Teal Pumpkin Project

This year we came across an article about painting a teal pumpkin for those who have allergies to know there is a non-food option for trick or treaters.  Three of our five beautiful children suffer with various food issues that have made trick or treating a challenging event.  As a child, my favorite part of Halloween was dumping my candy on the floor and trading with my sisters for the candy I liked the most.  Visions of Reese's and Tootsie Pops still dance in my head.  But I, like my children, have become afflicted with a food allergy that keeps me from many of the delicious treats enjoyed by most.  As an adult, I am okay with this affliction now, and can work around it when I have a sweet craving.  But for my 6 and 4 year olds who struggle to be like the other kids, this is not so easy.  Many a day have ended in tears as I had to tell them the food wasn't safe for their little bodies.  It's a hard sacrifice when those brownies or slice of pizza look so good.  They usually get over it pretty fast, but the sacrifice is not lost on me.  

This year, we have embraced this idea of the teal pumpkin.  If you see one on the front porch of a house, that means they have special non-food items for trick-or-treaters who have allergies.  We had a great time going to the store to buy some non-food items like bubbles, coloring books, whistles and the like.  

As a parent, I am super excited at the idea that my girls get to walk around the block and be "normal" kids for a night even if it means they get bubbles instead of tootsie rolls.  To all parents who have painted teal pumpkins-thank you.  Thank you for offering my girls a night of no tears and excitement about what's in their bag.  I can't wait to watch them dump their bags and share safe items.  To all those who don't know about the Teal Pumpkin for Allergies-keep your eyes out this year.  We may be few and far between, but we are out there.  And hopefully as the years go by, more families will be purchasing teal paint! 

M

Kateri paints as Claire looks on.

Guadalupe smiles as she paints our Teal Pumpkin

Mini-Francis gets in on the painting action too.

Claire's Book Picks of the Week

Kyla Mae Miss Behaves as an International Super Spy
By. Kyla Mae



This book is like a diary or journal about Kyla Mae's day.  She has an extremely active imagination.  During English class at school, she imagines she is a super spy on a mission to find someone who is stealing diamonds at a dog show in Russia.  She and Fifi-Belle, her dog, compete in the competition while looking for the thief. Kyla Mae was day-dreaming about being a spy because her arch-enemy, Bianca, lost her favorite bracelet and accused Kyla Mae of taking it.  In this book, Kyla Mae works to solve the mystery of the missing bracelet.  

I thought this book was really cute because she drew a lot of funny pictures on each page.  The book pages looked like they came straight out of an actual journal with colorful words, pictures and side notes.  This book would be great for girls ages 8-12 who love colorful pictures and like to journal. 


President of the Whole Fifth Grade
By: Sherri Winston




In this book, Brianna, wants to run for class president of the fifth grade, to be like her hero Miss Delicious.  Miss Delicious is a celebrity cupcake baker who had also been class president when she was younger.  Brianna has to fight in the election against a new girl in town.  

I liked this book because it was like a real life story of a girl and her hardships with her friends and bullies.  I could see myself in this character because she likes to bake and because I ran for student counsel in 3rd grade.  Even though it's about the 5th grade, girls ages 9-11 would enjoy this book.  


Sisters in Time American Challenge: Lydia the Patriot
By: Susan Martins Miller




This book is about a young girl named Lydia and her brother Stephen during the Boston Massacre.  This was a scary time for their family as the British soldiers were marching all around the town.  Lydia's aunt goes into labor and Stephen has to fight the mob to go and find the midwife.  Lydia was afraid because if the midwife didn't come soon, she would have to help her Aunt give birth.  

This book taught me about history and how we have had bad times in the past where we made wrong choices.  We have made many good choices along the way, and I am glad that America is free so that we aren't ruled over by England.  I am also  thankful for not living during the revolutionary war because having British soldiers all around me would be very scary.  They could come into your house whenever they wanted.  I am a sensitive person so this would really upset me.  This story is part of a larger collection of stories.  The other stories are Kate and Spies, Betsy's River Adventure, and Grace and the Bully.  They are historical fiction stories based in the time period of 1770-1819.  This reminds me of the American Girl series, but I liked this better because I learned more about history from this one story than from the many American Girl stories I've read.  I learned about Samuel Adams and other patriots who stood up to the British Soldiers.  I would recommend this for girls ages 8-12. 

THE STORY OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II: A BOY WHO BECAME POPE by Fabiola Garza

  On Sunday April 27th, the day Pope John Paul II was canonized, my dad read us all a book called THE STORY OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II: A BOY WHO BECAME POPE  by Fabiola Garza. This book is about the life of Saint John Paul II, when he was a boy. There are were some interesting facts that I found in the book that I didn't know before. Did you know that his real name was Karol, but he went by Lolek.  Lolek became an actor when he was in high school and performed in plays until he became a priest.  He became a priest during World War II, when the Nazi's invaded Poland and forced the Jewish people to leave. JP had lots of friends and some of them were Jewish, so he did not see them for a long time. After the war ended, he stood up to the Communists who took over Poland by celebrating Mass in public on Christmas Eve.


The author and illustrator, Fabiola Garza, did a beautiful job drawing the pictures.  They are perfect down to every last detail because some of the pictures remind me of one of my favorite movies, Tangled.  I feel as if I could just jump into the book and be a part of it. 
It's also cool because they are carrying a picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa, whom I studied, through the streets?

Fabiola Garza, the author and illustrator signed our copy

Lolek chatting with his Jewish friend Jerzy

This is my mom's favorite page

This page reminds me of movie Tangled where the lanterns are lighting up the sky.

Claire

New artwork at Giggling Guadalupe's Gallery

Poetry Reading

We started going to the Blue Manatee Book Store once a  month for a homeschool poetry reading.  Each month the kids can read their own poems, read one from a book, or recite from memory.  This is great for practicing public speaking as well as a great place to share what they are learning about.  It is always a rush to get down there and its always on a busy day, but once we get there, we are always happy that we went.

As a new homeschooling family, we are trying to find things that fit with our schedule, and make the kids feel like they aren't "schooling" as much as they are just celebrating who they are and what they are interested in.  We were working on a unit study of ocean animals.  I let the kids pick any ocean animal that interested them and then let them explore.  It was amazing to see their brains open with knowledge as they studied these animals.  They were so excited to share each and every fact they were learning.  They wrote paragraphs and poems, made skeletal drawings as well as a habitat drawing.  None of them realized that they were really schooling in the process.  To them, it was just fun and interesting projects.  The kids, all with great pride, stood up in front of their peers and read the beautiful poems that they had written about their sea creatures.   As a parent, it was so wonderful watching them get to share their new-found knowledge and have all their friends clap for them.  I couldn't be more proud.  Slowly, but surely, I am finding my confidence in teaching my children at home.  I feel like I am starting all over myself, suddenly seeing the world through the eyes of my children.  There is so much to learn that I have missed.  It's funny, I hated school as a kid, but suddenly, I love learning.  I guess I have my kids to thank for that. :)

Monica (the mom)

All about Sea Horses

By: Claire

Who's that peeking out of the reef, it's a sea horse what do you think.

Sea horses don't have scales, but they do have prehensile tails.

What I know is super cool, sea horses don't live in schools.

When sea horses are 6 months old, they find a mate or so I'm told.

Sea horses swallow their food whole, so they don't need a spoon and a bowl.

They have 3 fins so to roam; sea horses call the ocean home.

Now that my poems at an end, I hope you will read it again.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar

by Guadalupe, Sebastian, Mommy

Caterpillar, Caterpillar with tickly feet.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar ready to eat.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar make a shell.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar sleep so well.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar say bye-bye.

Butterfly, Butterfly fly so high.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar as performed by Guadalupe

Kateri and Guadalupe with an impromptu Spring poem

Guadalupe Gallery Update

New patriotic artwork at Guadalupe's Gallery depicting the story of when the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key

Holy Week

This week during Holy Week we went to my Gramma's house.  We went to a whole new church to experience Holy Week.  On Palm Sunday, we went to see our Aunt and went to a church in Columbus named St. Matthew.  At St. Matthew's, the church was really big and there was a lot of woodwork, especially on the altar.  When we walked up to the church doors, everyone was standing outside.  We processed into the church holding our palms. 

What was cool was that when we read the gospel, we couldn't see the priest so it sounded truly like God, but that was only because we were in the back row!

On Good Friday, we made a special Good Friday lunch that related to the scriptures.  Zebedee (my dad), read each part of the story while my mom fixed the plates.  My favorite was the olives, because I love them.  The olives represented the Garden scene where Jesus is arrested at the Mount of Olives.  We also had little crown of thorns with ritz crackers, peanut butter, and broken pretzels for the thorns.  Mom said she got the idea from CatholicIcing.com which is one of our favorite spots to check out cool crafts.

Crown of thorns from the Good Friday lunch

This Easter we decided to do something new.  Instead of the Easter bunny giving presents to us, Guadalupe wrote a letter the Easter bunny telling him that since we already know and love Jesus, that he should give our Easter baskets to other kids who don't know about Jesus.  Sebastian didn't like that though, so mom and dad decided to get us some presents instead.  Our favorite present was duct tape.  After the Easter party, I went up into the room I was sleeping in and made duct tape book marks.  I will show you a tutorial later.

Hope you have a blessed Easter Season-Alleluia!

Claire

Kateri excited about the Easter Egg hunt at Gramma's

Mini-Francis inspecting her find

Guadalupe carefully checking the contents of the eggs

Sebastian was thrilled to find these Binoculars with digital camera

Claire showing off Easter Egg contents

National Museum of the United States Air Force for Homeschool Day

Claire - About a week ago we went to the National Museum of the United States Air Force for Homeschool Day. The National Museum of the United States Air Force is free all the time and will have special events year round. We went on a tour and that was fun, our tour guide was really funny.  If you ever go, try to do a tour for me.  Next time I go, I want to do the tour again. We also did classes.  Sadly classes are just on Homeschool Day, but my friend and I got to go to a laser class.  If you know anybody or anywhere that sells inexpensive lasers please post down below.

Sebastian Speaks - The person who spoke to us about boomerangs, Gary Broadbent, holds 5 world records. One was that he holds the biggest collection of boomerangs in the world, over 15 thousand of them.  I think that is a big number.  And he also holds the record for how long a boomerang can stay in that air.  It was 10 seconds but he made it to 15 minutes and 54 seconds.  He doesn't buy his boomerangs.  He is an artist so he makes his boomerangs.  If you want a boomerang to stay up a long way, make one side long and one side short.  You can check out his boomerangs or see some of his videos on YouTube.

Broadbent Boomerangs

National Museum of the United States Air Force

Gary Broadent demonstrating his big boomerang.

Claire, Sebastian, and Guadalupe posing with Gary Broadbent

Zebedee's first post

I chose the name Zebedee for this blog because Zebedee was the father of the apostles James and John.  While the bible says little about him, he is generally believed to be a man of some means.  In Pope Benedict XVI's book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection, he suggests that it is likely that Zebedee provided for Jesus and the apostles as they traveled, and that he was the owner of the Upper Room where Christ instituted the Eucharist.  In the same way I see my role in the family partially as one who provides and is "left in the boat"so that others can grow closer to Christ.

I also have a personal blog at Light Our Legacy on more general topics like politics or current events, but when I post on matters of family or education, I'll post both here at Little Monsters and Light Our Legacy.

Claire's Bike Riding, April 2, 2014

Today I was riding my bike and we raised my seat.  Normally I can only get up the hill two houses.  Since we raised my seat, I was able to get 3 houses up.  I am really happy with my success today, because now I can keep up with Sebastian and my neighbor.  

When I was able to get up to the 3rd house, I had to push with all my might.  And I had to try a couple times to get to the 4th house.  Perseverance is like saying try, try again.  I had to persevere to get to the 4th house. I am really mad that it started to rain because I was having fun on the bike, but I had to come inside.

Claire

Cincinnati Ballet Company Field Trip, April 3, 2014

Cincinnati Ballet Company Field Trip, April 3, 2014

Guadalupe's Review:

I really really really really really liked the performance a lot, a really lot!

And I learned that they can stand still on their tippy-toes with shoes because there is something flat on the top, so they are real good at ballet.  

Sebastian Says:

Today at the Cincinnati Ballet, I learned that boy's shoes are much less expensive than girl's shoes and they last much longer.  Girls shoes last 45 minutes to 3 days at most.  And they cost about $100 each.  Boys shoes only cost $20 and they last for 3-6 months.  

I also learned that there are different levels of ballet.  You have to go up a level at least once a year or you're done.  We saw a 25 minute rehearsal.  I thought that was cool because most people don't get to see their practices.  

Claire's Review:

Today when I went to the Cincinnati Ballet Center, I was really amazed.  When we went to wardrobe the costumes were so beautiful.  And Cincinnati Ballet is one of the only companies that hand make their costumes.  Some of the costumes are rented to other businesses.  Some of the costumes are over 35 years old.  They are custom fitted to each ballerina, which sometimes means they have to alter them between performances. 

When I grow up, I would like to work for the Cincinnati Ballet. They do a lot of classics, like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, so I would know a few.  

Mom's Thoughts:

What a fun field trip to the Cincinnati Ballet Company.  The kids keep calling it Ballet with a hard "T".  It's cracking me up.  The whole organization was wonderful to all of us as we invaded their work day.  The kids even got to meet the Artistic Director who is one of the few women who manage a company over $7 million dollars.  She walked around on her phone with her little dog in tow.  She is a great example of hard work paying off as she gets to make so many of the decisions behind the theater including which shows they will perform.  

We got to watch a rehearsal for a contemporary ballet "Over the Rhine".  It was fun to watch a different type of movement other than what we typically think of ballet.  Mini-Francis made herself known in the performance as she yelled out to the cast members while they were dancing.  She was meet with smiles all around.  I am sure that once in awhile they welcome the distraction.  The dancers practice from 9 am until about 6:15 pm with one hour for lunch and a 5 minute break each hour. 

I sure wish motherhood allowed for a break every hour :)

For more information on the show-here's the link.

https://www.cballet.org/

Here are some pictures from the field trip:

Girls watching the performance

Sebastian had the most questions of all 30 kids on the field trip. We got to ask questions to twin ballerinas who were also homeschooled!

Mini-Francis interrupting the show

Claire as the choreographer and Sebastian as the Master (made sure the dancers did what the choreographers said)

They gave each family a pair of "dead" shoes as a souvenir. Each shoe was signed by the dancer.

Meet the Monsters

The Meet the Monsters page, linked at the top has been updated with short descriptions of each of us.  Check it out to learn more about each of us.

Giggling Guadalupe Gallery

Guadalupe has posted some of her recent artwork on her new page, Giggling Guadalupe Gallery.  Guadalupe really has a gift for creating beautiful works of art, so click the link at the top to see her latest.

Today's Gospel

If you went to church today, then you would know that the Gospel was really long.  Today's gospel was a familiar gospel that some of you might know.  Jesus spit into the dirt and put it on the blind man's eyes.  He told him to go and wash it off in the pool of Siloam.  

So he went and washed his eyes in the river, afterwards he went to the Pharisees and said "I can see".  The Pharisees asked how can you see? And he said," a man spit in the dirt and made clay and he told me to wash it away.  When I did this, I could see." Now,the Pharisees were confused,so they went to his parents and asked him if he was born blind, how can he see.  They didn't know.  

So the Pharisee threw the man out of the synagogue,  When Jesus heard that he went to the man and said "do you believe in the Son of Man?" the man asked who is this you speak of? and Jesus said it is I you speak of i am the Son of Man.  The man then believed.

I thought the gospel was really interesting in how long it was.  Most gospels are really short.  It was interesting how just spitting in the dirt makes clay and he was able to heal a blind man.  Like some people can take a blanket and build a shelter out of it.  God provided them with a blanket so they could make shelter.  He couldn't instruct them how to, but they were able to make it.  God uses everyday things to help us in our lives like the shamrock.  St. Patrick told us that the shamrock is like the trinity, God is three people in one.  We see shamrocks everyday, and they are very ordinary, but they remind us to look to God.

What do you see in your everyday life that reminds you of God?  Please comment down below.

Bye for now.

Claire 

Banking

Today is the second month that we have had a bank account.  My mom is trying to teach us about earning money, called interest, by keeping our money in the bank.  We opened a savings account with our savings money from our allowance.  So far I haven't earned any interest on my savings account, but did earn some on my college account that my mom and dad started for me.  

We are going to the bank again today to put more money in our savings and college accounts.  I can't wait to find out if I earned any more interest.  I am kinda feeling weird about going to the bank because I have no idea why.  

My mom makes me split my allowance money because I don't want to put it all in savings and have no money for college and then be 17 and be like, what do I do or how do I get more money.  So she wants me to save up money so I don't do that.  

I earn a $1 for each year of age that I am, every two weeks.  She says that is because she and daddy don't get paid every week, so we don't get paid every week.  I have to do lots of chores to earn my money like doing the dishwasher.  And cleaning the basement.  And putting away books. 

Well, we are off to the bank. 

Sebastian

An Unfortunate Book Review

OH my gosh!  I just finished reading Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning!  Have you read it!  I am going crazy because I just yelled at my mom (in a nice way) telling her we have to go get the second book!!  She just laughed at me.

So, Violet Klaus and Sunny, the main characters, live in a mansion in the city. They sometimes go down to the beach to play.  One day, while they were at the beach, the mansion caught fire and burned down. They had to go and live Count Olaf, their 3rd cousin 4 times removed or 4th cousin  3 times removed.  No one knows for sure.

He treats them like slaves!  He is an actor, and his play The Marvelous Wedding, is a trick so that he can actually marry someone.  He is trying to get this persons money by tricking her in to marriage.  All she has to do is say I Do and they are married.  

Now if you really want to find out more about what happens you have to read the book because it is amazing!  You will love it.  

I am going to go and try to sweet talk my mom into letting me go to the library now!  Happy Reading!

Claire

Homemade Natural Reeses Cups

Last week our dad sent us an email with a recipe for homemade Reeses cups.  This is me and my dad's favorite candy.  My mom and sisters can't have them from the store because they have milk in them.  So the recipe he sent was perfect!  Within a few minutes of getting the message my mom and I started to collect the ingredients to make them.  It was super simple!!  We had them ready to go in the freezer to harden within 5 minutes. 

Later that night, we were able to eat them.  I thought they were a little too "coconutty" for my taste, but they were good.  My mom didn't like them very much since she doesn't like coconut.  We decided we should remake them, this time using more peanut butter and less coconut.  While they still had a coconut taste, it didn't overpower the peanut butter and chocolate.  Here is our version of the recipe.  

Homemade Natural Reeses Cups

By: Claire

3/4 cup Natural Peanut Butter

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup raw honey

1/4 c cocoa powder

Melt the peanut butter, coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan on low until smooth.  Add in cocoa powder and turn off heat.  Combine and pour in little mini muffin paper cups on a cookie sheet and freeze.  Our batch made about 20. 

We did a taste test with the original version and our remade version.  Dad said they were both great, I liked my version best.  Mommy and my siblings all mine the best too.  It was a fun little experiment! 

Enjoy!!

Claire

Meet Claire

Hi, my name is Claire. I'm 10 yrs. old and the oldest of 5 children. I love to read,write, and bake cookies. But the most important thing in my life is God.  Sometimes when I bake cookies I forget to add an ingredient.  The cookies taste bad and this reminds me that without the most important ingredient, God, my life would be less than it could be. I hope you will follow me on our new blog Little Monsters Facing the Monstrance, where I will share stories, recipes, and much much more. Good-bye and I hope to see you soon.

 

Claire