Carol | October 10, 2011
This weekend has been our summer bonus. The weather was incredible. The leaves are gorgeous.
In the yard
At the shore
N18
The Five Kids
C1
L7
B13, C1, L7
Nana and Papa
The confluence point where the two rivers meet. It looked like a whirlpool.
N18 and B13
C1
C1
C1 an L7
Carol | April 26, 2011
Seattle school renames Easter eggs ‘Spring Spheres’
http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=459668
Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410,0,4567867.story
Carol | December 31, 2010
Baby GC was the latest among the five best gifts I have ever received (outside of the gift of eternal life.) How did I get the best toy in the world? She is such a life-like doll. Just like a real baby! She has been such an incredible delight and joy in our lives. We are all very thankful for her. We have been having so much fun with her. Having a baby at this age is just as great as everybody (with that experience) told me it would me – even better! It is EASY because everything comes second nature by now. I know what to do, I know what works, and I am more relaxed. I am not exaggerating (much) when I say that I spend most of the day looking at her and making her laugh and smile. I get little else done, but you know what? I don’t even care!
Miss Christmas ~ 3 1/2 months old
Baby GC reading ~ getting close to four months old
Baby GC in the sling enjoying
the winter wonderland of our beautiful province
Carol | December 31, 2010
I miss personal blogging. I miss the old way I used to blog. I am so behind that it almost seems hopeless. I stopped posting regular family pictures around July and never picked it up again. I haven’t even written Baby GC’s birth story. I want to get back into it, so for now, I think I will skip the summer and fall and only go back as far as the beginning of Advent 2010.
We had a very slow, low-key month of December. I made the choice not to do many of our annual traditions. I wanted peace without commotion. I was tired of feeling tired, so we did very little. It still felt very much like Christmas.
One new idea that proved to be quite fun was our new Advent calendar house. After Christmas last year, I ordered it on EBay. It sat in its box all year, so it was rather amusing when we opened it. Do you notice anything unusual about it? I didn’t until the children mentioned it.
Our Advent Calendar House
I bought some secret things. (The treats were often things we would do anyway, or candy from the Bulk Barn, or things we could have saved for Christmas presents. I had lots of ideas we didn’t even use.)
And I made a list of hiding places. (Examples: Look in the organ… Look in the drawer under the sock monkey… Look in the doll house… Look by the doll on the stairs… Look behind the ceramic Christmas tree… Look in the front bench… Look in the fridge… Look by the Cascade… Look on the computer desk… Look in the bathtub… Look in the black cabinet in the bathroom… Look on the dryer…)
Each day of December, I would either stuff a small treat or a “Look under/in/behind” note behind one of the doors. Instead of getting it ready all at once, I would do it one day at a time, so the most appropriate treat would go on the most convenient day.
Day 1: pack of crackling candy to share (funny)
Day 2: four lollipops and four Double Bubble gum (to divide among four children)
Day 3: four chocolate loonies
Day 4: Decorated wooden Christmas tree ornament crafts with marker and glitter
Day 5: Made T.V. advertisments with video camera – Sham Wow, Goldline
This was fun. We spent additional time watching home videos. (It makes me feel bad that I didn’t take more during the past few years. I have hardly ANY of Baby GC, but I guess it doesn’t matter.)
Day 6: bag of peanut M&Ms to share
Day 7: four chocolate peanut butter balls and four mints
Day 8: four mints and four rockets
Day 9: four pieces Hubba Bubba gum
Day 10: chocolate rocks (It took them a while to figure out you could eat them. It looked like a bag of real stones.)
Day 11: Ice Cream Moon Sand
The three middles really enjoyed this project.
Playing Moon Sand
See Baby and cat and lights?
I was getting ready to put the lights on the real tree.
Day 12: Decorated Gingerbread houses with Daddy
Derek is always responsible for the construction of the gingerbread houses.
Our Gingerbread Houses 2010
Day 13: Gum that tastes like SOAP. I can’t let them get TOO spoiled. It was hilarious, but they were mad and thought it was a dud. ROFLOL After, I told them if they had reacted like good sports, they would have got something else, but… FAIL… ?! (To clarify, for the biblically minded, it was a joke, not a character test… and they read the label before they tried it.)
Day 14: foam sticker wreath craft with glitter glue, one KitKat to share
Christmas wreath foam craft
Day 15: watched Ramona and Beezus on PayPerVu
I knew C9 would like this especially. I think she has read all the Beverly Cleary books by now. It will be a sad day when something happens to our cat. I LOVED all the baby wearing in the movie! Even Ramona was carrying around her baby sister in a forward facing carrier.
Day 16: four candy canes
Day 17: four lollipops and four Double Bubble gum
Day 18: Three oldest went to Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D with Daddy… L6 watched Cats and Dogs 2 on PayPerVu
I didn’t want to take Baby GC to Voyage of the Dawn Treader because it was only available in 3D. There is nothing worse than a seeing a 3D movie without the glasses, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep them on the baby, and she LOVES to watch the big screen, so I chose to skip the movie.
Day 19: The middles painted plaster tree ornaments with me, Derek, and his brother who happened to stop by.
Painting Christmas Tree Ornaments
Decorating chocolate cupcakes with icing
and Christmas sprinkles (with Derek’s brother)
Day 20: I forget what it was.
Day 21: two Kit Kats and two O’Henrys
Day 22: four pieces of Hubba Bubba gum
Day 23: four kinds of juice cans
Day 24: made things out of clay
Making things out of clay on Christmas Eve
Some of our clay creations
We had a nice, relaxing Christmas Eve.
Day 25: four mints
Carol | April 5, 2010
Easter Egg Hunt
(Each child searches for his or her own color of eggs.
Completely fair with four children of greatly varying ages!)
Opening the eggs
Treats inside the eggs
Play-dough
On the way home from Nana’s delicious Easter dinner:
Two eagles were floating on icecakes.
They kept flying up river, so they could float down again.
Eagle
Click here for private pictures:
http://parentingfreedom.com/2010/04/05/easter-sunday-2010/
Carol | April 3, 2010
Doing the Easter story
Easter craft
Sign of spring: fly swatting sport
Spring flowers (We actually found the first two dandelions yesterday.)
Yum!
L5′s masterpieces
Candy sprinkles
More Easter cookies
Sprinkles on the floor
Twitterpated doves
C8
La di da!
The mess
Falls
Click here for private pictures:
http://parentingfreedom.com/2010/04/03/spring-and-easter-pictures/
Carol | December 28, 2009
C8 and L5 decorating the little ceramic tree from Grammy G.
The Fisher-Price Nativity Scene
Our Teddy Bear Christmas Tree
This year, I surprised the children with their own trees for their rooms.
The pink is for C8 of course.
B11 and L5 have the blue one in their room.
The little trees add a new tradition.
Carol | December 24, 2009
Are you struggling with trying to do better as a parent, yet still failing on a continual basis? You are not alone. We continue to sin and fail, yet we continue to be forgiven.
Read this passage from Romans with your own self in mind, and then again from the perspective of your child. Paul shared our struggles.
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
“So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
Romans 7:14-25
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:1“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Ephesians 1:7
Repent and you are forgiven!!!! Do you realize the significance of this good news??!! Since we regularly forget this truth in our own lives, it is understandable when we forget to treat our children with grace. Rest and find joy in the freedom of HIS GRACE!!!!!!! Take some pressure off yourself as a parent as you begin the new year. Take some pressure off your children.
Carol | December 23, 2009
GOD REST YE MERRY, GENTLEMEN
http://nethymnal.org/htm/g/o/godrest.htm
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.O HOLY NIGHT
http://nethymnal.org/htm/o/h/oholynit.htm
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.ANGELS FROM THE REALMS OF GLORY
http://nethymnal.org/htm/a/f/afrglory.htm
Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL
http://nethymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomocom.htm
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free:
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.SILENT NIGHT
Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace.STAR OF THE EAST
We may read, we may learn, from His birth to His grave,
The teachings of peace and of love;
For this is the King Who is mighty to save;
His grace and His love we may prove.
