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Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Joshua 2010
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December
Joshua, my sunshine! I can't believe how big you've gotten this year. (I mean, of course you have, it's what kids do, they grow. But still...) With your missing front tooth you look so much older to me. I've watched your character develop so much in the last month and I look forward to a bright next year with you. I love you my dear boy!
Brannon 2010
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December
My bright, shining boy! How you've grown this year. I can't believe you are in "double digits" now. We have a bright new year ahead of us, full of more structured school than you are used to (have to make sure you are ready for those third grade tests coming up) and unknown adventures waiting, I can't wait to share them with you. I love you dearly my son!
Anticipation! And Some Artwork...
I'm busy getting ready for a weekend trip to the coast, Yay!! Our Thursday night Bible study group is going together. One of the families that comes owns a beach house and offered it for our mutual use. A few of us who pray together a couple times a week have been really aching to "get away" for a few days together with our families, outside of our usual daily routine, and just Listen together. So, Yay!! :-) Not to mention I've been longing to go the the beach, winter or no! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!
Anyway, tomorrow is going to be crazy with all the cleaning and packing we will be doing. Fortunately I have two big, smart little boys who can do a large share of their own packing now- a-days :D Hurray for me:)
In the meantime, here are my three latest painting/collages. Note that flash photography does not nearly do them justice... 
Acrylic paint and paper mache (of a sort). I love the colors on this in person--green and white and yellow and almost-unexpected splashes of metallic bronze. Nate loves the texture. I almost don't want to post these sad-in-comparison-to-the-real-thing pics...
So, lots of laundry and cooking to do. Gotta make gluten free bread, and gluten free cookies and hummus and tuna salad and... You know, the usual. I can't ever rely on communal food stocks when we take a trip with a crowd. I now REALLY appreciate it when I don't have to cook all our own food for a community dinner.
Anyway, tomorrow is going to be crazy with all the cleaning and packing we will be doing. Fortunately I have two big, smart little boys who can do a large share of their own packing now- a-days :D Hurray for me:)
Hopefully in a few days you will be "treated" ;-) to beach house pics
In the meantime, here are my three latest painting/collages. Note that flash photography does not nearly do them justice...
This one is acrylic paint, my own photographs, and quotes from "The Ecstasy of Loving God" by John Crowder, and song lyrics from The David Crowder Band, oh, and the clipart earths:
*Sigh* I wish you could see it in person, it's really neat;-) Nate said it was my best one yet:) I think I'm finally finding my groove and getting into what I like to create. This whole painting thing still surprises me. I never painted as a kid or young adult. I did do several collages though.
Acrylic paint and paper mache (of a sort). I love the colors on this in person--green and white and yellow and almost-unexpected splashes of metallic bronze. Nate loves the texture. I almost don't want to post these sad-in-comparison-to-the-real-thing pics...
And the very latest: Paper mache, paper, acrylic paint... On Christmas evening I couldn't get my mind off the blood of Jesus. His incredible sacrifice and all it means for us, more than I think we yet imagine. So I took my paper mache background I had made on a canvas a few weeks ago and painted it red. Then I added the cross. I was still filled with the image of Jesus' blood so I made the red drips coming off the cross (wish you could see it better!)
The next day I painted the red on the bottom and the gold drips coming from heaven. Later in the night I did drips of glue (which you can't really see, being clear) off one side of the cross representing the water that came from Jesus' side. I'm going to call it "Heaven's Flood" I think. You can also see my wonderful tabletop easel my dear Hubby got me for Christmas, liberally baptized in red and gold splatters and glue:D
"See" you after the weekend :)
s
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Gingerbread Personalities
One child decorated one side of the roof (sorry for the blurry pic, I was in a hurry at the time)
And the other child decorated the other side... :)
And both were very pleased with the beauty of their designs:D
And the other child decorated the other side... :)
And both were very pleased with the beauty of their designs:D
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Today so far...
Today...
I finally feel better.
For some reason I thought that once on antibiotics I'd be out of pain really fast. Silly me.
Nate is at fire academy, his last weekend. After tomorrow he'll be able to go on calls. A couple days ago he brought home a radio/pager thingy that he plopped down on the end table between the couch and the wood stove. You know, the only one I have Christmas decorations on? Yeah. Boys. Sheesh. I wisely decided to not say anything, not having a cleaned off surface to offer as an alternative;-) You could say that's why he chose that spot, but... it's next to "his" spot on the couch, near a handy outlet... And it's not like after Christmas decorations are put away there's going to be anything on that table. Just, you know, my female sense of aestheticism is slightly offended :D
I made a totally scrumptious batch of gluten-free gingerbread cookie dough thanks to Shauna over at Gluten-free Girl and the Chef. Thank you Shauna and Danny! :) I can't wait to try the baked version after tasting the dough, Yum!! I don't keep ginger around since I am allergic to it. I was thinking that cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and molasses would still make a worthy cookie. But, I wanted that heat that would be missing without the ginger. Seeing that the recipe included black pepper in the spices reminded me of chai, so I added a little cayenne as well for extra heat. I also used fresh tangerine zest since I had them handy instead of oranges. Did I mention yet that that dough is delicious??? :D
My boys made sugar cookies (also from Shauna's blog come to think of it:) with Grandma while I wrapped Christmas gifts and worked on a project for Joshua. He loves to cook and loves to get kid's cookbooks from the library and pick recipes from the pictures and beg me to let him cook them. This can be more than a little frustrating since we have several dietary restrictions that make cooking a challenge at times. And he wants to make it just like the picture. Not always possible. I ordered some blank books from Bare Books, the big hard back, spiral bound ones. I'm typing or copying and printing our favorite recipes and a few we have yet to try and making him cookbooks of food we can eat by gluing the pages into the blank books. I'm giving him two for Christmas and two for his birthday in February. They aren't the prettiest thing, but I think he's really going to love them:)
I broke up the peppermint bark I made for Nate last night. I'm so glad one of his favorite Christmas treats is so stinkin' easy to make. Melt some almond bark, crush some candy canes, melt some chocolate...
I WILL get some writing (more than this here post) done this afternoon...
And make a gingerbread house with the critters...
AFTER I take a nap...
I hope...
:D
I finally feel better.
For some reason I thought that once on antibiotics I'd be out of pain really fast. Silly me.
Nate is at fire academy, his last weekend. After tomorrow he'll be able to go on calls. A couple days ago he brought home a radio/pager thingy that he plopped down on the end table between the couch and the wood stove. You know, the only one I have Christmas decorations on? Yeah. Boys. Sheesh. I wisely decided to not say anything, not having a cleaned off surface to offer as an alternative;-) You could say that's why he chose that spot, but... it's next to "his" spot on the couch, near a handy outlet... And it's not like after Christmas decorations are put away there's going to be anything on that table. Just, you know, my female sense of aestheticism is slightly offended :D
I made a totally scrumptious batch of gluten-free gingerbread cookie dough thanks to Shauna over at Gluten-free Girl and the Chef. Thank you Shauna and Danny! :) I can't wait to try the baked version after tasting the dough, Yum!! I don't keep ginger around since I am allergic to it. I was thinking that cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and molasses would still make a worthy cookie. But, I wanted that heat that would be missing without the ginger. Seeing that the recipe included black pepper in the spices reminded me of chai, so I added a little cayenne as well for extra heat. I also used fresh tangerine zest since I had them handy instead of oranges. Did I mention yet that that dough is delicious??? :D
My boys made sugar cookies (also from Shauna's blog come to think of it:) with Grandma while I wrapped Christmas gifts and worked on a project for Joshua. He loves to cook and loves to get kid's cookbooks from the library and pick recipes from the pictures and beg me to let him cook them. This can be more than a little frustrating since we have several dietary restrictions that make cooking a challenge at times. And he wants to make it just like the picture. Not always possible. I ordered some blank books from Bare Books, the big hard back, spiral bound ones. I'm typing or copying and printing our favorite recipes and a few we have yet to try and making him cookbooks of food we can eat by gluing the pages into the blank books. I'm giving him two for Christmas and two for his birthday in February. They aren't the prettiest thing, but I think he's really going to love them:)
I broke up the peppermint bark I made for Nate last night. I'm so glad one of his favorite Christmas treats is so stinkin' easy to make. Melt some almond bark, crush some candy canes, melt some chocolate...
I WILL get some writing (more than this here post) done this afternoon...
And make a gingerbread house with the critters...
AFTER I take a nap...
I hope...
:D
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Rambling
It's been so long since I've actually written anything on here. I've found it difficult to express my thoughts lately. And, also, we've been sick a lot, so I haven't felt like writing. I tell myself I ought to write anyway, but...
I just experienced a very painful illness, that fortunately was not contagious. I ended up having my mom pick me up to take me to Urgent Care yesterday. Nate was at one of the fire stations doing some training. He doesn't take his phone in to work with him, obviously and I found out in the midst of an emergency that I had no idea how to get a message to him. I left a few messages on his phone, hoping he'd check it at lunch. No luck there. My thought processes were very sluggish by the time we were headed to the doctor, I couldn't even remember which station my hubby said he'd be at. My mom called a dear friend, Janis and told her the situation. She stopped at the fire station nearest her and told them who she was looking for and why. They called the station Nate was at and he was able to come meet us right away. I said to Mom after she got off the phone with Janis, "It's so great to have friends!"
I definitely felt all my family's and friend's prayers yesterday. By the time I saw a doctor the pain and nausea I was feeling had subsided greatly and the prognosis was much less dire than we had guessed it would be! "All my confidence is in You, O Lord! No wonder I can sing Your praises!" {Thank You Daddy so much for touching me and healing me yesterday! I love You!} And while I was sitting in the car waiting for Nate to pick up my prescriptions the sun broke through the clouds for just a moment and shone right in my face, an amazing blaze of light and warmth. My heavenly Daddy saying "Hi there. I'm thinking about you:)"
While I'm sad to be missing church yet again this morning, I'm enjoying the rest and the bits of blue sky outside my window. I'm thinking I'll take a little stroll pretty soon. Maybe check up on my chickens or have a look around the pond. Fresh air is always good for healing:)
With all this "resting" I've been doing the last month I'm sadly behind on all the home made Christmas gifts I had planned. With how involved one of them was it's looking like I'm going to have to make other plans. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. Time is short, and I want gifts that are well thought out and lovingly crafted. That's the fun of giving gifts, whether made or purchased, the love you show by your thoughtfulness and attention to the person receiving the gift...
Well, I'm off to enjoy a bit of blue sky before I lie down again. Blessings to you all, hope your day is wonderful, wherever you are:)
I just experienced a very painful illness, that fortunately was not contagious. I ended up having my mom pick me up to take me to Urgent Care yesterday. Nate was at one of the fire stations doing some training. He doesn't take his phone in to work with him, obviously and I found out in the midst of an emergency that I had no idea how to get a message to him. I left a few messages on his phone, hoping he'd check it at lunch. No luck there. My thought processes were very sluggish by the time we were headed to the doctor, I couldn't even remember which station my hubby said he'd be at. My mom called a dear friend, Janis and told her the situation. She stopped at the fire station nearest her and told them who she was looking for and why. They called the station Nate was at and he was able to come meet us right away. I said to Mom after she got off the phone with Janis, "It's so great to have friends!"
I definitely felt all my family's and friend's prayers yesterday. By the time I saw a doctor the pain and nausea I was feeling had subsided greatly and the prognosis was much less dire than we had guessed it would be! "All my confidence is in You, O Lord! No wonder I can sing Your praises!" {Thank You Daddy so much for touching me and healing me yesterday! I love You!} And while I was sitting in the car waiting for Nate to pick up my prescriptions the sun broke through the clouds for just a moment and shone right in my face, an amazing blaze of light and warmth. My heavenly Daddy saying "Hi there. I'm thinking about you:)"
While I'm sad to be missing church yet again this morning, I'm enjoying the rest and the bits of blue sky outside my window. I'm thinking I'll take a little stroll pretty soon. Maybe check up on my chickens or have a look around the pond. Fresh air is always good for healing:)
With all this "resting" I've been doing the last month I'm sadly behind on all the home made Christmas gifts I had planned. With how involved one of them was it's looking like I'm going to have to make other plans. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. Time is short, and I want gifts that are well thought out and lovingly crafted. That's the fun of giving gifts, whether made or purchased, the love you show by your thoughtfulness and attention to the person receiving the gift...
Well, I'm off to enjoy a bit of blue sky before I lie down again. Blessings to you all, hope your day is wonderful, wherever you are:)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Mushroom Hunt!
But first: The Birthday Boy!!! Brannon is ten years old today:)
We spent an hour or so tromping around seeing how many mushrooms we could spot. There were hundreds and hundreds, and we didn't even get very far from the house. Here are a "few" (haha. The term is relative, as you will see as you scroll down, and down and down...) of the ones we found. I'm hoping we get out again Thursday or Friday to look for more.
These guys are pretty clear in the picture but we almost missed them right under our feet...
A False Morel...
Lots and lots of teeny-tiny guys
Joshua took the prize for the "most camouflage" mushroom. Can you spot it?
Here it is...
Not just the picture, these guys were really purple
Papa carried a couple of his finds around for a while. I suggested the boys Not do so, not knowing exactly how poisonous some of them might be
Not a mushroom, but still pretty fascinating. It looks like a moth cocoon to me. On the other side you could see the indentation where it used to be attached to a twig
Some of the mushrooms actually look like they are luminescent, in the pictures, not to the naked eye...
Brightest color we found today. Not as bright as the yellow ones we found last year. Neat orange color though
Mushroom hunters
There's one similar to this in our book called 'stinky squid'
We have Lots and Lots of these...
Very happy mushroom hunter/dancer-in-the-sunshine!
More luminescence...
This was how we remembered to go mushroom hunting--we'd see these beauties every time we went down or up the driveway
Remember how I said Nate was holding a couple mushrooms for a while? Well, this is one of the types he picked up early on. And discovered it's covered in a mucous-like slime that makes it very unpleasant to hang onto. We presume all the dead bugs are suffocated in slime. But why does the mushroom make slime? If we identify this one I'll let you know (supposing I remember to do so...)
Mama takes the prize for the "funkiest" mushroom found today. Just when some were losing interest too:) I'm thinking this may be one of the edible types? Not that I'm volunteering to try it. White button mushrooms from the grocery store are about as adventurous as I'm willing to go with fungi.
Is this the start of one of those purply pine-conish things that grows out of the ground around he
The only puff-ball type we saw today. Usually we see plenty of white ones. And sometimes grayish ones full of nasty black ooze. I don't think I've ever seen this color...
And that was our mushroom adventure on Brannon's birthday:)
We spent an hour or so tromping around seeing how many mushrooms we could spot. There were hundreds and hundreds, and we didn't even get very far from the house. Here are a "few" (haha. The term is relative, as you will see as you scroll down, and down and down...) of the ones we found. I'm hoping we get out again Thursday or Friday to look for more.
These guys are pretty clear in the picture but we almost missed them right under our feet...
A False Morel...
Lots and lots of teeny-tiny guys
Joshua took the prize for the "most camouflage" mushroom. Can you spot it?
Here it is...
Not just the picture, these guys were really purple
Papa carried a couple of his finds around for a while. I suggested the boys Not do so, not knowing exactly how poisonous some of them might be
Not a mushroom, but still pretty fascinating. It looks like a moth cocoon to me. On the other side you could see the indentation where it used to be attached to a twig
Some of the mushrooms actually look like they are luminescent, in the pictures, not to the naked eye...
Brightest color we found today. Not as bright as the yellow ones we found last year. Neat orange color though
Mushroom hunters
There's one similar to this in our book called 'stinky squid'
We have Lots and Lots of these...
Very happy mushroom hunter/dancer-in-the-sunshine!
More luminescence...
This was how we remembered to go mushroom hunting--we'd see these beauties every time we went down or up the driveway
Remember how I said Nate was holding a couple mushrooms for a while? Well, this is one of the types he picked up early on. And discovered it's covered in a mucous-like slime that makes it very unpleasant to hang onto. We presume all the dead bugs are suffocated in slime. But why does the mushroom make slime? If we identify this one I'll let you know (supposing I remember to do so...)
Mama takes the prize for the "funkiest" mushroom found today. Just when some were losing interest too:) I'm thinking this may be one of the edible types? Not that I'm volunteering to try it. White button mushrooms from the grocery store are about as adventurous as I'm willing to go with fungi.
Is this the start of one of those purply pine-conish things that grows out of the ground around he
The only puff-ball type we saw today. Usually we see plenty of white ones. And sometimes grayish ones full of nasty black ooze. I don't think I've ever seen this color...
And that was our mushroom adventure on Brannon's birthday:)
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