Just One More Thing

Happy Birthday Baby Erin!!!




Now resuming shuffling.

A New Year

We welcomed the New Year with an evening spent in the company of close friends. There was warm soup, coffee, a fire and s'mores. A total of 18 children were in attendance (divided not so evenly between four sets of parents)!!! Everyone (in our clan) made it 'til midnight. That was a big first. The next day we bummed around and had some more s'mores. That's the upside of having forgotten to bring our share on New Year's Eve!



We discussed New Year's resolutions. The Boy described them as "things you DON'T do!" Te-he! How true that often ends up being. Most of the gang did not have too many plans laid out,yet. L1 continues in her quest to accumulate a large sum of money to purchase a horse. The Boy and P3 are going to try for reading the whole Bible. The Boy tried this past year and almost made it but not quite! My sweet man's goal is to be a man worthy of my kindness and affection. (He is for real! The guy breaks my heart.)



I have a few, small personal goals. I want to learn to knit socks. I found someone in real-life who knits! She is going to help me make sense of using four needles to knit. I think it looks terribly scary. I have also been tweaking our homeschooling adventure. I want to aim for reading out loud at least two hours a day. That may be my most ambitious endeavour this year! We don't want our Advent Conspiracy to end and have decided to continue it year round. The beginning of anything, whether a pristine blank journal, a box of newly sharpened pencils or the smell of an unread book, is exciting. I am looking forward to this new year and the adventures that lie in wait.

Merry Christmas

I have plans to snuggle in this week, as the weather has finally turned cold enough to use blankets, and work our way through the holiday book basket. I am going to be taking an internet break to do some of my own personal reading and reflecting. I will be back in this little spot on the 31st! May the Lord bless each of you!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!!!

She is twelve. I may not be able to finish this post due to an electrical malfunction of my keyboard. I am not sure how well it can stand up to the amount of tears that might be shed on it. My baby girl L1 turned twelve today. I surprised her with a special trip out to lunch with her bestest friend. After lunch she spent the afternoon at her gal pal's house and then came home and spent an insane amount of time playing Howrse. She was thoroughly pleased with her day. What can I say about her? She is a mixture of sweetness, delight and a dash of tomboyness and a sharp tongue. Her first love in life at the moment (and I suspect will continue for quite some time) is horses.



She spends hours visiting our neighborhood wild mustang Adam. They have become rather close. He will come running for the fence when he sees her approaching. She has also been blessed with riding lessons. This past month she has begun jumping. L1 loves it. Her only thought is of going higher and faster. I admit to not watching most of the time.



When she can't get near a horse, she spends her time building elaborate jumps for the family dog. That dumb dog will not sit for me but will run any crazy course L1 dreams up.





My crazy girl, I love you. I love the way you make me laugh, your encouraging words and the joy you bring to my every day. Oh, I pray we will be friends one day. The best of friends. And the ironing out of you becoming you,drives us closer, not farther,apart! Happy birthday!

Birthday Goodness!

I would love you to meet Annie. She was the final birthday gift I received this year. I am over-the-moon thrilled to have her live in my house. Sadly, my house is not as cute as her acorn abode.I am eagerly looking forward to learning more about her and have enjoyed imagining what adventures lie ahead of her. I have also enjoyed the thought of being able to gloat and say," Well, yes, I have an original Annie. One of the first ones ever created!" Te-he! NOW, that does sound like fun,huh? Oh, dear sweet friend, keep creating!!!

Our Conspiracy Plan

I have mentioned briefly before my struggle with the holidays. I want to slow down once the holidays begin to come around. My desire is to savor this time with family and friends. I want to reflect on the gifts given to me. I have a yearning to simplify, dwell on those things beyond the everyday and give out of the gratitude that wells up in my heart. Every year, no matter how hard I try to beat back the onslaught of important "have-tos", "shoulds", and "expecteds", I get caught up in the crazy frenzy and miss what I so deeply desire. This year will be different. We are going to be very intentional in the giving of our time and resources. We will also be intentional about our receiving,too! The kiddos and I have often pored over this catalog. As we were making the most important birthday list we make all year, ideas for gifts from it kept coming up. After exploring this movement that is taking place, studying Year 5 from Sonlight this year and our deep desire to give, we came up with our plan. All the handmade goodies Mom makes we could sell and then use that money to buy the gifts we want to give to Jesus this year. I will be setting up a table at the Pinewood Christian Academy's Annual Craft & Book Fair (THIS RUNS DEC.10TH -15TH). We will take 50% of the sales made there to purchase our gifts. I had also wanted to set up an online store, that would be open the entire month of December and have 80% of the sales made there to go towards purchasing more gifts. BUT . . . my list was larger than my capability capacity this year. So, if you are local (or will be in the area) stop by and have a look-see at our humble offerings. The kids have a new bike(just like kids,huh?) in mind first,one daughter can not imagine anyone going without a fresh drink, and a piglet would be pure fun after reading about how important they are to some cultures. I will be posting some sneak peeks at the beginning of next week. There is a lot of whispering going on around here! I think more plans are being made.

Want to Join Us?

Yikes! Someone kindly pointed out to me that when you linked through to the video I had, it also took you to some inappropriate stuff. Sorry about that. I am still trying to figure out this whole video embedding thing. So here is a link to the user's page who made the videos for the Advent Conspiracy. There is nothing scary on his page but when you click through the videos on his site, you will be in You Tube land. Please, be wise and view You Tube with great discretion!Once again, sorry about that.

ADVENT CONSPIRACY

Here a Birthday, There a Birthday . . .

. . .Everywhere a Birthday!!! Well, at least that is how it feels around here in the fall. I celebrated my birthday at the beginning of this month. My small group had cake for me. J invited the folks over for an impromptu dinner (made by him!). I got to spend time with my sister and my "bosom" friend. All in all, it was rather lovely. I also received this book, as a gift.



I have wanted to get my hands on it ever since it came out. I just was never able to rationalize purchasing another craft book. I have been trying very hard to discipline myself and only buy what I need. I have some serious stash I need to use up around here. Know what I mean? I even went so far as to spend an evening reading the entire book, cover to cover, at the local mega-bookstore. The desire for it was not dampened. I only accomplished fanning the flames higher. So, since receiving this beauty, it has been a constant companion. I am working up quite a list. I think I will be revising it though. I truly need no list, just one of everything ,please! Beginner or experienced seamstress, put this one on your Christmas/Birthday/JustBeenAWonderfulPerson list!

Happy Birthday!!!

Amidst the wild ride last week was,we celebrated life. Sweet N3 has reached the very old and wise age of nine. At our house we usually have two birthday celebrations. One is with family and then one with friends. This year N3 had a sleepover. She had a gaggle of girls here for a Webkinz party.






There was a water balloon relay, a custom designed pin-the-cold-pack-on-the-pig-Dr.Quack's-assistant game and a raw egg on a spoon race.(I have no idea what to call these games. Sorry for the rambling descriptions.) N3 requested a Plumpy cake, which actually was not as terrifying to make as I thought it would be.



Her party went off without a hitch thanks to some very dear ladies who stepped in to help J manage the crowd. Thanks ladies!!!

My girl has quite a bit of spunk and a zany sense of humor. She is a creative spirit and like her mother, can not stp until the idea is out of her head and on the table being photographed.`

::Penny Pockets, created & photographed by N3



::Learning the fine art of breadmaking

::Playing Project Runway


::Her favorite spot

::Never without a pair of these


Off to plan the next birthday! Counting down-17 days!!!