Is it really almost Christmas?

I say this every year, but for some reason it seems to be holding most true this year. 

Is it really almost Christmas? Wasn't it just last week that we were ringing in 2008 and wondering what the year had in store for us? Wow.  Someone once told me that the older you get the slower the days go by but the faster the years fly. So true. So true.

This year Christmas really snuck up on me.  Ever since I can remember Christmas has been my favorite time of the year. The anticipation of Christmas morning was more than I could bare.  I can remember trying to unwrap corners of the presents under the tree to sneak a peak. Oh, come one, you know you did it too! 

The baking that took place several days before Christmas is also still ingrained into my memory.  My mom had this wonderful tradition of baking bread and Christmas wreaths (super yummy sweet dough shaped into a wreath, drizzled with icing and little cherries to make the holly) for the "shut-ins" of the church and close friends nearby. Every year we would bake for an entire day - sunup until sundown - and deliver them the entire next day. Every year people waited for my mom to bring their bread and Christmas wreath. Because it was soooo good? Probably not.  It was very good, but the motivation behind the treats meant more to those people than the treats themselves. 

This year I have been thinking a lot of my own family now and what traditions we have at this time of year.  Do we keep our celebration inside our little castle, all closed up so no one else knows what is going on? Or do we take our celebration of Christ outside of our home and into the community? Sadly, I don't think we've been very influential in that area.  My new goal for the coming years is to make sure that those around us know why we celebrate Christmas. How this will be accomplished is still up for grabs, but my prayer is that next year when I say "is it really almost Christmas" the people who live closest to us will know that it is our family means when we say Merry Christmas.

Archives

I spent some time this morning importing old posts to the blog. I started blogging in 2003 back when life was slow. It's such a wonderful thing to be able to go back and read my daily thoughts and ramblings and see how God was working then and has worked since then. What a treasure.

In other news: Max went to the vet yesterday for his "boy" surgery.  We were sure not to tell him beforehand for fear of a revolt. :) I have to pick him up today. Hopefully there will be no hard feelings and all will be forgiven. I think we'll go pick up some new treats on the way.

I have decided to spend the rest of the week re-training my children in home economics and character issues in lieu of academic education. The inconsistency of the parents in this household has brought on a massive train wreck of irresponsibility, selfishness, complaining, and disobedience. I am putting on my armor and going to battle. Should you see a white flag waving from atop of my house, please come rescue me. 

Introducing ....

Max.  Max is a Labradoodle. Max is 9 months old. Max has never been potty outside or spent time on a leash or in a crate. Until meeting us. Max likes going potty outside. Max doesn't mind being on a leash. Max hates the crate. Max barks in the crate. Loudly. All night. But isn't he cute? 

Last week we made a gingerbread train. The picture on the box looked much better than our finished product. But I'm sure the professional making that one didn't have near the fun we did! (I'm tired of trying to find out why blogger is underlining this entire post. So please ignore it)

Also last week, the boys had their Medieval Feast to sum up their semester at Master's Academy. They have learned so much about this time period and it was fun to get to see the fruit of their learning. Here they are dressed in their Medieval garb - Noah's a knight. Lucas had to be a Pharisee for his portion of the show (with King Herod in the nativity pantomime) but underneath his cloak he has on a tunic, and Jacob wanted to be a peasant. Aren't they cute?

We're just livin' & survivin' right now.  Last weekend I was at the doctor with the worst sinus infection I've ever had. Confirmed by an x-ray. I'm feeling much better after antibiotics and steroids. The steroids are another post entirely, so I'll save that for a rainy day. 

I'm Baaaaack

No, I didn't run away from home. Though I've wanted to a few days over the past month. :)

I'll be back soon with updates galore.

In the meantime, I'm trying to find a new look for the blog while educating 3 children,  keeping one from destroying herself or something else, housebreaking a dog, and doing laundry.

No sweat.

Florida trip

I know I said I'd be better at posting, but who was I kidding? I can't be consistent with anything! Last weekend, we headed down to Florida with good friends of ours, the Farleys. The weather was perfect and the beach was absolutely beautiful. It's been a while since I had been to the Gulf, since we normally head to the beach in South Carolina. I had forgotten how blue the water is and how white the sand is. The kids thought we were in paradise. 

I even attended my first beach wedding. Who cares if I wa

sn't invited? If you're on a public beach, you're just asking for nosy people like me to come watch, right? :) Actually, Amy & I watched from the 

balcony of someone else's house, so hopefully we were out of sight and didn't end up in

 any pictures! Ha!

Since the beach, we've come back to reality at home. School is going well - plugging along. I've finally caught the bronchitis junk the rest of the fam

ily (including my in-laws) had a while back. It's not fun, people. I think I'd pay any amount fo

r some relief from coughing! 

Ok - enough cold-medicine-induced babbling from me. Here are some pics -

the girls doing their morning yoga:

And having swim suit issues:
Ellie dancing:

Jacob digging a hole with Mr. Mark:

The pool was freezing, even though it was heated. So the kids ended up in the hot tub:

I'm sure more beautiful pictures will come from Kyle soon - until then -

the blame game

Ellie just came in from playing outside. Her pants leg was soaked. 

I went outside to question the witnesses.

Me: Why is Ellie's pants leg wet?

Lucas: Oh, she turned on the hose.

Me: Ellie do not turn on the hose.

Ellie: I not do it. Jacob turn it on.

Me: Jacob, do not turn on the hose.

Jacob: But Lucas told me to.

Me: Lucas, do not tell anyone to turn on the hose.

Lucas: But we needed some water for mud.

Why is it that I have to go through 3 children to come back to the source of the problem?????

Should've practiced those stick people more in Kindergarten

For the month of October, K has had photoshoots every weekend. I began to think that if we didn't schedule our own kids in, we would get to Christmas and have stick drawings of the kids on our Christmas card.  So Sunday afternoon we headed out to a local park to get it done. The picture. Not the drawings.

Turns out stick people weren't such a bad idea.

After 1 1/2 hours of trying to get "the" shot, we gave up. None of the kids were listening to what they were told. I think I may have used a voice that was a bit loud and harsh a couple of times. As other people were walking by. Maybe. I'm just sayin' -

Ellie is either totally all about getting her picture made or totally doesn't want to cooperate. Seems she picked Sunday as her day to hate cameras.

The boys were incredibly silly. "Take one step left" became a 1/2 mile run to the left. "Put your arm around him" became a choke hold or hands over the face.

We were done. Convinced our children would never become competent, civil members of society, K just began clicking the camera as they randomly did their thing. And the most amazing thing happened.

He actually got some great shots. They're not pictures of perfect children, all seated and glowing for the camera. But, who am I kidding - that would be a HUGE misreprsentation of my kids. The images K captured are real. Which just reinforces his belief that pictures should capture personality - not a posed, forced smile that years from now will have no memory attached to them.

Stick people? Never. Not when one of these could grace our Christmas card this year.

chinese grapes anyone?

I was driving the Monkeys to church tonight and Noah decided to tell me a joke he made up.

Noah: What is the longest wall in the world that has grapes on it?

Me: I don't know. What is it?

Noah: The GRAPE wall of China!

I laughed the obligatory laugh, even though the whole Great Wall covered in grapes really did make me laugh.  A couple of minutes passed and I heard this exclamation from the backseat:

Jacob: I ACTUALLY GET IT! 

Hi-ya

Just overheard the boys playing.

Noah: I'm secretly a black belt in the around the house kick.

Lucas: It's not around the house, Noah. It's a roundhouse.

Noah: Well, I'm secretly a black belt. 'Cept it's not secret anymore since I just told you.

oh my aching legs

Now that the weather is cold, I've gotten out all my favorite fall/winter clothes. Last year I bought several pair of really cute jeans to replace the very old ones in my closet. They fit wonderfully so I was excited to get them back out this season. Just one problem. They didn't fit so wonderfully anymore. One pair. One pair out of 4 that I can button comfortably. There must be something in the storage box that caused a chemical reaction and made all my fabulous pants shrink, right? 

Wrong. It probably has something to do with my new found favorite bread dough recipe that I can make into the most amazing yeast rolls. Or cinnamon rolls dripping with THE best icing in the universe ------ yeah. That's gotta be the reason.

What to do? I'm not going to buy new pants. So I wash and wear the one pair that buttons and I get my rumpus onto the Wii fit. Yesterday was Day 1. I think I got a bit over zealous. I was determined to lose weight. inches. 30 minutes should do it, don't ya think? I worked hard.

What do I have to show for it today? My legs barely work. It's taking every ounce of my being to walk up and down the stairs without writhing in pain. And those jeans? yeah. They still don't button. 

Dear God, my Saviour

That's how Ellie starts all her prayers now. In her 3 year old - hard to understand - almost southern accent - way.  That is always followed by "mommy go night-night".  I assure you that it's waaaaay past her bedtime when Mommy goes night-night, but that doesn't seem to matter. Maybe she's experienced Mommy with little sleep and is praying that Mommy will go night-night very soon?????

Here are a couple of recent prayers that made me laugh 'til I almost cried.

(as she prayed with Kyle, her hand rubbing the hair on the top of his head)

"Dear God, my Saviour,

     Mommy go night-night . And Daddy got headache. Daddy head hurt bad. And ...... 

     his hair soooooo pretty. Amen."

(after coming in to wake me up from a Sunday afternoon nap)

leaning over me she said:

"Dear God my Saviour, Let me tell you something"

This one didn't make me laugh, but was very sweet. This

 was after an ambulance passed by us while driving home one afternoon.

"Dear God my Saviour, he hurt. he go to Daddy's hospital and he get better. And ..... he hurt. And ..... he go to doctor. Amen."

And, because no post would be complete without a picture - here's the most-of-the-time-sweet-but-don't-let-that-cute-face-fool-you Ellie.

 

Weekend update

Around here, weekends are usually quite full. So having a weekend with nothing planned is a rarity. This was one of those rare weekends and I have to tell you - it was fabulous.

Friday night we took the Monkeys to Olive Garden for dinner. It's obviously been a long time since we've been to the OG since we experienced sticker shock after looking at the menu. Whew - who knew pasta could be worth an ounce of gold! Praise God for a gift card from some of the kids on the soccer team that K coached - all 6 of us ate (well) for $7.00 (tip included.) 

Since Mimi and Nana  have been on my case to get them a Christmas list, we headed on over to Toys R Us to give the Monkeys a case of the "iwants" and "gimmes."  It's so very true that kids are a marketer's dream. Our children entered the store with a 5 dollar list and left with several hundred dollars worth of merchandise on their Christmas lists. These lists have now been Mommy censored and sent to the suppliers of all things fun in our house -the grandparents.  

Saturday morning we semi-slept in.  I'll never understand how the monkeys seem to be so very tired on Monday - Friday mornings - especially the oldest of the brood - but Saturdays?  They wake with a fervor I can't explain. K was gone to a photo shoot for a couple of hours so I stayed home and cleaned. J - our preschool entrepreneur - wanted to know what he could do to earn some money.  My 5 year old cleaned the inside of the van, washed cabinets, chairs & the table, picked up the shoes in the garage, and vacuumed the rugs in the garage. He earned himself $2.25. Yes, I do hire him out - please call to schedule! The rest of the day was spent cleaning, hanging out, and napping. K's parents took us out to dinner at IHOP. It was a fruitful trip since we found out that they have reinstated their kids eat free policy! HOORAY! 

We spent most of the day today at church. After church we ran home for a bit then back to church to prayer walk through a neighborhood. We stopped by the library on the way home to return books and pick up the ones on hold (my homeschooling curriculum requires so many books from the library each week, I'm surprised they don't charge me!).

The Monkeys are now happily discovering old episodes of the Muppet Show while K & I take a trip down memory lane. Who didn't love the Muppets??? I thought I was Miss Piggy when I was 4. Really. And who remembers the Muppet glasses that the fast food restaurants sold during the late 70s early 80s? We had them all. Plus Smurfs and Looney tunes. In fact, if you stop in for a visit at Nana's house down in south Mississippi, I'm sure she'll serve you up a glass of sweet tea in one of these vintage glasses. 

If you've made it to the end of this post, I applaud you. I'm barely hanging on, myself. My life - it's action packed it is. Packed with lots of noisy, swinging, climbing Monkeys. But I wouldn't have it any other way.