Ordinary Time

We celebrated New Year's Eve in our traditional way:  hosting a big party for several families we know, some of whom we rarely get to see these days.  Our New Year's parties always follow the same format... everyone arrives sometime after dinner and brings whatever they want to share (or want to clear out of their house for the new year).  The hoards of children play around the house and enjoy the freedom of snacking on whatever is set out.  There were 29 children (if we can continue to call the younger generation by that name) this year... 18 months all the way to college, though briefly there were 30 because  P18 called via Skype and we got to visit her in 2011 in Uganda for a while.  The older group squirrelled themselves away in a room and played board games while the younger set ran and yelled.  At least that's what my impression of their activities was.  The adults visit and eventually get themselves sorted out into a game of hearts....

K. has been doing a lot of drawing recently.  Just about a month ago he started drawing 'potato' people for the first time.  You know, those early first people drawings which young children do with legs and arms coming straight out of the head.  Since he hadn't done anything remotely resembling a person before this, we were pretty thrilled.  But in the past two days, not only is he drawing people, but his people have bodies... and this one has hands and fingers as well.  (There is also a second, smaller person and a table in this one if you were wondering.)  And to add to his developmental accomplishments, he has also started to copy his name if an older brother or sister writes it out for him.  I know that to many of you, the fact that a nearly 5 year old is just accomplishing these things hardly seems like news.  Many children pass these milestones two years earlier.  But if you have been following K.'s story, you know that he has overcom...

We're on Christmas break here and not doing school-y stuff, but we are playing games.  We have always liked visual discernment games such as Blink and Set , and now we have a new one to add to our list:  Spot It!   This was a gift from one of J.'s sisters and it has been fun.  The game consists of circular cards with 8 different pictures on each card.  The trick is that there is only one picture that will match between any two cards.  (For some reason this boggles my mind as to how they figured out how to do that.  When I mentioned my amazement, M. said, with a bit of boredom in her voice, that she was sure there was a computer program which took care of that.)  There are four different games you can play and it takes anywhere from 2 to 8 people.  (Another plus in a large family.)  The games are quick to play and everyone has been enjoying it.  One of the things I like best about it is that to take the card you have to say out loud...

And it's not for something exciting.  For the past four or five weeks we have had a stomach bug running through our house.  Well, running doesn't quite capture its movement.  Crawling through our house like a snail would be more accurate.  It hits one person at a time, lasts for 24 hours, and is gone only to return 5 or 6 days later.  For the past month and a half J. and I go to bed wondering if and who we will be cleaning up after in the middle of the night.  And because it is difficult to squelch my Pollyanna side even when my head is pounding and my joints all ache, the whole thing could have been much worse.  We were able to focus on one person at a time.  (Which is a very good thing when one owns a limited number of buckets.)  All holidays and shows were missed.  And, in my case, J. is home all week so I can stay in bed and not try to parent while feeling lousy. But I'm really done with the whole thing.  I declare us fin...

I don't do this very often, but this post is going to be a product review.  The Juno Company sent me a DVD of The Day the Music Stopped .  It is part of a music education series aimed at preschoolers.  Since the craziness of Christmas has passed, we (the younger part of my crew and I) had a chance to sit down today to watch it together. The premise is that Juno and her little brother RaiRai take an imaginary trip to the town of Harmonia Springs where they meet their real live pets in cartoon form.  Through a series of events, the button on the Shush Machine is pushed causing the music to stop and Juno and her friends learn about how music is made so they can make their own. So what did we all think?  Well, it is definitely aimed at preschoolers.  The 7 and 8 year old boys watched it because it was there, but let's just say they weren't entranced.  K. on the other hand enjoyed it... plus it had a train which always strikes his fancy.  And...

Our Christmas morning begins with everyone coming downstairs in order of age.  This was a tradition of J.'s family which we have kept.  Well, actually, the morning begins with children coming in asking if it's time to get up, followed by coffee for the adults and children constantly asking if they can go downstairs.  But eventually, J. and I get things in order and they can come down.  See those pajamas?  That's the reason I spent so much time sewing this past month.  Did you know that 9 pairs of pajamas take a bit of time to make?  All I can say is thank goodness (and my mother) for my serger or else they wouldn't have been finished. B. with G. (She is playing with one of the stuffed nativity figures I made many years ago.) The first thing we do is gather together in the dining room to light the Christ candle in our advent wreath, read a Bible passage about Jesus' birth, and say a prayer.  Then we open stockings. TM and D. A. with L. M. w...

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Eve.  My mom sent the most beautiful dresses for G. and L., and I thought they deserved a post of their own.  First L.: And G: And why there are fewer and fewer pictures of these silly girls on the blog: (G. on left and L. on right in both) More Christmas pictures and the reason why I was tied to my sewing machine on Monday.