dragonfly days

Easter

We didn't have much planned for Easter this year.  We had company staying with us, which was by far the best part of Easter, and Steve was working. I was planning on celebrating on Monday, but in the afternoon on Sunday Jack started asking about doing an egg hunt.  Alex and I decided to pull off a last minute celebration.

Jack is the only one who hunted eggs, at least until I realized how much candy that would mean for him. Then I had to beg the older kids to hunt some. 

 The kitty even got in on the action.

We had the hunt, found the Easter baskets that the bunny had misplaced, had dinner and then watched a movie together. It was a great finish for our fun weekend.

scenes from Christmas 12/26

So busy. So much fun. And so much to be thankful for.

Friday we rang the bell for  the Salvation Army.  This was such a neat experience. It is on the list already for next year. 

 

Jack taking a break for bell-ringing, singing and dancing.

The big kids got a big suprise on Christmas Eve. I love the pics of their faces.

It's not often we can pull a big surprise on them.

Jack decorated some gingerbread men for Santa.

Christmas morning.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday. :)

scenes from the weekend 12/18

Anyone ready for Christmas?? We aren't! :)  But the plan for this week is to take it how it comes and enjoy it. I think it will work. We still haven't had everyone together at the right time of day with the right weather for a Christmas card pic, so I bought cards to send out and we'll have to send the pics along later. Sigh. The story of my life.

On to the list for this week:

• Christmas shopping with Jack
• mail out Christmas boxes--at least something got finished, well almost 1 more thing to get and then hopefully they will be in the mail tomorrow afternoon. 
• call some dentist to get a second opinion and get everything in order to hopefully get the teeth fixed over Christmas break.
• Bake for the neighbors. Zac really wants to have a handmade something. I'm hoping this means he really wants to wash dishes. :)
• Nutcracker ballet. We'll go and watch some of our favorite little people perform.
• Salvation army bell rining. The kids are really excited about this- planning outfits, learning Christmas songs on the guitar and finding the perfect holiday hat to wear.  Jack has really been curious on why we are doing it, who it will help and why people sometimes need help. It has been a great learning opportunity for him. 
• park day
• wrapping gifts- always Christmas eve, always staying up way too late watching a fun movie.
• School this week for Jack is light and easy. We'll be reading the Nutcracker and doing some light learning on Germany and Russia tying it all in to the story and performance. We'll also paint some nutcracker ornaments to hang on the tree. But the majority of the week will be about giving and appreciating those around us.

crafty

Yay the computer is back!

Candle holder covered in mod podge and sprinkled with glitter.

first attempt at a pocket gnome. He still needs a hat.

a felt bunting garland for the tree.

repurposing the now to small desk for a lego table.

wood ornaments with beeswax polish.

homemade snow globes.

kindle cover. The ribbon comes aorund the front and ties, but I didn't want to cover the mushroom. :)

 

 

Today was one of those days. I had to check and make sure it wasn't a Monday. I think it had a lot to do with the chocolate coins that Saint Nicholas gave the kids in their shoes. After a busy morning fixing other people's problems :) and after a quick photo shoot with the rugby teams we had a full on meltdown. Ay-yi-yi.  Been a while since I've seen that.  So I gave the boy two options. A walk or a nap. 

Of course he chose the walk.

After his shoe, his new shoe, got stuck in the mud and he melted again.

I redirected his attention to looking for rocks and eventually the complaining stopped. The muddy shoe was forgotten and we enjoyed some time out.

 

 

The night didn't get much better.  Tonight after we tucked him in, Jack called me to my room and told me, "I guess I'm getting coal for Christmas."

I'm not sure where he picked that up, but we talked about trying harder and how every day is a new day. For now he seems to be stuck on the coal idea. I can tell you Santa Claus just took chocolate off the list. :)

 

the big day

Today was Jack's choir performance at the festival. I couldn't believe how excited he was. Of course I took video of  the performance which filled my card and couldn't get a picture of just him. :( But it was awesome, they did so good.

Tonight we pulled out our gingerbread kit and started to decorate.

Aren't these the coolest? We found a it that made 4 dog houses complete with Snoopy and Woodstock. We love them.

Quick and easy and the we got our gingerbread fix.

 

enjoying

• enjoying the Christmas tree and Christmas music all the time now.
• enjoying the plan for homeschool this month. Everything sort of just fell into place for our studies this month. We have some fun  things planned.
• enjoying Jack's first guitar lesson.
• enjoying the new carpet in the living room. Every time Jack goes in there he lays on the floor arms out wide saying how much he loves the new carpet.
• enjoying the last of the leftovers-- thank goodness. :)
• enjoying the leaves falling all around.
• enjoying peppermint mocha a couple of times a week.
• enjoying all the down time we can manage.
• enjoying the new classes and new talent emerging.

What are you enjoying?

scenes from Sunday 11/27

 

 

 

We had a wonderful holiday and hoping you all did too.  Everything for the big feast turned out great, well except for the pies so we had a re-do. Well a re-do plus two from the store just in case. Which left us with a whole lot of pie!  Talisa worked on Friday. Since I had to be up to take her to work, Steven and his girlfriend and Alex and I ventured out to shop. We had a lot of fun. Then it was home to rest for a bit before picking Talisa up and hitting the craft show.  I was beat that night.  Saturday we got me a new MacDreamy. Sigh. So nice.  Which left the rest of the day to deal with cords and transferring files. We're still getting settled in. Today, I called it a rest day. I only ventured out once to get gas. The rest of the day I spent getting everything in order for school this week, planning a menu, watching the leaves fall, listening to the little kids jump into the leaves, and getting the Christmas tree up. It's up, but not decorated. We're doing it slow and easy this year.

On the list this week:

• Choir dress rehearsal
• p.e.
• rugby
• lacrosse
• Choir performance
• Dicken's festival
• hip-hop class
• book sale
• park day
• Grandpa's birthday
• decorating the tree
• decorating the house
• Dinner with the other Grandpa

What's on your list?

 

the menu

Cars are the latest thing around here. So give the boy a couple of boxes, a hot wheel car and some duct tape and it equals hours of play.

Now on to the menu.  We are doing Thanksgiving at our house this year. We have invited the parents and the girlfriend.  Everyone had to put their two cents in on the menu. Looking at it now I think we better stop eating tomorrow so we'll have room.  :) 

• Turkey- we are doing our usual brown sugar and brown mustard glaze, but this year I read about putting strips of bacon over the top to baste the turkey as it cooks. Ummm, yeah sign us up. :)
• The Pioneer Woman's make ahead potatoes, aka heart attack potatoes.
• Stuffing
• rolls
• cranberry/apple/orange sauce-- oh yeah by the spoonful.
• gravy- because it's Thanksgiving
• veggie platter and dip
• Cheeseball- tradition, and I sang that to the tune from Fiddler on the Roof in my head.
• Quesadilla- Jack's request.
• Green salad- Alex's request.
• pumpkin pie
• Key lime cheesecake- Zac's request
• Whipped cream.

I feel full already.

Tomorrow I will brave the grocery stores for the last minute supplies.

What's on your menu for Thanksgiving?

scenes from the weekend 10/16

 

This weekend: The corn maze, decorating t-shirts and sweatshirts galore, a new lego set, decorating for Halloween, making more gnomes.

On the list for this week:

• p.e. class
• choir
• yoga
• drivers ed-- driving this time!!
• finish getting the Halloween decorations up
• start cooking!!
• finish up Halloween costumes! :)
• clean the boys room. Doube ugh!
• Spray for bugs.
• finish up gnomes
• Learning- human body and  skeletal system
• high school dance for the two oldest.
• rugby practice
• Seeing family from out-of-town this weekend!!!
• Swimming?! I hope we can fit in an afternoon of swimming this week. 
• Park day!
• library

What's on your list?

Happy 4th of July!

Jack and his first sparkler. Ever. Don't ask me why that is, but it's the truth. He had a ton of fun with them, until he got a little burn.

All we had in our stash was smoke bombs (I have teens) and sparklers.

But our neighbors all had fireworks and shared. They are so awesome.

Aren't they cute?

 
After the show out front we headed out back to start a fire and have some smores. All the while wondering if we should have headed downtown to the big show.

Fortunately for us, the firework laws have changed for our area and the neighbors were celebrating big time. In fact tonight was running a close second to the Halloween.  So we pulled out our charis and settled in. Most of the fireowrks ended up right over our backyard.

And yes I was practicing the whole photgraphing fireworks thing.

And the fire... mesmerizing.

Can't wait until next year.

 

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July. Aren't we all so blessed?

Happy Easter

I think someone is ready for the egg hunt.

We had a whole lot of eggs. My brother was sick so his family wasn't able to make it and that left a whole lot of eggs for my kids.

Steven did a quick look in each egg to see if it was candy he liked or could eat with his sore teeth.

Alex wasn't into the hunt and took pics instead.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter full of love and laughter.

 

December 26 2010

Scenes from Christmas:

Ummmm...yes I can explain the hanger behind his head. You see we had this dryer fire/flood thing happen on the 23rd so my laundry has been hanging in various places all over the house. The treadmill happens to be a great place to hang things.

Talisa made me this really cool mushroom whistle. It really works!  I call it my magic gnome whistle. :)

Christmas Eve we had dinner over at my parents house. We ate, played games, and watched movies. I announced that it was time to go home because Santa was coming and Jack ran out to the car. We got home and opened one present as per our usual tradition and then Jack hurried throught he bath and went to bed. Not only did he get in bed, but he was fast asleep mere minutes later.

Zac and I stayed up to wrap presents while watching Christmas Vacation. Zac was the first one up the next morning, followed by me about a half hour later. Finally at 8 am I heard the older kids sitr, but still no Jack.  Finally he came out a few minutes later.

Right after this pic he told me to stop with the pictures because the flash was hurting his eyes.

 

Jack trying on his new lab coat.  He's wearing a makeshift id we made up for him, it was really last minute--literally on Christmas eve right before the stores were closing I ran to get the stuff--but we are going to amke a "real" one.

Today we spent putting the house back together including the dryer. I no longer have wet clothes on every available surface.  We are finding homes for all the presents, including a lego storage overhaul. 

 

December 25 2010

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.  We are enjoying presents, family and good food and hope you are too.

 

 

December 22 2010

Wrapped with love.

This afternoon we took the kids out shopping. The older kids had to try on cleats and we were going to take Jack to see Santa.  We got to the mall and worked our way down to Santa. Guess who wanted nothing to do with Santa?  Jack didn't even  think twice. No thanks, no Santa.  Took us all by surprise.

So far on this wet and rainy Christmas break the only thing we seem to be accomplishing is catching up on some movies we wanted to watch.  It's still raining here. We're still packed until  it stops, which is kind of throwing a damper in the whole decorating for the holidays. Today I forgot that we had packed all of the clean clothes and got in the shower. I had to have Zac relocate the suitcases to the bedrooms until we unpack completely.

I thought the sun came out today, the room brightened a bit. I got all excited and turned to see someone had turned a light on in the other room. 

 

December 20 2010

This year we gifted our homeschool friends with some homemade goodness. in other words now you can see what I've been up to for the past few weeks. :)

First up we made little man bowling sets for the younger crew.  We painted them and then applied a homemade beeswax polish. We packaged them up in the cute snowmen boxes.

Next up, bath salts for the women. Or as I told one friend, to use in the little boys baths so that they go to bed easier. Whichever helps you more.

Next up some homemade goodies.

We also used some of the leftover items from our holiday bazaar.

We hope they enjoyed them.

December 19 2010

Warm glow.

Recharge.

We've had a fun, full weekend full of friends, good food, and laughter.  Today we ran around trying to find cleats for the older boy and finish Christmas shopping with kids. I'm hoping to finish up my Christmas shopping tomorrow and be able to spend the rest of the week relaxing.The older kids are now on Christmas break--for 2 1/2 weeks.  I'm sure there are plans in the making for hanging out with friends, ice skating, sleepovers and the like. I for one am looking forward to no lacrosse practices and sleeping in. 

What do you do to recharge during the holidays?

 

December 16 2010

Alex had her Christmas band concert a couple of night ago. I had grand plans of posting a video of them playing, but apparently my computer doesn't like the video because I can't find it anywhere! Agh! They played so well! 

Tonight Jack had his belt test for karate.

I don't have many pictures without other kids in, so this will have to do.

We also did lots of making and baking. I hope to put a post up this weekend with all our handmade gifts.

 

And from the class:

 

The season of lights.

I'm seeing stars.

December 14 2010

 

Today we wrote letters to Santa. While I was taking pictures to document, I wondered how many years of the whole Santa thing we had left.  Steven was about 7 when he figured it out.  The girls never really said it, but it was probably around the same time. Could this be the last year?   Where does the time go? 

P.S. He was really proud of that fancy "r".

December 13 2010

A whole lot of happy.

Today we spent doing Christmas stuff. reading books, making projects, and little gifts.  Zac and Jack planted the greenhouse today!

It was very hot in there.  We have a few things that we still need to get: potatoes, kale.  We can't wait to start harvesting. While they were planting I was running around getting last minute craft supplies and picking kids up.  I am hoping to have most of my projects done by Thursday-- it could happen.  :)

And we ended up with two very tired boys.