A Fine Feast Day

We love St. Nicholas' feast day.  Don't ask me why, none of our children (yet) is named Nicholas and we have no family ancestry tying us to Lycia or Turkey.  We just like him.  He is a saint after all...what's not to like?  Maybe it's because we want to focus more on St. Nicholas and less on the commercialized Santa Claus.  Here is how the two stack up against one another.

Anyway, every year we celebrate this day in a special way: I bake cookies and the kids leave out their slippers the night before and in the morning they find goodies in their slippers along with a personal note from St. Nicholas himself. There is also a gift wrapped in plain fabric from St. Nicholas for all the kids to share.

I make these coins every year.  I buy chocolate coins and paste vintage/traditional images of St. Nicholas on them. They look so cute! (I get the images from the Shower of Roses blog)

I put the coins in their slippers along with a candy cane, a clementine and a personalized note from St. Nicholas.

And in the package, the kids found this book.  A family favorite! I just found out that this book was Hilda van Stockum's first picture book ...how very talented she was.  It is perfectly charming as a read aloud.

Included in the little package was this Saints Stained Glass Coloring Book: a great way to showcase your kids' coloring abilities and evangelize the world;)  They look lovely on the windows!

Last but not least a game for the whole family to play.  

These took way too long to make.  I'll probably never make them again unless someone pays me a LOT of money or the Queen of England herself makes a request and seeing as how she is Protestant, I think it is highly unlikely.  

They sure do look cute though and they tasted delicious!!  St. Nicholas, pray for us.

Sweet Ride

For my birthday Richard took me to a local place that recently opened up:

So happy this place is here in our small town!

The kids are super excited about my new ride!

Red Velvet Cake: Before

After.

 Taking my new set of wheels out for a spin...

Deo Gratias

Our Thanksgiving this year was filled with good food and good company.  The kids played their part in preparing for the big day and I certainly played mine.  I don't know if I am just getting older but Thanksgiving this year took a beating on me...I really feel like I was hit by a truck!  I shouldn't complain though for I do love Thanksgiving dinner and I do love hosting friends. Not only that, but our good God has showered us with so many blessings that I happily take on the pain and suffering that comes along with truly serving the other in order to please Him and thank Him!

Opening our home to others, I feel, is the one beautiful way, we can show our children how to serve others and it is something we can actually put into practice as a whole family.  Our children learn from our actions more than our words and I can't think of a better to show our children the beauty of serving our friends and in making our home beautiful through that service than to invite people over to a warm home for a savory meal and faithful fellowship.

Here are some pics...not nearly as many as I wanted to take but didn't because I was huffing and puffing in the kitchen!

 This is the kids' Thanksgiving Lego Diorama.  Okay, I helped with the teepee.  (And that pig hiding behind the tree on the right is actually a wild boar).

 Here are the place cards the kids made. Definitely a 10 on the Cuteness Scale.

 Special Occasions = Special Place Settings.

 Richard would easily challenge that equation by arguing: Special Occasions = Special Beer.

 For the appetizers I made these ever so tasty Pepper Jelly-Goat Cheese Canapes that had a toasted pecan crust.  They were DeLiSh!

Here is my all-time favorite cranberry sauce, made with sauteed onions, cranberry juice a hint of ginger and some chopped apple thrown in the end.  We absolutely love it!

 And for La Piece de Resistance: Pecan Pie made with pure Maple syrup...no Karo here-o.

And now moving from the feasting to the thanking... 

And our good Lord above knows that I am thankful for each one of these little turkeys.

Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie

The two older kiddos went on a 'field trip' last week to the 1889 Territorial Schoolhouse ( an original one-room schoolhouse)  located in Edmond, OK.







The kids were asked to come to school dressed 'in period' (think of Laura Ingalls and the gang).  They also had to bring lunch in a tin pail and bring a tin cup to drink water (fetched from the "well").

 I say "field trip" because it wasn't your typical fun and ordinary field trip: the kids had to sit with their feet firmly planted on the floor and their hands folded on their desks and they couldn't talk out of turn and they couldn't get out of their desks for any reason. When they were dismissed they had to do it VERY orderly.  They basically performed all the school activities, lessons and tasks that were performed / expected in 1889; and they had fun doing it.  They especially enjoyed using the ink and quill to write in their copy book.
They would also have to raise their hand (of course) to use the 'necessary room'  but the only similarity it shared with an 1889 outhouse was the fact that it was outside.

The schoolmarm has rung the bell and the children line up.

Drinking well water.

Tin pail lunch.

 After lunch,  they learned some fun games, played dolls and skipped rope. 

Potato Sack Run.  See the 'outhouse'?

Their favorite game was a game similar to Duck Duck Goose.  All the children sit in a big circle and sing as one child, who is given a handkerchief, walks around all the children and drops it behind a child at the end of the song and chase each other etc. Super fun.

"A tisket a tasket, 

 a green and yellow basket,

I wrote a letter to my love 

and on the way I dropped it..."

 If you were naughty you were made to sit on a one-legged stool.  Not easy.

(Ezra was merely demonstrating, of course)

 Standing for the Spelling Bee.

My dear friend made the bonnet for Mila and I made the smock. Isn't it just so precious?

What an educationally entertaining day!

This Old House: Chapter 1

Well, we done did it.  We bought a house.  It is a very fine house, a very old one, but a very fine one indeed.  And it needs a whole lotta love. But, boy, are we excited!  Our goal is to transform this cute old house into an incredibly cute and charming one.  So, consider this post as not only an introduction to our future home but also Part 1:The Before Pictures.

Here we have the house:

The Front Entrance:

Next up, we have the Foyer:

Up close and personal with the banister.

Formal Dining Room that we will use as a Den/School Room/Family Room?. 

 We have decided not to keep the green ceiling.

This kitchen has SO much potential.  

See?

See the original wood floors?? We will be keeping those puppies in the kitchen.  

Raise your hand if you're excited!

Dining Area, Before:

We demolished the existing half bath and pulled up the floors

 to get to the original hardwood flooring.

View from the foyer.

Now we have a hall way and two additional rooms: 

a full bath and a mudroom/laundry room 

You know that saying, "If they can't find you handsome...at least they'll find you handy". 

Well, I lucked out and got me a man that is both handsome and handy:) 

Stay tuned for more updates on this old house...