests arrive. We were 1 hour late starting because it took longer than she though. But this is part of why we are doing this to help them learn these things.
♥ I prepared a craft basket with all the things I though we might need to make the calling cards we had planned on doing. we also got the Sewing Baskets out and brought them into the Lounge room where we were having our meeting.

♥ We started the meeting with prayer and discussion on a Patron for our time together and we came up with St Margaret of Scotland.
Then we each took turns reading form Little Women. The rest of us were felting socks and eating the goodies.
♥ After this we discussed the book and our plans for the next week.
The homework was assigned covering these areas~

1. Read Chapter 2 of Little Women
2. To make an Apron
3. To start a Home management Folder ~ just start to create the look of it and title pages this week
4. Read from ~ If Tea cups Could Talk by Emile Barnes


5. Plan one lesson plan for younger siblings and do it with them. Write out what you are trying to achieve in this time slot. eg Outline, age group, potential results and time expected to do it in.

♥ The lounge Room after our Meeting. Paper and stuff every where. We had a creative mess that we enjoyed doing together. Of course this is just good bonding time at this stage and we talked of many general things.
After this we prayed again and then packed up as the Native were getting restless.

♥ All in all we took about 1 3/4 hours from start to finish, not including preparation of tea time or clean up.

♥ I can see this will become a very loved time together and the girls will learn SO much.
♥ Autumn's Calling Cards
♥ Eden's Calling Cards
♥ Vellvin's Calling Cards
♥ My calling Cards

♥ Weekly Outline 2 ♥

PRE-PLANNING
~ Tuesday Morning all girls place Calling Card in Sparrow Post box ( one of the ones we made last week)
~ Everyone has read Chapter 2 from Little Women during the week
~ Eden collects the calling Cards and places on the Tea Tray
~ Eden gets the Tea Tray Ready with Tea and Coffee and the Tea Time Treat for the week.
This week the treat is :
Caramel Pie from The Anne of Green Gables Treasury with
Iced Coffee or Iced Chocolate

At 2:30 pm Meeting Time
~ Pray for our time together
~ Each take turns reading aloud from the Chapter 2 - we have pre read this during the week
While doing this the others do hand sewing (projects they are working on. eg. Christmas, Birthday or for self) or Mending that needs to be done.
~This week we still will work on felting the socks.
~ The Tea Tray has been brought in and Tea, coffee and goodies are being consumed while reading and sewing.
~ After read aloud is completed we discuss the chapter generally.
~Are they any virtues to emulate? Is there anything we want to do or make from the chapter?
~ Plan the craft for next week from the resources and ideas listed
~ Organise the "homework" for the week ( see above for this weeks work to be completed by the 13th)
~ This week we are making Fragrant Sachets from The Anne of Green Gables Treasury
~ Eden to Clean up Tea things and craft
~ Pray together and depart
I pray you have enjoyed the time we spent together.

Blessings,

Orchard House Circle Plans

As I have mentioned often the girls and I will be starting an "Orchard House Circle together using Little Women as our guide. The reasons for using Little women is because of the Mother Daughter relationships and the Sisterly Bond that is evident throughout the stories.

We will be having this on a Tuesday Afternoon each week.
I have finally got these overall plans together.

There are two parts to this
1)The overall ideas and resources as listed below
and
2) A General weekly Plan using the overall plans

I will be posting the more concise weekly plans each week separately after this initial one, if you are interested in adapting for your own use.

We have no time period to finish this and can see it continuing on for some time.

Weekly Outline ♥

PRE-PLANNING
~ Tuesday Morning all girls place Calling Card in Sparrow Post box
~ Everyone has read the Chapter from Little Women during the week
~ Assigned Tea Lady collects the calling Cards and places on the Tea Tray
~ Assigned Tea lady gets the Tea Tray Ready with Tea and Coffee and the Tea Time Treat for the week.

At 2:30 pm Meeting Time
~ Pray for our time together
~ Each take turns reading aloud the chapter all have read during the week.
While doing this the others do hand sewing (projects they are working on. eg. Christmas, Birthday or for self) or Mending that needs to be done.
~ The Tea Tray has been brought and Tea, coffee and goodies are being consumed while reading and sewing.
~ After read aloud is completed we discuss the chapter generally. Are they any virtues to emulate? Is there anything we want to do or make from the chapter.
~ Plan the craft for next week from the resources and ideas listed
~ Organise the "homework" for the week from the list also covering 3 areas of achievement
~ do the craft organised from last week
~ Assigned Tea Lady Clean up Tea things and craft
~ Pray together and depart


♥ RESOURCES ♥

♥ THE LITTLE WOMEN BOOKS ~ L M Alcott

Little Women
Good Wives
Little Men
Jo's Boys
Under the Lilacs
Eight Cousins
Rose in Bloom
An Old Fashioned Girl
Invincible Louisa-Cornelia Meigs.

♥ EDUCATIONAL METHODS~

Home Education Original 6 Volume Series-Charlotte M. Mason.
A Charlotte Mason Education -Catherine Levison.
More Charlotte Mason Education-Catherine Levison.
Charlotte Mason study guide-Penny Gardner.
The Essential Montessori- Elizabeth G. Hainstock
Montessori Play and Learn- Lesley Britton
Montessori Read and Write- Lynne Lawrence
One to One-Martin Williams.
The Child In The Family-Maria Montessori.
Kindergarten in the Home-Carrie S. Newman.
The Heart of Learning-Lawrence Williams.
Creative Play with your Baby- Christopher Clouder
Creative Play for your Toddler- Christopher Clouder

♥ HOSPITALITY AND TEA-TIME ~

The Spirit of Loveliness-Emily Barnes.
Time Began in a Garden-Emilie Barnes.
Timeless Treasures- Emilie Barnes.
If Teacups Could Talk-Emilie Barnes.
Josefina's Cook Book-Pleasant Company Publications.
Kirsten's Craft Book-Pleasant Company Publications.
The Anne of Green Gables Treasury-.Carolyn Strom Collins and Christiana Wyss Eriksson
A Little Book of Manners-Emilie Barnes.
The Little Women Treasury-Carolyn Strom Collins and Christiana Wyss Eriksson.
Tea and Cakes with the Saints-Alice Cantrell.
Kits Friendship Fun-Pleasant Company Publications.
Samantha's Friendship Fun-Pleasant Company Publications.
The World of Little House-Carolyn Strom Collins and Christiana Wyss Eriksson.
My Little House Crafts Book-Carolyn Strom Collins and Christiana Wyss Eriksson.
The Little Women Book-Lucille Recht Penner.
Things Happen When Women Care -Emilie Barnes.
The Mother Daughter Book Club-Shireen Dodson.
Lets Make a Memory-Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson.

♥ WOMANHOOD ~

The Catholic Girls Guide-Father Lasance.
Little Flowers Guide- Ecco Homo Press Along with Jessica's Notes
Christian Charm Course-Emily Hunter.
Home for Good-Mother Mary Loyola.
The ABC's of choosing a Good Husband-Stephen Wood.
Beautiful Girlhood -Karen Andreola.

♥ HOMEMAKING ~

Back to Basics-Readers Digest.
Home Comforts-Cheryl Mendelson.
More Hours In My Day-Emilie Barnes.
The Hidden Art of HOMEMAKING-Edith Schaeffer.
Baby and Child-Penolope Leach.
Mommy Diagnostics-Shonda Parker.
Laurels Kitchen Caring -Laurel Robertson.
The Candlemakers Companion-Betty Oppenheimer.
The Natural Soap Book-Susan Miller Cavitch.
Sewing with Saint Anne-Alice Cantrell.
The Mary Frances Cook Book-Jane Eayre Fryer.
The Mary Frances First Aid Book-Jane Eayer Fryer.
The Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book-Jane Eayer Fryer.

♥ TRADITIONS ~

15 Minute Family Traditions and Memories-Emilie Barnes.
The Big Book of Family Fun-Claudia Arp and Linda Dillow.
Eureka Entertainments-Granger Index Reprint Series
Lets Make a Memory-Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson.
Also use the Craft Basket and All Year Round Basket books from the side bar of blog


♥ BRAINSTORMED IDEAS ~ we will add to these as we see fit. They are just an opening creative list of ideas on using this time together. They are just the start of why and what we want to achieve in preparing for a vocation, either single married or religious.

I do belive in preparing for being a Godly wife and mother you are preparing for any other voacationas well.

Tea parties
How to plan a Tea party.
Read Little Women series.
Preparation for vocation in life.
Make a Homemaking Journal
Read a Chapter of group book.
Sew and read aloud at group meeting.
Plan for next week.
Supply of books we will use.
Read do activity and plan.
Make things for Hope chest.
list of achievements.
Life skills.
Project during week in regards to Homemaking,Childcare,Education,Sewing and Craft,Assigned reading,Learn a poem,literature,Health care,Virtues,(Little flowers),Embroider virtue flowers.
Read especially"The Catholic Girls Guide."
Make an apron.
Seasonal stuff.
Calling cards.

OTHER RESOURCES ON LINE ~
Activity ideas
Wit and Wisdom-- Alcott Style

Blessings,