Christmas Eve

Last night we headed up to the "Big Petrey's" (my in-law's) for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. To say we had a feast would be an understatement! After dinner we then had another annual event, our Christmas Eve service. Daphne always orchestrates this and does an excellent job. This year she outdid herself! Mixed into the service Daphne put a play that our little ones put on.

Here they are eagerly anticipating their theatrical debut

There are no words...
Couldn't resist!

Patiently waiting on cousins to open presents

Mary Fran got some clothes for her American Girl doll (last year's gift from G'mama and G'daddy), Kit.

So appreciative!

A calendar we made and gave to Mamaw (Karen got one, too) :)

Hope y'all have had a wonderful Christmas Day and enjoyed your time with family!

A Revelation

The other morning when I was running I was listening to some music when a thought struck me.

God doesn't need anything.

So often I find myself thinking that in some small way God needs me. He doesn't. He is Almighty, Omnipotent God and has no needs. But here's what stuck me...

He wants me.

The Lord of Heaven and Earth desires to have fellowship and a relationship with me. He created Adam and Eve to bring glory to Himself and to commune with Him even though He knew sin would enter the world and He would have to ultimately sacrifice His Son to pay for it. I had to stop mid-stride to let that one sink in.

What great and awesome love that is. You are wanted by the God of the universe. You are desired so much that He left the glory and splendor of Heaven to inhabit this cold, cruel, filthy Earth to be born as a helpless babe to die. All for you. And you only have to accept it.

Merry Christmas

O, What a Holy Night

Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Gifts

Our best gifts ever

Our Christmas

A new tradition in our household is to have Christmas with just us a few days before the actual big day. We found that with Christmas Eve with Drew's family and Christmas Day with my mom our time as a family to celebrate was becoming overlooked, if you will. Last year we decided to make the 21st(ish) our Christmas complete with a big meal. Last night we served up turkey, sauteed broccoli, jellied cranberry sauce, rolls, and applesauce. It was a feast!

My husband's mad turkey carving and displaying skills.

He just carved the breast and legs as our children (and us) were getting a little hungry.

Ward asked for the turkey leg...SC State Fair style.

After dessert we were getting ready for present and stocking time and Drew decided to document how excited all the kiddos were...

(He was already in his PJ's after eating a little too much and having to rid himself of said excess)

Twirling

We gave the boys the Usborne "Illustrated Classics for Boys" (the girls received the girl's one, too). The stories are great and the illustrations are just beautiful!

Opening...

...her very own Bible!

She immediately started reading it.

Showing off her Leggos! Pumped.

Ready to fight some dragons and rescue the princess!

We also gave the girls the complete set of Little House on the Prairie books. I found a great deal and can't wait to start reading them with them!

Ward's "big" present was an inflatable sleeping bag which Drew promptly blew up for him to get in. The boy LOVES Spiderman even though he's never seen the cartoon, a movie, or anything else having to do with him!

Cade got some shape blocks to put in shaped holes and some cowboy and Indian figures. His biggest present (as far as he was concerned) was his very own toothbrush. He was so full of pride having his teeth brushed for the first time last night like his older siblings. Precious!

We also opened stockings filled with new toothbrushes, Spiderman (Ward) and Dora (MF) body wash, crayons for the bath (Evie), wooden trucks for the boys to make with Daddy, and Play Doh. Evie also blessed us all with notes or a little toy she make for each of us and put in our stockings. So creative that one!

We had such a great time together and the children seemed to be just as excited about what the others had gotten as they were for themselves!

And finally, this was the scene at our house this morning. All three of the older ones sitting on Ward's sleeping bag reading. They couldn't wait to finish breakfast to read their new books. Warms my heart!

Christmas Around the World

As we have done for the past couple of years, we take the month of December off from "formal" teaching. We're still actively learning, mind you, but it's not as structured. I have found it makes for a nice break and a much less stressful month. :)

This year I found a great book at the library called "Christmas Crafts and Customs Around the World" by Virginie Fowler. The countries include England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, the US, and several more. I really like the way it gives you an introduction to the history of Christmas customs in each country and then goes into instructions for crafts (or recipes) and a little history for each of those. It's written so that a 10-12 year old could do most things by themselves. I thought this would be interesting for all of us and decided to give it a shot for us.

The first country we studied was England and we made Pomander Balls (cloves stuck in oranges hung with ribbon). They smell heavenly! The kiddos had a really fun time making them. Did I say they smelled wonderful?
While studying England we also made Mincemeat Cookies (Ward was ready to read to himself by picture time). You just make a basic sugar cookie, roll it out and cut out circles, place filling in the middle, fold over, and seal the edges. It was fun trying to find mincemeat in Wal-Mart, let me tell you, but find it I did!

Before

After

The kids really liked them! I tried a bite and they weren't bad. Drew declined.

We also studied Germany (gingerbread and Advent). We made an Advent chain to count down the days until Christmas writing something special to do each day (pray for someone/something specific, make a craft, etc.). Last night was carolling in our "neighborhood." It was such a wonderful experience and showed me what a ministry our children have right here in our little corner of the world.

Holland was in there, too, with the wooden clogs. We didn't do something everyday as we had fun making gifts to give to friends and extended family but I have to say I learned a lot! Next year I think I'll get this book again and delve more into with our little ones when they can maybe understand a little more. For now, though, if you need some mincemeat come to my house. I got a big ol' jar just waitin' on ya!

Powerful

A Serenade

We sing a lot at home. Cade's picked it up. :)

Love for a Lifetime

Eight years ago today Drew and I were married. As I told the children today I didn't think I could love him anymore on that day but I was proven wrong. I love him so much more now than I did then. My husband was then and is even more now a man in a world filled with a lot of tall boys. He is the one I want to be with when I want to be by myself. And he still makes me blush...

Happy 8th Anniversary, honey! I love you more than words can express!

Jefferson Parade

In what has become an annual event for us, we went to the West Jefferson Christmas parade a couple of weeks ago. It was a BEAUTIFUL day again and to say the chil'uns were excited was the understatement of the year!

Here we are getting ready for the parade. We had the Dustin Petrey's and the Rowan's with us and, boy, we had a gaggle of little ones!

Classic cars!

It's hard to see but if you look at the top of the picture you can see the beginning of the fire truck procession. All the fire stations from Ashe County were represented and they definitely made their presence known. The boys loved it. :)

Sweet Aunt Molly made all of her nieces these cute Christmas tree shirts and we had to model them. Check out LeeAnne's pairing. ;)

So, if you're in West Jefferson in the middle of November, make sure you plan on going to the Christmas parade. It is so well done and so much fun. Oh, and don't forget to bring a bag to collect all manner of candy!

Catching Up

There's been a lot going on here and I have to confess that I just haven't taken the time to update. So, without any further ado, let me catch up. :)

As I posted earlier, we have been reading "Stories of the Pilgrims" by Margaret Pumphrey and have really enjoyed it. Once we got to the stories of the pilgrims moving to Holland and their years there, we also read a book about Holland. It's such a fascinating culture and land. Evie told me she wanted some wooden clogs. :) One thing we discovered was that Holland produces a lot of dairy products, cheese in particular. One of the cheeses they're known for is Gouda cheese. Well, I certainly never knew that! I remembered a recipe mom used to make by wrapping a wheel of Gouda with crescent rolls and baking it. Once out of the oven she put strawberry preserves over top and served it with crackers. Yes, it is as good as it sounds. Well, we were going grocery shopping that same week and picked up some Gouda, crescent rolls, and crackers.

For snack that afternoon, I baked it up (after letting them all taste it "plain") and we served it with some of our homemade strawberry jam. Did the kids like it you ask?

Why, yes, they did!

Cade liked it, too, but preferred to just dip his crackers in the jam.

We were going to save some for Daddy but it was such a hit that that just didn't happen. However, I had gotten a pretty big wedge of cheese and cut it in half to make more later. A couple of nights later the crescent wrapped Gouda accompanied our dinner. It was divine!

Here's to homeschooling!

Today's Events...

...include ornament making...

We always get each child an ornament for Christmas but this year we thought they'd enjoy making their own. Boy, did they!
After the ornament making we suited up and headed out in the 1 inch of snow we got yesterday. This was Cade's first time to really enjoy the snow. He thought the snowball fight was wonderful!

Good Thanksgiving Reads

We have found and had suggested to us some wonderful reads for Thanksgiving. Some of the books out there are good but "fluffy" in my opinion but these tell the real and whole stories of the Pilgrims and, best of all, our children love them.

The first is "Stories of the Pilgrims" by Margaret Pumphrey. Our dear friend recommended it to us and it is one we have bought. In several 2-4 pages stories it tells of the Pilgrims plight in England and why they left to move to Holland. Stories of their life in Holland, their reasons for leaving Holland, and the voyage back to England and then to America follow. The rest of the book is devoted to stories of the Pilgrims life in America. It is wonderful and our children ask, "Just one more story, Mommy, PLEASE!!!" whenever I finish one. Music to my ears!

This is another gem I stumbled upon at the library a couple of years ago. It tells the story of three young pilgrims Mary, Remember, and Bartholomew Allerton (three actual young passengers on the Mayflower) from the point where land is spotted to the first Thanksgiving. Not only is the story wonderful but the illustrations are vibrant and gorgeous! However, the main reason I check this book out and read it to our little ones every year is because of the different maps and special pages at the end of the story devoted to Plymouth Colony, the Pilgrims, the "Strangers," and the Indians (2 pages each). These pages contain beautifully illustrated time lines, diagrams, interesting facts about each subject. There is also a bibliography if you want to dig further in. Another one my children like to read over and over again!

I hope you are able to take a look at these books and that they bless y'all as they have us. I am learning just as much if not more than my children and we are all getting a great, deep, and true sense of what this great country of ours was founded on and what it stands for.

One More Time!!

Last week we had another "episode." Ward got the cold stuff Cade and Mary Fran had been touting over the weekend and I thought it was all gone thanks to an immune building herbal tincture I had given everyone. Well, the cold was gone but I evidently needed to keep the boy on it a little longer because his lungs were still irritated as evidenced by his working hard to breathe on Tuesday. I started him back on the oral steroids and added his rescue inhaler until the Prednisone was in him good. Wednesday we took him into the peds office just to try to break through the wall. When we were in Columbia and he had to have a neb treatment he wasn't too OK with it after a few minutes. However, last week this is what he did...

No fear and too, too cute! He's off the steroids now and doing fine but couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off "The Mask." :)

Cade's New Trick

This past Saturday around lunchtime I looked over and Cade was walking with this stool. Later that night he showed us (without any teaching) how he could change directions. Excuse the background noise...we were watching the Gamecocks on the computer.

The Fair Weekend

Whew! We have had a crazy couple of weeks! Two weeks ago yesterday we left for Charleston with Drew's side of the family. On the way back Drew and Winston stayed overnight in Columbia so they could fly out to Seattle last Monday for a week long business trip. The kids and I settled in for a week without Drew. Last Thursday after lunch we headed back down to Cola town to "do the Fair" as we do every year.

Mary Fran, of course was a little leery of any ride but the Merry-Go-Round, Evie was fearless, and Ward wanted to be fearless but was just one small inch off of being tall enough for most rides. He did get to ride the slides with me and had quite a time!

Friday we went and picked up our good friends, Estella (9) and Ava (4). Their momma and I go way back and we get to see them once a year. After some lunch, we headed out to the Midway. Let me tell you, I got a lot of strange looks with six kids in tow!

Cade was mesmerized!

Here was a ride Ward could ride with someone and he was all over it! He wanted the green car. :)

Ava and Evie were riding partners quite often!

Once the Midway got too crowded, we headed into the buildings for some fun. After getting some free milk we got to climb on some tractors. What fun!

Wardy at the wheel!

Mary Fran even wanted in on this one!

Drew got in about midnight Friday night and Dad graciously offered to pick him up on his way home. It was so very good to be with my husband again!

Unfortunately, Saturday was not exactly as we thought it'd be. Thursday night Ward was up 3-4 times with breathing troubles so I increased his maintenance inhaler Friday and gave him Albuterol every 4 hours which seems to do the trick. Everything that was blooming up here 3 weeds ago was out in full force down there. Saturday morning it was clear that the Albuterol wasn't holding him as long as it should so a good friend of mine living in town told me which pediatrician's offices were open on Saturdays. We got an appointment with the practice that I went to as a child (my pediatrician is actually still practicing!) and headed out. What was even more ironic was that the pediatrician we saw was a girl (now woman) who I grew up with at church! We got us a neb treatment and started back on the liquid steroids for 5 days. We didn't have to go to the ER or hospital, so I count that as a victory! :)

After picking up Drew and the other little ones and having lunch with mom, Drew and I took the boys back for a nap and mom took the girls for a "date." We then met back up at the Fair for a couple of hours so we could see everyone one last time.

Wardy got to ride this one and, boy, did we spin!

Evie also got to go on a big fun house! Pumped, she was pumped.

After eating and saying goodbye to Estella and Ava we headed back to dad's for a good night's sleep.
Sunday we got to go to the baptism of my cousin's baby son and see some of that family which was really nice. We were glad for the weekend but very glad to get back home! Thankfully, Ward improved markedly and we were very glad when the run of steroids was over on Wednesday. Steroids hype him up but that was not as bad as the emotions this time (another potential side effect). Anything and everything seemed to just set him off!

The SC State Fair was a treat as always and I'll leave you with this beautiful rendition of the State Capitol building as Columbia is celebrating it's 225th anniversary this year!