Seeing Santa

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Amy

Today our Advent calendar activity was to go see Santa. I wasn’t sure if the girls would want to do this, but when we saw the reindeer the other day, they expressed disappointment that Santa wasn’t there too. So, though I was unsure how it would play out, we went to visit the big guy today.

I drove 30 minutes up to the mall to get to him and was surprised and pleased that there wasn’t a line to see him. The girls could have walked right up and jumped on his lap.

Except they had no interest in doing that. They were shy and wouldn’t get much closer to him than this:

I was absolutely not going to force them to sit on the lap of a strange man if they didn’t want to, Santa or not. So I let them look at the cool teddy bear display around the path leading to Santa and was just getting them to wave to him from a distance and preparing to walk away when they both said that they did in fact want to go see him.

Some other kids had arrived after us and gone ahead to sit with Santa, so maybe seeing that gave them some courage. I don’t know, but they both started waltzing right up to him after that.

Once they got close, however, Miss said, “My sister is going to go sit on his lap, not me,” as she kind of pushed Lass ahead of her toward Santa.

Lass went right up to him, though she did seem a little unsure about it. She told him she wants, “A Big Snow White” for Christmas and got down.

How authentic is this Santa, by the way?

Even after seeing her sister do it, Miss still wasn’t willing to go up to him, so Baby Sis had her turn.

After that Miss was still a bit reluctant. I told her that it was okay if she did not want to go sit on Santa’s lap or talk to him, but that if she chose to leave without talking to him we probably wouldn’t have a chance to come back again (I could foresee her saying, as we were driving home, that she had changed her mind and did want to talk to him). So she decided that she would talk to him but did not want to sit on his lap. Fair enough. I went with her, and the very nice woman working there took a few photos for me.

She told him that she wanted, “A big Snow White, just like my sister.”

Then both girls kind of hugged him and he said, “See you on Christmas Eve!” They both got a big kick out of that.

I would have been perfectly okay with it if the girls had chosen to keep their distance from Santa. I thought that might happen when I planned the trip up there, but I wanted them to at least be able to see him.

As it turned out, I am pleased with how they took their time but managed to work through their worries to go and speak to him. I’m particularly proud of Miss for asserting herself so she could have a chance to talk to him on her terms.

A Blizzard Named Draco and Other Random Stuff

Posted on December 20, 2012December 20, 2012 by Amy

I’ve been spending lots of nap and bedtime breaks this week addressing Christmas cards and wrapping presents, so I’m trying to catch up with a big post full of a bunch of random happenings from the week.

As I type this post, a big winter storm is raging outside my window. Snow is flying sideways. Wind is howling. My power keeps flickering out. It’s a blizzard called “Winter Storm Draco.” We woke this morning to a winter wonderland. The girls are thrilled, as this is the first big snow of the year.

I love that they are naming winter storms now. I think it gives some street cred to the hassles, and sometimes perils, of living in the north country. We’ve had snow falling for about 16 hours, but Draco is just starting to pick up steam now, so we’ll see how it turns out. Hopefully we don’t lose power before I get this post done…

Meanwhile, we’re just staying in and trying to keep busy. We’re preparing for Christmas (I still have a ton of wrapping to do before the weekend) and reading lots of Christmas books. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree,” and “Christmas in the Big Woods” are the Christmas favorites right now. Other popular reads this week have been “The Snowy Day,” “The Gruffalo,” and “Interrupting Chicken.”

The girls are finding cozy spots to hang out, to hide from monsters, and to play peek-a-boo.

We got a fun and thoughtful gift from a friend of my Mom’s last week. She came across this Cinderella’s Castle gingerbread house kit, thought of my girls, and got it for them! What a sweet thing to do.

The girls were so eager to get it out and start working on it. I struggled with putting the frame of the house together on Monday and then had to put it away for a while to let it dry (and let myself recover from the frustration of getting it to stay up). We finally finished it today, and they had a blast!

They were so proud of the finished product.

They’re already begging me to take it apart and eat it. Thanks Mrs. P!

I drew my last Chopped ingredients a few weeks ago. They were Crab, Pineapple, and Black Licorice. Holy crazy combination.

I decided to make Crab Tacos with a corn, roasted red pepper, and pineapple relish and some black licorice and lime mayo.

I roasted some peppers and then chopped them up and put them in a pan with some corn and chopped up pineapple. I seasoned this with salt, cumin, and a little bit of chili powder and threw in some minced cilantro when the cooking was done.

I cooked the crab with minced garlic and chopped onion that had been sautéed in butter. I used cumin, salt and pepper for seasoning.

The ingredient that I had the hardest time with during the cooking was the licorice. I wanted to melt it to add it into some lime mayo, but couldn’t figure out how to get it to melt. I tried just putting it in a pan over medium heat, but it started to burn.

I got some new licorice pieces, added some water, and put it over low heat to avoid burning. The licorice was melting very slowly and the water just kept evaporating. After a long time messing with this, I ended up getting enough licorice-y liquid to add to the mayo and the licorice was soft enough that when I strained the liquid, I could mash little pieces of licorice through the strainer to get more of the flavor in the mayo.

Sound gross?

I know, my Chopped experiments probably always sound kind of gross.

This one turned out pretty well though.

The girls helped me with the cooking and learned about always tasting your food before serving it.

The finished product was good. Though the licorice was the trickiest ingredient during the cooking, the thing that caused the biggest problem in the taste of the finished dish was the pineapple. I used a little too much and didn’t chop it finely enough, so it was pretty overpowering. The licorice got lost under the lime in the mayo, so it wasn’t easily detected in the dish.

Weird as it sounds, and in spite of the problems, it really was quite good. I might even make this one again (with less pineapple).

Haven’t picked my next ingredients yet.

The week has been packed with Christmas readying and savoring. Last night I took the girls for a drive through a local park to see the Christmas lights. They called out through the whole drive, “Look Mama! More! Look, I see more!” over and over.

We got out to see the live reindeer they had on display. Lass would go anywhere near them, but Miss was pretty excited.

She really wanted to see Santa, but he’s only at this display on Friday and Saturday nights. I’m going to try to brave the mall to see him tomorrow if the roads aren’t too bad.

We’re embracing winter and the holidays this week. My girls are begging me to go out and play in the snow. They’re pretty persistent, but I have insisted that we wait until the blizzard stops, party pooper that I am. They are eager to make a snowman (Miss says it will be a Snow Queen, complete with a crown) and snow angels, and get into all sorts of other snowy fun. Wish me luck with this in our two feet of snow!

Daddy’s Birthday

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Amy

Friday was my husband’s birthday.

I love his birthday.

I so enjoy the feeling of doing nice things for the one I love.

We were on vacation, so I got up with the girls and let him sleep in (which he did for me many times during the week). I made him coffee and breakfast.

He went to the archery range to shoot with my Dad and when they came back we sang “Happy Birthday” and had brownies and ice cream.

After I put Sis to bed the older girls watched movies with my Mom and Dad and my hubby and I went out to dinner.

It was delightful.

My favorite part of the day, however, was when he opened his presents.

Just like last year, I took the girls to the Dollar Tree and gave them each $5 to pick five presents for their Daddy.

Last year, Miss didn’t quite get the concept of buying something that someone else would like.

This year, Lass was pretty much at that same place with her shopping.

She chose for him a green vase, a box of tea (the girls love to help him make tea in the evenings after dinner), a package of chip clips, a bottle of gas treatment, and a package of disposable styrofoam bowls. We were cracking up as she pulled each item out of the purple polka-dotted gift bag she also selected specially for her Daddy.

Miss, on the other hand, was very serious this year about getting what she thought her Daddy would like. She was thoughtful as we walked through each aisle of the dollar store. She scanned the shelves looking for just the right things.

She chose a box of tea and vase for him as well, though she picked an orange vase because orange is her Dad’s favorite color. She got a box of crayons because her Daddy likes to color with her. A small sprig of holiday greenery caught her eye, and she got it for him because it had a drum nestled in it. Her Daddy loves music. And finally, she selected an orange flashlight for him.

In the photo below, she is explaining to him that she got the flashlight “in case [he goes] out hunting at night.”

I know my husband loves seeing the things the girls pick out for him.

I think it’s almost as much fun for me to get to go shopping with them and see how they choose their gifts. I just love the way they think.

This is one of my favorite birthday traditions.

Priceless.

A Holiday Movie Tradition

Posted on December 10, 2012December 11, 2012 by Amy

Have I mentioned how much I love holiday traditions?

Yes. Of course I have. I’m a holiday tradition junkie.

One of my favorites is the tradition my Mom and I have of watching the movie “Heidi” every Christmas. I know it’s not a popular holiday movie, but we’ve been doing it every year since I can remember (you can read about the girls’ first exposure to it last year here).

My Mom and I recite the dialog together. “I think there ought to be a Frau Schultz!” and “My word! A gorilla!” and many, many more lines of this adorable movie.

We laugh heartily at the same scenes, every. time.

This year my girls laughed with us.

For the first time, my girls actually paid attention throughout the movie and seemed to get into it (Lass got distracted for a while in the middle, but was pretty attentive for the first 30-40 minutes and the last 15 or so).

They cracked up at the craziness that resulted when Heidi let the monkey in the house. They were distressed with Grandfather was placed in jail and couldn’t find Heidi. They were on pins and needles about “When will Clara walk?”

I can’t even express how happy I am that I could share this tradition with my girls this year. I watched them watching it almost as much as I watched the movie.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?

Move Over Katniss

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Amy

This girl is fierce.

She has always been into shooting the bow with her Daddy. Now, thanks to a friend of my Dad’s who thoughtfully made this little bow for her, she has one of her own.

Watch out world.

From the bow to the camo pants, Miss is her Daddy’s girl, through and through.

I think this one is going to be able to take care of herself.

Both of my older girls had fun tonight hunting the “bear” – Grandpa – while he was cooking dinner.

Daddy provided instruction.

Lass was a bit less ferocious about it.

In fact, when the girls decided that I was another bear and began to “shoot” at me, Lass seemed a bit uncomfortable with my feigned injury at being shot with an arrow.

While her sister walked up and pretended to yank the arrow out of my belly, Lass said, “It’s okay Bear, it’s a good owie” and “Don’t worry Bear, I kiss you owie. Now you all bettah.”

It’s hard to predict, but my middle girl might be a little bit less interested in hunting with her Dad in years to come.

18 Things My Daughters Will Know Before They Turn 18

Posted on December 5, 2012December 16, 2012 by Amy

The other day I was wandering around Pinterest, and I saw something that caught my eye. It was titled something like “15 things you should teach your daughter before she turns 18.” I don’t know why (it’s not like I choose the things to teach my daughters based on them), but I always enjoy reading these little lists. I often find them to be endearing. Sweet. Nice thoughts on mothering daughters. So I clicked on it and proceeded to read.

Unfortunately, this one was pretty disappointing, and even slightly disturbing. It had points like the following (I’m paraphrasing):

“The only alcoholic beverage you should drink from a bottle is beer.” Okay. This is true. But not one of my top 15 things to teach my daughters before they are 18.

“Every guy looks at other girls’ boobs. They can’t help it. Don’t take it personally.” Really? That’s what you want to teach your daughter before you send her off into the world? Ew.

And “Every slice of pizza you eat requires 30 minutes of running to burn it off. 2 slices, an hour, and so on. That doesn’t even count the beer.” I don’t even know where to begin with the issues I have with this statement. How about that it is just begging for the development of an eating disorder?

Anyway, there are 12 others there. Some of them aren’t so bad. One warns against cutting one’s own hair. Another recommends you don’t ask a question if you aren’t emotionally ready to hear an honest answer. I won’t go into all of them. You get the gist.

I realize that the author’s intent seemed to be preparing one’s daughter to leave home and go to college, where crazy parties and roller coaster relationships can wreak havoc with a young girl’s self esteem and even place her at risk when overindulging in alcohol, drugs, etc. Yes. I get that. I also sense that perhaps this list was written a bit tongue in cheek. I don’t know. It certainly wasn’t cute or sweet or inspiring of warm and fuzzy thoughts of my future as a mother of daughters preparing them to go off into the world as strong, independent, compassionate women.

But reading that list did make me think about the things that I think are important for my daughters to learn before they are 18 (or before they leave the house). So here they are (some of them anyway).

18 Things My Daughters Will Know Before They Turn 18

1. How to change a tire, check oil, and use basic power tools.

2. How to accept a compliment graciously. A smile and a sincere “Thank you” are sufficient. Self-deprecation is not attractive.

3. When meeting someone new, shake hands firmly and make eye contact.

4. The joy of cooking. My Dad tried many times to teach me to cook before (and after) I left home. I was never into it. I always told him, “I’m an intelligent person Dad. I can read and follow a recipe to cook whatever I want.” This is true to a degree, but I viewed cooking as a chore and was really a horrible cook until well into my twenties when I started having fun with it. I want my daughters to learn that cooking is fun and to experience the joy of cooking good food for themselves and others.

5. Do not waste your time in a relationship with someone (boyfriend, friend, etc.) who doesn’t respect you and treat you as a priority. (And for Pete’s sake, if he’s looking at another girl’s boobs in front of you, ditch him!)

6. The things you eat and drink can either be your body’s best medicine or its worst poison. Eat real food and enjoy it. Eat only until you feel satisfied, even if it means leaving some food on your plate. Don’t deny yourself occasional “treats.” Everything in moderation.

And because I want my children to learn about alcohol and drugs from their Dad and me rather than from their peers:

7. Too much alcohol impairs ability to make good choices. Don’t impair your ability to make good choices. If you do drink, be responsible about it. Never, ever get into a car with a driver who has been drinking (including yourself). And from my paranoid side: Only accept drinks that are prepared in your sight, and don’t leave your drink unattended.

8. When you’ve had a bad day, turn up the music and dance until you feel better.

9. You don’t get anywhere in life by speaking negatively of others. If you feel that you need to cut someone else down in order to get ahead, you need to reevaluate where you’re heading. Avoid gossip and backbiting.

10. Be a good friend. Listen well. Friendship is a fine art (wisdom from Great Grandma S), and a true friend is a treasure.

11. Your sisters are your best friends for life. Don’t let disagreements linger. Forgive and love and protect each other no matter what.

12. Beauty and attractiveness are determined more by behavior than appearance. Be kind to others and carry yourself with grace and confidence always.

13. Family is always a top priority.

14. Learn about things for yourself. Don’t believe everything you hear. Know how to do your own research. Form your own opinions.

15. Trust your instincts. If you have a “gut feeling” about something, listen to it.

16. Dress in a classy manner. “Stylish” does not mean “revealing” or “skin tight.” Unless you’re wearing a bathing suit, I guess.

17. Never let someone (including yourself!) tell you you can’t do something. As your Dad likes to say, “If I cannot find a way, I will make one.”

18. If you choose to pursue something, always do it to the fullest. You’ll never regret working hard for something.

What would you add?

Egg Shell Artwork

Posted on December 1, 2012December 1, 2012 by Amy

This past week we talked about the letter E.

E for Elf.

I slacked off a bit on some of our school time so we could have a much needed play date with out BFsF. My girls had been missing their friends after not seeing them for a while because of school and holiday stuff and we were all so happy to spend some QT with them.

Another morning we went to open gym at their gymnastics place.

And we did some other, um, stuff.

We did do some school stuff this week, but E ended up getting neglected a little bit.

That’s the great thing about homeschooling. You can do it on Saturday if you want to “play hooky” to do something else during the other days of the week. We don’t do formal school stuff every day at this point anyway, other than our calendar. Mostly we play and we read and I try to mention our letter of the week as much as I can. But I wanted to do a few more E-focused activities.

So today we did. Dot to dot elf and elephant (Miss is really into dot to dot pictures now). Brainstorming for E words on our category worksheet. And my favorite, playing with egg shells I’ve washed out and saved this week.

The girls love cracking the egg shells when they cook with me, so I figured they would have fun with them and have an interesting sensory experience. I put the shells (about 10 eggs’ worth) on the table along with some markers and they went to town.

They examined the eggs and asked questions about the thin membrane inside them.

They colored on the shells.

And as expected they quickly moved into crushing the shells and playing with the pieces.

Miss commented that she thought the pieces felt and sounded like glass when they clinked against each other.

She really got into it and pulverized her shells.

Lass liked breaking her shells up and then watching them drop from her hands over and over.

Egg shells were a big hit. I will be washing them and saving them from now on.

Advent Calendar Experiences

Posted on November 30, 2012December 1, 2012 by Amy

December is upon us. I’m so excited for all the holiday fun I am planning for the girls this year.

For the first time we are going to use an Advent calendar. I have debated using one in the past. I’ve been hesitant because I know often folks place small candies or toys in the calendar’s pockets and I just wasn’t interested in doing that. Small toys aren’t a great idea in my house with such little ones, and I am just not really interested in giving them candy every day in December, knowing that the sweets will be pretty free-flowing this month anyway.

But I have always kind of wanted to have an Advent calendar, because I think the count down is a fun visual way for little ones to anticipate Christmas. Plus it would be a fun addition to our daily calendar time. So this year I looked and looked for one I liked.

Then I found this calendar:

I love that the pockets of this calendar have little “ornaments” in them so that each day the girls can pull one out and velcro it to the tree at the top. Even if I did nothing else with the calendar, that would be a fun count down to do.

But of course, I wanted to do something else.

One thing I love that I’ve seen around is the Advent calendar that uses an experience each day rather than a toy or a treat.

Yeah. We’re doing that.

I haven’t quite come up with 24 things for the pockets yet, but tomorrow we’re having a movie night and watching “Rudolp the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to start. Here are the other activities we have so far:

Shop for gifts for less fortunate kids (our local police and Salvation Army sponsor a program and we’ve signed up to shop for a family)

Make handprint ornaments

Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights (a local park has a wonderful display)

Paint and bake ceramic ornaments

Open our special ornaments and hang them on the tree

Play in the oatmeal sensory bin (the ornament and oatmeal activities will all be during this next week, because our letter of the week is “O for Ornament”)

Open a new movie and watch it during our drive to Grandma and Grandpa’s house (may do this one twice, once for our trip to Kentucky and once for our trip to the Farm)

Have a tea party (my Mom has my tea set from when I was a little girl at her house)

Open and read a new Christmas book (I will probably put this one in there more than once, as I have several new books on order)

Make and decorate Christmas cookies

Have a special birthday lunch for Daddy

Ice Cream Sundaes

Celebrate Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle G, Aunt A, and cousins (the calendar will easily fold and make the trip with us to Kentucky next week and to the Farm for the weekend before Christmas)

Go to story time and see Santa

Make hot chocolate

Make Santa craft (classic – glue face parts, beard, hat, etc, and then glue cotton balls on for beard and hat trim)

Have a Christmas Carol dance party

Do Christmas tree craft (felt triangle for tree, then glue buttons on for ornaments)

That puts me at 22 if I do a new movie for each of our big trips and open a new Christmas book three times.

I’m not sure what else I’ll do. Maybe another craft. Maybe more baking. I know I can come up with two more things. I’ll play it by ear to figure out what else to include.

I’m excited to see what they think of this process. I’ll definitely keep you posted as it unfolds.

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!