Last night of Hanukkah

Our Homemade Menorrah - I got the idea from "Chanukkah Crafts for Kids"!

Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah. As part of our study of Israel, we have celebrated Hanukkah this year. Because Hanukkah and Christmas overlapped this year, we accidentally forget Hanukkah twice because we were doing Christmas things. Also, we didn't celebrate Hanukkah on nights they were at their Bio Mom's house. So, we really only celebrated three nights of the eight.

We ate traditional Jewish foods associated with Hanukkah on the first night. We had roasted chicken, falafel, and "festive" salad. Last night I made latkes (which I served with very non-Hanukkah pork chops). It turns out that latkes are really similar to hash rounds at McDonald's. Tonight we are having fried donuts.

Hanukkah is a great Southern festival because it is all about the miraculous oil that God provided and sustained. You are encouraged to prepare lots of fried foods to celebrate the oil. We really like this holiday!

The kids were also excited because traditionally Jewish children receive Hanukkah gelt which is little chocolate coins. Our kids get Hanuakkah gelt the first night, and they got dreidels last night. We played the Dreidel game which is actually fun.

Shalom!

Mommy Day

Sometime in mid-December, I declared that December 26, 2008, was officially going to be known as "Mommy Day". It really irritated Rosy because she said that I couldn't have a holiday without her. (She would be at her Bio Mom's house that day.) I told her that having fewer kids at the house was one of the key parts of Mommy Day. It was going to be a day where Mommy did what she wanted to when she wanted to.

I had a great day. I got up early and shopped for about 1 1/2 hours before the boys (Hubby and Superman) woke up. Then I came home and climbed back in bed with them and we all slept late. Superman and I slept until 11AM! Hubby took me to lunch and then we went to Michaels to buy some ribbon for next Christmas. After that, we came home and I took another nap with the baby. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was from Christmas preparations, but Mommy Day was a great treat. I think we are going to make it an annual event.

On a down note, Superman is not feeling well. It's nothing I can definitely diagnose, but he has quit sleeping through the night the last two nights. He wakes up about every 90 minutes crying and fretting. He was constipated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we knew that would happen with us traveling. Someone suggested that he is teething, but I thought they usually ran fever and suffered from diarrhea. We didn't make it to church this morning because I was up with him at 12:30 AM, 1:30 AM, 3:30 AM, and 6:15 AM. I told Hubby at 6:15 that I didn't think Superman (or myself) were really fit to go anywhere today. He is so fitful and has been more whiny and fussy than usual during his waking hours too. So, if you have any suggestions, please post a comment and help us out.

UPDATE - The diapers have started. I gave him some Baby Orajel and his dispositon has improved dramatically!

Christmas Day

We started out with a bang. Santa knocked over the basket in front of our fireplace and made a big mess! III and Rosy got up before Hubby and I did. Twinkle came and woke me up to let me know that they were up. I shoo-ed them out of the living room. Then I went and asked them each if they knocked over the basket and messed with the fire screen. Rosy and I decided that Santa must have heard the baby stirring around and thought someone was coming so he hurried up the chimney and didn't have time to put things back the way they should be. She says that I need to move the stuff out from in front of the chimney next year.

The kids all had a blast. Superman was a little confused by all of it, but he loved all of his toys.

This year we tried something new with our kids. Each child only got three presents from us. They got lots from Santa, but only three from us. Each of us gave each child a present with a time commitment attached to it. Hubby gave III a Books-A-Million gift card with a promise to take him to Books-A-Million once each month. He gave Rosy a dollhouse for them to build together. I gave Rosy several sets of nail polish, make-up, and lotions. She and I will have spa day once a month. I gave III an art set and several books on sketching and drawing. I am going to set aside studio time for him to draw and for me to paint. We also gave them roller blades so that the family can get out together more. We decided that if three gifts was enough for Jesus then three gifts was enough for our kids. We decided to invest time rather than dollars this year. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

And, last but not least, one of Twinkle's presents was a Santa coat. We enjoyed it a lot more than she did. I didn't manage to get a good picture of her, but you can get the idea.

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas at the Gram Sam's

We enjoyed Christmas Eve with my parents and my brother and his family this year. It was filled with delicious food, lots of presents, and lots of good family time.

We go each year to Christmas Eve Communion. This year we got to go in St. Stephens at our home church. One of John's aunts asked Superman to be baby Jesus in the live nativity during the service. It was really special because Mary was a cousin on my side and Joseph was a cousin on his dad's side. Also, because they are without a pastor right now, Hubby was asked to lead the Lord's Supper. It is very special to me when Hubby is asked to do anything at our home church. We don't get to be there as often as we would like to be, but they always make us feel like we've never left. Who says you can't go home? And, what better time to be home than at Christmas?

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One Day More

There's a very powerful anthem in Les Mis titled "One Day More". That's how I feel about Christmas this year. If I just had one day more to prepare, I think I could get it done. We were up until 3:15 this morning wrapping presents. We leave in 2 hours to go to my parents' house for a day or two. Arghh!! I'm not ready. That means I should stop blogging and start loading the Jeep.

By the way, III had to babysit for me so that I could get stuff done this morning. Aren't they cute together!

Christmas Sunday

My husband says that I observe lots of holidays that the rest of the world is unaware of. For instance, today was Christmas Sunday. For me, Christmas Sunday is the Sunday before Christmas. When I was growing up, I always had a Christmas dress and I wore it on Christmas Sunday. Now as a Mommy, I strive to dress my entire family in co-ordinated ensembles for Christmas Sunday.

Superman had one of favorite outfits I've ever made. It was a Jon-Jon made of the softest baby wale black corduroy. I appliqued a fuzzy snowman on the front of it. It was probably not very smart, but I made the snowman out of fleecy fabric. It was my first attempt at layered applique. I'll have to handwash it, but it's worth it.

Rosy had a beautiful black velvet dress that Grammy Barb had given her. She felt (and looked) like a princess. Rosy is very good to me and never complains when I insist that she get all dressed up.

Christmas Portraits

We had our Christmas portraits done December 6th. They actually came back earlier this week. However, most of our Christmas letters were already sealed up and waiting to go to the Post Office. So, only 2 or 3 people are actually getting Christmas pics in their letter. Sorry!

I really like this picture because it shows each of them doing their own thing but they still look nice together. The photographer offered to keep taking pictures to get one without Superman's hand in his mouth. I told her not to worry about it because that's who he is right now. I love that III's hair is all shaggy. He's thinks it's cool how it moves when he shakes his head. I think that I will always remember this as the Christmas when he was changing from a young boy to an almost teenager. His haircut is a pretty visual reminder that he is starting to have his own opinions of what's cool. I also love that Rosy has almost no teeth. She is the perfect little 7 year old big sister. She couldn't be any cuter, and she couldn't love that baby any more than she does!

Life may seem really hard some days, but when I look at this picture it makes me happy. I'm proud of my kids and the people that they are becoming. Choosing to be a stay-at-home Mom has been tough financially and home schooling has been tough emotionally. But, when I look in their eyes, I know that we are doing what it right for our family.

Hanukkah class

We are studying Israel during the month of December at our Roses Preparatory Academy home school. Israel is a very complex subject because you have to explain the history of the land, the history of the Israelites, and the history of other people groups who have lived in that land.

We have been working on it for about a week. We took a field trip Tuesday to Brit Ahm Messianic Synagogue. Rabbi Eric gave us a class on Hanukkah and showed us Torah scrolls and blew a shofar for us. He also gave Hubby and III yamakas (the little beanies that cover mens' heads to show reverance to God). III really liked his yamaka and wanted to keep it on after we left.

We are going to celebrate Hanakkah this year at our house. I am trying to find a menorrah before Saturday. We are planning to make latkes (potato pancakes?).

A Star is Born

Beginning of III's song

Second part of III's song

III and Rosy were in a Christmas play Sunday night at their Mom's church. Hubby gets two vacation Sundays each year, so we took one to go and see them perform. III actually had the lead role in the play. He portrayed "Foster", a little boy who only wants presents.

I am the world's worst videographer, but this is my attempt to record his big solo. The camera shut off half way through the song and then the battery ran out towards the end, but you can get a good idea of what it sounded like.

Rosy was a great part of the ensemble. She sang all the songs and did a good job. But, III was the star of the show. We were really proud of the effort he put into learning his lines and his song. He did a great job!

The Importance of Family

This picture was taken at family Christmas on my dad's side of the family Saturday night. These are the offspring of my first cousins and me. Most of them are our children, but my oldest cousin does have grandchildren in the mix. Here's the beautiful thing about these children - it doesn't matter how God sent them to this earth; they are part of our family. Only three of the children in that picture are actual biological descendants of my grandparents. The other seven came to us through special circumstances. I don't have words to tell you how much each one of them means to us, but our family wouldn't be what it is without them.

I don't always understand God's plan. I think that maybe humans have messed things up so badly that it's hard to find His plan sometimes. I wish that none of these children had ever suffered loss, but I know I'm thankful that each of these children is part of our family now. I thank God for his intervention and His knitting together of a bunch of cousins in the deep woods of South Alabama.

So, welcome to Alexis, the new "oldest" cousin, Alex, who didn't make it to the party last year, and Superman, who is the baby of the bunch. I'm looking forward to taking lots more pictures of the ten of you (plus any additions) in the coming years.

"Whachu lookin at?"

Superman and Rosy have a new game. I'm not sure why he loves it so much, but clearly he does. Rosy wanders around the living room pretending not to know that Superman is there. Then she turns around all of a sudden and in a gruff voice asks, "What are you looking at?" This seems to tickle him immensely.

One out of Three

Well, there were three things I was hoping for this Fall. I wanted McCain to win the Presidency. I wanted Alabama to win the National Championship, and I wanted the Leroy Bears to win the state football title. One out of three ain't bad, but it ain't good either. Go Bears!

Two of a Kind

Superman at 7 months.

Rosy at three.

Rosy often refers to the baby as HER baby. The two of them are crazy about each other. He watches her every move and she has already invited him to share her room (if Mommy and Daddy ever kick him out of their room).

We spend a lot of time looking at Superman and trying to figure out who he looks like. We've always said that his mouth came from his daddy, but it's pretty obvious who else has that mouth. And, now that I think about it, they are two of the loudest people I know.

Go Bears!

Tomorrow morning at 11AM the Leroy Bears face the Sulligent something-or-nothers for the Alabama 2A State Football Championship. Hubby and I will be following the game online as we prepare to then cheer on the Crimson Tide as they face Florida for the SEC title and probable berth in the BCS Championship Game.

Go, Bears!

Deck the Halls

We finally put ornaments on the tree Tuesday night. Both III and Rosy told me that we needed to get a new ornament with all our names on it now that Superman has been born. I was surprised that they remembered that I had one made in 2004 for our first Christmas together. They were really excited that Hubby and I had already taken care of it.

Superman is sitting up now (with the occasional topple), and he is scooting backwards. He focuses very intently on where he wants to go, and then he moves in reverse. After a minute or two of this, he will scream and cry because it didn't go his way.

Hubby had carpal tunnel surgery done on his right hand today. It went well, but the anesthesia made him a little nauseated. YUCK! He's so tough though. He went on and lectured at the Baptist College of Florida tonight. Thanks to Donna for coming down to help me wrestle with Superman in the waiting room. Hubby is having the same surgery on his left hand in 2 weeks.

The Spoken Word

The old saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" doesn't count if your baby's first words are part of the thousand. I had not blogged about it yet because I wanted an independant listener to confirm what we thought we were hearing. Superman has 3 words!!!

Right around the first of November, I thought he started saying, "mama". Hubby did not think that he was actually saying it. By that week-end, Rosy could clearly hear it also. Finally in the second week, Hubby had to acknowledge that, indeed, "mama" had been Superman's first spoken word. "Mama" remains Superman's favorite and most frequent word. He can also say, "da" or sometimes even"da-da" for "daddy".

While my mom was here, she identified another word that we hadn't picked up on. When Superman wants to be breastfed or when he happens to notice that he is near my chest, he says, "boob". It's almost like a croon, a really low and soft little "boooooob". Hubby and I had never noticed it because he makes cooing noises all the time, but once we listened for it, it was very obvious.

My mom said that my brother could say 6 words by the time he was 6 months old. Superman turns 7 months today, but since he was three weeks early and my brother was 2 weeks late, I think that I still have 5 weeks before they are really the same "age". We should be able to master 3 words in 5 weeks! I think we will shoot for "Roll", "Tide", and "Bama".

Santa Pics

While my mom was visiting last week, we went to see Santa. III declared that he was too old to have his picture made on Santa's lap. So, this is the just the "little kids". Superman had just woken up, so he is a little bleary eyed.

I'm SEW excited!

My beloved Hubby has agreed to let me use the proceeds from our yard sale to purchase a new sewing machune that embroiders!!! I ordered it today, and I can hardly wait for it to get here.

The dress that Rosy is wearing in the pic above was my project this afternoon during the ballgame. It really helps keep my blood pressure in check if I have something to do while I'm watching the game. This dress is a combination Crimson Tide / Christmas dress.

Learning to Applique

I am still working on my appliqued outfits for Rosy and Superman. This week's project was a fall ensemble. The fabric is a "bright" olive green corduroy with the letters in a cream, olive, and tan plaid. The stitching is done in plum. The kids wore these Sunday morning to our church Homecoming. III had a nice tan sweater with an olive stripe on the sleeves. He is very glad to be too old for monogramming!

My next project is an Alabama dress for her if I can find any houndstooth fabric. If I can't, I may have to use black and white gingham. Superman is also due for a Christmas outfit.

If any of my local readers know of a good source for someone who does machine embroidery, I need a hook-up. I really want to be able to do some applique and embroidery combination designs.

First Christmas

We started decorating today. I think we are going to have a wonderful Christmas!

On Sunday nights, Superman attends Discipleship Training with Mrs. Linda, Mrs. Renee, Miss Katelyn, and Miss Kayla. One of the fun things they do each week is the Hokey Pokey. Most of the other kids are a little older than Supermas and can Pokey on their own, but apparently, Superman's good teachers always help him participate. (Sometimes this leads to spit-up!)

Last night, Mrs. Linda and Miss Katelyn had the nursery at church so all the kids clamored for the Hokey Pokey. You wouldn't think it would make a difference to a 6 month old, but I think Superman recognizes the song. We got him home and were talking about it and he got all excited. Hubby helped him stand up and he showed us his Right Foot In and Right Foot Out. The video is dark because we had already turned all the lights off, given him his last bottle, and were trying to get him to sleep when he decided it was time to dance.

Superman can finally hold his own teething ring! This is far better then when I used to have to hold it.

Notice his orange nose! I found out that feeding them too much squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots turns their skin orange from the inside. I had been trying to scrub it off for days until a girl at church told me what was happening!

Check out the newest baby cage! First we used a storage crate until he outgrew it. Now we use a hand-me-down little kids fold out sofa. It makes a perfect cage because it's high enough to keep him stable, but low enough for him to see over. He has just enough room to move around, but it's soft enough that tipping over doesn't hurt him. Right now, we sit it on the love seat, but we will have to move it to the floor when he gets a little more mobile and stronger.

New Hat

We took Superman shopping last night to get him some new winter hats. His big head won't fit in regular baby hats. We had to shop in the toddler section of the stores. He got a cute Santa looking hat from Old Navy and then he got the cute knit one from Children's Place. Children's Place had a cute fleece one with two points on the top that had tassels, but he cried everytime I tried it on him. I assume that meant that he didn't like that one. He cheered and babbled for this one and the one from Old Navy so I assumed that he wanted them.

Chef Rosy

I've always including III and Rosy in our special occasion cooking, but, lately, I've decided to teach them both some practical cooking skills. For III, so far that means he's learning to read directions and fix microwave lunches. For both of them, it means they are learning cleanliness and some measuring and mixing skills.

Tonight, Rosy made her first chicken casserole. I boiled the chickens for her, but she did all the rest. I let her put an "S" (for her real name) made out of lunch meat on top of it. I'm really impressed that a 7 year old can cook supper. I am hoping that they will both be able to make corn bread by the end of this winter.

Fall Frolic

We wrapped school up early today. Everyone got a good after-lunch rest time. (Superman, Twinkle, and I slept. I'm pretty sure the big kids played.) Then we went outside. The kids are always allowed in the backyard, but to go down the street on bikes, skateboards, or scooters they have to have an adult. Our neighborhood is really flat, but we live close to the entrance and I'm always afraid that someone will squish them.

This was Superman's first prolonged experience with fall weather. At first he really protested the hat, but once we got outside he seemed thankful for it.

This is what I imagine that he would look like if we were Yankees. By the way, it was only in the low 60s. I'm not sure what we will do if I have to take him out when it really gets cold.

Iraqi Fun!

We have been studying Iraq for the past 6 weeks at Roses Prep. Talk about a complex subject to teach to elementary aged children. Frankly, it was a complex subject for me to prepare to teach. We are trying to learn about each of our focus country's foods, traditions, history, people groups, art, literature, and politics. We always start each country study with a bulletin board that gives an overview of the country.

We found some neat children's literature from Iraq. There were some old stories including a Middle Eastern version of Cinderella. There were some good modern stories, including The Silent Music (a story about calligraphy) and The Librarian of Basra (about the librarian trying to protect the books during the war). However, we noticed that the modern books villified ALL soldiers and made no difference between US/UN liberation forces and Saddam's troops. A large part of our study time was spent with me helping our children understand why we invaded and what we were hoping to accomplish. BTW - this tied in very well with a lot of the conversation around the Presidential debates.

We were able to find a movie that showed religious persecution in the Middle East. It is the story of a young man who comes to college in America and becomes a Christian. He then returns home to the Middle East for a visit and his family discovers his Bible. The movie depicts his family turning him out into the streets and his ultimate decision of whether or not to remain in the country as an undercover missionary or whether to return to the USA.

We cooked Iraqi foods. We had a dessert called ma'mouni which is basically a cream of wheat with a simple sugar syrup mixed into it then topped with cinammon and whipped cream. Hubby and Rosy loved it. III and I could barely swallow it. It seemed to grow in our mouths. We also made Shish Taouk (chicken shish-kabobs with Iraqi spices) and Summag Salad. Summag Salad was amazingly good. It was thinly chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions in an olive oil dressing. We were supposed to sprinkle summac on it, but summac was only available across town, so we subbed seasoned salt. It was fabulous! We also had rice and pita bread with our dinner.

The best part about the study was the art project. Ancient Babylon was located where modern day Iraq is. We studied the ancient ruler Hammurabi who was famous for uniting the Babylonian empire around 1700 BC. He had the first codified law and he displayed monuments with the laws carved into them in the major cities of his empire. There is still at least one of his original monuments in existance today. For our art project, I had the kids read some of Hammurabi's laws and then come up with 10 laws of their own. (I chose 10 because of the 10 Commandments.) If you want to know what's really important to kids, read these laws.

1. If you make the baby cry, you must go to bed at 7:30.

2. If you sneak any food, you can not have dessert for three days.

3. If you wake up the sleeping baby, you must change his diapers for one whole day.

4. If you hurt someone, you must pay them a dollar.

5. If you make lower than a B, you must make Mommy and Daddy's bed for five weeks.

6. If you steal from someone, you must clean their room for five days.

7. If you don't rinse your spit out, you must clean the sink for one whole week.

8. If you don't do your chores, you must do an additional chore for the rest of the week.

9. If you act out, you do not get to watch TV for one week.

10. If you wake Mommy from a nap, you must fold all the towels for the rest of the week.

We made our monument more modern than Hammurabi. Ours is silver with each rule printed out in the kid's choice of Word Art font and colors. They created their own self-portraits to go on top of the monument to mimic the portrait of himself that Hammurabi had carved in his monuments.

Home School Fun!

We took Election Day off school this year. We had been studying the candidates and some of the issues, and the kids really wanted to go with me to vote. Note that they are all in Red-state clothing. Rosy and Superman's outfits double as Roll Tide outfits. We had raspberry and blueberry (red, white, and blue) muffins, red grapes, blueberries, and sausage for Election Day breakfast. Both kids said that they wished I would cook breakfast and read them a story during breakfast each day

We have been studying Iraq for the last month and one night Rosy was reading an Iraqi fable to the boys. I will post soon about our Iraqi cooking and their modern day Code of Hamurabi.

Lime Pie

For his actual birthday on Thursday, Hubby asked me to make him a lime pie. My family has a recipe handed down from my Aunt Joanne that calls for a large container of Cool Whip, a can of sweetened condensed milk and limeade concentrate. Mix those together and put them in a graham cracker shell and you have an incredibly rich and tangy pie.

As we were eating the pie, Superman was begging for a bite. Hubby gave him some and the baby went nuts. He giggled, cackled, squealed, and hollared for about 20 minutes. I've never seen anyone on such a pure sugar high. It was hilarious. I think that he would be able not only to walk, but to break dance, if we gave him this stuff everyday.

Hubby's B'day

Hubby turned 38 last week. His birthday was Thursday, but we celebrated with the kids when they came home Saturday. As you can tell, we had chocolate cake!! I think the little chocolate goatee makes Superman look like his dad!

Budding Musician

Superman is a budding musician. Now that he can (almost) sit up, we have started buying him some new toys. He got this piano at Wal-mart last Friday. He cackled and cackled at it in the store, and he loves it even more at home. It will keep him entertained for almost 10 minutes. That's a new record for anything other than eating!