It's Christmas again!

Several years ago, we rented a cabin up north with Earl and Kathy. We ventured into Traverse City that weekend, looking for the farmer's market. In our travels, we stopped at a Salvation Army store. Clarence saw someone take these cups and saucers to the counter to ask how much they were. When the customer decided against purchasing them, he found me to see if I wanted them. Oh, my, yes.

They live on a shelf in the dining room most of the time, although we do occasionally use them for tea.



On Christmas morning, I opened a package from Julianne containing two doilies, one pink, one green. I thought they were pretty but wasn't sure where I'd use them. She spoke up and told me that, last summer, I had mentioned that I'd love it if she made me doilies to match these teacups. She remembered!

She's been busy with other projects and finished the final one this week.

I am thrilled and love the matching doilies just as much as I thought I would. Thanks, Julianne!

FIAR Co-op

Our book this month was The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

I suggested the idea of dipping candles as a project, since that's one thing Kit had to learn to do. The other moms were agreeable, so I drove all over the state in order to find picked up some wicking and a huge, honkin' bar o' paraffin.

My girls were very excited. None of us had ever tried dipping candles before and we were all looking forward to it. I was a little nervous that it wouldn't work well or it would be too tedious for the kids to enjoy.

Clarence provided me with dowels to help keep fingers out of hot wax.

The kids circled the table, dipping their wicks into the wax five times, then moving along to let the next one dip and allow their candle to cool until it was their turn again.

My fears were in vain. It went remarkably well. The kids all enjoyed it and I was amazed at their patience with the process. They laughed and talked, dipped and circled, and had a great time.

Not knowing how much wax we'd need, I bought a ten-pound block of paraffin. I think I have approximately 9.6984 pounds left over. Maybe I should find a book with some connection to letting the kids try wax sculpture?

We had a lot of other great activities for this book, too. One mom led a discussion about Puritans and Quakers and the kids shared the differences they'd researched. The other moms covered making assumptions, types of fallacies, and had the kids decide whether they agreed or disagreed with quotes taken from the book. As a bonus, it was a gorgeous day so the kids had a chance to run around and play outside, too.

We intended to delve more deeply into the Salem witch trials but ran out of time. Still, the kids learned a great deal and had a great time doing so. It was yet another successful day.

March quiz

In the past, the March quiz has been an all-Michigan quiz (in Ohio-go figure).

We have one team from northern Ohio that quizzes with us all year and hosts the March quiz. Some teams from other states, New York in particular, wanted more teams to compete against so this month's quiz was made into a regional. Teams came from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois.



Julianne made it to individual finals, but didn't place.

The team took 2nd in Senior Teen Veteran (B division), losing only to another Michigan team they see every month.

The girls were again joined by a friend from another church. She's the only quizzer from her church in their division and has been quizzing with us a lot in recent months. She's such a nice girl, always encouraging to others, plus she's a good quizzer so the girls love having her. We picked up an extra pink shirt for her so hopefully by next month she'll look more like part of the team.

I stayed home sick and missed all the excitement. They had a long day, especially with the time change last night, but as always, they had a great time.

Pretty Little Pincushions

Back in December, I saw this book advertised in the sidebar of a random blog I landed on. I was intrigued and quickly requested it via Inter-Library Loan.

One evening, we were invited for dinner to the girls' adopted grandparents while their daughter and son-in-law were home for the holidays. The book happened to come in, so I took it along.

We oohed and aahed at the cute designs and plans were made for the girls to come back the next day to attempt to make some of them with Julene.

Julene sweetly gifted me with this darling pincushion. I love the colors and it's a handy size to work with.

But wait, there's more!

The book also has instructions for making decorative pins!

These are Allison's pins. Aren't they so cute?

Do you think she'll notice if I never give them back?

Caving to the pressure

You've worn me down.

I must tell you that pretty much no one in my real life even noticed I got my hair cut-including my own mother. It just doesn't look any different, other than being shorter.



I hate getting my picture taken, let alone posting it online, so this post may disappear soon.

And I thought I was pretty immune to peer pressure. Sheesh.

Haircut time

My hairdresser is about 45 minutes away. As a result, I don't get my hair cut nearly often enough. I sometimes venture into the local cosmetology school and get my bangs trimmed but I'm not brave enough to let them cut the back, where I can't see what they're doing until it's too late. (I once had a girl there cut a section of my bangs almost down to the scalp, which might explain my hesitation.)

This week we were going to be back in my old stompin' grounds so I called and was able to get appointments for all three of us.



Allison got a few inches trimmed off the end so her hair looks much healthier now.

Julianne and I went more extreme. Julianne got 15 1/2 inches cut off. I beat her by a half-inch with 16".

(A back view of Julianne's new 'do.)

Julianne looks cute, but older, with her new style. Sigh. These girls are quickly growing up on their old mom.

A Thought Provoking Question

"What would you change about your life if you only had two weeks left to live?"

Julianne's reply?

"I'd move someplace warm and try surfing."

I'm thinking that wasn't exactly what the Sunday School teacher had in mind.