checklist

Christmas tree down..........check



Christmas decorations taken down and packed up............check



After-Christmas clearance shopping at Target............check



MAJOR clearing out of the 1 and 2 yr olds room, resulting in 3 bags of toys for Goodwill and 2 for trash........................check



Purchase new calendars ( somehow I seem to require 3: one for my purse, one for my desk, and a central family one on the refrigerator).............check



Return all library Christmas books.................check



Finish eating all fudge, banana bread, etc. from holiday baking..........check



Print December pictures to put in Christmas album...................check






Okay, bring on the new year!

St. Nicholas Day

My older kids haven't believed in Santa for years, but they still like to pretend for the younger boys. The idea of Santa as a gift-bringer doesn't bother me too much, just not the "all-seeing", "all-knowing" part. We've been pretty up front with our kids when they've asked questions.

A couple years ago a friend mentioned a tradition her family practiced. Her husband is from Hungary and this is common there. They celebrate St. Nicholas Day on the 6th of December. That is when "Santa" brings his presents and fills stockings.

I loved this, as it still let the kids experience the fun of receiving gifts from Santa, but it also separated it from Christmas. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting until later in December.

So this year I made sure to plan in time. The kids cleaned and put out their "boots" (just their regular shoes) for Santa but decided they'd rather do stockings on Christmas morning. They've long known that in our household mom fills those, not Santa anyway. =)

They awoke on the 6th to chocolate Santas in their shoes, and a family gift under the tree.

This came with the added bonus of giving the kids something new to do during Christmas break. We definitely plan to make it a new Riley tradition.

baking

Brenna and I spent the day with my sister-in-law and nieces, baking breads and cinnamon ornaments.

The girls were very "hands on"

Here are a couple of Brenna's ornaments after they were dried and decorated

Oogave Soda Tour

A friend set up a fun tour for our homeschool group to the factory that make Oogave Soda. Right now it's sold mainly at Whole Foods, Sprouts and Sunflower Market. They use natural agave nectar in place of sugar or sweeteners in their soda.


It's a small business, so the tour was short but we learned a lot and the kids each got their own bottle to try.

This picture reminded me of Laverne & Shirley

We enjoyed the different flavors; the kids voted Watermelon Cream and Root Beer as their favorites. Give it a try if you see it in your store!

December daily book

I really love the idea of this book so I'm working on my own. You create a scrapbook for the month of December, and work on it each day so you have a completed book at the end of the month. I was able to go scrapbooking with a friend last month and got started on it. Since then, I've found a few spare minutes here and there and got all the pages done. Now I'm taking a picture a day to put in it. The first few pages will be advent and decorating the house.

A couple of my brilliant friends planned a fun activity for the first night of advent. We got together and had a Jesus birthday party. We had cake and crafts and talked about the real meaning of Christmas.

Each of us ladies created an advent wreath to take home.

Later, the men enjoyed a few games of darts.

At home, we lit the first candle and read some verses of the Bible. I hadn't yet dug out Jotham's Journey which we usually read each night.

All this week we have been getting the house decorated and making crafts. We did a simple, homemade advent calendar which I'm filling with small treats.

I'll try to update as the season goes on.

Yes, that is my SON =)

Thanksgiving 09

My parents were in town for Thanksgiving again this year. We had our big meal around 1pm and then had all my in-laws over for dessert in the evening. It was a wonderful day; I love taking the time out from our busy lives to just slow down and enjoy family.

It was especially sweet since Scott had been out of town the 10 days leading up to Thanksgiving. I was extremely thankful to have him back home again!!

My mom and dad with their grandkids

It's snowing lightly outside; fat, lazy flakes that take their time from the clouds to the ground. I see God's magnificent mountains, the snow-covered trees surrounding them, a soaring eagle in flight.

This is from a journal entry I made the Sunday before last as I was sitting by a fireplace at a lodge in Breckenridge. I'd gone there for a retreat with four fabulous friends. We created our own weekend and it went something like this...

As we walked along a mountain path, a fox walked nearly right up to us. Later, he visited us along the walkway around the hot tub. A blue jay flew overhead. Or was it a crow? (inside joke)We watched a muskrat and huge trout race each other to devour food thrown from a bridge.

We laughed, we cried, we talked of painful things, past mistakes and the families we are all so proud of.

We planned, we shared ideas, we created a concept that's going to be so great in the lives of many families.

We relaxed, we walked, we shopped, we swam, we separated for bible study, reflection and time alone with God.

We grew closer to God and to each other.

Oh, and the views weren't bad either.

Halloween 2009

This year we had a garden gnome, a clown, a gorilla, Betsy Ross, a pirate and a teenager.

Sew not fun

One might think that with me having 6 kids, chances are pretty good at least one of them has gotten stitches at some point. Nope -- this past Monday was the first time.

The child who holds the dubious honor:

(excuse the messy face)

Zane, my stubborn, smart, energetic 2-yr. old. He was enjoying a game of toss the ball all over the living room when he tripped, and hit his forehead on the one edge of our rock fireplace that dared to peek out of the covering I'd put over it.


Blood everywhere, not a moment I'd like to relive. Once we'd cleared it off his head, we could see the laceration wasn't really that big. It's just that there was a small area in the center that gaped. Ewwww. It continued to seep through the butterfly bandages we applied, so off to the doctor we went.

I arrived at the doctor's office expecting yelling, squirming, tears.

However, to my surprise, he handled himself very maturely. He proudly showed his "owie" to the various assistants, nurses and doctors who asked. (Our regular doctor was on his way out, so he was able to pop in for only a moment and another doctor did the actual stitching).

They had Zane lay down on the table and wrapped him in what they termed a papoose. He hardly protested that his arms were glued to his sides and he was immobilized. I held his little fingers that peeked out under the wrapping. The nurse held his little head still while the doctor gave him the numbing shots. Brenna and I watched, cringing, while the long needle poked him. I know I braced for the scream. Silence, silence...the doctor moved on to the next shot. Finally a matter-of-fact "Ouch" from Zane.

After the 3rd or 4th such shot, he finally whimpered. Then she was done with that and he was numb. He lay so still while she stitched, I finally asked, "Are you okay, honey?" To which he gave the standard answer from 2year-olds everywhere,"No."

During the 2nd stitch, he fell fast asleep. He snoozed on through the 3rd stitch and we finally shook him gently awake after removing the papoose. He looked around, disoriented and offered a sleepy smile. Who knows what he thought. Did he remember where he was? That he'd just gone through his first "surgery"?

Maybe not. However, he did remember the promised lollilop. Orange, as requested. And off we went.


Today we had the stitches removed. We did the papoose again, and again he just offered a few casual remarks. "Ouch." "That hurt". The nurse was very quick, and we were done.

This time he received a popsicle. Again, orange.

And thus was our 1st experience with stitches. Relatively painless. Except for mom. =)

summer wrap-up

Despite the best of intentions, I didn't blog many of our summer activities or photos. So I'm going to try to condense them down to a few posts and at least get them up. That way in future years the kids won't think I kept them locked in their rooms during the summer of '09. =)

So here's June (to the best of my recollection):

• Chase spent 10 days visiting his grandparents
• Conner spent a week at church camp
• Brenna took diving lessons
• I joined a book club
• Aiden began t-ball
• We had a new furnace installed
• Scott and I attended the homeschool conference
• The older 4 kids participated in a weekly bowling league

We also went to Belleview Farm with friends, the kids always have a good time there. Here are some pictures from that: