My Thoughtful Spot

Sisters: Super Snow Edition

Two Things I Love About December

Worker was born on December 11th,

 

and Snuggler was born on December 12th.

This year they turned eleven years old and nine years old, respectively. I often whine and complain about this and that, but I know that watching them grow has been a privilege, one that I am grateful for... especially in December. So no more whining!
 

Pretty Lights: A Home Tour

It's the fourth Sunday of Advent already. My, how time is flying. The tour begins here, at the kitchen table, with our Advent wreath. (It looks like I took these pictures during the second week, before Hannah learned how to climb on the table and before she broke the pink candle.)

 

At the beginning of this month, I set some loose limits for my computer time. I told myself that I'd only come online at night, after I put the kids to bed, and for the most part, I've stuck with that. Much of that time was spent Christmas shopping and working on finances with Bobby (which explains the lack of blog posts). Here we are in the dining room. I put the Willow Tree Nativity on the hutch this year so that Hannah wouldn't be tempted to play with it.

And in the living room, you'll see my Dicken's Village.

I wrote a post about this collection back when I was in the habit of writing ridiculously long posts about things that are exciting to me, like a certain story by Charles Dickens.

Anyway, here is our tree. The ornaments seem to be congregating in the upper half of the tree as they like to do when there's a toddler in the house.

We have three more trees... one in the master bedroom,

one in the boys' room,

and one in the girls' room.

Worker set up his own village complete with a Jack Jack figurine in the black convertible. Oh... and are the people in the old station wagon bringing home a Christmas tree? That's cute.

The wooden letters (which don't count as pretty lights, but I took a picture of them anyway) are in the school room this year.

And here in the upstairs hall is our picture study print for December - Adoration of the Shepherds.

And lastly are the lights that welcome me home when I go out at night (if I don't stay out too late).

Thanks for joining me on the tour. I may be blogging more now that we are beginning our school vacation.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

The Annual Tree Trimming Party

Bobby, the kids, and me, a snacky sort of dinner that always includes Cheese Whiz, Christmas music blaring, a huge temporary mess (not shown), assembling the tree, a trip to Walmart for new lights (only this year), putting up ornaments and the angel, watching a movie by the cozy glow of Christmas lights, making family memories...

 

 
 
 
 
 

Thanksgiving 2009

Watching the Macy's parade

Scrubbing dusty cookware

Peeling lessons

The dining room table

The kids' table

Close-up of the dancing turkey banner

The centerpiece Worker made with my teapot

"Go Bobby!"

My Mom and Bob

Buddies - Snuggler with his cousin Patrick

 
 
 
It was a great, relaxing day. I have so much to be thankful for. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving too.
 
  
 
 
 

Found in My Camera

 
 
 

My First Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY November 29th, 2009...

Outside my window... I am writing this at night. I can see pretty Christmas lights on our bushes.

I am thinking... about nothing in particular, which is really unusual for me.

I am thankful for... my family, my home, my friends, and God, who picked me up and put me on my feet, and who is always here for me.

From the learning rooms... I just made up checklists for the entire month of December for everyone's independent work. Together we'll be doing Jesse Tree readings, singing Christmas carols, baking, listening to books on CD, making some Christmas ornaments, taking nature walks and watching movies.

From the kitchen... I ate a Thanksgiving wrap for dinner. To make one, you take a tortilla, put some leftover turkey on it, add some stuffing and some cranberry sauce, roll it up and heat it in the microwave for one minute.

I am wearing... a long sleeve purple (for the first day of Advent) v-neck T-shirt, a long denim skirt, black leggings, and gray wool socks.

I am creating... very slowly... a new blog about living more simply. But mostly I'm freewriting on lined paper whatever thoughts come to mind about minimalism, letting go of stuff, of fears, of control, etc.

I am going... to bed past my bedtime tonight. Ooops.

I am reading... a few blogs, articles about Tiger Woods' accident, the Magnificat, and the Bible (occasionally). I've been on a movie kick this week.

I am hoping... to start cleaning out my basement, but only if my regular daily chores are caught up.

I am hearing... the humming of the PC and nothing else. Yes!

Around the house... decorating is in full swing. The tree is up, electric candles are in the windows, the Willow Tree nativity is out on the hutch, and the air smells of Balsam & Cedar, Home for the Holidays and Christmas Cookie. (Sorry, I'm too tired to link to those Yankee Candles.)

One of my favorite things... is my husband, who cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for my family, and who watched the kids this weekend while I enjoyed my birthday facial, manicure and pedicure, went to breakfast with a friend, went to the adoration chapel, went here and there and everywhere.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Wow, this daybook is long. Let's see... I'm going to see A Christmas Carol with my sister, Bobby and I have a Christmas Dinner on Friday night with friends from our parish's PreCana team, and Saturday night will be the boys' birthday party.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The other daybook (or, if they're like mine, nightbook) entries can be found at The Simple Woman's Daybook blog.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1.  I spent about a half hour yesterday holding Hannah (who's 16 months old now), while she made a sound like mmmm-moi and then gave me a wet kiss. Over and over. It's definitely a benefit of my job.

2.  Almost every morning when Bobby (my dear husband) leaves for his office, I stand in the doorway of the garage while he gets into his vehicle, and he says, "Have a great day at your awesome job!"

3. Bobby and I have been talking about things like high ideals, never reaching perfection, always trying to improve, not settling for mediocrity, and being satisfied with patient progress. These are the kinds of topics that come up in conversations with people with blog names like My Thoughtful Spot.

4.  I joined twitter just to ask Leo Babauta from Zen Habits if he knew of any blogging minimalist homeschooling families. I was psyched that he responded to my question, but his answer was: No, but if you find blogging minimalist homeschooling families, let me know. Bummer.

5.  Bobby gave me a gift card for a spa treatment for my 40th birthday. I have plans on Black Friday to go to this spa with a new friend of mine, who is also turning 40 soon. I'm so excited!

6.  I've been unsubscribing to business emails all week. And my inbox currently has 5 messages in it. Can I keep it current now? We'll see.

7.  I was pretty grossed out by the soft boiled eggs I made for breakfast Thursday morning. Hannah, on the other hand, enjoyed them. She was an egghead, literally.

See more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary.

 

 

As Snuggler Sees It

"It would be really easy to be healthy, if chocolate were good for you."

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Autumn Series - Squirrels

We were on vacation in Plymouth, MA last week during the Outdoor Hour Challenge #7: to learn about squirrels. I didn't pack The Handbook of Nature Study or the Squirrel Notebook Pages, and we didn't really learn much about squirrels, BUT (you knew there was a but, right?) we had one AWESOME nature walk!

The kids were spotting squirrels wherever we went. We'd stop and watch them, and I'd try to take a good picture of them, but those little buggers are quick. This guy lives at Plimoth Plantation.

One of the kids spotted this one while I was parking our van at Brewster Gardens.

The Jenney Grist Mill. Here we saw a squirrel running away with an apple core. (I couldn't catch him with the camera.)
 

 

It was windy and cold. I was happy that we didn't get all the rain that was predicted. Some of the kids were whining and complaining until I reminded them that we don't necessarily have to come on trips like this anymore.

 They were really fun after that.

 

Someone yelled, "Cattails!!!" (It wasn't me.) Can you see them in this picture? I took an assortment of blurry close-ups of them that I'm going to delete.

 
  
The girls collected some pretty leaves. I don't know what happened to them. We ended our morning at a playground by the sea. We could only stand the wind for about 15 minutes, but it felt so good to be outside.

 

And this photo makes me want to go back.