Lazy Holidays

This Christmas break has been like no other that I've had for quite a long time.  We've had nowhere in particular to go or be, and therefore there's been all kinds of time to just relax, unwind, and rejuvenate. (Of course, Charles is busier than ever, so this isn't necessarily a break time for him.)

So I've been able to do a lot of reading, and it's been glorious.  Since I worked all summer, this time to relax has been especially sweet.

As you might imagine, the girls don't necessarily sit still for as long.  They've also done some reading but quite a bit of playing too.  The past two days the playing has been as a band called "The Girls."

They use their new Chromebook to play oldies and motown classics on Pandora while drumming along on their various percussion instruments.  Sophie's favorite is "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," while Hannah prefers "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."  Don't be jealous, but I received a free pass good for 20 performances.

I attended a concert at 1pm this afternoon, so this ticket now reads "19 concert pass."  The songs they're playing are classics of American rock'n'roll, and I love that they're learning to know and love them!

  

Hope you are finding some time to rest and relax in this holiday season also.

Christmas Day 2013

This has been the year of the Santa hat for Sophie. She even wears it to bed.

 
As you might expect, Christmas morning began early, not too long after 6am.  First we had to check the cookies that were left out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

A photo, a note, 4 cookies, peanut butter pie, milk, and a banana for good measure

Sophie's smaller note says, among other things, "I hope you get me what I want"

Santa couldn't quite eat it all, but he did eat his banana!

We opened stockings and found cards, needed items like toothpaste and deodorant, books, winter attire, fancy flashlights, and lots of candy.

Hannah with her stocking loot

Sophie showing off her Carmex lip medicine

They both got warm winter hoodies that can be worn multiple ways

Dad got his usual chocolate covered cherries, of course

After opening stockings we wanted to eat breakfast before diving in to the gifts under the tree.  Some of us felt that it took too long for the homemade cinnamon buns to bake.  While waiting some slept and some bounced off the walls.  I'll let you figure out which was which.

Oops, I might have given it away!

Next we opened our other gifts.  Charles got some new boots, a work light for his basement construction projects, and information on getting a back-up key for his new Prius.  The Prius is his primary gift for this year.  Randa got a new water heater (several weeks ago), some very comfy pajamas with skulls on them, a movie, and some fuzzy socks from the girls.  Hannah got some good winter gloves, and Sophie got some cooking items that she had been wanting.  They both got fuzzy socks they had been wanting, but the most exciting gifts are pictured below.

Mini American Girl dolls: Marie Grace and Rebecca

A Chromebook to share

They got the Chromebook because they've been asking more and more frequently to use mom's computer for schoolwork.  They use Chromebooks at school, so we thought that would be a good affordable option.  They also got another desk so that they can each have their own space to work at.  Then we spent a good portion of the rest of the day rearranging the library to accommodate the desks as well as Randa's new sewing table.  See the results below:

I like the new arrangement a lot

Sophie invited Grandma and Grandpa for a Christmas Party from 1-3pm.  So they came down after lunch to see the new gifts, read Christmas stories, and play some games.  After that they went to close up the cabin while we had a Christmas dinner of Shake-n-Bake chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls.

One of the highlights of this Christmas, for me, was feeling like everything was "just right." We didn't have so many gifts that it felt overwhelming, and the girls are actually able to play with and appreciate the gifts they received.  Since Christmas they've been busy making clothes and pillows and blankets for their new dolls, and the Chromebook has been a big hit as well (which they actually haven't fought over too much so far).  They've also had fun arranging their new desk spaces and feeling quite grown up in the process.

Hope your Christmas has been as merry and joyous as ours!

All lit up on Christmas morning

Gingerbread House From Scratch

Instead of a kit for making a gingerbread house this year, I wanted to make one from scratch.  There was a recipe, template, and directions on Simple Bites, one of the blogs I read on a semi-regular basis.  It didn't seem too difficult, so we gave it a whirl!

We wanted to decorate the house while Kelly, Jon, and Carter were visiting, so we planned ahead to be ready.  We mixed up the dough on Wednesday evening while making candy cane blossoms for school, and Friday we cut and baked the pieces.  There was enough dough left to make a few gingerbread cutouts, so we did some mini gingerbread men to go with the house, as well as some angel's (Sophie's choice) and some Santa heads (Hannah's choice).

Saturday we made some royal icing and pieced the house together, leaving it to set and harden overnight.  Since Sunday was busy with church, gifts, and Christmas dinner, we didn't get around to decorating the house until Monday morning.

Carter was a super helper until he was "all done."  How do you like the gingerbread man climbing up the roof?  That's his touch!  Hannah and Sophie finished the job after Carter was all through.

This was not too difficult and we've determined that it definitely tastes far better than the store bought kits.  Delicious!

Moyers Christmas 2013

And the Moyers Christmas is in the books!  Kelly, Jon, and Carter came for just a few days, arriving Saturday morning and staying through lunch on Monday.  In that time we squeezed in gifts, dinner theater, gingerbread house, Christmas light show, smoked turkey Christmas meal, and lots of sweets and goodies.

Saturday morning we opened stockings, interrupted by a homemade pizza lunch and Carter's nap.  Jon and Kelly had intended to drive all the way to Broadway Friday night but stopped in Lynchburg instead, so everyone was a little tired on Saturday.  We also opened a few gifts from under the tree and constructed the gingerbread house Saturday afternoon.

For the girls it was a Christmas filled with American Girl paraphernalia.  They got travel kits, hair kits, letter/sewing kits and more that I can't even remember.  Carter got lots of cars and balls, plus he enjoyed playing with all Grandma's singing Christmas decorations.

Saturday night Grandpa babysat Carter while the rest of us went to watch Grandma perform at the John Kline house to tell the story of the Kline family during the Civil War in the valley in 1863.  We were served a huge and delicious home-cooked meal while watching the play.  Grandma played the wife of a married couple that were forced from their home in northern Virginia by troops and came south through the valley seeking refuge with relatives.

Kelly was worried about Carter and how he would do alone with Grandpa.  We arrived home after the meal and play to discover that the poor little guy had thrown up three times!  They gave him a bath and put him to bed and luckily he was on the mend Sunday.

So we all went to church together at our church and then did more gifts while also preparing a smoked turkey meal complete with mashed potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, creamed lima beans, green beans, homemade rolls, and gravy.

After dinner we went to view the musical lights show in Singers Glen and then returned for desert: red velvet cake, peanut butter mousse pie, and tons of Christmas cookies.  We were all stuffed!  Charles received a bright green Elf t-shirt from Kelly and Jon.  When they realized he had never seen Elf, we decided to all watch it together Sunday night.  The girls enjoyed it, but Sophie was beyond tired once we finally got them home around 10pm.

As you can see from the photo above, one of Hannah's favorites of the weekend was this box filled with used wrapping paper.  More than anything else, she enjoyed jumping in there to smash the paper down and then hide in the box.

Monday morning we decorated the gingerbread house, hung out a little, and then had lunch together before Kelly and Jon left for North Carolina.  Jon's mom is soon arriving for a Christmas visit, and they are looking forward to a Christmas at home as they expect a new little Baby Keane in February.

Candy Cane Blossoms

Thursday was the girls' Christmas lunch at school.  Hannah was on the planning committee.  She was excited to bring cookies and prepare jokes from a Christmas joke book for the event.  She selected candy cane blossoms, and they are really quite festive little cookies!

Sophie played Jolly Old St. Nicholas on the piano as part of the festivities.  Grandma, who was helping to serve the special lunch, said she played more loudly than any of the other students!  She's been interested in learning how to play piano lately, so she mostly taught herself this easy Christmas classic.

 

 

They both dressed in their Christmas finest, including updos for the hair.  Hannah helped Sophie with her pigtail braids.  The lunch menu included Subway sandwiches, which was a big hit for Sophie but not so much for Hannah.  I think they both enjoyed the day anyway.

Wise Guys and Starry Skies

December 8th was to be the day of the church children's Christmas program, but alas, that was one of the aforementioned snowy/icy days. The rescheduled event took place on the Thursday following.  This year's program was entitled "Wise Guys and Starry Skies" and told the story of the three wise men making their way to see the baby Jesus.

Hannah and Sophie were happy to have non-speaking, non-solo roles in the affair.  They enjoyed the play and the music and did a fine job singing along with the rest of the chorus.  Some of the children played Christmas instrumental pieces as a prelude.  It's difficult to decide whether the highlight was the set almost crashing down or the cookies and finger foods following the event.  I'm betting the girls would vote for the cookies.

A Little Pick-Me-Up

Early last week when I was feeling a little defeated from all the things that seemed to be going wrong, I sat down with my Bible early one morning for devotions and found this tucked inside:

My devotion guide had me reading Hannah's prayer from 1 Samuel 2 and right there was a note that my Hannah must have written I don't know how long ago.  I didn't even know she'd written it or placed it in my Bible, but it was just the right message at the right time.

The peace of Christ be with you as well.

The Real Deal

In my last post, I showed the girls dressed in snow attire and ready to play.  Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday they finally got a taste of the real thing.  The snow began on Sunday morning, which we used as an excuse to skip church and stay home to watch the beautiful flakes fall from the sky.  Sunday afternoon we baked our annual Christmas sugar cookies and decorated them, which was nice to do while winter weather was falling.

The forecast was calling for a lot of ice also, and it was right.

Overnight Sunday the snow and sleet turned to freezing rain, leaving a thick coating of ice on everything and giving us a day off of school.  Our rose bushes still had a few sad rose blooms that look a bit unnatural when encased in ice.

While home on Monday, I caught up on some other baking: bread, chocolate chip cookies for Charles, and biscuits that Sophie wanted to make herself.  It warmed up nicely and all the ice melted away, but by the end of the day Monday my phone was beeping with messages of another winter storm on the way.

Tuesday we woke up to this and another day off of school:

The girls measured just under 4 inches at 8am (see how they're in their jammies still?) and flurries continued through noon or so.  This was perfect snow for playing in, and Grandma joined in the fun.  Since I enjoy looking at the snow more than being in it, I took the day to finish a sewing project and do some reading and napping.

It's been a glorious long weekend, and it will be hard to get back into the swing of school again.  Especially since we only have three days this week, three days next week, and then Christmas break.  The challenge lies in figuring out how to get everything done in my classes in that time frame!

Thanksgiving 2013

On the day before Thanksgiving there was a light dusting of snow, but it was enough to get two little girls excited about donning their snow pants and playing outside for just a little bit.

Sophie even practiced her snow angels inside, though there really wasn't enough precipitation to even come close to doing the real kind.

I spent the day inside getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast.  I made homemade rolls, prepped cinnamon buns for Thanksgiving morning, and baked the pumpkin pie.  For the first time (perhaps ever) we had our Moyers Thanksgiving meal on Thursday instead of Sunday.  The hunting was sparse and nobody really needed more deer anyway.  Plus the Hendricks clan wasn't getting together Thursday since Granny and Papa were journeying south at the time.

So we had a meal, just the six of us, on Thursday.  And it was nice.  My other responsibilities were Great-Grandma's macaroni and cheese and a pot of green beans.  Grandma took care of the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and cupcakes for the non-pumpkin-pie-eaters.  We ate around 2pm and came back to the table a couple of hours later for dessert.

Then the girls and I went with Grandma and Grandpa up to the cabin for a couple of days of unplugged time.  Once we arrived and unpacked we ate some rolls and turkey for a light supper.  Here's two turkeys roasting by the fire while eating their rolls:

I took the opportunity to do some reading, both for my Japan class and for pleasure.  My pleasure reading was Quiet by Susan Cain, and I really enjoyed it.  It's about being an introvert in an extroverted world, and I really resonated with much of the book.  I also learned a lot about myself, my family, and my students.

While we were gone, Charles attempted to catch up on some work projects, as well as dealing with our conked-out water heater and shopping for a car since his has been nothing but trouble the last couple of years.  So once we got home Saturday, Charles and the girls decorated for Christmas and then we went out to eat and bought a new water heater.  Grandpa and Charles installed it on Sunday while we were at church.  And then Monday we bought a new car.  How's that for one extended weekend's activities?