Essen Haus

On May 28, we went to Essen Haus, a German restaurant and drinking hall in Madison,Wisconsin. We wanted Grandma, who had German/Bavarian ancestry, to watch the polka band due to play that night. Unfortunately, we got there too early for dinner and did not see the band. I would like to share with you some of the pictures we took of our food and of the restaurant (using my cellphone camera so its a little blurry):

That is the stage in the background where the band was to play that night.

This is by the entrance if you are coming from the lakefront (notice the sign on top and the waitress' clothing).

  This is the bar area (with all those glasses on top).

 This is the very interesting lamp that was on our table.

 This was my noodle dish - Käse Spaetzle - a casserole baked with assorted cheeses, mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, onions and smoked ham - it did not go well with my stomach :(.

 This is the sweet German potato salad that Grandma had on her dish (see picture below) - Deutsch Sampler - Smoked pork chop, Schweine braten and smoked Thuringer with sauerkraut and a German potato salad. I think that if and when I am going back there, I will choose this dish.

 We checked-in to our hotel that night and put the children to bed with Grandma and went out on our first date in years. We had a very enjoyable date and all thanks to Grandma.

Circus World Museum

We went to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin on May 29 and I would like to share with you some of the attractions there:

 The museum display of costumes, ads, and pictures history is in the building where you first enter.

This picture and the ones below are examples of the shows that you will see there.

The whole family had a good time (including Grandma). :) There are more things that you can do there (the children can participate in the interactive circus, play in the playground, ride on some of the animals, etc.). For more information on how to get there and the events happening throughout the day, please go to their website.

From Wikipedia: The Circus World Museum is a large museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin devoted to circus-related history. The museum, which features not only circus artifacts and exhibits, but also hosts daily live circus performances throughout the summer, is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, and operated by the non-profit Circus World Museum Foundation.

The Past Weeks

I am sorry if I haven't posted anything about what we have been learning this month. The weeks after Easter just flew by because of swimming classes for the three of us, some sickness (conjunctivitis/colds/cough), soccer, recitals, preschool, etc.

DS1 had creative movement recital but did not perform as recommended by the doctor. He was not able to practice piano for almost a week because of the sickness but the day before the recital, he started again and although he was still not up to speed an hour before the recital, he did wonderfully during the peformance. He was confident and did not make any mistakes and for someone who just started piano lessons 3.5 months ago, he did really well - playing both pieces with both hands and with the right tempo. He is doing a lot of math works at school and shares it with us at home. He still likes to read and is reading the following books on and off: 365 Fun Facts for Catholic Kids, My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories and Mathamusements .

DS2 is "getting acquainted with the water" with my help as we enrolled in a Parent and Tot class.  He also likes going to the library and the park. He likes to play with puzzles and is into car, truck and train (Lightning McQueen and crew/Bob the Builder/Truck Town/Thomas and Friends) toys and stories in books and videos. He also likes to sing and dance and is a funny boy. He is talking a lot now but he still can't pronounce certain letters very well.

I enrolled for swimming classes to support a friend who needed to learn how to swim for exercise as recommended by her heart doctor and this gave me the confidence to help my kids practice what they have been learning. The month of May for me was divided into projects or focus - priority was Easter and Divine Mercy, next came the requirements for teacher training, now the focus is on spring cleaning (and hopefully a garage sale) and last will be preparing for a trip to Madison, Wisconsin. June focus will be preparing activities for the children to do this summer (as school ends June 1). 

I am hoping I will have time next week to do another post or add a page (any requests?) to the blog before school ends. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment/suggest - if you do not want it posted, just mention that and I will not publish your comment. If you would like to know of updates on what we are doing/learning, you can subscribe to us by email (I will not share it with anybody unless you permit me to) just place your email address on the space provided (Follow us by email) on the left most side of this blog.

I wish everybody a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Another Awesome Giveaway from Montessori Print Shop!

Montessori Print Shop is an online store for Montessori materials with a blog on the side to help learn how to use, present and make the materials. It's goal is to make Montessori materials accessible and affordable to everyone. They occasionally have sales and freebies (aside from the free materials that are on their website) but you have to be a subscriber to the blog to know/get this information. They are having an awesome giveaway for a week (May 12-19, 2011) worth $183 (on sale for $119)! Head on over to their site now for a chance to win 65 Montessori Science materials on CD Rom.

Sunrise Learning Lab Awesome Giveaway!

Sunrise Learning Lab is one of the blogs I read regularly to find out what other moms with young boys are doing everyday. It just so happened that they are having an awesome giveaway worth $260! Head on over to their site now and win a full tuition for online 3-6 training with 12 albums sent electronically through A Montessori Marketplace, valued at $240.00 and a $20.00 gift credit for any Montessori inspired pdfs through Laughing Star Montessori.

Blessed Easter!

 

The Lord is Risen! Blessed Easter to everyone! I attended the Easter Vigil in our parish and although it was shorter than what I had been accustomed to (in the country I came from, the vigil is celebrated in its entirety - all readings and lasts until midnight then before dawn the next day, the meeting of Mama Mary and the Risen Lord is reenacted by a procession), I am still very thankful to be able to take part in the celebration that sums up our faith. Here is an actual Easter Vigil celebration. The Easter Vigil is the Mother of all Holy Vigils and the Great Service of Light - as St. Cyril of Jerusalem said, “The Easter vigil, although celebrated at night, is always as bright as day, symbolic of the Risen Christ” and I encourage everyone to take part in this celebration. The celebration does not start until sunset to signify the beginning of a new day. It starts with the Service of Light (preparation and lighting of the Paschal candle which symbolizes Jesus, the Light and His presence in the world, up to the sharing of the light to everyone present). The next part is the Liturgy of the Word where the history of salvation is recounted from the beginning of time (Genesis) to the Gospel and the Homily (nine readings, seven Old Testament and two New Testament, are provided but not all are required to be read due to time constraints - at least three Old Testament readings must be read, including Exodus 14). The readings are 1) the story of creation, Gen 1:1-2; 2; 2) Abraham and Isaac, Gen 22:1-18; 3) Crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus 14:15–15:1; 4) Isaiah 54:5-14; 5) Isaiah 55:1-11; 6) Baruch 3:9-15.32–4:4; 7) Ezekiel 36:16-17.18-28; 8) Romans 6:3-11; and 9) Gospel reading Matthew 28:1-10. The Gloria is sung before the reading of the Epistle of the Romans, and the Alleluia is sung before the Gospel. The Liturgy of Baptism is the time when the Easter water is blessed, new members are brought into the Church through baptism, and we, the faithful, are blessed with water and renew our baptismal promises by renouncing evil and professing our faith. The Liturgy of the Eucharist is the most anticipated part (specially for the neophytes) and the center of our Christian life and the culmination of the celebration - after we were fed by the Word, given new life in the waters of Baptism, we now receive the Body and Blood of Christ and ready to celebrate Easter.

Divine Mercy Sunday

This Sunday, May 1st, is Divine Mercy Sunday.  As written by St. Faustina in her diary, anyone who participates in the Mass and receives the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist on this day is assured by Jesus of full remission of their sins. In addition, there is a plenary indulgence that can be gained on this day. It is granted (under the usual conditions of sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Pope) to the faithful who, on Divine Mercy Sunday, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!"). To read the full decree and learn of other ways to gain the indulgence (specially for those who cannot or have no way of participating, click on the link above - plenary indulgence).

To learn how to prepare for this Feast, and how to make a good confession, click here and here.

How merciful the Lord is! If only all parishes celebrate this Feast. If your parish does not celebrate this, please remind them of their duty to spread the devotion so that more souls can avail of God's mercy and refer the pastor to the full decree.

Jesus, King of Mercy, I trust in You!

More on DS1

I turned five last month and I am excited because I will be in Kindergarten next school year!

I have some pictures to share of my art works at school:

 

 We made this before Thanksgiving.

We made this before Christmas break.

This was for Halloween.

This was for Spring.

This is a picture of me playing the piano:

I started Suzuki piano lessons this semester and I love it!  I am excited to play for my Grandma and family during the recital next month.


These are some things I did when I was four years old:

This is the front.

This is the back.

What I have been learning - DS1

"February 24, 2011 - Today I learned about the punctuation mark apostrophe. This is what it looks like - ' -  it can shorten a word like cannot to can't.

I also learned about a kind of poem called limerick. It has 5 lines, is funny, tells a story, the rhyming pattern is this: aabba (lines 1, 2 & 5 rhymes, with 3 “feet” of 3 syllables each and lines 3 & 4 rhymes differently and is shorter with only 2 feet of 3 syllables)."

From wikipedia:

The following example of a limerick is of unknown origin.

The limerick* packs laughs anatomical                  

In space that is quite economical,

    But the good ones I've seen

    So seldom are clean,

And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

*(pronounced "lim'rick" to preserve meter)

 

These are my art works:

 I used a sponge to spell "blue" on my poster paper.
 

 I cut geometric shapes and glued these to the paper to make a bedroom.
 

I was sad because I thought Grandma was not coming to visit.

 

Grandma gave me some colored glass pebbles and these are what I made:

 

 These are my counting pebbles.

 This is a Christmas tree with a star at the top and stars in the sky.

 This is a diamond.

 Mama and little brother made this.

 

I also made a book (from a blank book I received as a Christmas gift from my Aunt) for my little brother who loves Thomas and friends:

Great resource for learning

I have just rediscovered a community resource - the University of Illinois Extension.  I have seen its signs on some of the roads our family has drove on but have never really known what it offers. I have been thinking about either starting homeschooling my children or get Montessori certified and start the training this year and have been looking for resources around the community that will help with either goal I will decide upon (I know I have to decide soon as Montessori training starts this summer) and I saw on a page in our local newspaper about a natural resources educator and I said to myself - she's going to be a good resource person for science/nature topics :).  I searched her name on the internet and found out that she is a staff member of the University of Illinois Extension office in our county and read more about what their office is for and what they offer in terms of programs for the community they are in. I learned that their "programs aim to making life better, healthier, safer and more profitable for individuals and their communities". You can learn more about home & families, 4-H & youth, natural resources & environment, nutrition & health, and many more. In the home & families section, you can find topics such as stain solutions, dealing with clutter, getting through tough financial times, schools online (I am excited about this because it has games that teach children to think for themselves as well as learn something new, like in The Great Plant Escape, or learn life skills such as how to get along with others), dealing with toddlers (this one I am also happy to learn about as I have one I am having a difficult time understanding sometimes), etc. For those living in urban areas, the urban programs in urban Illinois link is here.

Update on Sending Coupons to Overseas Military Families

There is an update on the Overseas Coupon Program website that says that as of March 19, 2011, everything is now self-service and that coupons should be sent directly to the bases that you adopt. This page tells you how to send the coupons directly. The site suggests that the coupons sent be not older than 2 months expired as of the date of shipment.

I noticed that all the bases in Japan wants to be adopted (I think this is another way of helping out in Japan). If you adopt a base, please make sure that you are able to send in coupons every month as they count on these coupons. I suggest you and a friend/s help each other out, adopt a base as a group and take turns sending the coupons monthly - I think that having mailing "envelopes/pouches" ready (with correct address labels, postage and filled up customs form attached) will be easier.

MommyMoment.ca Birthday Bash Giveaways!

MommyMoment.ca is a great site for parents (specially moms) as they have lots of resources on topics such as Montessori, Reviews/Giveaways, Parenting, Crafts, Food, Blog tutorials and Household Tips.

MommyMoment.ca is celebrating their first Birthday Bash with over $2000 worth of giveaways! Head on over to their site now and win a Montessori Print Shop Deluxe CD Rom valued at $580.25.

This CD Rom Collection contains 948 Montessori-based files in PDF File format that are individually titled and stored in organized category folders. Simply browse through the categories, open the file you want, and print!

To find out more about this giveaway and how you can win, click on this link.

Other giveaways (for those of us in the US) include:

Rosetta Stone TOTALe level 1

Introducing Hairietta Hairison The One, The Only Me

Rosy Cheeks Doll from North American bear Co.

2 Gift Packages from Bugalug

1 Yr subscription to Montessori For Learning

Colorful Essentials Combo from Mabel's Labels

$20 gift certificate for B Squared Couture

$50 gift certificate for Kiokko Bebe Couture

Real Food Diet Cookbook

$25 gift certificate from Ivory and Moss

Pillow Cover from PillowThrowDecor

Custom Template Design & More from Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates

Elliot's Elephants or Lulu's Lions from Lillunia

$100 gift certificate for le petit reve

Interactive Seek & Find App

Swapsies App 

My Filly Princess giveaway

Goodluck to us all!

Don't Need Coupons or Have Unused or Expired Ones?

Send these coupons to military families overseas and help them save money through the Overseas Coupon Project.   Military families living in U.S. bases outside the country can use expired manufacturer coupons up to six months after the expiration date.  If you would like to participate in this project:

     * Please do not send coupons that are more than two (2) or three (3) months past their expiration dates since it takes sometime to ship and then they still have to sort the coupons once they're received.

     * Please clip the coupons and try to sort these into grocery or non-grocery to help save time.

What I'm thinking of doing is to have two used boxes (check boxes are great) and just sort these out while I clip.  I'll place the coupons that I need into a separate pile and sort these out later.

What an alternative way to "recycle" -  we get to help others too. :)