From Barbara's Blog

This will resonate with all of the dear families in our world that we admire and love.
GOD BLESS YOU!!!

The Twelve Days....Again

I just had to put this out again...

Today's Accomplishments...

For a vacation Wednesday, we sure got a lot done!
John has been learning beading and Rosary making from a very nice woman from our Parish.
She is spending an hour a week working with him and he is really enjoying it!
She is very knowledgeable about beadworking, stones, and gemstones. She makes jewelry, but her specialty is Rosaries. John became fascinated with her work at the Christmas Bazaar and so we set up some sessions.
His very first attempt at a gemstone Rosary is this one, made of semi-precious Sodalite stone. He chose the crucifix and a Benedictine centerpiece. He is getting very good with the pliers and working the wire. He did this in about five hours. We went and picked out the stones on Monday, he had a lesson on Tuesday, he started it last night, and he was done this afternoon!
He wants to start another right away.

Our other big accomplishment is getting the tree up.
I got it out and set up this afternoon, and the boys decorated it after dinner.
They are SO ready for Christmas!

Tomorrow we have to shop because we are having company for dinner. Our Friend Mark is in town, working with Tim and Sim. We usually try to get together for dinner when he is here.
I also want to mail the West Coast gifts so that they have a chance of getting to the family before Christmas.

Grandma's Gift

I was going through photo albums and found these pictures of my Grandma Maggie in this apron and the Quilt that my Mom made out of it after Grandma died. That quilt really means a lot now. Paul sleeps under it every night. I think about how much Grandma loved cooking and baking and taking care of her family. It is a legacy that I want to carry on. My mom did, and I have a rich tapestry of memories of family meals, recipes and traditions. I still have many of Grandma's cookie recipes, written in her own handwriting, and several favorites that mom gave me that I use on a weekly basis. The Pumpkin Bread that I bake every Christmas has become a traditional gift to many of my friends, and now some of them are using the same recipe. Women are so blest to have the Blessing of other women, past and present. God Bless all of you!

Over the Weekend...

This past weekend was one of abundant quality time with wonderful people...for all of us.

Tim and I are hard-pressed to find ourselves at ONE social event in the space of six months. Friday and Saturday provided three.

Friday evening Tim and I had the opportunity to attend two different parties.
The first was the annual office holiday party at the Battelle building in Aberdeen. It was very nice and very well planned, with a caterer and a huge tree and live string quartet. Sounds rather posh, but everyone was having a really nice time visiting and it was all very comfy and relaxed. I even got my first tour of the building. Not that Tim would have denied me a tour, but they are pretty tight on the security, and it is a bit of trouble.
A very nice gentleman, who is apparently the manager of Tim's group, offered to take me around the building. He was very thorough and descriptive. It was nice to get a visual of the place where Tim spends so much of his time. Tim has a great office space, which he shares with "Sim" his simulator buddy and a whole bunch of gadgets that he is working on. Upstairs there is a huge "cube farm" and there are quite a few labs and such for the research types.
We visited with several of Tim's co-workers, and then we had to say "good-bye" so that we could go to the TORCH Parent's Night Out at the Weber's.

Now, lest you feel sorry for the boys while we were out having fun socializing, they were home with Danielle Hoppel, who is 13 and one of their favorite people. They hardly need a babysitter, but it is so nice to find someone so responsible AND fun!
She was regaling them with the most amazing and creative stories. Brendan said that his stomach hurt from laughing so hard. They were still telling me about the tales she made up this morning...

So anyway, we went to the Weber's house, which was all decorated for Christmas, and enjoyed the nicest time with many of our homeschooling friends.
Paula and Chris Hoppel were there, (Mark, their older son was home with their other kids), and about six other couples and some moms whose husbands were unable to come. We had some great food and so much fun visiting! Dan Weber came up with a game that involved Christmas Movie Trivia, and we all had fun answering the questions.
We had to get home to relieve Danielle, but we were just ahead of Paula and Chris, so they picked her up and took her home.

Saturday night was another nice evening out at the home of one of Tim's co-workers, Sharon.
She has a beautiful house on Rumsey Island, down near Joppatown. Most of the people from Tim's office were there. These are people that we have known for almost ten years, through SAIC and now Battelle. It is really nice to have a chance to catch up on how everyone is doing. The kids are all growing up and people have grandkids or kids that are in college. Quite a history and kind of like a family.
The boys were with Danielle again, so they were entertained...something about Pooh and Tigger and Christopher Robin blowing up the Hundred Acre Wood...Sounded like Calvin and Hobbes meet A.A. Milne...
Yesterday we went to Mass, and then John and I went for a bike ride down into town while Tim took Brendan and Paul up to the church to work on the video system.
It was chilly but very sunny, and we had such a nice ride. It was nice to be able to ride with John because he is at an age where he is very reliable on the road, and he can manage a longer distance. We had so much fun!
We are both paying for it today though...those kitchen chairs are hard!
I'll add some pictures later.

This week we are taking school easy and pretty much on Christmas Vacation. We do have piano each day, and I have some Science shows that I want them to watch. It's funny, today while they were "on vacation" John spent a whole bunch of time on the computer doing a powerpoint project, he also worked on an art project, Brendan and Paul were building with Legos and doing some other computer research of some sort, and it just seemed like they learned so much today without even trying!

Paul came running through the room with his jet a couple of minutes ago, saying "This is your captain speaking, just wanted to let you know that there is really someone up here. We will be doing some barrel rolls so that we can beat another plane onto the airstrip." Totally oblivious to the fact that he is cracking me up!


Anyway...

Have you been good this year?

I got this piece of work from Creative Minority Report. You just never know what you will find over there...

Another Brilliance Performance