Winter Fun

During Christmas break, this mama surprised her Blossoms with a fun little project.  

First, we cut the graham crackers according to google. 

Then, we whipped up a batch of royal icing.

We assembled the little graham cracker cottages and let them harden for an hour.

Then, the real fun began.  

Raid the candy basket, pull out the goodies I'd bought for this project 

and get decorating!

Every Blossom decorated her house a bit differently.  

That should come as no surprise.  They are delightfully diverse in personality, gifts and preferences.

That diversity brings such a fullness in our fellowship every day.  

They all agreed on this project though;

super fun!!! But, really not all that tasty.  

We love winter fun!

Dominique

Somethings

If we had tea today, I might share a whole bunch of "somethings" to go along with the "somethings" from your every day life that you'd share with me.  Why not brew a "cuppa" and enjoy these somethings with me?

Something that's working:
Abbie over at M is for Mama shared a fantastic tip that is helping peace to reign in our home.  She instituted 7:30 nightly clean-ups that involve everyone.  I've always done a nightly clean-up, but like Abbie, I'd fallen into the trap of believing that it was all on me, with only a smattering of Blossom help.  I'd be grouchy every night, discouraged at how hard we'd worked all day and how I couldn't get it all done to start again in the morning.  Yep, we make big messes here, but we've got lots of minions to help clean up.  Every night.  At 7:30.  And they lived happily ever after.  Plus, I've taken it a step further.  If we happen to be busy at 7:30 pm, I schedule the alarm for an appropriate time to clean up before we all hit the hay for the night.  #itworks and #itsabeautifulthing



Something that's hard:
Homeschooling is hard.  By that, I mean that it takes a lot of steady, gritty, sweaty, hard plodding to make good progress.  Right now, one of my Blossoms just really would rather daydream instead of work.  What should take her til 1:30 pm in the afternoon, has become an all day process.  We're doing mama reminders.  We've done 10 minute fresh air breaks.  We rearranged the school room to help keep a busy little sister not quite always in the line of sight, but basically, we're just plowing through.  At some point, you gotta learn that the quickest way to get schoolwork done, is to do it.  It isn't always fun, but not everything in life is fun.  I came through this stage successfully, as did some of my other Blossoms, so I'm optimistic that we'll weather it well.

Something exciting:
Blossom3 and I have a mommy date at the ballet coming up.  I'm super excited to see Sleeping Beauty with her.  Based on how well Swan Lake and Cinderella went over, this should pan out to be a delightful and inspiring evening. 

Something lovely:
I'm totally digging the scarlet carnations given to us after a friend's wedding.  It's so pleasant to see the splash of vivid color they bring to the dining room table and kitchen island. 

Something funny:
At previously mentioned wedding, the Blossoms were given peacock feathers.  This morning I arrived in the school room to discover quite the calligraphy in progress.  They'd soaked markers in water to detract the "ink" and then used said "ink" to dip their quills into.  I couldn't really argue with the fact that peacock quills have gotta be the "glammest" writing instrument ever.

Well, friends, thanks for sitting down to have a "cuppa" with me.  Have a terrific weekend.

Dominique

Ugly Ted

I heard Jake barking a different sort of bark the other day, so I hurried to investigate.  

(Reason #947 to have a dog)

When I stuck my head out the door, I could hear Blossom3 sprinting up the driveway and out of the woods, screaming, "A BEAR, A BEAR, A BEAR!!!!!!"

I was sprinting then, at least until I could get all the details and ascertain if anyone was in danger.  

The Blossoms stayed pretty cool.  They hustled themselves and their sisters out of the area. 

This young bear had been treed, most likely by Jake.  

We'd recently been studying hibernation and estivation, so it was fascinating to observe a bear up close.  

Black bears don't technically hibernate.  They go into a torpid state.  

This bear likely ventured out because he was too itchy, from the mange that he's battling.

After snapping pictures and enjoying this spectacle with our neighbors, we reported him to the Game Commission.  Mange is highly contagious and can easily spread to other animals.

There have been a few other sightings since that evening, so we'll see if "Ugly Ted" gets trapped and treated by the Game Commission.

That's life here in the Hollow.

The Gift That Does Not Keep on Giving

I'm a big fan of getting our hands dirty while learning stuff, which is ironic, 

considering I'm not a big fan of messes.

Maybe I should clarify; I don't like the kind of messes that "keep on giving."

Like play dough!  No matter how hard I try to corral it, 

it invades my house and shows up in the cuffs of my skinny jeans. (????)  

However, when my brother announced at the end of Christmas gift-opening, that he and his lovely Eryn had purchased all the supplies for magnetic slime, I was just as excited as the Blossoms were.  

Though I was trying to be kinda "adult" about it.  

Sorta.

Apparently, this particularly concoction is made up of liquid starch, Elmer's glue and iron oxide.  

It can also stain clothing, so we put everybody in t-shirts and got right down to our magnetic slime business.  

It was not difficult to clean up.  The table wiped clean when we were done and I haven't had any trouble with staining their clothing.  Go figure.

The best way to make this slime work is mix the ingredients with a plastic knife and then, dig your hands in and squish it.  

And then, squish it some more.

And throw in a healthy dose of stretching too.

Perhaps you can plop it a bit.

Then, definitely go back to squishing it.  We found that to be the most effective method.

Uncle Zach decided that the only thing cooler than magnetic slime was GLITTERY magnetic slime.

He doused that slime with enough glitter to adequately protect his position forever as World's Coolest Uncle.  

We were a bit disappointed that this slime wasn't as strongly magnetic as we were hoping, though it definitely demonstrated magnetic properties.  

I was pretty sure the glitter made up for the weak magnetism.

The Blossoms didn't seem disappointed at all.  Blossom4 played with her slime again that night when we got home... at about 10:00 at night.  

She's the girlie who loves hand held concoctions.  

She was just coming off a streak of homemade peppermint play dough (what was I thinking???) 

but I must say, slime is welcome here any day.  

It doesn't sprout legs and follow you around the house.

Dominique

In Too Deep

Getting outside, even when it's cold, is paramount in our philosophy of enjoying winter.  On one of the "warmer" days of our recent cold snap, it was about 15 degrees, 

and we ventured out on a stroll to the creek, our go-to for outdoorsy fun.  Creeks are fun all the time, didn't you get the memo?  (If you doubt this info, please note the rubber boots the children are attired in for very good reason.)

Our neighbor came out for some impromptu doggie playdate joy with Jake, Rory and the girlies.  Then, we ventured up the hill for a better view.  

That means we had to cross the creek.  There were plenty of stepping stones so no worries on that score.  We were feeling adventurous!

Random downed trees provide oodles of amusement.  

The brush couldn't deter us from the blue skies and wide open spaces.  

until we realized that the dogs and Blossom2 were acquiring scads of burdock through their glossy coats and manes of hair.  Time to head home.

Remember those stepping stones?  All made it safely across... except Mama!  I hit the last stone a little off and fell in the creek, wet up to my thigh only moments after hoisting Blossom4 up on my hip.  How she managed to avoid getting wet, I don't know, but I'm crediting my mad ninja mama skills.    

Though the Blossoms wanted to linger longer at the creek, I furiously marched every one home in two minutes, not sorry at all that we'd ventured out.  

God's great world always uplifts us when we linger in it, even when we linger a little "too deeply."

Dominique

Back in the Routine

"How's it going as you settle back into your routine?" you might ask.

This is our second week back in the swing of things and the transition seems to be going well.  We dove with great vigor back into schoolwork on the second.  January third was the harder day that week, but we've navigated the bumps of adjusting rise/bed times for the most part by now.  

We're hunkering down for the latter half of the school year, enjoying new chapters of history and science studies.  I, for one, am relishing the plethora of science experiments that are paired with our unit on matter.  It's particularly adorable that four year old Blossom4 has to have an experiment worksheet to record observations on, just like everybody else.

It should be noted that we've tackled character issues throughout the entirety of the school year, including during Christmas break.  "Vacation" is not exempt from parenting in action.  Perhaps since I've come to realize that children are constant works in progress, just like me, it hasn't been bothering me nearly as much when we're chilling and I have to deal with a character issue in one of the Blossoms.  

I often find that I deal with character issues better and with a calmer, clearer mind when on vacation because I am far less distracted; I am juggling fewer responsibilities and demands.  

When we return to the routine, I tend to take that principle back with me.  Stop and deal with whatever the issue is instead reeling off commands rapid fire and telling the girlies to "just knock it off."  

Perhaps these are the glimmers that make transitions from vacation to routine worth the struggle. 

Dominique

A Chisel

Last Friday's post really got my wheels turning.  I think there's an attitude that lies in the farthest recesses of our hearts masquerading as Godly service.  

I've oft complained to my husband.  "I was a nice mommy today!"  

"I wasn't distracted all day!!!!"

"And they still didn't behave."

In those moments, and others that I experience, I ponder my motives.  

Was I present in this day because I was trying to treasure the little children, as Jesus would?  

Was I calm and patient because God lives in me and His love is patient?  

That's when I hear the whisper in my ear that says, "BEWARE."  

Beware?  

Yes, beware.  Beware of being good to your kids just so they notice.  Beware of being kind to your little and big people just so they will be "good."  Beware of serving your husband, just so he actually sees you.

BEWARE.  

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; 

otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 6:1, NASB

That part of motherhood and wifehood that feels like no one notices is maddening 

but it can be a blessing.  

It could be that invisibility is the very thing that is sanctifying to us.  

(Sanctification is the process of becoming more holy.)  

It could be the chisel that God uses to etch away our twisted motives and free in us 

love from a pure heart.  

Dominique

These are snapshots from our recent icy hike with dear family. You may remember these pristine falls from our jaunt there a year and a half ago.  That's when our truck broke down and God spared our lives on a quiet country back road.