Merry Christmas!

photo courtesy of Flickr

Well, I tried . . . really I did. But, I couldn’t seem to live life this month and blog too! So, I have decided to take an official (planned ahead of time, not like the past few weeks) blogging holiday until January. I pray that you and your family will have a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the blessed birth of our Savior!

“For to us a Child is born,
to us a Son is given,
and the government will be on His shoulders.

And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

~Isaiah 9:6

I’ll be back sometime after the first of the year ~

Blessings,
Nancy

Is that snow I see?

In case you’re asking yourself that question right now, the answer is yes! Snow is falling on my blog thanks to a tiny little button that WordPress has added which makes snowfall as simple as one little click. Too bad it’s not so simple to make it snow in real life – we could order up a white Christmas every year!

Be sure and move your mouse around and see what happens to the snow.

Ahh, such simple pleasures. Brrrr. . . I think I may need a cup of cocoa now!

Blessings,
Nancy

Christmastime!

“I feel Christmas in the air
Snowflakes falling everywhere:
Except in warm and sunny places
Where snowflakes never show their faces.
But everywhere the trees are trimmed
With twinkling lights on every limb.
They make the homes so gay and bright
And along dark streets shine out at night.
It is a season warm and glowing
Although outside it may be snowing.
Whether you live North or South
In mobile home or manor house,
You must feel Christmas in the air
And know it is a time to share.
And what a season to be jolly
With Christmas greens and Christmas holly.

-Jane W. Krows

I’ll be back soon to let you know what we’ve been up to so far this season!

Blessings,
Nancy

Back and Busy. . .

Oh, the joy of a speedy internet! After spending the last few days in turtleland, it’s so nice to be back up to rabbit speed. Now I just need to find the time to write!

The next few days are going to be busy indeed. We will be working on school projects, making Valentines, baking cookies, shopping, playing basketball, delivering Valentine baskets to the hospital, as well as a meal to our friends with the new baby. And that just gets me through Saturday!

Here is a sample of one thing that I hope to do with the children this afternoon, in the form of this poem by Leland B. Jacobs -

A Special Valentine

“It’s time to make my valentines,”
To Mother I had said.
“I must have ribbons and I’ll need
Some slices of your bread.”

“What will you make?” my mother asked;
I did not tell her, though.
“You’ll be surprised,” was my reply,
“But you’ll be pleased, I know.”

Out to the kitchen then I ran,
And soon I’d finished there
My strange new kind of valentine
That, none the less, was fair.

I hung my valentines outdoors
All tied with ribbons red,
And snowflakes made a dainty lace
For each white heart of bread.

When Mother saw what I had made,
She smiled and said, “How fine!
Now all the hungry little birds
Will have a valentine!”

I’ll be back later when I get a moment. Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Look Who’s Here!

Can you tell who they are? Do you see that tell-tale red breast? Yes, they’re robins! I could hardly believe it when I looked out my kitchen window and saw them. And then I ran outside to take a picture to share with you.

Now I know it is only January, but these guys (gals?) still put the thrill of Spring in my heart when I see them.

Maybe their arrival means that Spring will come early this year?

“A new note of joy from the orchard,
A glimpse of a vest reddish-brown
A little gray head cocked sideways -
Sir Robin has come back to town.

He seems to be glad that I notice,
As I watch for his lady’s down,
And call out to others in gladness,
‘Sir Robin has come back to town.’

Though Winter is ruddy and jolly,
Miss Spring is the maid of renown -
And our hearts sing a glad song of welcome
When the Robins have come back to town.”
– M. Lucille Ford

Blessings,
Nancy

What we woke up to ~

An icy wonderland ~

“. . .Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake;
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.”
-Robert Louis Stevenson

School has been cancelled ~
The hot cocoa is ready in waiting ~
Let the sliding begin!

Blessings,
Nancy

From the Learning Room – “Stopping By Woods…”

Last week our study was on the poem/book “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost with illustrations by Susan Jeffers.

This is a lovely poem to study in January, especially in Texas where we don’t get to experience snow very often. I thought that this would be a wonderful poem for us to memorize. When I mentioned this to the children, they insisted that they could never do that! However, by the end of the week, without even trying, they had it down, just from reading it, studying it, and living with it all week. They had such fun reciting it over and over, and were pleased that they were able to do it after all. One of our activities for the week included cutting out snowflakes to tape on the dining room windows.

We discussed Robert Frost, which led us into a discussion of John F. Kennedy, as Frost recited poetry at JFK’s inauguration, and then died two years later, along with the President. We discussed taking a field trip to downtown Dallas to visit the museum there sometime.

We also discussed rhyme and rhyme scheme and were easily able to decipher the rhyme scheme of Frost’s poem (A-A-B-A, B-B-C-B . . .)

As Mom read about how snowflakes are formed and why snow is important to us (besides the fun!), the children created these snow pictures using pencil erasers dipped in paint and a snowflake punch.

We looked for the artist’s hidden animals throughout the book and discussed her use of black and white with only small touches of color. We also discussed hibernation of animals – why, when, how, where, and who.

The man in the poem left a gift of seeds and grasses for the wild animals to enjoy in the forest, which led to our final activity of the week – the making and hanging of birdseed pinecones.

The supplies – pinecones, peanut butter, birdseed, and ribbon -

I tied a length of ribbon on each pinecone and then the children spread peanut butter all over the pinecones -

Next, they rolled their pinecone in the bird seed, coating it well -

We hung these in the trees by the bird feeders, so that they birds would see them when they came to the feeders, and so that we could watch them through the kitchen window!

I think these went up just in time, as an ice storm is due today and now the birds will have an extra treat to ease the icy days.

Our Five In A Row meal for the week was one of comfort and warmth after coming in on a snowy evening – Tater Tot Casserole, with Peach Crisp for dessert -

It was a very nice week, and we did manage to fit in that trip to the ice rink for 3 of the children -

I’m hoping to write up a post about the skating and post more pictures soon.

I especially loved this book because of the emphasis on the enjoyment of nature and taking time out of our daily busyness to stop and marvel at the glorious creation of our Lord – a reminder that we all need from time to time.

Stay warm and enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa – we’ll certainly be indulging a bit today!

Blessings,
Nancy

Happiness is . . .

. . . a cozy nap on a soft cushion on a cold winter’s day.

Blessings,
Nancy

So Many Visitors!

Our feeders have been all aflutter lately (lesson learned – keep them filled with food). I wanted to share some pictures of our visitors. I took these pictures through my kitchen window, with the telephoto setting, so I apologize for the quality. I couldn’t go outside to take them – the birds all fly off when I do!

These same birds have been daily visitors for awhile now, but I took these pictures on the last icy day we had, which explains the icicles on the birdfeeder. This first one is of a Woodpecker. He looked so big compared to the little Chickadees that are so often around -

Here is a different Woodpecker. I love the coloring on this bird. We have since seen one like this with a touch of red on the head that I guess must be the male, making the one in the picture most likely the female -

Here is a Chickadee and a Cardinal feasting together -

And a beautiful Cardinal sheltering from the cold -

An exciting visitor was this Blue Jay. Now I have lived all of my life in the suburbs up until almost 4 years ago, and Blue Jays were very common sightings. But, since moving here, I rarely see them. On this day I saw several of them, but caught this one on the ground under one of the feeders -

And here’s another one – just because it was so exciting! -

Other visitors that I didn’t get pictures of include the daily Juncos who hop around on the ground beneath the feeder and the Tufted Titmice who were absent the day of the ice, but have been visiting regularly ever since. Oh, and I could mention the squirrel who takes over the feeder each morning to the frustration of our feathered friends. I thought I had a picture of him, too . . . now where is that? Just a minute . . . aha, there he is -

I’ve got another post coming soon with pictures of our other outdoor visitors – the two little kitties who are living in our barn, who are becoming much braver and spending quite a bit of time on our patio or by the back door, waiting for food (thanks to Laura).

Have a wonderful evening!

Blessings,
Nancy

On the 1st Day ’til Christmas. . .(as well as a few I missed!)

To be brief and just hit the highlights. . .

6th Day. . .Michael’s birthday – we baked and decorated cupcakes, I did a little shopping, and we had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese for Michael’s birthday dinner, followed by the cupcakes and a treasure hunt at home for his presents.

Ooo, and this lovely package arrived in the mail -

5th Day. . .I delivered Laura to a Christmas party for her Bible Study group and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping until it was time to pick her up. I was able to get quite a bit done, but didn’t finish with the shopping.

4th Day. . .Three of the children sang in the Children’s Choir at church, wearing their Christmas finery (no pictures – I couldn’t find the camera in the Sunday morning rush). Church was followed by our monthly fellowship meal (always a yummy assortment and good conversation). After all of the church activities were over, I headed out to. . .guess where. . .shopping! I ended up being out longer than I had anticipated, but I completely finished all of the Christmas shopping, as well as grocery shopping. Jeff heated up frozen pizzas for the kids and I brought he and I home Long John Silver’s for dinner. I propped my feet up and watched “White Christmas” – or actually half of “White Christmas” – until I fell soundly asleep on the couch.

3rd Day. . .Baking Day One!! One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season (just like my mother!) is the last few days before Christmas when I do all of the special baking each year. After another quick trip to the grocery store for several sale items, I started in on the fun. I baked a triple recipe of Cherry Cookies and 3 batches of Fudge (2 with nuts and one without). The children had fun putting the cherries on the cookies and licking the fudge spoons, not to mention sampling warm cookies.

2nd Day. . .Baking Day Two! Today I baked a batch of Haystacks, better known around here as Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies. I didn’t have time to bake the second batch, so I will be doing that on Christmas Eve. I dropped Matthew at work and we all straightened up the house for evening guests – my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who were bringing a projector and a screen so that we could watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” on the “big screen”. We ordered pizzas and had salad, chips and dips, and Christmas goodies for dessert. The movie was so much fun to watch this way and was enjoyed by all – even the snoring husband (who took his usual evening nap during the second half) and the 2 year old, who had the most fun walking back and forth in front of the projector so that he could see his head on the screen.

Today. . .the 1st day ’til Christmas. . .Christmas Eve!! This is my favorite day of the Christmas season. It will include, among other things, some cookie baking, gift wrapping, delivering Christmas cookies to the neighbors and the arrival of my two oldest sons to spend the night and tomorrow with us!

Have a wonderful and joyous Christmas Eve!

Blessings,
Nancy