Feast of the Immaculate Conception

This is one of my favorite Charlotte Mason quotes: Serenity of a Madonna "It is not for nothing that the old painters, however diverse their ideas in other matters, all fixed upon one quality as proper to the pattern Mother. The Madonna, no matter out of whose canvas she looks at you, is always serene. This is a great truth, and we should do well to hang our walls with the Madonnas of the early Masters if the lesson, taught through the eye, would reach with calming influence to the heart.

Poetry Monday

The Eagle
by Alfred Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands.
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls.
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Baby Shower!

Today I am going to a baby shower for my first grandbaby! My sister-in-law and niece are hosting a tea here. Younger daughter flew in from D.C. for the occasion and yesterday we took the expectant mommy for a pedicure. Beautiful toenails and an afternoon tea with both my daughters and family and friends...not even the March mud can dampen my spirits today!!

Osteochondroma

That is the new word in our vocabulary. Last summer I noticed that the littlest Hobbit's upper right arm muscle was alot bigger than the left. By February it was even bigger so we went to the Doctor. I was thinking maybe a benign fatty tumor, harmless but a nuisance to have removed. Nope. Within three days we were talking to an osteopathic surgeon at Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital (wonderful place!)More x-rays and an MRI later and we are breathing a sigh of relief that it is not malignant!
However, it is shortening the bone. All in all, not the worst of handicaps and a few trips to Children's definitely puts handicaps in perspective. We go back in six months for a check up but as of now no surgery is planned. We hope and pray that the tumor grows with the bone and meanwhile baseball season is ramping up!

Poetry Monday

My Gift by Christina Rossetti

What can I give Him
Poor as I am;
If I were a shepherd,
I would give Him a lamb.

If I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
But what can I give Him?
I will give Him my heart.

Carving

We've been working hard at the Hobbit Home school. In between declensions the hobbits have been doing some handcrafts. Adam has been carving for a couple years now and after being inspired by our trip to The Great Lakes Medieval Faire he made this for our neighbor.(I really wish he had made it for me!) I'll be doing a separate post on the chain mail you can see on the table. We will be very well armed for this year's Faire.

What's Working----Geography

The boys have been reading a chapter of Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels and then sketching in their notebooks by way of narration once a week. They really enjoy this. The littlest hobbit is working his way through the Holling C. Holling books using Geography, A Literature Approach by Rea C. Berg. The maps are especially fun.