One Man's Trash...

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***A preface to this post. If you are in my small group and you were not with me while shopping for these gifts, it is time to shut your internet browser down or spend time visiting some other sites. Otherwise, I will not be held responsible for completely spoiling the surprise of which gifts are mine. ***

This is one of my favorite times of the year. Parties, cookies, little plates crammed with too much food and white elephant gift exchanges. The time I can give completely useless and bizarre gifts and not feel one iota of guilt. And listen to all the laughter as all the other pitiful gifts are opened too. It's a sweet sound, it is.

This Saturday kicks off the first (of hopefully many) parties where we have to sneak in with our wonderfully-thought-out, tacky, tacky, tacky gifts.

And pray that no one is offended because they have the same item at home on their mantle.

I took a trip to the capital of the white elephant gift kingdom (my local Salvation Army) a few days ago and happened upon some lovely items. One of the ladies (who is going to the same party) was also there and we talked a little about that fine line between tacky gifts and "This is the most beautiful thing I've seen!" gifts.

We both took a little tour around the store and got in line to pay for our gifts, admiring each other's choices.

Then we got to the cashier and so began what seemed like a 5 minute period of the sheer loveliness of one of the items. Well, at least that's what it felt like since I was getting kicked in the shin while my friend held one of the best poker faces I've seen. She held it all together amazingly when the cashier held the item in front of her, looked at it with adoration and said, "I just think their faces are so beautiful!"

And I tried not to pee my pants holding in the laughter.

I made my purchases and laughed all the way out to my van thinking of the phrase "One man's trash is another man's treasure." A point which was even further hit home the moment I walked in the door carrying this little beauty.

I was met with SQUEALS of delight from my children and my mom's comment, "Oh - I had one of those too, except mine was a little smaller!"

It will not be staying in my house though. Sorry kids. And neither will this precious little bunny, despite it's fluffy, little cotton tail and basket full of babies.

Apparently someone finally decided that these little blue eyes just weren't for them anymore...and now they will be gracing the house of some other unfortunate person.

Courtesy of moi!

Some Prayer Needed

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My friend Crystal and her family would really appreciate your prayers right now. Her dad had surgery right after Thanksgiving and has been having some problems since. Today they found out that he has an infection in his blood and tests are still out to see what is causing all the problems/infection.

She is on her way to the hospital with all of her kids and will be traveling the next two days. Please pray for safe travel for them and a FULL healing of her Dad. You can read more on her blog, Birth of a Midwife.

Wordless Wednesday: Decorating the Tree

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Little Man in the Map: Teaching the States

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If I had to name and place all 50 states I could do an ok job at it...those midwest and northwestern states sometimes throw me for a loop, and I am determined that my kids will do better where I am lacking.

We've been using a book called The Little Man in the Map published by Schoolside Press with our girls to help us along with this project...and I'm hoping that I will pick up a few tips along the way.

The Little Man in the Map uses rhymed verses to help teach the kids the various states. There are handy little "memory clues" throughout the book to help recall how the various states are located. The map is broken up into five sections: Northeastern, Southeastern, Midwestern, South Central, and Western States, starting with the Midwestern and the Little Man. Grouping the states into sections really helps the kids - essentially putting the information into bite-sized pieces their little brains can process.

Here's a look at how the illustrations help the kids (and me, ahem) place the states and their locations:

And he has a fun little rhyme to go along with him:

"A little man is standing there with boots, pants, shirt, and face. See how the hat upon his head is perfectly in place?"

The memory clues are already helping me remember how the states are positioned (because there are some places that get a little fuzzy, especially if you didn't grow up in those parts!). UCAN is the acronym clue for where the four states touch: Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.

Right now, we're reading the book every few days and just reviewing the rhymes and the kids are definitely picking up how the states relate to each other and are having fun learning them in the process. They enjoy the pictures and the rhymes in the book (and letting me know when they hear a rhyme).

From the word of MIM (the man in the map)

"Imagination is the magic key...To help unlock the clues you need ...To learn geography."

You can view a video about the book here and also purchase the book on Amazon or an autographed copy from Schoolside Press. There is also an illustrated wall map that goes along with the book available. The author of the book, E. Andrew Martonyi, has started a blog also where you can ask questions and find out about other books he has in the works.

Just wanted to share a little something that is working for us in our house. Be sure to check out other Works for Me Wednesday posts over at Rocks in My Dryer.

Teaching Kids the Reason for the Season

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For the last few years we've been celebrating the Advent season with the kids to help focus on the REAL reason of Christmas, and truth be told, it helps keep the adults in the right frame of mind too! There have been various books that we've used together over the years, but this year we borrowed a book from a friend (that has recently been republished) to read to the kids.

Jotham's Journey by Arnold Ytreeide follows a 10 year old boy across Israel as he travels to find his family - ultimately finding the Savior in Bethlehem. There are 2 other books in the series (also in the process of being republished) that can be used in upcoming years and follow the same story line, but with different characters. Our kids are really enjoying the story so far. We're playing "catch-up" since we just got ahold of it, but each day there is a section of the story shared and then an application section for the story. Recommended ages are from 9-12 but our oldest three (4-7) have really been enjoying it too. Kaleb just thinks fire on the candles is pretty. *grins*

Our Advent wreath is fairly simple - I used a basket that we had in our house and added some fake greenery and advent candles in green floral foam. Really, not so much of a wreath as it is an Advent basket, but it works! The lovely thing is, I can use it from year to year without having to put it all together each time. Every night after dinner we try to sit down as a family around the table, light the different candles (we're up to two now) and enjoy the story and celebrate together as a family. And trying to do a little something to help keep Christ in the Christmas season.

If You Don't Know the Words

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Christmas tunes are playing day and night in this house and the kids are doing their best to sing (or hum) along with them.

Zachary was walking around singing "Jingle Bells" the other day, and his version goes a little something like this:

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride in a soapin', soapin' say - HEY!"

"Yeah, well, I can't remember the words, Mom, so I just sing 'soapin' soapin' instead."