Yesterday I mentioned a Christmas party we had with our homeschool friends. My friend, Kelli, hosted the event and did an amazing job planning and orchestrating a rotation of activities to accommodate our large number of kiddos! She arranged areas around her home for four stations: story, craft, cookie decorating, and games. She took care of the story time and asked three more of us mamas to take the other stations. I was assigned the craft station, so I planned a craft that would go along with the book Kelli would be reading in her station. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston, is a heartwarming story about a little girl, Ruthie, and her parents living in the ... Read more
Let’s Get Christmasy!
I must admit that as soon as Thanksgiving is over, I start to feel a bit overwhelmed with all there is to do for Christmas. Anyone else? My social battery runs low with back-to-back events, and I get a little saddened by the commercialization of the season. Last week, after a couple of days of near panic, I voiced my concerns to my husband, pulled myself together, and made the prayerful decision to focus on two things: Embrace the season with its flurry of activity while pulling away each day for quiet advent reflection. I'll share on advent in another post, but today I'm sharing some of our activities from our first week of December. We got our tree and decked the halls! The cat is so ... Read more
Weekend Getaway
Back in October we took a quick fall getaway to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Throughout the years, we've taken many day trips to enjoy the gardens and trails. Due to its close proximity to us we've never needed to stay overnight; however, when trying to think of a place we could spend a pleasant, outdoor fall break that would be close enough to allow us to wait until our college-aged daughter got out of her last Friday afternoon class before leaving town, Callaway Gardens seemed like an ideal destination! We stayed in a cozy 2-bedroom cottage on Sparkleberry Lane. How cute is that name! We loved staying in this cottage! It offered plenty of space with a great ... Read more
Teach Them Tuesday: Thanksgiving at American Village
If you live in Alabama and have had the privilege of visiting American Village in Montevallo, you know what a fantastic educational experience it is. My kids and I have been four times and it has never failed to exceed our expectations. Our "First Friday" group--a homeschool co-op we do field trips with on the first Friday of each month--recently participated in American Village's Thanksgiving program for our November field trip. We enjoyed a day of inspiring American history and lovely fall weather! I have a few photos to share from this most recent trip, but be sure and check out my post from a previous visit for details about American Village and photos of its beautiful colonial buildings ... Read more
Fluff the Nest Friday: Tips and Tidbits for Thanksgiving Prep
Good Friday morning! Fall has flashed by in a blur and Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I'm not hosting Thanksgiving but I did host our small group's annual "Friendsgiving" this week. Beside the usual weekly cleaning routine, here are a few extra preparations I worked into the week leading up to our little feast! Even though I'd put out a few fall-ish items at my front door early in the season, it was time to freshen things up a bit. My summer ferns were still looking too good for me to move so I left those, swept the concrete, added a fresh door mat and a couple more pumpkins from my son's pumpkin patch (more on his pumpkin patch soon!). I took one of my winter wreaths and added ... Read more
Teach Them Tuesday: Lessons from the Campground
It has become a yearly tradition for our family to go on a weekend camping trip with two other families each fall. The weekend takes some planning and work, but the time put into it is so worth it. Besides the fun memories our kiddos make together, there is never a shortage of teachable moments on the campground! Upon arrival, the kids learn the first task to be accomplished is pitching the tents and setting up camp. They are all pretty eager to help. They learn the importance of having a good fire going long before dinner prep and definitely before nightfall! This year, they each learned how to use a flint rock to start a fire. They learn how to cook their supper over the ... Read more
Pumpkin Patch Cookies!
My son and I are in a field trip co-op this year which means the first Friday of each month we go some place interesting, educational, and fun with a bunch of great friends! The moms take turns arranging each field trip, and I had the months of September and October. September was supposed to be a trip to a museum and a historic home at our state capitol. Unfortunately, our tour was canceled by the museum a few days before due to a certain virus which shall remain nameless. For our October field trip I had planned a day at a farm and pumpkin patch down the road from our house, and it just happened to fall on the first day of October! There's no place we'd rather be on October 1st than ... Read more
Elegant Autumn Celebration Cake
A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law hosted a lovely birthday dinner for my mother-in-law. She and my other SIL prepared a delicious meal of family-favorite party foods and asked me to bring dessert. I asked the birthday girl what kind of cake she would like for her special day, but she said I could choose, which meant my husband and kids hinted at an Italian cream cake for several days after that, heehee. So, Italian cream cake it was! My sister-in-law said she would be decorating in a fall theme, so I wanted the cake to reflect her decor. As I mentioned a few months ago when I first posted the recipe for this cake, it really lends itself to so many different occasions with it's ... Read more
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