happy new years eve

and from Bandit and Ruby

December 25th

girls scout trip on schooner from inner harbor

choclate pretzels-pictures of our holiday candy making

Adam dipping pretzels

Chirstmas Eve

it is Christmas Eve:-) What a wonderful joyfull peacefull time of year.This year has been a stuggle, lots of trials, and turmoil. But lots of blessings and peace and joy too. OUr Christmas willb e small this year,but, thats ok. As long as we have each other its ok. The children are healthy happy and full of life and love- who could ask for more then that-. We are feed and clothed and have a roof over our heads, more then most of the world has tonight.

And best of all we have JESUS the savior who came to our earth to die for our salvatoin so we may all go to heaven just by believing in him, and all you need is the faith of a mustard seed. What a true blessing and wonderous gift:-)

at last

our tree is up and decorated, finally!!!!Whippee!!! It has been a long road to get the room done and cleaned and now we look like we are having Christmas I am so excited to have the room done-sorta, it still needs trim and odds and ends, but hey your never done with a house-.

We are watching the Polar Express tonight and feeling all cozy by the fire- its nice to not have to walk around the house to fill it:-)Tommorw is a visit to Santa:-)

finally done

or at least usable, our family room is officially opened for the family:=)we took down the Wall today and cleaned it and moved our furniture in it is cozy for such a big space, of course the fire helps with that.

Now tomorrow it will be time to finally put up the tree,yay!!!!Adam has been asking if we could have a tree this year, so we need to get ours up. He is at such a great age this year, very excited about Santa, and very concerned about the 'Naughty' list:-)

Christ Bell

full moon

tonight the moon is very huge in the sky it is closer in its rotatin tonight then it will be again in a year. it is very bright and pretty the kids ran out and played in the yard under it for a few minutes before they got cold. we love the night sky,moon and stars it is a great science lesson provided by God himself these are the learning moments I cherish the most

christmas cookies-and holiday clenaing

we are baking sugar cookies, choclate chips and making a choclate covered rice krispie and peanut butter candy-Adam wants to make these and they are no cook so why not-.We are slowly getting int he holiday spirit, we just finished washing the windows have the curtains in the washer so we can get the windows bright and pretty. And we are washing the christmas bed sheets and blankets so at least our rooms willhave the holiday glow in them.

Oh well at least the rain finally stopped it downpoured steady and hard for three days, I was having visions of the ark floating by:-)

Defenders of Animal Rights Field trip

today we went on a trip to the animal shelter with our homeschool Roots and Shoots group. It is the same shelter we got Ruby from four weeks ago. We had an awesome time with the dogs and cats. The boys and I where with the dogs mostly, a sweet boy named Bandit, and a sweet puppy named Samantha, both sheperd mixes and wonderful with the kids, they are going to be huge when they grow up for sure.But both are very sweet and need families to love them- hopefully families wiht about 5 kids in them . We are going to show Uncle Amp and Nicole their photos , Nicole wants a dog and either of these would be a nice additin to their house. I wish we where in a position to bring home one. But its nice to visit and give hugs and kisses and help them trust people so they can go home someday to their furever homes.

guniea pigs

while we where at moms last night changing granny, Grace and I stopped and said hi to the guniea pigs, they whistled at us so we whistled back and they ran up and rubbed all over us and where so cute. Grace was thrilled. It was a fun adn cute night.

winter time

a christmas treat

yesterday the girls and I went with mom and pop to seet he Rockettes downtown, what an amazing show, it ws so wonderful. And the nativity was the most beautiful I had ever seen. What a great treat, you certainly leave there with Christmas in your heart.

Afterwards we went to Little Italy for dinner at Sabatinos's-YUM- homemade pasta so good, and the best garlic bread ever. After we left it ws snowing and it was so nice and christmasy feeling. We walked to a little Itailan bakery and got Itailian Christmas cookies for the boys, and six homemade handfilled cannollies so very good, it was such an awesome day .

wonderful sights, smells, tastes and sounds couldn;t have asked for more:-)

A German Christmas tradition

tonight is St.Nicholas night in Germany, and many of our friends here are celebrating. They leave out their shoes and St.Nick fills them with candy and treats. I thought this was such a sweet idea:-) And we are German on my dads mothers side, that we are going to do it. And maybe have some German pastries in the morning, I am looking at our cookbook and seeing what we can make, or I am going ot find a German bakery- at least for next year-.I do kow I am going to make some wassil I found a nice recipe on one of our homeschool sites that is very kid friendly- apple cider, orange juice and spices heated to warm over the stove -yum.

the holiday season begins

a Football day

it has been a cold rainy November afternoon,which made for a great day watching football and curling up with the kids and the cat. The Ravens did fabulous and ruled the day.

praise the lord this day

blessings

the firemen who saved our house.

The sunshine that is out this morning

the macy's parade

our health

our lovely children no matter how silly and crazy they may be

living in a country with the greatest freedoms in the world.

family who is dear to us.

strong morals and values

laughing at ourselves

choclate chip cookies fresh from the oven

puppies and kittens

the changing seasons each with a wonderous beauty only god could create

classic old holiday movies

Snoopy and Charlie Brown:-)

a hot cup of tea with friends

a good book by the fireplace

learning new things with the kids and on my own.

peace from the living god

pillow fights

leftover turkey and stuffing -YUM!

our countries rich heritage and history and the gift to teach it to our children and to be able to take them toplaces so they can see it.

things to be thankful for

as I sit here on thanksgiving eve, I am thinking of all the things to be thakful for this year.

1. the love of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, who gave us all eternal life in his salvaton and grace.

2. all our children, as silly and crazy as they are:-)

3. the friends and neighbors and policemen who helped us find Adam the night he was missing.

4. our church- nothing more to say there-.

5. our country and the soliders everywhere who fight or have fought so we can be free.

6. our new family member -Ms Ruby-:-)

7. cheering on our favorite football team- The Ravens-.

8. for providing for us in times of need.

9. for our homeshcool community, who remind us we are not alone and our kids will turn out fine.

I know theres many more but for now I leave it there.

Grace's 8th birthday is today

Our Grace is 8 today, well offically about a hour ago:-) She is quite the indepepndent , strongwilled young lady in our family. She is a blessing to all who know her she has compassion for all living things. So Happy Birthday dear one.

Grace's 8th birthday party pictures

Grace's 8th birthday party

was last night at Kids First Swim. it went very well she had lots of friends and family to share her night with her, and she loves the pool, this one is very warm and soothing so its a good place to go to have a fall party and still have a lot of summer type fun:-).

Pop and Grandma came over afterwards and met Ms.Ruby, who is becoming a huge pat of the family she is not shy and hiding anymore, she is all over the place and is quite at home now, and at midnight quite playful, so she is a bit of a night owl:-) Hope this leads to night time mouse hunting as we have one somewhere in the kitchen and I can;t stand it.

We also watched Grace open her gifts she got some nice things a couple of dolls and pet shop stuff, and some neat animal type things- sea monkeys and a frog habitat. So it should be a fun living classroom this winter:-)

tea today and first snow flurries

we had a tea time this afternoon, with homemade vanilla scones and whipped creme-homemade as well- Madeline had green tea, me my decaf, and Grace and Adam had hot coco, Shawn had juice. Adam helped me whip the creme for the scones he turned on the mixer for me:-) And he and Grace helped lick the beater:-) I love doing tea with them, and love baking with them

We also had our first snow flurries, this afternoon, which made for a blustery day, so it was a good day for some cozy tea and baking - which we have been doing alot lately-. The kids did go out tonight and run around like crazy in the flurries ,I am sure the neighbors think we are crazy,but sometimes the advantage to being home schooled is you can play outside in the evening and not worry about homework or getting up too early the next day:-)We spent the rest of the night reading various books, the kids brought to me, everyone listened- even daddy and Madeline-. WE have the fire going with a pot simmering with cinnamon and cloves so it is a very cozy snugly fall feeling night/day.

a baking day