We’re packed and ready to go. The boys are off to their grandparents and Superman and I will soon be on a plane.

We’ll see you next week!

I finished the stackable Christmas trees last night while watching Twilight. (Yes, yes, I know- just finished the book, so had to see the movie. The book is much better, just like usual.)

I went with reds and greens since these are for the boys and they are still learning all the Christmas tradition stuff. I zig-zagged the edges with the opposite color and hand stitched the edges closed.

:: I finished everything on my list except hemming Superman’s pants.

:: I also made extra stuff and stayed up way too late.

I’m a rule breaker.

:: I actually took pictures. My apologies that they’re dark, but it’s a lovely shade of gray outside and looking to be that way until at least March.

Gigantic pile of stuff to do:

The red skirt with a million pleats:

And another skirt I made in late summer, but never photographed:

:: I also read about 300 gazillion pages of Twilight. Well, maybe not that much- I’ll just put it this way- I started the book (yet again) on Sunday and finished it last night. I’ve tried to get into that book  no less than four times and this time I had nothing waiting in my to-be-read pile and it was either keep reading that or don’t read anything. So I kept reading and didn’t stop. The writing itself isn’t anything amazing, but the story was certainly compelling. I’ve got the others on order now. So all you Twilight people that have been harassing me every time I’ve started the book and put it down again can just stop it. I’ll read them as soon as I get back from my trip!

Okay- it’s Un-Finished Object week here. There’s a point every few months where I realize that I’ll never find my desk again if I don’t finish off all the little projects hanging out. The rules?

1. Don’t start anything new until the list is done. *Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But when I’m working on something it’s so easy to get distracted with ideas for new things or have the temptation to “just cut this out real quick . . .”

2. After the list is done, finish cleaning off the desk! *Somehow my desk becomes the collection site for everyone else’s spare parts. Off to their homes they go!

THE LIST

1. Hem Superman’s pants.

2. Take the hem of Ender’s pajama’s down.

3. Finish the blue linen wrap skirt.

4. Fix the red skirt and topstitch.

5. Zigzag the Christmas trees.

Most of these things are really fast finishes that just involve changing thread color. The blue linen skirt is only cut, so that will take a few hours. I’m going to try to get it all done today except that linen skirt. Think I can?

If you’d like to read more quick takes, go visit Jen. She’s cool like that.

~1~

Superman and I are going on a trip sans children. For more than a night or two.

Color me nervous.

The panic attacks started exactly 2 nights ago when I woke up at about 2 a.m. completely convinced that Ender had broken his arm while we were gone and we weren’t there for him. Never mind the fact that he’ll be with grandparents who love him very much and take amazing care of him when we’re not around, but you know. Maternal paranoia. 

~2~

I finished Kushiel’s Mercy yesterday morning. It was so good that I stayed up late reading and actually woke up earlier than usual to have extra time to read and finish it up. I could not put it down and now I’m sad that the serious is over. I need to find something in the same vein while I’m on such a big fantasy kick in my fiction reading.

~3~

I’ve been addressing envelopes for our Christmas cards this week and Ender was inspired to make his own. He’s been stamping and writing cards to everyone in the family to hand out on Thanksgiving.

They’re on old “Thank You” cards with monkeys on them, but if you call them Thanksgiving monkeys it’s all good.

~4~

I spent a ridiculous amount of time pleating last night. What a lesson in patience! Superman and I were catching up on a few of the shows on our DVR and after awhile he looked at me and said, “what exactly are you doing?”

I tried to explain but he waved me off and asked, “If it’s that much trouble why would you do that to yourself?”

I wondered too! It’s worth it- the skirt is going to look great, but I don’t want to mess with pleats for a long, long time. Or ruffles either. Good thing I have boys, I suppose!

~5~

The boys helped decorate for Thanksgiving this week:

The “countdown to Thanksgiving” chain belongs to Ender. We started making countdown chains quite awhile ago, and it has really helped him with teen counting. The wreaths were a spontaneous kind of thing. I don’t know how we got on the topic of wreaths, but Ender asked me why we had a Christmas wreath but not a thanksgiving wreath, so he decided to make one. We cut some leafy shapes and used cardboard from an empty cereal box to cut the wreath shape. Ezra even got in on the wreath making and did a pretty good job with the glue stick.

~6~

 I continue to be amazed at how personality comes out in kids so young. Ezra has always been very opinionated, and especially so in his art. He is a ”maker” like me and at the very least draws every day. His new adventure into collages has been very fun to watch. It’s still a very physical process for him, but this week he placed pieces very specifically on the page and named the work when it was complete. I’ve tried to stay away from the naming thing, but Ezra insists on it. Most often he calls his work a “duck”.

I’m going to switch up the collage supplies this week and add a little bit of fabric and felt to see what he does with that.

~7~

I’m spending the weekend trying to avoid getting the gunky nose stuff the boys have. I’m imagining there will probably be abundant time on the couch, warm blankies and favorite movies. Hopefully some good napping from the boys to help them get over this stuff.

We’ve been stuck in cloudy rainy yuckiness for a few weeks now, but this past weekend brought some sunshine and unseasonably warm weather! Outside we went . . .

I caught I good sale on flannel prints a few weeks ago and bought a few to make pajamas for the boys. The boys are only one size apart in clothes so I cut them all to the same size and just gave Ezra a deeper hem.

I *love* making pants. It makes me feel like I’ve done so much in so little time! After just a few hours of work there were not one, but SIX pairs of pajama pants ready to be worn! Sometimes it’s nice to have such a quick project at hand, plus the boys really like to have matching pajamas sometimes.

Outside my window… the weather is finally acting November-ish, but I wish it were jus tthe cold kind. It’s drizzly and gray where we are, and up north where Superman works it’s rotating between snow, sleet and drizzle. Poor guy is outside in all of this today.

I am thinking… about Thanksgiving food. I’m responsible for one side dish and a dessert this year for my side of the family, and another dessert for Superman’s side.

I am thankful for… a slow weekend. We had no where to go but church on Sunday and I caught up all the laundry and cleaning by noon on Saturday. There was soooo much sewing this past weekend! (Pictures starting tomorrow!)

Always Learning…  We had a slightly slower week this past week with a lot of time spent at the table writing the letters of the alphabet Ender has learned to form so far (A-F, N, R and T in both upper and lowercase). He spent most of the summer begging me to learn to write letters but when we started to work on them he just wasn’t ready. It’s amazing how much kids develop and change in just a few months. I’m glad we waited a little longer because he has become very confident in this area. I don’t think that would have happened if we’d started before he was really ready.

Ezra has spent a lot of his time with the buttoning turkey and his latest fascination is carrying the child-sized chairs around the living room. He’s been joining us for collages. He’s not quite ready to cut on his own, but he *is* the resident king of the gluestick.

From the kitchen… Lots of leftovers. We’re trying to use up as much of what’s in the house as possible since we will be gone so long at Thanksgiving and I don’t want to come back to any surprises in my refrigerator.

I am wearing… Dark denim jeans, a white cami and sweater on top. I’m all about the layers lately. Oh yes, and awesome argyle socks.

I am creating… December lesson plans and MORE Christmas sewing. I finished Superman’s gift over the weekend, and worked on stockings. I’m hoping to finish those in the next day or two.

I am going… to get the house in really great shape before next Wednesday so we can come home to a really clean house.

I am reading… Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey. I do actually read books by other people too, it’s just that hers are like 600 pages . . .

I am hoping… For a more relaxed week of teaching in the studio this week.

I am hearing… The boys talking to Ender’s fish as they eat their morning snack. They love to tell him what their plans are for the day. 

Around the house… We want to get the Christmas tree set up this coming weekend since we will be leaving on Thanksgiving and won’t be back until December 5. I’m trying to figure out where the Christmas tree might be able to go and all the other Christmas things we want to have set up for the boys for when we come back.

One of my favorite things… bubble baths. I’ve been able to have one in the evening a few times this week to de-stress. I can read without feeling like I should really be doing something else.

A few plans for the rest of the week … Making packing lists, more sewing, taking back the enormous stack of fall themed library books and replacing them with winter books, Superman’s midterm for 1 class, and finalizing thanksgiving plans with family.

If you’d like to see more quick takes, visit Jen.

~1~

I never cease to be amazed by AnnVoskamp. I made her my first stop each morning while I drink my coffee and gather my mind. Her words are such an encouragement and help me to remember what is important. This week included: kids’ poetry suggestions, Scripture memory in practice, and beauty in plain life.

~2~

I finished two books this week and added them to this year’s list: One Second After by William Forstchen and Kushiel’s Justice by Jacqueline Carey, the 5th in in her Kushiel series. Forstchen’s book was about the possibility of the United States being hit by several EMPs, essentially wiping out the infrastructure of the entire country. The basic problems of food, shelter and medical supplies for communities who were unprepared was only the beginning. I couldn’t stop reading this book and stayed up WAY too late unable to find a good place to break for the night.

~3~

Another book I’ve been reading this week is Mary Ostyn’s Family Feasts for $75 a Week. If you’re already a frugal grocery shopper there aren’t a lot of new shopping tricks to learn- plan your menu ahead of time, shop according to sales and stock up on great sale items as much as possible. I was surprised that she specifically wrote that she doesn’t use coupons and used the old arguments that often off brands are just as cheap if not cheaper, and also that coupons are mostly for foods they don’t use. While both arguments can be true, combining coupons with sales almost always knocks the name brand price below the off brand price (and if it doesn’t I won’t buy it). I agree that coupons ARE for a lot of pre-prepared foods and foods that we don’t buy, but there are coupons for other things too- milk, eggs, spices, baking goods, cereals we often buy, etc. I don’t clip coupons for foods we won’t use, but there are still plenty of coupons out there that fit our eating style.

~4~

I was most impressed with the recipe’s in Mary Ostyn’s book. For once a family cookbook that is actually comprised of family friendly recipes without 1 random exotic ingredient in most recipes! I loved that there were ways to help me extend recipes (making double with the intent to freeze one, meals that use the same basic ingredient so that the leftovers from one meal don’t go to waste) and there were seriously dozens of recipes I can try that will meet approval, even by my self-described super-picky husband!

~5~

I’ve been hanging around craftster like CRAZY this week on the nights I can’t sew. Looking at all the amazing finished projects keeps the creative juices flowing.

~6~

We’re taking the boys to their first bonfire tonight. We’re so excited to make s’mores and roast hot dogs- like ridiculously excited. Ender is asking me every 5 minutes if it’s time to go yet.

~7~

I have lots of sewing to share with you from the last week or so. I just can’t seem to find the time to photograph. I sew at night lately and the light stinks of course, so I keep planning to take pics in the morning, but mornings are the busy time of day . . . anyway! I’m planning a big picture taking session for Saturday in the good light and I’ll share next week. It’s mostly Christmas related sewing, but not necessarily Christmas-y.

That’s what Ezra calls something when he doesn’t know what the right word is: Booga.

And ever since he first used it and we all laughed about it he has used it again and again with glee. It’s part of the family vocabulary now- we all use it. Now if we want to say that someone is being silly we say they’re being a Booga.

When my youngest brother was 3 years old he announced to everyone he was changing his name to Coo-ee. And he wasn’t three, he was seven-and-a-half. (A very important half). He stuck to it for an entire year and absolutely refused to respond to his given name. So we all called him Coo-ee for a year and now make sure to bring it up in front of his girlfriend every once in a while just to see him turn shades of red.

It’s the inside things that bond a family and knit you together so that when you live far apart 25 years later you all come together with the commonality of the shared home life, the jokes, the re-telling of stories.

I have a large family; I am the oldest of nine. Only four of us live within an hour of home, and everyone else has gone away to follow work, a spouse, or a calling- a missionary brother in Utah, a brother in Nebraska, one in Kansas, another away at college, and my baby sister working with children across the ocean in the Philippines. It is only 5 weeks til we get to see each other again, but now it’s so much more- wives, husbands, a fiance, a new baby- all coming together for Christmas.

We try to explain to the “extras” what it was like to grow up together, how the family dynamic worked, but there just aren’t words. It’s in the way that one brother calls another “Albert” (even though that’s not even remotely close to his real name), the way the brothers argue over the Risk board even as grown men, the sisters knitting together and eating pie while the boys aren’t watching, everyone coming together to sing, to be still for Christmas and know the moment for what it is.

Remembering Faith.

Family together.

Prayers for babies, the ones already with us and the ones to come.

Blessings.

Only five short weeks.