Family Fun - Merry Christmas!

Andy decided since we were all "dressed up" we should take pictures. Here are a few shots while he was setting up the camera. Oh, and yes, we homeschool... that is our time-line behind the bench on the green wall!

Ryan is in ridiculous phase - always the clown!

Turner CAN NOT wait when the timer goes off. He shakes all over waiting for the camera to take the picture!

Ryan took some pictures of us, but I kept yelling at the dog to quit standing up to the table. So, finally I just grabber her. Here's Wonder Puppy - she's 7 months old, now.

One very ticklish little girl!

Andy told Turner to look "smooth." This is what he got!

Ryan's got the smooth look down!

After what seemed like forever, Andy decided we just couldn't take "normal" pictures. Wicket came to give him kisses!

Advent Activity 23, Candle-lit dinner

Last night, our Advent Activity was to have a candle-lit dinner. Starting about 3, the kids helped me clear off the table, put a table cloth on (that's a big deal!), find the cloth napkins, gather all the candle sticks and light the candles and then figure out what to cook for dinner. We had some ham I had bought to slice for sandwiches, so I threw that in the oven for a few hours on low to just warm up and make the house smell good. We cooked some sweet potatoes and opened a can of cranberry sauce. Hubby brought home some egg rolls from one of his co-workers, so we added those to the table. We also had some left-over creamy onion soup. After everyone was "dressed", we sat down for dinner. Allie and I wore sparkly evening gowns and the men all wore sweater vests with ties. The small men didn't match at all, and man, my dress was itchy, but we had a blast! After dinner we took some family pictures by the Christmas tree, but after looking through the pictures this morning, it seems the tree was cut out of most of the pictures. Oh, well! Here's a few snapshots of what was the first of hopefully many Advent dinner memories!

Ryan poured soy milk in the wine glasses for the kids.

Allison made the sweet potoates (mashed, from a box - we were low on groceries, oops!)

Turner set the table. He couldn't believe we were using the fine china, that's made in Japan - that boy cracks me up!

Advent Activity...Make Christmas trees

Turner is already done, but here is Allison and Ryan making theirs.

Popcorn Garland

Yesterday's Advent activity was to make popcorn garland. We decided to put the garland outside, for the birds. Wicket (wonder puppy) has enough temptations with the Christmas tree, without adding FOOD to it!

Homemade Marshmallows

So, today, our Advent activity (more on that, later) was to make marshmallows. I was skeptical. But it worked! I'll post the recipe later, but here's a couple of pictures...







Here's where I found the recipe, thanks to another friend posting on my Facebook page...
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/

Tonight we had hot cocoa while watching Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys.  The marshmallows were perfect in the cocoa.

Thanksgiving...Take 1

Here's the kid's table from Thanksgiving.  There are lots more pictures, but I really haven't gone through them, yet.  So, you just get this one... :) Enjoy!

Saturday night in Springfield

Tonight we went to Springfield with Aunt Amanda and Uncle Gerald. We started at Bass Pro and then had dinner at Golden Corral. We wanted to see Santa but the line was very long. Maybe we'll head to Macy's this week.

For snack on our first day, we were supposed to have a red, white and blue snack. I've never made a fruit flag cake, so this seemed like the perfect "excuse."

Ryan frosted the cake with white icing.

Allison did all the blueberry "stars." I don't think we had 50. We lost count.

Turner helped slice the strawberries and line them up as the red stripes.

It was SOOO Yummy!! We'll be doing this again. And it was so fun to all work together! By the way, the boys' cuuriculum is mostly American History, this year. Can you tell?

First day - Math

Both boys workin on their math work in the morning sunlight.

Turner, thinking hard!

Ryan, figuring out the right answer!

K-1st Grade

Ryan started school on August 15th, too. According to the state law, he's old enough for Kindergarten this year. He did First grade work with Turner last year, with very little problems, so this year he's doing some Second grade work. He's not doing spelling, yet, and he doesn't do as much writing as Turner. He's doing great!

School started Aug 15

Turner's first day of Second Grade was August 15th.. Wow... that means this is our third year to homeschool, already. Where has the time gone? And no, I don't have it figured out, yet!!

Sat down this morning to do some Bible study, and when I found the page I also found a Lego light saber! May God's force be with me today!

Books I've been reading

Hi... remember me?

This is just a note to share the books I've been reading, lately. A couple of years ago, I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.I loved the book, and at the time found some more books by her at a yard sale. Those books have been sitting on my shelf until right after Christmas. I finally picked up the first one, and I couldn't put it back down! The books are a series, called Mark of the Lion. The first book is A Voice in the Wind.It was a little hard for me to get into the book. There is a lot (LOT) of character development in the beginning, and there are a lot of characters. But once I was into it, I really couldn't put it down. I jumped right into the second book, An Echo in the Darkness, the same night I finished the first.I cried my eyes out during the second book. It was so uplifting, spiritually and emotionally! The second book was SO SO good, that I waited almost a month to read the third book, As Sure As the Dawn. It was also very good, but the second book is, by far, my favorite!

A couple of weeks ago, at the Library, I found another series by Francine Rivers, The Sons of Encouragement, and I picked up one of the novellas. The Priest.

I am in the middle of this book, right now. And it's all I want to do. I'm also doing a Bible study, loosely based on the Moses leading his people through the wilderness, so I'm really loving that it all ties in together! I told Andy, I've never been so excited to read an Old Testament story!!

Works for me, Wednesday (on a Thursday)

I love reading other blogs with the heading "Works for Me Wednesday". They are usually full of creative ideas for all sorts of things. So, today I'm doing one - on a Thursday!

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We struggle with too many cups for the dishwasher at the end of the day. It seems my kids have to get a new cup for every drink. The table is always full of cups. Plus, for the most part, they eat dry cereal in cups for breakfast (I have no idea why). So, I've instituted a new one-cup (for drinks)-a-day policy. I took some rubber bands and put their initials on them. Well, the rubber bands were all beige. And the initials were very small. So, yesterday I rethought the idea. I figured I needed to go to an office supply store anyway, so I'd pick up some colored rubber bands, and they would each pick a color. Then it hit me. We have colored rubber bands ALL OVER our house. They're called Silly Bandz!!! (or the generic equivalent) So, now, they place their favorite silly band on their cup in the morning, and hopefully by dinner, they're using the same cup. I'm not expecting miracles, but I've already noticed a lot less cups in the sink!!