25 Cookies 'til Christmas

Twenty-five cookies 'til Christmas starts today. Updates to follow. Stay a tuned...

Our advent prayers for this advent will focus on breaking down the St Francis Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

My Daily Groove - love it!

Saw this too late! I check my Daily Groove pretty often. If you aren't a parent or don't think you have a need, check it out anyway. You would be surprised how it applies to non parents even. Totally applied to my sick-o day. And Bret's overwhelming holiday.

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove


:: Obligatory Thanksgiving? ::

Ain't it funny how the holidays most focused on peace,
love, and gratitude can also be the most stressful?!

Often the stress is rooted in expectations of ultra-positive
emotions. If you feel *obliged* to be extraordinarily
grateful and congenial, you may be suppressing the less
sunny aspects of yourself. And forcing yourself to look like
you just stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting is
hard, stressful work!

The cure for obligation is FREEDOM. So if you feel
stressed on Thanksgiving, you might want to try saying
these affirmations to yourself:

"I'm free NOT to be cheerful."
"I'm free NOT to be sociable."
"And I'm free NOT to be thankful!"

When you know you're free NOT to, that means you're also
free TO... Now you can choose based on what feels REAL.

And the freedom to be real is something we can all be
thankful for! :)

http://dailygroove.net/thanksgiving-freedom

Christmas Time Again

After years of Bret being the tree guy, I finally branched out last year and made a tree that I wanted. I guess I just decided that was the year that the tree finally mattered to me. It was a hit!! So this year when I went to make my tree again, I have NO IDEA what I did with my red and silver ribbon that went on the tree. Bret took me to the store after work today and we bought new ribbon and ornaments to add to the tree. I have grown to love fake trees. They are so maintenance free!! Worried about the lack of Christmas tree smell?? Buy a candle. It is just as good.



Thankfully my Thanksgiving stomach flu only lasted a day. The girls put me right on the job, Friday morning, bringing up all the decorations and ornaments, and trees. They couldn't wait to start decorating the house.



How we LOVE the holidays!! And we are so far behind! Usually I have already taken each person shopping for presents for their family already. They are beggin to get out and shop for their siblings. lol. December shopping, that I don't love so much. Crowds of angry and cranky shoppers... no love lost there.

November Drumming Circle

Drumming Circle this month was bring your daugthers. I am thinking that it might be about time to start bringing them to the circles every time now. They want to go. Not Marley. She enjoys it but her attention is not quite old enough. But at least Brenda. She is ready to be part of it when she wants to. And maybe even Bret. Anyway we made dream catchers from ivy frames. This is Lyria's amazing dream catcher. She is always inspiring to have around!!



Brenda and Bret wait for bring your daughter day every year and cannot wait. They love being part of the group.



Circle didn't officially end until 1:30am. Marley pooped out at the table way before that! Our dream catchers serve our sleep dreams and our day dreams. What a second to none experience for my girls!! Thank you Wild Women for making this such a great time for all of us!

Archeology

Trying to get back into a system of learing with the girls. We are talking about archeology this week. Here is their project. I "planted" a bunch of things from rubber bands to magnets, legos, thimbles, etc. into the dirt. Their job was to excavate the artifacts and make educated guesses as to what purpose their artifacts served in their civilization that they were creating.

Fabulous UC

In our November group meeting (both troops meet once a month together through December) we had a visit from the Delta Kappa sorority. They came to put on a program called Uniquely Me. It was a one hour program about self esteme. We were very blessed to be selected for them to visit us. They were wonderful and we were thankful for the great program. We talked about differences and similarities between eachother. We chose sides about what we believed and disagreed about. We even played the age old game telephone with a purpose. Great ladies, and a program that was well worth the time!!

Thanks Giving Fun

So I bet you are wondering why there is a picture of Brenda's monkey hanging out on the back patio chair on this blog entry. Well as I sit here drinking wine and eating the remains of my pumpkin roll at 12:31am it seems slightly funny (possibly because of the wine influence) that this picture is the only Thanksgiving picture I have.

The day before, we cooked and baked to our heart's delight. The girls' friend Emma came over. And we made Pecan Tassies, Martha Stewart's Crescent Cookies, Pistacio Bread, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pies. Plus I mashed the potatoes, cut the onions and celery, peeled the sweet potatoes... it was right about here when we finished peeling the third sweet potato that I realized I was about to get the stomach flu that I was fighting all week, that the girls (and big Bret) had suffered through one at a time for the last week and a half.

And so poor Bret had to do all the cooking and cleaning and child tending and dog and puppy tending on Thanksgiving Day while I lay in bed puking my little head off. lol. I know there is something to be thankful in all of that, but I can't remember what right now. :-)

LOL: Editor's Note: I forgot to mention why the Monkey Picture. Brenda had just puked in the middle of the night before. The monkey was one of the many casualties of the sickness. He was out airing off after the wash cycle. Poor guy. He is doing better now though. All better snug in bed with the girls.

Thanksgiving Birthday Weekend

So Marley's birthday has finally arrived. I planned on a pumpkin pie with candles. Marley remembered that I bought a princess cake mix on clearance last February and told her she could have a princess cake for her birthday. So when she woke up, she hunted the box out of the pantry and brought it to me, telling me we had to make her cake. Here it is... My baby is not a baby starting today.



So here is her big present. Thank goodness Walmart is overstocked on bikes for the holiday. We were able to find a bike that WASN'T princess. So we didn't pay an arm and a leg for it. I hid it in my bathroom under a sheet. That was evidentally not a good hiding place. Especially since she was in there hunting for her presents. That little sneak. At least she got to ride it before it got dark, since she found it so early. lol.

Happy bday to my toothless poppet. She grew up, damn it.

I host the 4H

So I hosted the 4H meeting this week. Since I had no idea of a creative meeting agenda, we went to the Museum Center to make a day of it. I wasn't taking any pictures because it was really just another day at the museum.

Until the older kids got together and produced this amazing bench! A usable, sittable bench made of BLOCKS. Those kids are just great! Leave 'em together without adult supervision and you never know what they will do!

Invention Convention

Every month it is a new experiment. Last month's egg drop was cancelled on account of Laura's early birth of her TENTH child, Tori. Tori has just been operated on in the last week. Pray for her and the whole family. I know it is not easy to continue on with all that happening in their lives.

This month's Invention Convention was bridges. You get 100 popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. Who's bridge can hold the most weight??

Brenda and Jessica came in at a strong first place with over 135 lbs!!! Brenda swears that her bridge could have gone further if only we had more weights to put on it! Bret's was in 4th place with 36 lbs. And Marley who made a brige, air plane, picture frame, and a couple other unrecognizable things with her sticks and glue gun, decided not to put weights on her bridge.

Boonshoft Museum

Two for one at the ol' Boonshoft Museum Center. This was our activity for November. December is glass blowing. Well we went to earn a badge and hang out to play at the hands on science museum. After we earned our badge, the museum informed us that they had a chemistry program going on. We made blood and scars, boo smoke, quick sand, glow in the dark snot, fake snow, fake rock, and so much more. We barely got time to play!! What a fun adventure.

During our badge work, we checked out our finger prints, worked with a tuning fork, experimented with color, played a bunch of games, and just had a blast!!

Finally we got to hang out at the museum, check out their new meercats at their zoo and play a bit before it was time to go home. I wish we had had more time!

Orienteering

So we connected with our old troop... well what we thought was our old troop. Turns out our "old" homeschool troop has split up into other troops as well. We got an email from a friend saying they were looking for some girls to do an orienteering program with them. We are always up for a new activity. We grabbed a couple Girl Scout friends and away we went. It turned out to be far better than our Orienteering experience at Girl Scout camp. It was great to meet some new girls and start working toward our soon to be Cadette status.

Swimming Again

Although swim team is over for the season, our high school pool opens up once a week for kids to come swim from 7-9. We try to show up every week for some exercise and fun with friends. Marley and her friend have been coming here to see eachother for two years. They were making plans to get together when I took this picture. She came over the next day to hang out in Marley's new play room.

Observation Day

So yes, Bret is missing from these pictures. She asked that we DON'T come to watch her at observation day. Marley's day was easy. Nothing else is happening on Tuesdays. But Brenda's Wednesday?? Wowee. We cooked muffins and brownies for Gaige's PTO bake sale, I sat in on the PTO meeting (I am the secretary of the PTO), I headed over to meet Bret at Brenda's dance class for Observation Day, and we went to the pool afterwards for an hour swim with friends. That day WORE me OUT!

Anyway here is the one chance I get to photograph my girls in their dance class until May's recital. Marley is wearing Bret's recital outfit from two years ago. I remember I took dance once when I was little. I quit real quick though when my sister told me that it was not cool. My girls, they love it all of them!

Treasure Hunts

So while Brenda and Bret were off delivering flyers for the neighborhood watch, I took Marley on a treasure hunt. She and I found mini pine cones, leaves, and a play spatula. Come to find out the spatula works out as a great weapon. Just put a cherry with a stem in it and fling it across the street. That thing flies all the way to the other side of the street and hits Frank's house. What fun we had with that catapolt!!

Christmas Ornaments

The holiday season has officially begun at our house. We spent the day making sequint ball ornaments. They look soo good that the girls want to make a bunch more to hang up. Brenda and Bret area already working on their second ball.

"Thrift" Shopping

Marley and I hung out at the Thrift store while Dad was shopping at the men's store for suits. We were buying time, basically, but we came home with plenty! This is Marley's favorite aisle.

Afterwards we headed to the Men's store with Marley's new toys to occupy her while I helped Bret pick out matching ties...
Yet still trying on the jewelery was the best part for her.

Tea Party Style

This is all Marley can think of lately. Tea Parties, picnics, banquets, fall feasts, etc. Every day she plans a food get together of some sort or another. Usually she sets the whole thing up herself, sometimes we even get invitations if she thinks we are too busy to show up. I am considering inviting her friends to a Tea Party for her birthday party in a few weeks.

So this first picture is Marley setting up a beach picnic for lunch.



Here, Marley invited me and a whole shlew of other guests to share our tea (juice) lunch party get-together.

Another Halloween

Trick Or Treating together. Gaige even got on a mask to get some candy with us this year. Last year in our town was a crappy time so we went to a friend's neighborhood instead and the festivities seemed a little more cheerful and good natured. No I don't think that putting on his hunting gear = dressing up for Halloween. But I am sure it was warm and toasty!



Leftover loot from one bag. The good stuff!!

Pine Cone Owls

My fried, Lisa, had one of these as a tree ornament last year. I have been dying to make them with the girls ever since I saw it... but where to find a round pine cone. Marley and I located some under a tree at the park a couple weeks ago. Aren't these the cutest little things? Bret's is in the middle. It looks like it is whispering something to the guy next to him!

The missing tooth

So Marley, who is not quite 5, has lost two teeth already. The first one she lost the day we went to the forest park to pick acorns for Bret's deer hunting. We were at the park for several hours, ending with making a big leaf pile and playing in it. (That is where I got this picture from). So from there we came home, had dinner, and... realized Marley's tooth was missing. No one knew how long it was missing or where it was. It was just gone. We did have apple slices for dinner. So we scoured the house to no avail. Finally Marley got tucked in to bed without her tooth, devistated. While I was reading to her, Dad frantically hunted his drawers until he "found" the tooth. Marley said, what is all that brown stuff in it? "Oh the blood must have dried up real fast." She went to bed satisfied and the tooth fairy didn't disappoint. So take a good look at this picture. I think it proves that her tooth fell out before we even got home. lol. I will show it to her when she is much older. We will get a good laugh at the Tooth Fairy's expense.