Explosion of happiness

 Linking up for another miscellany Monday this week! http://www.carissagraham.com/search/label/miscellany%20monday

1. When you have a leaf, it is very exciting, especially when you are one year old.  Good heavens what a lot of excitement going on about the leaf in the house this morning.
2. Cosmo and Amazing refilled the bird feeder for the second time in 10 days.  We need to buy more birdseed soon.  Those kiddo's love watching the birds just outside in the living room window.  I can't get over how many different kinds of birds we've seen already.
3. "That little girl's hair is an explosion of happiness!" ~ my favorite quote by my favorite Awesome.  She was speaking of a daycare child, but the ironic thing is that Awesome's hair is "an explosion of happiness".  Smiling, smiling, smiling.
4. I think I'll try to make clam chowder for dinner tonight.  I know you were wondering.
5. I'm getting my advent items out of the attic this week.  We'll be getting out the Jesse Tree my son made last year and the advent wreath and candles.  I love that part of the holiday season!
6. Ladle, ladle, ladle.  This is another thing that Awesome loves to say, frequently.  It does sound funny, don't you think?  Ladle, ladle, ladle.
7. Wow, I was thinking this was 7 quick takes for a minute, and I thought I was about finished.  Now I need to think of 3 more things for Miscellany Monday.  Alrighty then.
8. There are four children, clucking and flapping their chicken wings, stomping out the dining room, living room, kitchen loop in my house right this very minute.  I bet you wish you were here for it. 
9. "Mom, you should get up and do the dancing chicken with us." ~ Amazing.
10. Guess it's time to go do the chicken.  Have a great week!

Naptime Giggles

I'm so excited because today I'm being featured at A Mother Seeking today!  Yea, my first feature!  Hop on over and check it out



http://www.amotherseeking.com/2011/11/giving-gratitude-the-link-party-on-a-mother-seeking.html

I am thankful for children... mine and those on loan to me each day.  I am thankful for lego's stacked to the ceiling and train tracks clogging the floor.  I am thankful for B-I-N-G-O and even more thankful for Tom Petty.  I am thankful for a Cosmo helping his younger sister Amazing with science and children who think math is too easy.  I am thankful for kids who love to create,  washable tempera paints and tiny washable hands.  I am thankful for stories and imagination and for beautiful naptime giggles.  I am thankful for sleeping children and the escape to my Diet Coke.  I am thankful for the afternoon sunshine streaming in my windows.  I am thankful for one on one time with my children and endings to work days.

Scene from a memoir I haven't written yet {My first, last, only detention ever}

http://www.tootimidandsqueamish.com/2011/11/my-first-and-second-confession/

Linking up with (Don't Be) Too Timid and Squeamish today with a religious memory from my upbringing.

I'm in the 7th grade at a K-8 Catholic grade school. I'm quiet, well behaved, and soft spoken. I always do my homework and study for tests. I arrive on time, I listen, and I answer questions. I am not popular and I am not a trouble maker. I am pleasant to have in class. I am not an A student, but I rarely get below a B. I am one of those students that make a teachers job just a little easier.

Sister M has been teaching for a very long time. She is strict, but friendly. She really wants her students to succeed, but she has a temper. Some of the kids make her mad, just because they can. They think her response is funny. I am bothered when Sister M is upset. Some days she just seems agitated all day.

On this day Sister M was agitated. We had come to her room from our homeroom and she asked us to take out our assignments. I had done my assignment, but my folder was in the other room. I approached Sister M and asked to retrieve the folder. She immediately responded by saying, "No. No homework. Detention."

I had never been in trouble in school before. I had done the work, and it was in the building, I just didn't have it in my hand at that moment and for this offense I was going to have to serve a detention and have a mark on my record. I was crushed.  I didn't cry, although inside I was crying hard and yelling about how unfair it was. I did the work! It was in the building! This isn't fair!!!

At this school, detention was served after lunch, during recess. I went to lunch and ate quietly, expecting to suffer the humiliation of detention. There were boys that had detention that I felt very uncomfortable around. I was shy and careful about my social interaction. I was so upset. This was possibly the worst day ever.

Lunch was over and everyone was instructed to throw away their lunch trash and quiet down for dismissal to recess. I watched my friend’s line up and walk down the hall to freedom. I sat at the table, waiting. There were a handful of us left. Sitting quietly, but separately. The principal appeared at the front of the room to tell us what our detention duties would be. He looked right at me and angled his head in a look of curiosity and amusement. He instructed people to wipe down tables and arrange chairs, but told me to hold on because he wanted to talk to me.

Ugh... I just wanted to crawl under a rock. "Why, exactly are you here Miss B (my maiden name)?" I smiled nervously at him and said, "Sister M got mad at me for leaving my homework in the other room and gave me a detention" I said, hoping he would realize the injustice I was feeling. "I think you can go on outside for recess now" he said, smiling at me. Then he turned around to direct the rest of detention.

I walked quietly down the hall to go outside, feeling forgiven for my discrepancy and like I had somehow "dodged a bullet". I hoped Sister M wouldn't find out about this. I didn't want to make her upset ever again.

Happiness is... {backyard campfires in the cold}

Linking up at Rub Some Dirt On It blog hop today!

The temperatures are starting to drop and we're fighting it with everything we've got.  We've closed the storm windows, pulled out the flannel sheets and even had the furnace running a bit.   The frost on the windshield this morning was like the welcoming kiss from winter.  It was a warning to settle in and prepare for the bitter cold to come.  Well, we may be preparing, but we're not ready to settle in just yet.

This is the time for backyard campfires and warm hot chocolate.

It's the time for scary campfire stories and flaming marshmallows

It's time for laughing until late in the night.

It's time for fuzzy warm coats and a toasty glow from the fire.

With no mosquito's or June bugs to spoil the fun!

Thanksgiving painted handprint turkey project

We made our painted handprint turkey's today.  The 3 year old was very patient, the 2 year old looked like she was nauseated by the whole ordeal and the 1 year old thought it was icky, but liked the way the paint felt on her hand.  My 12 and 9 year old had a blast helping me with painting little fingers for the handprint stamping, and then enjoyed making their own silly turkey's.

Overall, it was a pretty quick and easy project, when done one child at a time.  Here are pictures of the process while working on it with the one year old:

And here is the one year old's completed turkey:

And here are all 5 completed turkey's.  The 3 year old can't remember that they're turkey's though.  He keeps telling me how excited he is to take home his chicken.  What?  I'm so conufsed.



We'll try our feather turkey project next week.  Can't wait for that one!