Please say a prayer for this woman...

...who is going through what must be just unspeakably painful right now. I read about her here, on Eyes of Wonder. I am thankful that she is a woman of faith, and the heading on her blog testifies to that.

We prayed the Stations of the Cross tonight

I love this. When we began six years ago, Una was only nearly four and Sebastian two, and I was lugging baby Gaby around the house. This year, Una asked to lead the Stations. The toddlers especially love it, the moving from place to place through the house and singing the Stabat Mater (well--they don't know the words, but they sort of bluff their way through). It's one of the things we do that is really becoming a tradition I know the kids will carry with them throughout their lives. And it is so decidedly Catholic! You have to be a convert to the Faith like me to truly appreciate what that means. I revel in it. I wish I could exude church incense from my pores. Know what I mean? What, are you a convert too?

I am bone-tired in spite of the fact that I am moving at a snail's pace these days. It is not so much the pregnancy I think (I don't get very big and I'm only 17 1/2 weeks along) as it is being 45, pregnant and having five nine-and-under to school and chase after. My small successes, although getting smaller and smaller, are seeming rather monumental as of late.

1) It looks like I am going to finish the project for Our Lady of the Caves in time to bring it up there on Sunday. Poor Father--he's been waiting ever so patiently for it!

2) I finally have an appointment to get my hair cut--not trimmed--for the first time in 20 years. I won't have it too short, I like to pull it back or put it up, but I am ready for a change and I have the okay of my husband and children. Strangely, getting my hair cut is more nerve-wracking for me than having another baby. I have more practice with the latter...

3) I made my spring-cleaning list for Lent, to begin Monday. Looking at it, I hope I am not being too ambitious, biting off more than I can chew. I mean, I'm not scrubbing down walls or anything, but it it a pretty big house and there is work to be done in every room. Eek.

I look forward to reading about your small successes! You can click the image above to see what others have done this week.

St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Although everyone always thinks of my Gabriel's name day as being that of the Holy Archangels, this is the Gabriel for whom he is named. There is an interesting story about him in Ann Ball's Modern Saints. Apparently he was something of a sharp-shooter and single-handedly ran a gang of bandits out of town. My Gabriel likes that, of course.

With it being Lent and all, the celebration of my boy's name day will have to be put off until Sunday.

Lunchtime in the playhouse

Looks like they've been caught in the act of something besides eating, but actually they were doing just that.

We have been planning to fix up this ex-fishing equipment shed (built by the son of the previous owner) to make it a sweet little playhouse for years. Maybe this spring. If Bret can find a nice piece of scrap vinyl for the floor, install a shelf or two and finish the seams in the drywall, Una and I could paint and make curtains. It could be so cute!

Having lived in apartments for my entire childhood, I so wanted a playhouse, but could never have one. I want my kids to have one! And a pony, too (I wanted one of those even more)!

Feels like Lent...

Well, Lent got off to a good start for us this year. The good news: we actually got to go to the early Mass for the Ash Wednesday service. The bad news: we were able to do this because Bret has joined the great (and growing) ranks of the unemployed.

We sort of knew this was coming. His hours at the cabinet shop had been dwindling down for the last few weeks.

Guess we'll have to announce to the kids at dinner time that due to hard economic times, we are going to have to let a few of them go [hee hee...Bret and I do like to mess with the kids. What's the fun in parenthood if you can't have a little fun now and then, eh?]

God has only recently--in the last few months--given me the gift of trust. It was hard-won for a late convert to religion like myself. I feel pretty peaceful, which isn't to say that I am not harassing St. Joseph with my constant petitions, but that is more for the sake of Bret than for myself. God has a plan, and it is for our good, whether in this world or the next. I'm okay with that.

Still, put in a good word for us when you talk to St. Joseph, eh?

Ash Wednesday

Shrove Tuesday

I am eating up the remainder of my bedroom stash of these. Sniff.
Goodbye, gourmet jelly beans. I will miss you. Especially the Espresso ones.

Oh, it's a long way to Easter...

Wow...now THAT'S a sacrifice...

Aimee at The Mother Load is making what I call a real sacrifice for Lent--she is shutting down comments on her blog for the duration of Lent. Wow. We who depend on the internet for our ego-strokes are in awe.

I am seriously considering following her lead. Why? Certainly not because I don't absolutely love hearing from you and crave your approval, but because, as Aimee said, "If there was something I thought I could never do--for GOD--then I was too attached to that thing."

I'll be mulling it over today. Comments are open, so let me know what you think.

Stations of the Cross for Children

Here is a beautiful Stations of the Cross for children, copyright 1936 by the Paulist Press. It is in PDF format to be printed out and stapled into a little booklet.

Stations of the Cross for kids to color

Here are a few Stations of the Cross resources for those with kids. Every year we have done the Stations on Fridays at our house since moving to rural Tennessee (too far a drive and too late in the evening to do them at our church), and we have used pictures ordered from a Catholic catalog. This year I plan to print out coloring pages and have the kids color them and make little popsicle-stick frames for them. I found these on the Domestic Church website (click for a larger, printable image):

For all of us pregnant ladies...

I am really loving this talented mama's video clip!



I can't recall whose blog it was that linked me to it, but I thank you whoever you are!

Simple Woman's Daybook--my first

Today: February 23, 2009

Outside my window…21 degrees, frost sparking on the ground, the first rose-tint of dawn visible on the horizon.

I am thinking…about Lent and how to make it meaningful each day for the children without giving them a sense of dread about what sacrifices we are making as a family.

I am thankful for…getting through last week's challenges without too much self-pity. It was a costly weekend: over a hundred bucks for the repair of the washer and more than twice that to get the heifer well. But how wonderful that the heifer is well and the washer is fixed!

From the kitchen...not much at 6 a.m. other than the coffee pot. I will make muffins for breakfast this morning, and I may do a batch of yogurt. Dinner tonight? Ugh...I don't know. I have got to get back to the practice of menu planning! I don't hate cooking, but I do detest the daily, "what am I going to cook tonight...?"

I am creating…several projects. Just finished my first baby cardigan last night (still needs buttons), and I want to get back to working on my embroidery project. I also must complete a little project for the redecorating that has been going on at Our Lady of the Caves.

I am reading…two books that I think were so helpful in making my last homebirth a near-perfect homebirth experience for me: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Heart & Hands.

I am hoping…that we will have a peaceful, uneventful week, and that I will get the things on my To-Do list accomplished.

I am hearing…two noisy little boys who have invaded the sanctuary of the office and are making this post an exercise in perseverance!

A few plans for the rest of the week…work on making Stations of the Cross with the children, which we will put up around the house. For six years now we have replaced Friday's family Rosary with the Stations during Lent. In the past we have used printed and laminated pictures of the Stations, but this year I have enough big kids to color and make a version I found (more on that maybe later today). I also want to come up with a bit of a menu plan and cleaning schedule this week if I can find the time. I also want to schedule a haircut for myself. My hair has been pretty much the same for 20 years, and somehow being 45 and pregnant is making me want to DO SOMETHING!

The children are...all up. Una's light is on, which means she is reading in bed. Sebastian is here trying to draw robots from Wall-E, and the other three are on the living room floor building with MegaBloks. Bret is still in bed, as work is slow and he is home today. I need to rouse him now and get him to milk the cow.

A picture thought: It is a sunset from a year ago, but I love the drama of it...

I am off to dress and make muffins!

Visit Peggy at the Simple Woman for more Daybook entries.

Lent is Coming, Pt. 3

Here is a page on the basics of Fasting, followed by a few comments on the practice .
Here is a quote of Pope Pius XII on Our Lady of Lourdes. It was sent to me by a priest friend and I think that if it held true in the time of this Holy Father it is a thousand times more evident in our world today:

“…the world… is … undergoing a terrible temptation to materialism which
has been denounced by Our Predecessors and Ourselves on many
occasions… It rages … in a love of money which creates ever greater havoc
as modern enterprises expand, and which, unfortunately, determines many
of the decisions which weigh heavy on the life of the people. It finds expression in the cult of the body, in excessive desire for comforts, and in flight from all the austerities of life. It encourages scorn for human life, even for life which is destroyed before seeing the light of day. This materialism is present in the unrestrained search for pleasure, which flaunts itself shamelessly and tries, through reading matter and entertainments, to seduce souls which are still pure. It shows itself in lack of interest in one's brother, in selfishness which crushes him, in justice which deprives him of his rights -- in a word, in that concept of life which regulates everything exclusively in terms of material prosperity and earthly satisfactions… To a society which in its public life often contests the supreme rights of God, to a society which would gain the whole world at the expense of its own soul and thus hasten to its own destruction, the
Virgin Mother has sent a cry of alarm.”

Three times in a row did our Blessed Mother ask us to do penance for sinners. In Lent we have the triple admonishment to pray, fast and give alms. Let us renew our efforts during Lent to do what really ought to be a year-round effort for all Christians.

St. Philip Neri encouraged those who struggled with fasting to make a concerted effort to be generous in their almsgiving. In scripture, we have from the Book of Tobit, these words on how almsgiving, done with purity of heart and the intention of pleasing God can make great gains for us in Heaven:

“If you do what is true, your ways will prosper through your deeds. Give alms from your
possessions to all who live uprightly, and do not let your eye begrudge the
gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from any poor man,
and the face of God will not be turned away from you. If you have many
possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be
afraid to give according to the little you have. So you will be laying up a
good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity” (Tobit 4:6-9).

In the same Book, the Holy Archangel Raphael says,

“Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness. A little with
righteousness is better than much with wrongdoing. It is better to give
alms than to treasure up gold. For almsgiving delivers from death, and it
will purge away every sin” (Tobit 12:8-9).

So let us try to fast well, pray well and tithe well during this holy season, so that we may rejoice all the more at Easter for the gains we have made for sinners (others and ourselves)!

Practices for the Season of Lent

Here are a few ideas for making your Lent a time of spiritual growth.

Corporal or External Fast

Including the abstinence from certain foods, drinks and amusements, i.e. music, and parties during Lent. These points of fast should be stressed today especially with the mania of entertainment besetting our society;

Corporal or External Practices
Take less of what you like and more of what you dislike at meals today
Take nothing to drink between meals.
Do not use seasoning on your food today.
Do not use any sweeteners with your food or drinks today.
Avoid listening to the radio at all today.
Take nothing to eat between meals today.
Avoid any T.V. or videos; instead read the Passion of Christ in your Bible or missal
Take only one helping of each item at meals today.
Say an extra Rosary.

Spiritual or Internal Fast

Consists of abstinence from "all evil"--sin. Saint John Chrysostom taught that the "value of fasting consists not so much in abstinence from food but rather in withdrawal from sinful practices." And Saint Basil the Great explains: "Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, suppressing evil desires, and avoiding all gossip, lying, and swearing. To abstain from these things---herein lies the true value of fast";


Spiritual or Internal Fast Practices

Don't do any unnecessary talking; instead, say little ejaculations throughout the day.
Exercise your patience today in all things.
Don't make any complaints today.
Restrain any anger, and go out of your way to be kind to the person who caused your anger.
Don't be distracted with someone else's business.
Avoid any gossip today, instead say an extra Rosary to overcome this great fault.
When asked to do something extra do so with a joyful and pleasant attitude today.
Speak in a pleasant tone to everyone today.
Avoid using the phone.
Tell the truth in all your dealings today.
Avoid vanity or self-seeking today.

Spiritual Change

The practice of virtues and good works must be the main objective of our fasting. The Fathers of the Church insisted that during Lent the faithful attend the Lenten church services and daily Mass.
In the course of the centuries, our fasting discipline has undergone numerous and radical changes. Today, unfortunately, the observance of the Lent is but a mere formalism, reduced to abstinence on certain days and without any stress in ones spiritual growth or the amending of ones lifestyle.
It is urgent that we return to the pristine spirit of the Great Fast which is so badly needed in our materialistic world.

Spiritual Practices (virtues and good works)
Practice humility today in all your actions.
Be generous today; help someone in need.
Look for ways to be helpful throughout the day.
Do a job that needs being done without being asked.
Be courageous; walk away from any impure situations today.
Don't be at all idle today. Always be doing something for others or for your own spiritual growth.
Go out of your way today to help or talk to someone who is usually difficult.
Volunteer for an extra job today.
Say an extra Rosary today for the conversion of a sinner.
Visit someone who is sick or lonesome today. Offer to say the Rosary with them.

Silent Sunday

Lent is Coming, Pt. 2

Here is something else worth printing out and reading (and maybe passing on), courtesy of that same dear priest. Click on each page to enlarge.

Mama Told Me There'd Be Days Like This...

...as the song goes.

I can't post the Small Successes this week as, to be frank, there were none. Due to extreme tiredness, I did next to nothing (Survival Mode: keep kids fed, keep up with laundry, do core subjects, pay bills).

With everything else I have had to play "Look at the Bright Side" with myself. Here is how I played it:

1) We have a sick heifer. She has been unwell for a couple of weeks, seemed at one point to rebound, but now is acting very odd and I am concerned that we may have to call the vet in.

Bright Side: She is not our milk cow, and as she was born here, she cost us nothing. The cow, on the other hand, is a thousand-dollar investment and provides our milk, butter, yogurt, cream and sometimes cheese.

2) Bret's hours have been really cut back recently. In fact, he has had Wednesdays off for the last three weeks. And the future of his job is up in the air.

Bright Side: He's had some time to take on some of the many things that always seem to need doing around a house and farm. And outside of God, the entire concept of "security" is really rather illusory, isn't it?

3) The kids have colds.

Bright Side (this is relatively easy): The colds are not on the severe side, and none of my children are in a hospital fighting for their lives.

4) I have been doing such a bare minimum with the kids recently that I fear public school kids are getting a broader education.

Bright Side (a no-brainer, really): There are a lot of parts of a public school education I really don't want them to get!

5) Our water pump wasn't working this morning and I spent a lot of time under the sink with my finger holding the pump switch in order to get the water I needed for drinking and washing a few dishes. My arm got sore and I bashed my head on the cabinet opening three times.

Bright Side: First off, the problem turned out to be minor--Bret left the faucet on the stock tank running this morning. Then again, I thought of what it would be like to have no access at all to clean water, as is the case with much of the world.

6) My washing machine, once the pump problem was figured out, filled and wouldn't stop filling. I turned the water off, but not before the laundry room flooded. This was sort of a breaking point for me. I was in tears as I cleared out the laundry room in order to mop it up (and, boy, was it a mess, as it doubles as sort of a mudroom), and I really had to fight the self-pity at this point.

Bright Side: as I stood with my bare feet sopping up water with old towels it dawned on me that there are folks in parts of the world like Haiti whose floors become a sea of mud every time it rains, and who have never known the luxury of a washing machine. How foolish the tears! I was able to remind myself that self-pity is indeed a form of pride, wounded pride, and that I shouldn't act like such a spoiled child.

I am happy again for my very blessed life. How good God is when He allows our eyes to be opened to reality.

Hope your day is blessed, too!

Our Holy Father sets Pelosi straight

Any more "ardent Catholics" out there in need of a crash-course in Catholic teaching? Here's the article I read from the Catholic News Agency.

Lent is Coming

Here is a little worksheet to help everyone think about Lent before it sneaks up on us (courtesy of a very good and holy Father of Mercy):Click on the worksheet to get a larger image you can save and print out. We print one out for all the older members of the family.

What's goin' on?

Very little, in truth. I'm not sleeping well, so I am moving at the pace of a slug and just not getting much done.

Yesterday after school I taught Una and Sebastian simple embroidery and they love it...worked on little projects all afternoon while watching episodes of Green Acres on DVD. I have two projects I'm working on: a baby sweater and a little embroidered thing I copied from one of Adrian's freaky line drawings of a monster. The down-side of all this creativity is that my house is gross. I need to do some real cleaning before I get disgusted to the point of being overwhelmed. Well, part of my Lenten journey each year is spring cleaning, so hopefully I will get something done in those forty days...

Are you thinking about Lent? I am trying to put together some new ideas for making Lent meaningful to the children. I guess I will be spending at least some time on the computer pouring over blogs and websites for ideas.

Okay...I'll just slither off to the kitchen to make lunch now...

[not absolutely] Silent Sunday

Now everyone out there can listen to the homilies I am fortunate enough to hear each week. with many thanks to the Fathers of Mercy.

A Happy St. Valentine's Day to You!

We enjoyed a nice breakfast of crepes with mixed berry syrup. Later in the morning, "Oma" (my mom) stopped by on her way to Adoration to wish the children a happy feast day and to remind them that St. Valentine was a martyr. She also dropped off a little gift--a heart-shaped dish of lovely chocolates!

This afternoon we had our cupcakes...Adrian had been asking, "When can we have a cupcake?" at least every fifteen minutes for the last two hours!

The evening will be a pretty typical Saturday evening--baths for the kids and an early Rosary, followed by a video.

And here it is...the knit camouflage hat.

And for whom did I make this thing, knit of the most unattractive yarn ever made? For this guy:

Well, the week isn't quite over yet, so I still have things I want to cross off my never-ending list, but here is the run down on my small successes this week:

1. I made a decent meal 3 out of 4 nights so far this week.

2. I finished knitting Sebastian's camouflage hat--before the onset of summer, I might add!

3. I did a couple of Valentine's Day crafts with the kids and managed to lay in stock all that is needed for pretty pink-frosted cupcakes for Valentine's Day.

4. I baked a couple of loaves of sourdough rye bread.

5. I goofed off most of today (other than going over my bank statement, paying a bill and baking bread) and I don't feel very guilty about it.

Share your small successes! Click on the graphic above.

Had my first prenatal appointment with the OB.

And although he is a very nice man, I still hate to go there.

I plan to have yet another home-birth, but because my midwife's rates have gone up, my husband's hours have gone down and I am covered for standard prenatal care but not that from a midwife, I am going to get my prenatal care from the OB and then have my midwife come in around the last month of my pregnancy.

The OB, whom I had seen for my last pregnancy, greeted me with, "So, you're at it again, are you?" I told him I really had thought that Dominic would be my last at age 43, and that this one was a bit of a surprise. He just shook his head...

He knows I will forgo the creepy genetic counseling talk (I had it only once--when I got pregnant for the first time at age 35), he know that he will most likely not deliver the baby unless there are complications, he knows that I do not want to discuss forms of birth control after the baby is born. That's another thing I dislike about his office: one is surrounded on all sides by options for birth-control. Out of the 10 pamphlets in a display in his examination room, two were on STDs and the other 8 on various contraceptive pharmaceuticals. How life-affirming is that? Did these guys become obstetricians just to do pap smears and tubal ligations?

Anyway, I have another appointment in a month, when I am at 20 weeks. I'll get an ultrasound then, and get to find out whether I am having another boy...or not. Una and I are counting on it being another boy. We gave up long ago in hoping for a girl!

This morning is gorgeous...

After yesterday' storms with its 60 mile-per-hour gusts and tornado warnings, today is like a breath of spring. I've told the kids that they can go out to play and that I don't care when they start school today as long as they get their core subjects done.

Doing things like this has been part of my own home-school education. I am a bit of a structure-freak and a former enemy of spontaneity (having children has a way of desensitizing one to randomness in one's life). I have had to remind myself frequently that home-schooling should not be a home-version of standard schooling, school starting and ending with a bell. We need to take advantage of what comes our way unexpectedly--beautiful weather, the birth of a calf, unusual cloud formations, a news event--and use these as unique opportunities to teach.

A beautiful day of outdoor play as a teaching opportunity? Appreciation for God's creation, recognizing that it is given to both the just and unjust, is a good way to explain that our Creator loves us all, and shows His mercy to us all. We have done nothing to deserve this beauty...it is pure grace.

A few things that would not be, were I not the mother of boys

1. I would not scour the thrift-shop aisles for super-hero T-shirts.

2. I would not be enlisted to tie shoelaces into nooses so that my sons can lynch their stuffed animals.

3. I would not be singing the Spider-Man theme song while folding laundry.

4. I would not be searching for and printing out tank coloring pages.

5. I would not ever, ever knit with camouflage yarn.

Possibly very bad news for thrifty moms...

Have you heard anything about HR4040, the Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008? Apparently it went into effect yesterday, but I live in a media-void and only read about it on this blog this morning. I buy no clothing but socks, stockings and underwear (and occasionally shoes) new, so this could be bad news...

Of course, this is also really, really bad news for the makers of handmade anything--and so many of us love the look, feel and quality of items that have been lovingly made by hand. Here is a resource for finding out what we can do to help.

[edited to add: enforcement will now be delayed until February 10, 2010 but the guidelines remain in effect]

Last update on my friend in Kentucky

I saw Cindy and her kids at Mass yesterday, and they all seem to be on the mend. They have power, but no phone and no computer. And their fencing situation may take months to fix, as trees and branches fell on just about every part of it. But they are okay, and it seems they didn't lose any more chickens than what is normal. Thanks be to God!

Silent Sunday

Procrastination is its own reward...

The bad news: You haven't ironed anything but bare necessities in several months and the pile of clothes to be ironed has reached monumental proportions.

The good news: Going through it, you realize that a number of the items are now outgrown or out of season and therefore no longer require ironing.

Procrastination--it works for me!

1) I made bread, butter, mozzarella and 4 gallons of laundry detergent this week.

2) I finally got to an appointment that I had canceled four times.

3) I am caught up in correcting a pile of my daughter's Saxon math lessons (whew!).

On the down-side, I think we only ate one really decent dinner this week!

Now, for me to really feel the week was a success, I have to still bake a cake and wrap presents for Adrian, cut Dominic's hair and tackle at least half of the ironing that is starting to look textile-art Mt. Everest. Wish me luck!

Hope you had some small (or great) successes this week. Click on the title graphic to share the joy!

What, your cotton swabs don't have faces...?

Some of ours have. Courtesy of Sebastian the Weirdly Gifted.

Happy Fourth Birthday, Adrian Benedict!

My smallest baby at only 5lbs 15oz, but my most difficult labor, quite likely because my midwife, who had missed my last baby's birth, was nervous about missing this one and offered me the option of inducing with castor oil. Never again. He was born after 3 a.m., and all the kids were up by 6, and even though Bret did his best to keep peace and quiet in the house, I still didn't sleep until evening and by then had gone 48 hours without sleep. This was the key factor in my first experience with post-partum depression, which took about a month or so to abate.

Poor little Adrian. I recall saying to my sister, "Not only do I not want this baby, I don't want the others either..." What a mess. But my midwife assured me it would pass, and pass it did.

He was a pretty demanding baby, and he is still is a pretty demanding little guy. He has the most intense scowl, and when he is tired he has a gravely "whiskey & cigars" voice. He tests his limits all day long with me, reminding me very much of SugarBoy, our little bantam cochin rooster who met his end with an oppossum. SugarBoy was half the size of the other chickens, but he would frequently challenge me to a fight, and I'd have to kick him into the air a few times to re-establish my authority.

Because Papa has to go to work and homeschooling Mama has to teach today, we will do the cake and presents on Saturday...or maybe tomorrow evening, if I can get my act together...
Happy Birthday, Firecracker...I love you more than you'll ever know...

Wasn't so bad after all...

Yes, it was cold, but it was sunny and actually a very pretty day. Before my appointment we managed a trip to Goodwill and I picked up a few things for the kids and some new maternity stuff for myself for 99 cents a piece! I'm still zipping up my last two pairs of jeans, but it won't be long now...

We stopped at a Wendy's for lunch. The kids are getting bigger: it now costs us about $18 to have lunch, and that's sharing drinks and eating from the Dollar Menu! Seems like yesterday that two packs of Chicken Nuggets fed three to four kids...

Wednesday morning

An arctic blast rolled on in yesterday. It is now, at 8 a.m., 13 degrees--colder than it was when I got up at 4:30. Unfortunately, I have an appointment today I need to make, so we will be bundling up the children and braving the cold.

Praise and thanksgiving...

...to Almighty God, to our Blessed Mother, to St. Peregrine, St. Raphael and to my beloved St. Pio of Pietrelcina, and of course to all my prayer warriors.

Bret just got test results on a nodule in his chest that had recently increased in size, and the news is good. It is not cancerous. Because he was a smoker for many years (quit 15 years ago), they have to follow protocol and do a follow-up in 4 months, but his doctor was unconcerned.

I know I never posted about this, but some things are so close to one's heart as to be difficult to relate to others without figuratively opening a vein and bleeding profusely...

But I do wish to publicly acknowledge my gratitude to all those who prayed. The greatest fruit of these prayers from both the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant has been the enormous peace and lack of anxiety I have felt throughout the waiting period.

Thanks be to God!

Look what Sebastian made!

For Christmas one of Sebastian's presents was a Sculpey modeling kit. It came with materials and step-by step directions for making eight little bears. I helped with the first two, but then a few days ago he took out the kit and sat down and made these all by himself! He seems to have a knack for sculpting...

Silent Sunday