i’ve been blogging here at smithical for a little over 3 years – when i was still pregnant with sawyer! when i first started, i only read mommy blogs. all i cared about in this world was raising my kids, so that’s all i wanted to read about – other mothers and their experiences, trials, and joys of raising kids.

not that that has changed much, because i still crave the presence of other mothers, love to glean advice and support from other mothers, and still read several blogs dedicated to blogging. the next year, my blog subscriptions changed a bit. i added friends and family blogs, as they started their own, or i finally discovered an old blog of theirs. i read blogs from cooks, blogs on reading, and blogs on hobby farming (specifically chicken-raising).  and now? my blogline feeds are about 75% crafting blogs. this may sound corny, but i specifically love the crafting blogs dedicated to family living. two of these that are GOOD stick out in my mind: i have to say… and soulemama. these two blogs have really influenced my desire to make and create, and mostly for the sake of my family and friends. “i have to say…” has another blog called me and my girl in which she reports and demonstrates sewing projects (and other crafting) that she does with her daughter. soulemama is in the process of writing her second book and has one to be published this spring. go to today’s post: she has a great list of lovely winter books – some of which we own, some are already on our wishlist!

i learned a little from blogging every day this november: mainly that i like to put words out here in cyberspacae and sometimes i care if i get comments, other days i forget that i’ve blogged and when a few emails pop into my inbox telling me i’ve received some new comments, i’m pleasantly surprised.

thanks for reading along every day this month. i’ll be back – but not as often – in december!

today was a gorgeous day. the forcast called for rain and snow, but there was no precipitation at all and loads of sunshine.

but do you remember me whining about how we haven’t gotten any of our leaves picked up yet? we did a bit of the front, and a bit of the back so far, but going outside and walking around (especially if you’re only 18 months old) is very difficult in long grass and heavy leaves. so it makes days like this hard to enjoy outside.

fortunately, we were able to spend an hour picking up the leaves around the boys’ jungle gym, and we hope to finish the rest of the yard on saturday. because saturday night we are expected to get a snowstorm. and last year, once it snowed, the snow was on the ground for weeks and weeks. and weeks and weeks.

there are days when i wish a leaf blower was all we needed. but then, the boys wouldn’t have all this room to roam….

this year, we’re really going to observe advent. we talk about it every year and last year we got somewhere with some of our traditions, but this year, we’re really going to observe advent, and celebrate christmas on the twelve days after christmas, culminating in a 12th night celebration.

i am noticing a lot more talk of “getting presents” between rowan and sawyer this year. they’re getting more and more excited about christmas, and while i don’t want to steal their excitement in the giddiness of receiving, i want them to also begin to get excited about giving. i know they have it in them. this year, i made a raggedy ann doll for my niece ramona, and the boys fell in love with her as she grew from fabric in a bag to torso with a face to doll with hair and clothes. they constantly asked to play with her and did everything they could to keep raggedy ann a secret from ramona until we opened gifts on thanksgiving night. i think it was sawyer who just couldn’t wait any longer and told laura (ramona’s mom) about the doll the day before thanksgiving. but when it was time to give the doll to ramona, as she opeend the present, sawyer stood over her dancing from one foot to another, totally giddy to see raggedy ann in her new owner’s arms. when she opened the present sawyer scooped up the doll and held it up high for her parents to see and then finally gave it to ramona.

so in advent, we will prepare our hearts from the coming of the chirist child and His return. i am looking into some celebrations for the different days in advent (the four sundays, st. nicholas day, st. lucia day, etc..). i’ll share what we find and what works and flops this year. i have a feeling it will take us a few advents to figure out what traditions are good for our family. but i can’t wait to see what takes shape as we learn how to prepare our hearts for the coming of the King.

Thanks to Stephanie, a fellow blogger and lover of
sewing, I was tagged for this meme. I’m going tag Sursumcorda (because I know
how much she LOVES memes!), Kelly (Kelly, my link goes to your husband’s blog and I can’t find your’s anywhere – do you still have a blog?), Bonnie, Reynie, and Serina.

 5 facts about me, some random and some odd:

 1. I used to
live two blocks away from Princess Diana. For six whole months.
 2. I had better
seats than Prince Charles at a play in Stratford Upon Avon. I
“discovered” him at the end of intermission, couldn’t watch the rest
of the play because I was star-struck, royally pissed off the little old lady
behind me (she called me a damn yankee! Really!) because I was distracting her
by staring too much at the Prince.
 3. I cannot eat
meat with gristle or fat. Once I bite into a piece of fat or gristle, I’m done
with meat for a good long time.
 4. I have a soft
spot for cheesy music. Like Barry Manilow, Air Supply, Sheena Easton, and Styx.
 5. I think it’s
all the rain we’ve been having, but I’m just not anywhere near being in the
Christmas spirt this year. Normally I can’t wait for the Christmas seaons, but
this year, I could probably do without it. I’ll just have my Advent and move on,
thank you.

Here are the meme rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some
random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their
names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on
their blog.
5. Don’t break the chain!

i can’t speak highly enough of a particular book series that has
been in our home now for two months. i recently read somewhere that
when your child can recognize their name written down, they are ready to
begin reading. rowan has recognized his name for several months now, so
i jumped at the chance to begin teaching him to read.

i scoured web sites and blogs for recommendations on “how to teach your
child to read” books but none of them grabbed my attention as much as the bob books.
these books are not teaching books so much as fun little books that
make it fun for your child to read by themselves. i bought the first in
the series two months ago. the books are full of short words and characters with short names like
Mat and Mac. they have pets like a dog and a cat. filler words like “mad” and “sat” complete the story.

both rowan and sawyer sat down with me on our couch and we opened the
first book: rowan began sounding out the first word:
MMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT. MMAATT. MAT! MAT! all i was doing was
pointing at the letter and he made the letter’s sound as my finger went
across the word. he immediately learned how to sound out letters in a
word. that first day, he completeled reading one whole
“bob book” on his own – without my prompting him in his sounding-out.

sawyer is so eager to read them just as he hears his big brother
reading it. he knows the sounds of letters, but is still learning the
lower case letters – he doesn’t quite recognize them as quickly as
rowan does. adam loves the books because they’re just his size. they’re
a little bigger than the larger-type index cards and only 10-15 pages
long. he sits with one of the books in his lap turning a few pages at
once making the same sounds he hears rowan saying: “MMM,” “CCCC” or
“TTTT.”

i’m loving watching the excitement rowan has when we tell him how proud
we are of him. i love the enthusiasm of learning he’s displaying. can i
wrap this up and save it for everything he and his brothers need to
learn? will they always be so enthusiastic about learning new things?
i’m excited for the day that all three of them are sitting in their
favorite spots devouring a favorite book on their own.

tonight, i carry on the cleaning frenzy. i hadn’t one moment to
straighten up over the past few days. fortunately, i had a lot of help
from guests cleaning up in the kitchen, but the rest of the house was
neglected by me, and now it’s getting a clean sweep through. i’m only
straightening…the cleaning will come once we bring up the christmas
decorations. and since we only put them away just a few months ago (hey
- at least they were in a box in the corner of the living room, and not
still displayed!), i’m not in any hurry to bring them back up. but for
the sake of the kids, a christmas tree will happen, and so will the
twinkle lights.

tomorrow is laundry day, play-time, and down-time. perhaps a batch of cookies will be made.

next sunday begins advent…my favorite time of year. we have a busy week in preparation for advent…lists and gifts; traditions to begin and to carry on. i will probably blog a little less (especially after another post-a-day-november), but hopefully get to spend some solid time preparing and waiting; as is advent.

it’s late-ish night, and i’m about to have a late night bowl of cereal. is anyone else a cereal-at-night snacker? i actually prefer it to morning…

today’s entry is is short. it’d be sweet if i didn’t choose raisin bran for my bowl-o-cereal choice for the night…so it’s just short. we still have a housefull of guests, and we’re all in zombie-mode.

g’night.

i have a guest blogger today. she’s 7, smart, and loves bugs. this is my niece, sadie (the oldest of my side of the family’s nieces and nephews/grandchildren).

 

i’ll leave the rest of today’s blog entry to her very own words:

Thanksgiving Chickens Adventure
After getting to the 400-mile place, Uncle Kenny and Aunt Lizzy’s house, we begged and begged. Finally he let us go see his CHICKENS! When we go thtere, all 15 chickens were asleep. When we went back, mom said it was time for bed. We couldn’t sleep so we got lucky…mom let us stay up for a couple more minutes!

The next morning, we got dressed. Uncle Kenny said that we could go out, feed the chickens and see if there are any eggs. They layed three eggs and I got to feed the chickens two times! Uncle Kenny told us we could feed the chickens scraps later on, when the rain cleared. I was having a great day!

I also got to make a turkey. I also payed the piano. I also made a craft. I also made a friend named Miss Pretty Pretty (a brown araucana).

The End.

I can tell you for sure that there were a few more visits out to see/feed the chickens (those chickens had their very own thanksgiving meal scrap plate), and much more talk about how they were doing.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

if rowan is this excited about thanksgiving, i can’t wait to see his anticipation of christmas. we are busy and bustling around today…the kitchen hasn’t had a moment of peace.  we have some baby backs in the smoker for dinner tonight to go along with a mexican lasagna, steak fries and steamed broccoli.

thanksgiving checklist:
 - turkey has been picked up and chilling in the fridge
 - two pumpkin pies baked and cooling, one apple pie cooking
 - stuffing assembled in the garbage bag
 - beer and wine chilling in the fridge
 - one visiting family here, one on the way
 - presents made and wrapped

and looky at what i get to snuggle with anytime i want (and give back to the proud mama and papa when she starts to fuss)…this is baby astrid millay, 3 1/2 weeks old.

and here is where it’ll all go down tomorrow. mmm….fresh pies, turkey and real mashed potatoes. anyone else giddy at the thought of turkey gravy and stuffing?

i blame charlie brown’s thanksgiving special for the excitement rowan and sawyer have over the big meal this year. they’re most excited about the pumpkin pie (i made two!) and especially the “cream whip” that goes on top.