...my new blogs!

My personal blog is at:

jingle bells & jelly babies

What were doing in out homeschool can be found at:

Serendipity Homeschool 

Wow, that sounds like such a festive title!

I just took part in my very first Blog Carnival, and my very first Loveliness Fair. I had wanted to join in the fun for some time, but I was a bit intimidated by the whole thing. But, they were both quite fun and now I am looking forward to doing this more often.

The first was a Hallowe'en / All Saint's Day / All Souls Day Carnival, hosted by Martha. She did such a neat job, and I enjoyed clicking around and seeing what everyone else did for these three days.

Next, was the Loveliness Fair hosted by Dawn. The theme was "Handmade Gifts" and wow - what a bunch of artistic, creative women! I am inspired to spend some time working on my gifts, even if I am surrounded by the craziness of moving!

There will be more Loveliness Fairs coming up soon! What a fun way to share little glimpses of our days and lives with each other!

I love making gifts for Christmas. Every year I announce to my family that we should make ALL of our Christmas gifts for each other, and my children look at me with horror with trepidation and whisper to each other, "Can you make a Nintendo game by hand?"

Then they cleverly announce that the book they wanted to get me isn't handmade, and of course, I cave, because if there is anything I need, it is indeed a new book.

But, really, we do try to make some gifts every year to give to each other.

My husband made these beautiful Rosary Beads for my mother. He was learning how to do wire wrapping, and just sat down and came up with this. I think the cross design is lovely. I wish I had a better picture.

I made bookmarks with cute charms for everyone, and even one for myself because I found the cutest little teapot and teacup charms.

I also made soap! I made a lot of soap and candles for awhile, and they made the such a sweet smelling present.

My husband loves pies, so one year for Christmas, I gave him a Certificate entitling him to a Pie of the Month -- that gift was able to keep on giving all year. I also make him fudge every year, and recently, I started making a candy bark too. This is a simple candy made by melting white or dark chips, and then adding in pretzels, dried cranberries, and, sometimes, crushed peppermint candies. I spread it on a pan to cool and then break in into hunks. I made this a few years back on a whim, as I just threw together some things I had on hand, and now it is requested each year.

For friends & family, I try to make something that can be used. A big hit last year with kids was Chocolate Dipped Pretzel rods with pretty Christmas colored sprinkles. One year, I made Chocolate dipped spoons, and they looked so fancy, but were easy too! I used plastic spoons that were gold colored, and I found the "hard sugar candies" usually put onto cakes, in tiny holiday shapes. Before the chocolate cooled, I put a little candy on each spoon. Another simple and easy gift was homemade Hot Chocolate mix - even here in hot Arizona, it gets chilly enough to have a cup of hot chocolate by the fire (or in the thermos as you drive around and look at Christmas Lights!)

This year, I splurged on "high end" crayons (who knew?), and I want to make the two littler ones Crayons Pouches. My sewing machine hates me, but inspired by this site, I think I can do it. For my oldest dd, who writes and draws constantly, I would like to make an altered journal, similar to the one seen here.

Some days when I am feeling really crazy creative, I start to think about hand sewing a doll for dd5, who LOVES dolls. I am looking at the kits at Joys, Weir Dolls, and Dancing Rain. (If you have any experience with any of these kits, I would love to hear about it!)

This year, our life is filled with unexpected craziness, yet I still hope to find the time to spend on these projects.  I think it is just such a meaningful way to wish others a Happy Christmas!

We did Trick-or-Treating this year!

First, the kids went to their enrichment classes, so they didn't get home until almost 4pm. During the day, Skootle, Grandma, and I cleaned out the pumpkins, so that they would be ready to carve when Bug & Rini got home.

Bug wanted a ghost, and Rini wanted a "traditional" pumpkin face. And Skootle did a really neat cat! I did a bat, but I forgot to take a picture of it...

Bug's Ghost

Skootle's cat

Skootle on Candy Duty.

After carving, we started to get ready. They did "traditional" Hallowe'en costumes this year - a Pumpkin Witch and a Mummy. I was really surprised that Bug let me do the facepaint!

And here they are as they get ready to go!

Bug's costume was easy - he was dressed in long johns, and then I got a few yards of cheap white fabric, and pulled it into strips. Dh and I had fun wrapping Bug up! And Rini's costume was actually the same one as last year, she just needed a new hat. And don't you just love the pink sneakers? I tried to talk her into black shoes, but she loves those sneakers.....

And, finally, here was a neat post from the blog Canterbury Tales about the Top Ten Things to do for a Catholic Halloween.

Happy Hallowe'en!

that describes the amount of stuff in my house! I have no idea how to pack all this. And I do not even want to think about the garage.

I have more books than I can believe. And -- here is the kicker! -- we know we are going to rent for six months or so when we move.....so either 1. I will have to pack all these books AGAIN in a few months, or 2. I will have to keep them in storage.

Option 1 has it's OBVIOUS drawbacks. BUT, if I plan to keep them all boxed up for a longer amount of time, then I get cold feet and my pile of "books to leave out and not pack" is GROWING.

Which is bad.

And, all I really want to do is get ready for a calm, peaceful holiday season.

Yes, I would like some cheese with my whine, thank you...

I just posted a pic of our Math Gnomes at our School Blog!

Elizabeth of Real Learning & Katherine of the Onion Dome have started an amazing Blog, Serendipity, that's is nothing short of inspiring.

I love that our homeschool is similarly named.

We're moving.

On the one hand, I am thrilled for my dh. He works so hard, and has worked for years so hard at jobs he hates, many times multiple jobs, to ensure a home for his family, and sacrificing in order to let me stay home with our children. I have watched him be treated horribly by employers, and I have wondered often why such a good man could end up being treated so badly.

And, all too often, I have not been appreciative enough of all he does for us.

Now - he has gotten an opportunity - one of those kind of things you just never think is really going to happen to you.

But it means leaving all I now know. Leaving my Mother, my brother. Leaving my friends, my beloved homeschool group. Leaving what has become my home. And it is hard. And it is scary. And I am scared.

And I think he is scared too. But he is also excited. And I want to be excited. I want the kids to see this as an adventure, a time to grow, to find out what God has next for us.

But, sometimes, alone, at night, when everyone is asleep, I cry a little.

But I am SO proud of him. I am so happy for him. I am so happy that he is finally being recognized for the talent that I have always seen.

I would go anywhere with him.

I was reading Kate's blog, and her post about nicknames. It got me thinking...

I hate my name. I mean, really, really, dislike it. "Laura." Blech.

But growing up, my nickname was worse. When I was little, my nickname was...are you ready for this?....."Looch," as in "Looch-a ma-jooch." I am not even sure how to spell that. Oh, and "Loochie." Yes, I even introduced myself as Loochie at the age of five to our new neighbors. Sigh.

My Daddy was a cop in a small town (well as small-town as you can get in central NJ), so I was Looch to everyone, as everyone knew my Dad. Which was okay at five, but to my Dad, I was still "Looch" at 14 (eegads.)

I wish he was around to call me that now.

Now, my kids...well dd18 is called either Skootle (recently - a few years back she was stuttering over the "scooter" and it just stuck...), but she has also been called Jinx, as she was born on Friday the 13th in October. (And we called her Mogwai from the Gremlins movie when she was little....the ears!!!...nevermind.....bad parents!!!)...

ds9 is Bug, or Jbug, Jaiderbug....dd18 called him that from the get-go, and so we all have. Though I still call him Little Man quite often too.

dd5 is Rini (sounds like Ree-Nee) or as Daddy calls her, "Rini-bean."

Rini-bean? Looch-a-ma-jooch? What is with Dads?!?!

My son turned nine yesterday, on the 10th. I find that hard to believe.

He is my child with Asperger's. He is my genius, my joy. I was scared silly when the U/S tech said, "It's a boy!" A boy? What was I going to do with a boy? How could I mother a boy???!!!

With Lego's and race cars, dump trucks and insects, dinosaurs and dirt. And many, many hugs. He's the only one whe will let me just cuddle him - the girls tolerate it, but just barely. Go figure. He is my serious child, my intense child.

And he's my second child. Still present during the pregnancy was the idea that there was no way I could possibly love another child as much as I loved my first-born. How could my heart possibly be big enough?

But it was, and I found that a Mother's heart just grows and grows no matter how many children she has. And there is always enough love (even if there isn't always enough patience ).

So Happy Birthday, my son, my sun. His last birthday before he hits "double digits." He flopped next to me on the couch on the 9th and said, very seriously, "I have to enjoy these last few moments of being 8!" And on his birthday, informed me has was not a boy, he was a young man. And then he curled up on my lap.

Rocketship Cake!  I wish I had had the mini-M&M's to do his name, but I didn't, and he didn't care.

Opening the Hogwarts Castle, which got one of the rare and big and beautiful smiles that I love seeing!  Thanks, Grandma!

Harder to believe, is that my first baby, my first born, will be 18 on Saturday.

...that it is 74 days until Christmas????