Things I thought I would never say.

"Anton put A Christmas Carol (or King Arthur, Huckleberry Finn, etc.) away

and read your Literature!"

"No, Isabella, you can not read Pride and Prejudice until you are 10!"

"Children, could you please learn to play another song on the piano,

I can not get that one out of my head for all the practicing."

"Isabella put that fruit away, we will be eating later!"

"Isabella stop hugging your brother!"

"Anton please let your sister answer the questions.

I know you want to help, but she needs a little more time to learn the answer!"

"Just wait till your father comes home so he can explain to you the molecular break down of

...(fill in with many options!)."

"No, I do not know what the chemical component is that causes

this soda to have a bright green color and the other to be orange."

"I am sorry but broccoli is not on our shopping list this week."

"Are you really going to give all your money to the poor?"

"All electrical experiments must wait for your father and can not be conducted in your room."

"Sometimes it is good to do things without your brother or sister."

We are so blessed!

The Changing of the Rooms!

Just before Thanksgiving, Karl and I made a bold move in the house. We moved the playroom from the unfinished basement to the spare bedroom. The children had been asking when we might paint the walls and put in some carpet in the basement. After repeated attempts to tell them that we do not foresee the basement being finished in the near future, and empathizing with the temperature on the concrete floor dropping, we decide to make the move.

I like the idea of a spare bedroom, ready to provide comfort to those who travel our way. When we weighted out the pros and cons of the spare bedroom verses playroom, the playroom seemed most logical. We rarely have guests come, and the children are needing a more comfortable space to use on a daily basis. So all the clutter that was in the spare room from moving into the house was sent to the basement and all the children's toys, minus the crafts, were brought up to a new space. Now there is plenty of room to navigate Rockenboks and still have the pieces together.

And do not forget the beloved Legos! The once train table has become most useful as the place to sort out those pieces during construction as the parts all stay on the table!

You can see Isabella's castle in the background and next to that is her stack of clear drawers for all those important little pieces. One drawer is nothing but Polly Pocket/Disney Princess pieces but the whole drawer slides out nicely and therefore can be put back neatly.


Overall, A very smart move! When guests to come, we will make do just as we have in tighter spaces we have had before!

Christmas Morning - Part 4- Puppies and other gifts

Never fear, we did not forget our four legged friends for Christmas.

Katie and Blossom have begun to want to play tug, so a large knot was the perfect gift. Now they can play tug together! After a few hours they had the right idea.

One of Isabella's other gifts, one from Karl and I, was her very own digital camera. She is forever wanting to use our camera but we are to concerned with her casualness to trust her with our more expensive camera. She can now snap away all she wants and if she damages the camera, at least it was not very expensive. Actually it was free, we used Disney points form our card to buy it. (Does anyone else think Vanna needs to be concerned about her job?)

And it just would not be Christmas without a little Legos for Anton. I think the boy dreams in Legos! His goal now is to create an igloo, life size, to play in. I think we might be a couple thousand short even if we combine all our sets, heaven forbid. Karl is very particular about not dumping all the Legos in one container to making building models very difficult when you can not find that one piece. The day progressed into a marathon of Lego construction so the kiddos could have a battle between the good knights and the evil skeletons and now trolls too!

We had a very full Christmas and probably more gifts than we should have gotten. If I tried to mention every gift, it would take me way too many blog pages. Not to mention you would all think us way to indulgent, even if it is true. With that said, please do not think we think any less of your gifts to us. We truly cherish all of them, even those that end up manifesting inches on our waist line or hips.

Christmas Morning - Part 3 - Towels, Movies, Books, and the Greatest Gift

Christmas gift giving is usually for giving those highly wanted but not always practical gifts. But as we get older, these gift giving times tend to become the best time to get those practical gifts. I bring this up to explain one of my gifts to Karl.

Karl has this love of very soft, plushy towels. He has commented over the past couple years on how "un-plushy" the towels we received from our wedding have become; it has been nearly 13 years. The children got a few new towels when we moved into the house on account of their new decorating scheme of underwater fish in bright colors; perfect for a child's bathroom. Karl upon feeling the new towels, renewed his thought of our still nice but not as luxurious towels. So, I got him two full sets of new plushy towels that I took great care in wrapping between layers of tissue paper to give it an extra flourish. I was giggling so hard I am surprised I got the picture in focus.

Sometimes when you have been married to someone for a while, you get over the surprise factor in gifts or as many women have come to understand, if you want him to give you the right book, movie, etc. you need to make the request very specific! In such cases as this, I sometimes go so far as to buy the items myself and hand Karl the unopened amazon box with the comment "Thank you honey for the gift! Would you like to wrap it so you know what it is?" While some are offended at this normal exchange between us, it has come from many years of understanding, he unusually does not have the time and would feel better if he knew it was really what I wanted.

I also received my own copies of two versions of Pride and Prejudice movies, the Kira Knightly and the Colin Firth. This has come to be distinguished in this house as the two hour verses the 5 1/2 hour versions. I love both movies for different reasons. The first for the scenery, the more romantic moments, and the more true to my view of the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Jane, Caroline Bingly, Charlotte, and I do like Kira as Lizzy. I love Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet. He is able to capture the satirical teasing motivated by love without coming across as cynical. The A&E version with Colin Firth, the best Darcy, the closeness to the book, the attention to major details not able to fit within the other 2 hour format, my view of Pemberly, and a better Mr. Bingly performance make it worth the effort of the longer version. I was able to talk Karl in to watching the two hour version with me, letting him interrupt the movie at any time to explain what is missing from this point in the book. He thought it a very good movie but does not seem ready to exhaust himself over the longer version. We will see!!!

We all received some movies to our liking. Anton got Wall-E, Meet the Robinsons (the idea of the secret lab); Isabella a collection of Barbie, Tinker Bell; and Karl got his requests of Dark Knight and Iron Man. As I mentioned before, since we do not have cable or dish services, television usage is limited to movies we own or netflix. So between relatives, each other and Santa, we have a whole new grouping to satisfy our tastes.

This month at our retreat, I took the middle group again, which included my two, and we discussed the most important gifts being shared at Christmas. The thing about this group, they all say Jesus first. It kind of makes for a short lesson. Well, I also turned the idea into what could they give as their most important gift.....

...their love!

I had the children color pictures of hearts and hands with a saying, "The most important gift I can give you is...my love!" The children were instructed to wrap it for their parents for Christmas. It was very sweet and wonderful all at the same time.

Christmas Morning - Part 2 - Prigge Gandparents' gifts

Karl's parents really went out of their way this year for Christmas gifts. Between discussions of the children's interests and needs, they decided on some very special gifts. I had received a message of boxes to come with only a few indications as to what was on it's way. When Isabella's box arrived, I new what it was well before Christmas Morning. The catalog within the box gave it away, but I kept my mouth shut so she would not know. The Prigges had gotten wind of my circumstance of Isabella's reading selections. This, combined with Mrs. Prigge's wish of having a daughter to dote upon, resulted in the answer to our situations. She got Molly!

Molly is the American Girl Doll representative for the World War Two era. With a whole book line and now permission to enjoy the other splendid series also, we could not be happier. Karl's mom expressed to me the excitement she received in shopping in the new Mega store which had opened recently near her. Two floors of mothers, daughters, and grand mothers letting their senses be consumed around a marketing phenomena over these historical book series. It is sort of tongue in cheek with the whole subculture. While you mentally know it is akin to a trip to Disney World, your heart (and my literary yearning) wants to take the plunge into this magical world. Molly also represents something else for Isabella, a doll that is like her, wait till she reads more of her story to see just how much!

After the excitement over Molly, it was Anton's turn to open his boxes. Karl and I already knew what was coming due to Karl's father's interest in personally picking out this gift. He was overjoyed at Anton's curiosity in microscopes and seeing the intricacies of things. Karl's father was a chemist by profession and was waiting for the day he could expose his grandchildren to this side of his life. Unfortunately, he does not live close by to help show Anton how to create his own slides as these things seemed a bit over whelming to him right now. He was all beaming over the advancing of his "secret lab" as he inspected the parts in front of him.

Both children, and parents, were thrilled with the chosen gifts and the meaning behind the choices. It was more than we could have hoped for or thought possible. While these gifts are helpful in their education, it is also giving them a chance to explore other venues not yet know to them. Karl and I understand the emotional significance of these gifts more than the children do but in time, they too will come to understand their meaning.

Christmas Morning - Part 1- First Looks

As a young mother, many years ago, I prided myself for accomplishing a feat in order to help my children's sleep habits. I have always been cursed with being a very light sleeper; waking at the slightest out of sequence sound. My children do not follow in my footsteps on this matter. I took great pains to run vacuums, and keep things from being perfectly quiet during their sleep time, unless I was trying to sneak in a few winks also. The children have, for the most part, been able to wake when their body says they have been rested and not from other interruptions. Thus, to many parents disbelief, we did not get up for Christmas Morning festivities until 6:30. Karl and I had been awakened by our four legged friends' needs and the coffee started just as the children were on their way down.


While the puppies were being attended to, coffee and cranberry bread placed in the living room, the children were discovering the gifts left by Santa. Anton is beginning to doubt by the questions he has been asking over the past few years, accusations of me running out in the middle of the night to retrieve gifts while they are sleeping, but when the moment comes just before going up to bed, he is all giddy with cookies and milk to be placed in the proper spot. Isabella has begun the logical reasoning of timing, but then uses time zones and time delays as excuses. One of the pictures from the NATO Santa watch site uses real reindeer and a sled in their satellite proof of Santa's journey. This was the one to get them off Karl's lap and racing off to bed with frantic shouts of, "He's almost here!" "Santa does n0t want to find us awake!" "Those were real reindeer!"

Anton, unlike many of his peers, did not ask for gaming systems or expensive I-Pods. He asked for "a good telescope to see space", and other items for his "secret lab". Santa brought the first big item with eyes full of curiosity and wonder as to what he will see. Currently, the scope sits in the master bedroom as it has the best window, out of puppy exposure, and can also view the nature preserve beyond the crop land.

Yes, that is a real bow set! Isabella asked for a bow set and wishes to go hunting. Whether this is due to our exaggerated discussions of living the land, or because the young boy up the road regularly goes hunting we can not figure out but she wanted one. I have to admit, I did enjoy archery when exposed to the sport many years ago. This interest has Karl thinking of getting sets for the whole family and plans of family practice times. Later in the day, Karl took Isabella outside to shoot. She needs to develop her upper body strength to pull the bow strings all the way back, but she does have good aim. They were shooting into the straw bales that contain my working compost. Once, when Karl slipped, he shot into the pile skewering the remains of an orange peel. He was not too happy and the request for new bales to create a proper target have been proposed.

The children, hardly able to contain their secret, wanted me to open their gift. I had requested a nice stainless stock pot. I had a large aluminum one I would use for cooking down large batches of tomatoes or apples when canning, but the sugars were burning on the bottom. This new pot with it's thicker heavier bottom will make this less likely. It is also huge!



My sister, Lori, asked what she should give the children. After I thought about all the other gifts I knew of, more in later posts, I sent her a list of books. Anton really had been wanting a copy of Treasure Island, after seeing the Disney remake into Treasure Planet. I searched for just the right copy, one that would keep his interest but not too easy either. Anton has been devouring the children's scaled down classics in about 2 days, I wanted this to last longer. After reading many reviews and taking peeks at the pages, I sent her the link for this one. It has many pictures in a soft water color to keep the interest, but it is the story as Stevenson wrote it. Anton says it might take him a week. When I asked Isabella if there were any books she might want, and reminding her books we buy are ones we would read many times, she excitedly requested, "Anything Judy Moody!" She had just completed a book report on a Judy Moody book from the library. She would be laughing in stitches over the predicaments Judy got herself into. The books are laying in the basket waiting for the newness of the other gifts to wear off, I give them a week.

Christmas Recital

Before the Christmas Eve Children's Mass, Anton and Isabella were asked to have a short recital along with other students of the Music Director. Anton and Isabella were the youngest of her students to perform and their strengths and weaknesses were shown. Anton was quite a bit more nervous than Isabella as he played the air piano in his seat while once more looking at the notes. He had just managed the finger placement for the difficult part of Carol of the Bells. Also adding to his uneasiness was being able to play on the church's grand piano and not his keyboard at home. But, like his father, he decided to stop fretting and get it over with by volunteering to go first. I thought he did great, but like me, he focused on the imperfect parts. His instructor said it was her fault for not having him come to practise on the grand piano before as the keys are slightly farther apart than his keyboard. She thought he did wonderful and commented the other students who have been taking lessons for over 5 years and their lack of practise was showing. She believes Anton and Isabella did so well because they practise and it is coming easy to them.

Isabella had said she would like to go first after Anton spoke up, but a glare from her mother knew she needed to wait. Isabella has no fear of being in front of others, she rather likes the attention. This created an air of her being older or more mature than other girls at age six. But if one looked at her seat they would have noticed Sara, her doll dressed just like her, waiting for her return. She was fortunate I had ran out of time and could not make dresses this year. The dress she picked just happened to come with a matching dress for her doll. Isabella was asked to play We Three Kings even though she wanted to play Anton's more difficult song. She loves a challenge and does not like to have her brother complete things before her. At home, she would practise his song anytime she could sneak over to the keyboard. The grand piano was not viewed as a difficulty but a special privilege, however, she did not have a section of eighth notes to play amid quarter notes.

Overall, they were great. They have only been taking lessons from this instructor since September and before leaving CT they only had 8 months of lessons with Kristen. It is a combination of Anton's love of repetition and the feeling of accomplishment mixed with Isabella's love of all things artistic and need to overcome any obstacle. I am very proud of them and hope they can continue at this pace. Their instructor has hopes too, she needs to find someone who can someday replace her. The local area has a shortage of musicians who can play the organ causing their director to be very busy with other churches in addition to ours. But becoming adept at playing the organ takes decades and piano is the first step.

Seasonal Field Trip

On Monday, we took a trip into DC to visit the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It was very beautiful and we wished we had had more available time to give each piece a respectable amount of reflection. We arrived on the lower level which houses the Crypt Chapel, a private chapel for confessions, a book store, a gift shop, a cafeteria (which was to be used to serve the homeless on Christmas Day), several pieces of art and statuary, in addition to the Christmas decorations. All very beautiful. The trip really helped us remain focused on the purpose of Christmas.


Quietly we weaved our way to the confessional chapel and prepared ourselves to be reconciled with God. Very earnestly Isabella asked if she could talk to the priest about her failings. I looked at Karl for some advice because she has not received this sacrament yet. Her class was scheduled to have their first Penance Service in February. Karl suggested I go first and ask the priest his advice for how to handle the request. This is not the first time Isabella has asked to go to confessions and I could see in her face she really thought she would feel better speaking to a priest. So, I asked. The priest responded with curiosity and bewilderment but eventually stated he could not refuse anyone who wished to speak to him about their sins, even non-Christians. Overjoyed at this information, Isabella practically skipped into the confessional and returned not more than few minutes later. When I asked her how she felt, with eyes wide and a big smile, "My heart is on fire." After we had all completed our reconciliations, we attended mass in the Crypt Chapel. The chapel was of course underground, but the ceiling had a similar structure of other Gothic style terrain level churches. We had a cave, or castle like feeling in the space as the wall and columns were made of dark gray stone but it was very open and large. It felt very secure in a comforting way.


After a little lunch, we traveled up to the main level. The Shrine was massive in typical Cathedral cross style floor plan, but along the outer walls were little alcoves for more contemplative thoughts or reflections. Each alcove contained some particular devotion or doctrinal idea to the church which caused some lingering feelings to ponder. One could easily spend a full day on just one side of the Shrine.

The details were amazing and one could be stuck in a state of awe for hours. In the very center behind the alter was a massive depiction of Jesus with outstretched arms, not nailed to the cross outstretched, but enveloping the world outstretched. The eyes seemed to be looking at you no matter where you stood in the main church; whether it be directly underneath the mosaic or at the church door about 1000 yards away you felt the powerful eyes watching over you. This attention to detail was in every piece of art. Our necks began to grow tired of the upper gazing at these magnificent works.

But if asked, my favorite piece at the time was a nearly life sized nativity on the right hand side of the church just before the cross section. I was immediately drawn the the Mary and the angel and their watchful sense of awe upon the space where the Christ Child would be placed following Christmas Eve Mass. It was like a confirmation on the purpose of Advent, to prepare ourselves for a greatness to come. The greatness of Christ who is the total embodiment of love not quite understood by all. These two depictions conveyed these thoughts in both the human and celestial bodies even though they were mere sculptures.

After our short visit at the Shrine we weaved our way through downtown DC to the Franciscan Monastery on account of the advice of a priestly monk to view the miniature Holy Lands. As luck would have it, we found ourselves tagging along with the final tour of the day. The church was in a state of repair and preparation which necessitated the use of a tour guide. Before we ascended to the lower grounds of the chapel, we passed by a life sized depiction of the crucifixion of Christ.

The first stop on our Holy Lands tour took us to Nazareth to the place of Mary's message from Gabriel. Then we were whisked into the miniaturized Catacombs under Rome, with explanations to all the children in attendance of the ordeals the early Christians had to overcome. The guide was very good at keeping the events true but not so gruesome to create nightmares for weeks to come. These catacombs contained three martyrs, two recreation in marble and one in a glass sealed box. As we passed these spots the children were able to understand how these people suffered just because they believed differently than the people in charge. My children already understood many of these ways of forcing others into certain thoughts or ways from our studies of Ancient Civilizations and the movements of the Israelites from one area to another in history. We made a stop in a small chapel the Franciscans had created amid their Catacombs. This chapel, the Chapel of All Souls, does not appear in the Roman Catacombs but gave the tour a nice teaching moment in both art and matters of faith in dealing with Purgatory. On the base of the altar was a Bass relief of an artist's depiction of souls in Purgatory. The angels were holding cups that would be the prayers of those living, when the cups were full, the angels would turn them down to alleviate the suffering of those being purified for Heaven.

As we left the Catacombs we passed some staircases with paintings of tigers and the coliseum. Our children said something to the effect of Daniel in the Lion's den and quickly understood the fearful looks upon the paintings. Our tour came to a conclusion in the Church of the Nativity, originally in Bethlehem. Our children got a gold star for correctly answering that Jesus was not born in a stable but in cave.

After our departure, I could not but help calling my parents to inform them of our unexpected trip to the Holy Lands. I teased her over the thousands of dollars we saved verses their trip a few years ago. My mother was very interested in the details and comparison to the actual Holy Lands. The Monastery has earned a spot on her list of places to visit when they come in the Spring.

A Joyful Noise?

For the first time, Isabella and I participated in a Christmas Concert. It all began with the children's piano instructor discussing the ability to recognize music via note reading verses ear training. When I used myself as an example of ear training before note reading, she stopped and wanted to confirm my ability to sing. I explained my choral experience in our previous church and my training in college, she practically had me against the wall. "I need Altos! Can you sing Alto?" The following Wednesday at Isabella's Choir Rehearsal, she handed me a packet for the Alto section. Thus began a two month preparation for the Christmas Celebration to be held at our church.


First, I wish to clarify any misconceptions on my abilities. I was Mezzo-Soprano trained in college for one year, quite a long time ago. Due to allergy issues and several bouts with strep and bronchitis, I was very nervous about my ability to hit those high notes as I once could. The Alto section is a more safe zone, only requiring me to have confidence in my ability to distinguish the different sections. Here lies the problem, I have lost much of the confidence I once possessed. I have a very strong voice, it is the fear of keeping it on the right note. Most music is heard in the Soprano range for females with the Alto range getting lost amid the Tenors section. However, without the Altos to enunciate the words, it can sound like the females are emitting some lovely sounds when singing some of the chosen pieces. This is not to say the Altos carry the most weight, it takes the whole range to make the piece sound as the composer meant it to sound. The most difficult part for me, a person who was highly trained by ear first, was to know I was indeed following the intended notes for my section even though they sounded flat compared to the Sopranos. I had to ignore my ears and follow my brain, something akin to a person becoming blind and trying to find their way about their house. It is familiar, but you just are not sure if you can trust yourself.

I humbly proceeded to the rehearsals, nervousness and all. At my first rehearsal, I gingerly took a less conspicuous seat off to the side of the Alto section. After two songs, the director moved me to the center on account of my strong tone with directions to learn the music fast for the sake of my Alto peers. Oh, dear! What have I gotten myself into? Karl took my music and downloaded it onto my headphones (I do not have an I-Pod, just a small ear phone player which was intended to have books on CD for me while I weeded my gardens in CT) to which I drilled it into my head. Interestingly, when Isabella was at the Children's Rehearsals one evening, she begged the director to let them sing one of the adult 5 part pieces because she had learned it from listening to me. In the end, I did a fair job by my accounts, and an amazing job according to Karl and Anton. Isabella said, "The Adults sounded like the CD Mommy!"

The children sang a few songs while the adult choir took a break. They did a wonderful job, especially when several children were out with strep throat. Isabella entertained everyone with her faces and inability to stand still. I was getting upset with her until I noticed Anton was making faces at her from the audience. The adults returned for a few songs and then the children returned for the medleys. Again, our little artist could not contain herself. She began directing, following the director's moves a little slowly at first, but in full motions by the end of the number. Later, when asked if she would like to be a director when she gets older, Isabella exclaimed, "I already am!"

Capitol Idea! - Part 3 - Tour of Building

Since our group was on the larger size, we were able to have a tour guide, mostly to ourselves. There were a few other local people who were attached with us just to even out the groups a little. Since multiple groups would be touring with different tour guides, we were all handed headphones in order to distinguish our tour guide from the others. Once we accomplished the task of headphone instruction and operational check, we were shuffled into a larger auditorium for a short movie about the creation and accomplishments of congress. This lead to a more inspired view of the building as we all had hearts swelled with pride for our country. After ascending about 40 steps, we were now in the Dome of the Capitol.

It was filled with many inspiring paintings and more statuary. I had to snap this picture of Andrew Jackson due to his commanding pose and family significance.

However, the details were amazing. It is easy to see why the construction took so long and went millions over budget.

The dome room is a special place as our tour guide pointed out. The space is used to welcome and say final farewell to every president of our country. When our next president is sworn in on January 20Th, Senator Obama will take his Oath of Office in the Dome. This is also the place where we have paid respects to former presidents such as Ronald Regan with the marines standing a final watch over the body.

After taking the Oath of Office, the new President Obama will enjoy a luncheon in the Hall of Statuary. The interesting point of this space is the acoustics. One can stand in a particular spot in the room and hear any conversation. She explained this by having us remove our headphones and walking across the room. In a normal conversational tone she explained more about this and we could hear her as clearly as if she had been whispering in our ears. This is not a place to hold a private conversation and many Congressional members are very aware of this circumstance.

Other places we explored on our tour were the crypt and the original Supreme Court space. The crypt has an interesting tale in there is no body within the crypt. It was meant to be the resting place for President Washington, but through years of construction and found letters of will, his body was never transported from Mont Vernon. So the crypt lies empty for no one could fill the shoes of President Washington. The other point of interest is when standing in the center of the crypt your body would be in four different zip codes as the dividing lines of the DC zip codes travel from compass points that meet at the crypt. The original Supreme Court space was a very small space located farther down and in a windowless space. The area had been lit with whale oil during this time period, so when the senate grew to large for it's space, it was very obvious why they took the newly free space. The dedication to details and royal feeling of the space made it feel very important.

After leaving the cramped spaces and tight hallways, we returned to the dome room for a final look before our tour ended. Since it was getting late, the cub scout parents decided to part ways and either continue to explore DC or return home. Since we had two puppies waiting at home, we chose to return home. Two other families followed our cue and joined us on the metro but not before one last picture in front of the Capitol.

Capitol Idea! - Part 2 - Lady Freedom and Exhibition Hall

We had about an hour before our scheduled tour, so we were instructed to view the plaster replica of Lady Freedom, which adorns the top of the Capitol Building and Exhibition Hall.

Lady Freedom was a design with much symbolism and design particulars. She was chosen after the narrowing selection of three designs and then voted upon by congress. She stands 19 1/2 feet tall creating the regulation that no other statues, except Lady Liberty who was already standing, can be taller than 19 feet because "nothing should be above Freedom".

Anton and Matthew were taking their buddy system to the extreme, but that is what this age is all about. Karl did stipulate at least one parent must accompany each of his cubbies because taking the den to a touristy place like the Capitol was above his comfort level. The children not wanting to be stuck to their parents when all their friends were around, chose to utilize the buddy system which made keeping track of the groups of two a little easier. Here Karl and Mike are watching their boys while getting a little history in the process. I, on the other hand, had the girls, Isabella and Mary Claire, in my eye sight. While reading the history behind the design was less on their list of priorities, they just simply admired the detail and grandeur of the replica.

I do not have any picture of the Exhibition Hall as cameras were forbidden in this area. Since I had the girls in my charge, I ended up spending the majority of the time watching the girls admire the detail of the dome replica on display, about the size of a doll house, with all of the details present. It was a cutaway, so we had to spend a long time viewing both sides. The girls and I then wandered through the Senate display section reading placards and finally sitting down to short video of the historical expansion of their spaces. Before we knew it, time had passed, and we missed the entire House of Representatives side because it was time for our tour through the building.

Capitol Idea! - Part 1 - Metro and Lobby

This past Saturday, we took a trip to see the Capitol and new visitor's center. It was a planned trip with Karl's Cub Scout Den to cover the Historical Places achievement. Living so close to the DC meant an endless options list to choose from. Karl chose not to attend a more local location since many of the children had already seen these sites even if Anton had not. Interestingly, this was also the first time for many of the children to take a ride the metro into the DC area, along with a subway transfer. After all the excitement of purchasing tickets and finding our way to the front car of the metro, Karl nearly proposed canceling the Capitol for just taking a loop around the metro.

However, we continued on and arrived together at the visitor's center and security station. Everyone one of our scouts set off the alarm with their belt loops and had to be scanned with the wands. After the first two, they waved all the boys, five bears and one weeblo, to one side and scanned them at once. We were glad to find a coat check so we did not have to walk around with our them. The crew was anxious to get moving to see the real part of the trip, so we wandered our way down to the ticket area where Karl had 30 tickets reserved for the tour. The boys and girls had fun looking at the very large bronze sautes of King Kamehameha I and Sachawa near the ticket counter.

Anton and Isabella were very excited to be able to tell their friends how to pronounce Kamehameha. Incidentally, we discovered later, this statue is the heaviest of all the bronze statues and must stay in this location because it is resting over a massive support structure for the building. It is the only spot they were not worried about it crashing through the floor. The statuary was part of a program with the Capitol in which each state contributed two statues of either bronze or marble for decorating the spaces. Our tour guide had a map of the locations of each state's contributions so she could point them out the visitor's home state's contribution. She also explained the statues were being swapped out all the time as state's changed or updated their representative statues.

Prepping Temporary Beds

This past Saturday, we had the goal of cleaning up the garage so Karl could get his car back in before the snow came. My accumulation of straw and compost had been sitting in his spot as a staging area till we had the chance to make some temporary beds for spring planting. With snow in the forecast for the afternoon, we had to get moving.


The children and I headed to the south side of the house to mark out the temporary vegetable garden beds. We decided to use this space because it will eventually become the soft fruit area for blueberries and other things I can come up with that will live harmoniously with the acidic needs of the blueberries. We need to have a temporary space because we are no where near ready to create the final vegetable garden plots in the main area of the lower land. We have a very wet spot in the lower land we have marked out as the duck pond and intend to run drainage to the pond. The digging of the pond is most likely going to require a backhoe and then we need to have a place to put all the excavated soil. We have plans for these but they all mean waiting to put anything in the lower land at this time.


Once the narrow beds, 30 inches wide and varying lengths to accommodate current difficulties, were laid out with stakes and twine, we began the no till method of preparation. This method for prepping the soil is simply a modified compost pile. I say modified because no current kitchen waste in the stage of breaking down is used. First one must lay a thin layer of straw on the grass, then composted manure (the post smelly kind found in bags at Lowes), a layer of crushed leaves, more composted manure, followed by a very thick layer of straw. The idea is the materials will break down over winter due to the constant freeze/thaw cycle into wonderful top soil. In the spring, if I want, I can till down a few inches to loosen the original ground, but the heat action of composting should have already killed off the grass and weeds beneath the pile.


It took the better part of the day to lay out and cover four 30 inch by 15 feet beds and one 30 inch by 35 feet bed. The 30 inch span is a comfortable straddle across the beds to facilitate early weeding and thinning of the beds. It also allows enough space for two rows of most crops and room to construct a climbing structure for vining plants. I did not invent this myself, it comes directly from one of John Seymour's Self Sustaining books I read last year. We will see how well it works, but any organic material added to the soil left by the builder will help anything that wants to grow there.


A few weeks prior I was able to plant some garlic for summer harvest. Again, I was lacking a great space for this, so I caved and planted the cloves in the flower beds near the soon to be erected orchard fence. The ground has been staked and marked with florescent twine so nearly everyone can see to not walk there. It has been mulched over with 4-6 inches of crushed leaves I was able to retrieve from local friends with established oak and maple trees, and a thin layer of straw to hold the leaves down until a good soaking rain or snow can matte them into place. I had read somewhere planting garlic with roses helpes to make the roses stronger. I wonder what it will do with the transplanted daisies located near them.


Between the new vegetable plots, and flower beds, I began running down the bales of straw and bags of crushed leaves. In no time, Karl was sweeping out the garage and straightening the tools. We kept the children busy by paying them $2 per full bucket of rocks they found in the orchard area. Since Isabella as she puts it "is coming up a little short on the money for Anton's Christmas gift" she was eager to make some money. I thought Karl was very generous to offer $2 but then again it was a 4 quart garden bucket. The rocks are being used to line the ditch I dug to facilitate a poor drainage spot during heavy rains. Since the beginning of the new rock ditch, we have not had any standing water on this spot of the driveway and it looks pretty too with all the shapes and colors of the found rocks.


Eventually our bodies gave out to the work load of the day. Our tummies were arguing with our drive and we had to call it a day. We had managed to reach the goal of the day to pull Karl's car into the garage. I walked slowly upstairs for my much needed hot shower then drove to Papa Johns to pick up the pizza we would eat by the fire while watching a children's choice movie. As I was driving and reflecting upon our accomplishments of the day, the snow began to fall. It was as if it had held off just long enough for us to reach our goal. The drainage ditch will be one of the long range projects to be chipped at as time allows but the evidence of our work is beginning to show. For now, I will rest and admire the beauty of the soft falling snow.

Talkin' Turkey!

This month, we were able to meet with our friends to talk about turkeys!

The presenter was very informative for the children and many of the parents. I, however, had already been doing some research on turkeys and only wanted to talk care specifics with the farmer. She began with discussions of what we need to survive, our habitat. This led into the discovers of what the wild turkeys look for when establishing their homes. Interestingly enough, on our way to Carolyn's house, two wild hens (female turkeys) ran across the road when we had been driving through a particularly wooded area. She explained the bravery on the hens in their job to hatch out turkeys and how the males, called gobblers or toms, just like to prance all day long.

She had brought her pet turkey Ron to show the children. Ron had been raised by hand since birth and at three years of age, was quite docile and accepted the children inspecting him. Ron is a Spanish Black or sometimes just called Black turkey. This breed is considered very critical, only 200 alive. Black Turkeys, along with Bourbon Reds and Narragansetts are heritage breeds which means closer to native wild turkeys, will breed naturally, and hatch out their eggs. When the presenter found out I was interested in keeping some turkeys, she began trying to convince me to go with the Blacks because of their closeness to extinction. She tried to persuade me by the numbers, there are 500 Bourbon Reds, but when I simply said, "I am from Kentucky." She smiled and said "That is why and you understand."

The children could touch all the feathers, three kinds for warmth and show, neck, head, beak. They could not touch his snood as it is very ticklish for him. After all the children had a chance to warm their fingers in the soft down, Ron was able to get down and strut in his pen. Since he had been such a good sport, Isabella was able to give him a cereal snack, raw wheat, cracked corn, oats, and split soybeans.

After the snack, the children tried hard to get Ron to gobble and show off his grand feathers. The is a small problem when he is so docile. But after some persistence of the children, his face turned to blue and he let out a few gobbles.

Why did Thomas Jefferson think the turkey should be the country's bird? Turkeys can see black, white, and red. The red allows toms to spot other toms in a distance. Turkeys are native to the US and Thomas Jefferson had turkeys on his farm when the British, Red Coats, came to his house. The toms, seeing the red, saw the British as other gobblers that were invading their territory and attacked the soldiers. Mr. Jefferson said this was proof the British were not welcome on this land and the birds had some fight in them. Ultimately he lost his request to the majestic Bald Eagles.

When I relayed the events to Karl, he now is also trying to get me to cave on the Bourbon Reds verses the Blacks. It is going have to be more convincing because I have too much KY blood still running through my veins. Also, the meat of the Bourbon Red is suppose to be far superior to all but the midget whites which I am not considering at all. As a Kentucky native, I feel as if it is my duty to keep some of my heritage alive. I think this acknowledgement is why the presenter backed off as soon as she knew my home of origin.

Welcoming the Christmas Season!

With the remains of Thanksgiving now reduced to unique turkey dishes, it was time to prepare for Christmas, usually referred to as Advent. Since many people travel for this weekend, Karl and I were free of our Sunday School obligations. The church hosted a Pancake Breakfast with Santa as a fundraiser for seminary student expenses.

Since we tend to be early risers, I though it might be less crowded to see Santa before our church service. Our hunch was correct as the room was mostly empty tables. The children, Isabella mostly, was not going to focus on her breakfast until she had a chance to see Santa. While I believe Anton is waning in his belief in Santa from a purely logical reasoning (what stops Karl and I from going out to get presents once he is asleep since Santa always comes while he is sleeping?), Isabella is still holding on. Or maybe she is just covering her bases. Anton requested a telescope and more Lego's (shocker there?!). Isabella was good to her previous statements of a Bow and arrow but also threw in a new pair of slippers as the puppies think hers being all fuzzy and pink are play things. Not sure about the slippers but Intel is very good for the bow and arrow set.

After church, Anton was invited over to a cub scout friend's house for Lego constructing. He had fun and so did Karl and I.

Isabella was all tuckered out from a long night the night before. We had been to visit one of the families from our church who have children the same age as ours and then some. We were over much later than anticipated because we were all having such a good time. Karl and I spend the couple of hours catching up on other activities. I had been behind in practising for the Christmas Concert. I am still working on the confidence for my part. Karl was putting together activities for his cub scout den meetings for the next few weeks.

After my choir rehearsal and a little non-turkey dinner, we set up the tree. With three weeks left till Christmas, time was ticking away. I love having the house decorated, it makes everything feel more special this time of the year.

It did not take long for the children to find their favorite ornaments and began asking us where they all came from. Karl and I have been working on our ornament collection since our marriage. We wanted to create a memory type of tree with an ornament to represent places and events in our lives. Once the stories began, Karl and I become more sentimental to the tree trimming tradition. It becomes a recap of how we arrived here today.

Then the children found their favorite ornaments. One from Karl's trip to Vancouver with the submarine and one of Pinocchio I purchased during my travels in Italy, where the story originates. It only seemed appropriate for the music at the moment to be the Russian Dancers in the Nutcracker Suite.

Once the box was empty, we had a quick tree lighting before bed time became a thing of Christmas Past.

A Quiet Stress-free Turkey Day!

For the first time in a very long time, Karl, the children, and I found ourselves home and alone for Thanksgiving. We chose to have a low key, low stress day to enjoy everything we are thankful for this year. While we did miss spending time with extended family, we did relish the quiet closeness of our time together. Since there was no guests to impress and I had a budding chef on my heels, we went with the flow.

Karl and Anton prepared breakfast while Isabella and I prepped the turkey for the oven. Isabella and I can work as a team, especially when she likes to do some of my least favorite chores. For instance, she likes buttering things wither it be a pan or a turkey. So once I had the turkey all cleaned up, she buttered, spiced (with my observation), and helped to stuff the turkey. Later she wanted to do all the basting. Nearly every 1/2 hour, she was there when I turned the turkey with the baster in her hand. It was definitely a juicy turkey!

Not wanting the boys to feel left out, I gave them the task of green bean casserole, straight from the can recipe. It also gave Anton a chance to inspect all the ingredients to make sure we were not sliding in something weird into the casserole. Karl and I were tickled when he exclaimed his surprise at seeing mushrooms in cream of mushroom soup.


Isabella and I began the pumpkin pie as soon as they vacated our work space. I have to explain this was very gracious of Isabella as she was pretty steadfast on pumpkin cheese cake instead of pie (the Moretti's would understand!) which is Anton's favorite.

Karl said he had to snap this picture because we looked too cute in our aprons. She thoroughly enjoyed having me only overseeing her make the pie. (Oh, how quickly they grow!)

Well, several hours later, and longer than we expected, the turkey was done! I whipped up some gravy from the drippings and handed Karl his knives. If at all possible, I avoid the carving.

A few dishes carried to the table and the feast began. While we only made a few items compared to spread we would have had if guests were coming, it was still a very filling meal with all food groups present.

It is a good thing a turkey has two drumsticks or we could have had an end to our quiet day!

Yes, they ate the whole thing!

My Thanksgiving Moment

I am thankful for all my friends, and family who have helped me become the person I am today. Each one of you have had a part in helping me to discover myself and find true happiness. While many still think I am crazy for going down this path, it is only because they have seen only a part of me or who they thought I was. This is most clear in the past week when my uncle passed. He was a very kind and quiet person but alone since my grandmother's passing. I had been unable to attend the funeral due to Anton having contracted a virus and double ear infection while Karl was away on business. Many asked about us and thought it comical for me to have chosen this direction in my life. They only remember the high tea sort of girl I was 10-15 years ago. They have not witnessed the gradual changing in my demeanor from proper wine etiquette to harmonious herb and vegetable placements in the garden. To those who have loved me from then and now, I thank you. Had it not been for your imprint on my life, I might not have been forced to make the hard choices to get me here today.

I am so blessed. I have a healthy family both mentally, physically, and spiritually. My wish is only the same for you as we journey into this Christmas Season.