Christmas Pictures

As a child, I remember counting off the days of December leading up to Christmas day. I wouldn't dare do that now; it goes by fast enough as it is! Our Christmas wasn't officially over until this past Saturday when we had our get-together with hubby's side of the family. In spite of having a few out for sickness, we had around 50 people there. Which means I was too busy visiting to take any pictures;) But here are a few pictures of my own kids and our Christmas festivities.

Christmas eve happened to land on Wednesday night this year, so we had our regular church services that evening. When we arrived back home, the kids were anxious to start their Christmas eve scavenger hunt. Here they are, ready for their first clue.
The Princess seeks guidance from the Buzz Lightyear hanging on our tree.
Rub a dub dub, three presents in a tub...

The Professor likes to try out new recipes, so I had promised him he could make the hot chocolate for Christmas eve. He made dutch hot chocolate using a recipe he found on the Taste of Home site. It was quite good. The candy cane's melted into the hot chocolate and gave it a delicious peppermint taste as well. That's coming from a professed peppermint hater (myself:).

The Princess with a mouthful of homemade sugared doughnuts, one of my own childhood favorites.
We finished the night by reading some assorted Christmas stories, including Twas the night before Christmas. Since I still had some Christmas presents to wrap, I was up past midnight that night. But I did manage to make some pecan fudge in my sleep... I haven't decided if I'm going to share that story yet. It's true, but a little scary;)

Christmas morning began with reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Which was then followed with a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage and eggs. My husband made breakfast Christmas morning. I almost feel guilty about that, but have decided instead to just call my mother-in-law blessed (referring to the virtuous woman here) and just enjoy it:)

On to the presents. Here's this years designated elf.

The Princess started piano lessons a few months ago, but really wants to learn to play the flute as well. So she received a much desired recorder to practice on for now.

The Artist put a Bible "like Dad's" at the top of his wishlist (closely followed by legos). So I ordered him one from Christianbook.com (a favorite site of mine) and had his name engraved on it, which he loved. In this picture it's blurred in order to keep our secret identities intact,lol.

The Professor loves books, so here he is with one on gardening, spys of World War II (I confess, I plan to read this one completely through myself) and an Atlas. These are all beautifully illustrated, hardback books that I found on clearance throughout the year. He's also holding a chia herb garden.
My boys also received a large lego set from their grandparents, and have been earnestly putting it together the last few days. It has 1,300 pieces, but last I checked, they were just about finished with it.

I am definitely enjoying our break from school. I've struggled the last week with a tooth infection, but thankfully had some medicine to make it more bearable, though it's wearing me out a bit. So I plan to make up for lost time in the next few days. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of completed projects to post next week.

I'm looking forward to visiting my blogging friends, and reading their after-Christmas posts as well. So post those pictures!:)

Happy 12th birthday to Mrs.Darlings Tink!

Have a wonderful Monday~

Thanksgiving

I know I'm a little late with this post;) I meant to post on Thanksgiving eve, but the whole busyness of cooking overtook me. Add to that the fact that I promised the kids they could each choose and make a dish, which somewhat prolonged the job... but it was lots of fun all around:)

The Professor made the mashed potatoes (and learned that there are lots of different things you can stick in there) the Artist made deviled eggs (reminding me of a summer picnic, but it was his choice) and the Princess made turkey cookies... she always seems to sneak cookies in somehow:)

We enjoyed stuffing ourselves after the obligatory picture was taken. The boys had each written a little essay on what they were thankful for (have to sneak those essays in where you can) and we enjoyed hearing them.

On to the games. This board game is all the craze at our house right now. It's called stratego and reminds me of another version of chess, but using numbers along with the strategy. The Princess will play this game non-stop (provided she can find willing partners) and I have noticed it is sharpening her maths skills a bit. Like I said, gotta sneak it in where you can.

All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing day.

Black Friday (I'm doubling up on posts here:). Hubby did the rush-out-to-get-the amazing-deal on this day. He was back about 30 minutes later with the items in hand (no kidding). Around 8 AM I left to pick up the usual socks and pajamas at 1/2 price, along with the boy's matching Christmas sweaters. They were Oshkosh (the sweaters) and regularly priced $32. each; I paid $13 for them! Anyway, that was pretty much the extent of my shopping, other than a few little odds and ends.

So that brings us to the present day. I plan to reorganize my bathroom today, and pull out all the Christmas decorating stuff. Hopefully we'll have our tree up by the end of the day. I didn't want to change my colors on my blog though til I had wrapped up Thanksgiving:)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. See you on Monday!

15th Wedding Anniversary

Today we celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary. Grandma will be picking up the kids this afternoon so hubby and I can have an evening out. And we plan to enjoy every minute of it!

It seems like so long ago when we were just a couple of kids who met at Christian college. Hubby had spent several years in the Navy before going to college, so we started at the same time. I remember how we planned to have a houseful of kids, and all the other plans you make when you're young and have the world before you.

Of course, you don't always realize at that point that life can throw some unexpected things at you, more so than you can imagine.

I'm not going to say that we've never had disagreements. We definitely have; and I was always right! LoL

Unfortunately, I was probably wrong more times than he was;)

The silver lining (so to speak) of those ups and downs and rough times, is that it bonds you so strongly to each other. And, without a doubt, our strong faith in God and our desire to raise our children for Him, has been the greatest influence of all.

For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness, as in health.... I think those are beautiful words. They speak commitment, unselfishness, faithfulness. Qualities that are so under-rated in our present day.

So to the man who has stuck by my side, through thick and through thin, and loves me in spite of my many flaws:

I love you with all my heart. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart. 15 years and counting...

Ladybug Birthday Party

I think I can say that the Princess's Ladybug party was a success. We had around 20 people attend, mostly kids between the ages of 6 and 12. While it was a lot of work, it was worth it to see the kids having so much fun. So here are some pics:


I had much grander plans for this cake; but I didn't realize til mid-afternoon when I went to frost it, that I was out of food coloring! So hubby brought some home, and I threw this together in about 15 minutes. So, considering that, I was pretty happy with it;)

I had to laugh at this picture; when we started opening the presents, the kids were all several feet away. But with every gift, they moved closer and closer. It was a little hard to get pictures of the Princess at that point, LOL;) It was fun to watch them get excited about someone else opening presents.

This was my BEST idea for the party. Instead of doing a cake walk, I did a walk in the garden. I picked up party favors from the Dollar store that they could pick out when they landed on the flower/insect called. It was so great- they must have walked around that circle atleast 100 times! Not a one wanted to stop at the end, they absolutely loved it. And the prizes they won went into a take home bag. They all seemed pretty happy with that.

The Princess with some Ladybug friends. There are antennaes on their hats, you just can't see them in this picture. And, in case she looks familiar, that's Mrs.Darling's Tink behind the Princess. Funny girl; she snuck into every picture she could:)



Our gift to the Princess was this ladybug tea set. I bought it online and was a little nervous of whether it would be as nice as advertised; it is absolutely adorable. And the basket is perfect for holding it all. Yes, I am as enthralled as she is with it. We're both going to have fun with this:).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS

This post is dedicated to my precious little girl.

God made the world with its towering trees,

majestic mountains and restless seas,

then paused and said,

"It needs one more thing.

Someone to laugh and dance and sing,

to walk in the woods and gather flowers,

to commune with nature in quiet hours."

So God made little girls with laughing eyes and bouncing curls,

with joyful hearts, and beautiful smiles,

enchanting ways and feminine wiles.

And when He'd completed the task He'd begun,

he was pleased and proud of the job He'd done.

For the world when seen through a little girl's eyes

greatly resembles paradise

....Author Unknown


Happy 6th Birthday Princess! We love you with all our hearts~

St.Patricks Day Happenings

Here are some pictures of our Saint Patrick's day activities :

While there was no leprechaun caught in our trap, it was quite obvious one had stopped by...

Our menu for the evening:

• Irish Salmon in Heavy Cream- My kids loved this- and it was a nice change from the usual corned beef.
• Herbed Cabbage and Potatoes
• Fresh Garlic Sourdough Loaf (after all, I'm not 100% Irish:)

My daughter absolutely loved helping me make these Lucky coin cakes, which we served with Leprecaun fizz.


Hubby trying to fool the boys with a little slight of hand.

Playing Lucky Bingo

Our little Irish Rose

After the food and festivities, we watched the Hallmark film The Magical Legend of the Leprecauns. The kids and I love this film, I'm not even going to try to quess how many times we've watched it!

Good night to all~