The Cozy Corner

Usborne Greek Myths - If you have never looked into an Usborne book, you are missing out on beautiful illustrations that captivate children's eyes! This book is no different. Composed of 17 common Greek myths, this book retells them in a simple style with gorgeous pictures. My kids loved the stories, although I will comment that many of the Greek myths are quite violent. I remember reading them in 4th and 5th grade, so if you don't think your child can handle scenes of war and bloodshed, maybe wait until they are a bit older. I liked explaining that many common sayings and words in our modern language come from the Greeks, like Pandora's box, narcissist, Midas' touch, etc.

My verdict: Fun retelling of the most-known Greek myths, but my caveat is that the stories are a bit violent and I had to keep reminding my kids that these gods are nothing like the one, true God!

Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary - An enchanting book about Henry, a young boy who thinks life is pretty boring, until he meets a friendly dog, seemingly lost and looking for a home. Henry adopts the dog, names him Ribsy, and then all sorts of exciting adventures begin to follow them everywhere! This book was perfect for the ages of my kids. Elijah loved that it was about a boy, and Alli just giggled the entire way through each chapter.

My verdict: Your kids will love this book! Also a great reader for those a bit older (maybe 8-12).
Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore - Little Pear is a young boy who lives in China and is always looking for excitement and adventure! He doesn't have to look far to find himself involved in all sorts of exciting situations, but it is usually because he has disobeyed instructions from his mother and father. The parent in me did not enjoy this aspect of the book, even though Little Pear is reprimanded, it is also implied that his family just shakes their head at his mischievous ways. And after reading the last 2 books, where each chapter was a stand-alone story about a character, I was ready for a book with a character where you see some growth and development.

My verdict: Take it or leave it. While the kids liked the stories, I would only give this book 2.5 stars out of 5.

At Your Service

Allison heard the word "butler" the other day for the first time. She naturally came to me to ask what it meant.

Me: a butler is someone who takes care of everything you would need. It's his job to help you out with anything you ask.

Alli: Mommy's my butler.

Truer words have never been spoken . . .

The Cozy Corner

Still making our way through the school year, cherishing those daily moments where we read and cuddle on the couch. Here are 3 more of the books we have read this school year:Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

This is a delightful book! The story is about a man and his love for the Antarctic and the explorers who venture there. He becomes the unlikely owner of a penguin and the story revolves around how he rearranges his house and life to accommodate his new friend. Really playful and funny, the kids ate this book up.

My verdict: buy it and read it again and again!

Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates

Sonlight has a tendency to group books that are age-appropriate with some more difficult books in their core. This was one that falls in the latter group. We started it on a Monday, and only one chapter in, I could tell the language was going to be too complex for my kids. I always struggle with just giving up on a book, but when I saw the suggested ages on the back cover said 9-12 years, I was easily convinced to shelve it for later. I understand it to be a book about a boy's friendship with a sheep, but I can't confirm that since we didn't get past page 8!

verdict: skip this one for your 4-7 year olds. We'll try it again in a few years.

The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

This story is about a small, one-room school in a remote part of Alaska, set in the mid-20th century. All of the teachers the village brings in end up leaving after one year, complaining of how hard it is to live there. The story is told from the perspective of 10-year old Fred (Frederika) and it is obvious that not much has been learned in this little school. Everything changes when Miss Agnes arrives, who does not teach like her predecessors. The children begin to thrive and learn, but will she stay for more than one year?

This book was very enjoyable to me, but the descriptions and Alaskan vernacular were more difficult for the kids. They didn't complain, but questioning them after I read each day, I found they weren't really able to grasp exactly what was going on.

verdict: I'm glad we read it - maybe it stretched their minds a little bit. But possibly save it for 8 or 9 year olds next time.

Elijah's 7th Birthday

Somehow, beyond any reasonable explanation, we now have a 7 year old. I don't know how that happened. There is something about 7 that sounds soooo much older than 6 . . . *wiping tear from eyes*. Even though he battled the stomach flu the day before his birthday, we still managed to have a great day and celebrate this momentous occasion!All month long we had been teasing Elijah that his only present was going to be a box of vegetables - even Alli joined in the teasing! At least now he can't claim we were lying!

A Lego cake for a Lego birthday . . .

Just one of the sets he received.

A few days later, he had his friend spend the night, and conveniently his friend has a sister the same age as Alli, so it was sleepover central for Elijah's birthday. His birthday dinner was postponed until the sleepover because his stomach couldn't have handled the waffles and pie filling supper he requested.

It was a fun week to celebrate (except for the vomit) and we are still in awe that he is 7. I think 4 or 5 fits him better . . .

My "Crazy" Diet, the Wrap-up

***update: I forgot one major positive change! It is added below.***

I wrote about my family's health issues and my own concerns that led me to embark on a healthier lifestyle here and here. Ultimately, it led me to see a nutritionist who put me on what many people think is a "crazy" diet, and although it took me a few weeks to get into the swing of things, now I view it as a completely normal and decent way to eat.

I've been meaning to write about what positive changes I've seen in my own life, so I'll take a few lines here to do just that. For brevity, I'll use bullet points:

• Headaches - I used to have 2 to 3 headaches a week. Not migraines (although my nutritionist does deal a lot with people who suffer from those) but more of the end-of-the-day, tired-as-all-get-out kind of headache. Sometimes I would take a Tylenol or ibuprofen for them, and sometimes I would just go to bed and sleep it away. I do not have headaches anymore (unless my neck is out - but that is a different post).
• Cholesterol - mainly the #1 reason I went to the nutritionist, my cholesterol levels had only been going up as I got them checked each year. And although my numbers were not dangerously high, they were elevated and at the tipping point. My family history did not bode well for them ever going down naturally on their own. After only 2 months of the diet, my overall cholesterol number went down 18 points and my triglycerides dropped 30. I'm actually pretty excited to get them checked again this summer and see how much lower they have become.
• Sensitive stomach - if you've know me for any decent amount of time, you know that lack of sleep, late nights, strange foods, or too much excitement in general will affect my stomach. As a child, it always manifested itself in throwing up. Always. Like at every slumber party I've ever attended. As I've grown older, it has started to affect my digestion in different ways, but unpleasant just the same. Since starting this diet, I have traveled and stayed up late and eaten unfamiliar foods without it affecting my digestion. Massively huge difference this has made!

Some of the less tangible benefits have been an increase in energy, and most of all, an overwhelming sense of health and vitality. I used to obsess about every ache and pain and imagine what terrible diseases I probably had, but going off sugar has had the most significant benefit to me. I used to be embarrassed to give sugar that much credit, thinking it showed my spiritual immaturity to give a food (or lack thereof) credit for changing me. But I had a friend tell me, "You cannot separate your physical body from your emotions." In other words, God created our body to respond to certain stimuli. And if my body was reacting to all the sugar I consumed and it was affecting my mood and emotions, then it isn't cheating God of His glory to admit a diet brought about changes in my emotional well-being. After all, that is how he intended our bodies to work!

There have been other benefits from this diet, but some are too personal to share on a public blog! ;) So I'll leave it here and tell you that although my diet might look crazy to you, it has been a gift to me, and one that I'll gladly share with you if you want more details.

God bless!

Nude Hosiery and Being a Slave to Fashion

As I got dressed for church yesterday, I put on a pair of nude hose under my pants. My mind went racing back to my freshman year at college, and all the drama that hose brought up.

Let me begin by explaining that I went to a conservative Christian day school that required all girls to wear skirts and to have some sort of stocking on their feet. Since ankle socks with dress shoes were only appropriate for those 8 and under, most of us wore hose. (It seems so funny now that as a 12 and 13 year old, I was completely comfortable in hosiery!) Anyway, I had a drawer full of boxes of Leggs brand, mostly in black and nude, as those two colors covered the bases for all my leg-covering needs.

Fast forward to my freshman year at college, where I attended an equally (if not more so) conservative Christian Bible college that also required girls to wear nylons or tights. Since the fashion industry hadn't reinvented tights into the cool, lycra-infused samples we have today, most girls didn't wear them because of the dreaded "elephant ankles" they produced. So I packed up for college with my suitcase full of Leggs, prepared for them to last the entire semester, or until my mom offered to buy me more. Once again, nude and black were the colors of my choice.

Oh, mournful day, when my new roommates (older and wiser) informed me that no one wore nude hose on campus. They were soooo 80's. So there I was, with boxes upon boxes of nude hosiery, and wanting to fit in, I couldn't (or wouldn't) wear them.

I convinced my mom to buy me a few more pairs in the more acceptable colors of white and cream, and steeled myself to take extra care of them so that they would not develop a run and force me to wear the old lady shade.

And none too soon, I myself joined in making disparaging remarks about the clueless girls who dared to wear such out of date nylons.

I'm so ashamed of that girl, who was such a slave to fashion and popular opinion. And yet, I'm not that different now. Sure, I have less time to agonize over my wardrobe like I use to, and I'm learning to be confident in whatever I wear now, but all too often I find myself thinking way too much about what other people think of my clothes.

I'm still growing and trying desperately to remember that being clothed in Christ's righteousness is more important than any designer label, but the pull of fashion still has a few of it's claws in me. The funny thing is, looking back at pictures of myself in high school and college, I thought I was dressed so fashionably! And I laugh now at how silly I looked. I guess that is one of the lies of slavery to style - you look fabulous for a day, and the rest of your life you will be mocked for your choices. Thanks be to God that His clothing for us will never go out of style!

The Cozy Corner

We are half way into our school year and I forgot to start blogging about the read-alouds from our Sonlight curriculum, so I'm going to try to catch up here in a few different posts.

We started out our year reading the classic, Charlotte's Web.
Do I really need to give a synopsis for this book? I had forgotten how sweet as well as funny the story is. The kids loved it, and although it took us about 4 weeks to finish, they seemed very engaged the entire time. We rented the movie (the newer, live action one) and enjoyed it a second time as a family.

My verdict: perfect for us!

The second book we read was Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. I was familiar with McCloskey's book, Make Way for Duckling, which is a children's picture book, so I was really curious how his writing would translate to a longer, chapter book.
Well, it was much funnier, in a subtle way. There was some slapstick, obvious humor, like in the story about the doughnut machine, but much of the humor was lost on my kids. Not to say that we didn't enjoy the book - the stories were interesting enough to keep us all engaged, but I found myself giggling and then trying to explain what made me laugh.

My verdict: read it now to your 4-6 year old, but maybe again in a few years when they can grasp it better. Or save it and have them read it for themselves!

By the way, I found both of these books at Half Price Bookstore, so if you want to save a few bucks and support local businesses, check there before going to Amazon.

December 25

Favorite gifts

December 24

December 23

Our Christmas Eve tradition

December 22

Out for dinner with friends.

December 21

Christmas crafts with the cousins

December 13-20

The stomach flu hit our family this last week, and I promise you don't want to see pictures of that, so in lieu of a picture each day, I'm posting some of the best shots from my family Christmas, celebrated yesterday. Enjoy!

Alli started off the gift opening and was quite excited about a new tea set.

I love this picture. It's my dad's "you shouldn't have, but I'm glad you did" face. My brothers and I went in on an ice-fishing tent for him. That should give him something to do now that he lives in the frozen tundra of WI.

Mom was equally shocked and excited about her Kindle. I am a bit jealous. It's really cool.

Elijah wanted equal billing with my Dad for the pearl earrings he picked out. He referred to them as "marble" earrings, and was quite proud of choosing them for Grandpa to get Grandma.

Cool kid.

Alli made and decorated a cupcake.

My niece, KaraJo, got her graduation present early. I made this quilt for her and couldn't wait until May to give it to her. I reminded KJ that she had to graduate, or I come and take it back!

Another pic of the quilt. I loved making this.

December 12

My favorite Christmas movie.

December 11

Allison's stocking is being embroidered.

December 10

Decorated cookies with Grandma.

December 9

This photo is from Thanksgiving, but I had to share it. Like uncle like niece!? :)

December 8

Ready to watch the Christmas specials.

December 7 - Gift Idea

My day was made the other night when we were at The Machine Shed and I came across this product: Beer BandsA few years ago, my mother-in-law received a gift of small colored plastic tabs that fit on your drinking glasses to differentiate between otherwise identical glasses. It was perfect for the weekends the whole family descends on the homestead and we have drinking glasses scattered throughout the house. It also cuts down on dishes, since we could drink out of the same glass all day.

My sister-in-law, Noelle, found these ingenious markers at Crate and Barrel, and a couple of years later, when I finally decided to get myself some, the workers at C&B had no idea what I was talking about. I've been looking for something similar ever since.

Fast forward to last week when I spotted these in the gift shop of a restaurant. Intended for beer bottles, because they stretch and give like a strong rubber band, they are perfect for drinking glasses, also. I snatched them up immediately.
Each package comes with 12 bands (2 were missing for this photo) all stamped "mine". Of course, after coming home and checking Amazon, I found them for a dollar or so cheaper than what I paid, but I'm supporting local business, right?! Here's the Amazon link if you think this would make a great gift, or perfect for a stocking stuffer!

December 6

Watching the snow (albeit flurries that didn't stick around too long).

December 5

Pink cheeks mean she's too cold to play outside anymore . . .

while this one's pink cheeks shows the fun is just getting started.

December 4

Nightly Advent reading.

December 3rd

Admiring a display of gingerbread houses at the Grand Geneva.

December 2nd

Doing school at the Grand Geneva.

December 1st

Inspired by my friend, I'm going to **attempt** to post a picture each day this month to remember our Christmas traditions. Here's December 1st - the Advent calendar is loaded and ready for the countdown to begin.