Preparing for Nativity: Day Five...

The mantle is done!

The Power of Positve Thinking...

Said Sugar Plum to me upon waking and seeing the sky thick with clouds and hearing a steady drum of rain hitting the window panes:

"Mama, it looks like a good day to jump in puddles!"

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia...

Preparing for Nativity: Day Four...

Happy Namesday, Little Man! God Grant You Many Years!

Little Man had such a nice namesday! We began with opening presents in bed early this morning, which was not something that we have done before (usually, we wait until we have dessert in the late afternoon or evening), but I am so glad that we did! He and his sister played with his gifts (a cascade tower, fire engine book, and little tradesmen) he received all day long (I just found his sister asleep with one of them clutched in her arms!). Our special dessert today was apple crisp made with double the crisp! Yum!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Three...

Today was a fun day! While the children napped, I wrapped up gifts for Little Man's namesday (which is tomorrow!!), Saint Nicholas Day (December 6th), and my Secret Santa in my mom's group. After dinner, we went to see a Christmas Parade in a nearby town which was so much fun! Both of the children loved everything, and it was perfect for Little Man because it was an endless caravan of different vehicles decked out in lights, tinsel, and wreaths! I think the highlights for them were the fire engines and the High School Marching Band! What Christmas events do you attend in your area?

Preparing for Nativity: Day Two...

Well, the mantle is nearly done! I am so pleased with how it looks! The photo doesn't do it justice... it was taken with the cellphone.

We also put away out Autumn and Thanksgiving books today and swapped them out for our Christmas books and some of our Winter ones. I think that we are missing a few, but I suspect that they are boxed away with the Christmas decorations. We'll find out in a few weeks when those are unearthed from the basement.

Vegan Banana Bread...

I made this bread on Monday afternoon and it was gobbled up so quickly, that I made another loaf after the children were in bed last night. It is so delicious!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup almond milk
1 t. apple cider vinegar
2 cups mashed banana, from about 4 large very ripe bananas
1/4 cup canola oil
1 t. vanilla extract
cinnamon sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly oil a 9"x5" loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the almond milk and cider vinegar and let stand for 2 minutes. Add the mashed banana (I've used a food mill with great results), canola oil, and vanilla extract, whisking until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined (do not over-mix!). Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top (it makes a lovely crust for the bread). Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean. Allow the bread to cool on a wire cooling rack for 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Preparing for Nativity: Day One...

Last year, I really enjoyed the Preparing for Nativity series I began on December 1st, so I've decided to do it again!

We are starting out our preparations with a BANG! Fr John and I picked up the materials necessary to build a mantle yesterday, and have begun the project today. I think that Fr John will have the majority of the work of putting it together done tonight, so I imagine that we'll have it all finished by the end of the week. It will be so exciting to hang our stockings this Christmas! Hopefully, I'll be able to take some pictures soon - sadly, I dropped the camera last night and broke the lens:(

Living and Learning for December...

Alfie's Feet, Shirley Hughes

Faith
Saint Alexander
Saint Nicholas
Saint Herman of Alaska
Saint Lucia
Nativity

Homemaking
Finalize Plans for Little Man’s Namesday and Birthday
Christmas Shopping and Present Wrapping
Christmas Card Creation, Addressing, and Mailing
Christmas Decorating
Christmas Tree
Paint Half Bathroom, Nursery, and Nursery Bath
Mantle for the fireplace (and Stockings!!)
Follow Cleaning and Activity Plan to Prepare for Nativity
Solidify Plans for the 12 Days of Christmas

Read Alouds
Christmas Books

Themes
Jan Brett
Saint Nicholas
Winter
Nativity and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Rituals
Establish a Firm Evening Routine for After Dinner: A Craft, Games or Puzzles, Bathtime, Prayers, Books, and Bed

Special Days
2nd Full Oak Moon
3rdth Uncle Greg’s Birthday
4th Little Man’s Namesday
8th Auntie Katharine’s Namesday
12th Little Man’s 2nd Birthday
19th Uncle Nicolas’s Namesday
22nd Auntie Anna’s Birthday and Namesday
31st Little Man’s Hospital Homecoming Anniversary

Learning
Practice Being Still and Quiet during Prayers and Services
Singing – “Our Father”
The Sign of the Cross for Little Man
Tidying up Toys after Play
Tidying the floor after meals using the dust buster
Nature table scene
Christmas book basket
Watercoloring
Go to Story Hour Weekly
Messy Art at the Local Bookstore
Christmas Parade
Winter Wonderland of Lights Display
Living Nativity
Children’s Christmas Party with Our Local Mom’s Group
Lacing Cards
Caring for Our Fish
The Tree of Jesse – Christmas Preparation and Nativity Celebration
Christmas Vacation Fun (?)
Decorating the Children’s Christmas Tree
Children’s Nativity Play Set

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

-C. S. Lewis

Sleeping Beauty, Jessie Wilcox Smith

Happy Thanksgiving!

And as (Jesus) entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

-St. Luke 17:12-19

We began the day with a Thanksgiving Moleben at my father's church and ended it with a sing-a-long around my parent's piano! I hope that your day was as wonderful as ours was!

Beeswax Ornaments...

I found this craft at Homemade Serenity via Frontier Dreams withing the past two weeks. I knew immediately that this was how I wanted to use up the beeswax candle stubs that we had been collecting for months! Since we were using leftover beeswax, the craft was pretty cheap. I bought two of the candy molds at Michaels ($1.99 each) and some hemp twine (I think that was around $3). The directions at Homemade Serenity are really helpful and very clear. The only thing that I would add is that taping the twine to the mold helps a lot. I think the best part of this craft is that you can keep melting and re-melting your beeswax until you get ornaments that you are happy with. I am definitly going to be doing this again!

Oh, if your church burns beeswax candles, you might ask your priest if you can have the stubs from the candle stand. I *think* that you can strain the sand and string out of the wax. I am going to try this and let you know.

Learning Basket: Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving

Flower Fairies of the Autumn (only one or two poems)
High Five November 2009
A Child's Calendar (only November pages)
Circle of Seasons (Autumn pages only)
Out and About (Only Autumn pages)
Strega Nona's Harvest
In November
Run, Turkey, Run
Pilgrims of Plymouth
The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving
The Very First Thanksgiving Day
This is the Feast
P is for Pilgrim

Activities
Turkey Place Cards
Mayflower Centerpiece or Paper Boat Place Cards
Fill a Cornucopia Basket

Sonlight Preschool 3/4 Books
A First Book of Fairy Tales

Masterpieces

Picture Study: Dancing with Degas
Music Study: The Messiah Handel
Poetry Study: A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Loius Stevenson

The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple...

After the success of our St Michael's Day Party earlier this month, Fr John and the parents of the children in church decided that it was time to start church school. Aside from one seven year old, the rest of the children are three and under. Because of this, we've decided to make our church school a sort of co-op where we all help out and there isn't just one teacher.

Yesterday was our "official" start and the topic was the Feast of The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, which we celebrated on Saturday. We had the seven year old read Mother Melania's book and then I read The Story of Mary the Mother of God to everyone while they worked on coloring the icon for the feast (the younger children didn't do much, but the older ones did a beautiful job and we had the seven year old try to copy the colors that were used in the real icon of the feast. The children had some of the Litiya bread leftover from the Vespers on Saturday night. Finally, we decorated candles with colored beeswax and the children will light them the next time that they are in church. Our next session is for St Nicholas Day on December 6th!

Beginning Week Two...

We finished up the first week of the Nativity Fast on Saturday night. Things have gone pretty smoothly with the readings, coloring pages, and candle. We've found that reading before bedtime is not working out too well. Our children are really quite wild right before bed and are not able to listen and concentrate on serious read-alouds. I am going to try reading to them before naptime this week and see if that helps (they are both often much calmer at 11:30 am right before being tucked in for naps!). I printed two copies of each of the coloring pages for this past week and have discovered that Little Man is just not into coloring yet. Sugar Plum really enjoyed coloring after dinner or when she is relaxing before bed, so that's what we've been going with. Finally, I was much too frugal with our candle this week! I am going to try to light it when it gets dark at about 4:30 or 5 and let it burn until Fr John lights the lampadas in our icon corners in the evening.

The Manhattan Declaration...

Read The Manhattan Declaration
Sign The Manhattan Declaration

Joyous Feast!

Today is the preview of the good will of God,

Of the preaching of the salvation of mankind.

The Virgin appears in the temple of God,

In anticipation proclaiming Christ to all.

Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice,

0 Divine Fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation.

-Troparion for the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos-

Troy Polamalu...

Despite being Giants fans, our favorite player is Troy Polamalu.How can you not love someone who has a great personality, plays well AND is an Orthodox Christian unafraid to share his Faith?!

Woodworking...

When it comes to window treatments for this house, we've been pretty stumped. We really like the shades that were left in this house from the previous owners, but they left the top of the windows bare. Fr John thought of cornices, searched the diy network's website, and found directions. These two beautiful cornices are the fruits of his labor on Friday night and Saturday morning. We hung them last night and that was the trickiest part! I'd like to do the rest of the windows downstairs this way.

Do you think that is overkill?

The Ocean in November...