For Vee

I woke up this morning to an extremely intermittant internet service. It gave me a good span of time to get some much-needed housework done and to play board games with Brynne.

I was annoyed I couldn't get on the computer (can you say obsession?), but took it as a sign that I had other things I should be doing instead ... more important things.

When I was finally able to get online, I checked my e-mail and then checked blogger to see what everybody was up to today. Almost every post was about reflections on 2010, resolutions and excitement about 2011 and even some late Christmas posts.

I actually have some posts ready to go ... one on why I'm not posting "Rick Rocks" anymore on Fridays, a list (with pictures) of everything I got for Christmas, reflections on 2011, and a one-word resolution post.

I was getting ready to get them all posted when I came across Vee's post called "The world through death-colored glasses." And all my posts seemed so unimportant to me. She is a grieving wife with an unborn baby who had a miserable Christmas and is dreading the new year without her husband and companion. She just wants time to stop, even for a moment.

I can't make time stop for her. But I can take all of this internet nonsense as a word from God that I should stop and just spend this time praying for her. It's a fasting of sorts. Anytime I feel the urge to get on the internet (and can't), I'll just pray for Vee. I'll stop for her and do my best to pray her through this new year transition.

Will you join me?

Eli Threw a Strike with this Birthday Party!

I've been a little busy the past couple of days getting ready for this ....

Eli has the really tough job of having to wait through everybody's birthdays each year to get to his. The other kids have birthdays in August, October and November. Then we have Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. His birthday is December 22nd. So I try to make it special, completely separate from Christmas. Our Simple Christmas certainly helped with that this year, since we didn't decorate until the day after his birthday and then took the decorations down before his birthday party. I try really, really hard to give him birthday celebrations that he remembers completely separate from Christmas.

So, anyway, Eli's patiently-awaited birthday party was today! He had a bowling party.

I made bowling t-shirts, yellow for the girls and blue for the boys ...

and a cake (No, I won't be featured on Cake Wars anytime soon, but it turned out better than I expected!) ...

The little white finger holes are tea lights embedded into the cake that we used as birthday candles.

We had trophies, candy and lots of fun!

Daddy was able to break away from work for a little while and stop for a visit. Eli was thrilled! And Kyndal, Dawson and Drake were there to share in the fun, and have some competitive bowling of their own.

Over all it was one of the easiest and most fun parties the kids have had! Eli was flipped out excited the whole time they were bowling, wanting the boys to beat the girls so bad! And his guests were so well-behaved that at times I was actually able to just sit and enjoy the fun they were having. It was a great day!

And the last birthday party of the season is complete. Whew! Now I really can relax! Oh, wait. I have a house to clean, school lessons to plan, four kids and a husband to take care of, four dogs and cat, and regular life to live. Never mind. Well at least the birthday parties are over.

Nicole's Daybook

Outside my window... It's actually sunny, crisp, but not too cold. It might be a pretty day!

I am thinking... about Dawson's second semester of homeschooling and what I need to do differently to get him prepared to go back to school, if that's what he wants.

I am thankful ... to be getting back to some normalcy after a busy Christmas season.

I am wearing... my new robe my son bought me for Christmas and my new slippers.

I am planning... the specifics of Eli's birthday party on Thursday and our New Year's Eve Family Game Night.

I am creating... bowling t-shirts and a bowling ball and pin cake for Eli's party.

I am going... to finish inputting Dawson's 1st semester grades.

I am reading... A Woman after God's own Heart by Elizabeth George, Holy Housewifery by Ethel Marbach (actually I finished it but am reading it again) and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

I am hoping... that we all figure out how "to be, rather than to seem to be __________" (put in your own word.) This is the English translation of the Latin phrase Esse quam videri, that I read in the book An Amish Christmas by Cynthia Keller. It just smacked me between the eyes when I think of all of the energy I waste trying to be or trying to appear to be a good wife, a good mom, etc., when I should just be those things, and others. It's really not that hard. We make it hard.

Scripture I'm memorizing ... "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." ~ Proverbs 3:6

From the learning rooms... We are on our final week of Christmas Break. When we start back up, Dawson and I will dive back into Ancient Rome and continue his Rock and Mineral study. Brynne and I will start an in-depth unit on Birds and will start reading Josephina, An American Girl (it's the third girl we are doing in the series.) And of course we'll be covering all of the necessaries (math, writing, spanish, typing, language arts, fine arts).

Noticing that ... the birds in our area are confused as they are here looking for nests and appearing to "get ready for spring" when winter hasn't even hit yet.

From the kitchen... moving from turkey to a roast (yum!)

Around the house... Things are back to normal, and I'm almost done reorganizing and putting away.

One of my favorite things... the hope of a new year.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Today we are going to the grocery store. Tomorrow I am meeting Rick for lunch (a luxury we don't take advantage of near enough)! On Thursday is Eli's bowling birthday party. On Friday it's New Year's Eve and Rick and I are creating a Family Game Night (like the show) for Eli and Brynne. Kyndal comes back tomorrow so activity will definitely pick up. This weekend we don't have any plans.

From my picture journal.

Eli and Brynne at Union Station in Kansas City on his birthday.

Lots of women Daybook. See what they have to say at The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Menu Plan Monday and Other Stuff

Do you know what was really great about our simple Christmas?? In about a 30 minute time span yesterday, Rick and I had all of our Christmas decorations packed away and the tree drug to the garage for it's 2-day mandatory stay before it can be put into the ground. Almost all of our decorations fit into a vacuum cleaner sized boxed. We just chuckled at all the poor saps in our neighborhood who will have to be taking down their Christmas lights in the next few days. (Of course they just might chuckle at us when Rick is trying to dig a hold in the ground for our Ball and Burlap Christmas tree and he's covered in sap!) We'll take our chances.

Now it's back to normal. Can we all say Ahhhhhhhhhhh ..........

I am hoping to keep it fairly simple this week in the area of meals. In fact, other than picking up a few items from the store, I'd like to try to purge the pantry and freezer over the next two weeks.

Here is what we are having this week:

Monday ~ Pork chops and linguine

Tuesday ~ Sub sandwiches and chips

Wednesday ~ Fend for Yourself

Thursday ~ Roast, potatoes and veggies in the crock pot

Friday ~ Homemade mini pizzas

Saturday ~ Vegetable beef soup (made with leftovers from the roast)

Sunday ~ Mini roast beef sandwiches (on leftover Christmas Day rolls)

Have a wonderful week! And, if you are one of the aforementioned persons taking down their Christmas lights, I apologize for my sarcasm.

Classic Books Challenge

A theme among bloggers for 2011 seems to be in reading the classics. I know of two blog classic reading challenges. Since I have a renewed passion for reading, I thought I would join in. I only have 10 books on my list for the year, because sometimes finding time to read is difficult.

And I won't start on my list until after I finish The Pillars of the Earth, which I am about 1/3 of the way through.

Here is my 2011 Classic Novel  list:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

3. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

5. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 

6. Middlemarch by George Eliot 

7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 

8. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 

9. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell 

10. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery 

Our Simple Christmas

After we returned from a visit with my family in Missouri, we decorated our Ball and Burlap Christmas tree with all of our homemade decorations. (You can go here, here, here and here to see what we did).

It was a really nice evening of Rick and I decorating the tree together while listening to Christmas music on Pandora. I decorated while he strung popcorn.

The stockings were hung by the chimney entertainment center with care, underneath the boxwood swags and bayberry candles.

On Christmas Eve morning Dawson and I went out and did some last-minute shopping. He is my best shopping buddy and we had a special morning together. I can't even tell you how much it warmed my heart to see my baby 6-foot son joyfully purchasing Christmas gifts for everyone in our home. And he was generous!

When we got home we set to making some desserts and putting out our candles and luminaries.

Rick's sister and her family came over for our annual Feliz Navidad celebration. We started our evening by painting the Nativity set we received from Rick's dad and step-mom. Everyone pitched in and painted at least one piece. We ate enchiladas and tacos and quietly watched loudly quoted every line of Christmas Vacation. The kids opened their gifts and we called it an early night.

Rick and I spent the next two hours wrapping presents, like we do every Christmas Eve night. It was especially cool because when the kids went to bed there weren't any gifts under the tree at all. And when they rose at dawn crawled out of bed at 9:00 a.m. this morning, they were greeted with this!

Everybody got everything they wanted! They were all thrilled!

A pillow pet, new stuffed dog, large dog house, Hello Kitty stuff, Bendaroos, a movie, Legos, a Handy Manny set, Barbie movie books and candy.

A snowboard, xbox Live subscription, Hollister sweats, three shirts, Crusoe television series dvd, Legos and a personalized coffee mug.

Thomas train set, Handy Manny play set, Sorry Sliders, Connect 4, AFV dvd, Legos, three Halo Reach Lego sets and a pillow pet.

We made cinnamon rolls and biscuits and gravy, as is tradition. And currently the littles are in the living room floor in their pjs playing with their toys. Rick is organizing, which is his custom. And I am blogging, which is mine. Kyndal spent Christmas in Missouri with her dad, so we will celebrate with her when she gets home. Dawson bugged out about an hour ago and ran up the street to his best friends' to check out their loot. They'll be back here later to play xbox and put together Eli's many Lego sets. We'll have a turkey dinner later today and watch a couple of movies together. This year our choices are Toy Story 3, Barbie and The Mermaid Tale or America's Funniest Home Videos: Nincompoops and Boneheads.

It was the simplest and most wonderful of Christmases. Hoping you and yours are enjoying your day.

Love, The Taulmans

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ The Tree Topper

Dawson was going to be in charge of making a handmade tree topper. But he has ended up feeling under the weather these past couple of days. So, I decided we would use the snow angel Brynne made a couple of weeks ago.

Tomorrow I will post a picture of our completed Christmas tree. We are decorating tonight. I hope you have enjoyed our 12 Days of a Simple Christmas. It's been fun for me, and I have learned some things (that we'll talk about at a later time.)

We are now ready for the final preparations for Christmas (which basically means everything!) We'll be very busy for the next couple of days.

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ Paper Ornaments

Today is Eli's 7th birthday, we are in Missouri at my parents'. We are going to Kansas City today to go to Science City at Union Station with my brother and sister-in-law who are visiting from Portland, Oregon. And my computer is down and so are all my pictures ... so this will be a short post.

A great way to spice up the tree, and spend some time together as a family, is to make paper ornaments. We whipped some of these last night.

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ Waxed stars

Moravian Star:

 The 26-pointed Moravian Advent Star, lit from within by an electric bulb, is beloved by Moravians all over the world.  The Star stands as both a symbol of awaiting the promised coming of Christ during the Advent season, and of Christ himself, the light of the world and dispeller of darkness, at Christmastime. (source)

In Colonial times, Moravian stars were made out of paper, waxed and hung in trees and bushes on Christmas Eve to welcome the Christ child.

These stars are a little complicated for little ones, and because of lack of time we are planning to just cut out regular five-pointed laminated yellow stars and hang them in our bushes on Christmas Eve. I might get brave and make on actual Moravian star myself, just to have one.

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ Garlands

We will be adorning our Christmas tree with two kinds of garlands this year: A dried apple slice garland and a popcorn garland.

Right now I have my apple slices drying out.

They should be ready for us to string on December 23rd, like this:

 It will look something like this when we are done.

And, of course, for popcorn garlands we will just pop a few bags of popcorn, string them and hang them.

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ The Christmas Tree

I had it in my heart to get a Ball and Burlap Christmas tree this year. (Honestly, I didn't even know what they were until I came across one as being a Christmas tradition of old.) What is a Ball and Burlap tree? It's a tree that has been dug out of the ground, roots and all, instead of cut. The roots are bound in a ball in burlap. After it is used as a Christmas tree, it can be replanted. Something excited me about the idea of letting our Christmas tree continue to live instead of tossing it into a ditch after we were done with it. I have visions of cardinals sitting on it's branches after a big snow.

We went yesterday and picked out our tree. We have a wonderful Christmas tree and blackberry farm in our town. We have purchased cut trees from there in the past and picked blackberries there for the first time this past summer. The owners are the nicest people and the guys they have working there are always so friendly and helpful! They also always have several places set up for fun photo ops.

Rick, Eli, Brynne and I went to pick out our tree. Kyndal and Dawson are teenagers ... which means they weren't real interested. Instead they stayed home and made our traditional pretzel snacks.

Here are some pictures from our time at the farm. We had a fun time playing hide-and-seek in the rows of Christmas trees and picking out the "perfect" tree.

We have a picture of Brynne in this same sleigh when she was 4 months old.

Here is the tree we chose.

This is where it will reside for the next couple of days. We will bring it in this week and get it ready to decorate on the 23rd.

She will be about 30 feet tall at the height of her maturity.

If you are interested in a Ball and Burlap tree, you can go here for instructions on how to care for it.

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ Christmas Luminaries

Instead of paying the electric company to light the outside of our home, this year we are making luminaries to place on our sidewalk, front porch and doorstep.

I purchased half-pint mason jars. We are covering them with Christmas tissue paper and decoupage glue. Then we will just add a tea light to each one and put them out on Christmas Eve to light the way for the Christ child.

The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas ~ Lacey Candles

Since making Bayberry candles would be a challenge, I found an alternative so that we can still get in some candle making which was a tradition in Colonial days. These lacey candles are not difficult and turn out beautiful!

(These are candles from the Taste of Home site. Mine are below)

Complete instructions can be found at this Taste of Home site.

Here are a few tips from me.

• I used small milk cartons I got out of the trash at my son's elementary school. I just rinsed them out, cut the tops off and let them dry completely.
• I used two, 1-lb. blocks of paraffin wax and pre-made 3 1/2" wicks with tabs (instead of "tapers"). This made eight candles using small milk cartons.
• To put in the wicks, I hot glued them to the bottom of the milk carton.
• To melt the wax, I just put the blocks in an oven-safe pan, on a pizza pan, and melt at 225 degrees.
• I actually filled the milk carton about 3/4 full with crushed ice and then poured wax until the ice was just covered.
• We also added glitter over the ice before we poured in the wax to give them some shimmer, since we didn't add color to the wax.