November 27th, 2007

Love This

Number 1 requested item on Kateri’s Christmas wish list: “Anything alive.”

November 26th, 2007

Your Turn: Christmas Shopping

Have you started? Are you done? Are you in a panic?

My amazingly perfect older sister’s Christmas card arrived in the mail today and so I suppose it is now official — it is time to look toward Christmas. Unbelievably, this year I have actually gotten a lot of my shopping done already. I even have great hopes of completing all of it by the end of this week so

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November 26th, 2007

More Homework

I am planning to talk about online Christmas shopping tomorrow in our weekly discussion. If you have sites, links, discounts, or other promotions to share, email me and I’ll put them together for a post tomorrow.

November 26th, 2007

Faith & Family Homework

It’s time to do your Faith & Family homework again. Send along your (short!) answers to the questions below and you might just see your words of wisdom published in a future issue!

Say What? What do you say to someone who challenges you to “rein in” your husband: “I hope you’re not letting him play golf again this weekend?”

Do What? How do you sneak more fruits, vegetables, or

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November 26th, 2007

Shelter

Last night after dinner Dan was doing some woodwork for the mudroom, using his compound miter saw. In the classroom, of course. Go ahead. Envy me. My beloved stores and uses power tools indoors so very frequently that I didn’t even look up from my computer screen to see what the noise was about.

Until, that is, I heard little Danny crying.

As every mother knows, there is a “language”

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November 24th, 2007

Mama’s Tree in November

(Updated: We have been corrected by a 9-year-old birder. This is a pine grosbeak) by Dan

November 24th, 2007

What Counts

Gabrielle opens a book on her lap and Raphael leans in for a closer look. Together, they count bunnies.

1 … 2 … 3 …

“Do you know what comes next?” Gabby coaxes gently.

4 … 5 … 6 …

The two snuggle more closely on the couch.

7 … 8 … 9 …

As they near the end of the row of bunnies, Raphael’s eyes twinkle in recognition of

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November 23rd, 2007

Happy Birthday Juliette!

Pretty smart, pretty helpful, pretty sweet, pretty girl! Eight is great. We love you more and more each day. God bless on your birthday and always! Carrot cake recipe here. (The birthday girl grated all her own carrots.)