A Thanksgiving Recap and Advent Intro

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Amy

Thanksgiving was amazing. It really was. We invited our dear friends to join us for dinner. I spent all day cooking. The girls helped me. They made decorations, which we promptly forgot to move into the kitchen/table area.

Good food. Great friends. Memories made.

It is truly a blessing when friends are like family.

As I always do, I resisted focusing on Christmas until Thanksgiving was over. I think Thanksgiving is important, and I like to let it have its day.

But come Friday, I’m ready to move on. I love our tradition of decorating the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

We’re singing Christmas carols and setting up nativities and trying to get a photo for the Christmas card.

And we’re getting into our Advent focus. I’m really relieved by how much easier Advent is this year. Everything just feels less confusing and overwhelming. I mostly understand what to do with my Advent wreath/candles. I have a decent grasp of what the Jesse tree is all about. This year I don’t need to look up words like “Annunciation,” and “Immanuel,” and “Epiphany,” and I’m confident in my ability to tell the Christmas story to my kids. In fact, they can tell it themselves just as well, which makes me very happy.

Though we’re still doing lots of Christmas-y things, I’m trying hard to keep a good focus on the purpose of Advent too – prayerfully anticipating.

I have so much to be thankful for. And so much to look forward to.

Work, Eat, Play – Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Amy

We just had one of the best Thanksgivings ever.

It started bright and early in our kitchen this morning. We started baking pies right after breakfast. The girls helped me sort the contents of some old change jars to get pennies for weights on the crusts.

Then they sorted much of the rest of the change into their piggy banks while I made the fillings. They thought this was pretty neat. Miss even said, “This is the most funnest thing ever!”

Phase one completed:

I always want pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and my husband’s favorite is pecan pie, so we did both. They’re not pretty. I can never seem to create an aesthetically pleasing crust, but they were delicious.

My husband also started his sausage making venture today, so for most of the rest of the morning the big girls helped him prepare the ingredients to mix with the meat. Before the weekend is over he will be making 90 pounds of pork sausage, including the following varieties: breakfast, sweet Italian, chorizo, garlic, andouille, and brats.

The girls are so excited about helping him with this.

He also has a ton of venison to grind into burger. Last night we had a date night while we trimmed it.

Wine for me. Beer for him. Raw meat and big knives.

It was romantic.

Okay. Anyway. I’m writing about today. Thanksgiving. We were all busy in the kitchen all morning, except for poor Sis. She become a little frustrated a couple of times about not being able to join the crowd in the kitchen.

But most of the time she played perfectly well by herself. She is so chill. I walked into the playroom to check on her and found her playing pretend in the castle with Prince Phillip and a baby doll.

And my favorite part of the food prep:

Breaking bread.

We made savory bread pudding instead of stuffing, so we were actually cutting it, but I like to say we were “breaking bread.”

There’s something very holiday-ish and family-ish and together-ish about that phrase.

^^ That’s a Thanksgiving photo I can’t wait to show my girls when they get older.

And the big item for the big meal? Well, we aren’t real fans of turkey. For Thanksgivings past I have made prime rib, cornish game hens, etc. I have never cooked a turkey. And last week my husband went and butchered an enormous pig for us to eat. So the only natural thing for us to have for our Thanksgiving feast is… Ham!!

Ham smoked in our Big Green Egg. For 21 hours.

This is the first time using the Big Green Egg and the first time smoking a 20+ pound ham. First time smoking anything, actually.

My hubby is giddy about his new trick. The ham turned out wonderfully.

After our meal, the best way to finish the evening was with a family dance party.

The girls loved the Peanut’s Theme Song for dancing. We played it over and over and over.

Today was a day of giving thanks.

We gathered in the kitchen and worked together. We ate together. We played together. In my mind that’s what families do.

Every day I think about how fortunate I am. Every day I thank God for my life and its joys.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Joy

Posted on November 26, 2012November 28, 2012 by Amy

This time of year always makes me so sentimental. It makes me think of family. Holidays past. Traditions.

I think tradition is really the key to my nostalgia at this time of year. There are certain traditions that my family followed every year during the holidays that I remember so well and feel so happy to replicate with my kids.

I have wonderful memories of lots of family time at Thanksgiving.

This year, for the first time since my kids were born, we got to spend Thanksgiving with extended family. It was great fun.

The girls had lots of fun with their many, many cousins on my husband’s side of the family (there are so many kids my in-laws put carpet in their garage to make a big space for them to run and play inside).

They were playing some sort of football game. You can see how my girls look up to their older cousins.

Lass had no concept of the game being played. She mostly just wandered through the older kids, who were running and jumping and tackling and yelling all around her, singing and hugging this ball. It’s amazing (and a testament to her cousins’ consideration) that she never once got trampled, or even bumped!

This little one enjoyed hanging out with her Daddy and watching her sisters and cousins.

Thanksgiving dinner was eaten around a table set with my husband’s grandmother’s china and linens. The girls sat at the kid’s table, which is such a memory-laden rite of passage for every childhood in itself, and the adults crammed around the grown up table.

There was much laughter her about the fact that we were so squished around this table we could barely maneuver forks to mouths. Heaven forbid anyone needed to use a knife. It was a great meal in great company. Family.

When I see photos like these I can’t help but fast forward thirty or so years and imagine the memories my girls will have of our holidays and traditions. I want them to remember these feelings, whether they remember the specific instances or not.

Comfort.

Coziness.

Closeness.

I want them to remember time with family. That family was always placed at the top of our list of priorities. That they were always, always valued and loved by many.

I want them to have awesome auntie memories like I have.

I am so thankful we got to be with family for one of my favorite holidays this year.

When we got home, we moved right into one of my favorite traditions – decorating the Christmas tree. With Johnny Mathis Christmas music playing in the background of course.

There are few things more evocative of holiday memories and joy for me than decorating the tree. It’s an exercise in holding history and tradition in my hands with each ornament I put on the tree. Almost every ornament has a story. I have ornaments that belonged to my grandmas, that were made by my grandmas and great-grandmas, that were given to me by my Auntie, that were made by my mom and graced the tree in my house when I was a little girl, and so on. Of course I’m now adding the ornaments that belong to my girls. A new tradition in my little family (which I got from my Auntie) is that I give the girls each a special ornament each Christmas, trying to make it representative of something special that they did or experienced in the past year.

The first ornament put on the tree this year by each of my older girls was their “First Christmas” rocking horse. These are engraved with their names and the year.

They then proceeded with the rest of their individual ornaments and then helped me put all the non-breakable ornaments on the lower section of the tree.

The finished product:

For some reason the tree is leaning a bit this year. I don’t even care. I love our tree. It might even be a bit weird how much I love our tree. This thing is a big green, sparkly monument to my life, my family, and my history. It, and the process of creating it with my girls, bring me joy.

In the Kitchen

Posted on November 21, 2012November 21, 2012 by Amy

The other night the girls helped me make pizza for dinner (our letter this week is “P”).

I love having them in the kitchen with me.

Today they helped me bake for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares and Pecan Pie (I’m really milking the “P” thing).

I don’t think there is any better way to help them use all their senses in learning and have a feeling of competence. They love measuring and stirring and mixing. Cracking eggs is a special favorite too. We make sure to smell all of the ingredients and taste what we can as we go along (we had to make sure the chocolate chips we used today were “good”).

Look at these faces. I love this. Love.

Unfortunately I’m not really a “this-is-going-to-be-super-messy-but-it’s-great-for-them-to-learn-so-who-cares” kind of gal when it comes to my kitchen. Messes in my kitchen make me anxious. I typically try to clean up as much as I can while I’m cooking. I don’t like dishes in my sink (thank goodness for a husband who does the dinner dishes while I put kids to bed). I don’t like stuff spilled on my counters and floors.

I’m a little uptight about my kitchen.

But. I do think it’s important to let them help with cooking and baking. I know they love it, and I do enjoy being in the kitchen with them.

I just have to give myself a pep talk beforehand is all.

“Deep breath. It will be messy. They will spill things. It will clean up. It’s no big deal. Now get out there and have fun making a mess with your kids!”

And I do.

Yes, I clean things up as we go along. I keep wet wipes nearby to wipe hands immediately after they crush eggs all over them. Sometimes I get a little antsy. Sometimes I have to step back and take a deep breath. But I have fun. And so do they. Even Baby Sis comes into the kitchen to watch her big sisters.

We had a successful morning today.

Here are the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares. It’s a Martha Stewart recipe. Delish. And, I got the tip from her site to put the foil in the pan before spreading the batter in it. Brilliant! After the squares baked and cooled I just turned them out onto a cutting board to slice them. I didn’t even have to wash the baking dish!

I’m especially proud of this pecan pie. This is only the second time ever that I’ve made a pie from scratch (Except for the crust. I don’t do crust. They have perfectly good crust for sale at the store. Who wants to make crust?)

I can’t wait to eat some of this tomorrow.

I have really wonderful memories of making holiday treats with my mom every year (with Johnny Mathis Christmas music playing in the background, of course). I also have fun memories of baking cookies with my cousin and getting into a flour throwing battle or smearing batter on each other (we were much older than my kids of course).

Time in the kitchen is essential for littles. I want them to have many, many memories of fun in the kitchen with me and with their Dad.

Tonight we are leaving for the Farm again to spend the holiday with family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

T is for Thankful

Posted on November 16, 2012November 16, 2012 by Amy

This week we started our home preschool.

I’ve decided to skip getting a formal preschool curriculum and just wing it for now. I’m picking a letter each week and using free stuff I am finding online, along with a few things I’m making up as I go along.

Instead of doing the letters in order, I’ve chosen to pick the letters based on what is going on in our house or in the world (i.e. Thanksgiving) and just squeeze as much from one little letter each week as I can.

So, we started out the week with T is for Turkey.

We colored turkeys. We talked about turkeys. We made turkeys, using this printable from The Craft Nest.

We did T is for Tree and made our own “Trees of Thanks.”

I found great free printables from Twisty Noodle. They have tons of printables for each letter, and so much more (holidays, months, food, colors, etc.). You can print not just the picture with the letter and word but also a picture that has an area at the bottom for practicing writing the letter and word. Lass got the pictures to color. Miss got the pages with the writing practice.

Of course I realize that just coloring pictures of things that start with T doesn’t constitute preschool, so we did plenty of other stuff. The girls practiced scissor skills. We read lots of T and Thanksgiving relevant books, like The Thankful Book and Thanks for Thanksgiving and The Giving Tree (one of my favorite books ever, it makes me so happy that my girls ask for this one over and over and over). We sang an alphabet song that I got from her school that is set to the “Jeopardy” tune. Because who doesn’t love having that little ditty stuck in her head? Of course we did our calendar stuff every day. We made tacos for dinner. We did a science experiment with apple cider vinegar, dish soap, and water in a glass. It’s supposed to be a way to catch fruit flies (they get stuck in the bubbles on top). It had nothing to do with the letter T, but we I can’t stand fruit flies (it didn’t work, by the way). We did some counting. And lots of playing.

They love to play Rapunzel in our Learning Tower (don’t worry, the scarf, “her magical hair,” is tucked in her pony tail and isn’t wrapped around her neck).

I made up my own little Letter of the Week game, using categories for which the girls had to think of T words. This was a lot of fun for Miss. She got several of these on her own and most of the rest with just a little hint from me. All week she has been randomly pointing out, “Mama, do you know what else starts with T?” and then telling me something like, “Tick tock!” or “Tickle!” Lass does it too, though she has yet to actually name a T word. She does make the right sound for T though!

My favorite Letter T related activity this week by far was our tea party, with real tea and cream and sugar and t-t-treats!

The girls got all dressed up for our party.

She really wanted to do the “pinkies out” hold on her little tea cup like her sister. She spilled half of her tea in her saucer, and I convinced her to use two hands.

This week I was happy to not have to wake the girls up on Tuesday and Wednesday, get them ready, and drive them 25 minutes to take Miss to school. I don’t think Miss missed it. When I initially explained to her that she wasn’t going to go to school anymore but would be doing some school at home with me and her sister, she was a little bit confused. I told her that I would be her teacher, and she got sort of upset, saying, “I don’t want you to be my teacher, I want you to be my Mommy!”

Now she understands. Mostly we just did what we always do, with a little extra. On Tuesday she even called me “Teacher” once. It was priceless.

Next week we’ll be baking, and I need to do some more math related activities.

I learned a lot this week. And I had a lot of fun. I think I’m gonna love this homeschooling thing.

Giving Thanks

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Amy

Thanksgiving seems to kind of get a raw deal these days. Right after Halloween, the Christmas craziness kicks in to full gear in stores, in ads, and so on. Thanksgiving seems to have been relegated to the position of being nothing more than a signal that it’s time for Black Friday sales to begin.

Well, I protest. Thanksgiving may not be as magical and glitzy as Christmas, but it’s a pretty darn cool holiday. It’s about history, tradition, family, and of course, being thankful for what we have. And I am oh so thankful.

How in the world could I be anything but thankful every day? I have a wonderful husband who is an awesome father to our girls. I have two beautiful and healthy daughters. I am more than halfway through a third healthy pregnancy. I am so fortunate to have been able to conceive and carry two healthy children and to have a third baby girl on the way. Even though this is my third pregnancy, I still marvel at the wonders of growing a little person in my belly. Every time she kicks or wiggles, I can’t help but put my hand on my stomach and smile. It never gets old. Never. And I am so thankful.

I’m thankful that my girls have each other and love each other so much.

I’m thankful that my husband works hard every day, and has worked hard for a very long time, so that we are in a position where I am able to stay home with our girls. It’s the best job in the world and I am so lucky to do it full time.

I’m thankful for so much more. But today, after spending the day with my husband and our girls, eating food that someone else cooked, watching football, and just enjoying each other, I am so full of gratitude for this. For my family. For our home. For my soul mate. For these beautiful little souls and their baby sister.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Turkey Cookies

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Amy

Yesterday Miss and I made cookies. Turkey cookies made in the shape of her hand. I’m a competent cook, but I’m the first to admit, I’m not very good at baking. Not yet anyway. I never got into it until recently. The pie a month ago, and now cookies. I tried to get Miss into cooking with me, but because of the danger from knives and the stove, I decided baking would be easier for her to really help with. And she seems to really enjoy it. She was so excited yesterday to get her apron on and get to work in the kitchen. Plus she loves washing her hands, which is how we started, of course.

Then we traced her hand to make the pattern for cutting the cookies (and then had to wash her hands again. Duh.)

She got freaked out by the noise of the mixer at first.

She didn’t have to worry about it for too long though, because my $1 garage sale hand mixer, purchased at least 12 years ago (though rarely used), finally died on me. So we switched to an easier method, clean hands and then a wooden spoon. That was easier for Miss to help with anyway.

Unfortunately, Lass woke up right when I put the cookies in the oven, and trying to nurse her, while switching the cookies around halfway through, and then keeping an eye on them because they were probably going to be done before my timer went off didn’t really work out. It worked perfectly fine for her, because she got fed. But the cookies didn’t fare so well.

Nevertheless, they were still tasty and decoratable, so we waited for them to cool so we could complete the turkey transformation. Miss chilled with her sis while we waited.

Finally the cookies were cool and the decorating commenced. Miss was naturally just as interested in eating the frosting and sprinkles as putting them on the cookies, but we eventually got them done.

And of course I had to let her sample the finished product.

So, as I said, I’m not a baker. And I’m really not an artist, so the cookies are very ugly. But I am proud that they do sort of resemble turkeys. A little bit. I mean, as much as a hand resembles a turkey. And of course, the whole point of the exercise wasn’t really the cookies anyway. I had a wonderful time with my girl.

Today we had a very relaxing day. Miss and I caught the end of the Macy’s parade. We only saw the last 15 minutes or so, but it was enough to see Santa at the end. Can I tell you that I cried when my girl’s face got the most magical expression on it as she watched Santa waving and dancing and got to see the reindeer? It was a perfect day for reflecting on all that I’m thankful for.