The First Two Weeks of Advent, Sans Pictures

December 1:
*Gordon asked why The Little Match Girl had to be a sad book.

December 2:
*Gordon and Teeny chose to give some of our Christmas budget to go toward a well in a third world country. I think the picture of the little boy with the bloated belly in the World Vision Catalog really made a strong impression on Gordon. He tears up a bit every time we talk about the need for clean water in other countries.
*Painted Christmas cards for family and friends. Better get around to mailing those, huh?

December 3:
*Bud-Jack after reading and talking about Proverbs 15:1, "Those are harsh words!"

December 4:
*Failed yet tasty attempt at a chocolate icecream "yule log". Gordon called it "bark".

December 5:
*Wrote letters to Santa. Gordon asked for either a Creepy Crawler bug making kit or an outdoor survival kit (with an axe. . . um, no). Teeny asked for *another* 18" doll and more doll clothes. Bud-Jack asked for a mountain. When pressed for something a little more doable, he jabbered out something I really couldn't understand at all. Mary is asking for what "Santa" already got her: Little People (thankyou Craigslist).
*Made gingerbread men.

December 6:
*Woke to find bundles of gold-wrapped chocolate coins in our shoes. Happy St. Nicholas Day!

December 7:
*Began brainstorming "gifts that don't cost money."

December 8:
*Out to eat for a Logos fundraiser. Had fun seeing one of Jason's co-workers and her husband and daughter (our wonderful babysitter).

December 9:
*Jason's friends from York Young Leaders over for cookies and coffee. Kids helped make Triple Chocolate Chip cookies.

December 10:
*Hit my mid-Advent slump. But enjoyed stroganoff and pierogies for dinner. Yum.

December 11:
*Brainstorming how to spread Christmas cheer.

December 12:
*Went to local Christmas tree farm to pick and cut down our own. It was cold; we made our choice fast.

Also:
*Shopping for eachother.
*Gordon finished up his "The Three Little Wolves and the Big, Bad Pirate Pig." To be illustrated today by Teeny and then scanned, and printed in photo books for the Grandparents.
*Wrote down my 2010 goals.

Advent 2009

Here are our plans for Advent this year!!!

I've based these plans primarily on what books we have here at home, with "Additional Reads" being books found at our local public library.

Every two days we will have a primary book selection, a lesson (or moral) and symbol, Scripture verses that teach the lesson (or moral), discussion questions and an activity or two, and some additional picture books to go with the lesson.

Halloween in Our House

Yes, we celebrate Halloween. I wrote this post on an old blog of mine several years ago explaining why.

And this is how Halloween will be shaping up for us this year, as we recover from the flu.

Food is a big part of our Halloween celebrations. We begin with flap-jack-o-lanterns (orange pancakes with faces made of sausage) and witch's brew (green Hawaiian punch) for breakfast. We have fingers and toes (hot dogs with ketchup and mustard fingernails) and slugs in mud (macaroni noodles in brown gravy) for lunch. Dinner is bloody worms and eyeballs (can you guess what that might be?). Dessert is "soul cakes" -- cupcakes iced and decorated with faces made of Halloween candy.

This year, we have decided (even before the flu hit) to do an all-day at-home Halloween extravaganza. Well, that sounds much more "involved" than it probably is. We'll be having a candy scavenger hunt, playing some parlor games like eat the donut off the string, making caramel apples, and watching Disney's Snow White and maybe some episodes of Alfred Hitchcock and/or The Munsters. We may even do our pumpkin carving that night!

What's Your Favorite Holiday?

I took a poll at the lunch table yesterday. I was wondering what everyone's favorite holidays were.

My favorites are:

1. Christmas (of course -- I live Christmas up big-time)
2. Easter (including Mardi Gras and the season of Lent)
3. Birthdays (my kids' birthdays, that is)

Gordon's were:

1. His birthday
2. Halloween
3. Thanksgiving (I think the trend here is food and lots of desserts/sugar)

Teeny's were:

1. Christmas
2. Thanksgiving
3. Valentine's Day (I thought that was interesting)

Bud-Jack's was:

*Hot dogs (???)

I'm crazy for holidays. I can come up with something to celebrate just about every week. And while I still think many of our holidays/traditions are important, knowing what the family's favorites are helps me to know where to expend the most time, energy, thought, and money.

June's Menu and Three Recipes

BREAKFASTS:

• Cinnamon toast with fresh fruit.
• Vanilla yogurt with granola and fresh fruit.
• SATURDAY: French toast with fresh fruit (all sprinkled with a little powdered sugar).
• SUNDAY: Donuts or something equally easy and quick and low-mess.

LUNCHES:

• Pasta with veggies and salad.
• Chef salad.
• SATURDAY: Tuna sandwiches with raw veggie sticks.
• SUNDAY: Burgers or Dogs with raw veggie sticks.

DINNERS:

• SUNDAY: Grilled meat of choice (whatever is cheap) with salad and other fixin's.
• MONDAY: Mexican (tacos, burritos, nachos, or enchiladas) with chips and dip.
• TUESDAY: Salad night ~ Veggie salad, potatos salad, pasta salad. . .
• WEDNESDAY: Chicken Alfredo with salad.
• THURSDAY: Meatless Mexican (black bean burritos or nachos) with chips and dip.
• FRIDAY: Pizza night!
• SATURDAY: Cincinatti Chili and salad.

SPECIAL DAYS:

TEENY'S TEA PARTY

• Iced raspberry tea and lemonade
• Bite-sized PB&Js and cream cheese and jam sandwiches and veggie sticks
• Biscuits with jam or honey
• Thumb-print cookies and shortbread cookies
• Peaches and blueberries with sponge cake and coolwhip.
• Icecream cake with white cake and sprinkles and cherry ice cream.

TEENY'S BIRTHDAY

• All meals of Teeny's choosing ~ yet to be decided.

FATHER'S DAY/FIRST DAY OF SUMMER

• BREAKFAST: Bacon, eggs, and grits.
• LUNCH: Grilled burgers and dogs.
• DINNER: Wings and veggie sticks
• DESSERT: Deep fried brownie sundaes.

RECIPES:

THUMB PRINT COOKIES

from Paula Deen

3 sticks Butter, softened

1c. Sugar

2 Egg Yolks

3 3/4c. All-Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preserves/Jam

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks. Sift flour and salt; blend into butter mixture. Add vanilla. Chill dough thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350*F. Shape dough into 1" balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentations in center of each with thumb (I use my pointer finger for a deeper hole); fill with preserves/jam. Bake for 15min. or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove to rack to finish cooling.

SPONGE CAKE

from The Anne of Green Gables Treasury

1c. sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 c. Milk

2 TBL Butter

2 Eggs

1c. Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour a 9" or 10" round baking pan. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter until the butter melts. Keep the mixture warm until you are ready to add it to the batter. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until they are think and lemon-colored (about 3 min.). Add the sugar a little at a time while continuing to beat the eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients till just blended. Add the warm milk and butter and the vanilla. Stir into batter. Turn batter into pan and bake for 25-30 min. or till the cake bounces back when touched. Let cool completely in pan on rack. Serve iced, sugared, or topped with fruit and Cool Whip and whipped cream.

DEEP FRIED BROWNIES

Take about 1-2 cups baking mix (we use Jiffy) and mix it with enough water to make a slightly thin batter. Add a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract. Dip brownies of choice into batter and deep fry in oil heated to about 375*F.

For a sundae, top with vanilla ice cream, a bit of cheap chocolate syrup, and some Cool Whip or whipped cream. Oh so delicious.

One Toy Lawnmower Given. . . Check!

So far, Bud-Jack has been so amazingly cute this birthday, I just had to get some of it down "in writing".

This morning he came down in his usual grumpy manner and flopped on my lap with a scowl on his face. . . Until he saw the balloons and streamers in the kitchen. "Look dat!" he said. "That's for your birthday!" "Yeah?!" he replied with a big smile.

Breakfast was donuts, and Bud-Jack's was delivered with three lit candles in it. He was so excited. . . He smiled proudly and then began blowing half-way through the song.

After breakfast he received his first present -- his toy lawnmower (from Teeny). He immediately set to work mowing our huge yard. I believe he actually thinks it cuts the grass. He is still at it, going in as straight a pattern as a three year old's attention span will allow, and angrily throwing toys he finds out of his way. . . just like his father.

Next up, a lunch of hot dogs and mac 'n' chac and then his gift from me -- a baseball glove and ball. I forsee a brotherly game of catch in our future.

No Longer My Baby

Little M&M turned one year old on Friday, passing over the great divide between baby and toddler. She'll always be my little baby, but that first birthday always chokes me up a bit. It was everything you could wish for for a birthday -- the sun shone brightly, some of the grandparents came to visit, and there were all the things a little one year old girl could wish for to eat and play with.

We began the day eating Fruit Loops and drinking apple juice in the pink and white decorated kitchen. After breakfast M&M opened her first ever birthday gift: A cute pair of shoes picked out by her big sis, Teeny.

From birthdayngraduation

Little M&M took a quick morning nap so that she would be cheery when Ging-Ging and Papa L. got here. After she woke, we all had pizza, fresh veggies and dip, and strawberries together with chocolate dipped pretzels and strawberries as a dessert. She then opened her second present: a Sesame Street bath toy from G, and we all headed out to play in the water.

From birthdayngraduation

And we had one more little nap before grilled chicken, shells and cheese and broccoli for dinner followed by more presents. She got a Little People car with a mommy and baby from Bud-Jack, a little piano/xylaphone from Mommy and Daddy, and three cute outfits and a stuffed Eyore from Ging-Ging and Papa. Then, the grand finale, the cake and ice cream. What do you think she wished for? She wouldn't tell me.

From birthdayngraduation

Beautiful. . . messy face and all.

An April Fool's Tip for Moms

Here's a link to some great food pranks.

We'll be having the colorful cupcakes for dinner (along with sides to be brought out later). Dessert will be ice cream potatoes with faux fishsticks and peas.

I first tried these dinner pranks when G was just about two or three years old. It totally wierded him out. He cried over the cupcakes; and I felt so bad that I tried to let him go straight to dessert, but he wouldn't believe that the potatoes were really icecream.

And I think April Fool's Day is as great an excuse as any to mix up some goop.

Long Overdue Pics . . .

. . . We're talkin' Thanksgiving!

Thus Began Lent

Today the older two kids spent some time thinking about what sin they wanted to focus on this Lent. They both chose disobedience, and little Bud-Jack said, "Mm-mm my momma." Which I believe meant that was what he wants to work on too :)

Of course J and I should be picking out a sin to confront over the next 40 days, and our marriage discipleship which began last night is leaving us no real choice but to deal with some anger and communication issues. Our meeting with our new mentors last night went very well, in spite of my reservations. They were both extremely encouraging and said some of the nicest things about J and I and our marriage -- they definitely gave us much more credit then I tend to give us. They have us reading through a book called Uprooting Anger. I'll jot down my thoughts on the book later. At any rate, I really enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane as we both rehashed our "life stories" and talked at length about the history of our marriage. It was interesting to see just how different we are, how differently we grew up, and how different we are from both sets of parents -- and how these differences affect our marriage and family. I'm excited about it all, really.

We get homework assignments, just like in our church small group and men's and women's discipleship. This week we are to begin the book, read Ephesians twice (this lines up with group discipleship), go over with our children how God helps us handle temptation, and do three nice things for eachother that we don't normally do. I think we are also supposed to be doing some journaling of various things like what nice things we end up doing for eachother.

Which reminds me. . . I have the kids keeping track of their Lenten journey on a chart. I was thinking I should start a journal to keep track of mine -- that would put me at four journals (five if you count the blog). So maybe I'll combine the Lent and marriage journals since they seem pretty interconnected anyway. I ramble.

Upcoming Lent and a Few Personal Goals

Lent begins tomorrow, and I've still not completely nailed down how I want it to play out for our family. . . and for me personally. I've sort of committed myself to attempting a slight meat and sugar fast. . . to feed the family more simply for the next 40 or so days. I'm also planning a sort of grid/calendar/chart for each of the three older kids on which they can keep track of days till Easter as well as give themselves stars for good deeds and also focus on a different character trait or Christian discipline each week. But that is about as deep as my plans have gone so far, and I am looking for divine inspiration at this point. Maybe that is the best way to do it, anyway. Especially since we plan to be out of town on a relaxing vacation during Holy Week. Maybe this Lent I will intentionally do a planning fast.

However, I do have some personal goals for March.

1. I'm always re-visiting this particular goal. . . To drink 64+oz. of water a day. When I do it, I feel so much more energized and happy and patient even. When I don't, I'm tired, grumpy and irritable.
2. To completely carve out a stress-free 1 1/2 - 2 hr. quiet time at least every weekday. This time is to be dedicated to reading my Bible, journaling (paper and pen), praying and then reading a book till I fall into a sleep-like stupor. NO COMPUTER! I already do this, to an extent, when the kids are doing their quiet times/naps; but I need to work on just relaxing during this time. . . nothing else.
3. I've been working through A Mother's Rule of Life. . . s - l - o - w - l - y. I'm pretty good with my first P -- Prayer. I'm struggling with my second P -- Person. I think I will probably need a good month to get in the habit of taking better care of myself. So I will be breaking this into mini-goals. Week 1: Begin getting into bed by 11:00pm every weekday night. Week 2: Every morning, after breakfast, get dressed, wash and moisturize face, brush hair and teeth, and put on deoderant. Week 3: Every evening, shower, comb hair, and moisturize. Brush and floss teeth every night before bed. Week 4: Exercise with Teeny (Teeny really likes exercising -- she did not get that from me.) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when J gets home. Also: Take every Saturday morning off (so long as family and J's schedule allows) to pamper self, go shopping *alone*, lay in bed and read or nap.

Again, I'm horrible at taking care of myself. I have a really hard time letting go of motherly responsibilities for *any* length of time. This will be a struggle for me, but a struggle I believe the whole family will benefit from.

Now to go begin our Mardi-Gras celebrations. . . and make up some Lent charts.

Ringing in the New Year

We rang in the New Year exhausted, watching episodes of The Office here at home with some good friends. We had Chinese take-out; the kiddos all made their own pizzas, decorated their own cookies, and put together their own sundaes. Then they got a rare treat, going up to G's room to watch TV (G is on cloud nine to have a TV in his room now; but rest assured the DVD player is getting put up today).

Yesterday morning I came up with some resolutions.

1. I'm reading the book, A Mother's Rule of Life. It is a great book that I have been wanting for years, literally; and it was my one Christmas present to myself this year. My first resolution is to form and apply "My Rule".
2. I really wanted to give the kids some hand-made gifts this year, but found myself way too busy by the Holiday Season to make anything but kid-crafted ornaments. So, my second resolution is to make a gift or two every month to give them at birthdays, Easter, or Christmas. First up is going to be a literary cookbook for Teeny (containing recipes for food mentioned in favorite nursery rhymes and story books) and some bibs for M&M.
3. I'd really like to preserve memories a bit better, and one of the easiest ways for me to do this at this point is through this blog. So, my third resolution is to blog the day after (and even post pics when available). Hence, this post.

Which brings me to. . .

Yesterday, over a wonderful brunch that J prepared, we handed out the ". . .est Awards" to the kids. J began by asking what the kids resolutions were. Only G could think of one. His is to use his new tools to build some toy boxes that I requested he make.

Since resolutions didn't go over well after that, J began asking who they thought would be the . . .est. G claimed that he would be the best at everything when he grew up. We determined that Teeny would be the "Clumsiest" as she spilled three, count 'em, three cups of juice while we sat and had this discussion. Bud-Jack proudly shouted "ME" when asked who was the "Bravest". When I mentioned that Teeny was pretty brave, he yelled, "NO! ME!" He also readily claimed the title of "Stupidest and Craziest" (a title derived from a favorite saying of Teeny from when she was just a wee tot). And we decided M&M would get "Strongest Thighs" since she has reached the age that would normally put her in a Johnny Jump-Up had we a door frame to hang one on.

It was a pleasant morning followed by more episodes of The Office at a co-worker's house. Now we buckle down and prepare for a wonderful year.

That's What My Little Boy's Birthday Is Made Of

Streamers and balloons.
Toaster Struedel and Kool-Aid.
Gifts from every sibling. A gift at every meal.
All-You-Can-Watch TV and Computer.
Helping to make homemade Pizzas for lunch.
A shiny new bike from daddy. . .
. . . and riding lessons in the afternoon.
More TV.
Wings!!! and Pierogies!!! in front of the TV.
Sharing the unwrapping and the gifts with the upset 2 year old brother.
Coloring.
Marble cake with marble icing and Party Cake Ice Cream.

Happy Halloween

On the agenda for the day:

1. A breakfast of Flap-Jack'o'Lanterns (orange pancakes with faces made from cut-up fried ham) and "Witches Brew" (green Hawaiian Punch -- a rarity around here).

2. Baking "Soul Cakes". For us, these are always just cupcakes that we frost and create faces on using Halloween candy. I'll be trying out this recipe for Pumpkin Cupcakes this year.

3. Lunch of "Ogre Fingers" (hot dogs cut in half length-wise and then down the center with a drop of ketchup or mustard at the tips for nails) and "Slugs" (macaroni and cheese) with more "Witches Brew".

4. Carving of the Jack'o'Lanterns.

5. Dinner of "Bloody Worms and Eyeballs" (spaghetti and meatballs) and *more* "Witches Brew".

6. Getting the kids dressed up -- G as a mummy, Teeny as a gypsy, and Bud-Jack as a Hobo.

7. Trick-or-treating.

8. Decorating the "Soul Cakes".

9. Eating "Soul Cakes" and candy and drinking Cider Slushies as we watch The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

10. Trying to get three kids into bed while they are on a sugar high. Then sitting down with the kids' candy and watching last night's episode of The Office with J.