Monthly Archives: November 2012

We stopped by the house this weekend to check progress.

We have a sliding glass door.

Windows.

A bathtub.

And our front door is installed!

All the electrical stuff is wired, and the roof tiles are perched on the roof, waiting to be installed, but other than that it looks pretty much the same. The only huge difference we noticed is that 4 other houses on our street that were just foundations are now at the same spot that ours is at, even though our house was started first. I’m guessing they just like to get them all to the same spot and then move forward from there. We should be getting a call any day now to do a prelimenary walkthrough before they put up drywall, and then after that it will be about 6 weeks until completion! So, at the very latest, we should be in by the beginning of February. Not very long now!

This is the window in the schoolroom. The schoolroom is at the very front of the house, and is the largest of the bedrooms. We thought about putting the girls in this room, but we didn’t like the idea of their bedroom having a window that was accessible from the street.

Jackson answering the front door, lol! He looks so grown up in this picture!

I probably should start cleaning and packing, but I’m a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to start. This weekend we are moving the two girls together into one bedroom. I figured that I’d rather get them accustomed to sharing a bedroom now rather than the night that we move into the new house. Once they are in one room, we will have London’s old room completely open to store packed boxes in. We need to repaint Jackson and London’s room back to their original colors, which will be a huge task.

I think I’ll just start with the junk drawer in the kitchen. 🙂

So, for many moons now, I’ve wanted to do some sort of advent countdown with the children that was more than just opening a door and retrieving candy. We try very, very hard to make sure that our children understand the real reason for the holiday. It isn’t about presents, Santa, or some creepy looking Elf hanging out on the shelf (someone will really have to explain that whole thing to me…I just don’t get it, lol! WHY would I create more work for myself with this thing?). It’s celebrating the birth of Christ, God becoming man, the covenant fulfilled, the birth of Light into a world of darkness. Our children know all of this, but I wanted a way to bring these truths to their hearts daily in a way that they were excited about.

A few months ago, I found A Meaningful Christmas. Its a 24 day devotional made specifically for children, starting with the creation of the world and ending with Christ. There is a symbolic ornament for each day to go with the devotional. Now, here is one of the best parts.

You chose 23 girlfriends.

You assign an ornament to each of them.

You have a party.

With 23 of your girlfriends.

(Did you get that? A party. With 23 friends. Joy.)

You all swap the ornaments you’ve created, meaning that you come home with a full set of ornaments to go along with your devotions!

Would you like to see them? (Of course you do.)

{Day 1-Day 5}

{Day 6-Day 10}

{Day 11-Day 18} I didn’t get a picture of Day 12

{Day 19-Day 24}

Aren’t these just fabulous? So, as I mentioned earlier, each day has a devotion focused on some part of the great story of the world. Each of the girls took that devotion and came up with an ornament to symbolize the truths taught in their particular day.

At our party, we had yummy treats.

Basically, it was like Thanksgiving all over again.

{minus anything remotely healthy. wait! i see broccoli! but i didn’t eat that. i think i ate a bell pepper strip, but i dunked it in ranch, therefore it doesn’t count.}

We took the time to have everyone explain why they chose the design they did, and had each person share one Christmas tradition that they already do in their families. It was awesome to hear some of the things everyone does, and I think we all got some really great ideas!

I could NOT have done it without these girls! I knew I wanted to do this, but there is no way I could have pulled this off myself. Best friends rock.

{Jeannie, Christine, Hitomi, Me, Sarita}

The only sad part about the evening is the fact that once you do it, you don’t get to repeat it! We all had such a wonderful time!

So, if you are interested in doing a party next year, check out A Meaningful Christmas by clicking {here}.

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

About a month ago, I saw a cute costume idea for Halloween. Indians, but with a different spin, made perfect for the 4 and under girl crowd.

I decided immediately that our Thanksgiving feast must include two little indians.

It was quite easy to pull off. Make a few tutus (took about 30 minutes), use leather fringe to create belts and armbands (not pictured), and use a leather strap and some feathers to create a simple headdress.

Add some braids and wah-la! Instant cute Indians to celebrate with! We had taken the whole week to learn about the real first Thanksgiving (or Harvest Feast as it was called) that took place in 1621. We read books and made suitcases for our voyage, made packing lists (Jackson included the iPad…shocker!), and wrote stories about what it would be like on the Mayflower. We wrote about what our days would be like around our village, and learned about the traditions and lifestyles of the Wampanoag tribe who kept the Pilgrims alive those first grim years. One of our favorite books was one of the Magic Treehouse books called “Thanksgiving Thursday”.

Our Thanksgiving Feast was loads of fun! It was a great celebration with mine and Greg’s family included, which was wonderful. My Dad and stepmom came up to Jan’s house, along with the Strachan’s (Greg’s brother and his family) and friends of Jan and Jerry. It was a lovely time…there is just something about a house full of people and food!

It really isn’t a holiday without a game of football in the street.

London loved playing “brown ball”. Funnily enough, neighbors noticed the two girls playing in the street and brought their families out to see the “little indians”, lol! They got lots of compliments on their attire!

This striking gentleman is just growing, growing, growing. I thought he looked taller; sure enough, I measured him and he’s grown over an inch in the past two months!

I love this picture. Nana’s piano has always been a place that the children love to go. I have memories of Jackson sitting there, banging on the keys when he was just a wee lad. All three of them together on that bench is just precious to me.

The day after Thanksgiving is spent decorating our house for Christmas, both inside and out. In the evening, we always have chili and cornbread, and then put up our Christmas tree. We pop popcorn and put on Elf.

We have favorite ornaments. The train was from the year we went to the Polar Express up north. We also have the bell that Santa gave Jackson (no, we don’t “do” Santa, but the kids know of him and the story) on a ribbon hanging from the tree. Every time we go to Disney we pick up an ornament, no matter the time of year. So far we have 3. I’m sure there will come a time when Mouse ears are easily spotted among the greenery. And, of course, we have our “Our First Christmas” ornament…one of the very first we’ve every received. It always has a center spot on our tree, and I love hanging it each year.

I can hardly believe that its all up again. This year has flown by. Sadly, this was the last time we will decorate this house for Christmas. A tad bittersweet, actually. When Christmas is over, we won’t just be packing up our holiday stuff, but our entire house.

I think I will relish in the calm before the storm.

So, onward with steaming cups of cocoa and twinkling lights.

If only the temperature would get below 80. 🙂

Mmmm…chocolate…

Scene: Brooklyn’s Room
Time: Morning

Me: Good morning, Brooklyn! *sniff* Oh, I think we need to change your pants before breakfast!
B: Nope. Me not poopy.
Me: It smells stinky. I think you are.
Brooklyn: *sniff* *sniff* Smells like chocolate!
Me: (laughing) No, it sure doesn’t smell like chocolate!
Brooklyn: *sniff* Yep! Chocolate!

I’m thankful that I live in a country where we have election days.

I’m even more thankful that those days come to an end.

People just get so full of hate. Irrational arguments. Fallacies that make my head spin. My timing in leaving Facebook was superior; I didn’t see ANY of the mud last night that I know was being slung around. We don’t have cable, so we were spared the ridiculous ad campaigns that don’t change perspectives, but rather just further stoke the fire.

Instead, I got to see the election, one of the great things that makes our country different, from the eyes of my six year old.

It started a few weeks ago. Jackson started asking questions. Questions about voting and debates and the candidates. I explained it all to him, and explained what each candidate was for. I explained why we were backing our candidate. He decided to do the same. That night, he prayed for the maturity I wish most adults had: “God, please help us to respect whoever gets elected.” We had a conversation earlier in the day that God calls us to follow our government and obey the laws of the land and our leaders. He got it.

This week was election week, and we did all sorts of things! He created his own “If I were President” book, with his platform being “to stop people from painting on the walls” (I’m guessing this relates somehow to his sisters). He promised to work really hard, and illustrated it with a red faced man sweating, lol!

Then the big night came! I had printed out a map of the country and an electoral vote tracker, and he sat and watched the results come in. He was excited at first, and I thought he would do it for a few minutes and then move on.

Oh no, my friends. He sat, watching minute by minute coverage from 5:30-8:30! He asked me to bring him snacks and water! He did not move from that spot, and would give me updates on the states and popular vote count (the website we were following gave updates every single minute!). He would cheer when states would flip the color we wanted, and was so involved. Finally at 8:30 when Mama noticed him rubbing his eyes, I decided it was time to go. The electoral vote was tied…162 to 162. It was right before it switched to an Obama lead, and Jackson had been watching the states that were left closely. “Mom, I think Obama is going to win.” A little over an hour after he went to bed, the race was called.

I broke the news to him that his candidate lost last night when he woke up this morning.

“Oh.” He replied. “Well, at least he won Arizona!”. Now there’s the attitude, sport! Lol!

It was the most fun I’ve ever had on an election night. Watching him discover what its all about, rooting for a cause, and finally accepting defeat was a lesson to me. Sure, he didn’t understand all the causes and consequences of the decision that America made last night…but he was delighted in the freedom we had to make those choices. I found delight in it through him.

He begged to do it again in four more years.

I’m sure I will beg him to as well.

Confession: We don’t trick or treat.

At least, not until this year. It wasn’t really for any particular reason; I honestly just didn’t want to drag babies around street by street. London and Brooklyn would have needed a stroller, and Jackson wasn’t super interested, so we just hadn’t made the effort. We always went to a fall festival party that our friends threw a few days before and would call it good.

This year, however, we were invited over to my bestie’s house for dinner and trick-or-treating in her neighborhood, which sounded like a blast to me! She lives in an awesome little speck of Gilbert and going out in a pack seemed like so much more fun to me. So, that’s what we did and had a BLAST! I’m glad we waited until this year to do it; all the children could walk on their own and loved going up to the houses and were so polite. It was just so much fun!

Jackson was a tornado! This one took a little thinking on my part, lol! Basically, I got a foam wreath from Hobby Lobby, some black and gray tulle, and black ribbon. I wrapped the wreath with the black ribbon and then made a criss-cross pattern over the top of the wreath so it would balance on his shoulders. Then I hot glued the tulle to the top, and the wrapped and stapled, wrapped and stapled, and wrapped and stapled, making sure to use both the gray and the black! I then put a layer of tulle over the top of the funnel to keep it all together. Stick some sticks and glue some cars and wah-la! An EF 4.

Brooklyn was a ladybug! Nana bought the girls these adorable costumes from Cracker Barrel (who knew?) and the girls just loved them. What I love about them is that they were well made, so now they are in the dress up box!

London was an angel! She LOVED this costume! Most people thought she was a princess, but she’d show them the wings and insisted on angel, lol!

Right before we went out, we made the kids take pictures (there were 7 total!). One dad commented that it was like Prom. It sort of was!

So, most people knew what Jackson was, ESPECIALLY if they were from the Mid-west, lol! In fact, we went up to one house and the woman knew right away. She commented that she was from Kansas and that was probably the scariest costume she’d seen all night, lol! One kid thought Jackson was a burnt marshmallow, lol!

The dogs finally ruined it for London. I don’t know what it is, but some people just don’t get that dogs and kids don’t always mix, especially when these kids are dressed up. One dog got in London’s face and barked, and that was the end of it for her. “I not gonna take anymow chances wit those doggies!”, she said. I don’t blame her, lol! One dog was AWESOME though. He was a white dog and his owners had put black stripes on him to make him look like a jail-dog.

Brooklyn had no fear! She’d hold our hand on the sidewalk, but when we’d get to a house, she’d demand to be set free (“I do it myself!”) and would run up to the door with her tiny “Tick oh Tweets!”. She was so cute I almost cried. Towards the end I was her pack mule, hauling her candy as she plotted her course of action for the next house.

The kids had a blast, and so did we! I honestly can’t wait until next year, lol!