Christmas 2017

Somewhere there is a picture of what actually went on here that Friday night. My friend with eight children under the age of 12 asked if she could come over and we could dip chocolates.

Sure why not?

At one point we had a whole bunch of little helpers around this table...gotta find the pics.

We used a bit over 6# of chocolate, my friend had made the oreo truffle and buckeye fillings before she got here because y'know, a mom with eight kids really has nothing else to do.

Saturday was a day for family gatherings....pinata, too much food..

A craft version of Chopped, we only got to round #1.

I gave them each 3 large coffee filters, scotch tape and a scissors.

They didn't want me to take pictures of their finished craft.

This is an idea I want to re-visit with a bit more pre-planning.

Christmas Eve was on Sunday, so in the afternoon, we opened most of our gifts.

Shekinah still loves Peppa Pig.

Faith got two pair of footwear that she didn't need :)

Zeke has been curious about the M'bira

Hope paid for part of her "new artillery" (a Canon)

Joe got a Steeler's blanket

Christmas Day with all the kids home. Thought I'd better take pictures because it probably won't happen again for a few years.

We didn't do the Thanksgiving version.

I made the food for this meal.

We've been eating egg rolls and potstickers for either Christmas or Christmas Eve for the past several years and they all (well all except Parker) seem to love it.

Parker ate rice...he'll learn- his daddy did.

Hudson dear, could have been satisfied with wrapping paper.

It was a good Christmas, I love having everyone home.

I think back to last Christmas...

Hudson was only --well, on his way.

Ben still hadn't asked Jana to marry him.

I wonder what this next year holds.

In all the hustle of family gatherings, chocolate dipping, Christmas programs,Christmas caroling, egg roll wrapping, shopping and flu season I think,

 it is best if you tell the story of Christ's birth and the reason he needed to come to earth, way before Christmas day. It should be a year-round conversation because the gift of Christ doesn't stop on Christmas Day, it was just  one part of the Salvation Plan.

I Did It Again!

I planned too much for the month of December. (Look at how much Hudson has grown!)

It seemed like such a good idea- since the health insurance deductible was almost met...

and I needed a colonoscopy and hubby needed  knee surgery (torn meniscus)...

Why not add two teens wisdom teeth in the middle of all that too!?

Yup, sounds great! I mean there were a few open days.

Well, three out of the four procedures are finished and healing well.

Joe's wisdom teeth are on schedule for Thursday morning, that is if he manages to stay well until then. He seems to be brewing a cold and is determined to delete sleep out of his schedule.

I did at least one thing right this month, according to Shekinah.

We also had two school Christmas programs to attend and we chose to attend the one --twice!

Simply because we enjoyed it so much.

"Sqooze" in a travel group get-together. Funny how the kids change their looks every year, but the adults look about the same...that or I need my annual eye exam (don't think I'm gonna schedule that yet too!)

Yes Hudson, I still need to make Christmas cookies! I did manage a hat while waiting around in doctor's offices.  I did get the egg rolls and dumplings made for Christmas dinner.

Who needs cookies?

I was very relived- he was too. He used the crutches for balance for 1-1/2 days and had very little pain, no nausea from his anesthesia. It really was an answer to prayer.

I do have a bored husband in the house tho'. I had to send him out on errands to give him something to do.

QOTD: Shekinah singing "Mary did you know, that your baby boy would someday grow up taller? Did you know...?"  (Maybe she should stick to whistling ...actually I enjoy her singing)

The Quarter Jar

A few months ago I was quite frustrated with my children. It seemed I needed to spell out every chore that needed to be done. And when I gave a chore, they made sure they did that specific thing and NO EXTRA. How on earth were they going to ever have their own home if they needed some one to tell them to keep after their own mess.

I know, I know, there are all those fancy chore charts and we did have those for awhile, but I think I'm the one with the ADD . I can remember to check up on people for just so long, then I get side-tracked. 

So- since my goal in teaching my children is to someday be productive citizens. People who will follow God's laws and other laws, because they want to, not because someone is watching over them and making sure they obey them. I also hope to have responsible children who will be appreciated by their future husbands or wives for their thoughtfulness and ability to notice when the trash needs emptied. I know two of ours are married and I'm hoping their wives didn't need to do too much training.

In an effort to encourage this wonderful behavior of "helpfulness without prompting" (I wish I had a catchier name for it) I made a quarter jar. I went to the bank for a roll of quarters. I think it costs $10 and I shook those shiny quarters in front of their noses saying "one of these will be yours every time you do a job without being prompted."

I needed to add a few rules. The quarters were not for doing someone else's job. They were not to be claimed for regularly scheduled jobs like dishes and clearing the table after meals.

They had to be claimed immediately after the job was done, so I could notice and check....none of this claiming $2 at bedtime.

I did my best not to assign the extra jobs unless people were practically tripping over it and ignoring it.It was interesting who made the most money. Some people thought they were too elite to stoop to doing jobs for a quarter, but we merrily ignored them. 

It took about 2 months to use up the quarters and I decided not to replenish the jar right away.

I wasn't sure I had accomplished anything, anyway.

Then about two months after the experiment I suddenly noticed that Hope and Faith had started taking turns washing the dishes..get this...

WITHOUT MY INSTRUCTIONS and

WITHOUT ARGUMENT!

That realization was worth more than $10.

(our dishwasher has been on the blink for about 3 months and I asked hubby to not replace it yet)

I just finished up this girl's five-year-Post-Placement report.

Sunday I got this note from her even before she tasted the soup.

She has taken up crocheting...you can't really see too well, but the hook is  inserted in 

a block of styrofoam and she tucks it under her arm.

So far she has just made a long chain, but give her time...she's only seven.

This bunch (me included) got hungry for real french fries the other day.

Then I made some on Sunday evening, but those potatoes didn't "chip" well.

Gotta find someone that hasn't chilled their potatoes- don't the grocery stores know better?

QOTD: The joys of language: after a civics lesson, one of my children asked, "what's the difference between persecute and prosecute... Isn't one of them an immoral woman? O wait that's...pros...!"