Christmas came to me!

I have had two lovely Christmas suprises this year already! We invited over some friends for Aubendbrot and they brought along an authentic Santa! It was absolutely perfect timing since the kids had just finished watching (the original) Miracle on 34th Street and they were prepared to pull any beard on any imposter. Bro. Gallacher was so very sweet and played it up for the whole evening. The kids, of course were on the very best of behavior, such a delight!

AND Josh was fabulous and had my piano delivered early so we could use it for Christmas caroling this year! I love my piano. We play it every day and the kids are loving touching the ivorys. I just love the music in my home, even if I have to share the bench with 1, or 2, or 3 little munchkins. Best gift I have ever gotten for sure (beat out the blender Josh got me couple years back ;))!

Stockings hung all in a row

I came on the dilemma of not having a Christmas stocking for Vivy this year. Up to this point I had not formally gotten stockings for the family, just used some gifts that had been given and such. Of course I hat things being non-matching. So, instead of just getting a stocking for Viv to match the other non-matching hand-me-downs, I was compeled to put off my other needed Christmas crafts to make a shiny new stocking for everyone in the family! Figuring that was the only way that I could continue the matching tradition each year even if we have different family members every year. And, since I always look at things and wish I had done a something different, I can hold off and put a little something more on the repeat family members each year. I am pleased and it gave me some hand stitching to do, which is my favorite.

Conglomerate Catch-up

To start off....Faith can read! Well, pretty close, she is good at just sitting down and reading to herself from the books she knows, and the best part is she understands it all. Somehow yesterday at lunch we got talking about fires and what to do if our house is on fire and Faith, from her lovely "No Dragons for Tea" knew not to go back in the house for anyone or anything but to get out. She has also learned that strangers can be dangerous, thanks to this dragon book.
Danny, well, he is cute as ever. Drinking constantly which ought to give us plenty of opportunity to work on potty training....it is coming along. He also has fallen in love with 'comfy' shorts (pictured here) or pants and will search through his drawer for them and is sad if I haven't washed them. He also loves his 'running shoes' (also pictured above) because they make him run so super fast. Mostly it is a lot of arms and huffing and puffing with his fluffly hair blowing in the wind a bit.
We had visits from cousins and the kids couldn't leave her alone for a second, even to bath. All the kids have been rather particular about their sleepwear lately, putting on only their christmas jammies. It wasn't until this past week when I got a pair of christmas jammies for myself made of the micro-fleece that I understood why. I have had to keep myself from wearing the same pajamas every night too.
Saturday Nov 20 was the last preformance of "The Little Mermaid" which I have been in for nearly 5 months. I will miss the Sea Witch, she was a lot of fun. Josh was off work and brought all the kids. Danny and Faith were super excited to see the show again and Vivy has been asking to see the Sea Witch again. We shall see what comes next for my theatre life I sure have enjoyed working with the Hale Center Theatre. Josh and I went there for our date night again and watched another hilarious comedy - always good entertainment and equal the price of a movie ticket anymore.
Yes that is me in the orange dress right in front of the giant dog.


And Thanksgiving. We had our celebration on Sunday, a bit early, in order to enjoy all the blessings of family we possibly could. We had Annmarie and MJ still with us and Marshall and family could join us after church. The food was fantastic!!! Not to toot soley my own horn, but all the food was fantastic. Josh borrowed a slow cooker from the neighbors that cooked the turkey so tender and juicy....I actually really enjoyed eating it this year! We did make the observation that to make a thanksgiving dinner delicious you have to add ample amounts of butter to everything. Marsh added a stick and a half to his potatoes and it was glorious!

This year I was markedly better at making pies. The addition of lard in the crust really worked and I think I was a bit more patient with the whole process. I was most proud of the apple pie with the lattice crust. It was so pretty no one ate it! Of course I did have Mom's famous French apple pie right next to it which is the big hitter. The best part is just having family around to share it all with. Our list of gratitude has grown even longer this year as the Lord has blessed us so very very very very much. My happiest find in searching for Thanksgiving decorations this year was a plaque that says "There is always, always, always, something to be thankful for." It will be a permanent addition to our home.

Halloween 2010

A dwarf at his miniature picnic table.
One of many snow white's - yet the only one accompanied by a dwarf and old hag with poisoned apples. We did spray her hair black, which was an adventure, but sure fun to see her as a brunette!
For the Trunk-or-Treat we made the back of the van into the cottage window of the dwarf's and then had the kiddos handing out apples from inside the window while I worked the exterior convincing many a kid that my apples were poisoned. Sadly I had no one during daylight hours to take a picture of my mug, which was super convincing.
Danny later got this sucker stuck in his beard.

Tubs loves

Josh brilliantly put in a 'seeder' golf ball in the nesting boxes, and Tubs the hen matched it! Now we have one producing hen.....if only the rest would get on board. It is so fun to watch Tubs tuck the golf ball under her as she nests down and then listen to her 'delivery' as she clucks away making a nice egg for us.

Too cute not to mention

we had our saturday afternoon naps. when i left the gerbil mound Danny had been cuuddling at my shoulders and Faith sleeping on my legs, obviously far apart. when I came back in the room after cleaning house and vacuuming, I foudn them cuddled thus together. oh how lovely.

What did the Samaritan do once he got the guy to the inn?

We started the early afternoon playing in the park. Which, once the sprinklers came on, turned into playing in the sprinklers. Our plan was to enjoy the day (and avoid doing housework). On our way home for naps, we saw an injured ward member on the side of the road. We picked her up and took her to the hospital. The kids napped nicely in the car while she got admitted in the ER and they started the xrays. By the time the kids woke up she was waiting for them to splint her hand which had broke in 4 places. With still more time on our hands, we had a picnic and singing party in the back of the van. Then we went in and played in the ER waiting room a bit, and our injured was wrapped and we came home.

During the whole ordeal the kids did ask me why we were taking care of this lady. I responded "it is what Jesus would do, He would fix her owie." Then Danny got the idea in his head that Jesus must be at the hospital because that is where she was getting fixed. When we greeted her after discharge Danny exlaimed "Jesus fixed you!" I love their innocence.

Our afternoon adventure kept me thinking through the several hours about the parable of the Good Samaritan. What was his motivation when he stopped to help a bruised and broken man along his way? How long did he stay with them? What else might he have had to do that day?

which reminds me - I should probably wash that blanket free of Danny's spilled blizzard. When I asked the kids what they wanted to eat he said "Ice Cream!" Faith wanted hamburgers, which she will eat faster than anything I have yet seen her eat with no prodding.

The face that doesn't like

"Hey, Danny, whatcha been doing?"
"I dunno"
"Maybe mixing some salsa with your face?"
"Yyyyyah!"

The almost sandbox

With the very little bit of sand we had left over from creating the patio we started out what will be a fantastic sand box. The kids have not gone a day without playing in this scanty little spot of endless entertainment! Oh the simple things.

In a matter of days....

The project bug bit this past week. We figure that we might just get all the remaining indoor/outdoor big projects done before the end of one year being in our home!
We re-did the kids bathroom; wainscoat, towel pegs in ocean theme, and green paint made a huge difference!


We got the bbq patio in Josh dug the hole in one day, we filled it with rock and sand and started laying the brick when there was a dilluge so I started all the leveling and laying again another day. It took us a few stages but it is all done!


And the remainder of our trees came. I love love evergreens and these cypress frame things so very nice! We also got some trees to replace some that didn't survive the summer heat and added the apple and peach trees. The weather has been lovely and cooperative since we got them keeping it cool and raining! It even feels autumny. Although our backyard does still look pretty redneky without the grass...one week away.

Guilty

Josh was finishing a few things on the back patio. I needed to take a shower. I holler to Josh that I was getting in the shower - non direct communication meaning watch the kids. I could hear them giggling in the kitchen. That giggle gives it all away. Of course I love it when the kids play together, just so long as they leave the sour cream out of it! Danny was giggling each time one of them found another spot in the kitchen or on their person to smear more sour cream. I am just glad I got the large tub so we still had some left over for fajitas that night with the missionaries.

Another site of me

Last April I started a study group of two with my friend Kristen of the General Conference addresses. It was mostly a way to stay accountable for my weekly studying of the Gospel. I know myself well enough to know that if I don't have a deadline and a someone to report to I don't study as in depth. So I called a dear friend and we set some criteria and began one of the most lovely journeys of spiritual growth we have had with the words of the modern day prophets. Now, we are upping the stakes a little and inviting more of you to be a part of our weekly study challenge. If you would like - join the discussion and weekly topics as we do at our new high tech way of staying in touch at www.studygeneralconference.blogspot.com.

Bird Day at the Button's house

This is the nesting box that we added to the chicken coop. I am afraid it came too late, the hens, having been confined to the coop for a few days, still prefer to scratch out a little spot in the dirt right next to the box. They are pecking at the hay we put in them. Maybe a few more days and they will figure it out. Thanks for he instructions Dad, it only took Josh maybe an hour to cut and put together the box.
With a few instructions from my Dad, we had a wing clipping day. The chickens have been flying over their fence out of the coop and getting into trouble. Well, poor things, in their defense, the chickens have just been scouring the yard for something green to peck at. And thus have pecked up everything green in my yard, including anything that might possibly sprout. So, we cut their pin feathers (Josh informed me of the name of the long feathers at the end of their wings, having been educated by the movie Sword in the Stone). It is pretty easy. Once you catch the chickens, just put a sock over they head and they mostly settle down. Pull out the wings and use scissors to cut the wings. Our kiddos gathered up all the cut feathers to use in art projects later on. A few of the chickens (including my Henny Penny who is the best mannered hen in the yard) would stay after I cut and took the sock off their head to make nice again.
Chicken did not make nice - none of us have decided if she is really a hen or not because she has a bigger comb and prettier tail feathers. Either way, she can't fly anymore!

Afternoon Downtown

It is always fun to have more cousins in town to play with. We took a trip downtown to play at the science museum but they probably had more fun eating lunch in the green area and then playing in the grass. They found a fun little nest where a tree once stood and flew around gathering twigs to soften their nicely rounded nest.
My kiddos had fun eating a picnic in front of historic downtown. The old houses are lovely from the outside and eating in the shade of older trees was a treat.
This is the most representative of the answer to the question "Danny, are you eating your food?" Danny does this at every meal. Pure boy.

Faster than a speeding bullet

Finally, we found another 'boy' costume for Danny. The best part is that he really takes on the super hero persona once transformed from our docile Danny into SuperMan. He saves every princess in the house (including Josh). What a stud.

Continue Canning

I have been lost in the lovely world of empty bottles being filled, over and over and over again. My children have not been altogether neglected - although I have less pictures to prove that. I have been enriched by the chain linking me to the sink and my heritage. It has only affirmed my slow switch toward a pioneer life. The majority of those thoughts have been recorded on my 'other' blog.

oh no, I am not done yet, I still have 40 beautiful empty bottles in front of me and shelves of miraged applesauce ahead.

the utility of sleep

Josh has been working nights this month and thus needed to sleep in in the morning. He has actually trained his body quite artfully to sleep just about the right amount of time despite getting a bit interrupted by noise coming from other parts of the house. I giggled when I saw his purposed genius of extending that sleep time - construction grade ear muffs. He is convinced it helped him sleep longer than usual (although he appeared from the bedroom at the normal time as always) yet did complain that they woke him up a bit because they started to squeeze his face too much. I am convinced he saw them lying on his work bench in the garage at 3am and came up with what he believed would be a brilliant idea, yet, how many truly brilliant ideas come to a person around 3am?

They've got Skills

Scissor skills that is.


I am ultimately amazed at how quickly the kids picked up the joys of cutting paper into tiny confetti pieces. You can sense the great welling pride they have in their own fine motor skills, and with good reason! It is quite coordinated to get your thumb to work against your hand in such a sychronized fashion. It hasn't been more than a couple of weeks since I really let them start playing with scissors, now I can barely stop them. It has been helpful to their practice time that Faith and Danny both are adept at crawling up on to the counter, crouching under it while opening the over head cupboards, then standing to the perfect level to find whatever art supplies they need. It was a good plan in the beginning to put the art supplies up high so I could control when the messes occured, now I might re-think that. They are wonderful and sitting at the table to make their artsy messes. My favorite was this morning when Faith took the caps off the markers and stuck them on all 10 of her fingertips and then put them through the scissors to cut. I can understand the protective gear on the paper holding hand, but the scissoring hand did seem a bit much. She smiled, so pleased with herself, the whole time.