Tuesday

It's been so cold here. We're in between storms, so right now its sunny. I've enjoyed being snug and warm in the house, drinking my coffee. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I am in the winter, especially when the Christmas creamers come out!

I still have a little bit of shopping left to do, which happens every year. As much as I get an early start, I procrastinate till the very end. I must subconsciously get a thrill out of the rushing around, I don't know!

I've been wrapping as I go along, so that part won't be so bad. I usually wrap while listening to Christmas music or watching Christmas movies. This year, Kathryn wants to do more of the wrapping, so I'll gladly accept her help.

Esther, from A Catholic Mom in Hawaii, recently posted this video of Band Aid singing Do They Know it's Christmas Time. It brought back so many memories. I'm a big fan of 80's music and it was something to see some of these singers back at the height of their popularity.

Now I'm off to fix some lunch. We're having Grilled Cheese sandwiches today. Simple. Hope you're all enjoying the Christmas season. We're almost to the big day!

O Emmanuel - December 23

O Emmanuel ( God-With-Us), our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations and their Savior: come and save us, O Lord our God!

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel;

That mourns in lonely exile here,

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Rex Gentium - December 22

O Rex Gentium (King of Nations), and their Desired, the Cornerstone who make all one; Come and save our race, whom you formed out of clay.

O come, desire of nations, bind

In one the hearts of all mankind.

Bid every sad division cease

And be thyself our Prince of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Oriens - December 21

O Oriens (Dayspring), brightness of eternal Light and Sun of Justice: come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O come, O Day-spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

FR. Z's reflection.

O Clavis David - December 20

O Clavis David (Key of David), and scepter of the house of Israel: you open and no one shuts; you shut and no one opens. Come and lead forth from his prison the captive sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O come, O Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Radix Jesse - December 19

O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse), who stood as a sign for the people, before you kings shall remain silent, and to you the Gentiles shall make supplication: come to deliver us, and delay not.

O come, O Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan's tyranny;

From depths of hell thy people save,

And give them victory o'er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

You can read a reflection from FR. Z. here.

It's Cold!!!

Yes, it's super cold out here in ever sunny California. We're not used to the temperature dropping to the 40's. I'm sitting here with my scarf wrapped around my neck and if I didn't have to type on this keyboard, I'd have my mittens on!

I was finally able to upload some pictures so I'll share a few. There were approximately 160 pictures just waiting to be uploaded. Let's see what we have here.

This was the view from my backyard during the terrible fires in November. The sky was pretty black for awhile, but because of the Santa Ana Winds, all the smoke blew to the west and we were left clear.

Ryan likes taking self-portraits with my camera. I got caught in this one. :)

Sweet sisters!

Credit for this picture belongs to the mother of Ryan's friend. She takes great pictures.

The kids put on a fashion show for Steve and I. They had a great time pretending to walk down a runway and give us their cutest and silliest poses.

This was the picture we ended up using for our Christmas card this year. Emily's pants aren't the best but her intended dress didn't fit, and her on-the-ball mommy (NOT) didn't come up with a plan B. I didn't realize she didn't have appropriate pants for this sweater. She also wouldn't cooperate and kneel like the rest of the kids did. But, I think the picture turned out well. They tried their best not to squint!

It's time for me to attend to my household duties now. Ryan is home sick today. He has the sniffles and with the cold weather, I didn't want him to be out there and get worse. He has to try to be at school tomorrow for his class Christmas party.

Some of my to-do's today are:

laundry

menu for tonight ( I was bad and didn't do my plan for the week) :(

tackle cleaning out my closet (big job!)

Have a nice day, everyone!

O Adonai (Lord) December 18

O Adonai (Lord), and leader of the house of Israel, you appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and with an outstretched arm, redeem us.

O come, O come, thou Lord of Might,

Who to thy tribes, on Sinai's height,

In ancient times didst give the law

In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Antiphons December 17

As we get closer to Christmas, I've wanted to keep my eyes focused on the Reason for the Season, Jesus, so I'm incorporating these O Antiphons into my prayer time. The first one begins today.



O Sapienta, ( O Wisdom), you came forth from the mouth of the Most High and reaching from beginning to end, you ordered all things mightily and sweetly. Come and teach us the way of prudence.

O Come, O Wisdom from on high,

Who order all things mightily,

To us the path of knowledge show,

And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to the, O Israel!

From Catholic Culture:

O Antiphons - December 17 - 24
December 17 marks the beginning of the "O" Antiphons, the seven jewels of our liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ. The Church recalls the variety of the ills of man before the coming of the Redeemer.

The "O" Antiphons are the verses for the ancient hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The first letter of the Messianic titles: Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia—spell out Latin words ERO CRAS, meaning, "Tomorrow, I will come."

To read more about the O Antiphons, check here and here.

What's Up Over Here

We had lots of rain here since the middle of the night and it's just about let up now. It was raining hard when I took the kids to school. Traffic was surprisingly light and we made it fine. We are so not used to the heavy rain. My kids thought school would be cancelled! I told them no chance. If it ever snowed here, maybe, but not for rain!

I had to go out and head to Costco and make our photo Christmas card on site. Normally I can do all that from home but something is wrong with the computer and it will not allow me to upload any pictures. Until I can figure out what's wrong, I don't have any photos to share!

Ryan's Christmas program went very well. His class sang Go Tell It On the Mountain and they did a wonderful job. When he first got out there, I thought he was going to cry, but no, he started smiling in no time. After each class performed (Kindergarten through 3rd grade), they all came out at the end to sing Silent Night in Spanish. All the classes sang well. I wish we could have sat closer so I could take some pictures, but we were way in the back. Ryan would have just been a dot.

On Saturday, Kathryn played in her last game of the season, a playoff game. Her team lost, but they played well. Kathryn will be skipping soccer in the spring and just play for her school basketball team. That's fine by me.

The rest of the day was spent at home trying to tidy up the house, catch up on the never-ending laundry pile, and sort through never-ending piles of paper clutter.

Emily and Kathryn worked on some crafts. Emily is all into drawing pictures and then making stories about what she drew. She is also enjoying cutting out her pictures with her little kid scissors.

I have put Kathryn in charge of decorating our little basket where our Christmas cards that we receive will go. She loves to create, so I'll be interested to see what she comes up with.

On Sunday, we took some pictures of the kids to be used for our Christmas card. The city next to ours has a traffic circle, roundabout, whatever you want to call it, that displays a huge creche, Santa, Snowman, and Christmas tree. They used to display a Menorah, but I didn't see that this time. Anyway, we took some pictures with all the displays, and we chose to use one taken in front of the creche. I'll post a picture when the computer allows me to.

Before I have to run, I want to acknowledge some awards that I received a while ago and am just now posting about it. Forgive me, ladies. I do appreciate it!

First, thank you to Cathy from A Bit of the Blarney for this one:

And thank you to Julieann at My Daily Life as a Wife and Mother for this one:

And with that, I'm off to unload the dishwasher and mop the floor! It needs it badly!

Hello There!

I'm just now able to sit down and make a post! Life has been busy, busy.

So many things are going on at the kid's school. Last week, Kathryn spent three days trying out for the girls basketball team (5th & 6th graders). She made the team! She's so excited and we are all excited for her! We've been shopping for the needy families that Kathryn and Ryan's classes have adopted.

Tonight is Ryan's Christmas program. Of course, procrastinator that I am, I waited for the last minute to think about what he will wear. Clothes were all set, but I forgot that he had outgrown his good shoes. Last night we went to Sears to look for some shoes. We found some that he liked, but they didn't have his size. So I told him I would go out today to find the same ones but at a different store. Luckily, I found his size today! We are all set to go.

I hope we get there early enough to get good seats, but chances are slim. The hall fills up pretty quick and I don't want to get there so early that Emily gets impatient and we have to leave.

I still have major Christmas shopping to do, but I hope to get a lot of it done this weekend. I so admire all you ladies who get your shopping done early. I hope to join you some year. :)
But for now, I'll try not to panic!

I've got to go now, got to get everyone ready for show tonight!

What A Wonderful World

Yesterday, while driving in the car, I heard this song in the midst of twenty-four hours of Christmas music on the radio station.

I can't help but get a smile on my face while listening to this song. Right away it puts things in perspective in my mind.

God made this beautiful, wonderful world. In spite of terrible economic woes, constant stories of terrorism and all the bad things that go on in this world, life is still beautiful and precious. God is still on the throne, we are still held in His hand. Take the time to appreciate all the beautiful gifts he has given us. Stop and smell the roses. Notice the intricacies of that flower or plant. Notice the beauty and endless expanse of the sky. Hear the sweet songs of the birds as they go about their business gathering food.

And then let's appreciate and love the people that God has placed in our lives. Because that's what it's all about - LOVE!

I hope this song puts a smile on your face as it does to mine!

Book Meme

I was tagged for this meme by Tracy:



I'm supposed to find the book closest to me, turn to page 56 and type out the 5th sentence and then two to five more sentences after that.



The book closest to me right now is, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.



Page 56, sentence five and a few more after that: Only in a gown. A tight gown." The blonde leaned over to whisper in Georgia's ear. "And we won't hesitate to play up my decolletage, will we? Show it off a bit."



I haven't actually started reading this book yet. The title seemed pretty interesting since I like to knit. I haven't updated my sidebar to show what I'm reading right now, but I am doing some reading here and there. Let's see, aside from the above mentioned book, I have:

Love Takes Wing - Janette Oke
Love Finds a Home - Janette Oke

These are the 7th and 8th books in the Love Comes Softly series. I'm just loving these books. I love the old-fashioned values that are depicted, the way the women took care of their families and homes, and just the simpler way of life.

When Calls the Heart - Janette Oke

This is the first book in another prairie series. I hope it's as good as the other one.

These books are due back at the library in two weeks. I don't know if I'll have them read by that time. With all the Christmas preparation that will be going on, I'm not too sure. I may have to renew some of them.

As you can tell, I'm in my light fiction reading phase right now. My brain can't sink into the more deep spiritual insight books right at this moment, although I should take the time to find one to read during this Advent season. I need to focus myself and my family on the "reason for the season."

Saturday

Thanksgiving Day was very nice. It was a nice time of visiting with my brother and sister-in-law. But I must say....I did miss the turkey! The burgers were good and all the food was good, but I miss the leftovers!! So...I'm cooking a turkey tomorrow! And I'm going to make stuffing, too! And I'm going to make a pumpkin pie! I guess it's sort of like another Thanksgiving.



I didn't hit any sales yesterday. I don't like the huge crowds. Besides, I don't yet have my gift list made out, so there was no sense in just wandering around. I'm not much of a window shopper, so I just puttered around the house.



I did find my Advent wreath! It was buried in a high storage cupboard in my bedroom, way in the back. I had to empty out all the junk from the front so I could take a peak. I'm glad I found it so I wouldn't have to pay for another one. I have the candles, but I would like to go to the craft store and find some greenery to put around it. It's kind of bare right now.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and are enjoying your long weekend!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Gratituesday

On this Gratituesday, I am grateful for:

--Grocery stores that offer food aplenty

---A car that runs well and is reliable

---Warm covers at night for me and my family

---Lower gas prices

---That Ryan is better

---Christmas music that evokes warm memories

---Another day of life

---The family that the Lord has blessed me with

If you would like to share in Gratituesday, please visit Laura!

Monday

Ryan was sick this weekend with a stomach bug. The school called me Thursday to say that he had thrown up so off I went to go pick him up. Once home, he was queasy for the rest of the day, got a fever, but didn't throw up any more, even though he was close to doing it a couple of times. The rest of the weekend, he slowly started to feel a little more normal, but still had a little stomach crampiness. I kept him home today as I didn't want him to have a relapse and miss his class Thanksgiving party tomorrow.

Our Thanksgiving will be a little nontraditional this year. Every year we go to my brother's house and this year will be the same. However, this year we well forgo the turkey and eat BBQ burgers! My kids were like, "Huh? No turkey?" I actually don't mind that we won't be having the turkey. My brother and sister-in-law are both having a particularly stressful/busy year at school (they both teach) and this will be one less thing to stress over. We don't need the picture perfect Thanksgiving. Just sharing the meal will be what counts.

I probably will still buy a turkey. We love the leftovers!

After Thanksgiving I will begin to think about Christmas. I need to make out my lists of things to do and buy. But first, I need to dig out my Advent wreath. That will probably be tricky as it's not where I thought it was. I have the candles, but not the wreath.

Weather wise, it's finally getting cold around here. We've been having lots of warm weather and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see the Fall. I guess we'll have a short Fall and head right into Winter. We are expecting rain tonight or tomorrow. I hope it comes and is not a false report. I love being home when it's raining cats and dogs.

That's it for now!

Menu Plan

I meant to post this yesterday, but I got busy running errands and trying to catch up on the endless laundry pile.



As usual, I've been winging it on fixing dinner. That's never good when you're trying to provide healthier food and less processed stuff.

So, I've eased back into the swing of menu planning with some easy meals:



Monday was Chicken a la King and a salad. This was the first time making this and it turned out delicious. I'll be making it again.


Tuesday - Spaghetti, salad, French bread


Wednesday - Herbed Lentils and Rice, salad

Thursday - Shepherd's Pie, salad

Friday - Pizza, chicken wings, salad

Saturday - Sirloin steaks, roasted potatoes, veggies

Sunday - Baked chicken, rice, salad

Hopefully, I can stick with this plan, but usually some changes take place. But at least I have a plan!

Proud Emily

Our Miss Emmy had her final soccer game last Saturday. She was sad to see the season end, but loved that she got to attend her first end of season team pizza party.

I neglected to take decent pictures of her at the party with her trophy. ( I am having a war with my camera, so I'm not doing well with the picture taking)! But I had to have a picture of her with her trophy for the blog so here is the one I took of her at home, without her uniform, but at least she's posing good and has the trophy in her hands. She doesn't care that the trophy is of a boy! Don't blind yourself with Steve's BRIGHT yellow car in the background. :)

You'll notice she's also hugging her newest pal, Katy. She loves duckies, and this one she even gets to feed with a little bottle.

I mentioned being at war with my camera. It has this delay mechanism or something so that when I push the shutter button, it doesn't take the picture right away. I have to keep pushing the button a couple of times before it shoots. By that time, the kids have blinked, looked away, or something and the picture turns out awful. It also switches back to live mode while I'm going through the menu and looking through the previous pictures. It's just doing quirky things like that.

Now I'm kind of itching to get a new one. I'd like one that has better zoom capabilities, especially to shoot action shots of the kids while they're playing in their games. I think the cameras I'm thinking about are the higher priced ones. The ones that have the lenses that you attach. The ones that aren't in my budget. I guess I'll have to save up. I'm practicing being content with what I have for now.

Ryan went to the dentist yesterday. He had a good report, other than he may need orthodontic work at a later date - way later, I hope. He has a small jaw, and when his new teeth come in they just may be too big for the little spacing that he has now. We'll have to see what it's like when the new ones start to come in. Next week, Kathryn and I have appointments. Since we are both on three month schedules, it seems like I'm always in that office, especially if I'm going in for reasons other than routine cleanings.

I'm looking forward to the weekend coming up. We just have Ryan's game to go to -- Yea! I think I'll work on some things around the house, then head out with Steve and the kids somewhere fun. Not sure where just yet.

Have a good day!

Yea! The Tooth Came Out!

Ryan finally lost his other front tooth! He looks so cute! This one was a stubborn one, but he was persistent, and finally pulled it out.

And he also got a haircut! Due to our busy schedule, he was way overdue for one. Today was early dismissal, so I was able to take him today.

Tomorrow, more soccer and a baseball game. Emily will play her last game for the season and then have the team pizza party. She's looking forward to that. Kathryn has two games that will end her regular season. However, she has a tournament to get ready for, then playoffs. This feels like the season that will never end! Ryan will also have a game tomorrow. Then one more next weekend, then he's done too...yippee!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!