Read Aloud Thursday ::: Owl Moon & Mandy

We've been reading a little bit of this and that of late and thought it time for a Read Aloud Thursday update. Our recent snow has made it perfect weather for lots of reading aloud and we've definitely done more than normal the last few days which has been nice. I've been tweaking our schedule to rearrange when we read-aloud ... aiming for less time at the table while we eat and more time on the couch all together (or at least while little people draw or color and I read). So far (three days of this) it's working better. Anyway, several fun books have captured our attention of late.

I may be the last person to read Jane Yolen's Owl Moon but it is such a cool story. A father and child go for a moonlight snow tramp in search of owls that live in the woods. You have to be very, very quiet when you go looking for owls under and owl moon. By the time they find a giant owl resting above them in a tree, I was a mesmerized as the child in the story by the detailed illustration of the bird and imagining how exciting (and probably a little bit scary!) it would be to see one of these giant birds above. We are reading this book in conjunction with a moon study that we are working on in bits and pieces and while it mentions the moon, I think it's a better fit for a winter-themed book basket which is where our copy will end up.

Right now, our current chapter book is Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards. (Yes, that Julie Andrews). This was a favorite childhood book that I recently remembered and rediscovered and N1 chose this for our first read-aloud of 2011. Mandy discovers an abandoned cottage behind the orphanage that is her home and she is consumed with the desire to fix it up and make herself a little secret hideaway. Unfortunately, as you read the story, you find that Mandy employs a few ways of getting things that she needs for her little home by way of lies and "borrowing" items from the orphanage.

"-And besides, I didn't exactly steal the knife," Mandy told herself. "I really only borrowed it for a while. When I earn enough money I can buy one of my own." And so she justified her actions and felt better. 

We're still in the first section of the book, but we're all eager to find out what happens to Mandy and her little cottage ... and if the choices that she is making are going to work out for her by the end of the story.

For more Read Aloud Thursday visit Hope is the Word.

52 Photos ::: Independence

The theme this week for our photo was independence. As you can see, there was much independence on the part of this girl as she picked out her own outfit this morning. : ) And easy choice for a photo to pick as B was most proud of her self!

When it snows...

You watch Daddy unbury the truck so he can get to work.

You bundle up (multiple times) to go outside. And you are thankful for hand-me-down ski pants!

You sit in the warm house and work on your full body smile while waiting for the sisters to come back in.

You make snow angels.

You leave a trail behind when you come in thaw out.

You play make believe. You pretend your horse is hanging out with a rough and tumble gang of dinosaurs!

You make hot chocolate over and over and over, with a cup of hot tea throw in for good meausre.

You read some books for school and a little learning about the moon.

You make snow cream. Yummmmm!

You watch as more snow comes down and down.

You hold an impromptu tea party and invite everyone you know.

And you fall fast asleep after all that excitement. : )

Photos taken over the last two days of our snowy confinement. Anticipating another day at home tomorrow as well as we enjoy this winter weather.

Project Life Tuesday

I mentioned that I'm tacking Project 365 again this year. I've been wrapping up last year's album over the last several evenings and am so glad that I did this last year! So many little random moments captured that would never make a full layout are included in that album.

As part of that project, I'm going to be participating in Jessica's Project Life Tuesday when it fits and post our week in pictures. My album week will run Sunday through Saturday, but since I started it on January 1 (which was a Saturday) you get a bonus picture this week. : )

January 1 - the first picture of the new year. From my birthday party that was New Year's Eve, I rang in the new year with three sleeping babies (the fourth had gone home with Grandpa & Grandma around 9:30 p.m.

January 2 - The family celebration of my birthday after church and Sunday lunch. I had lots of little helpers to blow out my candles. : )

January 3 - One of my birthday goodies from Travis was this book. I haven't read a whole lot this fall, what with the new baby, surgery, etc., so I have thoroughly enjoyed being engrossed in this story.

January 4 - Meeting with our realtor to go over some papers as we make house plans. (More on that later!) : ) Buddy-Boy looks on and helps out with the big decisions as best he can and generally just looks adorable. (As a side note, we borrowed the bumbo chair from a friend because we've never had one. This thing is fabulous and Ethan adores being able to sit up and watch the girls play and see what everyone is doing. And, he was completely supervised at all time as he sat there next to Daddy.)

January 5 - 13 week shot.

January 6 - Today we lost our hot water and discovered that the hot water heater was shot as well. Bummer. However, I am very thankful that they were able to get new one installed quickly.

January 7 - Ethan is three months old today - how can this be? By our attempt at weighing him at home, we're estimating he is around 16 lbs., more or less. He is a chunk. : ) He has been sleeping a 6-8 hour stretch most nights, sometimes at the same time I want to sleep, sometimes not, but any extra sleep has been welcome!

January 8 - Today, some good friends and I drove out to visit our friend at her super cool house and eat an amazing tortilla-y, taco-type chicken soup, brownies AND she sent us home with the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. What a friend! Not to mention it was wonderful getting face-to-face adult conversation with some of my oldest friends.

And, there's week one!

Projects Galore

Random things that probably don't deserve a post on their own but that I want to remember or share:

One Little Word

Ali Edwards is kicking off One Little Word for 2011. This is a way of picking a theme for your year to ponder over, grown in, think on, etc., and the years that I have participated have been great growing seasons in whatever area I set aside. In conjunction with this is a new class that she has developed and I was gifted this by my sister for Christmas. It's a series of 12 monthly prompts and creative projects to remind us of our word that we chose and to give yourself pause to see where you are with it and how it's being reflected in your life. My word that I have chosen for 2011 is serve. More on this later...

Gratitude Journal

Monika at I Love it All has put together several posts walking you through the project setting up a gratitude journal for 2011. The girls and I are going to do something similar for school starting in January and, while our journals aren't as scrappy as Monika's (or as cute!), they will have the handwriting of my oldest two girls (ages 7 and almost 5) and myself and that will make them memorable. I have been blessed by Ann Voskamp's recording of journaling the endless gifts that God has bestowed upon her and that was the impetus that brought about starting these thankful journals with the girls. Ann has also turned her thoughts on this into a book that I can't wait to read. And this post of her's on The Year of Here. Goes hand and hand with what I have been thinking with my serve theme. And not a little bit convicting.



Nature Study

The girls and I are going to attempt to add an afternoon of nature study into our week as the weather permits. I am going to be using Harmony Art Mom's Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenges Ebook. As part of this study, we also have 3 different artists to study - one per month (Caspar David Friedrich, Gilbert Stuart, and Claude Monet), and 3 different composers to study (Vivaldi, Waldteufel, and Dvorak). I am not a "nature girl" as Noelle likes to call herself, preferring instead the indoors (air conditioning or fire depending on the season), a book, and diet coke, so I am sure I will appreciate all the help.

Project Life for 2011

I know I said I wasn't going to do at 365 photo-a-day project this year. But then, I started looking back through my 2010 album and I'm back in again. It is so wonderful to have these little snippets of our life. I wish I had been better about journaling closer to the time the picture was taken, but I've still got these precious memories recorded. You can click the button below for more information about Project Life and the great resources that Becky offers (both her products and just general blog inspiration).



2010 has been a good year for me creatively and I'm looking forward to new projects in 2011!

I'm sure I'll think of something else once I hit post. But, it's a start. : )

Christmas

Our Christmas was very sweet & simple this year ... mostly because of the little dude pictured below. We took the baby-in-the-Santa-suit picture on Christmas Eve before we had to be at church that evening.

The end of the photo shoot. Cracks. me. up.

After the Christmas Eve service, we went over to some old friends' house for the evening, a long standing invitation that we have enjoyed for many years. Our families have grown since the first invitation about 20 years ago. There were 9 munchkins, aged 3 and under there, and several more older than that. It was busy!

When we got home the girls (and boy) were good and tired so we popped them all right into bed. Travis and I stayed up and attempted to watch a movie (The Last Airbender) that he had been wanting to see for some time. I don't think I lasted very long during the watching because I don't really recall what the movie was about. : )

Saturday morning we woke up to SNOW! It snowed all day on Christmas Day and quite a bit on the 26th, but this is about the extent of what stuck. It was still so pretty to watch it coming down. What a treat to have a real white Christmas!

The girls were up sometime between 6:30 and 7 a.m. on Christmas Day. Not too bad in my opinion. Our most wonderful neighbors had brought over some bags for the girls the day before and this is what was inside:

Four HUGE stuffed bears! They are so soft and cuddly and were instant favorites with the girls and Ethan.

There were a few Toy Story goodies for the middle girl.

A new book for Noelle, naturally.

And some serious eats by the time we got to my parents' house about lunch time. (That would be pumpkin cheesecake on the left and key lime pie on the right. How was I supposed to choose?)

How your Christmas was wonderful. I am now officially ready for the peace and much slower pace of January and February!

Today's the Day!

Happy Birthday today to my BFF of about 15 (16?) years, Gina! She has been such a faithful friend and is #2 on my speed dial on my phone so that should tell you something. : ) Oh, and by the way, happy birthday to me, too. : ) We share a birthday today, on New Year's Eve, and thanks to our wonderful husbands we will be enjoying a party tonight with our kids, karaoke, and cake (and hopefully a bunch of friends as well) to kick off our 40th years.

Hope you all have a safe and fun New Year's Eve whatever your plans may be!
This is picture is several years old, but I can't find / don't have a more current one. We will rectify that tonight!

L.M. Montgomery Challenge

Yay! I love this challenge and look forward to it every year. L.M. Montgomery books are comfort reading for me - this year I'm going to visit with Emily for the month. Emily ... as in Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest. It's been a while.

I also think I'm going to rent (via Netflix) some of the Road to Avonlea series to watch with the girls. I have had them on my Amazon wish list for literally years, but they are just SO expensive. These are ones that I would love to add to my home video library some day because they are just so good. However, today, I'm thankful for the magic of renting DVDs and getting them in the mail. : ) (The Emily of New Moon video series is actually available on Netflix's instant view so I may try that out as well, although I've heard it doesn't measure up as well as the Road to Avonlea show).

To join the LMM challenge, link up over at Carrie's (Reading to Know)!

It is completed

One of my goals for 2010 was to read through the Bible in a year and as of Monday morning, I was finished. Such a simple decision with such powerful results.

There were some days that I didn't want to read at all.

There were some days that I didn't want to stop reading.

So well worth it.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Revelation 22:21

December Daily, Days 21 & 22