First Day of School September 17, 2012

We are starting school very late this year due to my mom having stage 4 lung cancer.  Most of our summer we spent with my mom being with her at the hospital, rehab center and hospice.  So our summer was very different than usual.  Our children have grown ever closer to their grandparents since my mom was first diagnosed with cancer on July 1, 2012.  Most of the month of July and August we were visiting with grandma and grandpa every day!

So back to the first day of school!  We began our day with attending Holy Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes.  John-Paul is always so happy to be able to receive our Lord in Holy Communion.  Since making his first holy communion in June of this year, he has been so reverent and really pays attention at Holy Mass.  Hannah on the other hand has become a squirm worm.  She is all over the pew and under at times too!  After a little reminder, she will quickly fold her hands in prayer and seem like she is going to be attentive, but after a few seconds she is back to her antics!

After Holy Mass, we stopped by Dunkin Donuts to get a little treat to celebrate our first official day back to school.  Pumpkin muffins are back and that is just what I needed with a good cup of coffee to kick start my first day back to teaching.  After arriving home, we went into our schoolroom and began our day with our usual prayers, songs and Pledge of Allegiance.

I had all these great plans for the first day, but shortly into the beginning of teaching John-Paul, the phone rang.  It was my sister calling to tell me that mom was having a very bad day.  Mom wanted to leave the rehab center that she was in and  wanted to go home.  I don't blame mom, but she is not ready to go home yet.  So after a 45 minute conversation with my sister about what to do with mom, we started back to school.  We got a few minutes into our religion lesson, when the phone rang again.  It was my sister again who was exasperated about how to explain to the nurses at the rehab center what has been going on in the last two months. 

So the first day did not go as planned, but both children did see how important it is to take care of your family when they need your help.

Little Flowers Catholic Girl's Club

Hannah is now old enough to be part of a Little Flower's group.  What is Little Flowers?  It is a Catholic girl's club that works on badges related to various virtues.  St. Therese the Little Flower is the patron saint fot the club.  This was Hannah's second meeting, but the first time that I could go and be there with her.  Her first meeting was held at a Jill's house and I had to drop Hannah off so that I could pick Jenna up from the airport.  Jenna was flying in from New York to be with my mom for a couple of weeks.

So at the Little Flower's meeting, the girls all got into a circle and prayed together a special prayer to the Little Flower, St. Theresa.  They are also working on a prayer that the angel taught the children of Fatima.  After prayers, Mrs. B explained to them about the virtue they are learning about and then the girls did a cute craft.  The girls made sunflowers.  The significance of the sunflower is that it follows every movement of the sun - like we should follow every movement of the Son!  After the meeting was over, the girls had a special treat a lady came to give them a demonstration of Highland Dancing.  The girls got to try a few steps too!  Then came snack and play time on the playground.  John-Paul liked that part the best of Little Flowers!

Whew!  The first day of school was now done.  On to the second day....