I love Christmas. I love the season, the food, the decorations, the wonderfully awful ABCFamily holiday movies … it’s my favorite time of year.
I’ve been meaning to make an Advent calendar of fun Christmas activities for my kids for a few years now. This is probably the first year they’d really appreciate it, so I sat down and tried to figure out how to make some reasonably cute Advent tags / cards / whatever that I could print and punch out with my handy-dandy puncher thing.
I totally failed at getting them placed on the page so they’d work with my puncher thing, but at least I think they’re cute.
I’m adding them here in case anyone else would like to use them or have ideas for Advent activities. I pulled some from various lists to make my own — adding in Sinterklaas, leaving out snow activities, things like that. (I am determined to start Sinterklaas this year with the kids.) There are 35 in case I change my mind or need to swap out some ideas.
I wanted to buy these clip art designs for Jude’s first birthday party stuff anyway, so this gave me a good reason to take the Black Friday sale at MyClipArtStore.com. I love digital clip art … makes me feel like I can actually be graphically creative!
Anyway … the graphic elements are from Linda Murray and MyClipArtStore.com, but the rest was me. Click on the image to get to the bigger file … it should be an 8.5 inch by 11 inch JPG you can save to your computer, print and try to work with your own punchy-thing.
Design by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.comDesign by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.comDesign by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.comDesign by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.comDesign by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.comDesign by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.comDesign by Treacle.net Clip art by Linda Murray, MyClipartStore.com
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you probably know that I sometimes struggle with working outside of the home.
My big dream was to be a stay-at-home mom.
I wanted to be a doctor, but didn’t really strive for pre-med studies and med school because I didn’t want to prioritize school/residency over family timing. I wanted a family early, I wanted several kids, and I wanted to stay home with them. I admired the women I knew who did the pre-med and doctor path. I was probably a little relieved to not pursue it because I’m kind of lazy and the idea of cadaver-cutting squicked me out.
Ha, ha – the joke was on me. Will and I didn’t get married until a month after my 29th birthday. Seth was born two months before my 31st birthday. I would have had PLENTY of time to get through med school before my first baby’s arrival. God had other plans and timing.
Those plans – obviously – did NOT include being a stay-at-home mom. For whatever reason, I’m the primary income for our family. Will was home most of the time with Seth and then Nora while he did his home inspection training and then started his business. My mom has been Jude’s primary daytime caregiver.
So occasionally I wallow around — you know, as you do — in the what might have beens. What would it have been like to be a doctor? What if I’d pursued a career I actually wanted? What if I could have been a stay-at-home mom?
That’s not really very healthy, you know?
And sometimes I think, “I’d give ANYTHING to be at home with the kids … ” and start to wallow some more.
(Hint: not healthy either.)
I’m trying to get out of some mental bad habits, and this is one of them. Because I WOULDN’T give anything.
I wouldn’t give up the dreams my husband has been able to pursue.
I wouldn’t give up having my mother live down here with us.
I wouldn’t give up the support we’re able to give to missionaries and other people around the world.
I wouldn’t give up the career that has been so obviously God-given, since I have tried over and over to leave it and yet it still remains constant.
I wouldn’t give up the world I’ve found with this career – a world of incredible teammates, working for an amazing organization, and parts of myself that I didn’t know existed.
I wouldn’t give up the friends I’ve gained through this job.
I wouldn’t give up the advice and counsel I can give to my husband (and others) as they go after their dreams, because of what I’ve learned in this serendipitous career.
I wouldn’t give up the time my babies have had with their daddy, learning French and being immersed in daddy love and learning to be fearless (something they wouldn’t have learned with me).
There are lots of things that are great about this. And I get to relish the time at home when I get it.
There are two verses that have meant a lot to me while I’ve struggled with this idea of contentment. If you’re not interested, it won’t hurt my feelings if you stop reading here. If you are, I hope they come to mind some day when they can help you, too:
“Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.”
Psalm 27:14 (NAS)
“God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NET)
I also love the NIV translation of this verse: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Yesterday I had a “goofy” idea for Thanksgiving day. Will and I had talked about doing a Turkey Trot locally but never signed up for one. We wanted to do a 10K, but the local 10Ks say to not bring jogging strollers. I was kind of bummed about that because I started running (five years ago) with the Jingle Bell Run as my first race. It was a 5K, though, so I can understand a more competitive 10K not wanting to have a clogged course.
ANYWAY.
I asked Will if he’d do a 10K with me as a virtual Turkey Trot on Thursday morning! It’s a little goofy to get up on a day you don’t have to get up so you can go run 6 miles. It’s goofy to drag your husband and possibly the kids along with you, right? Well, he’s also goofy and that’s why I love him.
But here’s the better part:
We’re going to run our virtual 10K as a fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops! They’re the charity I’m running for in January at Disney, and they’re about to kick off Twelve Days of Homes in December. They’ll turn over the keys to new, adapted house to 12 of the veterans they’ve been working with!
Also: I’m no longer in the top 10 for fundraising. Can’t have that, you guys! (I may be just a little bit competitive.)
Also the second … a while ago, the kids were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse the other day (one of Jude’s new favorites!) and dancing around to the “Hot Dog” song. Full disclosure: I was dancing to the “Hot Dog” song too. I particularly like the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse moves.
ANYWAY.
I saw Goofy being – well – goofy, and I had to make another running costume. Don’t worry! I’m still going to be Sofia the First at the WDW 10K in January! I just had to make this one.
Don’t worry … I’m not going to ruin my reputation as Less Than Perfect Homemaker over here. I wouldn’t want to shatter any illusions!
Oh sure, I’m going to share my homemade yogurt recipe. You know, the one that gives you delicious yogurt in the crock pot and you pay $4 for a half gallon of organic milk and get four times the amount of organic yogurt in those little tubes? Or something like that. I’m bored with the math piece of it.
All I know is: my kids like yogurt. I like them to have yogurt. I like them to have yogurt without lots of additives. This is WAY cheaper than buying it.
Beautiful staged shot of the finished product with some delicious homemade pumpkin granola. Mmmm.
I was talking with a friend at church the other day about the beautifully staged blog pictures … after all, any photographer knows the secret is in the cropping. So let’s rotate to the right and left of my pretty yogurt bowl.
Ah yes … spices, towels, recipes, a tea kettle, and generic Nutella shoved to the left. Cooking spray, the morning’s pancakes, tea pot, and other assorted mess to the right.
That yogurt still tastes really good, though.
One more tip for the yogurt: I use the Infantino Squeeze Station to make yogurt pouches for the kids, especially for Jude. (No product sponsoring or linking or endorsing … I just bought the Squeeze Station and use it with variable success.)
The last time I made the yogurt, I thawed and pureed some frozen berries, sprinkled a little bit of stevia in with it, and mixed some of it into the yogurt. These made pretty little yogurt pouches that Jude LOVED. (Turns out Nora likes this yogurt plain and Seth just doesn’t want it.) Pretty little yogurt pouches ready for going to daycare or in the diaper bag for lunch/snack out on the town.
Oh, and I also made a huge mess. (More non-staged photos with the iPhone!)
So if you’d like to do your yogurt in pouches, here are some things I’ve learned:
Gravity can be the easiest way to get it in the pouch. That little plunger creates some mighty suction and will pull the yogurt right back out of the pouch.
Have your next three pouches already laid out before you start removing the newly-filled three. That way you can slide them in and get the leftover draining into the new pouch.
Have the caps out before you take the pouch off the station. That big puddle is from a pouch I laid down so I could grab the caps. Yogurt is runny, and in other news: I’m a genius.
I REALLY like having one of those flexible cutting boards under the Squeeze Station. It makes clean-up a lot easier!
There you have it. The messy, non-foolproof way to make organic yogurt at home and put it in squeezy pouches. Seriously though, this made 15 pouches, 2 bowls, and one extra container that’s anywhere from 2-4 cups of yogurt.
