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!

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.

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.

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!

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?

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

Enjoy!

Once the sale was over we were delighted to find that we had raised the $200 we had hoped to get. The children are saving towards the newest Nintendo game system coming out soon. We have a few more large items to advertise in the paper, so hopefully that will bring in the rest of the funds needed for the purchase of the game system.

On Sunday we recovered some from our sale, and then we eagerly geared up for a fun evening and overnight at my parents’ house. We were having a combined birthday party and camping trip. Our extended family here in town likes to get together to celebrate birthdays, so we used this excuse to recognize the birthdays of my nephews, Josiah and Nathan, and our two October girls, Laura and Amelia. Joyce and I shared the party duties. She prepared all of the food (what a great picnic buffet we had!) and I took charge of the activities. I had ordered a bunch of glow necklaces and glow bracelets online, so as the sun started to go down I started handing out the goodies. Everyone had a fun time being creative with their glowing jewelry. There were headbands, bracelets, belts, shoe decorations, earrings, braided necklaces, anklets, and even collars for the dogs present. We played several games as we all glowed, but probably the most fun was watching the children play “follow-the-leader” in the dark.

The grown-ups all wanted to sleep in their own beds that night, but the older children were eager to camp out, so we got them all tucked into their sleeping bags and tents and then we left them outside to fend for themselves.

Monday morning we all gathered again for breakfast. Nathan was up early making pancakes with Grandma. Kids enjoyed hot cocoa, and infiltrating all the morning activities was the delicious smell of wood smoke from the campfire. Mid-morning my grandmother called and asked if we’d like to get a game of “Moon” going. It’s a domino game played in the family for several generations. We were all for that idea so she came over and taught the next generation the game that we remember playing as kids. Pretty soon the adults shooed the children away and kept playing Moon fast and furiously until lunchtime.

After lunch it was time to think about returning to reality, so we started gathering up our children and our things, we hunted for missing shoes and birthday presents, we rolled up sleeping bags, folded up tents, and somehow got ourselves ready to head home.

The end is never as fun as the beginning, so there were a few grumpy faces and fussy voices. We declared “rest time” and all of us collapsed in our beds.

A rest refreshed us and we had a nice evening. Now today we need to get back into our daily routines of school and chores. As you might imagine, we’re getting off to a slow start, but I’m being patient and not taking things to seriously this morning.

Happy September!

Laura has been faithfully carrying her pets around with her everywhere. She even brought them in the van when we went to my folks’ house for dinner! She carries them upstairs to bed, outside to play, inside to sit and read for a while. She peers at them, refreshes their leaves, and admires each stage of their development.

Yesterday morning we were in the kitchen sipping hot cocoa and doing our BibleTelling and hymn study. Laura announced to the group that one of the chrysalis had turned dark, signalling the impending release of it’s occupant. We notice and admired and then continued on. A little while later, right in the middle of the first verse of “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”, Laura exclaimed, “I have a butterfly!!!” Sure enough, a beautiful Monarch was hanging from the shell of his chrysalis. As you might imagine, our song screeched to a halt and we all stared at this miracle.

Laura kept exclaiming, “I did it! I raised a butterfly!” I wanted to correct her and state that she hadn’t done a thing and that God should take the credit. But I realized that in part she did deserve a little credit. She kept the creatures safe and provided them with their food while they were still caterpillars. She was bubbling over with her feelings of triumph.

Later on we went outside and I took some photos of Laura holding the male Monarch on her finger. (Do you know how to tell males from females? We didn’t until we started reading all about them on the web.) Not only was it a precious moment for Laura to hold the butterfly who was content to stay on her finger, but it was a fun opportunity for me as an aspiring photographer to be able to get up close and personal with a normally-flighty creature. I’ve never been that close to a butterfly for so long. He was breathtakingly beautiful.

I little later Laura decided she couldn’t keep her pet confined to his wastebasket home, so she took him back outside and set him free.

As you might imagine, we are all eager to see the next chrysalis open. The big question on everyone’s mind is, “Will it be a boy or a girl?” We’ll keep you posted!