Easter weekend

We had a nice Easter this past weekend. Gorgeous sunny weather, kids who love, love, love hunting Easter eggs, and uncles who don't mind hiding them.

My mom cooked dinner for us, and all of us kids got together with our assorted munchkins. I swore I took more pictures, but I guess I didn't. There were a few other ones (I have one hilarious shot of Alex sneering his nose while holding up an egg full of candy, but it's not blogworthy).

 I've meant to blog about this all week, but that meant sorting through my (lame) pictures and looking for ones that weren't lame. We had such a nice time, and my pictures don't convey that.

Good thing it's not this weekend! It's supposed to rain and thunder.

Happy Easter and birthday baby

Happy Easter, everybody! Yesterday was the baby's first birthday. Here she is, enjoying her obligatory birthday cupcake.

The next time she has an Easter birthday, she'll be old enough to really enjoy it. Presents and extra candy!

Hope you all have a very blessed Easter Sunday. :-)

Tuesday ramble

I had a few minutes to sit down and update blogs. And now that I'm sitting here, I can't think of anything to say.

Not much has been going on since Christmas. I'm glad it's over, personally. So much stress and anxiety. I do think that I ought to become Orthodox, just to celebrate Christmas on January 6th. Think of all the loot I could pick up during the post-Christmas sales!

Or Catholic. Do Catholics celebrate on the 6th or the 25th? My ignorance of this is embarrassing.

I got a bunch of great books that I've been wanting all year. Those on top of my unread library books, I'm all set. I've also been devouring freebies via Kindle. I haven't read so many genres in a long time.

It's also a good way to read books I'm not sure about *cough*christianfantasy*cough* without shelling out 20 bucks for them, then being stuck with a lemon on my bookshelf.

Although, since we got rid of the sofa and chair, there's nowhere to sit in here. I'm going to go shopping after new year's and see what I can scrounge up.

The poor munchkins haven't had any of their new books read to them, because it's so hard to sit on the floor and read to them.

So there you have it. Not much going on to speak of. The sick munchkin is finally well, but she was sick for an entire week. This morning she played with toys, and I was so relieved.

Christmas 2011

Even though a sick child necessitated canceling our family get together on Christmas eve, it was a nice Christmas anyway.

Childlike Christmas - unintentionally busy

This is the spot where the couch was. Now there is a Christmas tree. This happened this morning.

Our couch and chair were on loan from my mother-in-law. I wanted to get some new furniture, so we arranged to move her sofa and chair to storage. For some reason, that didn't actually happen until this morning.

The couch had accumulated a lot of junk beneath it and behind it. So as I was frantically trying to clean up this fantastic mess, the guy shows up at the door to fix the cracked tile in the bathroom. (We put in the work request about a week ago and I forgot all about it.)

So my hubby and my brother hauled the furniture out, I cleaned the living room with three enthusiastic munchkins underfoot, and the repair guy rushed in and out with various tools and minor demolition mess.

But as you can see, now it's all clean, and the Christmas tree actually touches the floor this year. The kids have been playing there nonstop.

I'm not sure how this relates to a Childlike Christmas. It was just our crazy morning today.

A Christmas story - Candle in the Forest

I thought I'd post this on both my blogs today. This is my traditional Christmas story to read every year. I always try to share it with folks online, too, as it’s just a little short story, and so lovely. No barbed sting in its tail to make you cry, unless you cry at happy endings.

Candle in the Forest
by Temple Bailey

The small girl's mother was saying, "The onions will be silver,
and the carrots will be gold--"
"And the potatoes will be ivory," said the small girl, and they
laughed together. The small girl's mother had a big white bowl in her
lap, and she was cutting up vegetables. The onions were the hardest,
because she cried over them.
"But our tears will be pearls," said the small girl's mother,
and they laughed at that and dried their eyes, and found the carrots
much easier, and the potatoes the easiest of all.
Then the next-door-neighbor came in and said, "What are you doing?"

Christmas thoughts

I informed Grandma how the munchkins had no concept of how close Christmas was. She graciously found this calendar for them. We hung it up and the munchkins have ritually moved the marker each day.

The anticipation is building. I love it when the munchkins tell me they want such and such for Christmas. I get to shrug and say with an all-knowing air, "You'll have to wait until Christmas and see." Then they look at the little calendar and count the days. I remember doing the same when I was little.

When I was young, Mom had this counted cross stitch Christmas tree with bells sewed to it, and little ornaments to hang on the bells for each day. They were so tiny that the least breeze knocked the ornaments off, so there was always a sprinkling of tiny candy canes and gingerbread men on the floor beneath it.

Ahh, good memories.

Childlike Christmas and chats

Going to cram two memes into today's post!

First off, Pom Pom's Childlike Christmas. It's my first time participating.

Here's one of the little waifs, looking very Tiny Tim in mommy's big hoodie.

Seeing as they're only 4, 2, and 8 months, they're just trying to grasp this whole Christmas thing. They understand the whole "getting presents" thing very well. We're doing Advent candles with Bible reading in the evenings, so hopefully they'll have some idea about the Christmas story.

On Saturday we went to the library, and they went to the storytime thing the library puts on for the kids. The lady had a craft afterward where all the kids made paper ornaments with glitter and those little fuzzy balls and stickers.

I should have taken a picture right after we got home, because they had a lot more stuff on them.

As you see, the fuzzy balls and most of the stickers have been peeled off for use elsewhere.

I'm sad to say, I don't have many pithy thoughts about seeing Christmas through a child's eyes. I feel like that's how I see life right now, and it's actually more difficult to see Christmas as an adult! I do wish I had a nativity creche, so they could play with the little Mary and Joseph and Jesus. Maybe next year.

Now on to Patrice's Farmhouse Porch Chats:

Have you ever had a blog slump?

Yep, all the time. Usually when I'm terribly busy, or sick, or tired. I just have nothing to say, so I look at my blogs and go, "Eh."

Lately I've been playing games with my husband in the evenings, and it's really cut into my blogging. But it makes my hubby so happy. And I've read stuff that talks about how you should keep playing with your husband, because that's what you did when you were dating, right?

What's your favorite way to serve hot chocolate (cocoa)? Marshmallows on top? Whipped Cream? A cinnamon stick?

Marshmallows or whipped cream. The best hot chocolate is the kind where you heat the milk and cocoa and sugar on the stove to make a hot base, then mix it with milk to cool it off. Man, that is the absolute best.

How do you handle it when you see someone you think you know, but cannot place? Do you approach them and ask, shy away, or just go home and hope you don't think of it at 2am?

I remember names, but not faces. I've heard that this is a trained skill, and alas, I never trained it. I'll see someone, smile vaguely at them, and go the other way, wondering why they look familiar.

What was your position in your family? Were you the oldest, a middle child, the youngest or an only child?

I'm the oldest of six. That means I handed down the smacketh from on high when I thought Mom and Dad were being too soft.

And now I have a son who does the same thing. And I don't like it. Oh, the irony.

How do you handle accumulated possessions (stuff)? Are you a pack-rat, a minimalist, or somewhere in between?

I hate having too much stuff. Once in a while I go on a clearing-binge and throw everything away, or haul it to Goodwill. The trouble is, I wind up getting rid of things I probably shouldn't have, and wishing for it later.

Christmas chats

I like talking about Christmas, so Patrice's questions appealed today! Also I'm sitting here listening to Sixpence None the Richer's Christmas album, and laughing my head off at Christmas Island. I want to see Santa sail up in a canoe.

What's your favorite day of the week? Why?

I really do like both days of the weekend. That'll probably change once my hubby is working, and then I'll prefer whatever days he has off. But for now, Saturday and Sunday are my Get Out Of The House days. I go to the library, and sometimes church, if I'm feeling brave about the germs. So far, out of all the times we've gone, there's been one visit that we didn't bring home some horrible bug. I've sworn church off until after the holidays. Isn't that pagan of me?

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Does Home Alone count as a Christmas movie? There's also Its A Wonderful Life, which I haven't seen in years but can probably quote it word for word. Of course, watching it re-enacted in 30 seconds by bunnies scratches the itch pretty well, too.

Is there a Christmas Carol that's special to you?

Well, I like O Come Emmanuel, but really only the haunting version by Eden's Bridge. There's just something about Celtic music ...

Is there an art or craft that you'd love to be able to do?

I keep thinking about getting some clay and letting the kids make Christmas ornaments. Then I remember how messy acrylic paints are, and I shake myself and think, "Maybe next year."

Do you have a live Christmas tree or an artificial one?

Fake one! We have a nice little 3-footer that lives in a box the rest of the year, but it's all we have room for. The kids dearly love it, and plugging it in every morning has become a ritual.

Thankful weekend

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. We met at my parents' with our spouses and children, and my folks smoked a turkey. I'm so thankful for my family!

Munchkin A ganking an uncle.

After dinner, it was time for games. Here's the gang learning how to play Resistance.

That left me and my mom to watch the munchkins. Poor Mom came down with the awful cold we've been trading around all month, and I couldn't leave her to watch five toddlers all alone.

They never held still. See how blurry my pictures turned out? Here they are, demolishing apples.

I'm so thankful that my life is fairly uneventful. I'm reading blogs about peoples' divorces, and spouses who are dying or who have died, and the heartbreak bleeds from every word. I'm so thankful that we're all healthy and we all like each other. We can weather all of life's other bumps just fine, as long as we just cling to Jesus like limpets to rocks.

November chat

Here's the munchkins shortly before we set out on our trick or treating adventure last night. We went out about dusk, because I didn't want to be out a long time after dark. We just stayed in the apartment complex, and visited apartments that had decorations up. So we visited about 8 apartments, heh. Everyone was very nice and handed out handfuls of candy, because there were no other trick or treaters.

The decorations of spider webs, witches, ghouls and skulls were a bit much for them, though.

Anyway, on to the meme! This is from Everyday Ruralty.

Alison asks: What's the biggest obstacle you've overcome or need to?

My own laziness. Always have battled it, always will battle it.

Julia asks: If you won $100,000 what changes would you make?

I'd buy some shelves and look into bunk beds for the munchkins. I think we have just enough room, as long as they were child-sized.

McGuffy Ann asks: What's the most unusual pet you've had?

A couple of iguanas. I wasn't a very good pet owner, though. My first one died because I didn't know they needed a heat lamp, and the second one only got fed when I remembered him. He eventually was given away to a guy who raises reptiles, and hopefully is immensely fat these days. I liked my chickens much better.

When do you start decorating for Christmas?

Usually in the start of December. I have, like, two decorations to put up, and a little artificial tree that the kids decorate. It still makes it feel so Christmasy in here. I do wish I had a little Nativity scene like my mom's, that the kids could play with.

What's your favorite type of magazine to read?

I used to devour Reader's Digest before their format changed to Women's Home and Garden. (Remember the Drama in Real Life column? I remember it. Sigh.) I don't really read magazines aside from the occasional cooking mag that my mom lends me. Taste of Home is always nice.

Three is company

I was folding laundry on the bed, and I had tucked Claire into the corner of Alex's bed, where she could sit up. She thought it was great fun, and so did the other two.

Today we went costume-shopping. He wanted to be a pirate.

She wanted to be a cat, but there were no cat costumes to be found. So I fell back on the ol' tiger ears and tail. I'll draw a nose and whiskers on her with makeup.

Aside from carving pumpkins, we're set for Halloween!

July 4th fun

We went to grandma's and grandpa's for the 4th of July, and had a rip-roaring waterfight on and off for most of the afternoon.

Here is Alex, learning how to squirt water from a water cannon. That tub is their pool, so they can "swim" without getting near the big pool. I looked outside at one point, and the entire pool area was full of flying water from water cannons. Alex and Holly ran around the outside of the pool fence, retrieving different types of ammunition (these squishy balls full of water). Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at that point.

And here is Claire talking to her aunt.

It was extremely cute.

We only did a few fireworks, because by the time it was dark, the munchkins were very tired. But I think the watertechnics more than made up for it. :-)

Happy Independence Day!

It's gonna be a scorcher!

Edit: And I can't spell worth beans!

Easter fun

A belated "stuff we did on Easter post"!

Easter morning, the kids got up and had to hunt for their candy, hidden inside of plastic eggs, all over the living room. Then they got to open their sugar eggs from their Grandma Jacki.

It was a breakfast of jelly beans, chocolate, and hot cross buns. They bounced off the walls for hours.

A closer look at the sugar egg that didn't get its decorations eaten off in the first hour. Isn't it gorgeous?

That afternoon, we headed to the other Grandma's to hunt eggs.

They had so much fun that their teenage uncles had a hunt of their own, for an egg containing five bucks. It was hidden deviously well and took them a long time to find.

We concluded the evening by doing communion and the Resurrection Eggs (12 eggs with little items in them that tell the story of Jesus's death and resurrection).

It was a very nice Easter. :-)

Easter frosting fail

Pioneer Woman has a tasty-sounding hot cross buns recipe. I've been snooping around for something "traditional" to cook this Easter. I looked at a lot of Matzah bread recipes, because I'd really like to try to do the whole feast of unleavened bread and Passover thing. Because, hey, Jesus fulfilled all that when he died, and it's really awesome and all that. And I really like Matzah bread.

But I just never got around to it, and I couldn't think of what to serve with it. (Soup? Hummus? Guacamole?) Whereas hot cross buns are just basically a sweet roll with frosting on it. The opposite of yeast-and-sugar-free Matzah bread, but ah well. At least I'm not baking a ham, right?

So I used a general dinner roll recipe, and did PW's technique of folding cinnamon, sugar, and raisins into the dough. You can add more spices than that, but after all that peach butter last summer, I can't stomach the thought of nutmeg.

The rolls turned out so good that we devoured them hot. I was concerned that we wouldn't have any left for me to make crosses on.

Anyway, the rolls finally cooled, and I whipped up a little vanilla buttercream frosting. I dug out the last little Ziploc bag, put frosting in it, cut off the tip, and squeezed.

Frosting emerged from the end, and also from two extra holes I didn't know were in the bag, sprouting extra little frosting-tendrils across my fingers.

Never one to say die, I managed to frost two buns before the bag shredded. So I ditched it and went, "They're just crosses. I can smear that on with my fingers!"

Fortunately I had washed my hands before this farce began.

So my hot cross buns look like this.

Big, fat, smeary crosses an inch thick in icing.

Not shown: the one that I messed up on, so I slathered the remainder of the icing in the bowl on top of it. It made a good snack.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Alex's fourth birthday

Today is Alex's fourth birthday!

He woke up this morning to find a brand new scooter waiting for him.

He hasn't quite figured out how to ride it yet, but he's got the general idea.

His grandma and cousins came over, and after a lot of playing, we did candles and cake.

Lighting candles ...

Singing happy birthday ...

And blowing out the candles.

I royally flopped the icing, so it was like this pool of pink sweet stuff that just oozed all over the cake (I had run out of butter). But the kids didn't mind.

All in all, just a nice, low-key birthday. Next up, new baby will have Birthday 0 in April, then Holly turns 2 in May. What a spring!

Happy Valentine's Day

Young lovers, without much

Save each other, isn't that enough

Paint the future, a little day by day

Making plans with no regard for what might come our way

This cup fills up so quickly

There's so much on our plate

Between the living and the learning

Some things must wait

So we never got to Paris

And found the café of our dreams

But our table holds a whole world of memories

No, we never went to Venice

And strolled the streets alone

But we built our worlds together and we got the best of both

There's still wonder in our eyes

But we see each other in a different light

Yet the future isn't always clear

Now the question is where do we go from here

This cup fills up so quickly

There's too much on our plate

Between the living and the dying

Some things must wait

So we never got to Paris

And found the café of our dreams

But our table holds a whole world of memories

No, we never went to Venice

And strolled the streets alone

But we built our worlds together and we got the best of both

We may never get to Paris

And find the café of our dreams

But our table still will hold a world of memories

If we never get to Venice

And roam the streets alone

We'll hold our worlds together and we'll keep the best of both 

So We Never Got to Paris by Out of the Gray

Listen to the song here

Thoughts in the new year

(Not my photo)

This was my Streams in the Desert for today:

"The land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deut. 11:11-12).

Today dear friends, we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it. Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes shall come, what new needs shall arise? But here is the cheering, comforting, gladdening message from our Heavenly Father, "The Lord thy God careth for it." "His eyes are upon it away to the ending of the year."

All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no drought can parch that river, "the streams whereof make glad the city of God."

The land is a land of hills and valleys. It is not all smooth nor all down hill. If life were all one dead level the dull sameness would oppress us; we want the hills and the valleys. The hills collect the rain for a hundred fruitful valleys. Ah, so it is with us! It is the hill difficulty that drives us to the throne of grace and brings down the shower of blessing; the hills, the bleak hills of life that we wonder at and perhaps grumble at, bring down the showers. How many have perished in the wilderness, buried under its golden sands, who would have lived and thriven in the hill-country; how many would have been killed by the frost, blighted with winds, swept desolate of tree and fruit but for the hill-stern, hard, rugged, so steep to climb. God's hills are a gracious protection for His people against their foes!

We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year! --N.L. Zinzendorf

Everybody's posting new year's resolutions. I'm going to have a new baby in April, so that's the big one: get through labor without too much grumbling.

Other things I'd like to do but can't really resolve to:

Make more baskets and get better at it

Try my hand at making orange or lemon marmalade

Read more classic books

Walk more and get in better shape

Enjoy my kids

Spend more time with God every day

Update my blogs more often. :-)

Presents!

Here's a sample of our present-opening carnage.

It's amazing how fast all those toys get scattered throughout the entire house, despite my best efforts to confine them to one room.