handsful

the tiniest elf around here :)

It’s fun to watch Lainey as she fits into our existing Christmas traditions.  The decorations that our other children have grown up with are all new to her, and she definitely has shown some preferences.  Above, she’s holding Mary and baby Jesus…from two different nativity sets.  She’s convinced that these two go together, and brings them to me at least once a day.  I love how she looks at them so sweetly, holding the mama with her baby.  She’s really shown an interest in baby dolls lately, which I love.  My other daughters have never cared for them!

A squeeze and a kiss for mama Mary. 

The other Christmas decoration she wants to see each day is our porcelain figure of Santa kneeling beside baby Jesus’ manger.  It’s out of her reach (I’m no dummy), so when I pick her up she points to it.  We talk about Santa and how he’s acknowledging the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus. 

I know she’s only 2, and this Christmas is all new to her.  But, I’m so glad that even she knows…somehow… that all these lights, presents, and the strange tree in the house are nice but it’s really all about the baby in the manger. 

Sheri at www.theshaniaproject.blogspot.com has started a little business venture to help with their China adoption costs.  She’s making the most adorable charms, and to say I like them is an understatement.  I’m a huge fan of jewelry that SAYS something :)  The one above is a favorite…on the back it says “24/7”.  Yep, that’s me. 

I like this one too, I’ve always loved initials on jewelry and this one is so sweet and romantic looking, don’t you think? 

So, if you like these too, head over to her jewelry site… www.charmaddiction.etsy.com  She’s also having a charm give-away…free jewelry is always a good thing. 

Remember a little while back, I told you about Marley not making the pre-team for gymnastics?  If she would have made it, it would have taken her off the usual progression…beginner, experienced beginner, intermediate, and then advanced.  Well, she found out this past Tuesday that her coach is moving her up to the advanced class!  She was thrilled!!  I love it that God saw fit to deny pre-team, only to reward her shortly after with this.  It means 2 hours per week, rather than 1, but is MUCH less time-consuming than pre-team would have been.  Way to go, Marley!!

This is Abbey, looking both excited and extremely nervous.  Why, you ask?  We belong to a homeschool co-op, which meets every Friday.  Co-op means that classes are taught to our 200+ children BY the parents, with the exception of a few paid teachers for certain classes.  One of Abbey’s classes is Basic Engineering, and she has loved it.  A recent project was to build a bridge out of popsicle sticks and wood glue.  There were certain requirements, such as height, width, and type of stick used and those bridges that qualified were tested to see how much weight they could hold.  Last years top weight was 300 pounds.  Yowza.

Here are the bridges…Abbey’s is 2nd from the left.

Here is the set-up for weight testing…the bridge is put across a 12″x6″ hole cut-out of the wood plank above, a piece of wood is placed on top, and the weight is suspended below by cables.  This is her teacher, an engineer husband of one of our group moms (Hi, Amy!).  This is Abbey’s bridge, with the 1st two weights put on.  He would place a weight, let the jack down to allow the weight to hang, and then count to 5.  If the bridge held, he’d slowly add more weight, about 5-10lbs at a time.

I know the suspense is killing you, so I’ll jump ahead.

This is her bridge, right before it broke.  He had run out of room to put weights on the platform under the bridge, so he had to start stacking them directly on top.  Guess how much weight her popsicle bridge held?  553lbs.  Yes, that’s five HUNDRED!  The crowd was going wild!  lol…

A close up…the bridge basically exploded on that one end and sent the weights on top sliding onto the floor.  We were astounded that it held that much weight.  After doing popsicle bridge research on the internet, Abbey decided on what type of design she wanted and Randy and Abbey both worked hard putting it all together, sanding, gluing, clamping, etc.  One of the boys in the competition was overheard saying “No matter what, I’m beat by a girl”.  Hee hee… Abbey was positively beaming.

So, the moral of this post is basically…girls rule.  :)

Lainey gets a better view, as she chooses her first Christmas tree.

Seems like the end of Thanksgiving and the beginning of Christmas happens as quickly as flipping a light switch.  Must have something to do with the day-after-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping that begins in the wee morning hours.  I did pretty well this year! 

She found it…this is THE one. 

Our home is about 90% decorated, with the rest of it to be finished this coming weekend.  We enjoyed this year even more than previous ones, given we’re blessed to share Lainey’s first Christmas with her. 

Doesn’t everyone wear flip flops when they buy a Christmas tree?  It was around 75 degrees last Saturday. 

We started the assembly line to get all of the decorations out of the closet under the stairs…Lainey got the hang of it quickly. 

EJ decides Lainey needs some decorating, too. 

We have a tradition with the kids, of letting them hang their own 1st Christmas ornaments.  I ordered Lainey’s, and it had not arrived in time for tree decorating.  So, she hung her ornament from last year, with one of her referral pictures in it.

She understood that the baby in the picture was her, and now asks (signing “Lainey”) to see her ornament on the tree. 

The other kids LOVE seeing their ornaments each year, and we inevitably talk about what cute babies they were. 

So begins the Christmas season…we have lots of fun things coming up, and I might just blog about some of them.  Who am I kidding, I’ll be boring you with every last detail.  Buckle up, there’s only 3 weeks to go! 

 

‘

Pumpkin hats were made on Wednesday by the girls…mini fudge stripe cookies, mini marshmallows, melted chocolate, yellow icing. 

Final product…

Tiny bites of goodness…and, what do you do with leftover marshmallows and chocolate?

Our Christmas cactus - who thinks he’s a Thanksgiving cactus, and blooms this time of year like clockwork. 

I cooked most of the morning on Thursday, while watching the Macy’s parade and dog show.  It was “only” the 7 of us, but we had to go all out so it feels like Thanksgiving.  We had a turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, and corn bread.  I own a wheat grinder, and make my own flour, but I’d never tried corn before.  It worked really well! 

The kids look less than impressed in this shot, but I promise they were!  Maybe they were just hungry. 

The girls shared the wishbone with Lainey…she won, but seemed quite confused by the whole process. 

Being the mean parents we are, we made them pose in front of the annual Thankful Tree.  Lainey even added some leaves this year (with help from her sibs).  She was thankful for Jack, coats, food, Tiger, mommy and daddy, feet, her siblings, and her babydoll. 

Okay, now it’s downright abuse.  We made them pose AT the table before feeding them.  Cruel. 

After L’s nap and a walk around the neighborhood, Abbey, Marley, and Payton put on a play they’d been working on for days.  “A Pilgrim Play”, directed by Abbey Clark.  (EJ opted out of this production)  The pilgrims and indians were played by various Webkinz animals.  Costumes were designed and produced by Abbey and Marley.  The play was narrated by yours truly. 

A success!  The actors take a bow! 

Two stars of the show :)

After the play, EJ played a little piano.  He’s doing so well, and just tonight told me how much he’s loving it – especially now that he is playing songs. 

Lastly, I attempted to make my very first chocolate pie this year.  My grandmom in NC makes THE best chocolate pie…it’s the only thing I ever ask her for at Christmas time.  This one looks good, right?  Well, it didn’t set up like it should have, and is very soft.  It’s good, just not grandmom-good.  I’ll ask her for some pointers when we’re home after Christmas. 

I’m sleeeeeepy from being up since 4:30am.  I think I’ll go have a piece of mushy pie and relax! 

 

 

More pictures tomorrow…the alarm clock is set to go off EARLY, so I need to hit the hay.  Happy Thanksgiving :)