Merry Christmas!

An Irish Christmas Blessing

The light of the Christmas star to you.

The warmth of home and hearth to you.

The cheer and good will of friends to you.

The hope of a childlike heart to you.

The joy of a thousand angels to you.

The love of the Son and God's peace to you.

Love,

Karla

(Thank you for stopping by my blog this year. "Ainsley's Mom" will return in January.)

Making Ornaments

Ainsley made spice Christmas ornaments this week.

We combined two cups of applesauce, 1-1/2 cups of ground cinnamon, and 6 tablespoons of ground cloves. We mixed the dough until it was well blended and stiff.

Ainsley rolled out the dough on wax paper. (to a 1/4 inch thickness) She used cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes.

We used a straw to poke a hole in the top of the ornament. (Later we will weave ribbon through the hole for hanging)

Here they are!

It will take about 4 days for the ornaments to dry. (We have been turning them over each day.)

Ainsley really liked making the ornaments.

"They smell so good. Like tea leaves."

(They have made our house smell very "Christmassy".)

Ainsley's Letter to Santa

Ainsley was excited to see her letter to Santa in our local newspaper this week.Here's what it says...in case you can't read it:

(You can also click on the photo to make it bigger.)

"Dear Santa,

How are you doing Santa? How's Frosty doing?

Please give me the My Little Pony Amusement Park.

Please give me Trick Tracks.

Please give me some bikes for my friends if they come over and one for myself, please.

You probably know what else I want.

Love Ainsley"

Thirteen on Thursday: Christmas activities

Here are a few of the fun activities we have done during the past few weeks as we prepare for Christmas:

1) I had a cookie swap and Christmas get-together with my dear homeschooling friends ~ Lisa, Melanie and Kelly.

2) We attended The Memphis Christmas Experience here with the Mims family. (A lot of arts/crafts/games for the kids and a live nativity. Ainsley was amazed by the camels...and by Gabriel.)

3) We attended breakfast with Santa here and made Christmas crafts here with the Glas family.

4) Ainsley found out "What God Wants for Christmas". (If you have a child, Dan and I highly recommend this Christmas activity. Ainsley LOVED this.)

5) Ainsley and I made Christmas ornaments out of a cinnamon/clove dough. (They smell SO good!)

6) We decorated our Christmas tree. (I love this part of Christmas. Each ornament on our tree has a special meaning to us.)

7) Ainsley and I made these Christmas cookies.

8) We watched "Elf" and are watching other Christmas favorites on this channel. (This is Ainsley's first year to see classics such as "Frosty the Snowman" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".)

9) We mailed Christmas cards. (We've received so many nice cards, too!)

10) We shopped for a food basket to help Fayette Cares. (We did this with the Glas family.) I also organized the food at their food pantry one morning.

11) We listen to "Holly" Christmas music everyday. (DirecTV ~ channel 822)

12) I created and sent out invitations for a "country" family Christmas party. (We're even going to learn to square dance.)

13) Ainsley has enjoyed playing with the neatest gingerbread playdoh (from Lisa) and a Christmas stamp set (from Mrs. Kristina).

I hope you are having a wonderful time counting down the days until Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday

(Ainsley with her great-uncle Ken)

Ten on Tuesday: Homeschooling in November

Homeschooling continues to go very well. Every month we enjoy it more and more. Here is an overview of November and a few of the things Ainsley did/learned:

1) Memorized three Bible verses:

~ John 3:16 (Ainsley chose her favorite verse.)

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these things there is no law." ~ Galatians 5:22-23

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High." ~ Psalm 92:1

2) Read the books "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" and "Cranberry Thanksgiving" . (We did activities each day using "Five in a Row".)

3) Found Italy, France, Sri Lanka, England and Jamaica on the map.

4) Discovered how salt is made by evaporating salt water.

5) Learned how to measure in inches.

6) Found all four oceans on the map. (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic)

7) Covered the letters "L", "I", "T" and "F".

8) Learned about silhouettes and profiles. (I made a silhouette of Ainsley's face.)

9) Created sentences using alliteration. (Ainsley's favorite sentence was "Camels like crisp cranberries.")

10) Started working with money (pennies) and telling time. (hour hand/minute hand)

We also took a few days off to celebrate Thanksgiving. (Ainsley helped me make a very yummy cranberry orange bread for Thanksgiving Day.)

Thanksgiving 2008

I am a few weeks behind on posting Thanksgiving photos...so here they are.

We were blessed to be with most of our family on Thanksgiving. (We wish it could have been everyone. We really missed those of you who couldn't join us.) Since we live a distance from everyone in our family, we are so thankful for the times when we are together. (Pa, Uncle Ken/Aunt Ebby, Dan/Me/Ainsley, Meghan (Dan's sister), Uncle Joe and Aunt Cindie)

We ate yummy food, played several games of "Apples to Apples" and "Scattergories", visited a lot, and kept the tradition of taking a walk in the woods behind Ainsley's great-grandfather's house.

Here is one of the placecards Ainsley made (with a little help from me) for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are thankful for our family. They truly are one of our greatest blessings!

Fancy Feet

For "F" week, Ainsley made Fancy Feet.
I traced her feet on a piece of paper and she decorated the prints with paint.

She then told me and showed me everything her feet can do.

Ainsley's New Favorite Song

Enjoy this AMAZING video..."Star Wars" - an a cappella tribute to John Williams.

Ainsley has watched this many times and now runs around the house singing, "Kiss a Wookie!" and making Wookie sounds.

(Special thanks to Clif for telling us about this.)

May the Force be with you all!