I ♥ Faces – sweet dreams
07 Dec 2009 7 Comments
in iheart faces
This week at I ♥ Faces, it’s all about sleep. Here is my friend’s 7 day old baby that I was so happy to take pictures of.
See more sweet dreams here: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/
Pizza pie and 4 mile
06 Dec 2009 1 Comment
It was snowing this morning which was good for 2 reasons – pizza tastes better when it snows (I’m serious) and we were headed to four mile house for their Christmas celebration, and snow just makes it seem more like Christmas.
We ditched our regular pizza place to try another one, Fat Sully’s pizza on Colfax. I thought, it must be good pizza if the guy is fat (I’d never eat at a place called Skinny Sully’s.) They must be like real NY pizza because they tasted almost exactly like Anthony’s pizza and just like Anthony’s their pies are huge!
Check out this slice!
After eating we headed over to 4 mile for the Colorado Christmas.
There were carolers singing while we ate sugar plums (and for the count, we went a-wassailing, ate sugar plums and roasted chestnuts while Jack frost was nipping at our nose.)
We saw the quilters and spinners and then headed outside.
The sled was running around the park while we stayed close the the fire and roasted marshmallows (and chestnuts, which by the way are nasty even when you do roast them, but it’s the thought that counts.)
We walked through the snow to the cooking shed for tea and snicker-doodles fresh from an old iron stove, ummmm.
Then we went to see the donkey/horse and the goats.
For our TX goat farming friends:
here’s a picture of James’ great-great-great uncle Jehoshaphat (as in jumpin’) and goat – this is real goat farming in the snow! More marshmallows were roasted and eaten, even the really, really burnt ones and then we went back inside to warm up by the fire.
Jack frost was harsh out there, but yuletide carols sung by the fire are toasty!
Hope you had a very merry weekend and here’s the advent reading for today:
Sunday, Dec. 6
“This is how you are to eat it, with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord.” Exodus 12: 11
Today’s ornament has a lamb on it. God instructs Moses and Aaron to slaughter a year-old male lamb for each member of Israel, smearing the blood to mark every doorpost, thus beginning the tradition of Passover and marking the exodus of the Israelites out of slavery. You can read the whole Passover story in Exodus 12:1-14:31.
All Wassailed out
05 Dec 2009 1 Comment
After James got back from his flight we hit the road to Frisco.
Here are some shots of the journey up I-70.
Man I love takings pics in the tunnel, it’s just so cool.
Frisco is just on the other side of the tunnel, about 15 minutes or so.
It’s a quite little town with a cute main street, museum and it’s connected to it’s sister city Dillon.
Here’s a little history of the town:
Frisco’s history began with the Ute Indians who first traveled the region now known as Summit County. The 1870’s ushered in mining to the area. Founded in 1873 (officially chartered in 1879) by Henry Recen, the Town of Frisco quickly developed thanks in part to the locale’s many mines. The mining boomed lasted until 1918. Along with the rest of the country, Frisco was hit by the Depression; by 1930 Frisco’s permanent population had dropped to only 18 people. Frisco was one of the few old mining towns to keep going, they persevered and by 1946 the population had increased to 50. Frisco, with a current population just under 2,800 full-time residents, remained a sleepy town with a sprinkling of summer tourists until the ski industry – which now attracts some 3 million people a year to the area — brought a new boom era to Summit County.
But, those 3 million people weren’t here today. In fact, it was very quiet. We started our wassail quest at the museum where we found about gold, silver and wassail.
This wassail was appley with a hint of cinnamon, very good. Just outside was a reindeer (or is that just an elk masquerading as a reindeer?)
So, we did some Colbert friend poses with him, the handler’s name is Steve (in case you wondered.) We crossed the street and went into a consignment shop, they had lots of neat things like this bench made out of skis, but no wassail.
We crossed the street again and went to the pet shop, we bought Maisy a candy cane bone and had some of their wassail. At each shop there were cards to vote for your favorite wassail, whoever wins gets to raffle the voters cards for a trip to Frisco this summer for their BBQ days. I thought…..maybe I should say everyones wassail was good so I could be in the winner’s pot! We went down the street and stopped in wherever they had a sign like this.
This shops wassail was really spicy, lots of cloves.
We saw some old houses and junk cars in this lot right before more wassail tasting from a bank.
This one was ok, very little cinnamon. We stopped in at Bagalis pizza and had a great pie – potato, bacon, gorgonzola, oil, spinach and garlic. I know it sounds weird, but man it was GOOD! The kids had a pepperoni pizza and pasta. Bagalis wassail wasn’t ready yet, it was supposedly a super secret recipe too, darn. We did buy a souvenir mug to put our wassail in though.
We tried wassail in the toy shop, the mountain clothing shop, the knick-knack shop, the tea shop (they put blueberries in theirs), the junk-tique shop and more. In all, the Juniper tree, a knick-knack shop, had the best wassail, so we voted for them twice. It was nice to walk around to the shops and browse while eating and drinking.
We finally made it back to the car (we skipped a few shops, too much wassail, too little stomach) and drove home. Maisy is now enjoying her bone!
Gone A’Wassailin’
05 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in advent, family outing, information
Is that right? The song says, ‘here we go a wassailing’, but it’s just wassail, not a-wassail. Anyway we’re off to Frisco for the Wassail days festival. We hope to try some awesome wassail, stroll down a small town main street, eat some good pizza pie and revel in the snow.
Advent reading for today – Saturday, Dec. 5
“As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed…God called out to him from the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ God said, ‘Come nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father,’ he continued, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. But the Lord said,…‘Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’” Exodus 3:2-10
Moses, raised as an Egyptian by the pharaoh’s daughter, is witness to God’s word when an angel appears to him as a burning bush, depicted in today’s symbol, and instructs him to lead the people of Israel to the Promised Land. Read Moses’ story in Exodus 2:1-4:20.
GS, party, luminarias art walk
04 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in advent, family outing, HS group
We had a very small troop meeting, but we got all of our donations of coats, hats, gloves, boots and winter clothes together for the rescue mission. We played a fill the stocking relay game and then sat down to make some Christmas cards for the people at the mission. The Denver rescue mission has been going since 1892! They have a location where they serve over 1,500 meals a day, another location for families, another farm location for men, an overnight facility and a warehouse with furniture, food and clothes. It’s this place that we went to back in 2003 when we first lived up here. All of our stuff was back in Houston, cold weather was coming and we had just gotten an apartment. So, we went to the mission and got some furniture, coats and food and heard the message of Jesus. The mission exists not only to fill peoples homes and stomachs, but also to fill their spiritual needs by providing them with the opportunity to know Jesus. So, our little troop has a few items to stock their shelves with and for our family personally it’s a way to give back and remember when they were there for us.
After going home and baking oatmeal chocolate chip and gingerbread cookies we dropped Joel and Bethany off at a DDC (double digit club) party. There were there to eat, play games and play the present game (you know where you get a number, open present and then people can steal it.) Joel ended up stealing an origami box, Bethany got traded a balloon set for her toe socks, everyone was happy! While they were playing Grace, Hannah and I went to the Friday art walk on Santa Fe. It’s about 6 blocks of galleries and it’s a nice walk (because you get to duck into shops to get warmed up before you head out to the next one.)
Some stores had their luminarias set up.
They used to do a luminaria art walk, but I think they have just combined it with the first Friday art walk now.
We went into the Grace gallery and saw lots of neat art and as Hannah yelled out ‘Wood!’ (food)
Candy in hands we went to the next shop and the next. Everyone needs a leg lamp!
At the Museo de Las Americas someone had tried to break in, but the glass is double paned.
The museum set the brick on a pedestal with lights around it and since they had to come up with window art, taped out a message to the thief (the thief thinks everyone is of the same condition.)
In this shop they had glass for stained glass windows in vases and in glass balls for decorations, we liked it. More cake, cookies, cider, candy, pretzels and brownies later we still hadn’t made it to the end. Grace had been looking for whale art the whole time (most people don’t paint whales for some reason…) and at the last gallery we went in she found it, a painting with whales and dolphins in it.
We picked up Joel and Bethany and went home. Here are the advent readings for the last couple of days.
Wednesday, Dec. 2
“But the Lord’s messenger called to him from heaven, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered. ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy,’ said the messenger. ‘Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.’” Genesis 22: 11-12
The ram depicted on today’s ornament is the sacrifice God provided Abraham when he saw Abraham was willing to give up his only son, if that is what God required of him. Read about Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22:1-19.
Thursday, Dec. 3
“Then he had a dream: a stairway (sometimes translated as a ladder) rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s messengers were going up and down on it. And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying, ‘I, the Lord, am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants. These shall be as plentiful as the dust of the earth, and through them you shall spread out east and west, north and south. In you and your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing. Know that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.’” Genesis 28: 12-15
After his dream, Jacob awoke and exclaimed, “Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it!” The miraculous ladder in his dream reunited the earth to the divine. You can read the dramatic story of Jacob’s life and faith in Genesis 27:41-28:22.
Friday, Dec. 4
During the seven years of plenty, when the land produced abundant crops, he husbanded all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the towns, placing in each town the crops of the fields around it. Joseph garnered grain in quantities like the sands of the sea, so vast that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure. Genesis 41: 47-49
Today’s symbol is a sack of grain (or colored coat.) Joseph, the son of Jacob, is cast out by his brothers. But through his faith in God’s providence, he has enough food to feed all who are hungry in times of famine, with sacks of grain bursting at the seams. Read the story of Joseph’s life in Genesis Chapters 37 to 50.
Night at Bethlehem
04 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
The girls and I went to a friend’s church for their night at Bethlehem. They go all out!
They make the church look like a small bazaar with crafts and shops, weavers, potters and all kinds of people dressed up.
There are Roman guards walking around while you make beaded necklaces.
There are beggars with baskets of coins. There are things to see, do or eat at every shop.
At the bakery the girls all rolled out their flat bread and it smelled so good while it baked, it tasted even better.
We made candles, lanterns and had our faces painted.
We tried some Turkish delight, sweets and figs at the sweet shop. We talked to the weaver and saw the potter making a vase.
Then as we were dipping candles some shepherds came by the shop and asked if we knew about the Messiah or where he would be.
They were directed to the bakers and we followed behind as they got nearer to the inn.
Finally, they stopped by the inn and the curtains were drawn back to show Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
Then we all bowed or sat and just drank in the idea of a tiny baby being born so long ago. Hannah sat with her teacher Ms. Hannah.
We probably sat for 15 minutes just worshipping Him. Then the dancers got up and danced a song to go out the doors.
We ate some more flat bred and made a tissue paper ornament and then headed outside. They do such a great job with this. They are doing it for 2 nights this year, so it wasn’t as crowded as it was last year. You can still go Friday night 6-9pm, Littleton Vineyard 6657 W Ottawa Ave #A11.
I know it’s not real, but it was so cool to be walking with the shepherds trying to find out where baby Jesus was at. Maybe it’s the dress of the people, the smells in the air or the setting, but all together it creates a wonderful time of worship which is what this season is really all about.
Went sledding
03 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
Don’t know why we were the only ones there….
Could be that the kids were in school, could be that it was 2 inches of snow on top of 3 inches of ice, could be that it was 18 degrees outside……..
Doesn’t matter, we liked it…
I call this pic: ‘Sister advancing with snowball’.
Hannah said we didn’t need to bring water, because snow is water.
Beautiful….
Tea Wednesday
02 Dec 2009 2 Comments
in School Stuff
We didn’t do it yesterday, so we went to Solid grounds cafe to write our letters. Hannah started off by playing with her pattern matching game.
Grace was hard at work while Joel and Bethany played checkers.
Then everyone got down to writing.
We have missed a few weeks so everyone wrote 6 letters. Hannah even wrote one to her friend Noah.
Oh? Can’t read it? The W and U and upside down and there is an extra Y, but here it is decoded (it says, ‘Noah will you marry me’).
We drank hot cocoa and a latte while we wrote (no spillage because we had lids!) It was a real treat to go there to write our letters.
Hanny school
02 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in School Stuff
Hannah’s stuff was getting lost on her desk so I got some containers and now it looks like this.
Her eraser match sits on a snowman plate ready to play.
The touchpoint numbers and dice to roll are in 1 container.
A pattern match game with colored counters sits in another.
The leaf matching in another, they held onto their colors rather well in the contact paper (they are from last year.) And as a bonus you can make leaf rubbings with them too.
A simple match the dots to the right stick is in another.
She’s so happy!
Lights!
01 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
A friend in our HS group invited us to her Aunt’s company party at the Denver zoo. The zoo lights aren’t open to the public yet, but there were a lot of people there!
We got there and had some cocoa and cookies, took a few pictures at the North pole and then headed out to look at the lights. Doesn’t it look like fireworks blasting off?
Oh wait, to give you the optimal viewing experience you need to take (hopefully you have a laptop) your computer and head to the kitchen. Turn on some Christmas music. Now, open the freezer and stand really close, maybe even stick you head in. Great! If your freezer is set to about 29 degrees, then you have the same atmosphere we did. Now you can look at the lights!
We got to ride the carousel and thank goodness they had 2 dolphins. Hannah was happy on her caraway (some big bird looking thing) and Grace was happy on her dolphin.
We stopped in to see the elephants/hippo/rhino; yes it stinks, but it’s warm in there. The rhino and hippo were fast asleep, the only time we’ve seen them like that. The elephants were trying to get into a good sleeping position (which appears to be standing up, leaning against the wall.) We passed by the lights near the front that change color and went to the gift shop. Hannah found a Mr. Otter, Grace wasn’t as lucky with whales, she got candy instead.
Of course it started to snow just as we got home, that would have made the lights even better, but it was still a nice, cold night out with the twinkling lights.
A smattering of links for fun
01 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
Too cool, you can print out themed dominoes. Do you want Christmas? Seasons, clothes, mammals, time, body parts? Themed dominoes HERE.
Learn about a Colonial Christmas HERE.
Explore the Canadian virtual museum HERE.
Lessons on the symbols of Christmas HERE.
Character training cards from a notebooking site HERE.
Geography notebooking helps from the same site HERE.
This is going to sound hokey
01 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in information
A friend is going through a rough time and thought she shouldn’t air her dirty laundry to us (our HS group.) But, we told her, we all have dirty laundry and that got me thinking. See, I know a guy who can make the dirtiest, I mean the yuckiest, filthiest, grossest (spell check says that’s a word), most disgusting dirty laundry clean. Imagine a 4 year old boy playing in the mud, that’s dirty. Imagine you’re wearing a nice white shirt and suddenly your toddler comes up and spills red Kool-Aid all over you, then another kid spills chocolate ice cream on your back (you’re having a bad day.) You think there is no way these stains will ever come out. They are embedded deep in the grain of the fabric, but I know a guy who can clean it. Not only can he take the stains out, he makes it good as new…no, better than new. And here’s the best part – he does it for free! Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, free sure, with strings attached. Nope, it’s completely free.
In fact here’s what he says, ‘ Hey, I know you have some stained laundry in your life, but give it to me and I’ll clean it free of charge. I’m serious! In fact, not only will I clean up your life, if you need anything and I mean anything, just ask. I even have a gift for you, when you get your clean stuff back I’ll have a free pass for you attached to it. It’s totally free and it gets you into my Father’s mansion. A lot of people try to get in without this pass, but his place is guarded and if you don’t have this pass, well, you won’t be getting in. Some people have tried to buy this pass, but it doesn’t work like that. It’s free, you just have to ask for your clean laundry back and it will be there ready to use.’
So, we all have dirty laundry and we all have dirty souls. We can’t clean them by ourselves, we can’t become righteous through our own deeds or hope to become sinless without help. Jesus is supposed to be the reason for this season we’re in, but really he should be the reason for the whole year. I’m hoping that my friend can find peace in Him and that her husband can find hope and life in Him by realizing that we all have dirty laundry and Jesus is just waiting for us to ask for help.
Advent
01 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in advent
Monday, Nov. 30
“Then God said to Noah: ‘Go out of the ark, together with your wife and sons and your sons’ wives. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you—all bodily creatures, be they birds or animals or creeping things of the earth—and let them abound on the earth, breeding and multiplying on it.” Genesis 8:15-17
The Jesse Tree symbol of the ark reminds us that although God was displeased with the wickedness of the men and women he had created, he also sees the best in us and renews his covenant with us through forgiveness and mercy. You can read the full story of Noah and the ark in Genesis 6:11-22, 7:1-8:22.
Tuesday, Dec. 1
“He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,’ he added, ‘shall your descendants be.’ Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.” Genesis 15: 5-6
The symbol for today’s reading is a field of stars, representing God’s promise to Abraham, the father of our faith, whose descendants became the chosen people of God. You can learn more about Abraham’s great faith in God in Genesis 12:1-7 and 15:1-6.
As we read about Noah we saw a pattern of numbers. 3,7,40. Noah sent the dove out three times, Jesus was in the grave for three days. Noah was asked to take 7 of every clean animal (2 of all the others) and it was 7 days before it rained, Noah waited 7 days between the sending out of the dove each time, the ark came to rest on Mt. Arat in the 7th month; God made the world in 7 days. It rained for 40 days and nights, Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights – coincidence, I think not.
In the story of Abraham we also looked at the name of God, Jehovah-Jireh (my provider.) Abraham called the place where he was sent to sacrifice his son The Lord will provide because of the ram that God gave to him there.
I ♥ Faces
30 Nov 2009 5 Comments
in iheart faces
At I ♥ Faces this week the theme is behinds. No naked baby tooshies allowed, so here’s Bethany at the sand dunes.
More pics here: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/
We put up the tree (and find a surprise)
29 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in church, information, kids
Today we pulled out the tree and set it up. After we pulled the tree out of the box, 2 brown things tumbled to the carpet. Hannah, of course, picked them up and said, ‘What’s this?‘ I was about to take them from her and I screeched, which made her drop the 2 mummified baby mice. It’s just like the Christmas poem, ‘not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.’ I know mama mice have more than 2 at a time…so I’m wondering if there are any more dead mice in the garage. (Side note: no, I did not take the mice and show them to the kids, or do a science lesson on mummification, I just wasn’t into it – but I know that as a good HS’ing mom I should have placed said mice in a baggie for later examination.) The kids scrambled around the tree like the Peanuts characters and after the dust settled, it looked like Charlie Brown’s tree. They think that every scrap of decoration needs to be on the bottom limbs, but they had fun.
We had a good relaxing day, I even took a nap. Maybe that will charge me up for the rest of the week (M-dance, CAP, TNO, T-zoo lights, W-park day, jump street, TH-GS leader meeting, night at Bethlehem, F-volunteer, storytime, girls scouts, DDC party, SA-Frisco wassail days; plus school stuff.)
