TreasuresInTerraCotta

December always seems to fly by without much time to upload pictures, sit in front of a computer or compose a complete sentence. Here are some snap shots highlighting a few of our December activities. Homemade Fruit Cake.  I love that stuff! The cousins ran in a 1 mile Jingle Trail Run.   Everyone has bells on their shoes and running the race is so happy! On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! After the kids race we cheered on the adults in the 5K.   Uncle Fran was the only runner this year, but the kids cheered him on from the infield.   Andrew and Calvin discovered how to make these tin can lanterns.   What could be better for a boy than a tin can, a nail and a hammer.   We did some water/volume experiments for school. All the boys helped make sugar cookie cut outs. Grandma and Grandpa came over and decorated with us. Kids doing decorating...heavy on the frosting...heavy on the sprinkles...Aweso...

Just a quick note to say Happy St. Nicholas Day! We love St. Nicholas Day! We celebrate it a bit differently each year, but it is still so refreshing, even after almost 10 years.  It helps us to focus on giving instead of getting.  It helps us find ways to serve.  It helps by focusing our gift-giving to our kids on a day other than Christmas.  By default it also requires that shopping be finished by December 6 (more-or-less), which frees up a lot of my mental energy that tends to ruminate on "What are we going to get for...?" It's also super fun to leave shoes outside doors and watch the Veggie Tales St. Nicholas story.  And my boys love leaving St. Nicholas gifts.  In years past we have left little packages on the doorsteps of friends.  In the spirit of St. Nicholas we leave gifts in secret (except when mama's would be creaped out by anonymous gifts with their children's names).  This year we're doing something different.  We wil...

Here it is the end of November and I have just now reached the middle of my little MoleSkin, as noted by the cute stitching down the page.  As you can tell, I should have been memorizing this section back in July.   I got a little off track and decided to slow down.  It was hard to stay on task each week when I knew I was already behind.  But here I am about half way through Romans 8.  Trying to believe that the words I need at just the right time might be perfectly timed because I am four months behind. It makes me think of our recent craft project that was really just a salvage from the trash.  And a personal salvaging of a big, ugly reaction to something that shouldn't have been such a big deal.   One of the boys obliterated a couple sticks of chalk.  Now, this is something I have asked them not to do, scolded them for and required payment for replacement.  My logical, first-born, ordered, adult mind says, "If the ...

The tomatoes have gotten their second wind.  All three, the Romas, cherry and Mr. Stripy have some tomatoes.  The bell peppers are happy. We had quite a few so I made stuffed peppers recently.  I cut them in half because they were so long and irregular shaped, so they were more like bell pepper boats stuffed with the yummy rice concoction. Because it's fall and I had a lot of squash and fruit on hand, I pulled out this beautiful tin that Michelle sent me after I had one of the babies.  For the first time ever I planted garlic.  Now I have some sprouts.  Some of my herbs, like this mint, are bouncing back after the hot summer.  And last, but not least,  because it's November in the desert, I killed a rattle snake this morning.  No Kidding.  But no pictures.

Early in November we put some of our Halloween candy to use doing math projects. 

The weather in Southern Arizona turned the slightest bit cool and my mind began swirling with craft projects.  It wasn't intentional, but one day in early October, I looked around and discovered I had about six crafty projects in various stages of incomplete. It seems no coincidence that in early October I also started reading an enlightening blog by Emily over at Chatting at the Sky .  During the course of the month, I've read along as Emily has discussed art.  Not just the painting or symphony writing kind of art.  Not just a commissioned artist or professional art teacher kind of art.  But the art of living as the person you were designed and created and crafted to be.  The art of you!     What if the book, the painting, the meal,  the presentation were all simply evidence of  a deeper art happening within the soul of an artist? Art is what happens when you dare to be who you really are .   Emily'...