Christmas Panic...

It seems like every store in our area has had all of their Christmas things up since the end of October. Even though we don't start our decorating until after our son's birthday (the 12th of December) and don't put our tree up until December 21st (the Pre-feast of the Nativity), I feel myself panic every time I walk into a store. I keep forgetting that there is plenty of time and we need to focus on Advent and Thanksgiving first!

November 23rd...

It's time for another Commitment to Loveliness! This is a fun way to increase femininity and beauty in our lives each week without even trying! All you have to do is choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life!

Here is my list for this week:

1. Decide on a menu for our Thanksgiving feast with my husband's side of the family.
2. Choose and print photos for the children's baby books.
3. Hem fabric for kitchen tablecloth.
4. Catch up on correspondence.
5. Clean house from top to bottom!

Once you have chosen five simple things, post them on your blog and link to this post in your post, and then post the direct link to your Commitment to Loveliness post in the comments section. If you do not have a blog, but have a commitment to share, please post them in the comments section.

Creating a Child Friendly Environment: Child-Sized Table and Chairs...

Do you remember our kitchen table? It no longer looks like this:

It looks like this:

After months of drooling over and hoping to get a child-sized table and chairs for our children, we were able to finally get one for free!! Our church got cabinets and counters installed in the coffee hour room and was getting rid of a kitchen table that was larger than ours and matched our chairs, so Fr John hauled it home with the help for some parishioners.

Once that was finished, he cut the legs down on our old table and I painted it. Voila! Our little ones have a table for their crafts! I still have to get a few chairs, but I have my eye on some wooden ones at Michael's craft store (I'm just waiting on some 50% off coupons!). In the meantime, our daughter's rocker (also a Michael's find!) is filling in nicely!

I really like the size of this table because it will accommodate more than one or two children. It will be great for crafting, parties with a lot of children, etc. A big thank you to Hannah for planting the seed of this idea in my head many moons ago!!

Axios! Axios! Axios!

A video of the Orthodox Church in America selecting a new Metropolitan can be found here.

Photos courtesy of Fr. John

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity, Jig...

We are home! We actually returned yesterday afternoon, but I was finishing up a bout of the stomach 'flu and couldn't really think about doing much except plopping on the couch without moving. My poor little ones are now in the throws of it themselves (our daughter seems to be coming out just fine, but our Little Man has contracted it as badly as his Mama did). Please say a little prayer that if Father John has to get it, he won't until tomorrow evening. He would be sad to not be able to serve Liturgy tomorrow, especially with such wonderful news to share with our congregation!

Mary Cassett - Woman Preparing to Wash Her Sleepy Child

A Blog Break?

My family and I are heading out for a week away after church tomorrow. We will be going up to visit my family and friends (!!!!) while Fr. John goes to the All-American Council to peddle his websites and pick a new Metropolitan. I'm not sure how much computer time I will have, but just in case I don't have any, I'll be back to posting nearly every day next week. I am sure I'll have plenty to share when we return!! See you soon!

Saturday's Feminine Tip...

Make a little extra for dinner and package it up for someone you know that could use a hot meal... maybe there is a person who is sick from your parish, a lonely person in your neighborhood, or a friend in need for a little helping hand. Whatever the case may be, a home- cooked meal is a welcome respite when you can't cook one for yourself!

Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie Recipe can be found HERE. It's my favorite way to make it (though I use biscuits instead of a traditional crust)!

Keeping Your Toddler Busy...

Though I try to involve my little girl in whatever I am doing, realistically I need a distraction for her sometimes. My favorite ways to keep her occupied are to give her vegetable scraps to "cook" with, dishes to "wash" and flour and water to make "bread."

How do you keep your children busy when you need a minute?

Nightstand Alternatives...

We have used the tv trays instead of nightstands for over a year now and I thought they looked okay until I saw them in some pictures I took. They looked so cheap when compared with our beautiful Broyhill bed. Since getting $250 nightstands (each!) is not in our future for quite some time (i.e. years!), I started to look for alternatives. I remembered that I had a round decorator's table (about $6 at Walmart) stored away and a pretty (a shame to cover it, really!) round side table that was nearly the same size. We also had two brown table cloths that fit the table in storage ($10 each at Walmart). I quickly switched in the round tables and cloths for the tv trays and was really impressed by how easily it improved our bedroom! I'm sure that some of the more frugal mama's out there could have done it cheaper, but my husband was impressed that I used what we had already spent money on to fix things up!

President-Elect Obama...

I am having a hard time putting into words how I feel about the election of Obama.

As I'm sure most of you are already well aware, I am not thrilled with Obama's political positions. I am most concerned about his policies regarding life and morals (abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia, upholding traditional marriage, and cloning) and our national defense.

I read this today and thought it summarized all I was feeling about this election:

"Let us pray that under President Obama's leadership we will finally see the end to the bitterness and hardness of hearts - on both sides - that has stood in the way of reconciliation and final healing for the sin of slavery. Conservatives voted for Sen McCain for political reasons, not because of racism. But we can all share in the pride at how far our country has come. May the reality of an African American family in the highest place of honor bring assurance to every person on Earth that in this regard the American spirit, with the grace of God, has triumphed over evil."

To read the whole article, go here, please visit MommyLife.

I was pleased with Obama's, McCain's, and President Bush's speeches. I thought they were very gracious.

The Space By My Bed...

Our baby boy is officially too active for the co-sleeper. After one too many times finding him crawling on our bed before we could get upstairs to him, we decided it was time to put him into the crib. So far, he has slept very well there. He comes into our bed at about midnight, so we're still co-sleeping, but it is nice to have lots of space to walk on my side of the bed, making the bed is so much easier without the co-sleeper there, and I can actually turn on the light and read before I go to sleep... I am still a little sad that we're at this point in our boy's life already though.

Vote with Your Conscience...

Vote with Your Conscience...

Changes for Our Changing Table...

Since we put the children's dresser into our room, there was space in the family closet. We moved the changing table in and now have a nice large closet for storage. I think that this will work out better because there is a better light in the family closet and more space (nice when you have two children in diaper still!). I have to take the flower lights down from the rack in the old closet and hang the ribbon board above the changing table, but other than that everything is done!

Refinishing the Children's Dresser...

This is the dresser that used to reside in our closet. Yesterday, we painted it (though from the pictures, you can't really tell) and added glass knobs. We were so pleased with the result, we put it in our bedroom instead of the family closet! It has our daughter's clothes in the second from the bottom drawer. Our son's clothing will be going in the bottom drawer. Eventually, I'll have to move my stuff out of the top two drawers as our kids get bigger, but for now, my handbags and scarves are enjoying the space! We still have to hang the bird picture above the dresser, but I really like how it all looks so far!