Dream: n, a strongly desired goal or purpose
If one mouse is a mouse, and two or more are mice;
If one goose is a goose, and two or more are geese;
If one moose is a moose,
Why aren’t two or more Meese?
Down the road they came, right in front of our house. The boys were so thrilled, all I heard were cries of “Moose!” Moose!” “There are two of them in front of our house!”
As I ran for my camera, there came a chorus of “Yah, take a picture, so we can show Daddy!” “Mom, take more!”
It has been an exciting morning… and we just got up.
Okay, so I have been absent for a while. Hibernating is more like it!
When winter set in, I did not want to do anything except curl up and enjoy warm places. The Christmas gifts where finished, all the socks and sweaters were completed on time! (Though no everything was mailed out in the most timely of manners.)
School has continued to plod along. The children are learning, and tonight, for the first time, Caleb read a book to himself! You bet I am proud of him.
Almost equally exciting: today, things began to melt! Hooray! Okay. It will still be months (and months) before the snow is gone, but something melting is better than nothing melting…
Okay, so plastic toys melting is not better, but back to the good news:
Spring is on its way, and will begin to make an appearance before long! Birds will arrive, and bits of green will show up, despite the snow. Until then, my boys will continue to ski and sled whenever they have the chance.
I have joined a little challenge to ‘pay it forward‘ (PIF). This challenge is like a reverse chain letter. One person sends out a homemade gifts to three people, those three then make their own gifts, and sent them out to three others. The best part about the reversal is that you choose to be part of it, rather than it being forced on you. 
12/05/2008
Last night, Manny brought the mail home, and my ‘pay it forward’ gift had arrived! It is this cute little wreath ornament, made of strips of fabric. The kids all loved it, and wanted to play with it. After each had a turn to hold it (and lose it), I tracked it down, and gave it a place of honor in the entry way. Thank You!!!
This made me realize that a homemade gift could be anything… I had been limiting my thoughts to sewn/knitted/crocheted items, but now I have lots of ideas.
The guidelines are as follows:
I would like 3 people to participate in my PIF challenge. In turn you must agree to post your PIF challenge on your blog and send homemade gifts to *3* people who sign up. You have 365 days to make and send your gifts. If more than 3 people sign up, I will draw names from a hat. If you do not think you can make and send 3 gifts within a year’s time, please don’t sign up.
Please leave a comment.
In the meantime, I am going to figure out what I want to give! I figured out what I am giving!
Trying to get done, before Christmas…
1. Manny pursuing something he is passionate about. 
2. This baby tummy. It loves to be kissed and tickled.
3. Celebrating Advent with my Children.
4. Cloudy skies, and the chance of snow.
5 & 6. Little helpers, and good food.
7. This song.
8. Brothers, working together.
9. Trying new things…like decorating cookies with my boys.
10. Daniel, dressing himself.
Last month, when Manny and the older boys were out hunting, Caleb asked to wash dishes, and I let him. He was so proud of himself, for the good job he did, that he requested to be added to the dish-washing rotation. No one objected, and he did a wonderful job…until the novelty wore off.
This last week he has had to re-due the job several times, as dirty dishes keep ending up in the drainer. After running new water, for the third time, yesterday, I gave him an ultimatum.
“Caleb, you are going to wash the dishes every day, until they are all clean in a timely manner. Every time you have more than three dirty dishes in the to re-wash, you will have the job again the next day.”
He sighed, and said, “Okay.” Blankly, he turned and began to walk away.
I called him back, and asked, “Caleb, what did I say to you?”
“That I have to wash dishes…” looking around sadly.
“Until when?” I prompted.
“Until I move out of the house,” he calmly answered.
“Until when?” I prompted, again.
“Until I am old enough to move out of the house, then I won’t have to wash dishes anymore.” He answered, a bit annoyed.
“Is that what I said?” I asked.
“No, you said I had to get them clean.” He replied, staring off into space.
We will see how long that takes…
For the first time in the history of this family, we made rolled cookies and decorated them. I don’t know why we have never done this before… It is not hard, a bit time consuming, but so much fun!
We started this project last Thursday evening, with mixing the dough. The next day we rolled and cut. There was lots of snitching. I was almost afraid we would not have any cookies. ;-0
Yesterday, we took time to decorate them. It was so fun to see the kids creativity and individual personalities come out: The colors they chose, their skill level, and the cookies they most enjoyed decorating.
Adam was studious, and concentrated hard on his work. He decorated long after the others had tiered out and gone to play.
He decorated a cookie with each member of the family in mind. It is fun to see him growing and thinking of others.
Daniel wanted so much to be involved. I gave him three cookies, and a knife. He would frost the cookie, say it was ugly, and lick the frosting off. Then he would frost it again. He kept himself occupied some time in this manner, until the gingerbread man broke! He ‘glued’ its leg back on, with frosting, and then put a puddle on it, made of several colors. he really liked that one, and saved it to show daddy.
After dad had seen his handy work, he fed it to Gideon, who objected not in the least! We ran out of frosting, before we ran out of cookies. I am debating mixing up some more, and enjoying this together time again or just enjoying the unfrosted cookies with guests…as we clearly can’t serve these to others.
Gotta Love ‘em!
<- Daniel, showing me what is left of his last cookie.
“The Diet Dictocrates don’t want you to know that…
*Your body needs old-fashioned animal fats
*New-Fangled polyunsaturated oils can be bad for you
*Modern whole grain products can cause health problems
*Traditional sauces promote digestion and assimilation
*Modern food processing denatures our foods but
*Ancient preservation methods actually increase nutrients in fruits, nuts, vegetables, meats and milk products!”
-From the back cover.
Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, is a cook book that I have owned for two years. I have read it from cover to cover several times, and never cease to be amazed by the information found in it. It is based on old ways of doing things, that promote health.
Much of the research is based on Dr. Price’s work. He was a dentist who traveled the world, especially places that had not been affected by modern conveniences, and compared what he found to “modern man.” The differences in health are astounding. It is a must read, for anyone who wants to live a long healthy life.
Last month Manny celebrated his 34th birthday with Mud Pie and Elk Hunting a long hike. He had a good time out in the mountains, but got lonely for his family, so came home and took the two oldest boys back out with him. They all had fun, but came home so dirty, I didn’t even want to talk about it.
So, why are we celebrating again? Well, it seems old age has some advantages. He has no idea how old he is. In the weeks before his birthday he was asked his age several times, and each time he told the person something different. These false ages ranged from 27-36 years of age. The funny part is that he had no idea he was lying to anyone. Of course, the kids always caught him, and informed him of his mistake.
Now, when someone asks him his age, he looks around for one of the children…to find out how old he is.
Happy Birthday, and a month, Honey! I love you!
