Thankful Thursday

Thanks to Theresa for hosting the linkup and inviting me to join in!

I think as this new year begins, I am most grateful for just that: a new year-- the opportunity and the gift of a new beginning, a clean slate with endless promise and possibility.

I am also especially thankful for my children and the blessing of homeschooling.  I love their smiles and how much fun we have had together.  I couldn't imagine now not being with them for 8+ hours a day and not sharing everything that we have shared and learned together.  It is wonderful how helpful (for the most part, lol!) they are to each other and how they are developing kind, servant's hearts.

I love when we can cuddle on the couch and read a book together, bake cookies when it behooves us

and even get down to work in their pajamas.  :-)

I am thankful for my husband, who has worked such long, hard hours these past few months, working 6 days a week, even through painful injuries.  He is a dedicated father and husband, for whom I am extremely grateful.  This enabled us to give the children a wonderful Christmas and pay off some bills.  I am thankful for my parents, who have been very helpful and supportive.

I am thankful to live in a country where we have freedom; freedom that certainly isn't free.

 As I get older, I think I appreciate even more the incredible sacrifices that have had to be made for us to live the way we do and take so much for granted.  I will be participating in a friend's weekly study of our founding documents.  I believe that we owe it to the founders, who gave and sacrificed so much to conduct an experiment-- a precious experiment in liberty.  It goes without saying that I am thankful for the soldiers who defend and protect that experiment every day, with no thought of the danger or risk.  My husband, my soldier, still remains my greatest hero.

I have been very blessed to "meet" some wonderful women in the blogosphere who share the same values and morals that my husband and I do.  I am thankful for their friendship, prayers, fellowship and support. 

And, of course, it goes without saying, that I am most grateful to God: for the incredible gifts I mentioned above that He has given me, the countless gifts I haven't mentioned and the most incredible Gift of all: His Son.

Happy New Year!

After our bowling on New Year's Eve which you can see here, we rang in the New Year with much merriment.  On TV, we watched the ball drop in Times Square, the fireworks on the waterfront in Philadelphia, and then had our own celebration out front with noise makers and poppers.  The kids had so much fun!  How wonderful that they could make as much noise as they wanted without being told to "ssh."  :-)  They literally were out there for a good 30 minutes or more.  Having mild weather was certainly a blessing.  The last two winters were record breakers in the cold and blizzard departments.  I, for one, am not complaining about this little patch of mild weather.

There was also Kiddo #4 decorating the bunk-bed that Pop-Pop and Kiddo #1 made her for her My Twinn doll (who she named Kira) and her American Girl doll (Rebecca).  One of her Christmas wishes was for a "modest doll."  :-))))

Kiddo #3 happily designed a zoo

 and Kiddo #2 played a new game with his sister.

 Kiddo #1, who is quite gifted with building and flying rc aircraft (some of them have wingspans of 6+ feet!), practiced on his simulator.  It is quite impressive how well he handles the aircraft.  He marvels the men in the rc club that he belongs to in how well he handles all of the aircraft (even the 6 foot one!).  They believe that the simulator time has been a great benefit for him.

As one could imagine, getting up for Church on New Year's morning was not easy for any of us.  :-)  The kiddos, at least last night, thought it was pretty special to go to bed around 2am.  I don't know how special it was when they had to wake up in the morning, lol!  Hubby and I were no better.  We decided to watch the end of a movie together after the kiddos went to bed, so needless to say, we were pretty beat, too.  We certainly don't have the stamina we did 20 years ago!  :-)  We will not be starting school until Tuesday since the hubby was off on Monday.  The kids and I really enjoyed the day with him.

The rest of New Year's Day was spent with our family enjoying good food, watching football and watching some of the Mummers' Day parade.  The incredible productions put together by ordinary, everyday "joes" never ceases to amaze me.  They put some broadway productions to shame.  :-)

I pray that your day was special and that after spending some time with the Lord, that you shared it with those who mean the most to you, as well!

Getting ready to welcome in 2012

Our local bowling alley offers a "Family" New Year's Eve celebration from 6-9 pm.  There is unlimited bowling, a buffet, noise makers and much fun to be had.

(Kiddo #4 bowls with her "Pigie" and told us that we each had to take a turn with him for good luck!)

 

It is always a challenge to try to find family-friendly celebrations on New Year's Eve. 

(Our bowlers: me, hubby, my parents, the kiddos and a dear friend of mine who actually was Kiddo #3 and Kiddo #4's pre-K teacher)

I have fond memories of a house full of family and friends to welcome in the New Year.  My parents would host a celebration filled with delicious food, games, music, reminiscing and counting down.  It was always something I looked forward to each year.  Everyone was there-- family from both sides, friends from Church and the neighborhood...  My mom started it as a surprise in 1977, the year we almost lost my dad.  He was in a bad plane crash the beginning of December and was home with us, thank God, by Christmas.  She thought having all of the special people in our lives celebrate New Year's Eve with us would not bring a smile to my dad's face as he recovered, but would allow everyone to be grateful together and thank God that he had made it out alive.  It was such a success that it continued for over 20 years.  My parents moved out of the city to be closer to us 8 years ago and the tradition ended there.  Many in the older generation have since passed away, some of the younger generation have married and moved.  It is sad that one tradition has ended, but now we have begun a new tradition with our children.  We have gone to the bowling alley the last 3 or 4 years and end the evening with some games and seeing if anyone can stay up until midnight to enjoy a festive countdown with some noisemaking.  :-) (I'll post those photos tomorrow!)  :-)

May God bless us all in the New Year and with His Grace, may our best day in 2011 be our worst in 2012!

Some Christmas photos

There isn't an official "weekly" post this week since we are on Christmas break.  :-)

I haven't been on the computer much this Christmas since I feel it is really a time to spend with family, but I did want to post some random photos.

The first few are from Christmas Eve right after Church.  Kiddo #3 had already torn off his "Sunday best" and put on his pajamas (can you say he was just a little bit excited?  lol) and hubby had already taken off his Christmas tie (I did get a photo of it, though), so it was just me and the three kiddos who were still in their outfits!  :-)

The next few are just some shots of the kiddos and some of their favorite gifts.  Of course, I had to include Kiddo #4 in her Christmas dress. 

While I was making pizzelles a few days before Christmas, my 13 year old son comes over to tell me he wants to make a cake.  I tell him that he is more than welcome, but that I can't, unfortunately, offer any assistance because pizzelles are extremely labor intensive and I only have about 30 seconds while each set of two are on the iron.  He sets off with my recipes and I try to advise as I can during that short window.  He told me that he wanted to make a cake because Jesus deserves a birthday cake.  Wow.  I had only made various Christmas cookies up until that point.  I hadn't made a cake.  He made a delicious, moist chocolate cake from scratch and also made my homemade vanilla frosting.  By himself.  And it was delicious; tasting just like a chocolate brownie.  :-)  On Christmas, we found candles and sang "Happy Birthday" to the Lord.  It gave me chills.  :-)

I hope that everyone has had a beautiful and blessed Christmas!  I will "see" you all in the New Year, which I pray that the Lord will bless abundantly with much happiness and love for you, your family and friends!

The Joy in giving....

Every year, we take the kiddos to "Five and Below" and allow them to buy something for each other and for us.  It is truly amazing how much care each of them takes in trying to pick out something that the recipient will truly like. 

They took some time tonight and wrapped each gift.  If the recipient was in the room, he/she was kindly asked to step out for a minute.  (including the adults, lol!)  :-)

I really love how much joy they each get in picking out and wrapping gifts for their siblings and parents.  I hope it reinforces that it is truly better to give than to receive. That is what the season is all about: the giving of the most incredible Gift of all: our Lord and Savior. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful few days before Christmas!  God bless!  :-)

Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap Up- December 16th

Wow, the 3rd week of Advent is coming to a close!  And another fun and God-filled week it has been.

In my life/homeschool this week: Kiddo #3 had his birthday bowling party on Saturday night.  What a wonderful time the kids all had.  I really loved how they enjoyed the game and each other's company.  He certainly enjoyed "partying" all weekend!  :-)

On Sunday, after Church, we all headed to my aunt's church in New Jersey.  Her choir took part in their annual Christmas program.  They did a beautiful job.  She hosted us all back to her house for a very nice dinner and birthday celebration for both Kiddo #3 and 4.

              ^^

       There is my aunt.  :-)

Monday was Kiddo's actual birthday.  My little boy is now 10.  When did this happen?  I was 6 months pregnant with him when 9/11 happened and felt like he was born into a much different world than his brothers were just years before.  He is such a fun boy-- full of life, quite mischevious at times (especially with his siblings, lol), but always thoughtful, helpful and kind.  He has a special love for wild animals, especially elephants.  So, of course, his special request for his birthday (we always spend the day out on their birthdays) was to go to the zoo.  No matter that this animal lover was born in December, we all bundled up, and off to the zoo we went.  :-) 

How surprising that the animals were all SO active!  We got to witness tigers wrestling and play fighting, lions strolling and several bears and other cats walking right up to us! (well, actually right up to Kiddo #3.  Maybe God was giving Kiddo a special gift and having each and every animal come right up to him or perhaps the animals can sense the goodness or love of a child?  Who knows, but it was truly a special visit.  There weren't many people there, so we had many keepers to ourselves to explain exhibits or tell us about different animals and have the children try different hands-on activities. 

Kiddo chose Chinese food for his birthday dinner.  What a whirlwind, but fun few days for him!  Welcome to double digits, sweetheart!  We love you!  :-)

Back to our Advent routine on Tuesday with our Jesse Tree getting filled up with the kiddo's homemade ornaments.  We continued with our Scripture memorization (this week's verse is Luke 2:7), Advent Adventure and reading "Just David."  We are hoping that each of my children will be able to recite a verse by heart on Christmas!  :-)

On Wednesday, we read Tomie dePaola's book "The Legend of the Poinsettia."  What a wonderful book!  The message of this legend is that if you give a gift to the Christ Child from your heart, no matter how simple it may be, He will truly love it.  Just beautiful.  I am so glad that we have incorporated these books into our Advent activities.  We also began to decorate for Christmas.  Our oldest, what a dear he is, carried the box with the 8 foot Christmas tree down 2 flights of steps and he and Kiddo #2 assembled the whole thing!  We also put out the Nativity set.

On Thursday, after our Advent activities, we made cards for a little boy who is dying of brain cancer.  His Christmas wish is to receive 1000 cards.  I pray that he gets many times that and that what may be his last Christmas will be filled with much joy.  If you would like his address, please let me know and I will get it to you.  We also read Tomie dePaola's "Night of Las Posadas."  Another lovely story that really stresses the real meaning of Christmas.

I am grateful for:  Many people have commented that it is wonderful that our oldest son (13) participates in everything that the younger children are doing.  It *is* wonderful!  We've never had it any other way.  He has always been a wonderful, patient soul and he has become even more so now, a leader.  His siblings look up to him tremendously.  I think one of the many blessings of homeschooling is that everything is done together as a family.  Older children help younger children and enjoy doing things together.  Of course, they all have their own interests and pursuits, but when we are doing family activities, we always have done things together.  My children are not exposed to elements who would tell them that it is "not cool" to be a family.  They do not watch programs or movies that tell them that they should be "rebellious" or more interested in others rather than their family.  This, by far, is the most incredible blessing I have found with homeschooling.  I am thankful to God for this blessing and continually pray for my children and for our family, and that next to God Himself, that it will always be their top priority.

I am praying for: my children, my husband, those who are sick, dying or lonely, soldiers away from home at Christmas....

I am reading: We read "The Legend of the Poinsettia" by Tomie dePaola (wonderful book!), "Night of Las Posadas," also by dePaola (really good, too!) and are continuing "Just David" by Eleanor Porter.

A quote or photo to share: "The season of Advent celebrates two comings in the life of Christ: one future and one past. Advent prepares our hearts for the second coming of Christ for he will bring history to an end by fully establishing his kingdom. Also, Advent prepares our hearts for the celebration of Christ’s first coming, Christmas. Advent is a season of joy for we are grateful for Christ’s coming in the manger and Advent is a season of repentance as we know that Christ comes again in holiness, power, and judgment." - Blessed Pope John Paul II

This post is linked to both the Homeschool Mother's Journal and Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.