Pre-Seasonal Celebrating, New Looks, and Bad News

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-1-  Pre-Seasonal Celebrating

“Liturgical Living” is hot in Catholic circles, but reading seasonal books is popular all over.  We have an awesome library, but all the theme-y books get scooped up fast.  So we started pre-seasonal celebrating.  Books about Valentine’s Day?  We checked those out at the beginning of January.  Books about St. Patrick and Ireland?  Just returning them today so all the normal people can borrow them closer to the real holiday.  Thanks, pre-seasonal celebrating for helping us get all the best books without waiting!

 

 

 

-2-  An Irish Staycation

Any time we get a bunch of books about an geographic location, we call it a “staycation.”  It sounds more special than “unit study.”  I need to find some good Irish recipes and activities for the next leg of our staycation, but these are the library books that got our “trip” started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato

Brave Margaret

The Leprechaun’s Gold
Patrick:  Patron Saint of Ireland

Across a Dark and Wild Sea

Fair, Brown, and Trembling

Fiona’s Luck

Fin M’Coul: Giant of Knockmany Hill

The Irish Cinderlad

Saint Ciaran:  The Tale of a Saint of Ireland

Tales from Old Ireland

 

(For more staycations, check out our Australia and Africa adventures.)

 

-3-  Paddy and the Wolves

I can’t include this one in our library list above since I actually bought it.  Yes.  It’s that good.

It’s easy to put the saints on a pedestal and forget that they were real people.  “Paddy and the Wolves” overcomes that idea  as it  imagines how St. Patrick may have acted as a child.  The story is gentle enough for littles, and the illustrations are lovely.   I appreciate the subtle theme  that anyone (even kids who fidget during prayer time!) can grow up to be a saint.  Although there’s not a lot of historical content in the actual story, there is some factual information in the back of the book.

 

 

 -4-  Everyone’s Irish in March

David converted me to Irish folk music early on in our marriage, and it quickly became our family’s favorite genre.

In fact, when Cee was a toddler my mom was a little horrified to overhear her singing “Kiss me darlin’ mother, drink a pint of beer…” as clearly as if she was singing “Old MacDonald.”

David loves the history behind the music– the idea of passing down stories through song.  I love the peppy tunes you can’t help but tap along to.

If you’re new (like I was!) to Irish music, here are a few songs by The High Kings to get your feet wet.  The videos are not interesting, so just push play and try not to dance around your living room.  Just try.

 

Wild Mountain Thyme (This is my favorite, favorite, favorite!)
By the Rising of the Moon
Marie’s Wedding (We sing this anything we go to a wedding.)
Fields of Athenry  (David sings this to Bea to get her to fall asleep.)
Red is the Rose (2nd favorite of mine.)

 

-5-  A New Look

The blog got a makeover!  It makes me happy.

 

-6-  Another New Look

I got few inches chopped off my hair.  It also makes me happy.

 

-7- Bad News

Cee has been battling serious hip pain since October.  It’s hard to tell why a flare is starting in kids with SJIA– could be the weather, could be a cold, could be a medication failure.  Because of that, our rheumatologist moves sort of slowly in addressing a flare.  Well, we started assessing, and it doesn’t look good.  Cee’s had blood work, a couple appointments at Mayo, and an MRI.  Next week we’ll go up to Mayo again for an xray, some more appointments, and possible joint injections.  Maybe another different, special MRI?  We’re not sure.

Cee is in good spirits, but we’re pretty worried.  I’ve written a lot about it in the past week in trying to process everything.

She Will Not Get Better

A Flock of Questions

The Lenten Luck of a Serious Diagnosis

 

 

Thanks for hosting, Kelly!

 

 

 

 


This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking one of these links, our family receives a small commission at no cost to you.  Thanks!

14 Comments


  1. // Reply

    i LOVELOVELOVE the high kings!!!! “the rocky road to dublin” is one of my favorites of theirs.


    1. // Reply

      I knew we were practically best friends. 🙂


  2. // Reply

    Those Ireland books look so enticing, you might just get me back to the library, where I haven’t been in a while.


    1. // Reply

      Does the library have an affiliate program? I should look into that… 😉


  3. // Reply

    Love the St. Patrick’s day takes! I’m not Irish but I married a Murphy, so I guess that makes me Irish? Anyway, the kids are so I try to do stuff for St. Patrick’s day. Your take 4 reminded me of the time friends visited (ages 1-6) and the were singing “what do you do with a drunken sailor?” Lol!


    1. // Reply

      Angela Murphy is a great Irish sounding name. You’re definitely Irish by marriage. 🙂


  4. // Reply

    Love the new looks! Did you do the web one yourself? (I’m assuming you did not do your hair yourself 😉 )
    And great book recommendations! I bought Paddy and the Wolves and I’ll definitely be looking the other ones up at our library. I better get on it though, because like you, it seems the themed books go fast at our library.
    All I can recommend food-wise is colcannon. It’s about the only way I’ll eat cabbage willingly! And it’s a heckuva lot better than just boiling potatoes and/or cabbage separately. But I’m sure you’ll find some good recipes out there. Maybe you’ll post some of them? I’m still trying to figure out what to make for St Patrick’s day dinner since it’s on a Friday! (I don’t know… Is fish and chips an Irish thing too, or just a British thing?)


    1. // Reply

      I did redo things myself (the blog, not the hair). We’ve done corned beef before, but it’s not really that Irish. So we’ll see! 🙂


  5. // Reply

    Have you ever tried the Rankin Family or Great Big Sea? They have some wonderful versions of Irish songs.


    1. // Reply

      I have not! I will look them up. Thanks for the recommendations. 🙂


  6. // Reply

    Ah that edition of Red is the Rose my daughter’s favorite song right now! She calls it “the boys” and the only acceptable song is that one.

    All of the Tomie D’Paula Irish books are favorites around here. I think it’s because I’m really good at Irish accents, and it’s one of the few I can do men and women’s accents equally well.

    The makeover on the blog looks so good!


    1. // Reply

      Thanks, Kirby! I like reading the Irish books with accents, but my kids make me narrate in my “regular voice” and do the voices with the accent. 🙂


  7. // Reply

    Alicia
    Hey thanks for all those book suggestions — love it! And your new do is adorable! Love that too!
    Blessed Lent to you!

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