Oh Sunday how I love thee......

 

Those wonderful Sundays when you actually do feel refreshed from the weeks activities by having a relaxing day doing those things that allow you both mental, physical and spiritual refreshment. Those Sundays are to be treasured and remembered.

I know this is the goal for my Sundays often but as with much of life and our responsibilities and cares  this does not happen as much as I would desire and yet how often we really do need this.

Yesterday was one of those rare days that was relaxing and refreshing though as I write it out I am sure there was nothing of great interest,except to  my own personal refreshment.

Stephen and I attended  Mass- just the two of us as I had taken the children the night before due to a car space problem.
After Mass we had coffee together and just talked together then off we went  to do  some exciting grocery shopping together.
Sounds like a hot date right?

When we got home we sat outside under a tree and ate wonderful homemade pizza, sipped coffee and watched the children have bike ride races and again just really chat together.
After this the children begged for a game together and so we played an easy one for mummy :)

The simple pleasures like playing hide and seek with the children are times that really bring me peace in my heart. I have no idea how I missed him, I was the seeker, as I walked right under that tree and I always look up cause it's his favourite type of hiding place :)

As evening fell we needed some fire wood so my love chopped some while I did one of my favourite winter chores and gathered kindling ready for the morning for if we needed it.

While we wandered around putting toys and things away we, well Rogan actually, discovered a hiding place that the hens had been laying eggs in, one of his unused Rabbit hutches.

As I reflect upon this day I recognise again that the joy of life is lived in the every day moments of everyday ordinary activities that we have the opportunities to build special memories with if we only take the time.
Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Sunday!!!!

Sunday Morning ............
Did you just cringe? Just saying that can recall to mind many tense and stressful mornings that have been in our past, maybe even in our present and really it should not be like this at all.

Sunday is the start of a new week with the potential for many wonderful and great things to happen.
It is the day we celebrate Our Lord's resurrection and for many of us it is the time of sharing in the community of faithful in a Church near our homes.

However as joyful as it can be more often than not it can often be the cause of great stress for many families as we all struggle to get ready to attend Church on time.

There is sure to be at least one child who cannot find his shoes or as often as not if the shoes are found matching socks are no where in evidence.

Naturally the idea of hankies or tissues for noses should always be in pockets and invariably are not placed in said pockets or purse before hand.
These and other types of getting ready things can cause us to lose sight of what we really are celebrating on this day- Sunday!

So often though we get caught up in these preparations for 'going' and 'doing' that we forget to just BE in the presence of God.
To just Be still and know that wonderful love of God.
To Be still and listen to the Lord: not only in his word but in his voice.

To Be Still, as hard as it is in the busyness of our lives, is an opportunity we each have, if we decide to take it  a wonderful way to start  our week.

If our goal was to be Still and Know our God and to follow this through not only on a Sunday but all through out the week I am sure that each of us would be that much closer to living the life Our Lord has called us to.

May this Lent be a time for us all to grow in the way The Lord would have us go - by first starting our Sunday's with a still and humble heart and then to continue this through  the coming  week and the next week and the next week and.................

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Those precious Sundays!!

Those precious days when we just laze through the day are often on a Sunday in our home. Now this does not happen every Sunday as we sometimes have more to do than others and even though we truly do try to not do any extra work on this day of rest, there are certain activities that need to be done to be done in a family our size.

Sunday this week was one of those prefect days.
We went to a later Mass and met some more people, as it was later there was a few edibles and coffee afterwards, great coffee I might add, being shared with all. As well as stimulating and welcoming conversation.

Afterwards we picked up some hot chips for lunch and headed home. Seriously the weather was perfect!!
There was a light breeze, well a bit more, but that's how I love it. It was a cooler day and we had no pressing things to do. The washing backed up and we did not have to do much lunch clean up.

Everyone was happy to go and do their own thing and the girls played, making a new house and decorating it.  Others were content to read and  just do quiet things on their own.
I did spend a bit of time with Corbyn who seemed to develop a  temperature and was miserable for ages. That meant I got to lay down and cuddle him and read my book too

At the end of the day we had a light shower of rain and we all quickly went outside to see the marvelous beauty in this huge double rainbow. It was so huge and was behind trees that it was impossible to photograph fully. Sadly, the second one did not show up at all in the photos.

Really it was one of those non memorable days but really full of memories.

Those days that will be remembered not for anything remarkable but because we were together in our family circle just Enjoying the Journey together as we should be.

Thank you God for these precious days!
Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Our New Sunday Tradition

For many years we have tried to have a special family lunch together after Church. We grew up in  a time where having Sunday lunch was what was expected in a family.
Our ancestry is of a British nature and a 'baked dinner' was the type of meal that was expected at this particular time.
We tend to carry on this tradition for more special occasions like Christmas and Easter along with Holy Thursday.
Other than that we really are not big fans of the traditional baked dinner.

Why is this so?

There are a few reasons for this, some of which are entirely practical.
1. It actually takes a VERY long time to peel and cut up lots of vegetables for a baked dinner in the quantity and variety that we like.
We like to have enough veggies left over for someone to have for snacks or for seconds helpings if someone is especially hungry that day.

2. Baked dinners require a LOT of washing up of greasy pans and other dishes as well. WE serve our meal up from the table and so have 'serving dishes' as well as the cooking dishes.

3. Frankly baked dinners are not our favourites. Even when children choose their birthday dinner we rarely have anyone choose a baked dinner.

So why worry about whether a baked dinner or another meal is  what to have on Sundays?

Well we have always tried to make Sunday a special day.
We do think of it as  a "little Easter" as we are supposed to - a feast day to remind us of Easter and all it means to us. Obviously the meal can help contribute to this and we have Sundaes on Sunday but the main meal has produced challenges for us.
I believe Sunday is  not a special day if some of the members of the family are spending vast amount of times in the kitchen, instead of enjoying time in rest and relaxation as is the idea of the day.

So we have gone through times trying to think of ways to handle this. We have had really easy scrappy meals to try to allow for the more important family bonding to happen. I was never really happy with this though as we make special meals for other important days and it just didn't satisfy me that we were celebrating in the way we should. Of course we have tried the 'baked dinner approach' too with the results of no relaxation and stress involved because we couldn't get it ready in time after Mass.

So last week I think we came up with a plan that will allow us to have the special meal and spend time together.

We will BBQ. 

I know most people only do this in the Summer but we do it all year round in our home.

Our plan is to come home from Mass which finishes at 11:30am and put some meat on the BBQ with some onion, make a salad and have corn on the cob with some bread rolls and a simple sweets for afters. Yesterday we had jelly and ice cream.

I really think everyone enjoyed this and we had plenty of  free and relaxing time for the afternoon. Just what  we need after a busy and intense week or lessons, work and all the organising that goes into everyday living.

All in all a wonderful day celebrating the joy of the Resurrection and our thankfulness to God for our Daily bread.

Blessings to you and your homes,

Sunday Teatime

How do you spend your Sunday Afternoons?

For many years when we started Homeschooling and were introduced to Charlotte Mason we had Tea time on a Sunday afternoon.
We had tried it on a weekday, but life was too hurried for it to work at that particular time in our lives.
We would actually dress up (or stay in our church clothes) and have our best china (which isn't that grand really) and sit and have tea time together. Listen to classical music in the background and trying to have some ' high brow' conversation while using our 'company manners.'

We then tried to read aloud from our read aloud after we had cleaned up. This once again was sometimes successful and sometimes not, depending on the energy and enthusiasm of our small children and how tired Daddy was as he read, lying down, a sure way to have him visit the land of nod.

We haven't done this for so long, partly because our Sunday's had become a non relaxing time with trips to the airport etc. But as I look to the rest of the year and the goals I would like to have Tea time is a big part of my agenda.
I would like to have an afternoon teatime again as we finish 'school' officially for the day and a more formal teatime on Sunday with a High English Tea.

We also used to have a Sunday Box with special activities and books reserved for a Sunday only. This too has gone out of our family culture but we enjoyed it for a time too. I did find the expense of 'usable' materials a consideration in the phasing out of this custom. However with the ability to print so much form the interned these days I think this might be a worthwhile consideration, but with a folder approach instead. (That means I print out and have it ready for Sunday)

That not having happened today I would like to offer you some interesting ideas for spending this Sunday in a relaxing and enjoyable way.

Looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon.?
Here is but a small sample of what you could find to do!
This is a wonderful link: Karen's Whimsy with so many different things to print out and do.

My favourites are the free printer paper doll sections. There are a heap of lovely old fashioned paper dolls to print and then play with. Heaps of colouring pages I like these Fairy Tale ones especially

On another site I found these beautiful street of houses to colour and then play with. You could use any small dolls, Sylvanian families, lego people etc.

Praying your day of rest is a joyful and blessed one.
Blessings,

Makiing Sunday Special!

For many years we have tried to make Sunday Special. We have tried to make it a day different to all others.
Our reaons for doing this are to show our love of our Lord and to keep this day Holy.

We have had great success with it and at other times we have not done as well.
However even when we have not 'completed' our special Sunday activities we have developed a spirit of 'Specialness' about this day.

Most of the ways we have tried to make Sunday different are quite simple.
Going to Church is a given, no questions asked.
Some of the other activities we do are:

We have 'Sundays on Sunday' - until last St Nicholas day we always had our Sundays in regular bowls. I managed to see these lovely coloured Sunday glasses for $2 and decided they were worth it for us.
'Sundays on Sunday' are special for us due to the fact we rarely have sweets after dinner, unless we are going through a cooking, cooking phase and trying new things.
To make our Sundays we simply put ice cream in ( it is usually plan, but if a flavoured variety is on special we get that), put topping of choice on and cream we have whipped up and a Cherry. Some like to add sprinkles, shredded coconut or nuts if we have them.
Some of the other ways we have tried to make Sunday special is:
~to have a red tablecloth ( we also use this one for Birthdays)
~ in the past we have had a special "Sunday Box" which had games and activities books, crafts and odds and ends.
~ cooked Sunday lunch, generally a baked dinner.
~ play board games together.
~ play 'parlour games' together. One of our favourites is Hide the thimble.
~ go for a rambling walk.
~ family outings.
~ try not to do unnecessary tasks, this was difficult when we were building our house.
~ watch DVD's together.
~ play outside together ball games etc.
~ walk around the property picking flowers
~ read more chapters of our current read aloud.
~ computer games ( this is a rare treat for our younger children as I monitor this very closely)

These are some of the thing that come to mind that I thought I would share with you.

How about you! How do you make Sunday special?

Blessings,