Author Archives: Kim Halloran-Fry

Baby Gear

Posted on by

I added a new sidebar store tonight. I have baby on the brain and uploaded some of my favorite things:

A hynobirthing cd set.  I couldn’t find the exact cds I have but really I think any set would be a huge help. I listened to them daily in the last trimester of the last few pgs and during the last birth. I would not say it made for a pain free birth but it made for a manageable natural birth with no anxiety. 

Earth Mama Angel Baby.  Buy anything from them ; )   Elizabeth and MacBeth bought me the pregnancy kit during Brendan’s pg. Everything in it was wonderful.  The third trimester tea has raspberry and squaw vine (partridge berry) that I wrote about in a previous post.

A baby sling.  A gotta have item for attachment parenting. Great for grocery shopping! I am a small-ish person and can’t manage toting those heavy baby seats all over.

A co-sleeper.  If you don’t have a king sized bed this is a great option.

Cloth diapers. I have had kids who were solely cloth diapered and those who were solely disposable and some of both. Personally I only like cloth diapers without elastic. I cannot launder the gathered or all-in-ones effectively. I like the contoured (hour glass) diaper in a regular vinyl pant. Just my two cents.

Burp cloths and bibs.  If you are blessed with a munchkin who has reflux this is not optional. Fortunately these are WAY cute nowadays with everything from toile to mod dots.

Diaper bag.  A necessary evil. I sorta hated the ones with little ducks or bunnies. I consider it an apparel item. Get one that works with your style <g>  My mil got me a nice black bag this time.

Amy Coe.  I LOVE Amy Coe’s baby line at Target. The cable knit blankets, the crocheted booties, the bedding.  Sigh!

Beatrix Potter and Classic Pooh. Can you be a baby without some awesome vintage pieces?  We think not.   Hey, this is the fun part folks! Something to make up for the stretch marks. <g>

Montessori Toddler Scope and Sequence posted

Posted on by

Montessorimom just sent a note linking to her toddler scope and sequence lesson plans. Many of the skills are linked to a Flickr page(s) that demonstrate visually how the lesson is done. What is especially nice is that the Flickr pages are from varied sources so you get a glimpse of Montessori done in several different places. A picture is worth a thousand words! If you are a Montessori aficionado don’t miss these!  Thanks Irene for putting this together!

Are you writing this down?

Posted on by

Jennifer sent me a link to the Girlhood Home Companion Magazine a few weeks back.  I have been checking out the links to their samples and to the editor’s blog. This has been such great fun I thought I would share the links here. In this post she discusses the idea of a ‘note chest’, similar to a hope chest, where you can store all the correspondence between family members. She encourages us to write letters to our children about what makes us tick.  I especially loved the idea of taking a few moments to share about a hobby we love and give tips about how we do it.  Essentially that is what many of us blog about. It would be so nice to cut and paste some of these posts onto paper documents we can save for our children. I envision our binders as serving a similar purpose for the next generation.

Anyway, the blog is delightful. The family lives rurally and she writes about everyday things that happen, often attaching her own symbolic meaning behind the events. The pictures are lovely – in fact the whole blog is. I found myself spellbound reading ‘just one more entry’ about her grandmother, the apple orchard, you name it. Fascinating!

I haven’t finished the samples of the newsletter or the magazine.  I have to read online since my printer, like all things mechanical around here, is on the fritz. : p  However, at first glance I am tremendously inspired by the layout.  For those who are intimidated by the time or skills involved in full blown scrapbooking take a look at the magazine’s pages. They are mostly text with a simple photograph or clip included. Occasionally a text box of a scan of a handwritten recipe or a poem is added.  It is very simple, inexpensive, and the effect is quite lovely! It is a good reminder that in the end this is about the stories, not about burdening ourselves with artistic expectations.

In this article she speaks compellingly about Family Relationships and how interactive journaling enhances them. It was uncanny timing because only yesterday I had emailed friends about the relationship building aspect of homeschooling. It had been on my heart as they were debating about whether or not to home educate. It is hard to articulate without sounding as though the academics are unimportant. They aren’t of course, but what started as an academic endeavor has certainly evolved into a matter of the heart for us. I am excited about how family writing as described by Mrs Novak could enhance this family cohesiveness even further.

Thanks Jennifer for sharing this fantastic resource!!   

Devotion Meme

Posted on by

Elizabeth tagged me:

1. Favorite devotion or prayer to Jesus?
The Infant of Prague Novena.

2. Favorite Marian devotion or prayer?

The Rosary. I am a regular : )    Also the Miraculous Medal.

3. Do you wear a scapular or medal?
Scapular

4. Do you have holy water in your home?
We have a wee bit of a problem in our arid climate.  It evaporates. I guess that means we have holy air. ; )

5. Do you offer up your sufferings?
Yep!

6. Do you observe First Fridays and First Saturdays?
No. We don’t usually have Fri/Sat mass.

7. Do you go to Eucharistic Adoration? How frequently?

See number 6

8. Are you a Saturday evening Mass person or Sunday morning Mass person?
Sunday

9. Do you say prayers at mealtime?
Yes.

10. Favorite Saint(s)?
St. Therese, St Anthony, St Monica, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, and all the Francis’ <g>

11. Can you recite the Apostles Creed by heart?
You betcha

12. Do you usually say short prayers (aspirations) during the course of the day?
Yessiree again

13.  Where is your favorite place to pray?

Oddly enough,I get a lot of praying done in the van to and from town. I have taken to not even turning on the radio. Kids crash immediately and I am in the only complete and utter silence I get all week.

14. Bonus Question: When you pass by a automobile accident or other serious mishap, do you say a quick prayer for the folks involved?
Always

tagging – Rebecca and Genevieve

Tess is Baptised

Posted on by

Tess was baptised yesterday on Christmas Day. We very nearly missed the whole event since the van picked yesterday morning to begin its death throes. At least it sure sounds like it. Allen took it to the mechanic today to see what the damage is. At any rate, we made it and it was wonderful. I can’t tell you how much it meant to have all the children there together.  Some friends took a group picture thankfully. It is getting harder and harder to gather us all up in one place! So, here is Tess:

Tess_gown

she missed the whole thing <g>

and here is the whole clan just before we left for home again:

Family

The two young men at left, who look far too old to be my children lol, are our oldest two – Colin and Zach. On the right is our friend Cheryle who proxied for Tess’ godmother who had the flu.

Digital Scrapbook Freebies

Posted on by

One of my dear children bought me the Jan Creating Keepsakes mag for Christmas. They have a digital scrapping tutorial insert this time with step by step instructions for completing several first time projects. It requires the free adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 trial version. If you are techno-challenged (guilty as charged!) you can also print the embellisments on cardstock and use them like regular paper accents.

Digital Scrapbook Place has a freebie gallery with tons of downloads

Dital Design Essentials has some freebies and great kits

designer digitals freebies

shabby Princess has lovely free kits

Scrap Outside the Box, like some of the above sites, has tutorials online

When you finish you can print your pages at home in 8×8 or 8×11 size.  If you want a 10by10 or 12 by 12 size page you can go to Scrapbooks.com and have your pages printed and even bound into hardcover books if you like.  Price per page comes to about $2.50.

Charlotte’s Christmas advice

Posted on by

Willa posted a link to Simply Charlotte Mason’s article Charlotte’s Wisdom at Christmas. Truly sage advice!  In our cyber age where dozens of books, holiday recipes, menus, and decorating tips are available at the touch of the keyboard you can easily forget that any ONE choice from the above categories suffice for making memories. We tend to pile on more and more expectations of ourselves and our holidays til there is "a shade of anxiety on the mother’s face" as Charlotte says. 

I have been a holiday slacker in many ways.  Worse still because I feel so little remorse over that fact. I have a baby. I love my husband. We are all healthy as of today. We really don’t need more. And I am too tired to drum up much more. Articles like these from days gone by remind me that THIS is normal. Holiday excess is not. We have morphed this into something it likely never should have been.

So, her advice in a nutshell:

Read one Christmas book as a family.   One, not twenty unless you were so inclined, though you could easily find as many to burden yourself with. For us that is The 24 Days of Christmas by Madeleine L’Engle.  We will be reading it AFTER Christmas since it has taken me that long to remember the title (thank you Lissa!!) and track it down but that’s ok. It meant so much to me when I first read it that it is worth the wait.

Rest.  So as not to get that ‘shade of anxiety’ I am guessing. Plus passing out in the mashed potatoes is inappropriate. ; )

Watch over habits.  This has been on my heart as we have been relaxing school since Tess was born. It is easy to relax about a whole lot of things that need attention though. We will work on maintaining the routine  and the good habits even if we do break from academics. 

That’s it!  No clever ideas for napkin folding or dessert. Just read and rest.  I am remembering why I love Charlotte Mason.

candid camera

Posted on by

We are doing another photo shoot of Tess today. You can expect the Twelve Days of Christmas pics to follow lol! 

Here is the first pic of Kieran holding Tess.  Boy was he pleased. : )

K_and_t_40

Tess_1_1

Tess_toes_40 toes <g>  not the clearest pic in the world but oh my gosh!  Look at those toes!!

Ok thanks for indulging me. I will be trying the patience of those who tire of themed baby pics in the days to come. For the rest of you – stay tuned.  : )