Playing piano from guitar chords

Did you know you can pulse triads/fifths or improvise accompaniments on the piano based on guitar chords? I won't tell you how long it took me to figure that out. It's embarrassing, considering how long I've been playing piano. 

I also won't tell you how long it has taken me, first to make books with lyrics for us as a family and friends that come over to sing together with. Second, more recently (when I figured out this chord thing), books with the chords for the same songs for myself and any other musicians. 

My hope for this school year is to get better at playing with chords (my ultimate dream is to play like @chad_erinpaine ... unlikely I know), for us to sing one or two a night before bedtime (kind of like Pa with his fiddle) and to sing together with friends. 

I printed these out at home, laminated them and hole-punched them at home. They are mostly all hymns and I found a really great site for free chords and how-to-play hymns which is reawakenhymns.com I also love Okee Dokee Brothers and their sites has chords and lyrics for printing out.

Family picnic

We had a rough/busy weekend and couple of days. We went to a wedding up north, which included five-hour drives with a baby who hates the car and my in-laws... five people jam-packed into a five-person sports car.

Luckily, we were able to restart our family nights on Tuesdays and had our first picnic in our new neighborhood. We found a great grassy área near the river...until the sprinklers turned on. Then we found a nice table... until we realized it was under a tree full of wasps and bumble bees. Finally, we ended up on these little benches right next to the river. And we all finally had a good night of sleep.

Catholic Family Night: Printable Resource

When I was little, I still remember my neighbor being called in by her mother for "family night" and me not being invited. How rude! Now that I have my own family, I also want to have a weekly time for my family to hang out... even without neighbor kids. I am jealous of the "family home evening" I see on Mormon mommy blogs, where it is simple and consistent. The Catholic Church has a richness of teachings on the family and they are little or not at all known to the average Catholic.

Here are some guides I am making for our own use, that I would like to share with you. They will look at Church documents such as Gaudium et Spes, the Catechism, Familiaris Consortio, Letter to women/children/families, Dies Domini, etc. The document will be updated as more sessions are added (it is a work in progress).  

There are blank spaces to write in an opening prayer/song and a treat. There are some ideas for social nights, to do instead of a "teaching" night. More to come soon! Please tell me if you find this useful!

Session 1: For the family, not at the expense of the family

Download PDF here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxHDqRCogEdwLUFLNWN0RG9pUDQ&authuser=0