Merry Christmas!

This year, we traveled south to Missouri to visit my parents' farm for Christmas. My brother and sister-in-law and their two adorable daughters were coming as well. We arranged with Santa Claus, on Facebook of all places, to come to our house when we got home instead of on Christmas Eve, and prepared the kids for the change.

They took it really well! I like to think that the prospect of spending a week with Grandma and Papa, Uncle Brian and Aunt Amy, and two cousins whom they rarely see trumped the materialism of a traditional Christmas morning. They're pretty great kids if I do say so myself.

The kids were sent on a treasure hunt using our Garmin Handheld GPS Navigator. Between all of us, we have three of them that we use for geocaching. The younger kids found treasures that were closer to the house and easier to find, while the older two kids had clues leading them to more clues, eventually leading them to a treasure box full of little gifts and candies which was hidden under a tree root at the big pond in the sheep pasture. We had a good time, not only finding the treasure but also exploring the pond area.

The girls found a turtle shell that had been gnawed by an animal of some kind, as well as various rocks, tree nuts, animal tracks, pretty leaves, and other bits of nature that only a kid truly knows how to treasure. I'm glad they can still see the beauty in the natural world and I hope they will continue to do so forever.

John Denver said it best in his poem, Alfie the Christmas Tree, which you can see him recite here on YouTube.

"...You see, life is a very special kind of thing
Not just for a chosen few
But for each and every living, breathing thing
Not just me and you

So when you're at Christmas prayers this year
Alfie asked me if I'd ask you
Say a prayer for the wind and the water and the wood
And those who live there too."

Me and You Friday - 12/10

Yesterday was "Me and You Day" with Matthew. I guess it sounds a little weird to dedicate a day as such, but Matthew is the kind of kid who likes to associate each day with something.

Weekends are when the girls are out of school.
Monday is Matthew and Daddy day, when he gets Tyler all to himself until the girls get home, and it's his Taekwondo day.
Tuesday is a short day at his school while I am in class.
Wednesday is a short day at his school while I study. It's also Taekwondo day.
Thursday is his long day at his school while I am in class and lab.
Friday is Me and You day.

He just needs to know what day it is (and with that comes What Time Is It? and Where Are We?) to keep himself centered. I bet he would like a calendar that he could mark the days with a big X to have a visual cue. Hmm ... maybe Santa will bring him something like that!

Anyway, yesterday was Me and You day. We headed down to Grammy's neck of the woods for lunch and then he and I went shopping together. He picked out some great little gifts for his sisters. Mancala for Hannah, Connect 4 x 4 for Clara, and Color Fillz for Rebecca.

And he picked out a coloring book for himself, ha ha. I colored with him for a while, and then he colored in that book the entire rest of the day, breaking only for supper! He was still coloring when it was time for lights out and when I got up in the moring, he was sitting in bed coloring again! He was dedicated, that is for sure. There are only a few pages left in the book that aren't colored but the desire to color has finally worn off.

Christmas Crackers

When I was a very little girl, about 5 years old, my family lived in a town called Morton-in-Marsh in England. My dad was stationed at the Air Force base nearby. I don't remember much about England, but I do remember making brass rubbings at Westminster Abbey and I remember our next door neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis.

Mr. Lewis was an elderly gentleman who was (as I remember) soft-spoken. He wore cardigan sweaters and had a book about birds and their eggs that he used to let me look at when we would visit. We would sit together and look at the bird egg book and talk.

Anyway, one year Mr. and Mrs. Lewis invited us to Christmas. On the table were these Christmas crackers, which I had not seen before. Traditionally, two people each grasp one end and pull the cracker apart. With a POP, it cracks open and little trinkets and a paper hat are revealed. The person who ends up with the larger portion of the cracker will have good luck.

This year, I'm thinking of ordering some of these Christmas Crackers from Amazon. I think it would be a fun way of introducing my own kids to this fun English tradition.



I really think they would get a kick out of them!

Christmas Countdown - 12/1

Day 1!

The girls woke up so excited to see a note in the pocket of Day 1 of the stocking. They were even more excited to feel a heavy box inside! Oh the joy of being able to actually open it before school! The note said:

Pancakes for
breakfast
AND
check back
later!

You would have thought I handed them each a $20 bill and took them to the candy store! They danced around and sang a little pancake song like they'd never had pancakes before today.

Can't wait to see them when they realize they're getting hot chocolate later!

Random Tuesday Thoughts - 11/30/10

• Even when you keep the game moving at a pretty fast speed, Monopoly is just one of those games that takes hours and hours to play. You'd think it would be easy to beat your 10, 9, and 7 year old daughters at the game, but they have way more money and properties than I do and Tyler is already bankrupt. We had to put everything in envelopes and call it a night; hopefully we can pick up where we left off sometime this week.
  
• I don't know how I am going to get everything done this week. It's just too much and I am only one person and can only be in one place at a time.
• My cats can finally come within a few feet of each other without hissing and growling. We've had them both for over a year now...
• If I was smart, I would only have 6 bowls, 6 plates, 6 cups, 6 sets of silverware, 2 pans, 2 mixing bowls, and one serving dish. Then my kitchen wouldn't get so trashed. I should get rid of the rest of it.
• It's not even officially winter yet and I'm already tired of the cold weather.
• I finally found the three girls I spent so much time babysitting when I was a teenager and young adult. So, so much time; loved them to pieces. I feel like spending so much time taking care of them taught me how to be a mother in so many ways. The youngest one still had her umbilical cord when I started babysitting her. You can't imagine my elation at connecting with the middle one, only to find that she has no memory of me at all. Still - it's good to know they are ok.
• I found 8 rolls of Scotch tape in a box in the basement. Tape in this house is like gold. I bet I could get the girls to do extra chores in exchange for pieces of tape.
  

Christmas Countdown Starts Tomorrow!

Hooray for December!

We've got our "Advent Calendar" up and I've got a list of activities for December ready to go. I hesitate to call it an Advent calendar since the way we celebrate really has nothing to do with Advent at all. In fact, Advent, always begins on the fourth Sunday before December 25th. In 2010, that would have been last Sunday, November 28th.

Instead, we typically use our calendar as a Christmas Countdown, starting on December 1st and ending on Christmas day. A couple of years ago I found a really cute stocking calendar. It's big and has pockets on the outside and room on the inside to put stuff.


So I'm trying to decide which activity to put in tomorrow's pocket from my list, because I really don't like it to be just a candy/sweet treat every day. However, our schedule tomorrow is ... busy ... to say the least:

Kids home from school - 2:45 p.m.
Ty home from work - 3:30 p.m.
Matthew Tae Kwondo - 3:45 - 4:45 p.m.
Dinner - 5:15 - 5:45 p.m.
Hannah Girl Scouts - 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Kids in bed - 8:30 p.m.

That doesn't leave much time for an actual activity in which everyone can participate.

Maybe we can have hot chocolate with our dinner. Oooh - maybe while the girls are in school, I could make those plastic stirring spoons dipped in chocolate that they can stir their cocoa with. And I could add little marshmallows! Ok, this is shaping up into something fun. I found a great hot chocolate recipe last year on www.allrecipes.com:

Rich 'N Thick Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 (1 ounce) squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Place water and chocolate in heavy medium saucepan; cook on low heat until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring constantly with wire whisk. Add sugar; mix well.
2. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Boil 3 min., stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in vanilla. Reduce heat to medium.
3. Cook until mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally.

Yes, I think this will do!

Me and You Friday

Today is Mommy and Matthew Day, otherwise known as Me and You Day! I love that I don't have school on Fridays and that we have established this time together. He looks forward to it as much as I do!

The girls have an early dismissal from school today, so we get to share part of our day with them as well. Here they are, coming in the door just a few minutes ago!



This morning we played and played with trains. We built a huge track on the floor and mixed in some ZhuZhu pet houses as tunnels and bridges. We had a good time and Matthew was a happy boy. Here is a part of the big track we built.


Hannah and Clara are happily making cookies and Rebecca and Matthew are playing with the train track. Hannah is leaving for a weekend Girl Scout camp later today so I'm glad to get a little extra time with her this afternoon.

Lazy day, but we're having fun!