note to John...

No.
No, she won't.

corners of our home at Christmas

For Mom. Who wanted to see the Christmas decor...

A fuzzy picture, I know. But I took it 5x-mirrors are tough! Santa may be bringing a new camera-we''ll see. But this is the dining room, where I gather the vintage Christmas stuff. I like evidences of 1920-50s celebrations! The vintage cookie tins and Shiny Brite boxes, and wax candle choir boys who still have .5 cent Woolworth stickers on the bottom, and ceramic red boots to fill with candy canes. I used old postcards for a garland, glued to ribbon and matted with scrapbook paper.

I made this little runner last year and kept meaning to bind the edges. Perhaps this year, I will?! I think the purples, silvers, bronze and blues that are in all the magazines and stores are just beautiful. But I am a simple girl, madly in love with all things traditional, so it's a red and green Christmas for me...and that doesn't mean burgundy and olive, ever. (smile)

It means candy cane RED and pine tree GREEN.

The LED lights save so much money on electricity that I WANT to like them, but just can't. They aren't sparkly! John's Mom made the "NOEL" bag and when she put it in her yard sale in 1990, I snatched it up. You can't put a two quarter price tag on Sandy's hand stitching! This hutch was our very first piece of "real" furniture, so that red bag has hung on that same hook for almost 20 Christmases. It holds replacement metal hooks for the Christmas balls and will-for another 20 years, I suppose!

We celebrated Advent on Sunday and Caleb lit the first candle. I love Advent, and the quiet gathering around the coffee table to talk about the Reason for this celebration time. Even though Christ most likely wasn't born in December at all, it's important that we stop "regular life" to focus on this radical truth....God, becoming Man, out of love for us lost ones? Amazing.

Our previous Advent devotionals are now a little cheesy for the boys-at 10, 12 and 14 they are ready for more meat than milk, to grow on. So we decided to simply share with the kids on Sunday night, what Pastor Neil is sharing with us, on Sunday morning. (Since the boys are all in Sunday school). John talked about Joseph's obedience (evidenced by his actions) and I talked about Mary's obedience (evidenced by her words) and then the five of us discussed the concepts of servanthood and what obedience to God looks like, and costs. It was wonderful!

Then we made a huge vat of buttered popcorn and watched "The Nativity Story" together. It's my favorite movie version: http://www.amazon.com/Nativity-Story-Keisha-Castle-Hughes/dp/B000MGBM1I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1259783114&sr=8-1

little vignettes in the dining room...

and the kitchen...

Two boys are doing school and wave "Hello!" The tree is big, and the ceiling slopes, so the Star has to be tied a few inches below the top, to fit. Every year we put it up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, while watching "It's A Wonderful Life" and drinking cocoa, stirred with candy canes. I love this movie and could watch it everyday but I save it for December, only. This year, at the very beginning of the movie, where all the prayers are going up? Josiah looks over at me and yells to his brothers "Look! She's crying already!"

The kitchen shelf. I love lipstick red spraypaint! It helps all kinds of Goodwill cast-offs fit right in to my color scheme.

Saturday morning when I had unpacked the final Rubbermaid tote (there are ONLY 8 of them!) and stuff was spread over every table and counter, waiting to be arranged? John grinned and said it looked "like Christmas threw up in here". It did! But that night, after I had puttered and fussed and tucked things here and there and switched things all about for the 20th time? John gave me the sweetest compliment...he said "Thank you. You make Christmas wonderful for us. You know if it was just me? All we 'd have is one sad little Charlie Brown tree!"

and then Josiah yelled

"Look guys! She's crying again!"

new Christmas pillows

Linking up with DIY day with Kimba:

http://asoftplace.net/2009/11/diy-day-with-the-north-pole-secretary/

'Tis the season for crafting...so I'll be posting a few of my little projects this month)

I wanted new holiday pillows but I didn't want to spend much of our limited time and money. This is what I came up with. They are simple, easy (10 minutes), and cheap ($5.50 each) and festive...feel free to copy the basic idea and tweak it to your color scheme/style.

The first part is the hardest. You have to go to Walmart. Sorry to send you to THAT place during the Christmas season! but if you know somewhere else you can get a red twill pillow for $5, go there. I can't even find thrift store pillows that cheap! I looked at making the pillows but by the time you add up fabric, foam insert, and binding? It costs over $12! So to Walmart we go for Red Twill Pillows...

Then to Dollar Tree. Hey, you've already been to Walmart-don't get fussy.
They have these thick felt snowflakes, 2 for $1. (They also have ornament and tree shapes in red and green-I like the snowflakes because they represent my flaky family well)

I had this, but if you need to buy it-it's at Walmart too, around $3. It glues fabric REALLY well and is great for projects that are difficult to sew (or saggy hem rescues on the way out the door to church. just sayin')

Spread the glue on the back of the flake liberally, and slap it on the pillow. Warn the kids not to touch it for 24 hours til it dries. Wa-la! Done!

I liked it so much I did the opposite on the other side of the room! Then He-Who-Is-Twelve-and-Male ruined the festive mood by screeching "Cool! Bloody snowflakes!"

Merry Christmas.

Caleb's fave pb cookie recipe

This is the cookie you see (below) We found this recipe at the Gluten Free Gobsmacked blog.
His brothers love these too, and we always have the ingredients on hand. Plus, with all the protein in the PB and egg I don't feel as bad about it as some desserts. There is that evil white sugar in there but otherwise: no preservatives, no trans fats (with natural PB), no high fructose corn syrup, no chemicals, no colorings...sheesh, it's practically health food, right?! I might even try to sneak a little flax seed into the dough next time-that brown color might hide well...

For those sweet friends and relatives who worry about not having a GF treat for Caleb when we visit, this is one of his favorites!


1 cup peanut butter (creamy OR crunchy)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla

raw (turbinado) sugar to sprinkle on top

Oven to 350. Beat all ingredients, except the raw sugar. Roll into 2 inch balls and press with a fork in a criss cross pattern (he LOVES this part-what kid doesn't?!) Sprinkle with raw sugar and bake 9 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool completely before removing-they seem too soft but they firm up after cooling, trust me! Store in the fridge for up to a week. Makes 1 1/2 dozen.

(I plan to dress these up for Christmas by drizzling some melted chocolate on top! He will be over-the-top happy with that addition, I am sure)

A year of growth and being gluten free.

(Caleb, baking his favorite gluten free peanut butter cookies!)

Caleb's crown (aka his coolmetaltooth) was pulled by our dentist last month, because the adult tooth underneath wasn't tough enough to push all that metal up and out of the way. Caleb had this crown put on when he was six, along with four other fillings, and his cavity ridden mouth is the reason my kitchen doesn't have a white subway tile backsplash. Though I am glad we had kitchen remodel money available in July of 2005, to pay the dentist, (and I love my less expensive tin backsplash) I still looked at that baby tooth in it's little red plastic box and shook my head-really? $1,500?! Okay, I guess Caleb's ability to chew food the last four years WAS pretty important...!

At the time, I was so confused and anxious over why Caleb was suffering from so many cavities, when his brothers didn't have even one tiny cavity (and they still don't!) Was I lax with the third child? Was it because we are on well water with no fluoride? 9I still believe THAT is a blessing)The pediatric dentist tried to reassure me (as he took my check) that "some kids just get more".

But I wasn't convinced...

Besides the cavities, Caleb has always gotten canker sores in his mouth, too, and his brothers are yet to ever experience that inner mouth malady. For years, I bought Anbesol and asked him if he had a sore, before offering orange juice. Last year, when we were trying to diagnose gluten intolerance in Caleb, these were the two symptoms that helped confirm it for me. He had SO many symptoms but they were the type that could be contributed to a thousand issues.

Fatigue. Irritability. Stomach cramps. Slow growth. Picky eating. Dark under eye circles. all of these made me think "Hmmm....Maybe?" But when I read that gluten intolerance often produces an over-acidic mouth, contributing to canker sores and dental problems and cavities? It was the one thing that made me go-okay, let's try this path....his cavities and canker sores were actually a gift, because they were what convinced us to test for gluten intolerance.

Here we are, one year later. Did we make that right choice, taking away all gluten despite no "official" diagnosis by the medical community? The proof is in the changes of the last 12 months:

Caleb hasn't had even one cavity this year (a first!)

He no longer lays his head down in exhaustion during school but easily (if not always willingly!) does his work, bright and alert.

When is playing with friends he no longer sits down after 10 minutes to "just watch" the other children play tag. He is always up and running too, now!

When he gets "glutened" it takes 48 hours before his body reacts but when it does? We all (even Caleb, who so wishes he could eat regular cinnamon rolls!) know his body doesn't like wheat because he is in so much pain.

He grew 2.5 inches taller this year!

Most of all? He is healthy. I praise God today! He was faithful to answer our many desperate prayers last year, prayers for wisdom and discernment to show us what was wrong with our little boy. It hasn't been easy, (for Caleb OR the cook!), to adjust to this lifestyle but it's been oh-so-worth it.

We have our son back!

Christmas crafts for my walls

Linking up with :
http://asoftplace.net/2009/11/diy-day-with-the-north-pole-secretary/?

I love Christmas. I love decorating. I have a small house. No problem! At Christmas I simply take down almost all of our regular decor, pictures, vases etc. and put them in the garage a few days before Thanksgiving. Now I have a blank slate to wrap in tinsel and cover in holly! Plus, in January when I scrub everything (because I am barely 5'4". All those tchotchkes high on top of my kitchen shelves? They get dusted just once a year, folks) I then get to re-arrange all my stuff. It is like my favorite part of moving into a new house-setting things up!

But first-I will need holiday pretties to hang on those blank walls. So I take my four favorite hobbies and mix them all up---decorating. scrapbooking. thrift store junkin'. crafting... and let's see what we get!


This first one is my favorite kind of "craft". Find someone elses beautiful needlework at the thrift store. Decide it is definitely worth that $4 price tag-just remember it is actually a donation to the St. Vincent de Paul, to feed the hungry and provide for the homeless. Take it home. Dust liberally. Hang up.
Beautiful!
This picture was just so sweet, and for just .69 cents to The Salvation Army (they bless the poor, too!) and then a quick paint job to the ugly gold frame? Now it's perfect to hang up near our nativity... I made this last year and still love it. Find a big picture at the thrift store and ignore whatever is inside it. Just look for a thick mat and a wood frame-this one was already red, so I was thrilled. Choose some scrapbook paper you like (vintage jingle bells, here) and then get a piece of Christmas sheet music. (I put Joy to the World in, because I couldn't find my favorite, O Come O Come Emmanuel) I buy old hymnals to tear up, but you can also find copies online and just print from your computer. Distress the edges, if you like that look (I do) and place on top. Done!

I like vintage stuff, and especially old packaging! Shiny Brite ornament boxes make excellent shadow boxes. I used a copy of a vintage postcard but the possibilities are endless!

My love for scrapbook paper is endless. (I really ought to try scrapbooking with it sometime) Here, I layered it with a sentiment sticker on a wooden plaque. It used to be really Americana ugly-

See?!

I just layered right over the top of it, using scrapbook adhesive.

Fun, fun! and what to do next? The glue gun is hot and I still have halls to deck...

they'll never know what hit 'em.

fun at the Hotel pool!

After the Thanksgiving feast we head back to the hotel and try to burn off extra pie calories in the heated pool. After a whole day of being friendly to relatives and politely sitting still in small homes full of big people, our boys are fairly bursting with stifled energy. There were several years where we had to forbid the kids to even ASK what time we could go, because as soon as they put a fork down, we heard a million times:
"Can we go swimming now!?"

We invite anyone who wants to, to join us. Well-- not strangers under bridges or anything-- but anyone in the FAMILY and I am sure the Comfort Suites management doesn't mind at all that our family of five has 7 guests in the pool. Hardly any other hotel patrons are usually there and the few that are? We are warm and friendly to! but a few Nerf throws gone sour and 4 or 5 cannonballs later and they are suddenly tired and off to their quiet rooms...

Uncle John can always be counted on to join us and the boys are jumping on him and climbing him like a tree. They have wrestled like this since Uncle John was a strapping teenager and they were goofy toddlers and all four seem fine with the arrangement but I have to look away, for fear Uncle John is now going to get terribly hurt!

Although it was nice to see Josiah getting a fair share of punishment for a change! In their wrestling fun Sam and Caleb are all over him, trying to bring him down and he just laughs and pushes them off. Then Uncle John joins in the game and suddenly the mighty Josiah is knocked off his pedestal! Soon all three boys gather into a team and turn their attack on Uncle!

Last time, Caleb was terrified of this game (I think its called Throw the Boy) but not this year-there isn't much that scares Caleb, anymore!

We have been going to Portland for Thanksgiving since the boys were just toddlers. It was a long drive from Yakima, so we stayed one night at a local hotel. This was such a rarity that the kids STILL think it is a major treat. (And really, why spend thousands on a vacation when they are so easily satisfied with a continental breakfast and indoor pool for only $79 a night?!)

Now Portland is "just up the road" but it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without...

Going swimming!

left to right-Uncle John, Caleb, Josiah, Sam, Uncle Brian, Cody.

It's so nice to jump from cold pool to hot tub, back and forth. John and I used to split the shift-one of us in the pool, one of us in the tub the whole night--trading back and forth to warm up--making sure our preschoolers didn't drown, despite the life jackets and water wings I always brought. (That "deep end" freaked me out!)

I spent the whole evening trying to get little Josiah to trust me taking him into the "deep" 4 foot water and encouraging him to not be nervous, his floaties would work!!

and trying to keep unafraid little Sammy from jumping in every 2 seconds and to OH! stop running on the slippery concrete, John-watch him!?

and checking Caleb's swim diaper, and making sure his ear tubes didn't get wet and boys stop splashing him it just makes him scream!...

Now John and I don't have to even get in.

Our gangly boys are jumping in the deep end and swimming like fish and throwing Nerf footballs at each others faces. The stark contrast of our toddlers "just a few Thanksgivings ago at this same pool" and our boys now...it blew us away.

Caleb. (About to lose his shorts off the two peas he has for a bum!)

What a good Dad! Brian giving both kids a ride and risking a serious drowning....

Josiah gives Cody a ride so Brian could give Caitlin a swim lesson or two. Cody's teeth were chattering and his lips blue but every time Brian tried to get him out he would panic and shout "No! No!" He loves that water!

Caleb wanted a picture of his feet, as he loves to practice standing on his head. It's about 3 seconds he can keep them up so I did the best I could for him!

For years, every time we drove past a hotel (any town, anywhere) that said "Comfort Suites" the boys would get SO excited, thinking it was "OUR Thanksgiving hotel!!"

It's one of our favorite parts of the holiday!