Squishy Saturday

It rained, rained and rained... Not really heavy but for a long time... It finally cleared off in the late afternoon... This morning Monkey and Peanut participated in the First Annual Walk-A-Thon for their school... People could pledge so much per lap or just give a donation no matter how many laps completed... It was raining off and on the whole time... Temperature was in the mid 30s... Peanut walked 5 laps and Monkey walked 12 laps... The money raised helps fund school activities like our Children's Theatre, Back to School Supplies, Fields Trips and many other programs... I'm really proud of how well they did despite are icky weather! Monkey and I went to Mass and then spent an hour at the Spring Celebration... It is our parish's largest fundraiser of the year... We had a soda brought from home and enjoyed some of the Live Auction (watching not bidding) plus Musical Entertainment from our Priests 'The Three Pod-Rays'... This years theme was 'Nautical'... So, the priests dressed two of them as 'Pirates' (Fr. W & Fr. F.) and third was a Navy Sailor/Captain of a Cruise Boat (Fr. C.)... That was quite entertaining in an of itself... Previously the 'Three Pod-Rays' dressed as Mafia Men... ::smirk:: They played several songs on the organ (Fr W.), accordion (Fr. C.), triangle/tambourine/bells (Fr. F)... A few I remember were Theme Song from Hawaii Five-0, Surfin' in the USA, and Helena Polka... After their first set we went home because we were broke and hungry... I'm living like no one else, so later I can live like no one else!

Our Lady of Fatima - Friday

Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
Summary:
On 13 May 1917, three children were pasturing their little flock in the Cova da Iria, parish of Fatima, town of Vila Nova de Ourém. today the diocese of Leiria-Fatima. They were called: Lucia de Jesus, aged 10, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged 9 and 7. About midday, after praying the Rosary, as was their custom, they were amusing themselves building a little house of stones scattered around he place where the Basilica now stands. Suddenly they saw a brilliant light, and thinking it to be lightning, they decided to go home. But as they went down the slope another flash lit up the place, and they saw on the top of a holmoak (where the Chapel of Apparitions now stands), "a Lady more brilliant than the sun", from whose hands hung a white rosary. The Lady told the three little shepherds that it was necessary to pray much, and she invited them to return to the Cova da Iria during five consecutive months, on the 13th day at that hour. The children did so and the 13th day of June, July, September and October, the Lady appeared to them again and spoke to them in the Cova da 0a. On the 19th of August, the apparition took place at Valinhos, about 500 meters from Aljustrel, because on the 13th the children had been carried off by the local Administrator to Vila Nova de Ourém. At the last apparition, on October 13, with about 70,000 people present, the Lady said to them that she was the "Lady of the Rosary" and that a chapel was to be built there in her honor. After the apparition all present witnessed the miracle promised to the three children in July and September :the sun, resembling a silver disc, could be gazed at without difficulty and, whirling on itself like a wheel of fire, it seemed about to fall upon the earth. Afterwards, when Lucia was a Religious Sister of Saint Dorothy, Our Lady appeared to her again in Spain (10 December 1925 and 15 February 1926, in the Convent of Pontevedra, and on the night of 13/14 June 1929, in the Convent of Tuy), requesting the devotion of the five first Saturdays (to pray the Rosary, meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary, confess and receive Holy Communion, in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary), and the Consecration of Russia to the same Immaculate Heart, This request had been announced by the Apparition on 13 July 1917, in what is called the "Secret of Fatima". Years later, Sr. Lucia related that, between April and October of 1916, an Angel had appeared to the three seers on three occasions, twice in the Cabeço and once at the well in the garden behind Lucia´s house, who exhorted them to prayer and penance. Since 1917 pilgrims have not ceased to come to the Cova da Iria in thousands upon thousands from all parts of the world, at first on the 13th of each month. later during the summer and winter holidays, and now more and more at weekends and any day all the year round.

If you would like to learn more... Visit: Santuario De Fatima (upper left hand corner you can change the language of the site)

I went to Engineer's transition meeting today... It is a meeting you have with the school for those on IEPs/Special Needs when they switch schools... Engineer is moving from his elementary school to his middle school... This was his 3rd Transition meeting... He had one when he went from Preschool to Kindergarten and one when he went from Kindergarten to Elementary School... His Kindergarten was a self contained Kindergarten only building at the time... Part of a 10 year study I believe... The Kindergarten has since been reintegrated into the Elementary Schools... It went very well... I'm excited to work with the Middle School... I think he is going to do well there....

We had our last Autism Support Group meeting tonight... We socialized and we had a speaker from one of the two local hospitals come and talk to us about Orthotics... We will have a few Family Fun Events this summer but our traditional meetings are done until the fall...

Maybe I should blog More often Monday

I was reading some of my past postings and realized how much Joy my blog brings me and how much I MISS it! So, let's try blogging again... So, each day I will try to post something new and something that happened while I was gone... Boy have I been gone a long time! The snow had melted then it snowed again for about 48 hours now it is melting again, yet I woke up this morning to yet another dusting and had to brush off the van before we could leave... Then I spent the rest of the trip using my wipers a little streams of water from the melting snow ran down the windshield... Maybe Spring will arrive before Easter? I bought a new dress to wear on Easter... What you think? You can see me actually wearing it on Easter Monday... Retail? $100 (dress, cover, and shoes)... Cost to me? $5.00 (which Hubby actually paid)... Gotta love Sales, Coupons and Giftcards left over from Christmas... LOL... School is almost over... Less then 29 days to go... Lent has been going well... Not losing as much weight as I would like... However a bit is coming off... Hopefully with Spring coming... I can melt off the pounds like the snow melted... I heard Monkey sing in his first musical... He's in 2nd grade... He was part of the chorus... He did an awesome job... They preformed with the 3rd graders and it was titled "Spaced Out" it was all about Outer Space... Very cute! That is all the past I'm going to try to catch on... As for current events... Little Guy and Big Boy had another Infant Congitive Development Lab study today... They had lots of fun... It was about 'color'... They participated in the 'pattern' and sister study to today's study when they were 4-5 months old... As a Thank You gift they received these toys... Little Guy received the keys and Big Boy the Turtle 'car'...

Linebacker had fun playing with the other college students while his brothers participated in the study... I ran to the bank and to the dealership (more about that on Wordless Wednesday)... I decluttered one box from the closet... It was a pretty quiet day...

Wee Ones Wednesday

Today was the first day of school... It went great... Everything was remember and on time for both the start and end of the day... Both boys had fabulous first days... I am very pleased... Engineer was picked up for his month psych appointment... It went well also... I cooked a nice breakfast for myself, my husband, peanut and linebacker... We had omelets with shredded cheddar cheese and grilled onions that were leftover from the kabobs when we had steak and a sausage patty... I brought in breakfast from the freezer for tomorrow and Friday... I caught up on the tons of laundry... I even hung out a load on the line to air dry... I need to go and bring that in when I'm done here... I also walked 12 blocks (or 1.2 miles) today... Woo hoo!!! I haven't walked in weeks... I hope to walk another 8 blocks (0.8 miles) tomorrow... Depending on how the meeting goes with the uninvited will probably have an effect on how much I accomplish tomorrow... Hopefully we can put the unwanted in their place... ::scowl:: Off to laundry, work on Engineer's hat and bed...

Marvelous Monday

Today was pretty fantastic... Lots of good news has been coming our way lately... I ran out for errands to the bank, church and grocery store for a few misc. items like juice, eggs, bananas, milk, and bread... I'm feeling unusually optimistic of the future... I had a great sense of inner peace all day today... Tonight was back to school night... I'm taking a year off this year from homeschooling and sending the children to public... Engineer is in 4th grade and Monkey in 1st grade... We toured the school which has been newly remodeled... I think they are both going to have a really good year... They are both excited to start in a few days... I had a ton of paperwork to fill out... YECK! I finished it all up and packed it away in their backpacks to bring to school on the first day... I am a sweaty mess because they don't have central air in the school only a few rooms like the library, office and lunch room I think one of the teachers when I commented they didn't have the air on... I am off to shower...