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A Baby Raccoon Study | Homeschooling

May 23, 2011 By Laura 8 Comments

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Some of our most exciting homeschooling lessons, often times turn out to be ones that were not part of my day’s lesson plan at all!  Like the countless opportunities of teachable moments  that pop up throughout every single day for us as parents/teachers, to utilize in educating and guiding our children down the right paths, we’ve had many days, where a lesson to study has sauntered right into our yard!  And it can be a darn cute lesson!!

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling Such was the case the other day, when we spotted this baby raccoon, right up on the hill, outside of our school room windows! (For the sake of reference in this post, we’ll assume the baby was a girl.)  She was enjoying the banana peels & strawberry tops we had thrown out there.

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-1 She was poking around and frolicking about up there on our hill, all afternoon, and gave us plenty of time to study here, research facts about baby & adult raccoon, and of course as always, abandon all self-control, and take more photos than necessary. : )

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-2 The kids get so very excited, when we spot wildlife, whether it be here on the homestead, or out in a (small) worldly travels.   We all learn so much, gathering both fun, useful, and definitely good to know kind of facts!  So as we share with you all of the photos of this adorable masked critter, we’ll also share with you a lot of what we have learned, as our unexpected study unfolded.

Maybe you’ll learn a new thing or two about raccoons, that you didn’t know before! (We sure did. That would be more than 2 things though.)  We’ll see.

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Well, every life starts with mating season. Right?

That would be winter, for raccoons.  January through the end of March.  Although we had some raccoons up in our tree one night around 9 pm, making ALL kinds of racket.  We could have sworn they were ‘busy’, if you know what I mean.  (HOLY LOUD!)  In fact, until we got further into researching, we joked that this baby was probably from once upon a night! 😉

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-4 Baby raccoons are called ‘kits’.  
They are born after 63 days of gestation, in the spring, and are born in litters of 4-5. They generally stay with their mother until the Fall, unless their has been some interference of the nest, or tragedies brought on by man or nature.

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-5 By studying the appearance and motor skills of raccoons at various young ages, we determined this kit to be somewhere between 8-10 weeks.   The mother was no where in sight throughout the day.  While I easily approached the baby to photograph her, I was keenly aware and cautious, of a mother raccoon coming out of nowhere to protect her young.  But I was brave (any risk is often small for a good photo!), and that never happened.

 

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Raccoons grow to be about 12-35 pounds, and 12-28 inches long.
They are omnivores, which means they will eat most anything.  Both meat and vegetation.

It is not true, that raccoons like to wash their food before they eat it.

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-7 As we can surmise, by looking at these photos.

 

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I know it is difficult to tell the scale of our little visiting kit here, but she was small enough that she could have sat in Michael’s big hand.

Another sign of how young she was, was her frequent fatigue.  She needed to rest a lot between activity.

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-10 She had just scrounged around our hill, and then sat upon our retaining wall here.  I could see her growing sleepy, as I sat nearby taking photos of her.  Her instinct was to keep an eye on me.   But her instinct was not stronger than her will to stay awake.   In a matter of seconds, she put her head down like this, and then…..

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-11 ….tucked her head, and curled right into a ball, for a snooze!
The desire to nap, was much stronger than her fear of me, or will to protect herself!

 

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How cute is she?  A little fuzzy ball.

After her kit-nap, she had a little more activity, and then curled up into a ball once again, in a patch of sandy dirt up on the hill.   By then, we were observing her through our school windows, when it began to rain on her!!  We felt so bad for her, but she kept sleeping on.  So Michael grabbed a box from our basement, cut out a door, tip-toed out there, and put it over her.

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-13 We carried on with our day, but soon noticed 2 things:  She had pulled down the flap of the box, to sleep on instead (smart little kit!), and then she was coming out for a little more exploring.

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-14 As much as we were tempted, and the kids were pleading their cases, it is not wise to keep raccoons as pets, for a variety of reasons.  They can be very dangerous, and keeping them in captivity would ultimately end up with a sad ending.

Adult raccoons have few natural enemies.  I think we as humans, dislike them more than other creatures, for their mere clever interference with our camping activities, and trash disposal efforts.  They are indeed curious, and clever.  Their front paws and back legs all have 5 toes each, and they are as skilled as human fingers. Raccoon have been witnessed to unlacing shoes, opening purses, and undoing zippers!  They are both great climbers, and swimmers. They are members of the ‘carnivora’, such as dogs & cats, but are also related to the panda bear.


baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-16 One of the most distinguishing features of the raccoon, is it’s black mask.
The purpose of their mask, is to reduce glare, and enhance their night vision.  As many of us have grown to understand through our own observations and experiences with raccoons, they mostly sleep during the day, and are most active, searching for the food, from dusk through the night.

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-15 Our kit, who we had fallen a bit attached to, despite our best resistance (ok….the kids did not try real hard…), did not end up staying with us for life, as we had entertained notions of in our minds.  She seemed to like her box, but it didn’t turn out to be ‘all that’ after all.   She was in there for a good part of the evening and early dark, but later that night, she went missing. (As she had the freedom to do!).  My own mother instincts kicked in.  I had fleeting thoughts of going to search for her with a flashlight, and bring her home to safety. “She is still so small and helpless, ” I worried, “and prey for larger animals right now.”  But I knew…such is nature. And anyway…I was tired and wanted to go to sleep!

Michael was the first one up the next morning, at 6:30 a.m.  Kit was back by then, and he had the pleasure of watching her climb the tree stump, and roll around in the morning-dew grass out there, as cute as she is, while he ate his breakfast.  But awhile later when the rest of us woke, she was gone again.

 

baby-raccoon-study-homeschooling-17 Our best guesstimate, as to why she was around with no mother in the first place, is that her mother was in fact close-by, sleeping in a tree, and kit wandered off to play.  And nap, as needed.  We have faith that she was not abandoned, as she appeared well cared for and fed.  She was just practicing her independence, but will not truly be ready to be on her own, until fall.

We amuse ourselves with how hopeful we are though.  The box is still out there.  None of us have grabbed it and broken it down.  I suppose we all carry the hope, that she may sleep away at nap time once again, and come to play and amuse us.   If only for a lovely afternoon, once again.


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THE END.

You had to know THAT was coming.  ; )

So did you learn anything new about raccoons yourself?  Do you have anything to teach us about them, that we may have missed?  What opinion have you formed of raccoons, based on your own experiences?  Are they a nuisance? Amusing? Clever? Cute? Please share your thoughts, experiences or facts, with us in the comments.

*(Love this post? How about subscribing to our blog in the sidebar, ‘Liking’ our Page on Facebook, or following me (Laura) on Twitter? Or all 3? 😀     )

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Filed Under: Homeschooling, Nature Study, Photography, Photography & Lettering, Science Tagged With: backyard-photography, homeschooling, homeschooling-science, nature-studies, raccoon facts, raccoon-study, raccoons, wildlife-photos

Earth Day Cupcakes

April 15, 2011 By Laura 2 Comments

We are so smitten with how our Earth Day cupcakes came out, we like to keep on sharing them with you all.

Earth Day ideas

There are times that the things we creatively do as a family, or the ideas we have, happen ON a holiday or special calendar day. So naturally they do not get blogged until after the fact.  Since we like our readers to have the opportunity to take our ideas and find creative inspiration from them, or flat out borrow the ideas, I like to try and share (or re-share) those ideas the following year, so that you all can have time to use them if you’d like, while that day is upcoming once again.

Here in the Recipes section, I thought it would be nice to (re-) share just the photos of the Earth Day Cupcakes that we had so much fun making with the kids last year, on Earth Day following our neighborhood and beach clean-up we did.   For any new readers, if you’d like to visit our family’s Earth Day 2010 blog post, you can do so HERE. It was a great day, and I took lots of photos of the kids and our activities that day, so I think you would really enjoy it.

These are simple boxed chocolate cake mix cupcakes.  Using canned white canned frosting, we split it up into separate little batches, making various colors with drops of food coloring.  The blue ocean base of the earths we just spread on, but most of the rest of the designs were piped on.  We are no cake decorating pros, but we sure had fun, and we think they came out cute!

Earth Day ideas

Earth Day ideas

Earth Day ideas

Earth Day ideas

Earth Day ideas

Hope you find yourself inspired!!  If not to decorate some cupcakes for Earth Day, at least to eat some!
And to give love and care to our Earth, all year round.


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Filed Under: Baking, Desserts, Recipes, Treats Tagged With: creative-cupcakes, earth-day-cupcakes, Earth-Day-ideas, Earth-Day-recipes, homeschooling, inspiration-for-Earth-Day

Fun Word and Picture Puzzles: Building Important Skills | Elementary Homeschooling

January 10, 2011 By Laura 2 Comments

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I know I’ve blogged about puzzles before.  But, that was puzzles of a different kind.  I believe all of the studies, that all puzzles, are just good for our brain – young or old. (People, or puzzles, for that matter.)  They can help keep our brain active, quick, and sharp, and God knows I could use all of that. (Ask Him!)

So when a puzzle sort of exercise came up in my triplet 8 year olds’ Language book, we ran with it.  Puzzles come in many different forms.  Any exercise, of trying to figure something out, can be considered a puzzle, in my book. It’s the search in your head, for a solution – whether it be for a problem in life, a jigsaw, or 17 Across. Regardless, I love puzzles.  (OK, I actually do not love the jigsaw kind.  They are o.k. on occasion. )

As I was saying…..when a puzzle sort of exercise came up in…..uhhhh, my 3rd grade  Language Arts class ( <—solution! ; )… I was thrilled.  Because, puzzles are beneficial for the above stated reasons.  But these particular kind we came up to in our daily lessons, I saw how they had other benefits to offer, after accessing them.  Here’s in what other areas: Comprehension, and following directions, through reading words that direct one’s actions, is pretty important skills for our kids (yours and mine, collectively speaking), to develop.  Right?  Kids especially, need to have opportunities to develop these skills, to continue succeeding in their advancing education, eventually in the workforce of their choosing (if they want to keep their job), and naturally for everyday occurrences in the process of living.  That’s what these exercises, I called puzzles,  would help develop.   But…..it just-so-happens, they are FUN too!  And as I have always said, having fun is always the best way to learn!

So, without too much more chatter, I thought I would share with you first, the two puzzles my three 3rd graders did, show you their results following them, and then welcome you to print them off  for your kids to do, if they are in the appropriate age range, and would like to do them, too.  (But I have to tell you, I’d enjoy doing them myself. So if you are inclined to print them off for yourself, I won’t tell a soul. ; )

Puzzle ONE

1. Draw a circle.
2. Draw an upside down ice cream cone above and on top of the circle. ·
3. Draw a half circle on each side of the big circle.
4. Draw a U in the big circle.
5. Make two dots over the U.
6. Make one dot lower than the two dots, but above the U.
7. Make a circle on the point of the upside down ice cream cone.
8. Make a W under the big circle.
9. Color your picture!

WHAT AM I?

If directions were followed carefully, the drawing should look something like this:


fun-word-and-drawing-puzzles-for-elementary-age-kids-hoeschooling-1

That is just one of my student’s puzzle solution /drawings, after following the directions.  Of course all 3 of them had similar results, with only slight variations.  But all were correct in terms of following the directions correctly.

* If you would like to print off the directions to this puzzle, just click on the link above named ‘Puzzle ONE’, or click here.  It is a downloadable  and printable Word document, if I did it right.

Here’s another:

Puzzle TWO

1. Draw a big circle.
2. On the left top of the circle, draw an upside down V.
3. On the right top of the circle, draw an upside down V.
4. Draw a big W inside the circle, near the bottom.
5. Above the center point of the W, draw an O.
6. Near the left side of the W, draw a V lying on its side with the point of the V toward the W.
7. Near the right side of the W, draw a V lying on it’s side with the point of the V toward the W.
8. Near the middle of the circle, draw two small circles beside each other.
9. Color your picture!

WHAT AM I?

Here’s the results of this puzzle, by one of my student kids:


fun-word-and-drawing-puzzles-for-elementary-age-kids-hoeschooling

*Again, if you would like to print off the directions to this puzzle, just click on the link above named ‘Puzzle TWO’, or click here.  It is a down-loadable  and printable Word document, if I did it right.

The kids had such a good time doing these, that I thought I would  keep working with these puzzles a little more, but put their own writing skills to use.  In fact, I was reversing their role, from puzzle solver, to puzzle creator.   I gave them the assignment, of each writing their own puzzle directions.  Then later, they would have the opportunity, to solve each other’s puzzles the other 2 had written.  They loved the idea, and had a great time doing it!!

SO……I have their puzzles, that they wrote themselves, to offer you too! I am displaying them in this post, (as their handwritten papers, which I scanned) but their titles are down-loadable links for you too! Now this time the downloadable links are PDF documents, and they are just what you see below – handwritten by the kids.  Why?  Because I totally did not feel like typing them all over.  I think they are readable enough for you to figure out, and they have some endearing homemade character.  Especially, my spilled coffee stain, on {S}’s paper. ; )    Just keepin’ it real!


J’s puzzle

fun-word-and-drawing-puzzles-for-elementary-age-kids-hoeschooling-3

O’s puzzle

 

fun-word-and-drawing-puzzles-for-elementary-age-kids-hoeschooling-4 –

S’s puzzle

fun-word-and-drawing-puzzles-for-elementary-age-kids-hoeschooling-5


You and/or your kids,  may have more fun than you think you will, doing these puzzles.  If you do, I will take total credit for that. You may also have less fun, than you think.  That will not be my fault.  I am easily amused, and often presume everyone is as easily amused as I am.  : )

If you do download the kid’s puzzles, or follow them from the computer, YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE FUN?  (Or, you know, I think it would be…).  Letting us know the solution you came up with, for each kid’s puzzle!!  What does your drawing look like?  Let us know in the comments section below, afterward. Don’t worry.  We’ll tell you if you are wrong! ; )

Hope you enjoyed this post!  And hope you enjoy the puzzles too!!

Don’t sprain your brain, now! ; )



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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Games, Homeschooling, Reading / Writing Tagged With: building-comprehension-skills, building-following-directions-skills, educational-puzzles-for-kids, elementary-homeschooling, fun-activities-for-homeschooling, homeschooling, word-drawing-games, word-drawing-puzzles

Homeschooling in the Kitchen | Food for Thought; Literally!

November 14, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

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I’m sure I’ve been forthright about this before, as much as it makes me feel a little bad to say out loud.  (Figuratively speaking.)  But there always moments in time when these things come up, and there is some purpose in being truthful in the matter. Right?

Well, this is one of those times.

So the truth is, <whisper> my mother was just not very domestic in the kitchen. Nor was her mother. <end of whisper> Which says something not good.  Doesn’t it?

I’ll answer that.  Yes it does.

It says that the chances of me being one, was slim to none.

Unless of course, I broke the cycle, and took responsibility for myself.  Made different choices. And God-willing, began a new cycle for my children, and grandchildren, to carry on.

(I’m not really that smart.  I read something like that in a book once.)

I have to say, I did know plenty about cleaning, weeding gardens, and working hard coming into this holy-Sacrament-of-marriage-thing.  I worked for a little old lady from the time I was 11 years old until I was14, every Saturday.  Her name was Mrs. Flahive, (pronounced with long vowels.)  I cleaned her house top to bottom, kept up her gardens, weeded her stone patio, changed the sheets on the beds, did laundry, etc.  I even polished her silver with some grayish-brown, horrid-smelling stuff. I learned a lot from her.  Although I didn’t really appreciate the value in the tasks, at the time.  I never even thought about how they would serve me well someday, in my own home-keeping years.

Some things, she was very particular about how it was done….such as the fine techniques of folding sheets, or making a bed.  It’s funny that I insist on these same techniques in my own home now. lol   She was a nice old lady, made me a fine lunch which we enjoyed together, and later had an afternoon tea as well.  And then she paid me too! She paid me well, I might add. For a kid. Of course, I was also risking my life twice a day, every Saturday, as this 80 year old woman who peered through the hole of her steering wheel, picked me and and brought me home.   I’ll never forget that time we were heading for the side of the bridge…..

But admittedly, I was slow coming around as a new bride-to-be, in the cooking and baking area.  I think becoming a mother sort of kicked me into domestic-gear. Somewhat. Until then, my husband and I did o.k., together. He did have more of a domestic mother, all the way around.  From what I could tell, anyway.  So he had watched, learned, and praise God, was not helpless himself when we married.

Yes, all of this story-telling has everything to do with homeschooling.
In particular today: Homeschooling in the Kitchen

I don’t know if they even have Home Economics in school anymore.  Do they?  But I heard they did, back when I was in school.  Problem is, I went to a private Catholic high school, where the guidance counselor, was also the Geometry teacher sometimes, and the principal was sometimes the Religion teacher. (That was a bad run.). The gym teacher helped in areas he should have never been helping, with the senior girls, if you know what I mean. (But I won’t go there today.)  In other words, we were just a small school, without any extras.  We didn’t even have a football team. Or a field of any sporty-kind.

 

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen My mom was a wonderful mother in many ways, so don’t get me wrong.  But seeing as though I was not learning much in the kitchen at home, it would have been nice to learn about some of the cooking and baking stuff, especially, somewhere.  In retrospect, I mean. (Because I am quite sure I could have cared less at the time.)   And so seeing as though my kids are not in school, and won’t be going to high school either, where they may or may not have gotten Home Ec classes, I feel it is up to me to be sure they get some!!  Otherwise, they could end up as a floundering bride or groom some day.  And if they marry the same, there is going to be a big problem.  Like. . . . a travesty. Know what I’m saying?

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-1 So I need to be sure, my kids get a domestic bone from me, some way, some how, some day.   Hopefully before they are married, or are out on their own.  Even if they are single, I don’t want them resorting to fast foods and whatnot!

And so it was that mindset that I was in, when I got my kids (happily) helping out in the kitchen, since they were about ohhhh….so tall. (Use your imagination.  It’s pretty short.)

But it was in having them help, that I realized just how much schooling can happen in the kitchen!  And the more we do it, the more I see the lessons happening.

It’s a whole lot more than Home Economics!

Let’s see…….

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-2

First, there is READING…..the directions.  I have them do it out loud. It’s such an opportunity for new kitchen-related VOCABULARY words, SPELLING words, and PROPER PRONUNCIATION.

On this particular day in the kitchen, we were making an ordinary box of  cinnamon streusel cake, and making the apple version.

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-3 Then, comes FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, of what was just read, very carefully.


homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-4 MATH is a biggie!  (age depending.)  There is counting, adding and subtracting, and measuring. (Especially when halving or doubling a recipe.)  Reading numbers, and temperatures!

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-16

SCIENCE is everywhere, in the operating kitchen.  How does one ingredient react, when another is added to it?  Why must we temper some ingredients first, before adding to the big batch.  (There’s another new word!  So what does it mean, and how do we do it?)

What happens with various temperatures set in the oven, and what is the difference between baking, and broiling?

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-5

Enjoying our time spent together counts for something too! For some, it truly is a learned behavior!

(Not for my kids, of course.  I’m just sayin’ ; )

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How about the ins and outs of KITCHEN SAFETY?   We are using sharp knives, reaching into hot ovens….

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…..and operating heavy machinery!

(After you read this post, you may want to find out how this sweet piece of machinery hummed it’s way into our lives, and MiXeD everything up, HERE. ; )

Uhh, by the way…….Where’s the fire extinguisher, just in case?  And how do you use that?

We don’t want to learn that Science, in an emergency. You want to know how to use that thing if you need to!  And if all else fails,< insert the family fire drill skills here>, and we’ll meet at the telephone pole across the street!

Back to the lessons at hand…

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-9

Learning how to WORK AS A TEAM, and also ……..

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-10 …….admitting when you need help, and allowing others to help you.


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All of these lessons I mentioned, are just the topping of the cake.

I am sure you could think of plenty more, in addition to mine.

Think on it.

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OH OH OH!! I just thought of another one!!  The one I think we all like to forget!:

The RESPONSIBILITY of cleaning up the mess!

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But most times, we can do so, while we enjoy the mouth-watering smell we’ve created in the air.

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Ahhhhhh……smells…..SO…….good!!!   We can hardly wait to cut into it, indeed!

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-15

Of course the best lesson of all:, our mouths and our bellies, REAP THE REWARDS OF our HARD WORK.

***

All kids, home schooled or not, can benefit from the lessons to be learned in the kitchen.

What lessons have I missed mentioning?  Help me out here.

I’ll be hoping you can you add to my list, because I know there is a lot more.  And you’re smart cookies.

While I wait, if you’ll excuse me, I need to head down to the laundry room, transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer, sort some piles, and start a new wash load.

And you can bet I’ll be taking a kiddo down with me.  And believe it or not, they’ll be excited to come and help! (And secretly learn.)

Hopefully, I’m cutting my chances here of them coming home on weekends from college, accompanied by several loads of laundry.  If they do, we’ll be repeating those lessons, that weekend.  ; )

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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling HOME ECONOMICS, Elementary Homeschooling SCIENCE, Homeschooling, Math, Middle School Homeschooling, Middle School Homeschooling HOME ECONOMICS, Middle School Homeschooling SCIENCE, Science Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, elementary-homeschooling, homeschooling, homeschooling-in-the-kitchen, kids-in-the-kitchen, kitchen-lessons-for-kids, middle-school-homeschooling, teaching-following-directions, teaching-kids-home-economics, teaching-kids-measuring, teaching-kids-responsibility, teaching-kids-science-in-the-kitchen, teaching-math-in-the-kitchen, triplets

Just *Some* Things That Make Me Smile….| In Photos

October 24, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments


smiley Me.

I’m always taking random photos, that I love to have because they made me smile. But they wouldn’t necessarily make a whole post.  So I thought I’d try putting them in bunches sometimes, and doing a post now and then, about some of these little things that make me smile. Then I may happen to throw in a couple of others too, that were not random photos, but do indeed make me smile anyway.

Just a photo-happy little post.

So here are just some things, that make me smile……

birthday-pancake This beautiful pancake my husband and kiddos surprised me with on the morning of my birthday, even though they knew I would never eat it in a million years.  They made it anyway, because ‘number breakfasts’ are a tradition in our home on birthdays, and they can’t let the tradition go, even on my day.  I’m not big on eating much in the morning. That is chocolate frosting they worked with there, by the way. (In the morning?).

This pancake masterpiece sat in the fridge for about…well, the million years.

And then Michael ate it.  Really.

I know.
–

0021 ….How happy my kids are, whenever they can spend time with their Papa.

Or maybe it’s, ….how happy my father is, whenever he can spend time with his grandkids.

Basically, it works both ways.

And it all makes me smile, because I love them all, and I love to see them all happy.

Anytime. All of the time.
–

003 When I can just watch them play…..

tea-and-rosary-time …..or focus on our faith, together……

rosary-and-tea
….over apple-cinnamon tea, and banana bread.
–

kitchen-aid-mixer My Kitchen Aid Mixer.  And it’s Sender. <3  You just had to have known that was coming.

And oh yes…..we’ve used it lots already.  You’ll be seeing!
–

0071
How silly my boy gets.  Every day. He’s a clown, for sure.
–

0082 My new/used lens. We fit like a hand in a glove, Baby.

Or is it hand and a glove?

Well, you know what I mean.

We belong together.
–

0092
My God-Daughter. Ohhhh the smiles she has caused on my face.  Her expressions of love for me have made me cry, 100 times over.  Can you even get over the freckles?  When I see her, I try to kiss every one.
She’s so precious to me.
–

homeschooled-siblings Our Autumn family hikes.   The crispness in the air, the crunching of leaves under our feet, appreciating the beauty all around us, that confusing scent in the air (….Old leaves? Or dog poo nearby?….lol)….and just chatting, laughing, and being together, going nowhere in particular.

These are just *some* of the things that make me smile.
I encourage you to ponder the things that make you smile, too. And if you can, take photos of those things! They’ll make you re-smile in later years, when you find them.

Thanks for the visit today, Friends.

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Filed Under: Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: Autumn-family-hike, birthday-pancake, Catholic faith, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, homeschooling, Kitchen Aid Mixer, rosary-and-tea, triplets

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