Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Holiday Mornings

This week has been sprinkled with Christmas activities. Sunday was filled with Christmas lessons and Sunday School nativity re-enactments. Monday morning we made a mountain of paper snowflakes while listening to Christmas music. That night we attended a Christmas party, thrown by one of our homeschool groups, complete with crafts, food, cookie decorating, games, The Grinch, and hot cocoa. Tuesday we had an all day baking day with friends. The end result was 5 containers filled with goodies, ready to go to friends and neighbors, and still more left over for us to munch on.
This morning there’s been a Christmas movie and, thanks to Taproot, a paper doll farm family helped fuel imaginations. Chocolate covered hands walked little paper animals to and fro as the mama (complete with baby in sling), papa (who even took turns carrying said slinged baby), and sister tended them. Little voices changed pitch as each character spoke.
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Meanwhile, scissors were snipping away as Kassy prepared a shoe pattern for sewing. Maya’s Christmas present is in the works! That girl of mine can do anything she puts her mind to. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
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Milk is heating on the stove as the beginning of a batch of yogurt is in the works. It’s my second batch, actually. The first was lost when I neglected it to capture everything else that was going on around here. The temperature got a little too high. I’m thinking of trying to concoct a cherry apple flavor for this batch. We’ll see how that turns out.
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In the mean time, I’m loving these mornings full of imagination, relaxation, and the holiday spirit.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Tonight at Our House

Tonight at our house…
A warm fire blazed in the fireplace.
Christmas cards were created and ordered.
Brief contact was made with several old friends and family as I searched out new addresses for our impending cards, each one feeling like a refreshing visit.
“Elf, the Broadway Musical” soundtrack made its household debut in the background.
Games of Checkers and Candy Land were played on the rug, even by the oldest.
A chalkboard Christmas collage was drawn and even Mama enjoyed getting in on the fun and ending up with colorful, chalky hands.
Homemade sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting were created by our in-house baker, Bella.
Pink gingerbread boys and girls, Christmas trees, and candy canes were decorated.
Sprinkles were sprinkled and eaten by the jar full. Luckily, it was only half of our stash.
Mom was shocked when all children asked if they could just save the second cookie for tomorrow.
Top secret gift plans were made.
Messes were cleaned up by all. Many messes.
Scriptures were read.
Stories were read by big sister, Bella, to little sisters.
Bed time protests were acknowledged and then ignored.
Payers were said, lotion put on dry skin, kisses and hugs given.
One child got tucked in several times.
Two, giggling oldest sisters raced down the stairs to see who could get the bathroom first, lending their elephant-like tromping to the silence that was falling on the rest of the house.
Mom and Dad listened with a smile to figure out who won.
True silence finally fell, and a proud, and very tired mama, relaxed as she could only at this time of day, and reminisced on what a blessed scene her house had been that evening.

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Friday, November 9, 2012

On My Birthday.

On my birthday, I woke up at 8:01, except for an earlier moment when my sweet husband whispered, “Happy Birthday, Beautiful,” before leaving for work. I woke up with Maya on my chest, thankful that her raspy breathing had calmed and her skin had become cool again without medicine this time. I read morning scriptures as child after child quietly crept into my room. I was thrilled by the card and candy Bella presented to me giving me the title “Best Mom Ever.” I was asked breakfast requests and given the order to not get out of bed yet. I ate candy before breakfast. I finished studying while I listened to little voices discussing who needed to do what to clean up the cereal that had ended up on the stairs. I was thankful for the older voice that told the youngers to go get a new bowl of cereal because, “Mom is not going to eat the cereal you just cleaned off the floor.” I decided this morning was too sweet not to record as I dutifully waited to be served. My breakfast is now eaten, I’ve caught up to this moment. It’s been a cute, relaxing morning and I’m only 55 minutes into this day.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Old Mill Park

Our first full day in Fredericksburg, Friday, was a nice, relaxing one. We slept in and slowly got going for the day. We intended to go run on a trail, but after wandering around looking for the trailhead for 20 minutes we decided just to play at the park with the kids. I started out on the bench just watching, but in true “JT fashion” he was having so much fun with the kids that it helped me see that there is a good time to be had at a park by all, even as an old grown up.

We started out on this spinney chair seeing who could hold out the longest. Kassy spun me faster and faster. I was begging her to stop through dizzied laughter, but she’s like her dad and to her it sounded like I was pleading for more. I finally got out of it by sticking my feet out and whopping her in the shins. It was good fun. I instantly forgave her for trying to kill me and she forgave me for the shin smack.

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“Rocky, rocky, rocky,” Maya sang over and over again as she rode her motorcycle.

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Bell’s turn on the spinney seat. I should be grateful that Kassy spun me and not JT. It would have taken way more than a kick to stop him once he got me going.

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Daddy joined in on the rocky, rocky.

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Maya loves to swing, but she loves it best when she can ride in someone’s lap. JT gave me a little scare when he attempted an underdog on us, but luckily it was minor and more to get my reaction than anything. Maya begged for “More,” and “Higher!”

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After an hour or so of play we headed back to Carrie and David’s for naps. Naps never actually happened, but a nice relaxing day followed.

Friday, September 14, 2012

D.C.

Warning: The battery was dead in my real camera, so these were all taken with my phone. The result was several blurry shots, but I included them anyway. Sorry for the eye strain. 

We arrived in Virginia on Thursday for a 4 day visit with my cousin, Carrie, her family, and for another trip to the capitol. Today, we spent the day at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Our first stop took us through an American Airline plane from the 1950’s.
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Trista’s trying to argue with the man you buy tickets from. He’s not answering back, though.
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Today the museum celebrated a century of women in aerospace. There were games, crafts and hands on activities throughout the museum. After visiting each station, the kids got a stamp on their “passports.” After they received 4 stamps, they got an Amelia Earhart pin.
This picture was the first game. It was about women in flight. They had to identify which plane was the fastest, slowest, oldest, newest, and which was piloted by women (they all were.)
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Second stop: The girls got to decorate their own banners with stickers and letters, similar to those found at old air shows.
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Maya wanted purple and only allowed JT and Kassy to add letters and sparkly stars to it. She had to peel the backs off of the stickers herself, but Kassy was allowed to place the letters for “Reach for the Stars.”
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This is one of the Wright Brothers military planes. There are only 8 of their planes left in existence and 3 of those can be found here.
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At the third station we visited, the girls got to create their own old fashioned pilot license. Here’s Bella posing for her picture that was later pasted into her “license.”
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Station #4: Creating their own space mission patch. The patches were adhesive backed pieces of felt with a paper circle in the middle. The kids chose a stamp, stamped their patch, and then decorated it with markers. A cameraman for the Nasa channel, actually filmed them making these for a news report about the event. (See his camera on the table in the left side of the shot?) If I had the Nasa channel, I’d keep an eye out for them.
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Here’s the reason for our trip. Amelia Earhart has been one of Kassy’s heroes since she was 11 years old. She was disappointed last year when we visited DC but didn’t get a chance to visit the Air and Space Museum, so we made sure that we got there this year. She was obviously thrilled to be able to see one of her planes and before we left the museum, she stopped by the gift shop and bought Earhart’s biography which she has already started.
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In the “Pioneers of Air” section there was a small children’s area. These collapsable planes were a hit with the little kids. Here Ava is not so happy about having to share her plane with Aria. She cheered up after Ari got her own plane.
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Ari’s flying and zooming.
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Okay, these were even a hit with the biggest kid. They were all moving too much. My iPhone shutter speed couldn’t keep up.
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Maya was hesitant, but after she realized that they weren’t scary she got in a plane too.
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Kassy and rockets.
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Kassy and I were waiting in line here to walk through the living quarters of a space station.
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The girls got to test their skills with astronaut gloves on. Trista’s trying to build a tower with these thin blocks.
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After working with the gloves it was time for my little astronauts to suit up in Nasa gear and get ready for their mission.
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Their mission? Assemble the space shuttle. They worked as a team and with a little help from a grown up they did it. (Ari wanted nothing to do with the dress-up, so she worked in plain clothes. Ari not wanting to dress up is pretty weird.)
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Behind JT and the kids is Charles Linbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis,” the plane that made the first transatlantic flight. I was kind of suprised. I had always pictured it being bigger. It was still amazing to see, no matter the size.
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My Bells. Just loved this spot and this cute face.
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As we were leaving DC, I snapped this picture of the Washington Monument. It was a beautiful day!
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We intended to head straight to Georgetown Cupcakes right after we left the museum, but that was delayed a little. Thanks to an unclear GPS we missed several turns and then made our way through town by trying to navigate it ourselves. We finally made it to the scene of Bella’s favorite show “DC Cupcakes” only to find the streets packed with cars and people and a line from the shop stretching down the street. I snapped the best picture I could get and Bella got a peek in the windows where she saw a few faces she recognized from TV. That appeased her.
After getting ridiculously lost again, we finally made our way back to the interstate with the intention of heading to Mt. Vernon. I’m going to blame it on the GPS again, but we never made it to Mt. Vernon. By 4:00, I was tired and frustrated and ready to head home. Next year we’ll hit Mt. Vernon first. On a positive note, we saw some really nice parts of the city that we never would have seen without our many mishaps.
We got back to Carrie’s around 5:00. We started dinner and then Carrie, Kassy, and I headed to a consignment sale where Kassy picked up an outfit for her Effie Trinket Halloween costume. Here she is trying on the jacket. There’s also a matching skirt and there are big plans for pink hair, make up, accessories, and eye lashes.
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Before we put the kids to bed we had the kids pose for a cousins shot. Maya was refusing clothes, so we shot the picture while we could.
It’s almost 11:00pm and the house is quiet. The littles girls’ giggling stopped just about 30 minutes ago even though they were tucked in at 8:30. That just means they’re just like their mommies, who spent more than a few nights giggling and whispering late into the night when they were little girls.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Super Moon


Tonight was the night of the super moon. The moon took its closest path to Earth and appeared 14% larger and 30% brighter. Thanks to this closeness, we were able to get a pretty awesome view using just our binoculars. We gathered in the cul-de-sac and took turns passing them around. 




Maya, who has a moon fascination, preferred to just gaze at it herself. She just got frustrated trying to locate it through the binoculars even though JT did his best to line them up with the moon.