the sky is pink

A certain boy in our house turned nine yesterday. Carter, our #2 son (in birth order only), was born nine years ago yesterday. And, boy, has it been an adventure with him. Carter was the one who wore a Power Ranger costume everyday for many months ( years? ), without even watching a single Power Ranger episode. Then he was Spiderman. He was obsessed with boots (snow, cowboy, whatever) and wore them, even if he had nothing else on (see above). We were always asked by strangers if he was going to a costume party. He was a character. He was a handful, and still is some days. He has a spunky spirit. Yesterday afternoon we had a small friend's party for him. He invited several friends, but one was out of town and the other was sick at the last minute. He had two show up and that was enough. For entertainment, we had "geocaching" in the backyard. Joe jotted down clues on some lunch sacks and we divided the kids into two teams (Carter with his friends and Taylor with the young...

One of Joe's Christmas presents was a handheld GPS. I bought it hoping we would be able to go geocaching as a family. After all, what boy (big or small) wouldn't like treasure hunting? Yesterday was our first try. We found the site quite easily (it was less than three miles from our house). The boys looked high and low ... And then Joe found it. They were so happy. It was cold and damp, but we had a great time. We're already planning our adventure for today ...

be merry and bright, and filled with goodies to eat, and lots of good quality time with those you love. Merry Christmas, friends.

I'm trying to keep my head above water. Yesterday was a busy one. It started with the final, major gift wrapping session, candy making (toffee, fudge, and raspberry-chocolate truffles), spiced nuts making, and ended with a sore back. I still have a few small gifts to package up for the teachers and the bus driver for tomorrow and make more truffles, peppermint bark , no-bake cookies and macaroons. I think that's it. My cookbook from last year is so very handy. All of my favorite recipes are right there. All bound together! And, yes, to answer all of your questions, this is our family Christmas photo, mailed out in postcard style . Mason (orange shirt) is shivering. (This morning was Joe's followup appointment with his surgeon. He seems to be healing very well. He is on convalescent leave for three more weeks.)

Every year I say, "I'm going to make everyone a stocking that matches mine." And I don't. Every year I say, "I'm going to replace that ugly twist-paper angel," that I made 15 years ago at church ... And, this year , I finally did. Every year I think I want a new white or pink tree for our upstairs front hall ... And I finally got one ... And decorated using my vintage Christmas ornaments . Every year I think I need to buy a copy of A Christmas Story and The Year Without a Santa Claus ... And, apparently, I do! I have one VHS of each movie, three DVDs of A Christmas Story and two DVDs of The Year Without a Santa Claus. Can someone remind me next year not to buy more? [Note: My Christmas stocking is truly vintage. It is as old as I am. All of my cousins that are my age and older have matching ones. My grandmother had them made for us.]

Last year we had such a hard time finding a present for Joe's mother. We eventually settled on a German treat basket , filled with goodies that would be reminiscent of the time she spent in Germany as an Army wife. This year we were at a loss again. I decided to buy a set of bath towels, hand towels, and wash cloths and monogram them. We bought the towels at Target (from the Thomas O'Brien Vintage Modern collection). They are very soft and reasonably priced. I think two towels, two hand towels and two wash cloths cost about $60. They are a pale green, embroidered in dark green. The bath towels are monogrammed with their first-name initials (B and E) and the hand towels with their last-name initial (C). We also picked up a bottle of Method Hollyberry soap to go with it. Now, all we need is a nice basket to put them in. We were going to buy some for my parents, but the color we chose didn't have enough bath towels. We will have to check back. Plus, I think I want a set ...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... On Friday I went to the post office to check my mail and I had a package. Yippee! Except, the post office was closed for lunch. Thinking it was only just some Christmas stuff from recent online shopping, I wasn't in a hurry to run back (I had to finish cleaning for Taylor's birthday sleepover). I was sorry I hadn't rushed back to the post office when I went Saturday morning and discovered, it wasn't Christmas gifts, but a wonderful package from Karyn . It totally felt like Christmas to me. I can't even remember everything that she sent. There is so much. There's a sewing bag, zippers, a homemade vanilla bath bomb, a pyramid pouch, a covered notebook, Christmas cards, snowmen pencils for the kids (who are fighting over them) and other little doo-dads. And you know she is totally a good friend when she sends: additions to the boredom bucket ! For someone who doesn't have any kids, she was right on w...

There's not much I can show of my Christmas crafting, but I'm pretty sure Sawyer doesn't check my blog. I had seen several of these peas in blogville and when I was buying books for my children for Christmas, I couldn't help myself when I saw this. Sawyer loves balls, so I am sure he will adore this pea. It is made from wool felt. His mouth (also wool felt) is satin-stitched on. His eyes (also wool felt) is hand stitched. He has three little red french-knot freckles on each cheek. I actually had a lot of fun making this little guy. First it was just a ball. Then it was a ball with a mouth. Then it was a ball with one eye. Then two. And then the freckles gave him personality. And I'm happy I had fun making him because when I was working on him late one night last week, I realized it was after 12:30 a.m. * * * * * Thanks for the birthday wishes for Taylor and the well wishes for Joe. Joe is recovering. Slowly. He can now bend three of his five fingers. He had...

He's growing up too fast. Just yesterday he was ten. Today he is eleven. Another year has flown by. Happy birthday, Taylor. I love you. And I love our morning snuggles . You've been a joy in my life. * * * * * * * * * Other random news * * * * * * * * * * * Joe is having shoulder surgery today. He broke his arm May 2006 (which went undiagnosed for months) and it has never properly healed. He's having repairs to his rotator cuff and some ligaments or something. We don't have our Christmas trees up yet. We are waiting for Taylor's sleepover to be over (Friday night). I'm in full panic mode.

By day I sew. By night I soap. Every Christmas I make at least two large (quadruple) batches of soap. Chocolate-mint soap. With lye. I wasn't looking forward to making it last night. It's a long process. From start to finish this batch took just a little over three hours. Most of it is waiting. Waiting for the lye + water mixture to cool down. Waiting for the oils to melt and cool down. Waiting for the soap to trace. Waiting for the soap to cook. Yes. I take some shortcuts. I cook my soap. In the oven . It speeds up the saponification process greatly, which is very helpful when I am running out of time between now and Christmas. While it's not my preferred method, it fits into my schedule better. I even pleaded with Joe to take Spenser and Sawyer to karate last night so me and my lye could have some uninterrupted time together, which is always my preferred method. I hope to make another batch between now and Saturday (at the latest). My house really smells good ...

I've been thinking about making a Christmas something for Spenser. A skirt ? A dress ? A shirt ? I'm not sure what. I bought some fabric on etsy a couple of weeks ago and it's just been sitting there awaiting inspiration. On Friday I decided I was going to make her a dress out of a shirt pattern ( Simplicity 4206 ), but I wanted to make a trial one first so I wouldn't mess up the good fabric. I grabbed some fabric out of my " to be donated " pile and got to work. I let her try it on before I hemmed it and ... she loved it (unlike in the past , when altering still needs to be done and she hates it). In fact, she liked it so much, she wore it the rest of the night and fell asleep on the sofa wearing it, totally unhemmed. ( Note to self: pattern would make a cute nightgown.) Then I decided I must have a matching shirt ( Simplicity 3835 ). We wore them Sunday to church and to a family reunion/Christmas party. I really like the patterns and will definitely mak...

The karate tournament was Saturday. This was the second one our boys participated in. They did so well. Jackson placed sixth in "One Step." Carter placed sixth in "Forms" and fifth in "Fighting." Taylor placed second in "Forms" and first in "Fighting." I almost cried. Almost . We are so proud of them. I guess taking the boys to karate every week pays off. I will remind myself of that the next time I take the kids when Joe is out of town, leaving me with Spenser and Sawyer to quietly entertain in confined quarters for an hour. And, while I'm already bragging about my kids, I wanted to say that last week at Taylor's instrumental band/chorus school concert Taylor played a clarinet solo. It was actually a "soli," where several children played solos, along with another instrument. Taylor played his piece with a boy who played saxophone. They both did a great job. We don't have any photos from either the...

My four oldest boys take karate. I think Taylor is a green belt, Carter (?) is red, Jackson (?) is yellow, Mason is white. This year I decided to make karate uniform ornaments to reflect their current belt color. (Spenser gets the pink karate uniform and Sawyer gets the baby blue one.) The uniform is made from felt. The belts are just ribbon. I didn't have yellow on hand, so I'll have to find some in a hurry or use some bias tape temporarily. Each uniform is hanging on a handmade, wire hanger (made from 16-gauge crafting wire). The boys have a karate tournament tomorrow. I was going to put them in our advent stocking tomorrow night, but our tree is not up yet (waiting for a birthday sleepover next Friday to be over, I don't need my Christmas tree flipped ). I'm not sure if I can wait until next week. I'm so excited about them. Every year we buy the children a dated Christmas ornament, with the hope that when they move out, they will have their own set. Last yea...

Another year has passed and my sweet, Jackson, is now seven. He is a very sweet, affectionate child. He is creative . And articulate. And fun. And very active. He did not want to turn seven. He said his "fun- ness " would end at six. I think he will see that seven is heaven . ( I promised this photo last year and found the print in a box of old photos last week.) Enjoy your day, little man. I think you are going to have a great year. I love you.

On Friday I hung up our stocking advent calendar . The children were excited to see it come out. I can't fill the stockings ahead of time because it is hanging within arm's reach of many curious little ones who peek and squeeze it, looking for hints and clues for the evenings' activities. Another reason I don't fill it ahead of time is because sometimes the activities have to fit into our schedule. Late nights out mean a small, quick snack or activity. On Saturday, the first, we planted Christmas tree seeds. I found a little tin with a peat pellet and seeds in the dollar bin at Michaels. I thought it would be fun to see if anything will sprout by Christmas day. Sunday we ate swirled Lifesaver lollipops . I had totally forgotten about those things until I saw them at our local grocery store, 10 for $1. Mmmm. They brought back some memories. (Remember Strawberry 'n Cream, Orange 'n Cream, Blueberry 'n Cream, Strawberry 'n Banana? Any more I forgot? Was t...

Big tears this morning from one of my boys when he announced his favorite, well-worn, and much-loved Chuck's were too small. It broke my heart. It broke my heart even more when I realized the cost to replace them. We lucked out buying these (and three more pairs in various sizes) at Marshalls a few years back for under $10 a pair. A new pair is between $24.95 (for kids) and $41.95 (mens). Do you believe that "mens" sizes begin at size 3.5? (I'm sorry, but what man wears a size 3.5 shoe? None that I know.) That's a huge price difference.

Saturday was Jackson's birthday party . Two words. Holy. Cow . Thank goodness it is over. Thank goodness we survived. Thank goodness is all I can say. We all know that I have five boys. A few more (four to be exact) shouldn't really make a difference. Or so I thought. My boys can be rowdy at times. They are boys, you know. But this was different. These weren't boys. They were like wild animals being led into captivity. Oh yeah. It was that bad. It started at 2 p.m. They all arrived at 1:50. By 2:41 p.m. I was wishing it was over. In a good way. My mother, who raised eight children, agreed that it was wild and hairy. At times we would look at each other and just shake our heads. Let's see. The highlights? Besides the "normal" wrestling, running, attacking, jumping on the furniture, screaming, running through the house with food, and lack of manners, we had "choking." Apparently it's a fun thing for boys this age to put their hands around someone...