If you get a chance today, check out my friend’s site:

http://miracolirosaries.com/

I don’t post pictures often, mainly because I am lazy, but partly because I didn’t care to take the time to learn how to post them. I guess that is lazy too. So here are a few pictures from the past few weeks…starting first with the Advent Wreath….

Today there was a ring of the doorbell. It was Fed Ex! Yahoo! What gifts could they be bringing for us? Woohoo! It is my lamp that ordered from joann.com. It was one of their Cyber Monday deals and was more than 50% off….$35 for a close to $200 dollar lamp. How could I pass that up. It rocks. I also ordered a new sewing machine and can’t wait for that to come. Another great Cyber Monday deal and 50% off too.

So I am set back up in the dining room. I have a room set up for sewing upstairs, but I can’t use it when C is sleeping, so I just took over the dining room, since we eat in the kitchen. Now I can finish C’s dress and birthday pillow. Since J is working late tonight and the kids will be in bed for naps soon, I have all afternoon to work.

Advent is going well for us here. We are adding extra prayers and doing a family activity each night, like learning a new song. I made and painted the ornaments for the Jesse Tree yesterday. K is very excited that we have  an orange dinosaur to hang up today for an animal.

I have been trying to clean one room a day or dedicate a day to laundry. Today is laundry day and maintenance today. Maintenance meaning, cleaning up after the kids.  Today I washed our down comforter. I put it in the washer on delicate with our homemade soap. I have a front loader, so I think that may add to the ease of washing it. After washing it, I dried it in the dryer on low for about 1 hour 15 minutes total. Now it is fresh and clean again. I think I will make a cover for it, someday. 🙂

Time to put the kids down for their naps. Fun times…someone wanna come and rescue me?

Today M was praying while taking a nap. I heard her praying while laying in her bed. She was supposed to be napping but instead, I heard a Hail Mary then an Our Father. Her Our Father went something like this:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Twinkle twinkle little star…..

I love that little girl.

Edited to add: And then….

After her faux nap, she came down stairs and started playing with the rosaries. She put one on like a necklace and told me that she was going to the store. Bye bye, see you later!

.

Outside my window…gray and cold.

I am thinking…menu planning for January and February

I am thankful for…my wonderful little family

From the learning rooms…tracing letters, numbers and shapes.

From the kitchen…leftovers!

I am wearing… khakis and a sweater

I am creating…still working on C’s jumper…then her birthday pillow.

I am going…to the store to pick up milk.

I am reading…same as before, The Faith Explained.

I am hoping…to enjoy Advent and to make everything for the Jesse Tree!

I am hearing…M and C fight over a toy!

Around the house…a few chores needing to be done, mostly pertaining to clothing….

One of my favorite things… Watching my little C try to take steps.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Work on Advent-ing the house

A lingering thought...nothing…thoughtless today!

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Today was an absolutely splendid day, if I do say so! We started with a nice, yet quick, breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. We then headed to Mass where we were treated to a wonderful Homily by Fr. Mike. The recap of it is:  Remember who it is that you are giving thanks to on this day. That we can be thankful for everything that we have but that no man is an island and what they do is given from God. Also, the hardest part for an Atheist is when it comes time for him to give thanks. To whom does he give thanks too?

After mass, we arrived home to a prepare our feast. Turkey with stuffing, pumpkin soup, sweet potatoes, no knead bread and pies. We also had an appetizer tray with sausage, cheese, pate, olives, pickles and crackers.

I made the stuffing and J put it in the bird. I wish that I had video camera eyeballs when M saw Miss Turkey! She was so funny and so happy to see that we were going to put something in the bird! The bird went in to the oven stuffed and rubbed with olive oil. It came out 4 hours later, very yummy.  While the bird was cooking, we prepared our other feasting food and around 2 my in laws showed up. They supplied ravioli and mincemeat pie. We were certainly ready to feast.

My kids enjoyed the appetizer spread. K loaded up his plate with crackers, cheese, pate and pickles. M kept asking for some “chee”. (her word for a slice of cheese).

Then on to dinner…..

I have to say the Pumpkin Soup was terrible and I gladly gave my portion to my wee daughter. Blech, never again. The no knead bread was pretty good and  I really liked it. I don’t know if it was totally worth the wait for it though, but it was fun to try. The turkey and all the trimmings was great…yum.   The pies were so yummy,  so very yummy. We also tried our new Mystic Monk coffee, Jingle Bell Java and that is great! I highly recommend it to anyone looking to try a different blend.

Now we are watching a movie and the men are smoking cigars and pipes, the women are embroidering or knitting or blogging. The kids are in bed with full bellies (the baby ate more than most of us, I do believe). What a fun day.

…cause the way she is a cleaning/cooking fool, it sure ain’t Beth.

This morning we woke up with just enough time to make it to daily mass. Since it is Wednesday and usually a school mass, I was prepared to sing “Table of Plenty”. No school today! No “Table of Plenty”. Don’t despair for me though, it is on the hymn board for tomorrow. 😉

After mass, we headed to the “mall” (I say “mall” because any self respecting “mall” would have a food court, this “mall” doesn’t even have a place where I can order a coffee). We stopped at the fabric store to pick up some baskets for the new bookshelf (aka toy shelf) that J is building today.

C also needed some shoes and I needed to replace my brown shoes as they fell apart last week. (No warning, nothing, just poof, unwearable).  We went to a few stores and let’s just say that it is hard to find shoes for 9 1/2 sized feet. I found a very cute pair on super sale, but they weren’t available above a 9. On to a different store. This one rocked, I found a pair of Doc Martens for $30.00!!!!! Now, Docs only come in whole sizes so I would have needed a size 10. Nope. Sad Face. I guess I am not meant to ever own a pair of Doc Martens. Or Birkenstocks for that matter. I did end up with a very cute pair of shoes though, a pair that I am very happy with.

C, on the other hand is now a size 4. Parents of wee ones, what do you do when they are size 4? It was very hard to find a pair for her. We finally did find a pair, but not until we went to 5 different stores! Urg. All I wanted was a pair of cute dress shoes.

Thanksgiving Prep

Miss Turkey is sitting on the counter hanging out. I put it in the fridge like the USDA told me to do, on Monday, and it was still a solid bird. Bah. So she will stay out for a bit today then back in for the overnight.  The celery and onions are cut for the stuffing. The pumpkin has been roasted for both pie and soup. The bread for the stuffing is rising on the stove. The bread for dinner is rising on the counter. The whole house has been dusted/mopped/vacuumed. The tablecloth is sewn, washed and on the table. The mantle is cleared off (more for Advent than for Tgiving, but it is done).  I put away my sewing things, so I won’t be working on C’s dress today or tomorrow, sad face. Oh well.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I feel accomplished, slightly! Fortunately, when meal planning this month, I made today a meal out day, so I don’t have to worry about dinner.

Monday

¤ put turkey in fridge to thaw

¤ find stuffing, cranberry, pumpkin soup recipes

¤ clean bedrooms

¤ wash sheets on our bed and spare bed

¤ vacuum upstairs

¤ clean/mop upstairs bathroom

¤ make Grandpa M’s birthday card

¤ work on C’s dress (time permitting) (didn’t do this but I did get the odds and ends on M’s dress finished)

Tuesday

¤ dust living room

¤ hem fabric for table cloth (pinned it last night just have to run through machine now)

¤ hem napkins

¤ wash both

¤ bake pumpkin (why didn’t anyone tell me that was spelled wrong??!! ANNE!!!!)

¤ work on C’s dress (time permitting)

Wednesday

¤ chop celery/onions

¤ make bread for stuffing

¤ vacuum whole house

¤ work on C’s dress (time permitting)

¤ make dough for no knead Italian bread

Thursday

¤ make pies (pumpkin and apple crisp pie)

¤ Mass (9 am)

¤ make stuffing

¤ stuff turkey

¤ put turkey in oven

¤ make soup

¤ make rolls (going to do a no knead Italian bread instead)

¤ set table

This week is, of course, Thanksgiving.  This year we are staying in Ohio and Joshua’s parents and sister will be joining us. To prepare for the big feasting day, I have made a list of  things I need to do. I figure a little each day to prevent a stressed out Wednesday or Thursday!

Monday

¤ put turkey in fridge to thaw

¤ find stuffing, cranberry, pumpkin soup recipes

¤ clean bedrooms

¤ wash sheets on our bed and spare bed

¤ vacuum upstairs

¤ clean/mop upstairs bathroom

¤ make Grandpa M’s birthday card

¤ work on C’s dress (time permitting)

Tuesday

¤ dust living room

¤ hem fabric for table cloth

¤ hem napkins

¤ wash both

¤ bake pumkin

¤ work on C’s dress (time permitting)
Wednesday

¤ chop celery/onions

¤ make bread for stuffing

¤ make pies (pumpkin and apple crisp pie)

¤ vacuum whole house

¤ work on C’s dress (time permitting)
Thursday

¤ Mass (9 am)

¤ make stuffing

¤ stuff turkey

¤ make soup

¤ make rolls

¤ set table

Today was a festive day in our house! Today we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King! This year was even more fun than years past because K and M are getting old enough to get the hint that something special is going on!

We had friends over today for Facemyer Pizzaâ„¢ (a recipe we have certainly perfected, it is much better than any pizza place pizza I have ever had). We also had Crown Cake and a raspberry cake for the adults. It was all very good, as was the company of our dear friends.

Six kids (plus one in utero) and six adults. Six years ago, none of us were married! God is so good. As K would say “We love him!”.

Here are some pictures of our day: