Pre-Advent Catch-up!

I guess we're due for a little update!  I wonder if I can keep up this blog (not that I really do, but at all!)

Remember the peg doll exchange I joined?  I volunteered to do the "purple wiseman".  I wanted him to look oriental ("from the East") and I wanted him to be ornate as possible (for a wooden peg doll).  Of course, my imagination usually outstrips my talents.  But I did manage a pretty jewel on the turban.

And I had some glitter glue for the turban and cloak, which was given a layer of mod podge along with the rest of the doll.

The way it worked was we made 10, and then at the exchange kept one of our own and got 9 other pieces to the set.

Wanna see them?

I'm pretty in love with the angels!

I'm a little mad at myself for not painting a GIFT like the other two wise men thought to do!  I had actually hoped to find a little chunk of gold rock to super glue to the doll, but hadn't gotten that done.

Anyway, it's been fun to look at pre-Advent without my other nativity sets out yet.

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As Thanksgiving approached I knew my husband had a little hankering to head to his home land...  

I think it had been a good 4-5 years since we last had Thanksgiving with my in-laws.  It might have been longer than that!  But there was one week of a break before the basketball season began, the weather looked good, so we decided to try. 

The night before we were supposed to leave, Legolas came down with a bad fever.  My husband was up all night with him and we couldn't leave.  Everyone was in tears (well, the kids).  But that day Legolas woke up feeling much better and as the day progressed, it seemed that the illness was a short one.  We kept open the possibility of going if no one else got sick that night.  The next morning, all seemed well.  Everyone still wanted to give it a try, even though we'd be a day shorter for our visit.

We were off!

I texted this picture to my Mother-in-Law to tell her we were on our way!

First pit stop: cones at Burger King!

My kids have such a great attitude towards traveling.  It is sort of like tagging along with a traveling circus.  They make it easy.

balloons from a dinner at "Red Robin" on the trip home

So, here's a random photo dump to give you an idea of the trip!

My husband always comments on the layers you can see in the rocks...his original plan was to be a geologist.  

A duet on Gramz's amazing grand piano:

Have you ever run into someone from the Southwest who complains of feeling claustrophobic in the Midwest with all of our trees?

That's because it's ALL about the SKY out there!

I bought this Christmas cactus with my Mother-in-Law probably 7 years ago.  She feeds it for me when I'm gone.  I am pretty much in love.  It's huge!

 In the one week we were there, we landed no less than THREE family birthdays and the birth of a great-grandson on Thanksgiving Day!!

So, we had cake

Cake,

Eowyn celebrated her 4th birthday the Monday before Thanksgiving, my little turkey!

And more cake (and pies)



We headed home on Sunday morning.

Thankfully we had wonderful weather and safe travels!

It was such a joyful visit and I miss my in-laws already.  But...there really is something to being HOME!  

 I got to see these little friends again!  Must have twins in your life!  I'm positively daffy over my niece and nephew.  I should probably dial it back...but I don't really see why.

 And this little guy had been taken care of by my long-suffering mother, dear woman!  Nothing like house sitting a turtle in your spare time!  They're kindof a pain because their lights need to be turned on in the morning and off at night, so, I was grateful!

And finally, the St. Andrew Novena began!! I think this must be my very favorite time of year!

7-Quick Takes: November

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Pro-Life Poster Contest

October was Respect Life Month, and our parish hosted it's annual Pro-life poster contest.  My only complaint is that there is only one winner per age group, and there are so many beautiful entries that I wish they had at least a first and second place!  In any case, the winners were announced at the Fall Festival, and Galadriel won for Level 3.  

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Piano Recital

As soon as we got home from the Fall Festival, we headed over to (another) church where Arwen and Galadriel had their first piano recital!

They were so nervous!  My parents were able to make it, which made it all the more special.  The girls did super!  

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My sister was out of town last week and Bilbo was in charge of dog-sitting.  Poor little Cricket was too lonely, even with Bilbo playing in the yard and taking her on walks in the afternoons, so we just brought her to our house for a couple of hours each day.

Sam loved chasing her around--so much smaller than our labradoodle!

She was loved and carried around so much that she had to be happy to go back to her own home to rest!

-4-

One of my very favorite times of year is the octave of All Souls, when the Church grants a plenary indulgence to a poor soul in Purgatory each day for nine days, if you visit the cemetery and pray for the dead.

We tried to stop after Mass each morning, but a couple of days we forgot and made a post-dinner dash out in our van in the pitch darkness that is now 5:00pm!  One night I told the kids to get into their pj's after dinner and then told them we were going for a drive to the cemetery.  There's something so exciting about being out at night in the dark, especially if you come home for hot chocolate!

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Sam is pretty obsessed with balls.  We rigged up some low hoops for him one afternoon and he was delighted!

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Eowyn in the schoolroom

Quite the serious 3K-student!

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I'm trying to embrace Daylight Savings "Fall back"...but as much as I tell myself it's cozy and build fires and make hot chocolate, there really is something HARD about it getting dark so early and having such long nights with so many children.  Luckily, the holidays are here and that brings a whole lot of cheer.  It looks like we might be traveling for Thanksgiving if we can all stay healthy and the weather holds!  I'm sure I'll keep you posted! 

16 Months

Today Sam is 16 months old!  He is starting to talk more, which is incredibly cute and makes me convinced that he's a genius.  What are these advanced words? Well, "up"...and "ball".  Genius, right?

Those words actually really sum up his life right now: he loves me to carry him around, and he loves to chase after a ball.  If my older boys are outside playing, he toddles around near them chasing his own mini ball.  It's a great stage--unless he just runs off toward the street or a huge mud puddle.  In fact, yesterday I had to chase him down in a neighbor's yard where my boys were playing football with a friend.  Sam saw them and took off for the fun.

Teething woes.  My kids always have terrible teething between 1 and 2 years.  They get their teeth late, and then they all come crashing through before the second birthday.  Poor Sam has had a few rough days with teething, and has a big fat new molar to show for it!

And that's about it for this little boy.   What a cutie.

Happy Weekend!

Happy Halloween!

I've got some rules when it comes to Halloween.  First rule is that every single year I remind my children what All Hallow's E'en is celebrating: the Eve of All Saint's Day.  And we DO celebrate All Saint's Day with (well, Mass, per Holy Day of Obligation) no school, festive food, and usually big parties with a bunch of kids dressed as Saints, but this year, just us, dressed as saints around the dinner table.  We also do Litanies of the Saints by song, singing "pray for us" as we sing the names of ever single saint we can possibly remember!  It takes a long time and is one of my favorite traditions ever!

Rule #2: no scary costumes, and only happy pumpkins.  The happy pumpkins was my Dad's rule, and that's probably just because he's such a sweet man and my Mom also was pretty staunchly opposed to anything yucky/dark/or scary.  I know that some people simply boycott this holiday (I used to skip the trick-or-treating because I hate the ugly stuff too) but I'm personally out to reclaim it as rightfully ours, as we wear fun costumes (if not Saints on trick-or-treating night) and go get candy before the big Feast Day.

I love fall, I love feeling neighborly, and I love kids being able to knock on anyone's door and being greeted with smiles and treats.  I think in our society where we are all isolated in our own little homes and have precious little community, this is a worthy activity.

Rule #3 (it's not a rule): I LOVE it when we can coordinate our costumes as a family!! We have gone as the "Racing Sausages" and as the "Fellowship of the Ring".  This year, we went as playing cards.  Specifically, we were a "Royal Flush", with Joker, and some Clubs thrown in for good measure (and there were too many of us to just go as one hand).

Yes, we were a LARGE group of cards (we had some cousins join in for the fun!) and yes, we received many comments on our costumes.

I thought it was a great success!

Looking forward to All Saint's Day tomorrow!!

Sweet...

I guess it's legit.

I mean, she's like my one of three blog readers, and definitely my biggest fan.

And I got a complaint: I didn't do a birthday post.

There's a reason for this.  It's a milestone birthday, and she's my oldest.  I KNOW other people don't really want to hear my thoughts on my perfect, beautiful, oldest daughter who just turned sixteen.

They don't want to know that I journaled all night before her birthday, but I didn't blog.  I was remembering the drama that surrounded the birth of my first baby: being overdue, getting mis-scheduled and sent home from the hospital on the morning of my non-induction.  Crying all that day.  Going back the next morning to deliver a 9 pound  1 ounce baby girl in about 2 1/2 hours.

Falling in love with my baby.

Over and again, every day.  Probably making the whole world groan, but...

I told you there was a reason I didn't post.  Now she's asked for one, so this is all I've got.

Mom gush.

Because, she's sassy (and silly)

she has the worlds cutest friends, and she's so cute with them!

 

She's a complete selfie queen (and I love finding them on my phone--but she's probably going to kill me for this):

 And sometimes, I find artistic still-life's of her breakfast instead:

(Hint: She's a pinterest queen too.)

 More selfies: this time with sisters

Because she's an awesome big sister.  And something of a slave to Eowyn (who she secretly loves to serve).

Those eyes!!

 I love this: she and Aragorn were having a camera war at the apple orchard, trying to get pictures of each other between the rows of apples:

You know she's my photographer.  We wouldn't have any family pictures without her.

And when she makes me crazy, it's only because we are way too much alike, so...she doesn't want to do the things that I ask her to do because I don't want to do them....  (heh heh, sorry babe).

She's my friend.  I love her.

What else can I say?

Sixteen?

Ugh.  My heart.

Growing up too fast.  WAyyyyyyy to fast for me.

I've got to go cry myself to sleep now.  I love you Arwen.

Happy belated Birthday, my sweet sweet sixteen (and yes, I can hear you groaning!)

Fast October Update

1)  Meet Harry!

Bilbo fell in love with this little guy and came home from the pet shop determined to earn money for him.  I wasn't inclined to follow through on the purchase, but my husband was up for it, so...

how I can I say no to a 9 year old boy who wants a turtle?!

(photo credit: Arwen)

 2) "Miracle of the Sun" cookies.  Of course I have to blog this, because I didn't make them (Bilbo and Galadriel did), but they turned out so cute!  The 13th was miserably dreary, so the fake sun made me very happy!

3) Sneak peek at my "purple wiseman" for a nativity co-op I joined!  I can't wait to see what the other wooden dolls will look like!  These get a coat of Mod Podge, they have faces, and I added a different sparkle to their turban (you can't really see it in this picture, but there is purple glitter on their robes).  I'll try to remember to get a picture when they're all finished!

4) Just because I want to document, Bilbo got chosen to be the Miter bearer for the Bishop's Mass at our parish's 100th Anniversary Mass.  So special!

5) We've got two birthdays this week, and the first one is today: my husband's!  He's sitting with my little girls at ballet right now, but cake is waiting for him when he gets home!

Arwen turns 16 this week!  I hope to have some fun pics to share soon!  

Have a good week!