Pumpkin Sense

To wrap up a week of The Five Senses, we dug into our pumpkin and used our five senses to compare the outside and the inside. Okay, okay, so I had to bribe Vivienne to taste the raw inside, but she did it!

Oh, and HA! when she was feeling the outside of the pumpkin with her eyes closed, I asked her if “touch” told her what color the pumpkin was. Like a fortune-teller leaning over a crystal ball, she closed her eyes, thumped her fingers across the pumpkin and moaned, “ORRRANNNNGE…”

A new form of therapy: pumpkin seed washing! Vivienne could have done this all day long, I think.

After I snapped this photo of Vivienne enthusiastically putting her germs all over our roasted pumpkin seeds, we filled in the “taste” category. The consensus was “perfect!”

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What We’re Up To

Thermometers, supplements, achy joints, and Theraflu…

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The Little House Pilot

It has worked out so well that my name is “Laura”, making my imaginary transformation into “Laura Ingles Wilder” much more fluid, I believe. I grew up reading, watching, and reliving the prairie-running sweetheart. So, you can imagine my sheer joy that I have now become “Ma”, Vivienne the new “Laura”, and Lia “Carrie”. (We all morph into being “Mary” whenever necessary.)

Several years ago, Ryan bought Season 1 of the television series for me, which we have enjoyed immensely. However, since reading the first two books of the series to Vivienne, I’ve been wishing that the show represented the books more closely. You can imagine my surprise when I glanced over a $5 bin of DVD’s at the Factory Card Outlet a couple of weeks ago and saw THIS:

Yes, Little Half-Pint-of-Cider-Half-Drunk-Up, this is the original pilot for the television series and it is fantastic! Based almost entirely upon Wilder’s second book, Little House on the Prairie, the Pilot reinforced Vivienne’s understanding of the Ingles’ dramatic struggle and admirable endurance in Indian Territory. Of course, after we watched it, I returned to Factory Card Outlet to raid the rest of the DVD stash, but, alas, Pa had been replaced by a ghoul: Boo! So, I didn’t stock pile one for you, but it looks like you can order a copy from Amazon.

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This Weekend: Go Shopping!

Secret Keeper Girl, a national ministry that encourages tweens and their mothers to love God, love each other, and love modesty, is hosting an incredible Shop-til-You-Drop event to encourage stores with this message: WE LOVE YOUR MODEST, AGE-APPROPRIATE CLOTHING!  Thousands of enthusiastic mothers and daughters have signed a petition that Dannah Gresh and The Bod Squad will present “to both the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the Apparel and Footwear Manufacturer’s Association” this month.

So, this weekend – October 24 and 25 – get out and shop at the winners of an intense Secret Keeper Girl contest:

  • Gap Kids
  • Old Navy
  • Lands End (available locally at Sears)
  • Children’s Place

Click here for more information and to download a Thank You card that you can leave at the store when you check out. What a fun way to say, “We care about our daughters! We care about your daughters!”

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Who Let the Stuffing Out?

We wondered why Lia was still sound asleep at 4:30 in the afternoon when she usually wakes up from her nap around 3.

Hmmm… What could be wrong?

I sent Vivienne in to wake Lia – gently!

It was then that we realized why she was so utterly exhausted: she must have spent the first hour of her “nap” removing the stuffing from her beloved Woofi the Missionary Dog.

In the spirit of laparoscopic surgery, each little piece of stuffing was pulled out of a hole no bigger than my pointer finger.

Lia was devastated when she woke up and discovered that Woofi was half the dog he used to be.  I saw in her the depths of the question, “WHAT HAVE I DONE?!” Seriously, it took her a full hour to recover.

It helped, of course, that Woofie smiled through it all. Sweetie. He slumbers this evening, restuffed and as loved as ever.

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The Life He Gives

Here’s a Memoir:

There I stand with our battery-operated weed-whacker.

Mid-August.

In the backyard, you know, where the woods

pushes against our rock wall,

persisting on invading our property.

I mean it: Persisting.

But I will beat it back! I commit.

I will kill the invading woods!

Even as I rev up the engine, those strong vines boisterously roll over the rocks, growing 5 more inches, tossing suckers into our helpless lawn.

Who am I kidding? I ask as I remove my safety goggles.

My weed-whacker and I don’t stand a chance.

Life keeps springing up.

***

And so I meditate on this: life keeps springing up!

It happens all of the time: life keeps springing up.

Despite the way we

- when left to our selfish devices -

tend to destroy life:

we buy too much,

sleep too late,

eat foods that kills us,

say words that kill other people,

build weapons,

waste time,

abort babies,

and hate each other.

Through our actions, we scream, “We. don’t. want. any. more. life!”

Yet, God persists.

He fills our gardens, our imaginations, our cells, our wombs.

He persists in growing trees, providing fruits and vegetables, giving wisdom, creating babies,

and breathing life through Scripture so that we are overwhelmed with growth:

life that multiplies from His sweet hands.

Father and Creator, forgive us for killing what you have created (in a million different ways),

what you have loved (in a million different ways),

what you have invested your heart in,

what you have written on your hand and placed upon your arm.

All I can request is,

“Keep going! Keep on in your mercy inundating us with life!

Your glorious power speaks for itself –

You are greater than death.

- thoughts by Laura

(Photo credit: The Independent)

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Time to Quit: Part 2

…”That’s when we quit.

Everything.

We: my husband, myself, and our sweet baby girl.

Quit: we quit staying up late; going to bed at different times; watching television; watching dumb movies; bringing in two incomes; trying to publish a book; prioritizing bosses, friends, extended family, and strangers over each other; competing with one other; using the same old murderous words in every argument. We quit not talking to each other; not knowing what the other one was looking at on the Internet; not reading aloud in the evenings; not playing games with one another; not holding each other and saying, “thank you”.

And life. slowed. down.”…

Please join me again today at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee for Part 2 of “Time to Quit: The Beauty of a Quiet Life.”

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Travel back in time with me to my college days, when I was the musical director for our campus- only female a cappella group. Ah, the days when we cared more about the color scheme of our outfits than we did about the harmony of our opening triad – and got away with it! Who could blame us for our shallow preoccupation? We were riding on the coat-tails of gorgeous, high-achieving, ever-popular fore-mothers who taught us the importance of looking as good as we sounded. Each year, dozens of star-eyed freshmen auditioned while only two or three were accepted. We were the “a cappella elite” in our little world. So, you can imagine, once a girl was accepted, she was committed -for life.

It was a Thursday evening rehearsal when Alison, a junior at the time, blurted out an announcement that shocked us all: she quit.

…for the rest of my story, read Part 1 at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee. Sarah Mae is kind enough to post my 2-part story on her well-loved blog. Come back tomorrow for Part 2….

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3 Things you Need to Know About our Week

1. It just so happens that the “Letter G” Goggles that Vivienne constructed could only fit adults.

Sweet. I knew I chose the Phonics Museum for some good reasons!

2. We baked a gluten-free, sugar-free apple pie that was, actually, scrumptious.

Who would have guessed that my last minute “Oh, I’ll throw in some raisins, too” would have been its demise around here. I will definitely be making another one without the raisins… Here’s how: Pamela’s Bread Mix + The Red Checked Cookbook’s Classic Apple Pie recipe (you know the one) with honey instead of sugar = healthy and yummy eating!

3. We built a leafy snowman.

It surprised me, too. On October 15. Here’s hoping he rakes himself up once the snow melts…

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Stranger Danger

The text: “The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers

The quotation: “Never take candy from strangers”

A 4-year old’s interpretation: “That’s so important because strangers would get MAD at me if I took their candy!”

***

Stranger Danger on YouTube! The first one’s decent; the second one is… um… well, let’s just say, I couldn’t not share it with you.

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

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