'Twas Nearly the Night Before Christmas

This advent has been rather relaxing, I had intentions to celebrate many Feast Days but to be honest, some were celebrated and some weren't. Instead we have relaxed and just drifted along, but we have a couple of little traditions which were kept and that I believe is the key to memories. Traditions. It always astounds me how quick the children are to adapt a new tradition, how they remember what we have done in the past.

So what do our traditions consist of? Some are traditions that we have down since we first had children, such as our manger, although the current manger was made a couple of years ago by Carpenter. For every good deed the children place a straw in the manger by Christmas baby Jesus should have a soft bed.

A new tradition we introduced a couple of years ago thanks to the ladies at 4 Real is decorating our tree in advent colours prior to Christmas.

Yesterday Jelly Bean(4) made me smile, we were sitting together next to a tree at the shopping centre and the tree was decorated with silver and red baubles. She said to me in astonishment "Mum, the have the wrong colours on the tree, they don't have the Advent colour!"
Tomorrow, Christmas Eve we will change the colours of our tree. The children are very excited.

Our very first year of marriage before we even had children included an advent wreath. PC wound bullwire into a circular shape including candle holders for the candles. We have fleshed it out with newspaper and every year we wind fresh greenery on with a purple ribbon. Adding candles we have our instant wreath.


This year we added a couple of new traditions that have been enthusiastically embraced. Firstly we were given a set of Christmas felt figures, secondly I purchased an advent calendar at a garage sale. I was trying to decide what use to put the calendar to when my friend Lynn suggested placing a different figure for each day in the pockets. They also enjoy opening the doors on our old calendar.


And of course we have baskets of books to enjoy and read through.
Only 2 more days to Christmas:)

And A Few Hours Later...

We live in a small house, 1000sq feet for ten people isn't the largest. Most times we cope well but at times we get overwhelmed, with the clutter mostly. Ten people tend to equal a lot of belongings as much as one tries to minimise.

On Saturday PC and I attended an auction. State Rail were auctioning among other items a very large site office. 12 meters by 6, imagine the learning room we could set up, imagine how less cluttered our house would be. These were the thoughts we had as we waited for lot number 386 to be up. Well the auction went too high.

Back home we took a good look at how we could make things flow better, what irritated us the most and what we could do to change matters. There are areas of our house that are not making the best use of the space. One such area was our pantry, inadequate and unsightly, it was time to change. PC set out to Bunnings Hardware to buy a pantry. The flat packs were $400-$500+.




Ever resourceful PC decided he could make one for half the price. I just love the fact that he included the holes so I can change the shelf heights. Just the same as a shop bought flat pack.




2 and a half hours later we had our pantry:) All day we have gone past stopping to admire. The doors will be on this weekend.
Meanwhile we are busy moving furniture around the house or out the door;) for tomorrow I'm planning a deep de-clutter.

16 Years of Wedded Bliss

Three days ago Prince Charming and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary. The years have flown by, years full of love and joy, blessings and sorrows, deep happiness that comes from being married to my Prince.

All week I was wooed, it reminded me of the days of our courtship, on Monday I received a lovely card, Tuesday a large box of chocolates, Wednesday 16 roses; 9 were white for our nine blessings.
Thursday we went out for a hot chocolate; now that was definitely memory lane, and Friday PC took the day off work and we spent the day together and went out for tea to a new restaurant recently opened. What a Prince indeed:)



I saw a marriage meme on Jessica's blog a few months ago, and enjoyed it so much I thought I'd share too. Now I'm not technically savvy enough to know how to scan in photos prior to digital cameras so no wedding photo:( unless a reader would like to enlighten me and I'll give it a go.

1. Where/How did you meet? We met at a dinner in Sydney, we were attending the Royal Easter Show with our respective clubs. We were both members of Rural Youth, known internationally as Junior Farmers, Young Farmers or 4H.

2. How long have you known each other? 17 years.

3. How long after you met did you start dating? After we met I went out west to governess for a homeschooling family. A few months later I came back, started a Faith study group which I invited PC to and we started dating. Sort of. I thought we were going out for hot chocolate as friends, he had a bigger plan;) Sneaky.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? Six months. He proposed on Pentecost Sunday.

5. How long was your engagement? Six months.

6. Did you have a bridal shower? No but I had a small kitchen tea party.

7. What was your favorite Bridal Shower gift? A clothes basket that lasted years. Practical I know.

8. How long have you been married? 16 years.


9. How old were you when you got married? 2 months before my 21st and PCs 25th. Our birthdays are 2 days apart.

10. What is your anniversary? December the 12th. Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe although we didn't have a devotion then.

11. Where was your wedding? Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church. The patron of Australia. This was the Church in which I had made all my sacraments. Very special.


12. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? Yes, lots.


13. How many people came to your wedding? 120. Although many parishioners came to the Church or waited outside to see us.

14. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? The flowers were done by the ladies of the parish, I think lilies. All I remember was the love in which they were given. Our bouquets were artificial though as I worried about fresh ones wilting in the heat. They were beautiful, in fact our children have the bouquet in their dress up box to play weddings with.

15. Describe your wedding dress. White satin, beaded front, longish sleeves (crazy I know in December's heat)but I fell in love with it and had to have it.

16. How many people were in your wedding party?Five. I had my cousin as Bridesmaid and my 12 year old sister as Junior Bridesmaid. PC's brother was Best Man and his 13year old brother was groomsman. My 5yr old brother was page boy. We included all our siblings 13 between us, in various roles; altar servers, readers, offertory procession, chauffeurs etc

17. Are you still friends with them all? Why yes:)

18. Are your wedding bands engraved?No.

19. What did you dance your first dance to?Could I have this Dance for the Rest of My Life by Ann Murray.

20. What kind of cake did you serve?Three tiered fruit cake. Our neighbour and friend made it. We kept the first tier for our First Child's Baptism.


21. What did you serve for your meal? I can't remember, it was buffet style, that's all I can say.

22. Most special moment of your wedding day? When the priest announced us as Husband and Wife.


23. Any funny moments? When the Best Man dropped the ring and it rolled under the seat.

24. Any big disasters? My 9month old sister screamed the entire time directly in front of the video camera and overrode any sound:(

25. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? I would hire a professional photographer. A friend of the family took the photos but they didn't turn out as well as we were led to believe.

26. Do you have a favorite wedding gift? So many lovely gifts, one that first comes to mind though is PC's grandmother gave us a large sum of money to buy a bed. It came with a sweet family memory, when very young PC advised her to invest in term deposits when the interest rates were great. The money grew quickly and she always credited PC.

27. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We spent a week at the beach and a week in the mountains. Within a few hours drive of our new home.

28. How long were you gone? Two weeks.

29. Greatest challenge as a couple? Uninterrupted time.


30. Greatest strength as a couple? Our Catholic Faith and our ability to communicate.

Christmas Meme

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your family and friends.

Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!!

Change all the answers so that they apply to you.

Then tag a whole bunch of people you know. Tis the Season to be NICE!

Thanks Tina for tagging me.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, it is lots more work but far more fun.


2. Real or fake tree? Fake, we used to do real but now fake.


3. When do you put up a tree? Third week of Advent. I keep trying to convince the children we should wait till Christmas Eve. This year the tree and manager will be outside on the verandah as the house is too small.


4. When do you take it down? The Feast of Epiphany.


5. Do you like eggnog? Have never tried it although my friend Gae has convinced me to try this year.


6. Favorite gift received as a child? My bike that I received the Christmas I was eight.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband. He likes surprise but ALWAYS guesses.


8. Easiest person to buy for? For some reason this year I think it will be our younger girls, we keep thinking of items for them.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, several. I've been buying the children their own over the years. Basic ones.


10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, hopefully. I'm intending on sending a Christmas letter this year as I haven't for a few years.


11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Sheets the Christmas I turned 14.


12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Don't really know any.


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always intend to be earlier but reality is I still haven't really even begun.


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No


15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Three kinds of meat and salad.


16. Lights on the tree? Yes.

17. Favourite Christmas song? Away in a Manager


18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home this year.


19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes.


20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.


21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Day.


22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Lack of focus in the wider world on the REAL meaning of Christmas.


23. Favourite Ornament theme or color? Don't have one


24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Left over lunch and dessert


25. Favourite Decorations? Home-made.


26. What do you want for Christmas this year? Books of course, is there really anything else a girl could want?

I tagg whoever would like to take up the challenge.

Books for Saint Nicholas

Happy Saint Nicholas:) Lots of excitement here today. We are celebrating with many yearly traditions including enjoying the following books:

The Legend of Saint Nicholas by Demi
An absolute must to have. Includes main events from St Nicholas' life, full of information. The pictures are rich.

Country Angel Christmas by Tomie DePaola

Three little angels are the first to hear St Nicholas wants the country angels to plan the Christmas celebrations for all of Heaven.  However they are not needed until it is realised that the angels have forgotten the most important detail of all. 

The Night Before Christmas-Clement Moore

Although Santa Claus is not part of our Christmas celebrations I just can't resist reading this one.  Every Christmas Eve  for many years I read this book to my siblings just before they went to sleep.  After I was married they still insisted that I read this to them on Christmas Eve.  It is a rich poem about St Nicholas, "a right jolly old elf".  It does use the term St Nicholas throughout not Santa Claus.
There are many different illustrated versions.

The Legend of the Candy Cane- Lori Walburg

A lovely story that explains the Christian symbolism of the candy cane.  We read this today as our children receive candy canes today.

*The last page is from a Protestant perspective but the change of a couple of words alters this.

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas- Gloria Whelan

A story that brings tear sand goosebumps.  It is Russia,after the fall of communism and 60 years since Christmas has been celebrated.  Alexi asks why Christmas can't be celebrated in St Nicholas.  The answer is it would take a miracle...and a miracle it is.  An absolute gem and a must have.

I am endeavouring over at Aussie Book Threads to list many Christmas titles. Be sure to keep on checking over the next week or two as I list new books. I have also listed a few chapter books, but am searching for more if you've any you'd like to recommend.

Term in Review - 'Triffic Thursday

This term we delved a little into Space, truly it is such a vast topic.
The best books we found on the topic were by Seymour Simon. The information is fascinating and informative and the layout with eyecatching pictures makes his books an enjoyable read.

The Stars

The Sun

and Destination: Jupiter


gave us our introduction. For studying the moon we read So That's How the Moon Changes Shape!- Allan Fowler for the little ones and picture books The Sea of Tranquility by Mark Haddon and I Wish I'd Gone to the Moon with Neil Armstrong- Leonie Young.

Along with these we used Dinah Zikes's Great Science Adventure, The World of Space

I have tried Dinah Zike's Great Science Adventure's before and gave up in frustration. I nearly gave up again put persisted. Those little science books are painful! There is simply no-way to get the lines to photocopy correctly, so I gave up and just read from the main book. Admittedly the information is very basic but we covered more by using Seymour Simon books.

This time I preserved a little more with Dinah's Graphic Organizer's, her different folds and notebooking pages which create a fantastic visual impact. A few issues cropped up in the course of using this method; the children don't listen well, and had trouble following directions. The approach ended up being a good lesson in these areas. The children were very happy with their written results and became quite creative in the end.

I also found Dinah's science experiments useful, basic but pertinent. Simply put, for where I am at present, not wanting to design a unit from scratch these books were a good, basic jumping off point.

Oh and I also added a number of picture books from the library for the little ones. Some better written than others. Under the Harvest Moon- Stella Gurney, Star Climbing- Lou Fancher, I Took the Moon for a Walk- Carolyn Curtis, Kitten's Full Moon- Keving Henkes, and The Star who fell out of the Sky- Ian Robinson.

I include some photo highlights:
When studying the Sun the children enjoyed melting chocolate with a magnifying glass. Honestly the smell was awful, but they managed to melt a little of the plastic too.




To see the moon's reflection we covered a mirror with hand cream and studied it in a darkened room (the room wasn't dark enough so the children squeezed into the cupboard) then we shone the torch onto the mirror to see the reflection.

We also observed the impact of crater's on the moon. We mixed two cups of plaster of paris with water to make a thick consistency.



I was pretty pleased that I remembered to line the tray with foil, it made clean up a whole lot easier.

We then flung the rock in which represented the meteorite.




When studying Jupiter we simulated the stormy surface of this planet.

We poured milk into a bowl and added drops of drops of red and yellow food colouring on opposite ends of the milk.

We then swished the mixture around, added a drop of dishwashing liquid and gently spun the bowl. This gave us an idea of the stormy surface of Jupiter.




It worked well to set aside a whole day for the study of science as so often this area is missed around here, blush. Although as the children are interested in all things scientific they have a fair amount of knowledge despite lacking in a formal approach.

Feast of St Barbara

Today is the Feast of St Barbara, a couple of years ago our family added a new tradition. This tradition was introduced to us by my friend A, whose family originates from a little Italian village Zolli in the Avellino Province of Italy. Every year the children are excited to make, smash and eat our tower.


We make a chocolate tower that represents the tower that St Barbara was imprisoned in, inside are red and white lollies that represent her martyrdom and purity. We made our tower from a large family block of Cadbury. Then we melted cooking chocolate over a saucepan of boiling water and used it to 'glue' the sides together.



Carpenter decided to be a little more creative this time and designed a tower roof with some extra pieces of chocolate. Fortunately Einstein reminded us to fill the tower with the lollies before we laid the roof.




Then we waited patiently;) until PC was home so we could knock down our 'pinata' whilst blindfolded, and of course the 'rubble' was eaten.

See Jenn for further links of other traditions and activities.
And our photos from last year, which show a slightly different design.

Multi Tasking?

PC caught these photos of Koala hanging the washing recently; is this multi-tasking?

Term in Review - Math Buster Monday

As I've shared we have been trialling a new approach, I have written a little before about our Math Buster Monday and thought I'd share some further highlights.

Angela's idea of Marshmallow Maths had us inspired to join in the fun of building shapes and bridges with marshmallows and toothpicks. (Be sure to see Theresa's ideas too.)










Carpenter had so much fun that he wouldn't believe me when I told him that this was maths, he was convinced it was craft.












We continued to read living math picture books on Mondays, one we particularly enjoyed was The Three Little Pigs by Mitsumama Anno, much of what we have though is for younger children, I'd love to find living math titles for the teenage children.

I printed off some 'fun sheets' from the internet, and generally we enjoyed the slower pace. We also spent time focusing on their weaker areas which for some is times tables, my friend D generously made us some bean bags and the children enjoyed catching the bean bag as I asked a tables question and returning the bag with the answer. This same friend also suggested maths bingo; write 6-9 tables answers in grid, mum(or sibling) asks the fact and children cross out answers. The one with all grid crossed out first is the winner. Another friend G, shared that the best success she has had regards learning tables is having children recite their tables forwards, ie.4x1-4x12 and then backwards 4x12-4x1.. She's right, for some reason it really helps. Thanks G:)

We also worked on our Singapore Maths. Although continued non-progress with one child prompted me to join the Living Math forum for ideas and support; one result from these past weeks is realising that for this child in particular I need to move away from the textbooks at present and focus on maths skills in a non-threatening manner. Much of what I see in this approach however appears to be for the younger child. I'd love to hear of ideas and resources for the older child.