Well, now everyone has fallen in love with my birdy. Including me, thankfully!He is very opinionated In a very subtle way, (Oh, come on! He’s tiny!) And he loves his new cage and all the time he gets out of it! I love my new bird!

I almost have my new bird!

I went yesterday and reserved my bird, So I’m going to get him tonight!

I have landed on a name. Tangle, after the tangle toy. Go to Tangletoys.com to learn about the toys!

The gift to our family this year from Michael’s mother was a night at the movies. She specifically thought the children would enjoy seeing the movie Charlotte’s Web. It took us a while to get our act together, but finally the date was set, guests invited (Todd & Ben), and the excitement mounted. We rarely take the children to movies, so they were excited about this gift.

We couldn’t decide what to do with Judah, and I really didn’t want to wrestle him in the movie theater, so I offered to stay home with him. Michael suggested that perhaps he could stay home with Judah so I could go to the movie, but I fiercely guarded MY Christmas gift from my mother-in-law… a quiet evening at home to work on my scrapbook project.

The noisy group finally tumbled out the door leaving me with only one little companion. Quick as a wink I hurried Judah off to bed and I sat downstairs in complete silence. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh. No words. Nothing. Judah was even quiet (after his initial protest at being put to bed). I sat for a long time on the couch, looking up a few things on the computer. Finally I decided to start on my project. What a joy to be able to work in peace and quiet, with no one asking questions, no one grabbing my things. Best of all, I knew they were all having a marvelous time.

The hours flew by, and soon the gang was back, tumbling back through the door carrying big bowls of leftover popcorn (it was “bring-your-own-bucket” night!) and a cup of leftover soda. Since it was late, we didn’t have a long discussion about the movie. But the kids did share some of the highlights.

In the two days since they went to see the movie, I’ve heard lots of bits and pieces from the kids about the movie. Luke didn’t like the spider, but I think it’s because he doesn’t like spiders anyway. (The big spider scene from Lord of the Rings rather ruined him on spiders in general.) Amelia keeps reminding me that the spider died at the end. Isaac asked if it’s really true that every spider egg sack has exactly 516 eggs in it. Mike told me that all the baby spiders went away, but a few stayed. I’ve had fun asking questions and hearing their stories. I’m looking forward to seeing it when it comes out on video. But most of all, I keep remembering my very quiet evening, and that I enjoyed it very much.

It’s all my sister’s fault!!!  She mentioned that she was thinking about buying some of those new “Heelys” shoes for Nathan to take on our trip to Disney, and then I mentioned to Michael that it was an interesting idea… and next thing you know, we were in the mall, trying on shoes, and spending WAY too much money!

Thing is, Joyce only has one son to buy Heelys for.  We have FOUR children to buy for!  And buy we did.  Then we staggered out of the mall, partly because we were carrying four large shoe boxes, partly because some of us had wheels on our shoes, and partly because our credit card had taken such a blow!

But somehow it all seems worthwhile.  The kids are really enjoying their shoes, despite several fairly hard falls they’ve taken.  They have said thank you more than once, and they know that it was a major gift from us to them.

I am reminded of the Scripture that says this:

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  (Matthew 7:11)

We love to give gifts to our children.  We delight in seeing them enjoying the things we give to them.  We get tickled inside when they express genuine gratitude for the gifts we give to them.  How much more does our Father in heaven want to give gifts to us?  All we need to do is ask, like a child, trusting and waiting.  Best of all, we need to thank Him sincerely for the gifts He gives us daily.

Yesterday morning I made my usual trek to Kelly’s Bakery for coffee and a cinnamon roll. The trip was extra special because my sister-in-law Mary and our girls, Laura and Hannah, joined the breakfast party.

While we were there, we saw a notice that Kelly’s would be hosting a gingerbread-house-building party that very evening! It only cost $7 per house, which seemed very reasonable to me! If I were to try to make gingerbread houses myself, I would have to mix up the cookie dough, cut out the right shapes, make the icing, buy many different bags of candy, and then create all the mess of assembling the houses and THEN actually think about cleaning up after the project was over. Whew! The very thought makes me quake in my culinary boots.

After getting part-way through our day, I realized it would probably work out to take the children, so I called and made reservations for our party of five: Laura, Isaac, Luke, Amelia, and Hannah.

What fun we had! Kelly had thought of everything! The gingerbread was sturdy, there was plenty of icing, there was a dish of mixed candy for each creator, a cup of graham cereal “roof tiles”, and even a little dish of coconut for the “snow”.

We spent two hours there and the children worked so diligently on their houses. I loved watching them build and create and interact.

Our adventure was worth every penny. Actually, it was worth twice the price. Now that I’ve made gingerbread houses at Kelly’s, I know without a doubt I’ll never make them in my own house.

P.S. Would you like to see a photo album of our adventure? Check out my gallery!

So, what are you going to do during this frantic shopping season which is quickly approaching? In past years I’ve done the “get up before dawn to get to the doorbuster deals” thing, but this year I don’t think I want to do that. I’m thinking about going to some of the more interesting, smaller shops around town that might have a less pushy crowd. But I just finished looking at the Meijer Thanksgiving ads, and I’m already drooling at the good deals. Hopefully I’ll manage to talk myself out of joining the throng of spenders there.

What about you? Do you shop during the Thanksgiving holiday? Or do you avoid it like the plague? If you’re going to shop this year, what are you looking for?

We are really enjoying all the little facets of our new kitchen. One popular place is the island. We’ve used it for meals, for play-doh, for painting projects, and for piling clutter. I made cinnamon rolls there one day, marvelling in all the work space I had! But the most interesting use so far has been watching the kids play with the plastic tiles that have never had a good place to be arranged. Isaac has particularly been challenged to make a checker board, a triple-layer chess board, and other fun designs. Laura figured out that adding play-doh to the tiles makes them into building blocks, and she and Isaac made a fun fort for his army guys.

But as you might imagine, all is not as we always hope it would be in our little world. Many times Judah will push a chair over to the island and try to join in the fun. He has his best success when everyone has abandoned the kitchen and he can work uninterrupted. You can see here how much he LOVES playing with the tiles!!!

This past weekend Michael made more little improvements in the kitchen. Now I finally have the “all clear” to start moving all of my kitchen stuff in from the boxes in storage. I can’t wait to open boxes and discover treasures I’ve forgotten.

Have a great Monday!

If you want to see the latest photos in my gallery, check out this link!

If that doesn’t work, just click on the link to the gallery on the right side of this page.

Enjoy!

What a weekend! We have been working up to having a garage sale, and this past Friday and Saturday were the big days. Read the rest of this entry »

You may remember that Laura found a Monarch caterpillar. Since then she has found two more caterpillars to keep the first one company, and two of the three have formed their chrysalis in their final stage before becoming a butterfly. The original applesauce jar was quickly outgrown, so I offered a metal mesh wastebasket as the new caterpillar habitat. Read the rest of this entry »