We’ve been baking cookies

crafting

playing with our many nativities

working through our Advent materials

and spending time with good friends.

Lord, as we celebrate your birth on earth, let us turn our every smile and sweet moment to you in glorious praise.

Chuck’s grandfather passed along his Lionel trains to Chuck’s dad, who passed them along to Chuck. He hasn’t done much with them since his father’s death, nearly 5 years ago. But this Christmas he’s beginning to pass on his love for trains to his own children.

Brad was so excited, he asked Chuck to wake him up every morning before he leaves for work so they can run them together.

Chuck’s been collecting train sets since we’ve been married. He has a set for each child. I pray one day they sit around their tree with their own children, showing them how their daddy taught them to run the trains.

Brian had a bunch of puppies over to celebrate his sixth birthday.

They played all the games puppies like to play:

Tug of War

Scooby Says

And greeting other puppies.

They also built prototypes for doggie  parks, doggy hospitals, and doggy obstacle courses.

For kibbles and bits, they scarfed up puppy-paw cupcakes and ice cream…

out of real doggie bowls.

We didn’t have time to post the fire hydrant on the bathroom door or pretend to pee on trees. Well, maybe we had time, but Mama censored things a bit. But these little puppies are all worn out and ready for their warm, soft puppy beds.

My girls loved dressing up for Thanksgiving dinner.

So did my boys.

We spent the afternoon playing

and eating

with my side of the family.

We added in a little snuggling,

and enjoyed it so much

we decided to make a family affair of it.

What a perfect Thanksgiving day!

It was 70 degrees on Sunday! After a yummy post-church lunch at Italian Sensations, we ventured over to Bel Air Family Golf. What a great place.

We strolled our way through the miniature golf course,

and hit a bucket of balls on the range afterward.

What a fantastic day! I loved hearing the kids hit the sweet spot. And they were so proud of themselves. Now they want golf lessons. Anyone know of any good ones in Harford County?

I struggle with dinner. I don’t mind breakfast, which is typically cold cereal, or lunch, which is often some type of sandwich. I suppose I don’t mind those much because my children make their own. But I just can’t seem to muster up excitement about the meal that’s supposed to bring us closer together as a family. I  just can’t stomach preparing the meal that will burn itself into our memories for eternity. The meal that comes at the end of a full day of home schooling, cleaning, errand-running, dog-managing, and trying to find some little piece of quiet for something that brings me peace and joy.

Ugh. Dinner.

A meat and a veggie. Maybe a bread. Sometimes a side salad. And a glass of Country Time Lemonade. Nothing spectacular, but a necessity.

Needing a little inspiration, recenlty I borrowed a dozen cookbooks from the library and found two I really liked. I ordered them on Amazon and they arrived today.

I’ve already chosen next week’s meals! (I sure hope this kind of enthusiasm sticks.) I chose recipes that looked interesting and included meats I have in my freezer.

• Fri: Pizza Night
• Sat: North Woods Wild Rice Soup
• Sun: Leftovers
• Mon: Cranberry Chicken
• Tue: French Steak
• Wed: Honey Pork Chops
• Thu: Penne with Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese

If you know me in real life, hold me accountable. Ask me how my kids liked the soup or the chicken. Make me tell you the details of putting together the meal. Don’t let me snow you.

If you know me from blogland or facebook, comment on here to let me know you’re waiting for an update. Maybe a little peer pressure will help.

For pete’s sake, something has to help…my kids can’t eat many more dinners of homemade waffles or scrambled eggs. And I can’t stand anymore pizza! (Well, except for Friday Pizza Night.)

We spent most of our Saturday in Philly in the Franklin Institute.

We took our time, seeing most every exhibit, having fun touching everything. (And praying we didn’t pick up some virus or the Swine flu!)

We tested the brakes

before we rode on the real steam engine.

We spent plenty of time in the Heart wing.

Here we are making our way through the walk-through heart.

Chuck found out he has

of blood in his body. Interesting.

Brooke has always wanted to be a doctor. She decided to practice a little open heart surgery in preparation  for her future career.

Where else will you get to sit on a bone bench?

Or crawl through a blood vessel?

We made sure to get plenty of exercise to keep our hearts beating strong.

In the space wing we made and tested moon rovers

and watched a really cool movie in the plantarium all about the sun. Perfect preparation for our upcoming solar system study.

We had a BOO-last at the Liquid Scare show. Here the children are all molecules in a solid, packed tight together, being quite still.

I forgot to take photos of our faces at age 70, as seen through an age progression machine. That’s probably better left unphotographed, anyway

I do highly recommend the Institute for lots of science fun.

Poor little Junior Sparks had been struggling to breathe all day. I assured them it would be just fine to put him right into fresh new tap water. I’d done it my whole life. He’d be just fine and he’d be able to breathe.

The next morning, Brooke told me Junior Sparks was sleeping. Oh no. To tell the truth or a story that would buy me time to get a replacement? It didn’t matter what I said–the look on my face was honest. No poker face here.

An apology and acknowledgement that yes, there just might be a pink fish out there somewhere, was enough to quell the tears. Now I know.  No fresh tap water for Junior Sparks Junior.

Hubby makes sure he includes the children in home projects. Sure, it would be much easier and quicker to do it himself, but he wants the children to learn for their future benefit. He learned how to fix many things from my own father. He’s grateful for that, but I think he wishes he’d learned from his own father.

He even finds jobs for the littlest ones. I wish you could see the smile on her face.

I like to take the children on “dates” to local theater productions. Breanna is finally old enough to get in on the fun. This night we went to see Harold and the Purple Crayon. She loved it! I loved sharing it with her.