Polka Dots!

Abby is very visual. About every six months, she wants to rearrange the furniture in her room. About every year, she wants to repaint and redecorate.

I am not visual in the least. I put furniture down and it pretty much stays there till we move.

This can cause differing views in our household. However, for the last few months Abby has been advocating for a room makeover. The extra time at Christmas allowed us to do it as a family project. We all helped, though Steve did the bulk of the work... my hero!

Here are some before and after pictures! By the way, Abby picked out the colors and theme!
BEFORE













AFTER















We did compromise, however. I wanted one wall with polka dots; Abby wanted all four. We settled on two!

What a blessed Christmas!

We have had a blessed Christmas! We attended a wonderful Christmas eve service (and the greens and pontsettia's didn't bother my allergies too much!). We were up late Christmas eve preparing, and a certain little mouse was very excited about Christmas! Abby, this year, was the one up a couple of times through the night and then at 6:30 am waiting for Christmas morning to arrive! I had told the children on the way to church that each warning about behavior in church meant that mom got to sleep in 15 more minutes (past 7:00 am) on Christmas morning. Both children enjoyed the lessons and carols, and then took a bit of a snooze during the sermon. Alas, no warnings! Mom had to get up at 7:00 am!

We read the Scripture and talked about the meaning of Christmas. We then opened gifts. As you can tell by Andrew's reaction, there was one hoped for--but really not expected-- gift under the tree this year.

The children have enjoyed the Wii very much. In addition to Wii sports, we have Wii Play (a series of mini-games that the children enjoy), Big Brain Academy (I've have learned my brain is not so big!), High School Musical (a karaoke game for Abby), and Super Mario Galaxy. The children have had tons of fun playing with each other, playing with us, and playing with their friends. And Wii Golf even seems to be therapeutic for my sore shoulder!

Abby has also done well reading for school. She has finished one Mandie book and is about to start on the next. We're hoping to read at least three books over the holiday!

For me, one of the best gifts is that I have off the week between Christmas eve and New Year's to spend with my family. It has been restful and enjoyable and productive. I am grateful.

We got a Wii!

We've had a wonderful Christmas!! The highlight for our children is that my brother and sister- in- law sent us a Wii! Abby and Andrew have been saying all morning, "I can't believe we got a wii!"

Here are the children opening it!

Our Beginning Strings Concert--on video!

Steve got a new digital video camera for his birthday in November. It records straight to DVD, and is really cool.

Last night was Abby's first beginning strings concert, and we got to try it out. Abby's group played four songs--Ode to Joy, African Noel, Allegro, and Joy to the World. Considering that most of these children began their instrument study in September, I think it incredibly courageous of their teacher to put on a Christmas concert! I thought they did really well! We were very proud.

Christmas Pictures

I think that Christmas cards and Christmas pictures are an important part of the holiday season and tradition. I take this very seriously. Unfortunately, no one else in my family seems to. In fact, they seem to think of it as "mom's Christmas chore".

I did not have the opportunity to get studio photos done, so today we took out the camera and tried to get a photo of the children that we could use for a Christmas card. This took extreme cajolling, wheedling, threats, and the old (rather pathetic) standby... "all I want for Christmas this year is a great Christmas picture!"

Not the best, but beggar's can't be choosers. The cards have been ordered. Hopefully, they'll arrive by next weekend

Here are some pics of our fun times!

Life Got in the Way

I apologize for the long wait between posts. The last month has seen two birthdays (and a third celebration!) in our household, as well as registration, my annual physical, parent weekend guests, a Thanksgiving visit from my mom, Christmas shopping, and school demands. It's been busy!

What I've been reading and watching....

If you're a fan of Jan Karon and her Mitford series, her new book, Home to Holly Springs, is a keeper. It seemed to be slow in starting, but it all comes together if you stick with it.

When my mom was here for Thanksgiving, we watched the movie, Miss Potter. Another keeper. What a charming movie. It's PG; nothing objectionable, though there is a thematic element which may upset young children. If you haven't seen it, it is the story of the life of Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit stories. Abby was off doing other things and didn't watch it with us, but I wouldn't hesitate allowing her to watch it.

In terms of the children watching and reading lately.... Abby has been reading the Mandie and Young Mandie books, and quite enjoying them. For films... Ratatouille and The Incredibles have been on the video lately. Believe it or not, we had not seen The Incredibles all the way through until last night!

We celebrated Andrew's birthday on Thanksgiving. Andrew's birthday is Christmas day; after Abby, Steve and I all celebrated our birthdays between October 19 and November 15, Andrew was feeling a bit left out. Andrew also noted that on each of our birthday only the celebrant receives gifts, but on Andrew's birthday everyone receives gifts. So we decided to set aside Thanksgiving day to celebrate Andrew. It worked well, as our family is small and it gave the children new things to play with and keep them entertained while the adults visited on the holiday.

We are now approaching Christmas, and I'm terribly behind. Still have to do the photo for the card. Hopefully, that will happen in the next week or so. The tree is up.... Abby and Andrew insisted upon doing it the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We have an artificial tree due to my allergies; however when we got our well-worn tree down from the attic, it seemed to be missing some branches. So we purchased a new one this year... now they even come pre-strung with lights!

May you and yours have a wonderful advent!