God's Gift

I love to wake up to this. Hoarfrost. I am awestruck at the sight. Everything about hoarfrost intrigues me, even the name.

It also makes an interesting science lesson. With hoarfrost clinging to every surface in sight, it's a great time to discuss the many different types of frost and the different weather conditions for each type to form. This will usually lead us to a discussion about how amazing God is. For these reasons, I am thankful we homeschool.





Other than loving the first snowfall of the year, I am not really a winter person. Sometimes I go days before going outside. I don't like to be cold. The sound of snow crunching under my feet ranks right up with the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. The old snow on the ground gets dirty and the outdoors looks downright dreary.




But when I wake up and see this, I forget all the reasons I dislike winter. I change my tune, and am happy I live in a place where I can see things such as this.

I think hoarfrost is my own personal gift from God. He knows how much I hate the cold, dreary days of winter.

So, he gives me something a little special. To let me know I am special to Him. To make me happy. To hear me rejoice in His creation!







Isn't it beautiful?

Isn't He wonderful?

Thank you, Lord!



You know just what I need.

Homeschool Video

A friend of mine sent me the link to this video clip. I'm sure it is running rampant in the homeschool community.

Squire's favorite part was "unique...geek". I have to say I laughed pretty hard at that one too.

Making a Memory

Last year at this time, Scribe kept asking me if we could make a Gingerbread House. I was always too busy. I didn't want the mess. The idea of mixing dough, making a template, baking to perfection, finding candy, and preparing the icing was too much for me. So we didn't do it.

I had disappointed my son...the son who loves to create, decorate and thrives on tradition. I felt bad every time I thought about it.





One evening I was talking to my friend, Rapunzel, on the the phone. She was decorating cookies with her son. It was something he really wanted to do. So they did it. I was perplexed. How could she, who worked full time, who kept an immaculate house, who spent her evenings running kids here and there...find the time to do such a thing?




I had to know. "How do you find the time to do things like that?"

Rapunzel replied, "Easy. I go into the grocery store. I head back to the bakery where they sell undecorated cut out cookies and colored frosting. I buy what I need, then I come home and decorate cookies with my boy. He's happy and we've made a memory."

Her words left an impression.



This year I found a gingerbread kit on sale for $8.00. My children were thrilled. But no one was more thrilled than Scribe.

We spent the afternoon creating a Masterpiece. I heard comments like, "I've always wanted to do this." "Isn't this fun?" "Let's not do it like the box shows." And my favorite...."I wish I could live in there."

Thank you Rapunzel for sharing your secret, and to whoever created the Gingerbread House Kit. Now we have made a memory. That makes my Christmas a whole lot sweeter.

Getting Ready for a Cookie Exchange

Last week (Thursday, Dec. 13th) the girls and I were invited to my friend Theresa's cookie exchange. I had a pretty busy week leading up to it and procrastinated in baking my cookies. I had planned to do it the day before, but had woke that morning with a migraine. It was the really bad kind that made me take prescription drugs (which didn't work) and those drugs make me nauseated. So I was out of commission all day...with a migraine AND nausea. I was in bed for nearly 24 hours. The Royal Offspring and The King were left to fend forthemselves.
It is never a good thing to leave 5 children unattended while their father is focused on working in the basement (he took the week off of work to finish up his loose ends). Needless to say, between the construction and the children, the house was destroyed. I won't bore you with photos, but the cleanest two rooms were the laundry room (above) and the kitchen (below).
The kitchen was not in very good condition to start baking. I had a lot of work to do around the house, including washing my Christmas Cookie Exchange Outfit, before I could even think about baking cookies for the exchange.
After I cleaned the kitchen, before I could bake my cookies, and while my clothes were washing, I had to be kind to The King. His birthday just happened to be the day I was in bed with the migraine. I felt bad that he didn't get a cake or his requested birthday meal. To top it off, he had to wait a day for his gift. (Not that he really cared--receiving gifts is not his thing.) No one knew where I had hidden his new set of knives. In fact I don't even think the children realized it had been his birthday. Instead of a party, he took four younger ones sledding, picking up their friends on the way. What a dad!
After I was kind to The King, I had to run to town to pick up kids from school, take one to piano and do a few errands. By the time I was able to start the cookies it was 4:00. I had to leave the house in TWO HOURS! I was frantically baking and preparing supper at the same time. Talk about multi tasking. Duchess knew I was in a pinch and stepped in to give me a hand. Maiden wanted to help, but she can't be trusted around the special ingredients. She is only allowed to stand by and watch. But every once in a while, I notice the faint scent of chocolate and peanut butter on her breath....that Maiden, she's a tricky one.
Duchess is my official candy unwrapper because she is the only one who doesn't eat the candy or lick her fingers in between unwrapping. Doesn't she do a nice job stacking them evenly? We made the Royal Family's favorite, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. A recipe from my dear friend Rapunzel. They are putzy little cookies to bake. First mixing the dough, then unwrapping all the candy pieces, rolling 1" balls of dough, bake for eight minutes, set for two minutes, press peanut butter cups into the cookies, immediately removing them from the mini muffin tins to cool. They are delicious and so worth the many steps involved. At 5:00 I realized I had forgotten to put my clothes in the dryer, so I did that. At 5:45 I got myself prettied up, changed the girls, packaged the cookies, changed into my Christmas Cookie Exchange Outfit (the jeans were not quite dry), and was out the door by 6:05. I was beginning to feel like Superwoman!

Here is Theresa, the hostess. She did such a nice job preparing for the party. The food and beverages were top notch. I was finally able to relax for the first time that day. Spending the evening chatting with friends...what a treat.
Then came time to load up on cookies. Mine are at the far side of the table on the left side. I still can't believe I got them done. By the time I left Theresa's, my container was filled with a variety of yummy cookies that didn't last through the weekend. I think next year I need to host a cookie exchange for large families who eat a lot of cookies. I think everyone will have to bring 12 dozen cookies--of two different varieties--24 dozen total. Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe then we will have them for more than two days. And please don't comment me and tell me to put them in the freezer, my kids are freezer hounds. They could sniff out a stray cookie hiding at the bottom of the chest freezer...under hundreds of pounds of chicken, beef, and lamb. Seriously.
Here we are, taking one cookie at a time, going round and round the table. A normal person might not get dizzy doing this. But let me tell you, going round and round is not something a recovering migraine sufferer should do.

I must point out the person at the left side of the photo wearing gray. That's Beckie. She is really pregnant and paranoid of cameras. She is an expert at avoiding them. This rare photo will be worth a lot of money one day.
There was only one mishap. Jayme's cookie platter landed on the floor. (Jayme is the one standing under the paper snowflake in the photo above.) Only an insanelycoldhearted blogger would grab a camera to document this tragic moment, and then say (outloud) "This will be great on my blog."

Note to self: Keep your blogging comments to yourself. In your excitement of discovering new and interesting blogging material, you could easily come across as an insensitive unfeeling person.

Little Red Riding Hood

Last month, my sister in law and I loaded up my van and took our kids to a children's production of Little Red Riding Hood. It was a great play, and a treat to do something special with cousins on a "school" day.

Duchess and cousin Countess before the show. My sister in law and Sir Oh.
Maiden and I. Did you notice our matching double chins?
Not knowing if this production of "Little Red Riding Hood" would have the wolf eating Grandma, I tried to prepare the girls for the possiblity. Maiden decided the play was going to be scary and when we were getting ready to leave, she came out of her room with her sleeping mask. When I told her she didn't need to take it with, she replied, "Yes I do, I will wear it if I get scared of the wolf." I wish I had a video of her reaction to one part in the play. She pulled down the mask because she thought she was going to be scared, but kept putting it up, pulling it down, up, down, up, down...she couldn't decide if she should watch or not.

The boys. Scribe, Sir Eee, Squire, and Sir Tee. See my sister in law in the background? She is showing Maiden how she will react if she gets scared of the wolf.

Here are the girls with Red Riding Hood. Maiden is making sure the wolf is no where near.

Here is the gang, minus Sir Eee. Even Maiden decided the wolf wasn't all bad. After all, he didn't eat anyone.

Little Pink Riding Boots, or Duchess, just a short time after getting home. A day at the theater can really wear a person out.

Royal Salon

Welcome to our Royal Salon. If you would like to get your hair done here, you MUST call ahead. We do not have regular business hours. Some days (like this one in particular) our salon opens before breakfast is served...and before teeth are brushed.
Maiden was the first customer of the day. Pillows were placed on the hard chair entirely for her comfort. We aim to please. If you are thinking about visiting our salon, remember you are more than welcome to bring your battery operated toothbrush along. Especially since our hours are so sporadic.
Duchess is the manager of our salon. She is an expert at using a blow dryer. She does make mistakes from time to time, and if you have long hair, you may find yourself leaving with a comb twisted and lodged firmly onto your scalp. She is very polite and honest when things like that happen, "Oh, sorry. You'll have to get that out. I can't do it." Fortunately she didn't make that mistake with Maiden.

The first step in fixing someones hair is to spray it really well with water. Duchess doesn't ask what you'd like done. She just does what she wants or thinks will look best on you.

Next step is to blow the hair dry. If you want to read while under the dryer, we have a Holy Bible available. Our goal is to make you as beautiful on the inside as we will make you on the outside. God's word can do that for you.
All our work is done with a smile with the attitude of "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23
And if you are a boy, we want you to know that we will fix your hair too. This salon is not exclusively for ladies.
Don't worry, all the water sprayed on you will be dried away with the dryer before you leave. I can't stress that enough. When I say all the water will be dried away, I mean even the water that was sprayed up your nose or into your eyes will be dried away.

Wait a minute, the managing stylist needs her time in the chair too. Just so you know, the manager chooses customers to stay after to help her put her hair in rollers. So don't make any immediate plans following your appointment.
Oh dear, an unhappy customer. I know how you feel Maiden. I've had my fair share of bad stylists do a number on my hair too. (I still have nightmares about a perm I got in middle school.) Don't worry. The day will come when you find a stylist who can read your mind. One who can work magic, who can make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Believe me, there is one out there...just for you. Sometimes it can take years to find the perfect stylist, but if you look hard enough, you will find him or her. And until you do....
You'll just have to take matters into your own hands.
And undo do what the not so perfect stylist did. Just be thankful there were no scissors involved. (I have horror stories about that too.)
I can tell you are feeling better already.

Homecoming Celebration

December 4th we celebrated the four year anniversary of our sweet Duchess coming home!!

I tried to scan in some of her homecoming photos but was having some technical difficulties. Maybe someday soon I can show you some "now and then" photos.

She knew it was her "day". The whole day we heard, "It's my anniversary. I think we should ___________." Fill in the blank with: go shopping for sleds, go sledding, bake cookies, watch a movie, etc. She was definitely working it to her advantage.

Scribe is our card maker in the family. He loves to make personalized cards. Here is the front of the card he made for Duchess.

The quality of these photos is not the greatest. After some trouble shooting, I found some pretty thick fingerprints on the lens of my camera. I fingerprinted everyone in the family under the age of 10 and found that the culprit was Maiden.

The girls in the family:

Scribe wanted a big party for Duchess. He rigged a toy gun to shoot off confetti when she opened her card and gift. (His invention backfired, so he had to throw the confetti by hand.)

After our gift and confetti celebration, we met some family and friends at our favorite Tuesday night restaurant. You'll have to guess where we eat on Tuesday's. Here's a hint:

Top it Tuesday---5 toppings, any size pizza for $11.99

Prince Charming fell asleep on the way to the restaurant. He was so tired, he didn't wake up when we put him in the high chair.

Duchess wanted to take some photos of the restaurant sign...

Look who woke up in time for pizza...

Maiden and Duchess with their cousin, Countess of Spring Lake.
A group photo:

We love you Duchess and couldn't imagine life with you. December 4th will always be a very special day for all of us!