The testosterone in my house has finally settled down because the derby cars are done and ALL the races are finally over. It is always some great father-son time making derby cars but as with most "projects" in our home, it consumes the very heart of all events and I will be soooo glad to put away all the power tools, model paints and mind-invasion of "how can we make it go faster?" LOL.
The boys raced their cars in two events. Royal Rangers was a district event so there were quite a few partcioants. My youngest came in 3rd out of 28 cars. 2ds came in 18th out of 54 and 1ds came in 11th but he walked away with a 1st in design. At AWANA they swept the board coming in 3rd, 1st and Grand Champion. It was so exciting.
Said to be originated with the adoption of the new Gregorian calendar in place of the old Julian calendar in 1582, April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day, was once used to be celebrated as the New Year's Day. There are rules to April Fooling. Your trick must be harmless, your victim must believe you, and your trickery must make your victim at least smile (or better yet, laugh) when you shout "April Fool's!" Otherwise, it does not qualify as an April Fool's Day trick.
Fools mock at sin,
But among the upright there is favor.
Proverbs 14:9
PRANKS
sew pant legs together
short sheet the bed
styrofoam peanuts to fall when open door
glue money to the ground
sneak into each of bedroom and gently carry and place each child into the bed of another
paint toenails while sleeping - remember I live with all boys
lightly rub food coloring on inside of milk jug or on sink spigot so liquid comes out colored
MENU: Serve dessert firsts that look like the meal and the meal looks like dessert. I like the kids to take their first bite and then proclaim that, "this can't be right this tastes like dessert & maybe we should eat our dessert first" which is of course the actual meal.
Note: All of these meals need pre-preparation and to keep a secret you will need to be quite the sneak.
For Breakfast-
toast: Angelfood Cake cooked in a loaf pan & lightly toasted
fried eggs: apricots in a puddle of vanilla yogurt, sprinkled with a touch of cinnamon
hash browns: peeled and shreaded apples
bacon: fruit roll up strips
milk: whipped cream spooned into clear glass
cinnamon rolls: cresent ham and cheese rollups frosted with cream cheese
For LUNCH-
Lemonade: lemon jello made in clear glass, add lemon candy slices to glass before set
Fish sticks: Take the separate long pieces of the Kit Kat bar and coat them with cooking spray and crushed graham crackers to make them look like fish sticks.
Peas: green Skittles or M&M's
mashed potatoes: vanilla ice cream with carmel sauce
or Spaghetti: Put a slice of pound cake on a plate. Spoon some softened ice cream in a pastry bag with a thin round tip. Pipe the ice cream over the pound cake in a swirly motion to resemble spaghetti noodles. Freeze for about 15-20 minutes to allow the ice cream to harden back up. Top with strawberry jam as tomato sauce and a few coconut flakes to resemble Parmesan cheese. For the meatballs, use a butter knife to rough up the surface of two or three chocolate covered malt balls. Place them on top of the "sauce."
garlic bread: Spread the melted white chocolate on toasted lady fingers. Top with the toasted coconut and green sprinkles for parsley.
The other ideas include missing and mixing up everything like serving cake in ice-cream cones, pizza with silly face toppings, pancakes for lunch, and eating everything with chopsticks. Make everyone wear bibs like babies or innovate by tying their hands behind their backs and then make them eat using only their mouths.
BOOKS:
The Emperor's New Clothes By Hans Christian Andersen
Aesops Fables The Ass in the Lion's Skin - moral: Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool
March 21 - March 22, 2008
Purim is a special holiday during February or March. It marks the day during the time of Esther when the Jewish people were delivered from wicked Haman's plot to kill them. Traditionally children will dress up and act out the story of Esther. When Haman's name is mentioned the children will rattle noise makers, known as Groggers, or in Hebrew ra'ashanim, to drown out the sound of his name. Special treats are also baked and served known as Hamantashen or Haman's Hats, because they are supposedly shaped like the hat that Haman wore.These yummy pastries are triangular in shape with the sides meeting over the filling and can also represent Abraham, Issac and Jacob or the Trinty. While the Hamantashen are baking tell the story of Esther. Whenever Haman's name is mentioned, have the children loudly say, "Boo...hiss...yuk!" and cheer for Mordecai.
Hungarian Cabbage and Noodles
1 large cabbage (about 3 lbs), cored, thinly sliced (about 8 cups sliced)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 onion, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (12-ounce) package egg noodles
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Preparation :
Sprinkle cabbage with salt; let stand about 30 minutes. Squeeze dry; blot on paper towels. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet; add sugar and heat until sugar browns. Add onions; cook until they start to wilt. Stir in cabbage; saute, turning frequently, until tender, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with pepper. Transfer cabbage mixture and pan juices to large bowl; keep warm. Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender; drain. Quickly toss noodles with cabbage and poppy seeds. Serve immediately.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings. Hamantashen
We will watch his famous speeches (online - what an amazing thing we are blessed to have with the internet), then I will have the kids spend a little time thinking about their dreams. I will have them create a mobile and I hope to see some of these dreams of theirs come true.
Here are the links I used:
On-line video of "I have a dream" and "I've been to the mountaintop" speeches:
*Allow an hour or more for freezing* 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 (.23-ounce) package Kool-Aid (any flavor)
Place evaporated milk in a mixing bowl and freeze for about 1 hour or until frozen around edges. Using chilled beaters, whip with an electric mixer on high until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and Kool-Aid powder and continue beating until stiff. Freeze until ready to serve. For a softer, mousse like texture, let sit out a bit before serving.
We spent the day updating our calendars for the New Year adding birthdays, special events that happen in our town, commitments that we know about, and Jewish Holidays. I'd love to get the Flylady calendar but honestly when I found this Giant Grid wall calendar at the dollar store I figured it is just as good and the price fits my pockets much better, We love to put stickers on the special dates to dress it up a bit.
The kiddos have calendars in their School Control Journals (i.e. assignment books). I print off pages that I find off the net so they can be bound inside their notebooks. Here are the ones that we used this year.
This is how I spent my entire day -- eating Christmas cookies for breakfast, snacking on Christmas dinner leftovers for lunch, staying in my PJ's & new toe socks (those are sure silly- lol), surfing the net and just basking in the luxury that nothing more needs to be done for Christmas. I sometimes wish I was one of those ladies who is up and at'um the day after Christmas, bright and early, snatching up all the 75% off bargains but G-d just didn't build me that way.
My way of preparing for next Christmas is to sip my coffee and reflect on what happened this season and NOT rush around buying for next year even before this year is over LOL. One of the ways I do that is to SLEEP lol but Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home gave me the idea to make a Keepsake Folder which I attached to a memory box that can hold our keepsake ornaments for the year plus some of my other precious memories (Pictures to come later). I added cards that I can write down some of my feelings about this Christmas and the things that I did because frankly I never remember what I do from year to year. The folder is great in that I can put photos, tags, recipes and dodads inside each envelope to remember this year. I'm pleased with how it turned out and since my memory cards are fairly generic this will be a great way to spend every Boxing Day from here on out -- just boxing up the memories.
Bread Pudding with Carmel sauce & Vanilla Ice Cream
Our second Advent Candle dinner was delayed because I didn’t want to interrupt Hanukah so tonight we will finally light the candle of Peace.We have often had to move candle dinners to a different night due to my dh’s work schedule so it was no big deal.We tried it once without him and it just wasn’t the same so it is just better for us to delay it, even if it means back-to-back dinners.
I really like when we invite other people to our ceremonies but it is such a busy season; it is tough for me to get my act together, let alone for our guests to find a free moment, so tonight it is "just us" eating together.I doubt if there will be any guests this season which is just so wrong but I think that is why I try to do HGP.
Every year gets a little better but I’m still not “there”; I wonder if I will EVER be ready for Christmas before Christmas Eve LOL.As my kids have gotten older, it has gotten easier because they have been able to help me more with decorating, wrapping, baking, and signing Christmas cards, so the stress level does get better.However, because they can do more, then “I” want to do more with them and thus adding MORE to the craziness.Crafting ornaments, actually decorating the cookies and doing more gets in the way of our Peace.I’m hoping that the Peace of tonight will spread to the rest of the month as it gets closer and closer to the big day.
Every year I make our special cinnamon popcorn (recipe below) and we sit and watch a holiday movie. Our family loves to watch It's A Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's our tradition but after the Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch, I didn't have any clue about any other good Christmas movies, especially ones with the true meaning of Christmas as it's theme. Well, I found a list and with list in hand we checked out a classic at the library to add to our annual movie night.
The kids loved watching an old Cary Grant movie called The Bishop's Wife. MY husband even said it was great (& he is usually not one for sappy movies). My youngest caught the message and has asked me today when we are going to hang a stocking for Jesus. I have often thought that I needed to get something but I don't know why I hadn't yet, so today we found and hung a stocking for Jesus and now a new tradition has started from an old one. I hope old and new traditions are being made in your home this Christmas season.
Here is our recipe for cinnamon popcorn. This also makes a pretty gift, cooked up and put in a jar but be sure to include the recipe on a cute recipe card because everyone will ask for it anyhow:
Cinnamon Popcorn
8 cups popcorn (about 1/4 cup unpopped corn)
1 cup margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 package (9 ounces) red cinnamon candies
In a saucepan, combine the margarine, corn syrup and red candies. Bring to a boil, stirring, and boil for 5 minutes. Pour over the popped popcorn and mix well. Pour the popcorn mixture onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 250 degrees F for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Cool completely, then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
Today is almost bittersweet.Tonight was the last night of Hanukah and I have to honestly say that this has been the most wonderful way to start the Christmas season.The lighting of the candles, the rededicating of our hearts to G-d, the meals, the games and the requirement not to do anything while the candles are lit have all brought a calmness to the season that I couldn’t have ever imagined.Just the fact that each day began thinking about the Hanukah celebration for that evening and all of us being home, together, before the sunset, makes me think that this was the exact focus I was praying for.
And no, I still haven’t found the dreidels but somehow I don’t think that was important.I did find a cute paper dreidel to use as a party favor and we filled it with chocolate gelt which of course the kids loved.And the night would not be complete without our board game.Tonight we played Yahtzee but discovered that we were out of score sheets.Luckily, I found Yahtzee score sheets to print online to make our final night perfect.I’m really looking forward to what the New Year will bring through the rededicating of our hearts and I pray that your families hearts are also focused on Him this Christmas season.
I finally finished getting our Christmas tree up today.We kinda started a tradition a few years ago in that we “make” our Christmas tree every year.It started the year that we couldn’t really afford to buy a tree so I put together something we could afford which was, the most beautiful tree made out of tumbleweeds. Very southwestern.The idea has stuck and everyone is always wondering what we will do next for a tree.
We have had a whole collection of different kinds of trees and this year is no exception.Three of our yucca plants left the tops of the most perfect stick trees so that is what we are using this year.They looked a lot like Charlie Brown trees until we put all the tinsel on them and now they just sparkle (the pictures don’t quite capture that). I made cardboard glitter stars for the tops because the sticks needed something very light.I used a star pattern cut out of a cereal box and just slathered it with glue and glitter.I remember now why I don’t like to use glitter LOL - from head to toe covered!!
The boys decided to paint the trees white, silver and gold.While they were doing that my oldest told them that the stick trees reminded him of the story Three Trees.It was nice listening to him tell the story to his younger brothers who hadn’t remembered it.
Then my middle son said he thought we had three Christmas trees this year because of the verse:
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
Everyone fell in love with that idea so our trees this year represent faith, hope and love with the tallest one being love.
My youngest thought we had the three trees to represent G-d, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.We liked that idea too.And it was another revelation to me that faith, hope and love all point to the Trinity:in love, G-d sent hope as baby Jesus to die for our sins so that we can have faith with the help of the Holy Spirit.
I think the trees look beautiful and I love what they represent:A Christmas filled with faith, hope & love; all pointing to G-d, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in life, death and resurrection – now those are trees that represent Christmas!
Our nightly celebrations and lighting of the Hanukah candles have been such a blessing this week.It was nice today that everyone was out and about and we all rushed home before nightfall to be together to light the candles.It has been nice to have this focus and it feels like we are honoring G-d by celebrating even if we aren’t doing a full, fancy meal like the first night.
Sue-Ellen is cooking something in oil every night in honor of Hanukah.I’m not that ambitious – I’m still reading and learning so maybe next year.Tonight is the Sabbath and the rules are a little different on the 4th night in how you light the Sabbath candles and the menorah however since I wasn’t doing those elements I figure we are okay until I know how to do it- a plan to start doing in the New Year.
I did make a few rules for Hanukah that we aren’t to watch TV or play computer games during these nights just so the kids would not see these as ordinary nights and that we have to do something together as a family which continues to be playing board games that the boys love.However, I need to go over winning and loosing etiquette LOL.
I’ve also cut a large piece of butcher paper in the shape of the Star of David to put under the candles to catch wax drips especially when the kids go to light the menorah.My heat gun is cleaning up the spills off the table nicely but the paper will save me some time.
We still haven’t attempted to sing Maoz Tzur but we have listened to it several times online. && ARGH!And I still can’t find the DREIDALS!!!!
It was time! While digging in the closet for the Christmas ornaments I found a whole clan of stuffed animals. My dh has retail-itis. You know, when you work in retail and you buy EVERYTHING that goes on clearance because you can get it cheap! UGH! Sometimes it drives me crazy because I don't like being the Clearing House for the southwest but his "shopping" does come in handy especially for the wonderful thing that my boys did today.
We don't do the Santa thing. We never have. It deeply crushed the grandparents but I just felt it was sooo wrong to teach my kiddos that G-d says not to lie and then I would turn and lie to them about Santa. I have gone over the whole story about the true St. Nicholas and I have even coached them on what to say to other kids so we don't spoil it for them. When my kids tell well meaning adults that, "We celebrate Jesus' Birthday" they usually get a smile on their face like "oh yeah - that is what Christmas is really about".
The way we celebrate "Santa Claus" and St. Nicholas Day is by donating toys or gifts for needy children so today my boys took this pile of animals to the local drop off for Toys for Tots. I'm not sure it means a whole lot to my boys now but maybe when they are older they will think back and say, "Remember every year mom and dad would take us to GIVE something somewhere? We should do that".
It is only when we GIVE that we feel the real Christmas spirit and that is what I want them to remember about St. Nicholas.
I found a couple of places online that you can listen to the proper way to pronounce the Blessings for Chanukah!! I'm sure last night we botched any pronunciations but this site will help soooooo much. And I didn't realize we could sing the Blessings (scroll down to the near the bottom of the page) and that really got the kids excited so we have been listening to that all day so they can sing the Blessings tonight.
Now I have "Baruch ata Adonoy" (Blessed are You, G-d) singing in my head which I found to be such a blessing. I'm cleaning up the kitchen, making beds, doing laundry and only the first part of the Blessing "Baruch ata Adonoy" is playing over and over in my head. Isn't that just poignant when I am doing the mundane? "Blessed are You, G-d while I am cleaning my house and preparing for Christmas". I'm sure the boys are experiencing the same thing and it just seems so relevant to the season and what we are celebrating. Wayy cool!
Of course looking online gave me a few more rules about how to do Chanukah and I started to think about why there are so many rules and why those rules are important. We are soooo human and when we don't have "laws" to follow, we tend to do things our own, silly, wrong, not abiding in G-d way and we are easily led astray. I am starting to see now why there are so many requirements in Jewish customs.
I also found some fun things to do & crafts to make related to Chanukah but the boys seem content to just play a board game each night and rather than pushing a "mom agenda" I think I will try to relax and just PLAY with my kids. Maybe if they get board with that, we will do something different but honestly I am enjoying this time of relaxing and not rushing around gathering and finding the things we would need. And that is the beauty of this celebration!
Tonight for the first time, ever, our family celebrated Chanukah. No, we aren't Jewish although of late we have contemplated attending the nearby Jewish synagogue especially after the whole "I think we shouldn't eat pork" fiasco that I am putting my family through LOL. Of course that thought would & could only lead to this night – G-d is so GOOD!
And what a beautiful night it was. I have no idea if I am doing any part of it correctly but honestly I don't think that was the point because soooo many memories were made tonight that I know it pleased G-d. It’s kind of like when you get breakfast in bed from your loving kids of burnt toast and cold coffee; you would never tell them how awful it is but how much you loved them for doing it. I think our celebration this night was like that to Him.
So on the menu (yes, my boys are food driven):
Roasted Rosemary Lemon Chicken
Potato Latkes with Applesauce, Sour cream & chives
Green beans tossed in Italian dressing
Sufganyot - Jelly doughnuts
It was WONDERFUL to have everyone laughing and helping and working together in the kitchen to get the meal ready. My boys just knew it was a special night and they all seemed to enjoy being together. I put the Chanukah story on a scroll so we could read it and it has been tied up on the table for a few days so I'm sure the curiosity was just killing them to know what was inside.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find the dreidels that the boys got at VBS but I'm still looking. I figure I have 8 days to find them LOL. I figure we are just going to wing it and if we learn that we did something wrong then we will change it and do it right the next time. I printed off all the blessings (and how to pronounce them) onto pretty blue cardstock and the boys seemed really excited to say them in Hebrew.Of course my little one LOVED the strawberry filled doughnuts (no surprise there LOL).
But my favorite part of the night, besides the fact that you are to do no work while the candles are lit, was playing UNO all together as a family. So often our time together as a family is in front of the TV watching a movie and while that is nice, that isn't really the same, is it? I am so guilty too, this time of year of putting a video on for the kids to watch so I can get something done and this celebration has helped me to change my perspective and to slow down.
I’m anxious to see what other things G-d shows us during the next 8 days.
At least once a week my boys and I enjoy a traditional afternoon "tea". This is usually accompanied with with a great reading of Shakespeare or our poetry selection. Now tea with boys is anything like a "traditional tea", but I do require proper manners and good behavior which my boys usually comply with because they really enjoy having tea. They even have their own wonderful tea set and it does help that their mom loves collecting fun, whismical teapots to use for just such an occasion.
Most days it is just a nice cup of tea, apple cider or hot chocolate (in the summer it is usually smoothies or fancy frozen drinks) with some store bought fancy cookies but on occasion I will have something a bit more special like these pumpkin surprises:
Pumpkin Milk Shakes:
Put all ingredients into a blender (except for mellowcreme pumpkins) and blend together.
1 can of pumpkin
1 pink of skim milk
3/4 gallon of vanilla frozen yogurt
1 mellowcreme pumpkin candy or candy corn to garnish each shake
Upside-Down Pumpkin Pie: 1/3 cup of vanilla pudding
1 spoonful of pumpkin pie filling
crushed graham cracker crumbs
Add 1/3 cup of vanilla pudding to a cup. Stir in a spoonful of pumpkin and add graham cracker crumbs to the top.
Growing up my family spent every Labor Day weekend... laboring! As a family, we would can peaches or tomatoes to the sounds of the Jerry Lewis telethon in the background or peel bushels of green chile until your back ached or you got chile in your eyes. If we weren't preserving, we were painting or cleaning rentals with my grandparents. For the longest time that is what I thought this holiday meant; that one was supposed to labor & work LOL!
Well, not this year! This year my dh had vacation over Labor Day! I thought it was a mistake but I had no idea why. Dh planned for us to spend a few days at a hotel in Farmington, NM so he could go golf which I thought was reasonable since he had a forgotten gift certificate that he hadn't used from 1999! - poor guy. While he did that, the kids and I went to the Farmington museum and learned all about how they find and produce oil and gas. It was so fascinating. But this was our first vacation mistake: don't bring the dog on vacation with you. She had to stay tied to the car at the museum and she didn't like it one bit. (Hey! I didn't plan the vacation - it was dh's idea to take the dog -lol).
In the afternoon, we picked up dh and drove to the Four Corners area and we got to stand on 4 states all at once: UT, CO, AZ & NM. It was a long drive but fun until the kids started bickering over what movie to watch! Mistake #2: Don't tell the kids that you brought a DVD player to watch movies in the car or else you will never hear the end of the question, "Can we watch a movie?" even when you are looking at the most beautiful scenery.
Back in town we searched for a letterbox which is my passion. I have never been disappointed with a box even if we didn't find the box because the hikes are usually soooo amazing and it is super family time. At this box, we saw a skunk (but not too close) and we ended up at a wonderful memorial to all those who fought for our country. 2DS6 became so fascinated with the story of the Navajo code talkers and I learned that this kid is reeeealllly into the different fighter airplanes that were used in the war. I didn't know that he knew so much and that he had read about these on his own. I am ashamed that it took a vacation for his mom to notice that -- I'd better work on that. Mistake #3: Don't wait until everyone is hungry to eat. We didn't stop to eat dinner before finding the letterbox and it was nearly dark when we left so by the time we agreed on something to eat and found it, it was very late and we were all tired, hungry and grouchy.
The next day we bought groceries and checked out of the hotel intending to go camping for the remainder of our vacation. We knew of another letterbox at the Salmon Ruins so we stopped there on the way to the campsite. Salmon Ruins were just amazing. This was the 11th century ancient Pueblo site that once contained 3 stories of approximately 300 rooms. The self-guided tour was fascinating but alas the letterbox was gone which is always disappointing even at such a great place as this was. From there we headed to what we thought was to be our campsite but rain, thunder and lightning just washed us out. We actually had picked our site and had just started putting up our tent when the rain just gully washed us. Of course we were also fast running out of sunlight (& gas in the car). We threw (literally) everything back into the car and left soaking wet. We drove to the next closest town which was Pagosa Springs, CO but there wasn't a room to be had in the entire town. Rain stopped but hungry once again with a whole back of the car full of food but needing a campfire we stopped on the side of the road and fixed dinner, repacked the car whose stuffing’s were driving everyone crazy and finally had a laugh because my 3DS6 said, "He was no longer boring" (he meant to say bored but it came out wrong every time he said it). Mistake #4: Check the weather and if your dh says he checked the weather you check it again just to be sure.
Fed, dry and feeling more optimistic we drove to the next little town but by the time we arrived, the town was already asleep. I couldn't keep my eyes open either and the kids had long since dosed off. All I know is that the next morning we awoke, still sleeping in the car, next to a beautiful lake with stiff necks and achy backs. Again dh cooked on the side of the road and we enjoyed pancakes, bacon and hot coffee while watching the sun come up over the ridge and seeing that the early birds are the fisherman in boats on the lake. The boys explored and thoroughly enjoyed the surprise of waking up next to AbiquiuLake. Unfortunately once again there wasn't a vacancy at the campgrounds!!! Honestly, I didn't know that you could make reservations for a campground site so you learn something everyday LOL.
Again we drive making up silly car games like "Our family goes on vacation and we forget to bring...." but in our case it was a little too close to the truth about what we forgot. We end up in Los Alamos which my 1DS10 liked because he had just read a book about "the secret city on the hill". In 2000, there was a huge forest fire here that nearly burned the whole city. I can't believe after 7 years that you can still see the devastating effects of this fire. We ended up stopping at a local park to walk the dog that was sending us "smoke signals" that a stop would be in our best interest (see mistake #1). We found a nice little walking path along the ridge of the city that overlooked the canyon. It would have been a great spot to plant a letterbox but we were not prepared and we were still on a time frame to put up the tent and set up camp. The walking path had the coolest looking caterpillar walking along and why I didn't have my mommy radar on and tell my boys not to touch it escapes me (oh! I remember - it was my sleeping arrangements the night before that made my thinker not work to clearly). Anyhow the boys touched it and the thing zapped them with poison but luckily it wasn't too horrible because they eventually stopped howling. Mistake #5: If a bug looks quite interesting but you have no clue to what it is, don't pick it up and hold it! (More on him in another post).
Back in the car, holding hurt little fingers we drive on seeing deer, wild turkeys, and a fox but no empty campsites. We end up finally at a little mountain lake (with the other half of the state) wondering if this must be God's way of saying for us to go home. Again hungry, we pull out the campstove to cook yet again another belated lunch. The kids end up playing in the stream, finding fish, tadpoles and crawfish. They have a mud fight while mom again falls asleep on the grass and poor dad starts lunch - honestly I just kept falling asleep everywhere (and why dad didn't pack peanut butter is mistake #6). We both watch the clouds and finally decide that enough is enough. As much as we didn't want to go home, we didn't want to chance setting up the tent in another gully washer and then be sick from catching colds, miserable and wet. As soon as lunch was done we headed home and FINALLY the first reasonable decision we made because no sooner had we packed it up and started driving, it started pouring rain.
So next Labor Day weekend I think I will stay home and freeze green beans or find something just as interesting to Labor at! LOL It really was a great time with some wonderful memories to treasure and really dh did a fabulous job planning our trip so in all it was a fabulous vacation even with all our mistakes.
Vacationer: Someone with more money than time.
Traveler: Someone with more time than money.
We are still recuperating from our late night lunar eclipse party. Dh works night shifts and silly me! I couldn't sleep on Monday evening so I was awake when he came in the door at 2:30am. We talked for a bit when he got home and then I reminded him about the eclipse so we decided to make it really fun and wake up the kids (the eclipse started here at 3am). Dh got all the lawn chairs out with blankets and pillows while I made hot chocolate and then we got the boys up. Did they ever LOVE that!!! They were so giddy and silly it was hard keeping them quiet and I had to constantly remind them that the rest of the neighborhood was still asleep LOL.
At first it was really cool watching the shadow of the earth come across the moon but then the clouds came and covered the whole thing up which I thought was going to be a bust and then voila! The clouds cleared and we saw the fire, red, moon which was sooooo awesome but I don't know --- I think I am getting too old for these late night all'nighters. We all went back to bed around 5:45am and slept until 10:30am but oh boy! I am STILL dragging and my my my! My kiddos are still catching up and being so grouchy and unreasonable . But it really was worth it. I hope they will always remember that time when mom and dad woke them up in the middle of the night to see the Fire Red Moon.
Gosh! I feel like I am writing a teacher assigned first-day back-to-school paper about, "What We Did This Summer" LOL!
Linda Fay over at Higher Up and Further In asked how our family spent our summer and really the best thing we did was have a Flylady Camp. Like Linda, we had crafts each day but the main purpose for our Camp was to establish daily morning, afternoon and evening routines that my kiddos were sooo being lax in. It was a great training and we had bugles calls to move us from one event to the next using our trusty timer. We ate fun camp food each day like hotdogs, s'mores and homemade popsickles. We played some fun Flying Games that helped me to declutter and organize our house and we gave awards each night for tasks completed. The cumulation of it all, was a garage sale where we earned some money to go towards vacation.
One of our crafts were these great tie-dyed shirts which were a blast making:
Here are some great online videos that show you how to do this. It really was quite simple and all you need are some cotton shirts, dye and maybe a few rubberbands. Of course mom's shirt (that isn't showing) had a spiral pattern.
And that is one of the Best Things We Did This Summer
Conversations with myself about the triumphs and tribulations of being a Mama Bear to 3 baby bears, a helpmeet, a CM AO Hs teacher, a Flybaby, a daughter of Eve and a princess to the King.
