Dec. 14, 2009 - Muffin Tin Monday~The Biggest Snowman Ever...
I am happy to be getting back to Muffin Tin Monday. This weeks theme is Christmas books.
We read The Biggest Snowman Ever for our Muffin Tin Monday activity.
I decided that it would be fun for the kids to make marshmallow snowmen for their muffin tin treat. I only used what we had on hand. It would have been nicer to use white frosting. However, my southern children never see enough snow to cover the dirt so all snow gets muddy quick. The "mud" on the snowmen seemed normal to them. LOL!
Clockwise~Chocolate kisses, big marshmallows, toothpicks, sprinkles, frosting, mini marshmallows.
Blessings,
Dawn
Dec. 11, 2009 - Family Advent Activity 11- eating chicken on the sand dune
We love to eat chicken biryani and have a picinic on the sand dunes. But, it was REALLY, SUPER CRAZY out there today. So, we had to come home to eat it. I got some very interesting pics though.
Here's our advent candles. I had to make due with what I could find here.
Dec. 11, 2009 - Embracing Advent and Christmas ...
When we were becoming foster parents years ago, one of the social workers told the class that, if we loved the holidays. we may want to reconsider being foster parents. I thought that was the strangest statement. She went on to explain that Christmas stirred up all kinds of birth family memories and troubles in the child and then the child would act out. In my naivety, I thought that love and a really magical Christmas would wipe all those concerns away. Shortly after we became foster parents, we got our third placement, a little girl (20 months old) who was cute as a button. She was a Christmas baby (born just three days after Christmas)! We did the holidays up in a huge way that year! All the trimmings! Because we had two foster children that year, we were given many gifts through a foster angel tree as well as by our family that were excited that we finally had our long awaited babies. There was a sea of gifts that took up half the room.
The magic of Christmas scared our little girl. She became even wilder than usual. The next two years were a bit more toned down but much the same. Our dd acted out more and more. We would "lose" her around Thanksgiving and not get back a reasonable child until February. As the years passed and our dd was adopted, things continued to be very difficult around the holidays. We started to drastically play down all holidays and hide from the mall, TV and people and their joy at Christmas time. Sometimes we postponed her birthday for weeks, hoping that we could get her behavior under control enough to celebrate her birthday in peace. We became prisoners to her drama and chaos and began to dread the holidays. My Mother and I would start planning how to survive Christmas in September each year. It was a sad time indeed.
Last year when Goldilocks was nearly 8 years old, I felt that we had to establish a gentle routine for Christmas that allowed the rest of us to enjoy Christmas and left room for Goldilocks to enjoy or avoid, depending on her ability to participate on any given day. Instead of hiding from Christmas, we would embrace it, starting with celebrating each day of Advent in December. It was a radical move. Somewhere on the Internet I saw the idea of opening a Christmas book each day of Advent and reading the story to the children. I loved the idea. I added the idea of a special activity that the kids could do each night. I thought it would allow us to enjoy Advent but also not be different from our regular routine. We have storytime every night of the year, and the activity would be considered school time with Daddy (something the kids love). The same routine, just different packaging. To our relief, it has worked wonderfully. Advent books have given us many lessons. It has allowed Goldilocks to get used to the process of waiting for the surprise (now daily instead of waitng weeks for the big event). She has learned to deal with the disappointment on a small scale of it being a story she did not care for. She has learned that a flat package is not going to hold a live unicorn! It sounds funny, but this truly has been a problem that has caused major meltdowns in the past. Because there is something to open each night, the UPS man stopping often at our home with packages that must wait is not causing endless crying. She is getting used to secrets being okay and even fun when the parents are in control of them. Every night, she is learning the true meaning of the season: compassion, sharing, learning about Jesus, family togetherness, magical wonder, peace and joy.
The days are still rougher than usual. Goldilocks is on a slippery slope. She is having trouble getting through each day. Her behavior is getting pretty hard to deal with. Even her one-on-one worker and my friend who helps with her for a few hours a week are having a very hard time controlling her. But my family is enjoying the season in between Goldilocks's blow outs, and sometimes she is enjoying it, too.
Some pics from Advent ~
Setting up the nativity after hearing The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.
Trying tamales after reading Too Many Tamales.
The kids made marshmallow snowmen after listening to The Biggest Snowman Ever.
Blessings,
Dawn
Dec. 11, 2009 - The Doghouse
My friend, Kristy, posted this on her blog and it is soooooo funny!!! I just had to post it here too. Rob loved this. I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas. I don't think I will be getting that now!
Dec. 10, 2009 - How to Make a Turkey
I have had any of my friends here in Saudi ask me how to make a turkey. So, I thought that I would post it here. First of all, I buy the biggest turkey that I can. They are pretty easy to find here. And we love left overs. We keep it in the freezer until about five days before we are planning on eating it and then, it goes in the refrigerator. Then, the day before the meal, we brine it. We have found that brining is an important part of having a good turkey here. Our first year here, we had a great Thanksgiving turkey dinner. So, we bought another and asked our friends over for Christmas dinner. But, when I took it out of the fridge, it was ROTTEN. It was really bad. So, now we love brining because it forces us to take it out of its wrapping and check it the day before people come over. It takes a lot to get turkeys to Saudi, so it happens. That way if it were ever bad again, we could take it back and get another in time for the dinner. So, the second reason for brining is that it can also be a very quick way to thaw out the turkey. What we do is we clean out our sink really good with bleach and dry it with paper towels. Then, we put the turkey in the sink and rinse it out really well. We take out the two packages which are stuck in the cavities of the turkey and throw those away. Then, I make a huge pot of vegetable broth and fill up our cooler half way with water, then, pour in the broth. Then, I mix 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of salt in. I put the turkey in the cooler, add some rosemary and ice. Then, I let this sit overnight.
Then, the next day (about four hours before I want to eat) I preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Then, I put the turkey on the broiler pan or shallow roasting pan, and rub butter all over it. I add some salt, thyme, celery, carrot, quarter apple, sage, more salt and thyme to the cavity. Then, I stick it in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. When timer goes off, I turn it way down to 325 degrees F for the next 2 and 1/2 hrs to 3 hrs (depending on how big the turkey is). I check it every once in a while and when it's a good golden brown color, I cover the wings with foil, so it doesn't get too dark. When it's done, I let it rest for an hour with a blanket of foil so that it's easy to carve. That's it. It's really pretty easy. I then, use the drippings from the turkey to use in the gravy. For that, I just heat up chicken broth with a little flour, stir up the drippings and then, add them in. It's really good.
Dec. 8, 2009 - Advent Activity 8
Tonight we made ornaments. My idea was to cut out some felt stars, glue on a ribbon and be done. But, the boys had other ideas. They got out the sewing kit and everything. They love to sew now. It reminds them of their great grandmas who are excellent at it. Justin was so cute. He said, "Mommy, you are like a professional sewer." I'm sooooo not. I can count on my left hand how many buttons I have sewed in my lifetime. But, at least I have managed to impress my boys with my meager skills.
Gotta take a picture of Mr. Dimple. 
They've been very busy making cards and presents for their family in the U.S.
I like the advent calendar because it forces me to do things that I know we should do, but don't get around to enough.
Dec. 8, 2009 - Christmas Cookies ...
We are having fun baking around here this week. We started off with our favorite Christmas cookie, Chocolate Surprise Cookies. 
CHOCOLATE SURPRISE COOKIES
(bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees ~ makes about 8 dozen)
Purchase
8 dozen Hersheys Chocolate Kisses
Cream Together
1 1/2 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
Beat In
2 eggs
4 teas vanilla
1 teas almond extract
Add and Mix Thoroughly
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teas baking powder
1/2 tea salt
1 cup very finely chopped blanched almonds
Refrigerate dough to make it less sticky. Form balls around each kiss so kiss is completely enclosed. The thinner the dough on each kiss, the more kisses can be covered. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet until starting to turn light golden color. Let cool -- These taste better that way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We made a DOUBLE batch (200 kisses) so that there would be plenty left over for Christmas gifts.
First the kids counted out 200 kisses using a tallying system.
Then the kids peeled the foil off the kisses.
Next we creamed the butter and sugars.
Next the kids chopped the blanched almonds.
Then they took a break for a sensory moment. Ahhh...feel the blanched almonds.
Now we mixed in the rest of the flour and such. This was about the time Mommy realized that she really did not have a big enough bowl for a double batch and she really NEEDS a Kitchen Aid mixer. The kids started getting really messy, and the dog started waiting for flying food to land at her feet.
After giving up on the mixer and Mommy mixing the dough with her hands, it looked like this.
The kids rolled kisses into dough and put them on a baking sheet.
Yummy loveliness! You can dress them up with some frosting and sprinkles if you wish.
Blessings,
Dawn
Dec. 7, 2009 - Christmas Products
Dec. 7, 2009 - Family Advent Activity 7
We had mickey mouse waffles for dinner. It wasn't as easy as it looks though. We all have the flu and mom and dad in particular are feeling pretty ucky. It's really in the chest and the throat. But, Alex has the advent calendar memorized and when I woke up he reminded me that we were having waffles for dinner. Robby stepped up though and made it special for him. As you can see he really likes waffles and enjoyed it immensely. I made the advent calendar about a month ago and I knew some arranging would have to be done and I was right. There was a lot of eating out on there, so I had to change one night and we couldn't make smores because they didn't have graham crackers at Panda. And, since we're sick we'll have to change our riding rides in the mall to a different day this week. It's all part of the fun, right?!!
Next year I would like to do two more different advent calendars. One is called advent with a bite. It's where every day you put money in a jar for things that you have that poor people don't. I think that it will really help the boys appreciate what they have. Especially since they have seen it first hand in India. An example of this is here. I liked another one that encouraged them to do nice little things every day; like give compliments or tell someone thank you. It is a good time for them to reinforce good habits. I this would be a good thing to implement during advent, lent, ramadan, or anytime of the year when you feel like the kids need to appreciate things more.
Dec. 6, 2009 - Advent Activity 6- Writing Letters to Santa
St. Nick came this morning and left candy in all their shoes. They are all still reeling from that and it's almost 10 o'clock at night now. They studied about John the Baptist and learned that he ate locusts with honey and wore clothes with camel hair. It's neat imagining him in the environment we are in. We ate gummy worms and crackers with honey in his honor. We talked about how John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus and how we need to think about how we're going to pave our path to Heaven. We are working on getting along with our brothers better. I have realized that I have hurt the boys by not showing enough enthusiasm for things that they do. I'm definitely going to work on this. I spent some extra time with Justin tonight. He needed the individual attention. We watched the Prince and the Pauper together on Disney. Then, we wrote our Santa Letters. Rob and Robby were doing Aikido, so it was just me and three younger guys. They did a good job on their letters. Connor is a little perfectionist though. he gets quite upset when his letters aren't perfect.
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