Red Dress Sunday: A Christmas Tradition

Every December, on one of the Sundays close to Christmas, Moriah wears a red dress, I wear my red boiled wool jacket and a black skirt or pants, and we commemorate the occasion with some photos.  It's become such a strong tradition that I really feel like breaking out in song with Tevye as he sings, "Tradition, tradition, tradition!"    :) 

To see our version of this Christmas tradition through the years, here are the links from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.  And now, it's 2017's turn.  :)

I'm so very grateful for another year of joy with my precious daughter!

Benjamin Reads Thomas

Benjamin's favorite books these days are a set of three Thomas the Tank Engine board books that we've had since Josiah was our little guy toddling around!  Their edges might be a little worn, but they're still as good as ever; and the delight they bring to our youngest son--as they have done to his older siblings through the years--is certainly difficult to measure because it's such a large quantity! And speaking of large quantities, I wonder how many times I've read these books during the past 15 years.  If I had a dollar for every time...  :)

Benjamin's latest fun is "reading" the books himself.  It's funny: every single page sounds exactly alike when he reads it!!  ;-)

 We adore this little guy!!

Wordless Wednesday {Adore Him}

Sometimes I Feel Like a...

...one-armed paper hanger!!  :)  

 But when Benjamin is clingy and says in his adorable way, "Hold you!" and I say, "Do you want me to hold you?" (I love how toddlers mix up their pronouns), and he nods, and I reach for him and settle him on my hip, and then I think, "How am I ever going to get this done with one arm?" and my other arm gets tired, and I try to set him down, and he acts like the floor is lava and draws his feet up as high as he can...

...I remind myself that "this too shall pass," and I give thanks for moments when my littlest guy wants to snuggle, and I hold my koala closer.

Wordless Wednesday {Under the Kitchen Table}

The Way They Play

For the past few days, I've noticed, more than I usually do, how my children play.

I'm not exactly sure why this stood out to me now--maybe because, when I walked into the living room and saw this...

...I happened to think that it's a little unusual for Tobin to be involved with setting up an imaginary world like this.  Oh, he certainly does his fair share of LEGO-building, but what he really loves to do is be outside, so to take the time to set up train tracks, pirate characters, animals, construction paper, and so forth is not the way I normally see him play.

Maybe Shav did all the work, and Tobin just jumped in and joined him.  ;-)

They seemed to be having a blast playing and creating together, and it made me more conscious of how my children play--because a year or two or three or ten from now, they won't be sitting here playing with this stuff!

I have long thought that one of the advantages of having a large family is that the older siblings get a chance to play with "little kid toys" at more than one stage of life.  Every time we have a new baby, the cycle of toys starts over again, and the infant toys are brought out, followed by the toddler toys, and so forth...and wonderfully, all the kids get to play with whichever ones catch their eye, without someone accusing them of being immature.  Take this train set, for example: most (perhaps all?) of those pieces came from Jeff's mom who gave them to us when Josiah was just a little tyke, and all of the children have played with them as they've come along in the family.  While it's true that Josiah and David don't normally sit down and get out the Thomas the Tank Engine stuff, they sometimes end up getting it out and building a track for their littlest brother to enjoy.  And don't tell me they're not enjoying it in the process.  ;-)  That's the way it goes for all the toys around here!

And so, when I saw Shav and Tobin with all the various toys they pulled together into their world, it put a smile on my face.  I love that they're growing in maturity and responsibility and all that good stuff, but I also love that they enjoy getting down on the floor and creating something like this (and having time to do so, but that's a whole other topic! can I just say thank God for homeschooling and the flexible schedule it provides!).  :)

With these thoughts in mind, I kept my eyes open the past couple of days to observe how my children play, what brings them joy, how they choose to spend their free time.  Here are a few glimpses of what I saw...

"Where's Benjamin?" is a thought that goes through my head multiple times a day; and this morning when I asked that, here was the answer. 

Benjamin was having a great time standing on the stool and playing in the water.

It reminded me SO MUCH of Shav doing that when he was about 26 months old, Benjamin's current age.  :) 

Later on, Shav and Tobin came to me and asked if they could sail their boats in the bathtub. 

In the past week or so, they had, completely on their own, made these boats, using a saw to cut the wood, creating a mast, figuring out how to affix it, even adding sails. 

They want to go sail them on the neighbors' pond, but haven't had a chance to do that yet.

The bathtub was a decent alternative--not quite the high adventure of sailing on a pond, but with the added tumult of washcloths occasionally being dropped on the boats, it was dramatic enough.  :)

I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite books from early childhood, Scuffy the Tugboat (anyone familiar with it?), as I watched my sons sailing their boats in the tub.  :)

I didn't take any pictures of this, but after I had put Benjamin in bed for his nap today, the other five kids played a more energetic game: Active Shooter, which is their version of the age-old good guy v. bad guy battle that all kids seem to play at some point or another!  They also played a version of Capture the Flag--well, it was Capture the Purple Hippo, to be exact--and nerf bullets were flying.  I always enjoy seeing all of my kids (all except the youngest, in this case) participating in a game together; truly, having the time and opportunity for things like this is one of the significant reasons we homeschool.

After supper, I caught David playing the piano.  Out of all the kids, he's definitely the one most likely to sit down and play; and on some days, he spends quite a bit of time tickling the ivories.

Maybe Benjamin will take after him.  :)

Even later, after Benjamin and Moriah were in bed, the four older boys played a couple of games together, the first being some kind of roll-the-dice-and-exchange-money game (fortunately, pennies were the currency being used this evening, so nobody went broke) ;-) and the second being Dutch Blitz.  I was in other parts of the house doing various tasks, but I could hear their laughter ringing out.  Now that's a sound that does a mother's heart good!

From this post, it might seem like all we do around here is play.  ;-)  My kids will assure you that's not the case!  :)  But between all the moments of doing math lessons and putting away their clean laundry and loading and unloading the dishwasher and reading science books and taking down recycling and getting the mail and emptying the trash and doing economics homework and so forth, there are many moments of play.  And tonight, I wanted to capture for the future what that play looks like for my children here in the present. 

These moments--of train tracks on the floor and boats in the bathtub and nerf bullets getting lost under couches and behind bookshelves and LEGO pieces, always LEGO pieces everywhere--may be messy.  But they are sweet and precious and irreplaceable, and my eyes have been opened afresh to the wonder of it all.

The Tradition Continues {Thanksgiving 2017}

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year.

Ah, Thanksgiving--when we gather to eat and celebrate and make memories and recognize the blessings...but we don't have the work (even though it's joyful work) of preparing for Christmas with all its many (wonderful) tasks.

I really do love Thanksgiving immensely.

As we've done in past years, we headed north first thing in the morning to spend the day with my brother David and his family; and, as always, it was a completely delightful day.  Well, except for two things...

First, Jeff was not feeling well, and even entertained the idea of not going.  I'm so glad that he decided to go, but unfortunately he felt even worse this morning and has continued to be pretty miserable all day (even to the point of not going to work today and cancelling all his appointments for tomorrow--something he NEVER does).  Also, my brother David wasn't feeling up to par either; and, in fact, his voice was about an octave or two lower than it normally is!  ;-)  The first time I heard him speak yesterday, I thought, "That is not my brother's voice!"  ;-)  I wish that both of them had been feeling better.

Second, when we got to their house and were getting out of the van, I stepped out, the diaper bag slung over my shoulder, then heard the alarming sound of something falling and glass breaking.  It was my camera!  :(  I had put it in the diaper bag, and I thought the latch was secure.  I was wrong.  When it happened, I assumed the camera wouldn't work at all; but when we looked at it, Jeff quickly ascertained that the only thing that broke was the outer glass of the lens.  The knowledge I have about lenses could just about fit on my fingernail, so I don't know how it all works.  But apparently there is another layer of glass (maybe more than that?), so the lens actually worked okay, despite the breakage.  Why then is there that extra layer of glass in the first place?  I have no idea.  At any rate, I was not at all confident that the camera would work well for any pictures yesterday after suffering such a gravity-demonstrating incident, but was relieved when I got home and downloaded the pictures to see that there were some acceptable ones.  Whew!  I will certainly be more aware of the need to thoroughly check the latch of the diaper bag from now on!

Well, that's all the negative stuff.  Time to change gears and get to the celebration!

BY FAR, the very best part of the day was having three new cousins there!!  Last year, we sat around the table and talked about the swiftly-approaching adoption of three siblings from Colombia; my brother and his wife Lori were due to fly to Colombia soon after Thanksgiving.  This year, what joy to have them there as part of the family!  Adoption, especially of older children, is such a life-revolutionizing event; but I'm extraordinarily proud of my brother and sister-in-law for their awesome (in the true sense of the word) commitment to loving and training and walking with their children as they deal with some pretty tough stuff.  They are definitely heroes to me!

Due to a variety of reasons, we had actually not met Dilan or Evelin, the oldest and youngest of the new group.  We had met Melany when she came down with Lori to visit their other daughter Elizabeth at a nearby college, but hadn't had the opportunity to meet the others.  It was so great to finally be able to do that--an extra reason for giving thanks!

The day went as it usually does, the old familiar pattern being exactly what we love to do.  Feasting, conversing, relaxing, playing--it's just right.  I am incredibly grateful for Lori and all the work she puts into making it such a special day for everyone!

Moriah and Evelin are fairly close in age and had each been so excited to meet the other in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  When we got there yesterday, however, they both acted pretty shy at first, which surprised me because Moriah is usually more outgoing than I was as a little girl.  But after a while, they overcame their reticence, and I enjoyed watching them play together.  I am quite sure in years to come, they will treasure these chances to be together.  :)

Benjamin found a LEGO buddy in Keith (who is married to Lisa, who is the sister of Lori..."framily" is the term that fits us, I was told yesterday, since we're not officially closely related enough to be family, but there's a connection).  :)  At any rate, Keith built "tractors" for Benjamin who carried them around for most of the rest of the day (even in the group photo we took later).  :)

The pool table was a hit.

My "official" job is to be the photographer, so while others are running around cooking or washing dishes or putting things away, I stand around feeling mostly useless but with a camera in my hand (and usually a baby or toddler, too!).  I'd say I have the better end of the bargain!  :)  Here we were getting ready for the group photo that I always cajole everyone into taking.

Some day they'll thank me.  ;-)

It wasn't really as warm as it looks.  Most of us just scurried outside without our coats on to take the picture and then scurried back inside to the welcome warmth.  But Benjamin thought it would be a good idea to stay out a while longer.  :)  At this point, I had put my other camera away but snapped a few pics with my cell phone.

He loved Aunt Lori's chickens!

Moriah and Evelin blew some bubbles.

Bananagrams was the game of the day.  :)  I should mention that Jacob's fancy hairdo was done by Melany...and he was a good enough sport to leave it in.  ;-)

As evening fell, we got ready to head south again, and I put my youngest two children in sleepers so they could get comfy for the long ride home.  Moriah was really tired and was happy to snuggle with Aunt Lori.

Of course, having the camera out attracted some photobombers. It happens. ;-)

And last but not least, no Thanksgiving would be complete without a picture of the Davids!  :)

With that, we headed out the door after a final round of hugs and goodbyes, and for once, Jeff, who usually does all the driving on Thanksgiving, let me drive home while he slept (tried to sleep?) in the back seat.  After we played our normal round of What Was Your Favorite Food to Eat This Year (top answers were turkey and mashed potatoes, but brussels sprouts made a showing, too...oh, and the maple fudge) :), the van quickly descended into quiet as most of the riders fell asleep, our memory banks holding a fresh deposit of warm, happy moments of family togetherness.

Thanksgiving is just one day a year, but what a day it is!  It's not the only day we give thanks, since we try pretty hard to keep gratitude as a theme of every day.  But it is the pinnacle of the Thankful Mountain we strive to live on!