Daybook for November 25, 2013 ~ Thanksgiving Week!

Outside my window... overcast and cold.  It is in the 30s this morning, and all week will be cold, although Thanksgiving Day will have a high of 50 and be sunny and clear - yay!

My Little Flowers group working on lanterns to go along with the virtue Love of God.

I am thinking... about ways to keep a peaceful atmosphere as we enter the Advent season next week.  I have plans that I need to carry through on so that we will have things ready to observe Advent as a family and as part of our homeschool day.  I am also thinking of Christmas gifts, even more carefully than usual, in an effort to get things that will add to the atmosphere of joy rather than add to the clutter, cause arguments, etc.  I am focusing on things that don't have a million small parts, for instance, because none of my children are ready to be responsible with those toys and activities they do have with lots of pieces.  The bigger girls are each getting a box full of books, and I am considering a nice dress-up costume each that they have been wanting.  Lucy is getting a new toy shopping cart, most likely, to replace the broken one we have.  If I can replace things, then that means I am not bringing additional stuff into the house.  Less is more.  As a friend and I were talking about this a few months ago, she said something that struck me: "We want to teach our children the virtue of poverty."  I like how she put that.  Overconsumption and a consumerism attitude has to be addressed at the most basic unit of society, the family.  And it is not stuff that makes the family happy and functional nor is it what gets us on the right path towards Heaven.

I am wondering... if my family members will ever be able to swallow cod liver oil without gagging (or complaining!).  Lucy takes it like a champ, and I don't mind it either - I have been swallowing it like you'd swallow a pill.  I have a very well-controlled gag reflex, apparently, or else the rest of my family doesn't!

I am praying... for a special intention.  Also that all families who are missing a loved one over Thanksgiving may feel God's comfort.

I am thankful...to have a place to go for Thanksgiving - I have still never cooked a Thanksgiving meal at my own home, and although I would like to host it myself sometime, it is nice to not have to worry about it while I have babies or toddlers!

One of the moms made these cute lamb cupcakes for our snack at this month's meeting - our saint this month was St. Agnes, whose name means "lamb of God."

I am hearing... Lucy's adorably cute, well-formed sentences.  "Mommy, please help me move this out of the way.  Thank you.  Thank you, Mommy, for moving tunnel out of the way."  There is a small pause between each word still.  She is trying to push the broken shopping cart around the room, and the older girls set up the play tunnel for her recently.

Learning at home... We are doing some fun Thanksgiving activities this week.  I read the girls the poetry from this book, Merrily Comes our Harvest In.  I check it out from our library every year!  Cecilia has just started her own print handwriting (instead of tracing letters) and is doing a nice, neat job of it!

 

From the kitchen... We had chicken gyros last night for dinner... yum!  I love this grain-free naan bread recipe.  It is easy and tastes great!  I am soaking nuts right now to make crispy nuts, which I will then keep in the freezer for use whenever they are needed.  Soaking and dehydrating them makes them taste better, I think!

I am reading... Small is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered by Joseph Pearce.  I heard him speak at a Catholic homeschooling conference last spring, and then I talked to him a bit and bought this book after having him autograph it.  It is actually not about homeschooling or Catholicism... it is about how maybe the bottom line in economics (making more and more money and producing more and more goods) may not actually be a good thing.  We actually got on the topic of discussing backyard chickens, and he said he'd just gotten some.  I had glanced through the book for a few minutes and immediately thought of G.K. Chesterton and his idea of distributism.  Yep, that's what it is.  I am a few chapters in so far, and it is quite good.

Lucy eating a s'more at our hot dog/marshmallow roast with friends

To live the liturgical year... Last Friday was Cecilia's "nameday," and so she got a new holy card and a medal of St. Cecilia that morning.  After our Little Flowers meeting that afternoon, we had a family cookout over a bonfire (okay, really it was a portable fire pit, but bonfire sounds better!), including s'mores and an apple butter cake.  Cecilia was excited that the cookout was on her special day!

One of my favorite things... how Lucy says the w sound as a y sound.  "That's my yatoo bottoo (water bottle)."

The men are all by the fire, of course

I am creating... lists and plans for Advent and Christmas.




Around the house...  I have begun organizing all our holy cards by month and putting them in sports card pages.  Hopefully this will keep them well-organized!

A few plans for the rest of the week...

* School Tuesday morning
* Dentist appointment for me Wednesday morning where I will get a permanent crown put on, and hopefully not a recommendation for a root canal! :/
* Packing and traveling to Atlanta for Thanksgiving with my parents and brothers
* Dinner out in Atlanta with Chris to celebrate our anniversary!
* Target and Trader Joe's runs while in ATL
* Possible eye exams for the big girls

A picture thought I am sharing...