I love our homeschool group, there's no commitment, no fees, nothing is required. That said I felt guilty that I hadn't organized any field trip, gathering, or class in the year an half I'd been a part of the group. Even though Demand is only four we still go to a number of events each month almost one every week, and some weeks more than that. So I wanted to give back. Twice I've had ideas and then someone else beat me to it but finally I had my turn. I organized a Mardi Gras Party! Not only did I think it would be fun way to usher in Lent but I didn't know much about the history of Mardi Gras and wanted to learn about it myself. That I did. It was so much fun and I learned so much and shared what I learned with others. Turns out I wasn' t the only one who didn't know much about this Catholic Tradition.
For the party I ordered necklaces, masks and mask decorations from Oriental Trading. I made and printed up some posters explaining the history of Mardi Gras and some of the traditions. I also printed out some word finds and vocab pages to share with everyone. I made "King Cake" and beignets and (also from Oriental Trading) I bought Lenten cross craft kits as parting gifts. Everyone one to bring a yummy dish to pass. It was so much fun! My friend was willing to have it at her house and I'm glad she did, there ended up being 24 children there! It was so much fun we'll definitely be doing it again next year.
While Demand was at Good Shepard I started setting up our Lenten wall. Demand burst through the door so excited to tell me all about Lent! How appropriate. We spent the rest of the afteroon talking about Lent and what our Lenten wall means. The kids and I had a fun rest of the day eating and dancing with our masks and necklaces as I found some "New Orleans" music online.
As for the Lenten wall, as you'll see in the pictures, I have "Pray, Fast,Give" on the wall. (I got the idea from Shower of Roses.) Under each category I have what we are doing or giving up. Normally people don't put their Lenten resolutions in writing on their dining room wall, but then again we are dealing with children, normal people also don't yell "I'm pooping. I'm pooping twice. I think it was the lunch. I think it was the yogurt", from an open bathroom door.
Back to Lent...
Since the children are young I only picked one small thing for them to give up. (TV on Fridays). This year we are going to focus most of our energy on giving and praying. As long as we hit all three categories I think we're doing well. Demand and Happy love filling up the Rice Bowl with money. Ahem, actually Demand loves it, Happy loves to put two coins in the rice bowl and three coins in his piggy bank. That's the spirit! Both children love putting one pantry item in a grocery bag each day and they get to check it off the "40 cans/40 days" chart. Demand is also helping me with "40 bags/ 40 days". She has already chosen one of her toys to give away all on her own....then she picked one of Happy's toys. Demand also has a "Lenten Path" chart where she gets to color a square each day. It's a very important part of her day.
Ash Wednesday went well. Demand and I went to morning Mass together. She was so excited to see the church purple and to actually get something (ashes) in line. Even though I've been exempt for six years now due to pregnancy or nursing (and on a technicality low blood sugar) it always feels like cheating. Three-hundred and sixty-four days of the year I don't eat breakfast. Never. In fact if I do my metabolism gets to high to fast and I can't keep up and then I get a migraine mid day. Blah! No fun! So usually just have coffee in the morning and then start snacking around 10am. But Ash Wednesday I not only woke up hungry, I woke up BECAUSE I was hungry. My blood sugar was plummeting and fast. ( I think I may have gotten carried away with my first Mardi Gras) So now I HAD to eat breakfast. I thought I would see what just a tall glass of milk would do, but we were out of milk so I had to drink chocolate milk that I had bought for Mardi Gras. What a way to start Lent, eh? The rest the day went more according to planned, although Mr. Sloth made yet again fantastic bread to go with dinner. Too good actually, I felt a little guilty. It went fabulously with the minestrone soup I made though.
So, that's our Lent so far! I love Lent, but I love purging things toys, clothing, the soul, it's all good. Click on the pictures to view pictures from the party and lent. The first set was taken by a friend with a nice camera at the party. (That first picture is not Demand)
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Mardi Gras Party 2011
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