December in Review and Looking Ahead...

December was a bit of a rough month for us as we all came down with something over Thanksgiving, and it just seemed to hang on for weeks afterward.  :(  However, we still managed to slip some fun in  after everyone began feeling better.

We enjoyed a life-size game of Candy Land (sort of) with a friend who came over.  In order to move ahead to the spot listed on the card they picked up, the kids would have to answer a review question (depending on the child it could have been a math fact, historical question, sight word, etc.).  This worked well for catering it to the different age levels.

(By the way, the target on the door is what my son uses for his bow and arrow practice and is not related to the Candy Land game.)

In an effort to have the kids encourage each other, I made it clear that they could not enter the "Land of Sweets" (our own little twist since we were also having a Nutcracker movie day) at the end of the rainbow walk until everyone had arrived.  Once the kids made it there, they were allowed to enter through the candied door and then headed to the kitchen where a small (but delightful) tasty spread had been laid out for them.

They feasted on cupcakes, nuts, and warm peppermint milk while watching a movie to end our fun day together.

We also managed to sneak in Gingerbread Day before Christmas!

After breakfasting on a gingerbread puffed pancake, the kids visited "The Little Gingerbread Store" where they practiced some math in a fun setting.   They enjoyed buying all sorts of items for decorating their paper gingerbread figures...

And had fun putting it all together!

Later in the day, we cut out gingerbread cookies and the kids decorated them.

We ended the day by putting together a gingerbread village kit the kids had chosen.  Let me just say, I had not anticipated the many steps involved where my help would be needed (call me naive).  My dear husband sweetly stepped in, so I could make dinner.  The evening might not have ended as well if he hadn't.  By this time, my son was showing signs of being "ginger breaded" out so my daughter ended up doing most of the decorating herself and did an amazing job!  :)

In addition to the above activities, we enjoyed days of making cookies, visiting family, and trying to stay on top of school work (talk about a juggling act).  I love Christmas, but it sure is a busy time of year.  

Speaking of year... the new year is upon us!  :)  After much, much, much deliberation it looks like I will be taking a several month blog break (although I might slip in a post or two).  Plagued by a major health issue,  I am hoping that a few months in low key mode will help my body get back to where it needs to be.  In the meantime, if you have not hooked up with "The Nature of Grace" Facebook page, you may want to do so as I sometimes post updates and other little tidbits there.  

Wishing you all a very happy homeschooling new year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy (belated) New Year!

I must say that this Christmas season did not turned out exactly as planned.  Illness, cancellation of a highly anticipated trip, more illness, ice storms, a middle of the night emergency sending my FIL to the ICU, and other difficult issues cast a bit of a pall over the holiday joy.

As if that were not enough, Christmas Eve I locked myself and my kids out of the car in a parking lot.

About that time, as I was standing in a store waiting for the locksmith to arrive with two little ones at my side, I found I just couldn't muster much Christmas spirit.   Fortunately for me, God was about to use my circumstances to point me back in a "Christmas" direction I had not really considered much before but now found myself in a perfect position to contemplate.

Shortly after the car incident, I was truly blessed with a reminder (via this wonderful article) of two simultaneous views regarding the very first Christmas - one earthly and one heavenly.  

That time of life for Mary and Joseph was full of difficulty and unexpected trials.  Our hardships, though nothing compared to theirs, suddenly gave me a unique perspective into what they might have felt that first Christmas as they suddenly had to leave their home and ultimately ended up in a stable the night Mary gave birth.  Not ideal for any pregnant woman, and I would imagine distressing for Joseph as well - a far cry from the joy we anticipate during the Christmas season now.  

However, in contrast, how the heavens must have rejoiced that night!   Salvation and hope for mankind had finally arrived in the form of a tiny newborn!  I wonder if the angels could barely restrain their anticipation as they watched the events unfold and were allowed to be a part of it by declaring to the shepherds what had happened in Bethlehem.  

Thus, instead of feeling despair at how this holiday did not turn out as planned, I was awed by an alternative glimpse into that first Christmas.  :)  It was a wonderful reminder of how God is present and always working out His loving will, even when we cannot see it with our earthly eyes.  

Now, dear readers, lest you fear we experienced little fun this season,  I want to set the record straight.   We DID have plenty of enjoyable moments amid the setbacks, and I thought I would share a few things from December...

Here is a glimpse of our advent calendar this year.  I made this using some leftover square envelopes which my daughter and I decorated with a red marker.  I then stacked them up on the wall in Christmas tree form.  

We set out milk, cookies, and a letter to St. Nick on St. Nicholas Day...

and the following morning made the exciting discovery of full stockings and a reply from St. Nicholas!

For those of you who don't know our family traditions, we let our kids know from the beginning that Santa Claus was once a real man who was known for showing God's love through acts of kindness.  We also let them know that he is NOT alive today, BUT that we still love to pretend (after all, God did give us imaginations!).  St. Nicholas Day is when we do that "pretending" (putting out milk and cookies, etc.).   

I like this because it gives the kids a chance to enjoy Santa Claus for a day while also encouraging them to consider the historical man's example of showing God's love to others.   It becomes yet another great activity which ultimately points them toward the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Gingerbread Day is a special time I plan close to Christmas.   (You'll have to forgive the poor coloring job on the sign - my printer ran out of red ink so I was trying to compensate by coloring in the browns and reds myself).

This year we started out with gingerbread pancakes for breakfast.  Here is the before picture...

and one of the after pictures.  (I used a cookie cutter to cut the shapes out of pancakes).

Later in the day, I sent the kids on a hunt for individual paper gingerbread men I had hidden.  They would exchange the gingerbread men as they found them, for candy to use when decorating their gingerbread house that afternoon.

Speaking of gingerbread houses, here is a photo of the finished project.  I thought they did a great job!  But I AM their mom so maybe I am just a teeny tiny bit prejudiced.  ;)

For dessert that night, we also had homemade gingerbread stout cake with lemon cloud frosting (kind of a combo of two recipes).  It was delicious!!!  (Sadly, I have no picture of it).

Another evening, I surprised the kids with a Christmas movie night in our bedroom.  They feasted on white chocolate peppermint popcorn while watching some Christmas shows and then camped out in our room for the night.  

We had some other fun things we did together, of course - wrapping presents, reading Christmas stories, baking Christmas cookies, passing out candy canes to strangers in lines, etc.  However, I did not take pictures of everything.  :)  Some days are like that - you just set down the camera and enjoy the moment.  

And on that note - may YOU and YOUR family have a wonderful new year filled with treasured moments, reflecting on God's love and special gift of Jesus Christ - Savior, Hope, and Light of the World!

Nutcracker Pancake Breakfast!

I have been MIA lately (you noticed, didn't you).  The short story (because most of you are probably really wanting to only know about the pancakes) is:

We closed on our new house beginning of November.  :)

We got sick around the same time with a horrible (and I mean horrible in that it was the worst virus to hit our family in a long time - maybe ever.  Suffice to say that one family member went to the ER for dehydration concerns and it looked like a couple more might end up there as well,  but we pulled through it finally). It kind of made the rounds so when one person was better, another came down with it, and so forth.  Thus we played musical virus for a couple of weeks.

We (well, actually my husband) were FINALLY healthy enough to move some stuff after Thanksgiving so we did.

Then we ended up traveling unexpectedly after only being in the house two or three nights.

We returned several days later AND that brings us to the pancakes (finally, you say).

The evening of our return, we attended the ballet - more specifically The Nutcracker.  It was beautiful, it was festive, and it was a great start to the Christmas season!

Perhaps it was because of the ballet.  Perhaps there was a need to stretch my creative wings.  Perhaps I just wanted to see the delighted smile on my kids' faces.  Or maybe it was a combination of all of the above.  Whatever it was,  the next morning, I went from just making pancakes to making a nutcracker themed breakfast!  :)



I used a pancake mix and swirled in some red and green food color (although the red color looked more pink which was fine because it still fit a nutcracker theme).  I let the pancakes cook extra long on one side, and then I flipped them quickly and let them sit there lightly toasting on the other side briefly (think seconds) so as not to obscure the festive color swirls.  I added whipped cream and sprinkles and candy cane bits for a stack of pancakes that would make the gingerbread man himself stop in his tracks if he happened by.  :)

And what's a nutcracker themed breakfast without nuts and mice, right?  Soooo, I added a few almond mice, toasted nuts, and Nutella wording!  :)

Voila!  The Nutcracker Breakfast!

DIY Newspaper Bow!

Yesterday, I posted about some secret message wrapping paper we made and mentioned the bows were homemade as well!  So here, as I promised, is the tutorial.  

BTW - I cannot claim credit for this inspiration, I once saw an awesome paper bow on www.whipperberry.com.  I went there to check for the tutorial but couldn't find it so this is my own attempt.  I chose to use newspaper because that seemed like a fun "father-like" bow.  If you want to make the child colored bow shown on the gift picture from yesterday's post (I believe I saw this suggestion on Pinterest or on another website somewhere long ago) - just have your child scribble on some paper and use that instead of the newspaper I used below.

1.  Cut three pieces of newspaper to your desired length and width (I used roughly 1 1/2 inch width and 22 inch length strips for this bow).  Fold one strip as show in the first picture above.

2.  Fold the other end of the same strip and secure both in the middle with a staple.  Cut off the excess ends.  Follow the same method for the other two strips of newspaper.

3.  Layer the three pieces of looped newspaper on top of each other (experiment with the placement of them until you achieve the desired effect - I have layered the first two in the picture above) and staple together in the middle.

4.  Following the same steps listed above, make a smaller looped newspaper and place it inside the middle of your stapled stack.  Staple or glue in place.

5.  Make one small round loop with a leftover piece of newspaper and glue or staple closed.  Use this for the center of your bow.  Place on top of the other stacked looped newspaper pieces in the middle and glue or staple in place.  All done!  :)

Linking to:

www.tatertotsandjello.com

www.diyhshp.blogspot.com/

www.makingtheworldcuter.com