Christmas Traditions

In an effort to establish Christmas Traditions, I have been hastily prepping things for the 1st of December...ehem...tomorrow!

My sweet friend, over at Divine Interruptions posted a blog about her Christmas Traditions and it got my engine revving.

Turbo was excited when he found a stocking that was used in the past for something, probably done in Children's Ministry. He asked whose it was, and when the stocking didn't have an owner, he proudly announced that Jesus needed a stocking. Now, we just have to think up of something that will go in the stocking come Christmas morning. Any thoughts?


Have you noticed that EVERYTHING for decorations at Christmas time is EXPENSIVE? So we decided to make something each year that we can use to decorate our house with. LIKE? Aidan helped to paint the letters...well kind of...well...it was as team effort. Little crooked...but hey...its ours and we are proud of it.



I found this idea of an Advent Calendar, but after we nailed in the last tack, our friends over at A Study in Domestic Bliss posted her "Advent" list...and well...that will be stolen next year!

However, OURS... :-)...has a piece of tin foil over a suggested activity. Each day is numbered. Each day, the boys will "scratch" off the tin foil to reveal that day's fun. (I was too cheap to buy "scratch off" paint - seriously...scratch off?)


But back to my friend at Divine Interruptions. She wraps all of her Christmas books and places them in a basket. Each evening they open the "present" and read the book before going to bed. Her list of suggestions are wonderful, and we will for sure be adding to our collection. (At the time of posting, and due to time limits...naps and anxious boys wanting to go to the park, these books are not wrapped, but will be by tomorrow night...promise...ish)

Tae Kwon Do

Taekwondo (태권도; 跆拳道; Korean pronunciation: [tʰɛkwʌndo])[a] is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae (태, 跆) means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon (권, 拳) means "to strike or break with fist"; and do (도, 道) means "way", "method", or "path". Thus, taekwondo may be loosely translated as "the way of the hand and the foot."

It combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, and in some cases meditation and philosophy. In 1989, Taekwondo was the world's most popular martial art in terms of number of practitioners.[1] Gyeorugi (pronounced [ɡjʌɾuɡi]), a type of sparring, has been an Olympic event since 2000.

Turbo has been training in this art for about 2 months now and L-O-V-E-S it! We love it too for him. His Master Instructor is fantastic with kids and is a 7th Dan Black Belt, who is also a Coach at CU Boulder for their team and has trained Olympic Athletes.

Each belt is to receive 5 stripes. One stripe for kicking techniques, 1 stripe for punching techniques, 1 stripe for forms, 1 stripe for school, and then the last stripe is given by Mom and Dad for how well the student does at home. Which is ingenious in that of itself!



On Monday, Turbo was awarded his High White belt.

There Comes a Time...

...in every mom's world where you embark on a new frontier in mothering. It was excitingly cute when they found their toes. Amazingly wonderful when they went from crawling to walking. Exasperating to get them to speak, and then getting them to be quiet.

But I have found between the ages of 4 and 6, there is something exquisite about the life and mind of a boy. Not only physically do they change; hairy legs and little boy features grow into young boy features. Mentally they change where before trains were the center of their universe, but now Star Wars and the dream of becoming an astronaut are crowding the thoughts and dreams of their minds.

Today, I saw a new little boy in my world. Turbo, has come a LONG way from where he was at 2 years ago when we began down the long road of homeschooling, therapy, and figuring out why in the world was this little boy not ticking the way he should be.

Today, he helped load the groceries into the car from the cart, put the cart away, helped unload the groceries, asked in a sincere voice, "Now that I'm 6, can I put gel in my hair and do my own hair?" He chose his own gel, (Monkey Goop) - Don't ask - and came home right away to style his hair...which turned into a Mohawk...awesome.

Now, he is sitting quietly in his room, after asking if he could do his own school, come up with his own work, and begin having homework.

Where did my little boy go? Have we arrived? Have we seen the fruits of our labor from these past 2 years? Is our little boy growing up? Is it true? Can it be? Instead of having a toddler, preschooler, and "little" boy, do we now have a young man? A little boy who is growing into what he will become? A father? A husband? A responsible adult? (dare we say?) An astronaut? (I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a letter or phone call from NASA's director one day asking me to come to his office to discuss some things...oi vey).

I'm excited now to see what happens daily now with Turbo. He is growing up, and there comes a time when a mother has to let him grow up....*sigh*...at least I still have Tank...which is a totally different story.

Full of Thanks

In preparation for Family Night this week, I have been chatting with the boys about what they are thankful for. Apparently, the dog, Chance is winner. Mom and Dad? Well we come trailing in after the trampoline, toys, house, snacks, food, and candy. Awesome...

You've got to admit though, he is pretty stinkin' cute.






























Tank is pretty enamored with him.



HOWEVER!!!!!!

There are some other things that the boys are thankful for. Tank, apparently is super thankful for the Little Einsteins! Not necessarily Annie in particular, but on any given day, each character is given his full and undivided attention.



Turbo sat down and made a turkey. He went outside to collect tail feathers. I was hoping he would find some pretty fall leaves, but no dice. The snow...grr...the snow...wiped them out. So he chose these grasses. He made the turkey and then wrote what he was thankful for, or in his words, "Full of Thanks".

Underoos

This weekend, while going through Turbo's outgrown clothes for Tank, I found 2T/3T underoos. OH. MY. GRACIOUS. I forgot how cute they were! Of course, Tank is all over wearing them! Potty training in our near future! NAH! He still wets himself regardless of incessant asking of needing to "GO!" And then he doesn't even care if he is wet, he goes on with his life. Hmmm...Maybe we'll hide these for a bit...maybe until Christmas and try again...then again...whats the rush?

Fire Prevention Month

For Fire Prevention Month, I contacted the local fire house and asked if a small homeschool group could come and tour the facility. Fortunately, for us, they had an entire program set up for visiting preschools and day cares. They gladly fit us in! We started by watching a movie, then learned about their gear. We checked fire alarms, and what to do when they go off! They even had the kids pretend to sleep while smoke filled their "room". The door even got hot! They were to exit out the window to our predetermined meeting place! We toured the station and explored the truck! What a great experience!

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Fall Party

This year we FINALLY were able to host a Fall Party. We made/ate caramel apples, dressed up in costumes, took pictures, ate jello worms, sweet treats, mummy dogs, decorated pumpkins, bowled with pumpkins and made footprint ghost! We have such great friends who made the trek to our new digs to celebrate with us!

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