Santa Anecdotes, cont'd...

Leah continues with her hilarious observations on Santa. I don't know where she gets this stuff!

We finally got to see the fire truck with Santa on top the other night. Gramps came out to watch with us. He picked up Leah and the conversation went something like this:

Gramps: Are you going to get to see Santa on the fire truck?
Leah: Yes, but you know the real Santa is dead.
Gramps: (trying to hold back laughter)....How did he die?
Leah: His sleigh ran into someone's house.

I can't figure it out...what is my kids' fascination with Santa all of a sudden? Our policy on Santa is that we just tell the kids exactly like it happens. Jesus is what Christmas is all about. We give the history of St. Nicholas and so they know he was once someone who was alive, and now his legacy lives on in the imaginary character, Santa. Anyways, we have heard many humorous comments by the kids the past few days, and Leah especially seems enthralled by Santa, with Bay coming in a close second :)

#1 Our local fire department has one of their volunteers dress up as Santa and ride throughout our area on top of the truck, sirens wailing, throwing out candy. They have a schedule of which back-country roads they will be visiting on which nights. Last night was our night, so we went out to wait. The whole time, Leah is singing..."Sa a anta Claus is comin' to town..." They must have gotten a call, because they cut the tour short, so we went inside. Leah went back to her room and came out with her play phone. "Mommy, Santa is on the phone, do you want to talk to him?"

#2 During a recent trip to the mall, Leah, shy as she is of all the children, saw that people were going to sit on Santa's lap. "Mommy, can I go sit on Santa's lap and see him?"

"Of course not, honey. I am not allowing you to sit on some strange man's lap in a mall!"

#3 We went caroling with our church a few weeks ago. One of the people who came along dressed up as Santa. The people in the nursing home loved it! So did Bay. The whole time, he buddied up with Santa. Held his hand as we walked around. Talked about the one thing he really wanted for Christmas that we already told him there was no way we were getting. (He totally knew who it was under that costume, but something in his child's brain told him differently!)

#4 We are getting ready to install a woodstove. We will need to put in stovepipe (it will be exposed). Dennis and I were discussing specifics about this upcoming installation and the light bulb went off in their heads..."Now Santa will have a chimney to come down!!!"

Crazy kids.

Preparing for Christmas

I am sorry for the blog silence....our family has been battling a nasty cold/virus for the past 2 weeks. It has hit one after the other about 2-3 days apart, and seems to last for an entire week, so you do the math! Eric is the last one hit, and he went down today. Anyways, in the midst of our self-imposed quarantine, we are still trying to prepare our hearts and our home for Christmas. I hope you are doing the same, and I promise more posts in the near future.

My husband/My hero!

Our flourescent lights that have been under our cabinets have been dying, one-by-one, and so we decided that it was time to replace them with something a little nicer. Off to Lowes, and then Home Depot for Dennis to find out that they don't sell "direct-wire" under-cabinet lights, only the kind that you plug in to an outlet. That was no good for us since we already had the wiring connected to a switch. So Dennis got some and totally made them work! He hard wired them to our exisisting wiring with a junction box. This is so amazing to me because Dennis used to balk at electrical work, but he did such a super job, I just couldn't be happier!

And the light that comes from them is so much warmer than flourescent bulbs.

I've also been busy finishing up some projects around the house...finally getting to sewing Bay's jacket was a priority!

It's exactly like Eric's, but in blue camoflage twill, lined with blue camoflage fleece.

And since I'm giving the whole update, I might as well show you a few pics from our recent afternoon down in the southern part of the county at the Chesapeake Bay Field Lab. This is an educational research area that has an open house each year. It is fun because the kids get to tong for oysters, tour the Skipjack (oyster boat), take a marsh walk and explore estuary creatures with a seine net, among other things. This year it was extremely cold, so we didn't get to enjoy ourselves quite as much as we have before, but it was still fun.

Bay and Leah exploring little mud crabs, minnows, etc.


And our little girl's newest favorite thing to do is to put foam curlers in her hair after her bath and wake up in the morning looking like Shirley Temple !!!

Bull Run and Halloween

This post is way late, but I've been very busy lately and haven't had time to spend posting. Anyways, I still wanted to include something about our fun Halloween/Camping weekend in Manassas, Virginia at Bull Run Park. We camped with some friends from church (Ray & Genia and kids, and Rhonda & Gene and kid). It was a beautiful weekend, and nice to do something different for Halloween. We brought along costumes for the kids, carved our pumpkins at the site, and did a scavenger hunt for candy instead of trick-or-treating. It was very low key and was amazingly easy!

In the above picture, from front left to right is Leah (a queen) and Bay (Spiderman with a cape). Next row behind is Eric (a sorceror), Elliott (face painted as a tiger), Grace (face painted as princess) and Ian (a robber-without his robber mask)

This picture is for my and Genia's friend, Holly, who drew this picture on a piece of canvas long ago, and gave it to Genia for us to have the kids color while on a camping trip sometime. Finally we did it and they enjoyed working on it throughout the day. Thanks Holly! I hope your ears weren't twitching on Saturday, 'cause we talked about you while we colored it :)

Saturday morning Dennis and I took our kids to Manassa Battlefield. Dennis grew up with the battlefield literally in his backyard, so he thought it was really neat to come back after so many years and see it with our kids. I learned a lot about this battle while at the park, and can't wait until Eric studies the Civil War in school to get into it a little more.

WARNING: HISTORY CONTENT AHEAD....

The First Battle at Manassas was in 1861 and was really one of the most monumental battles of the civil war because going into the war, most people had a romantic view of war, and really thought it would all be settled in this one battle. Instead, it marked the beginnig of the bloodiest battle the United States has ever fought. Stonewall Jackson also got his nickname during this battle...soldiers were asking where their commander was and someone said, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall" and so the nickname stuck. He was brave and fought on the front lines with his men.

Pumpkins lit up...the great thing about carving pumpkins while camping, all the mess is already outside, and you can just leave them there when you go!

Hanging out in the park near the Old Stone Bridge.

A New Member of the Family

Recently we rescued a baby kitten from the end of our street. I know, I don't know what has gotten into me...I am not the rescue type. I guess I saw him and in a moment of weakness I was overtaken. Anyways, here he is. We think when we rescued him he was not more than 4 weeks old, if that. He could not lick himself, or lick milk from a bowl. He was in pretty bad shape. After some internet searching, and a few phone calls to our vet friend, we found out that he needed:

1. To be warm! a heating pad did the trick

2. He couldn't eat and get his digestion going until he was sufficiently warm-a dropper with kitten formula worked

After a few days of feedings with the dropper, he learned to lap up the formula with his tongue and so we moved to a bowl. Much easier. Then he amazingly started using a litter box...it is amazing the instincts God has given baby kittens.

Here he is wrapped up in a fleece blanket in Leah's lap the 2nd day we had him home. This is all he did for at least 24 hours...cuddled and got warm.

We have since set up home for him in Leah's bathroom...plenty of room for the kids to go visit and play, and the stinky litter is out of the way for me (my main aversion to cats is changing litter). Here he is perched on Eric's leg-he loves to perch on our laps! He is getting very playful and looks forward to playing with anyone who comes to visit him in his temporary home.


His eyes look blue in this picture, I guess due to the camera flash, but they are really greenish-brown. He's all black with a tiny tuft of white on his chest. Adorable. Can you guess his name?

Tiny little ball of fur. Did you guess his name yet? It's Spooky :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmXX3NuPQU8

If you are at all concerned about the upcoming election, I encourage you to watch the above video produced by Chuck Baldwin for president. He clearly addresses why it is absolutely NOT wasting your vote to vote for a third-party candidate. In light of where it seems evident these elections are headed, consider the fact that if he were to garner enough support in this election (even if he doesn't win) the country may be more receptive to a good third-party candidate by the next election. If all conservatives actually voted for someone who truly represented their views, then Chuck Baldwin would win the election. Please feel free to pass on the link to my blog to anyone you know.

Home School Idea----Lap Books

Have you ever heard of making a lap book? Although I know it is probably a very old idea, it was rather new to me. I was first introduced to them by some home schoolers who were at the Congressional Action Program (sponsored by HSLDA) when we lobbied our senators in D.C. last year. It is a great way for our kids to creatively display in a compact format ANY subject they have studied.

I have been looking for a way to use it with Eric that he would enjoy. We use the Beautiful Feet curriculum for History, and it often takes us on side-tracks studying other things related to the book at hand. This was a great way for him to put that information together in one place that he can easily share with others. If you want some resources to get started on making your own lap book, just google it, but here are two links that we found helpful.

Templates for inside the lap book

How to fold

This was probably the most excited Eric has been about any project he has done, so I think we will do many more of these!

Pretty much you start with a basic manilla folder and fold it as above. Everything fits inside. We are reading Holling C. Holling's Minn of the Mississippi and have been researching snapper turtles (the main character of the story).

Open it up and on the inside are all of the goodies. Front and center is a detailed drawing Eric did (NOT traced) labeling all of the parts of the turtle. On the left is a series of lift-the-flaps detailing the turtle's diet. On the upper right is a fan-book explaining the life-cycle of the turtle from egg, hatchling, adult and reproduction. Across the bottom is a map colored with the location of the common snapper in the North American continent. Then a mini book about the turtle's habitat, then on the right a picture of a snapper in it's habitat.

Mini book, page 1.Lift the flaps...on the outside is a picture of what the turtle likes to eat. Lift the flap and read a description of it.
The fan book. Notice the background picture of the snapper on the title page. Totally Eric's idea. Pretty cool.
Definitely something for him to be proud of :) And I am very proud of my boy!

We've been Skunked!!!

I guess it was inevitable...we have had problems with skunks around the house this fall, and smell them often, but last night Luke finally crossed paths with the skunk. The critter sprayed our deck and the front of our house, and at some point sprayed Luke as well. Poor thing, it got him right in the face! So we looked it up to see what we ought to do and we washed his eyes out last night, but that was about it since it was late.

This morning Eric and I made up a bath for him with warm water (it's 60 degrees outside today), lots of vinegar, baking soda and detergent. Have you ever tried to give a cat a bath? I hadn't until today, so it was quite an adventure! He actually did really well at first, I guess the warm water felt nice and he liked being rubbed. However, he quickly tired of it all and spent most of his time trying to get out of the tub. He never tried to scratch me or claw at me. I had a pretty good grip on his leg, so he wasn't going anywhere till I let go of him!

He kept getting one paw over the edge of the tub which actually was nice so I could scrub him under his belly. Does he look happy? Not too sure about that!
Poor thing, he looks so skinny and forlorn with his fur all wet! As soon as I let him out he shook off like a dog and was off! Haven't seen him since...don't think he trusts me too much.

As for the skunk smell, it's not totally gone by any means, but he is much better. At least we got all those nasty oils out of his fur. I imagine the scent will linger for some time.

As for the skunk, we are researching options in how to get rid of it. We have a have-a-heart trap, and feel confident we can trap it, but what then? Any suggestions?

I have tried to keep this a blog solely about what is going on in our family. I have really tried. And truth be told, this IS what is going on in our family right now. We (Dennis & I) have been in a small quandary as we have been following the current events and the elections this season. While I do not believe that the Presidential election is the most important thing going on, it is VERY important and we have come to the conclusion that God has put us here in this time and place for a purpose. That purpose is not to sit idly by and watch our nation fall into depravity, but to stand up and speak, to make our voices heard. I promise politics will not be a constant feature of this blog, but for today, it is the main feature. I do not apologize for this. It is important to me and I hope it is as important to you.

Please take some time and look into Chuck Baldwin. He is a far cry from Obama and McCain, in a good way.

http://www.baldwin08.com/

Are you wasting a vote on Chuck Baldwin? Absolutely not. Read what he says on this topic here.

Cooperation

Sometimes all 3 kids get along in ways I could never imagine or ask. Usually it happens just when we are supposed to be doing something else, so I think subliminally they are getting along so well in order to avoid something they'd rather not be doing...like schoolwork :) When I came up from taking my shower this morning, this is what I found. Everyone dressed (Eric had helped Leah pick out her clothes and get her dressed) and playing in Leah's room. So I gave them a 10 minute warning of more play time, then it was time to get down to work!
I have been inspired to start early with the Christmas preparations this year...I always try to have the kids make gifts to give to family, and I have been looking for ideas. So far, I have found several, and a few I may try for myself. I often give something that I have canned from the garden, like salsa or jelly, but I didn't have any this year, so I need fresh ideas for me too! What homemade gift ideas have you done that worked for you?
Freezer paper stencils: you can easily take a piece of artwork made by your children with a bold outline and turn it into cool art on clothing/bags/etc...
Handmade gifts site: a gazillion handmade gift ideas for all ages, all levels.

and for the adults:
Cute flower felt pattern
crate slip covers
fabric storage boxes

Fall Jackets

I have embarked on a fall project to make each of the kids a play jacket. I wanted to see if I could actually save money doing this, and I think I actually have. I spent about $50 for the fabric/notions for all 3 jackets and they are turning out nicely so far. Leah will actually get two, the first one is from a Butterick Fast & Easy Pattern #B4908 and the other will be from the same pattern as the boys' jackets. What is great about this pattern is that all 3 of their sizes are on one pattern! That does not happen very often. So one of Leah's is done and Eric's is done. Bay's is next.

Don't know if you can see it in the picture but I did blanket stitching around the bottom, the sleeves and the pockets. This jacket has 2 snaps hidden inside. This was my first time putting in snaps and it was very easy!
Eric's jacket has a hood an fleece lining. The only thing I would have done differently is put in some pockets in the sides! I can't believe the pattern didn't have pockets, and I wonder if I can put them in after the fact? Any experience with this?

Everyone picked out their own fabric for their jackets. Eric picked out the camo shell with leaves on the inside. Bay picked out a blue camo pattern.

Quick Visit

Left to Right (Kevin, Bay, Dennis, Grandma, Mike)

Sunday afternoon, Dennis, Bay and Grandma went for a quick unplanned visit to his brother, Mike's house. Kevin was in town, the trailer needed to be returned to Mike, and Grandma wanted to see her boys. Enough said. The plan was for Dennis to take one of the kids...I was leaning toward Eric going, but Eric was vehemently against it. He explicitly explained that he was really looking forward to just relaxing on Sunday. No problem since Bay REALLY wanted to go. It turned out to be a wonderful arrangement. Evidently Bay needed some middle child attention, and got plenty of it. He wrote in his journal about it today, and drew a great picture of what he remembered from the afternoon. Evidently Eric really needed to be at home and have some peace and quiet too, because he literally spent the entire afternoon/evening reading. He even declined to watch the Redskins game with us on the big screen at Granni/Gramps' house. Of course, since Eric was off in his own world with Eragon, Leah got mommy and Grannni time.

It is so nice when each child is able to get that individual time in the way they need it most. What is fun to see is how their personalities change when you get them by themselves. Bay's journal entry is at the bottom since I thought it was very cute.

See the cool arched doorway in the background??? That is what Bay drew if you can't make it out. Here is what he dictated to me to go with his drawing (see top of page for that).
"This is a door at Uncle Mike's house. It's raining and everyone is at the fire. While it was raining I was playing ball with Stinky (the dog). When we were done with dinner I got to have Sprite and watch Avatar."

Rare Occasion

Rarely do the kids get opportunities to play in the rain...usually if it's raining, it's also thunderstorming, or it's too cold to get that wet. Anyways, we, like the rest of the east coast, are experiencing several days of periods of rain and wind due to a tropical low, so this has been the perfect opportunity for playing in the rain! The kids went out after dinner and it started misting and then turned into a full-out downpour. Rain boots kept their feet dry, but that's about all that was dry. They had a great time as can be imagined. Oh the simple joys of childhood.

The Shack

I recently read a book and I'd like to post about it. There aren't too many books I read that I would really recommend to people (I usually read just to put myself to sleep at night). However this book has affected me differently. I won't give away the plot, but hopefully you'll pick up a copy and read it. I think you'll be glad you did. After you read it, loan it to someone else to read.

The book is written by a friend of the main character. As you'll find out in the foreward, pretty much, Will (the author) is a good writer and so his friend, Mack (the main character) asked him to tell his story for him. The story revolves around a very tragic event in Mack's life....very very sad, but if you can move through that to what God teaches him, it is very worth it. The book is much more than the tragedy. It gave me a picture of God that is more tangible and complete than anything I have ever known, even after having a close relationship with him for most of my life. As I read my Bible and think about my relationship with Jesus now, I seem to be looking at it through a new pair of lenses, lenses that make what he says clear in a different sort of way. Mack's (the main character) experiences with God reveal HIS love in such a clear way. I don't want you to get the idea that the book is thelogical or religious, because it is completely NOT religious. If anything, it will break some religious stereotypes. It is real and a real picture of what a real relationship with Jesus is about. Be prepared to be challenged and changed.

If you read it, I'd love to hear what you think.

Dennis' New Toy

Dennis is really enjoying his new (used) Yamaha Venture. It is quite a change from the bike he had 8 years ago (MUCH bigger) He is going to be getting it lowered so his vertically challenged legs will be able to reach the ground on flat feet. He finally got the registration done and has ridden it to work this week. For those of you readers who hadn't heard, Dennis' brothers, Kevin & Mike, recently bought Dennis this motorcycle. Why...you ask...did they do that? Is it because they had nothing better to do? no. Is it because they love him so much? well, they do love him, but, no. Is it because they wanted to release years of guilt for picking on him when he was a little kid? sorry, no guilt there, so, no.

Funny as it may sound, they were so non-impressed with his riding skills when he went out to CA to ride with them that they really thought he needed to practice more! What a cool surprise to Dennis. And, yes, probably in the end, it is because they love their little brother, Dennis!

Can't tell who's happier here, Dennis or Bay! Bay is wearing his ski helmet for riding around our street. We don't have any youth helmets yet. When Leah heard that daddy was getting a motorcycle, the first thing she said was, "I can wear my black motorcycle shirt when you take me for a ride!"

SPACE TROUBLE

by Eric MacQuilliam

This is a comic that Eric recently made to be a submission for our Homeschool Group newsletter. In order to see the picture larger, you will need to click on it and it should enlarge on your computer screen. You may have to read it a few times to understand his placement of the speech bubbles: sometimes he starts the people talking at the bottom of the frame, and sometimes in the middle. Eric LOVES drawing comics and they almost always relate to his legos which he and his brother play with in almost every free moment.

Soccer So Far...

Both Eric and Bay are playing soccer this fall in the recreation league. This will be Eric's 3rd season playing, and he is by no means a soccer star, but he has shown improvement in each successive season, so we encouraged him to keep trying. He is already (after 2 weeks of practice) becoming more aggressive with the ball, which is a good thing for him :)

Bay is also old enough to play on a team in the recreation league, and Dennis is coaching his team with another parent. This is Dennis' first time coaching, and he is really enjoying it! The only thing we don't enjoy is that both practices are at the same time at completely different parks, so I never get to see Bay play, and Dennis never gets to see Eric play. This week their games are at the same times at different parks, so it will be the same deal. Last week their games overlapped, but we all got to spend some time at both games.

County Fair

This weekend is our local county fair. We love the county fair. We always enter as many things as we can reasonably carry that any of us have made during the past year. The kids typically enter artwork, sometimes lego creations, crafts, etc. For me it's usually canned goods, herbs and sewing. This year even Dennis got in on the fun with a simple wood working project he did. Yesterday the kids and i ran over to the fairgrounds for an hour to see our exhibits and visit the animals (Thursday is free to exhibitors). It was very empty since it had just opened.

Today was School Day (schools are out) so kids get in free. Dennis had off today so he was able to come. Also not too crowded compared to going at night. My parents came along too.

Here are our results.

Bay got a 1st in his one and only entry...a painting of a rocket. Before you get too excited, yes he did this by himself, but the idea we got out of a really neat Usborne finger painting art book that we use for school quite often. Eric did a painting just like this when he was Bay's age from the book and it is interesting to see how similar they are!
Eric entered artwork in markers, colored pencils, crayons and paint. His spider painting, above, won 2nd place. He also entered a painted rock and a creative writing piece.
The Christmas banner that wraps around the case is one I made last winter for our home. It is cut from felt and then sewed on in different ways. I got the idea from a Company Store catalog.
Dennis' wooden knife won 3rd. We thought of many more things he can enter next year after seeing what types of things were there!


I am including all of my sewing entries. I did get a ribbon on all of them, but not because they are so great. Most of them were the only entry in their category, so it goes to show that something doesn't have to be great to win a prize! Most of the judges write constructive criticism on the back of the entry card so it is nice to hear what they have to say about each piece.
Above is an apron I made for my mom for mother's day. It is reversible.

This is a twirling skirt i made for Leah.
This was actually a nightgown that my mom made for Leah, but I knew she wouldn't go to the trouble of entering it, so I entered it for her! Good job Granni!
This is Bay's robe and he was so happy to see that HE got a first place on his robe :)
Leah's robe and sundress.

I also entered 3 bunches of herbs (lavendar, sage and oregano) from my herb garden and got either 3rd or 4th on them.

A pleasant surprise to the day was to find out that all rides were only 1 ticket each (normally 4 or 5). So instead of only being able to ride 1x each, the kids got to ride 3x each. They were very happy about that!

Bay and Eric in the TOMB OF DOOM!!!
Leah on the choo choo train.

We finished the fair with a treat and then we were done. What a fun family day!