grace and books

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Shanda

A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart. ~Author Unknown

*****

She is in 10th grade and cheerfully talks about leaving right after High School.

She wants to be in the military or go to Colorado for college.

Inside, my heart aches but I believe in letting the children go their own way, giving them freedom to make life plans.

In the meantime, my heart cherishes every moment with her.

On Saturday night, just the two of us went to Barnes and Noble to sit and read, sip chai tea, and journal.

After wandering the bookshelves, I joined her at a little round table to look through the stack of books I picked out.

1) By the Book was interesting because in each chapter, a different literary person is asked several questions about books– their favorite book, what they are currently reading, what book they couldn’t finish, and so on. I wrote down a few books that looked interesting. 2) I find the story of Chris McCandless fascinating, so I thought I would browse his sister’s new book, The Wild Truth, which gave her own perspective of the tragic events. All in all, I wasn’t interested in reading it in depth because it was more about her own life, rather than her brother’s. 3) Delicious Probiotic Drinks was great, and a book I will purchase through amazon. 4) A Room of One’s Own will be a book I borrow from the library. 5) Portraits and Profiles was a photography book with essays, well written and interesting.

“Whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.” David Sedaris, in By the Book.

“I like nonfiction books about people with wretched lives.” David Sedaris

“…she is joyously healthy and undoubtedly eats an apple a day….” Cecil Beaton, in Portraits and Profiles, writing of Katherine Hepburn

Eventually, we left our little table and went over to the children’s section to sit on the floor. We sat for quite a while, enjoying each other’s company and the wonderful new books we discovered. Grace especially enjoyed Nuts to You, and kept reading me parts from it while laughing. The Dark, by Lemony Snicket, was adorable. The Squirrel’s Birthday and other Parties by Toon Tellegen, was a darling new discovery for me, a book that was written over 25 years ago by a Dutch father who told the stories to his daughter as she was growing up. He eventually wrote them all down and it has become a beloved book comparable to Winnie the Pooh. Wainscott Weasel was about a weasel in love with a fish. Can you even imagine? Mean Margaret contains a story with animals that talk, and a terrible toddler from a family with nine children. It made me chuckle. Mister Max was written by a favorite author of mine, Cynthia Voigt. Roland Smith is a favorite author of Jacob, Ethan, and Grace. He has written a couple of series of books that they liked very much. It is sad that the boys have grown up in the midst of the series and have lost interest in how things are going for the characters in the books. Mutation and Alcatraz are two latest books in those series. Grace and I had a discussion about how “you are never too old to read a children’s book.” And I thought of C.S. Lewis, who explained it so much better:

“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” CS Lewis

One of the wonderful blessings of having children of all ages is that you are compelled to keep reading books for all ages.

After filling up our minds with books, we meandered over to Moes and filled up our tummies with nachos.

Talking all the way, my Gracie-girl and me.

christmas

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Shanda

Heart. Soul. Mind.

For the busy mama, these important parts of our selves can be run down and dried up over the Happy Holiday season. This is how it has been for me the last few weeks or more. I’m so caught up in the doing, doing, doing, that within me is withered and waiting.

Oh how I yearn and crave a deeper life. Jesus is in my heart and my soul is beautiful because of His saving grace, I know this. I have everything working for me in my innermost being…everything but some free space to breathe.

Even attending church leaves me hungry for “more” because I have children doing strange things next to me every time. I can’t settle down and soak it in like I want to. I’m thankful for a Father God who understands the Mothers He made.

I was reading Les Mis last night. I’m on page 615. And I thought to myself….what a life…..in the time I DO have to breathe, to refresh, what do I do? I read a book. Dusty, musty, silence and stillness. Reading is the place to relax, to gather up the blanket, feel the purring cat at my feet, shut the door in order to silence “Top Gear” from the other room, and read until my eyes are tired.

But reading isn’t CREATING. Reading is taking in and admiring someone else’s creation.

I do love to blog and blogging is creating. Journalling is creating– but I don’t do as much of that. Sewing, baking (but I do too much of that), drawing, what else? (thinking out loud here) Photography…. yes…… I want to do these and more.

Now that Christmas is over I feel myself resolving to do more artistic work, by the grace of God, in order to bring down some water for my thirsty heart, soul, and mind.

cookie-art (tired of it)

Don’t laugh. (I’m talking to myself, because I’m laughing)…..because part of me feels silly as I express this need. Will I make the most of the opportunities that come my way? Or will I read a few more pages of my latest book, too tired to do much else?

A little less sleep, a little less slumber, a little less reading, and little more soul FUN~(I did calligraphy on some of my Christmas cards…which was wonderfully satisfying!)

Creating with the children. They know how to be artistic and inspiring without second guessing. I admire that. Perhaps I should draw on the walls like they do?

Christmas was nice. Certainly it is more work than magic for the parents, but it is a rewarding work. All the shopping, lists, and making sure everything gets done by December 24 can be rather tiresome. (At least there is a deadline.) I love the photo of the stockings; starting with Rich’s, then the children from oldest to youngest, with mine at the end. The tree lights reflecting in the stove look like there is a fire is going. A sweet friend who owns a greenhouse gave us the gorgeous poinsettias, which I keep faithfully watering. Seth made the red handprint green construction paper wreath and the paper chain.

Rich got up out of bed on Christmas morning at 5:30, I asked him why, “I have to go do your stocking.” I gave him enough time and then got up to find that the three littlest ones were also awake. Grace soon followed and tucked herself into her favorite corner of the couch. We sat and waited, the kids tested their limits in exploring the gifts as Rich and I drank coffee with our feet up on the coffee table. Jacob and Ethan woke up next. Our David is the late sleeper and Rich made his yearly torturous joke about how because it’s Christmas we weren’t going to wake him up, “let the poor boy sleep in.” He has been known to sleep all the way until lunchtime so it was a relief when Seth went down to wake him up at 6:30.

We began with the stockings. Rich thought it would be funny to put a pack of rawhide bones in my stocking. At least Parker the dog ended up with something special and it was good to laugh.

Sarah is behind the box. Happiness is being small enough to get lost behind your gifts.

We had the gifts all opened by 7:30 am, but it was done with minimum stress because we tried to do things orderly as possible. David passed out the gifts and we watched the person open it before going on to the next one.

Rich and I went shopping together to get my gifts and I love the two pairs of Swarovski crystal earrings he gave me; one pair also came with a darling ear cuff. I received two books.

Here I am reading the books; one is about playful photography, the other is a photo book of French cats, both books are so so inspiring, which is contributing to my determination to ENJOY life by not only doing my duties, but having creative fun, too. I want to be wild and free at times….I miss that part of my personality….(tips?ideas?anyone feeling the same?)

David loved his soda maker, set of Calvin and Hobbes books, legos, books, and Nerf gun.

Seth’s lego set was somewhat challenging so I was called upon to help him. He was SO SO CUTE.

Frankly, I was surprised by our Caleb, who put “Star Wars lego set” on his list three times (so he got three small sets). What surprised me was that he did not rest until he had put them all together.

Ethan put his box of GAP clothes on right away, with his cross necklace and cologne. Only then did he break open his lego set of the Eiffel tower. I texted brother Dave a picture of it when it was done and he texted back; “I was at the top of it!” Jacob’s set was of the United Nations building. Anyway, the older boys didn’t even ask for legos for the first time in approximately 10 years so I bought them each one set because I was sooooooo sad.

Christmas cat #1, can I just say I am in love with cats again? So many things need to be put on hold when you having the darling BABIES……baby season is over for me so I can think about my kitty cats again. This is Snickers, our oldest, he is probably about 4 years old.

Parker the Dog was exhausted by the time everyone opened their gifts, with so much fuss first thing in the morning. He was glad to have the couch to himself.

I asked Caleb for a picture. (By the way, when the boys do lego sets they keep all the bags organized using my fiesta bowls.)

Christmas cat #2. Sarah, which was a shock to me, hated her feather boa that I gave her. I thought my girly-girl would adore feathers and silver sparkle– but no. She won’t let it touch her. However, Billy Cat loves it. We found him curled up sleeping on it, with a few wet feathers torn off. Evidently he “killed” it before he fell asleep on it.

Rich bought me the softest feeling sweater of my life. This is the only gift which was a surprise. My little Seth received a light saber (another item which we have gifted for years and years to all of our sons). I love this “baby” boy (five years old) and still make him take a nap with me whenever possible. He even has a term of endearment for me. In loving moments he calls me “moo-moo”.

A sight to stop me in my tracks. Caleb snacked on all his stocking candy during his lego-building-time. (pictured next to Grace’s little stack of gifts.) Grace has already completely read the Patricia MacLachlan book, White Fur Flying, which she said was really deep for a little kid’s book. Patricia MacLachlan wrote the beloved Sarah, Plain and Tall and I’ve been buying her books for Grace since she could read. Again, with her at 15 years old, I still couldn’t quite stop buying yet another this year (like the boys and their lego sets).

Happy Dave, busy working on a Transformer.

For my artist son, the dot to dot book was a big hit, along with new Sharpies. The dot to dot is of portraits, with about 1000 dots per picture. He practically needed a magnifying glass to complete them. He loved it.

Ethan was thrilled by his PS3, our family’s very first gaming system. It only came with one controller which was hard for him. He wanted so much for Jacob to be able to play with him. He even went online to see if Target was open on Christmas day so he could go buy one. (it wasn’t, thankfully)

It took Caleb for.ev.er. to figure out his transformer, again; I was impressed by his endurance and the robot finally turned into a hippo.

Christmas cat #3; Snickers again, sleeping under the piano bench. I love how cats can sleep anywhere.

David loves his soda machine. It is perfect present for a young scientist/inventor.

You twist the bottle three times to carbonate the wate, until it makes a funny sound (each time).

Then you add the soda syrup.

Let us talk about the weather in these parts. There was no snow on Christmas Day but……we saw rare sunshine and it was mild enough outside to be welcoming. We all went out for some fresh air.

S U N S H I N E ! ! ! ! ! !

Grace went right into the woods. She’s here someplace, you can’t see her, but she was there, walking quickly like she had a place to go and things to see.

The sparkling ribbon of stream……

Then, I went to say hello to my hens.

They gave their acknowledgments in return, the best they could.

iridescent feathers!

selfie with a (distressed) hen. They tolerate hellos but draw the line at hugs.

Then, Jacob’s Emily came for a quick visit. She came bearing gifts and sparkling good spirit. What a joy she is to us all.

She gave Parker a frosted candy-cane shaped dog treat. She spoils him. Consequently he doesn’t leave her side. (see?) She and Jacob exchanged gifts. Jacob laughed to see the candle because she was with him when he saw it at the store and admired it (it has a wick that sizzles as it burns). She had gone back to buy it for him. She also gave him a handsome black shirt. He gave her a locket.

There were two gifts labeled “To: Jacob and Emily”. The most darling thing was that they opened them at the same time together. Jacob’s hands unwrapped one end, while Emily’s hands opened the other end, perfectly fair like it was the natural thing to do. Their togetherness is so sweet.

Rich gave them books and I gave them matching shirts and socks.

The socks and shirts were from American Eagle men’s department. The socks were men’s *one size fits all* but Jacob could barely get his on and Emily’s were too big and the heels to the socks were about five inches up the backs of her legs. It was quite funny.

Well, I had to get the Christmas Ham into the oven and while I did so, people started falling asleep.

Christmas cat #4; Sherlock the orange cat slept by Rich’s legs.

I did the ham in an oven bag with sweet liquid poured over (ginger ale, maple syrup, honey, etc) pineapple and cherries pinned on with toothpicks.

Well. Over the last week I tried making candied clementines. The recipe said to boil the fruit every day for six days in a sugar syrup (20 minutes each time) and also let sit at room temp. You see the results. Not like the picture in the cookbook. MUCH uglier, like huge orange raisins. They taste okay but only in very small bites. I put them into a container and popped them in the fridge to use for scones, or muffins. It was a fun experiment and I may try again to see if I can do better.

Emily went to her Dad’s house for the rest of the day and at 4 we ate our Christmas feast; ham, homemade rolls, buttered corn, cottage cheese, and scalloped potatoes.

Rich had objected earlier to me doing so much work on Christmas day for our meal but I noticed he asked for “more ham” quite a few times, until as a joke Jacob used the meat fork to put the entire ham on his plate.

“What the Room Looked like Before Throwing Away the Wrapping Paper”

David’s new shirt; “designed to fly”.

(One time he “flew” off the porch with an umbrella!)

Ethan’s new clothes.

He is sixteen and one of the best boys in the world.

Christmas cat picture #5; a nap companion

Thus ends another photo-blog of Christmastime. What a blessing this year has been and how thankful we are for family and friends.

*****

I was able to write this downtown at the coffeeshop with Rich this afternoon. Truth be told, I was irritated by him being gone all morning for wrestling practice and then planning on taking the teens to the movies. The movie was sold out so they had to go to a later showing, which meant I got some HUSBAND TIME! He read his book while I typed, with no distractions, with coffee and chocolate. God knows what we need and will provide, Amen! Thus, my thirsty soul was refreshed and I realized it is MUCH easier to write when I’m not tempted to throw the next load in the washing machine or empty the dishwasher or vacuum or ………….

2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self his being renewed day by day.

Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Psalms 34:5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

………….

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Shanda

with lots of love!

{this moment} times eight

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Shanda

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. inspired by soulemama

why seth is home today (the very long version)

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Shanda

All is pearly blue, silver, and sunshine outside. It’s currently 8:17 in the morning, and 32 degrees. Seth and Sarah are watching a Christmas Thomas the Tank Engine show on Netflix while Mama (in her red robe) puts her feet up and tries to get some words out of her head, through her fingers, and onto a blog post…….

Why is Seth home from school, you ask?

Grace has needed to fill her prescription for much-needed new glasses for over a month. I had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and thought I would make use of the trip by taking her out of school to go to Lenscrafters. She also asked if she could get her hair trimmed. I was pleased to be able to take care of my beautiful, very busy daughter, but as soon as my doctor’s appointment was over, I had to take a phone call from the elementary school nurse. She told me that Seth wasn’t feeling well; he was complaining of a tummy ache.

I texted Rich; he was busy at work and couldn’t get him. Time with Grace is very rare, so I decided that the glasses were of utmost importance. We went quickly to the mall to chose a pair. I told the man that I would pick them up the next day and we left. As soon as I got the girls back in the vehicle and turned on the car, Rich texted me back and said he could get Seth after all. This was happy news, so back into the mall we went and the girls both had hair cuts. And we had time to pick up the glasses, too.

I need to tell you that I found my jar of Vitamin B12 gummy vitamins in the bathroom later, with the top secure, and with only 2 left in it. I had a panic attack as I googled “Vitamin B12 overdose” into the computer, wondering if Seth had eaten them and was sick from them….there were about 35 missing and to this day NOT ONE CHILD IS ADMITTING to eating them!! (David said he ate one). I eventually discovered that overdose can result in panic attacks and heart palpitations, because the B12 is an “energy” vitamin. Seth was doing the opposite (sleeping in my bed). They are also water-soluble which means the excess gets urinated out rather quickly. But this experience added to the drama-trauma of the evening. I took the boys to wrestling practice and went back home to my sick child.

I let Community Bible Study know that there was a possibility that I wouldn’t make it the next morning to decorate my tables for brunch or facilitate my group. I was disappointed, but by the end of the evening Seth’s fever had broke and he was acting like his normal self. He slept good that night, so I sent him to school with a note and let Paula (from CBS) know I was able to attend after all.

I did all the one million small things to get ready by 8:15 am; loaded my little gifts for the ladies into the car along with a beautiful centerpiece for the tables, cut up a pineapple, packed up the creamers, sugar, tea, coffee carafe, and so one. I took my shower, put on make up, got Sarah dressed, started my car……

AND THE NURSE CALLED ME TO COME GET SETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She said he couldn’t go back to school until his fever was gone for 24 hours.

I wasn’t going to study after all, but I couldn’t contact Paula.

Then, I thought, well…maybe my friend Caroline is available today. She usually has to work but after a text and a phone call, I found out that she was indeed home, waiting on a stove delivery. She agreed to take Seth, so I drove to school to get him, and drove to her house to leave him. Paula called me back and I told her I was running late……

I drove 40 minutes to the church, loaded my arms with all my stuff, rushed to the gym to my tables…and found that they were completely done and decorated. “Oh Shanda, I tried to call you back to let you know but you didn’t answer your phone!” My sub core leader got the message that I wasn’t coming and never got the message that I was coming, so she had decorated the tables. I felt like she was my Christmas Elf. Despite the frazzled morning I was glad to be there and the morning was a blessing to my heart and soul.

My bible study friend Lisa is a baker. She gave everyone in our group a delicious quick bread for Thanksgiving and yesterday she handed around small paper boxes decorated with glittery star stickers. She told me, “These are Homemade!” when she handed me my box.

Needless to say, after I was back home again with Seth and Sarah, I opened the little box, and almost cried. The box was filled with the most delightful darling chocolates. There were two generous layers of beautiful HOMEMADE chocolates. I squealed and exclaimed. I thought about the thank you card I would send. I couldn’t imagine the work it took to make them! I ate one; it was raspberry filled! I ate another; it was coconut! I gave one to Grace and Sarah and put the box on the bookshelf, my own personal little guilty-pleasure that I intended to savor and linger over the next few days.

entirely homemade and beautifully detailed

Eventually, David and Caleb were home, too, and it was time for me to make dinner. Rich and the boys were at wrestling practice and I had recently *dropped the ball* with dinners so I wanted to put some thought and care into the food. I roasted a chicken, filling it with three garlic cloves, salt, rosemary, and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. I placed a sprig of rosemary on top and basted the chicken carefully every fifteen minutes. For a side dish, I made tomato rice; 2 cups of chopped onion, a chopped yellow pepper sautéed in olive oil. I added a cup of rice, a tin of whole tomatoes, and half a tin of water and let it simmer until the rice was creamy and perfect. With a salad and the pineapple I had cut up that morning, we had a lovely meal.

But Jacob and Ethan didn’t come home. They had Subway and went back to school for the basketball game.

We have a housefly problem in the house. As I made dinner I concentrated on killing flies. My son David advised me to aim cleaning spray on them to render their wings useless; so I did that and then stepped on them. I hate the dirty flies; I am becoming obsessed with them…I imagine maggots….I MUST GET RID OF THE FLIES….I was getting up and down from a stool, bending, spraying, cleaning, killing…..

After serving the little ones their dinner (Seth had five bowls of salad and nothing else, weirdly) I was simply done with it all…done with the day…tired…head was buzzing…I collapsed on the couch with my kindle and let the kids watch a Phineas and Ferb Christmas special. When Rich came home at 7pm, he found a tired mama and five (never ever tired) children. He did enjoy my dinner, which was nice, but still I wondered, was all the fuss worth it?

I went to get a chocolate; I couldn’t find them. I looked all over the place. Nothing. I asked the family. Nothing.

I wanted one of my special, homemade chocolates. I deserved it!!

You’ll never believe.

I found the box.

I found the wrappers.

They were on the floor.

Behind the bookcase.

Every chocolate.

GONE.

I screamed.

I asked the children; their dear little faces looked at me in blank innocence.

When I showed the box to the dog he wouldn’t look at it. He wouldn’t look at me. He went straight to the door to be let out.

“I won’t make eye contact with my mom because I ate all her homemade chocolates.”

I will never get over it.

At six this morning I stumbled out of bed and came out to the living room to ask if the Dog was still alive. I’ve read everywhere that chocolate kills dogs.

He was fine.

But Seth had just thrown up.

And that is why Seth is home today.

{this moment} surprise delivery

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Shanda

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

snow (it’s the little things)

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Shanda

With an old scarf around my head keeping the hair off my face, and a wooden spoon in my hand, I opened the door to let out a cat. Sarah and I were in the kitchen making Christmas cookies.

I had determined to have a quieter day. We had a pleasant snow fall in the night but not enough to keep the children home from school. Ethan had a dentist appointment at 8:50 so Sarah and I left to pick him up…..while the snow continued to gently fall.

The many tracks in the driveway, made by the family I love, made me smile. So much activity belonging to the special boys and girls in my life. My husband’s truck tracks meant that he was already at work, making an early start so that he could get back to coach wrestling later at the High School.

At the end of our road, I stopped to take a picture of the farmer’s cows in the snowy field.

In town, Sarah and I both admired the ivy growing up brick buildings. She asked me if we could grow them on our house.

Ethan didn’t have a coat on and shivered as we made our way to the car. “Why on earth didn’t you wear a coat?” I asked. “Because! I don’t have any classes outside, Mom!” (obviously!)

Ethan is the one child that I nag the most about brushing his teeth. It’s become sort of a family joke although Ethan himself may not think it is funny anymore.

He had zero cavities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is in wrestling now at school and had to get his official weight taken today. I couldn’t even tempt him to a small hot chocolate after his cleaning. I took him back to school.

By that time it was only 9:30 so Sarah and I went to the Thrift shop and spent two dollars on some rubber stamps for the children to play with, a few books, & an ornament.

We walked hand in hand to the car, over the railroad tracks. When we got there, I noticed that the snowflakes were falling from the sky as pretty as a picture on top of Sarah’s pigtailed head.

In the parking lot by the town offices I stood with my camera, taking careful close ups of Sarah’s head and my own arm! I had to laugh when I realized what I was doing in public…..but the magic of it all…..

God is so good to me! I didn’t want to leave my cozy house this morning and when I remembered Ethan’s appointment I had groaned. But, in the midst of running these common errands of motherhood I was given yet another opportunity to see the simple beauty of a day I would have missed if I stayed inside.

It is the life of the crystal,
the architect of the flake,
the fire of the frost,
the soul of the sunbeam.
This crisp winter air is full of it.
~John Burroughs

How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose,

if there were no winter in our year! ~Thomas Wentworth Higginson

*****

We drove home and my mind was on the snowflakes and William Bentley.

If you’ve never taken a picture of an individual snowflake I encourage you to try it!

I meandered around the yard and our cat Sherlock tried following me across the ice on the pond and fell right in the water. It was rather shocking for us both. He swam back out quickly, which was a good thing because I was on the other side of the pond.

This is Billy-Cat.

Two fresh eggs were waiting for me in the chicken coop.

Sherlock was very busy on the porch, trying to clean the water off his fur.

Sarah was already inside and we fried up the eggs and shared them for a snack.

And then we read the books we had found at the Thrift store.

Under a soft, warm, electric blanket, we learned that “Q is for quiet times”……

And were inspired to be as kind as the shoemaker and his wife.

Best of all, we decided to make Christmas cookies, after a cozy nap.

While the oven was still hot, I mixed up a banana bread. I read on allrecipes.com that if you wrap up your *hot from the oven* quick bread in foil, it will steam itself cool and become nice and moist.

This entire morning *after the children left for school* has been a “no TV” day and the quietness of the house has been wonderful.

There is something about snow falling down outside to make a day seem so peaceful.

madrigal feast

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Shanda

Good day to you. It is drizzling cold rain outside and as a matter of fact, the children had a two our delay from school this morning because of icy conditions…… and, it was quite the morning, let me tell you. There was a flurry of activity as the children did their best to enjoy the extra hours. They are now gone to school and Sarah is playing in her room, so I have a few moments to give a report on the Madrigal Feast.

The music director at our local High School has put on a weekend of Madrigal Feasts for the last 28 years. Grace was involved for the first time last year, as a Freshman, and I was so impressed by it that this year I bought tickets for Rich and I, plus Grace’s six siblings. The tickets were 15 dollars a piece and the kids perform three times over the weekend to a packed house. It is a great fundraiser for the music program, and they also donate money to a local charity. The first two Feasts were in the evenings. Rich and I went on the third day, Sunday afternoon, to avoid having the children out late.

On Sunday afternoon, while Rich (I love him) conveniently fell asleep and took a nap on the couch, I got the four younger children looking presentable.

Here is darling Sarah, all dressed up in her little dress, white tights, matching shoes, and itchy hair band.

After the 10 minute drive to school in the backseat with her brothers, she looked like this:

I mean, you just have to laugh, right? I took the itchy hair band off the poor girl and then everything was fine.

When we arrived at the door to the cafeteria, where the feast took place, we told the doorman our name and they called out in a loud fanfare, “The ‘Smith’ Party has arrived!” (only they used the correct last name; our last name is not Smith, by the way) and in we marched through two columns of choir children, to our assigned table.

We each had a name card at our place, where a salad and fruit plate were waiting for us. I sat in between Seth and Caleb. Seth did everything in his chair but stand on his head, but it was nice for the most part. David became cold and had no coat. Jacob kept making eyes at his girlfriend.

Grace and the rest of the choir were singing up front all during the salad course. I felt shy, so I asked if one of the children could walk up to take a nice picture. Seth was the only volunteer. Thank you, Seth!

When the singers filed past our table I took a quick picture of Grace, using the flash. LOL Ethan.

There was a wonderful song all about wassail. Every member of our table asked me what wassail was, including my husband, who was in attendance last year and should have remembered that it is a nonalcoholic hot cider drink served in a punch bowl.

Seth had three glasses of wassail and two full glasses of water, consequently he had to use the bathroom several times and was also too full to eat his feast.

The number of wonderful songs being sung one after another were like a lullaby to Sarah.

We ate chicken, stuffing, a baked potato, bread, and mixed vegetables. For dessert there was chocolate cake with cherries and whipped cream. As we ate, the choir performed beautiful songs, skits, dances, and jokes for our entertainment. There was a king and queen, a group of wenches, a jester, and so on….we were to imagine that we were in old time London.

In this picture, on the far left, you can see a door with a sign, “face painting”, which is where Seth was taken to sit and have his face painted like Spiderman (his choice).

Also, this is the picture I took during the final verse of “Silent Night”, when our Grace stood front and center to perform sign language.

There were many, many items raffled off. David had put tickets in several jars, trying to win things, but when he discovered that the winners had to go up front to claim their prize and perhaps do something embarrassing, he hoped and prayed he would NOT win. (he didn’t).

OVER TWO HOURS later, the feast was over. I had thoughtfully volunteered Rich to help tear down the sets so we hung around for another hour or so, until the cafeteria was a cafeteria again.

Mrs. Jones, the choir director (not her real name) is an AMAZING woman, so strong and capable, the children respect and adore her. She wrote a little poem about each and every senior and had it read in their honor…provoking tears from every mother’s eye. Grace is her assistant this year and she made sure to tell me how much she appreciates Grace and her work ethic.

I can’t begin to tell you all the little ways Mrs. Jones makes the feast special for everyone involved. It truly amazes me.

After the performance, every photographer took pictures of their children. 🙂

The yearly groups form a close bond and Grace was thrilled to see graduating students return to visit;

LOL Jacob (far right)

I took the little ones out to the hall and sat as they ran around, waiting for the clean up to be over.

I had to laugh by the end of the evening I had a huge stack of coats, purses, shoes, etc, in front of me on the table to “watch” for the kids……

Spiderman!! (make up remover wipes took it off just fine)

This was embarrassing. David, my magician, came to me with this plastic tie around his wrists and asked me to tighten it for him. Even though my inner motherly instincts were screaming “NO DON’T DO IT” I tightened it. “More than that, mom”. Okay, I tightened it more, as per his request. Well, he thought he could use magic to break free, but it never happened…..as he struggled, another mom came by to say hello to me, and to my horror, noticed Dave whose hands were turning an unnatural shade of pink, “Oh, that’s not good, David, you shouldn’t have that on your wrists.” “It’s MY MOM’S FAULT,” he replied, “She’s the one who did it.” Nice, Dave, nice. We finally found some scissors and Emily cut it off.

It was eventually time to leave and we all left like a herd, 10 of us, a big family full of never ending excitement, the stressful kind AND the good kind. Deep in my heart I appreciate each and every moment with these people.

We went home and decorated the tree (pictured in the previous blog entry).

*******

a proper photo, by another parent

a tree for Christmas

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Shanda

First, pour yourself a smooth, sweet cup of cocoa.

And gather up your favorite cat…….while I share with you, dear friend, some of our weekend happenings, namely; decking the halls with boughs of holly, and decorating the “O Christmas Tree”.

This morning, I awoke to the sound of my two youngest children arguing loudly over a cat. I was heavy with sleep as reached for the clock to look at the time. It was 6:47am. Caleb would need to leave for school in half an hour. I rolled slowly out of bed, and thankfully found the boys already dressed for the day. I served them peanut butter toast, passed out lunch money, made a cup of coffee, and after the busses came and left, I sat and looked at all the pictures we took this weekend………..

These are busy days for all of us. Some of us Moms are working on less than ideal energy. What a blessing it is to be tired yet still determined to love and nurture our families.

On Saturday, between a wrestling practice and a Christmas Ball, Rich and I had a small window of time to get our Christmas tree. We were determined to cut it down ourselves this year so we bundled up in our coats and asked the children who wanted to go with us? Out of seven children, we had two who were excited about going with us to get the tree; Seth (5) and Sarah (4). So off we went.

It was raining.

The tree farm was busy despite the rain. There were a line of cars with people tying up their trees. We couldn’t help getting excited about finding just the right tree.

It is simply amazing that we’ve been in love over the last 20 Christmases…..

We walked briskly along the rows of trees and it didn’t take long to chose one.

Just right.

“Not only green when summer’s here,
But also when ’tis cold and drear.”

While Daddy cut down the tree, Seth and Sarah ran around laughing and having a wonderful time as only 4 and 5 year olds can do.

Happily wet and muddy, our dear darling Seth. A cute note about the matching mittens; I dug through the mitten box and found two that didn’t match, yet more importantly were for the left and right hands. When we got to the truck and buckled up, Seth leaned forward with the matching black mitten (which he had discovered in the truck) and said, “Mom, you’re blind. The matching mitten is right here.”

Seth, ready to be a help, climbed up on the truck to pull the tree up with his Dad.

Then, even though I was right there ready, he insisted on jumping back down all by himself, thanks anyway Mom!

Christmas mud.

They wanted to get out while Rich returned the saw, but did you see that mud? We made them get back in.

We left the tree farm with candy canes. A few miles down the road Sarah spit hers out in my empty coffee cup, spitting and clearing her throat so much I became amused. Apparently she doesn’t like candy canes. (She doesn’t like toothpaste, either).

Points if you can name the title of my current read!

We returned home. Rich and Ethan set up our beautiful (but very wet) tree, and then Rich and I had to quickly get ready for our date. Grace left with a friend to go to school for the Madrigal Feaste, Jacob babysat the children for us, and we left the house for the evening.

And it came to pass that we decorated the tree 24 hours later, (last night).

Jacob turned on some Holiday tunes, while Emily made a Santa craft with Sarah and Seth. The children are to glue a cotton ball on his beard each day until Christmas, when his beard will by then be fluffy and white with cotton…….they loved it (thank you, Em!)

It was a flurry of chaotic activity to get the tree decorated and ~~all too soon~~ not soon enough, it was completed.

We followed the excitement up with early bedtime for the younger children and crashing in front of the Andy Griffith show for the rest of us. I went to bed at 9 and was asleep very shortly afterwards, thankful for another day.

******

keep calm and jingle on

xoxo

{this moment}

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Shanda

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.