Sporty Bear

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Boing Boing

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Palm Sunday

Can you believe that this coming Sunday is Passion Sunday? It's hard to believe that Easter is just one week after that. Wow.

Passion Sunday is also called Palm Sunday, because palms are handed out at all of the masses. In the Gospel Reading, we will hear how Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, and a large crowd of people welcomed him shouting "Hosanna" and throwing palms on the ground in front of him.

Sunday is also called Passion Sunday because the Gospel tells the story of Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion. The very same people who shouted "Hosanna" would later be shouting "Crucify Him!"

We call the story of Jesus crucifixion His Passion, because in the original writings, the Greek word pascha was used to say "to suffer." The word passion comes from that same Greek word. So, you could say that to suffer for something is to be really passionate about it. Isn't it great to be reminded that Jesus is so very passionate about us?

One thing I like to do on Palm Sunday is to make a palm cross out of my palm. It's pretty easy and looks really cool. I've posted a link to a video below that shows exactly how to do this.

I've Looked At Clouds That Way II

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Rerunning a Classic Reffie Bear with a few Ernifications.

Super Bowl

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! How do you like my Oliver Bear Jack O' Lantern? I carved it myself online. Really! Pretty cool, huh? And I didn't have to clean out the pumpkin first.

If you'd like to try carving a virtual pumpkin, check out the links below. These are some of my favorite Halloween Sites. Not too spooky, and lots of fun.

Virtual Pumpkin Carving
Ben & Jerry's Halloween Site
Garfield's Scary Scavenger Hunt
Garfield's Scary Scavenger Hunt II
Cat Bowling

See you at the OLR School Halloween Parade!

Shortcut

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Chili Cook-Off

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Ice Cream Social

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Hooray! It's time for the Ice Cream Social this Saturday, Sept 15 right after 5:30 Mass. There's going to be spaghetti, hot dogs, gourmet sausages, salad bar, desserts and of course ICE CREAM! Come join us in the fun! There will be live music, fellowship and fun games for us kids. See you there this Saturday 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. Everyone is welcome & please spread the word!

Rummage Sale

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New School Year

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Sloshy the Rainman

He's back! Hooray for Christmas rain!

Prepare Ye the Way

Happy Second Week of Advent! How's your Advent going? Oliver and I have been busy here at OLR. The Spaghetti Dinner on Tuesday was fun and tasty, and the whole school attended First Friday Mass together on Friday. (Great job, 5th Grade!) There was also a basketball tournament at St. Joseph's on Wednesday and Thursday, and a basketball clinic in our gym on Saturday morning. This weekend there was also an awesome Christmas Boutique and this afternoon the OLR Moms were baking cookies for the Preschool Outreach Program (P.O.P.). Oliver and I could smell the yummy cookies from all the way over here in the Computer Lab. 

Gorilla showed me this fun online Advent Calendar that I thought I would share with you. It's a fun calendar marking the days in December leading to Christmas. Each day has a different surprise game. Check it out at:

http://www.santagames.net/calendar/index.htm

Happy Thanksgiving

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Gummy Bear

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Trick or Treat

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Blessing of the Animals

Today is the Blessing of the Animals at OLR, and I am soooo EXCITED! We're going to have a special  Mass and the whole school will be there. Gorilla is bringing his goldfish, Sloshy. Oliver is bringing a snail he found in the garden this morning. He named him Snail. I can't wait to meet all of the animal friends of my OLR Catholic School Family. They'll be mewing, and barking, and chirping, and slithering, and - well, who knows? I'm sure there will be some surprises.

The Blessing of the Animals is in honor of the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, which was Tuesday, October 4. Saint Francis was a very holy man who loved Jesus so much that he gave up everything that he owned and went to live as a poor beggar, devoting all of his time to prayer and helping people in need. He saw God in the people around him, including the very poor and the lepers. He also saw God in God's creation, including animals. Saint Francis was very kind to animals, because he knew that God loved them. 

Saint Francis did so much good that many people began to join him, including his friend Saint Clare. Saint Francis founded the Franciscan Order. I found a web page created by some present day Franciscans at AmericanCatholic.org. They have posted some cool stories about Saint Francis and the animals, including Saint Francis and the wolf of Gubbio. Click HERE to vist!

First Day Check List

brand new backpack
brand new shoes and socks
good as new lunch pail
nearly new pencil box
brand new teacher
new desk (window view)
brand new school year
good old me and you
                                Reffie

Summer's End . . .

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