Decking the Halls and Giving to Charities this Year

Our home is ready for Christmas. We always decorate as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are washed. It is a tradition around here. I love Advent and want to be able to enjoy every drop of the season. Our local live tree stand stays open on Thanksgiving, and we were there to pick our tree right after Thanksgiving lunch. I love a real tree. Rebekah really wanted to do a pink theme this year when she saw tons of pink bobbles at the thrift store and the guys relented. We got our wrapping paper at T.J. Max. 

Yes, we are already done shopping and the gifts are wrapped and under the tree. I think in our worry that we wouldn't be organized this year (with my new job and two weeks of Nutcracker performances), we went into organized overdrive. However, it is nice to be done and just able to enjoy the season. We have a book and sock theme going for gifts this year. Just about everyone asked for books of some kind, and we are crazy sock people that just love fun socks. 

One of my real goals with our living room was to be able to move around the furniture very easily to accommodate different activities throughout the year. To make room for the tree, we reversed the sofas and  moved the game table to be in front of the book cases. We did not pull out all of the Christmas decor this year, because we just felt too busy. Plus, we also have a huge exciting event coming just days after Christmas that meant the house needs to be a bit streamlined this year. 

The Advent house has chocolate in it. 

My snowmen are scattered through my "pretty things" shelves this year. I really like them there and wonder why I never thought of it before. 

I didn't get a picture of the nativity this year because it is in the rec room, but it looks the same as every year. Most likely there are a few figures lying down at any given moment because of cats walking through it. Good thing the figures are made of resin so are hard to break. 

Our Charities this Season ~ 

We decided to make our charity giving more monetary this year instead of our typical volunteer and making charity boxes. We did decide to do a reverse Advent calendar this year...each day the kids put into the basket an item of food before getting their chocolate out of the Advent house. By Christmas Eve we will have 24 food items to drop off at the local food bank. 

In addition to that, Rebekah really wanted to do something for Ukraine and we decided to make a contribution to UNICEF.  Elijah really wanted to purchase an animal from Heifer International and not just any animal -- a water buffalo. The water buffalo was a bit out of our price range with everything else we wanted to do, so we decided to buy a few shares in a water buffalo. 

Lastly, we decided to send small checks to the first three local charities that reached out to us, which ended up all being animal shelters in a 50 mile radius.  

I hope to post another update next week with all things Nutcracker. We are deep in Nutcracker season and college finals week around here. So far, we are all healthy. I hope that holds.

Blessings, Dawn

Before Five in a Row ~ Jesse Bear ~ Preschool

 The little guy I nanny for is bright as a button. He isn't two until late January, but he is obviously ready for some preschool activities. So I pulled out my Before Five in a Row curriculum. We decided to start with Jesse Bear What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom.  I made him a teddy bear out of cardboard with paper clothes to dress his very own bear. He loves to be read to, and we have read this book together about 30 times over the last two weeks --  I kid you not. We followed the BFIAR curriculum and played I Spy, talked about loving relationships and how to show love and identified patterns and shapes. 

We also talked about foreshadowing (what do you think is coming on the next page?) in the book. For example, when Mother bear comes out and is holding Jesse bear's bib, you know that it is time for Jesse bear to eat and that is then depicted on the next page. 

This curriculum includes lots of rhyming games. He loves rhyming with made up words and initiates rhyming games. We also learned Wee Willie Winkie, Hickory Dickory Dock and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. 

Lastly, we talked about how tidy Jesse Bear's room was and how it is more comfortable to live in a tidy home. We played the clean up game (which I had been teaching him for weeks). He is much more interested in having a tidy home like Jesse Bear and his parents say he is now initiating clean up time before transitions. 

What a delight to work with this little guy. We are starting Goodnight Moon next. 

November Catch-Up

Where did November go!? This month just sped by for our family. In fact, I really only took pictures three different times during the month and most of those are for my preschool post which should be up this week. All of the pictures below are from Rebekah's and my annual tour of the National Gingerbread Competition at the Grove Park Inn. Just the two of us went this year. The only times that worked for Rebekah were late in the evening.  We went on a Sunday after 7 pm and it was a perfect time. The little hot chocolate shop was still open, and we were able to tour the entire hotel without any crowds. It was perfect. All of the the gingerbread creations have to be 100% edible. 

The rest of the month was consumed with working, getting everyone where they needed to be, trying to balance a peaceful, tidy home with home-cooked meals and getting ready for December, which is going to be extremely busy, fun and festive,  I will have tons to post next month.

Our favorite one was this display. The mother bear has chased Santa up a tree,
 while the baby bears go through Santa's bag of goodies. 

The fairy's braided hair and the natural candy rocks and mushrooms
were a show stopper on this gingerbread display.

 

This one won the architectural award.

The Asheville skyline from the Grove Park Inn

The beginning of the month found Rosie (our almost 5 year old cat) having dental surgery. She has genetically weak teeth.  She did really well and they managed to save all of her teeth and fix her gums.  She has been a bit sweeter since she feels more comfortable. 

Thanksgiving was a lovely and peaceful day. We had seven sides, two pies and a roasted chicken. No one around here adores turkey--so why go through the ordeal of making it? We went out to the movies Thanksgiving night to see The Glass Onion. It was excellent. 

Blessings, Dawn

What a Wonderful October!

It was a very busy month, but we had a delightful October. Rebekah didn't have a single day off without some kind of out-of-the-home commitment (work, dance or school). We were a bit worried about squeezing in all of the celebrating that we generally do in October, but it all worked out. Rebekah had a lovely birthday. She chose a tart for her birthday "cake". We went out on the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed the fall leaves. Rebekah also enjoyed a charcuterie board.

It was also my husband's birthday this month. We decorated the table and he had his traditional steak dinner with chocolate peanut butter cake. I must admit, I think his traditional birthday cake is my favorite each year. 

We squeezed in pumpkin carving during movie night. I was glad that Elijah decided to join in the fun. He has been a bit down lately...growing pains primarily. 

We (all but Elijah) went on the LaZoom haunted bus tour on Halloween night. It was fun, but a bit off color for our taste. We were glad to be out and about. There aren't tons of things to do as an adult for Halloween. We don't get trick or treaters in our neighborhood.

Rebekah wore a devil outfit to dance one day. She enjoyed getting to dress up. They also had spirit week at her work, but I never got any photos  of her very low key costumes. 

My nanny job is going great. I love it so much. My little guy is just a joy to work with. He is smart as can be and mostly easy going. He spent the entire month loving all things Halloween and fall. We had so much fun making leaf piles, jumping and kicking balls, taking long walks and generally drinking up the last of the warm weather. He loves to be read to, and we read at least a dozen books a day. I made him a ghost bowling set for Halloween day. He really preferred stacking them rather than knocking them down.  I also made him purple rice this month. He loves this activity so much, but we are struggling to keep the rice in the bucket. He understands the concept, but he loves to throw it and watch me sweep it up. I think it is time for a mini broom and dust pan for him. 

My blog going forward- I do intend to keep blogging, but I think it will remain a once a month catch-up post and I will be adding a preschool post each month. My little guy and I are getting ready to start some very gentle preschool curriculum. I will be drawing from Montessori, Charlotte Mason and the Before Five in a Row curricula. I am delighted I have found a way to continue teaching. This job really fell in my lap, and I am so grateful. 

Blessings, Dawn

September ~ A New Arrival, New Job, Sad Goodbye and Fall Fun

Wow, we had a lot happen in our family in the past 30 days! We finally found Rebekah a car that we could afford. It is a 2008 Subaru Impreza with about 160,000 miles on it. But it is in very good condition and was taken very good care of before coming to us. We, of course, plan to nurture it so it can have a very long life. Rebekah only drives about 40 miles a week. Having another driver and car in the house to fetch Elijah and Tim, both non-drivers, when I am at work is invaluable!

David and I  planned to go to a bed and breakfast for our anniversary a year and a half ago. We set the date and made arrangements. Then a pile of issues came up and we had to cancel. The Bed and Breakfast saved our reservation and said we had two years to set a new date. We finally made it this month. It was the first time we had a 20 hour get away from home together since becoming parents to four kids! That is a lot of years to wait. We had a lovely time exploring this gorgeous Queen Anne right in our town. At every turn there were Tiffany windows. We went out to a nice restaurant for dinner and had a lovely breakfast at the Bed and Breakfast. It was a lovely get away, and we plan to make it a yearly thing. One upside of living in a tourist town is that there are more than a dozen  B&B's to explore without being more than 20 minutes from home. 

We also enjoyed the mountain state fair. We get a smaller version than the main state fair held in the capital. Only Timothy and Rebekah wanted to go. Elijah is such a homebody and doesn't like to change his routine unless it is something really spectacular. I realized that I didn't get a single picture of him this month...but he is doing just fine. 

My new job is wonderful. I am really enjoying being a nanny. It is a bigger adjustment being away from home for 16 to 20 hours a week than I thought it would be, but all the prep work I put into place is working for the most part. The little guy I care for is so smart, and we are really enjoying getting to know each other. I brought bubbles to play with the first week, and he started calling me "Bubbles". So far the name has stuck and he has no interest in learning my real name. My family is really getting a kick out of my "new" name and like to tease me. We have fallen into a nice routine that includes playtime, crafts, lots of reading books, a long walk to the park/library/stores (depending on how far I want to walk) and naptime. He is a real sweetheart. 

Rebekah, Tim and I ran off to an apple and pumpkin patch one day this month. Rebekah only had two days off this month that didn't have any school, dance or work. I wish she had a reset/rest day each week, but so far the schedule hasn't worked that way. 

Lastly,  my husband's father passed away this month. He had a short period of suffering before passing away peacefully in his sleep. We were blessed to know him and he was a kind father, father -in-law and grandpa. My husband will be traveling to Salt Lake City for his funeral soon (we can't afford to fly all of us there). Then we will all attend his internment in his home church that he helped build (St. Andrews in Northern Virginia) sometime this winter. 

Blessings, Dawn

August Recap ~

August started off pretty relaxing. We prepared for our relatives to visit and got Rebekah squared away with back-to-work clothes, college books, and a new laptop for her college classes. We are searching for a car in which Rebekah will be the primary driver, but our budget is a bit lower than what the market is right now, so it is going to require some patience. On the driving front, Elijah is making a bit more progress with me. We are driving three to four times a week and have started driving on a four lane road near us. He sticks to the right hand lane the whole way, but he is slowly building confidence. 

My stepmother and her partner came down for a one week visit. It was nice to see them, and we did some fun activities while they were in town. We took a long walk on the riverfront one evening and played several board games. 

We spent a day at Lake Lure (some of the movie, Dirty Dancing, was filmed in this little town near us). We went in the middle of the week and pretty much had the lake to ourselves. It was lovely. We then went into town and had lunch and played a bit on the rocks in the river. My husband was there, but took the photos, and Elijah hates lake water so decided to skip this event. 

 

Sue and Rebekah

Another evening was spent at a horse show in a neighboring town. The carousel was free so we HAD to go on it. 

By the end of the month, life really started to pick up. Rebekah is taking three college classes, one in-person and the other two online. She is working on a business degree in Retail Marketing. So far, she likes the in-person a lot. The online classes are good, too, but a little bit glitchy. Hopefully, the hard parts will be straightened out soon. Ballet is going great and she is very happy in her new dance studio. Her part-time job at H&M is proving to be the hardest transition. The training is poor due to a lack of staff, plus they are understaffed and a bit desperate all the time. We will see if this works out or not. I don't want her school or dance to suffer in any way, but she does need to make money to help with her dance classes. She plans to stick it out for the 90 days that she committed to and then reevaluate. 

Our hairdresser is still doing backyard haircuts. We went to her house, and her pug insisted on sitting on Elijah's lap during his haircut. So cute. Dog therapy and a haircut all in one!

I start my new nanny job three days a week in September. I am really looking forward to it. I will be working at the child's home. We are going to have a blast!

Blessings, Dawn