For The Love Of Comments

It's true, I've taken to commenting on my own blog to make myself feel better.  When I scroll to the bottom of the page and I see the all caps locked "NO COMMENTS" in the bottom of a post it looks so lonely.

I say often that the main reason I write this blog is for myself, so while it might appear that I'm begging for a comment from you I'm really not (although I love them and they make me feel loved. Okay, maybe I'm begging a little).  My blog had 90 views yesterday(for the record Blogger claims I only had three today...guess I wrote something offensive yesterday).

Now probably about 50 of those views were me checking for comments, 1 one was Kevin, one was my Mom, and one was my Dad, so as for the remaining 36 of you, thank you for reading.  I'm sorry for the all the misuses of your and you're, there and their, hear and here, but I right/write very late at night and I am tired and I was never very good at spelling and grammar anyway.

 I do think I  have a knack though for creativity and this space is one way that I fulfill the desire I have for making things.  So to my dear 36, thank you for coming hear, I mean here, to see what I am creating on this my fourth annual Christmas Countdown.

Maggie has been putting little sentences together more and more lately...Like "Sissy's shoes" or "baby nap." I kid you not that her favorite word right now is Baby Je-Je....she is one spiritual baby :)

I admit that the writing is generally of no real value(even though I meant for it to be this year) and the pictures are often of average quality, but they are of very sweet little girls (that is the real reason I checked it 50 times yesterday.)  

Goodnight, to all 36 of you, and Kev, and Mom, and Dad, come back again soon, read with me over a cup of hot chocolate:)

Grace and Peace

xoxo

Lessons From Your Mother

Dear Little Girls,
If you are ever in doubt, a cup of hot chocolate can temporarily heal any heartache.
With Great Love, Mommy

Today's task was to be thankful and to have a grateful heart...and to have a cup of hot chocolate before bed.
We are all a little heavy hearted today.  Grandma went back to England and in the words of my Little "why did Grandma choose England?"  I told her that actually Daddy chose America and that Grandma has always lived there....Maggie said, "Mimi sad." and "Mimi where?"

When we got home, after dinner, and before bed we had hot chocolate...
Spirits were lifted if only for minute...
21 days til Christmas
Grace and Peace
xoxo

New Years Resolution #???? I Really Can't Remember

Last year, one of my New Year's resolution was to make all of our gifts this year.  Year after year, I find myself walking through the mall on December 23 blankly staring at the disheveled shelves of Christmas displays  looking for one more gift for someone so that I don't feel inadequate.  That is probably not the right reason to give presents right????  I don't want to loose my focus this year.  I don't want the girls to miss the beauty that is Christmas.  Today Libby and I had this conversation in the car:

Mommy:  Libby, what was your job from our Advent calendar today?
Libby:  To draw pictures of the Nativity for Grandma to take home with her to England
Mommy:  That is right Libby.  We give to others at Christmas, that is why Mommy made our calendar to help us remember that.  Who gave to us all at Christmas time?

Libby:  Go-o-o-o-d ("God" drawn out in a precious 4 year old voice)
Mommy:  Yes Libby, who did he give us at Christmas?
Libby:  Baby Jesus

Mommy:  What did baby Jesus grow up and do for us?
Libby:  He died on the cross for our sins

Moment of silence while I think to myself, "score Mommy! You have a taught you child the miracle of Christmas.
I continue...
Mommy:  Yes Libby, that is why we give to others, so that they can see Christ in us
  (to myself "what else can I say that will sound completely brilliant!  She is really getting this, self you are a parenting allst....")
Libby:  Mommy, can I please watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates when we get home?
End Scene

Then I heard this voice in my head saying " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast."
So I told myself to stop being prideful and told Libby that we would watch Jake later....
I haven't made all of our gifts, but I have put a lot of thought into them and I promised myself that I would not stand at the mall in bewilderment on December 23rd buying gifts for the sake of buying them.

Happy 22 days left
Grace and Peace
xxx

Boom

December 2nd:  Go to Williamsburg to take part in the Grand Illumination and to remember to tell others "Merry Christmas."  

We did just that along with the rest of the people residing in the state of Virginia.  Despite it being  extremely crowded it was merry and bright, which is what we were hoping for.  

*Here is a Williamsburg commercial at no extra charge to you/  If you have never been to the grand illumination you are missing out.  It is hands down the best fireworks display that I have ever seen.  

These pictures are not of the Grand Illumination.  I did take some, but it is almost midnight and I am too tired  to take them off of my camera.  Instead, you get a couple pictures from my favorite time of day, and not just because it is from the time of day when I can drink coffee and feel little to no guilt.

 The morning sun pours through my kitchen windows and kisses their scrunched up faces while they eat their breakfast.  I often try to take their pictures in the morning just because I love the way they look in the morning, still just a little tired, but able to muster a sleepy smile.

 Last week we made an executive decision to have preschool in pajamas.  I normally make them get dressed before we start our day, so Libby thought getting to stay in our pjs for school was a great idea.

 Since starting preschool, the girls are getting increasingly more disciplined at sitting still at the table for school work.  This morning the whole "pajama preschool" threw them off and they were a bit distracted.  As soon as I busted out the paint it was like I turned off the whine button and the house grew completely quiet as they carefully focused on their paintings.

 Seeing that I am kind of into painting myself, this made me burst a little on the inside and I could feel my creative genes doing a tap dance on my heart as they were being passed down to my girls.  I love it and I love that they are learning how important it is to be creative.

 I know that this post wasn't riddled with Christmas goodness, but it is much later than I thought it was going to be while writing this.  I did say Merry Christmas at the top of the page and there is a glimpse of Christmas pj's here and there.
That will have to suffice for December 2nd.
Two days down, and only 23 to go.
Grace and peace
xoxo

It's Time

The time in which I make up for a year of lazy posting and post for 25 days straight.
Wait for it....
The Making Art Again Christmas Countdown!!!!

 I can almost hear the cheers of all my readers from here, and by all my readers I mean my mom and mother-in-law.  Now, let me be honest, my original idea for this year was to create a list of 25 things that the girls and I could do to give back to those around us.  I thought in doing so we could focus on the real meaning of Christmas and not get caught up in all the hoopla.

  I made a list and afterwards I was exhausted.  After I took a nap, I altered the list to some fun things that we can do together that won't require me to be wonder woman.  For example, our job today was to smile all day and to remember to say please and thank you...and we did.

Truthfully, I kind of love some of the hoopla that comes along with the Christmas season, like the increased desire I have to drink hot chocolate, and Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas," and yes, I really like Santa Clause.

I am seeing that the real meaning of Christmas is an open conversation in our house...in fact I think that we talk about it everyday.  I am hoping that our Advent Do Good List, which for the record is a terrible name, will lead to conversations that point to the Reason why there is any good in this world.

Hello December, we welcome you warmly into our life again with open arms!
Grace and Peace

Gratitude

I was scrubbing my bathroom sinks this morning, while my family waited at the bottom of the stairs patiently for me so that we could leave for our Thanksgiving travels.... I chuckled to myself because that is exactly what my mom used to do before we would leave for family trips when I was little.  I am thankful for my mom and thankful that she taught me that it is better to come home to a clean sink then a dirty one.

I am thankful that even now, well into our thirties, my sister is still my best friend, still my wisest council, and still calls to say that she loves me.

I am thankful that my dad is proud of me and that he always runs to the store to  pick  up that one more thing that you need.

I am thankful for my mother-in-law's ability to fold the tidiest stack of laundry I have ever seen and that she is willing to do it for me. I am thankful that she is here with us.

I am thankful for my Maggie Bell. I am thankful for the way her smile lights up the room, for the way she loves to be held, and for the way all of her "s"and "z" sounds have a little lisp.

I am thankful for Libby.  For all her spirit and whimsy and for the way she dancces into a room on her tiptoes.  I am thankful for her passion for life.

I am thankful for Kevin Jones.  He is a hard worker.  He has an adventurous spirit.  He looks right at me when I talk to him.  He is my love.

My heart is full of thanksgiving today. 

To many things to mention in words....
Happy Thanksgiving

Grace and Peace
 xoxo

Halloween Revisited

Laura Gillian requested that I create a Halloween post.  I figured that  I needed to do that before Thanksgiving came, so here it is.

 Can I just pause here and say I am not deliberately not blogging, but the only time of day that my full attention (I am using the term full attention very loosely) is not required by someone else is nap time.  I  am lucky if nap time last two hours.  There are a lot of things that have to be done in those two hours. Some of those things include, but are not limited to cleaning up or setting up for preschool activities.  Have I mentioned on here recently that I love doing preschool at home?  Best long drawn out decision we have made as parents.  I think that both of my ladies are thriving doing school at home.  I don't make Maggie sit with us and do school work. She has the option of free play if she wants it, but it never fails she always comes back to the kitchen table with us.
Speaking of school, most weeks we focus on one letter, but for about a week and a half before Halloween we  did a unit on Fall/Halloween that culminated on Halloween day.
We had so much fun.  I made them a "Boo Bowling" game out of toilet paper rolls (I'm not clever, I saw the idea on Pinterest of course :)  They used their mini pumpkins as bowling balls.  They loved this activity and even played with it after "school" was over.

In between the bowling Mags sorted acorns  from a tray to a bowl, stuffed leaves into our busy ball popper to watch them fly around the room, and played a fall matching game.

 When she wasn't bowling a strike, Libby and I read a fall story, then she found key words in the story and circled them...like leaves, apples, acorns, and pumpkin.  She loves this kind of activity.  Another favorite of hers from this unit was fall shape graphing. I printed a dice that had different fall pictures on it and we would mark on a graph each shape we rolled.  Then we would see what shape "won" the game.  She wanted to play this game several days in a row.  I should really take pictures of these things.

 I am seeing first hand a love for learning growing in my girls.  Recently I've been thinking about investing in a slightly more challenging curriculum, for Libby.  Since we started she is picking up on things so fast and I am really seeing that her desire to read by herself is growing each day.

  Back to Halloween...after school was over Robbie and June Bug came over for a Halloween lunch.  They had a pumpkin hunt, they played Halloween Bingo with candy corn, painted pumpkin pictures. and ate a Halloween themed lunch!  

 Try telling a 4, 2, and 1 year old they can play with candy, but they can't eat it...they did as well as could be expected :)  We let them eat the candy corn when we finished the game.

The girls did really well on their pumpkin painting and insisted on giving them to our neighbors.  That is another plus of home school for us, Libby's love for art is really developing.  She has never been that interested in art projects,  but I see her taking real pride in her work these days.  This was aided in the fact that Ms Robin hung their pictures on the front door so that everyone that passed by Halloween night could see them :)

 I have a genetic problem called "inability to buy a costume."  Because my mother always made our costumes, I feel like I must make all costumes for my girls.  I don't know why I feel this way, but I can't seem to stop it.
So here is hand made Alice

And hand made Mad Hatter

With  thrown together White Rabbit

All together with the Cheshire Cat

Alice's dress was actually a hand-me-down dress that I altered a bit to fit her.  I made her apron out of a white bed sheet and rick rack.
For the made hatter, I just frilled up and old onsie with trim and picked out some striped baby legs for her to wear.  I did not make her hat, it was my splurge purchase since I don't splurge on buying the costume.
The White Rabbit just happened to have a waist coat and tie in his closest.  His pocket watch was made with markers and two paper plates.  His ears were kindly lent to us by our neighbors.
For the Cheshire cat, I bought some outlandish false eye lashes and borrowed a striped shirt from a friend.  I also purchased my ears, which were promptly confiscated by the girls as soon as I was done with them.

We normally have a Halloween party at our house the night of Halloween, but we decided to instead to do trunk or treat with our church this year to help provide a safe place for children in the neighborhood (our church is in the hood).  When I asked Libby what her favorite part of Halloween was she said "passing out the candy to the children."  So thankful for this answer.  I am aware that it might change to getting candy for myself, or dressing up or anything else,  but for now her first answer was about giving to others and thinking of others before ourselves...which at the Jones Family Preschool is a big thing that we teach.
Till next October 31st
Happy Hauntings
Grace and Peace
xoxo
BTW, Grandma comes in T- 3 days!!!  Woohoo!  Who will comment on my blog while she is away?