Shepherd, sheep and wise man

I've been working hard at getting my project list completed for the year.  I'm behind "schedule", but I'm making progress and I'm content with that :)  I've completed some more figures for our Nativity set...

Wise Man #1

The sheep...

and of course, since you can't have sheep without a shepherd...

I'm hoping/planning on getting the other two wise men and the donkey done before Advent starts.

Our Nativity

Our Nativity is all set up.  Well, all except the 3 most important visitors.  The box in the middle is one of the Professor's projects.  He made a manger and the kids get to put in a piece of "straw" when the do a good deed or make a sacrifice.

Closeups of the cow, donkey and a goat.

 

On the shelf above is the flock :)

The shepherd, 2 sheet, a beggar and a flutist.

 

As it turns out, there are only 19 pieces to this set.  I had earlier mentioned 21.  I have 4 pieces done already and hope to get 6 more done next year.  I think a goal of one figurine every other month is a good goal.

The Angel

Once again I forgot to take the before picture.  Remember Joseph?   Well, here's the angel that announces the birth of Christ...partly done.

Before

After

Advent 2009

I thought I would post pictures of our Advent "decorations".

This is the Advent calendar I made 2 years ago.  There are pieces of Velcro on the backs of the ornaments and the reciprocal side on the tree.  When I first made this I only planned it for 2 kids, so I got doubles of the ornaments, you know so there couldn't be fights over who got which ornament.  Well...now that there are 3, I'm thinking that I may need to get a few more ornaments.

Our new Jesse tree!!!  I'm so happy with how this is coming out.  I'm horribly behind on this project.  I only have one more ornament made to be hung then I'm out.  I HAVE to get cracking on this!

 

Our Advent wreath:

 

I got tired of picking wax off the greenery and chasing the kids away from the candles, so this year we were going to switch to votives in the holders that fit into the taper holder.  But...we couldn't find unscented votives in the right color.  So hubby found these.  They are LED tapers.  A bit high-tech for an Advent wreath, but they actually look nice.

Our creche`:

As you can see, a sheep has already come to visit.

 

This is the Advent calendar I just finished making.  Boy was it a pain!  But the boys are having fun opening it each day, and that's what counts.

 

I started decorating for Christmas today.  I got through 2 of those big Rubermaid boxes (out of 5 total!).  I'll do more next week.  The tree will go up on Gaudete Sunday and we'll decorate on Monday and Tuesday.  There are so many people in the neighborhood that already have their Christmas lights up. I can't believe it!  The boys are starting to bug me about Christmas light walks.  For the past several years we've gone out walking the neighborhood looking at lights a few times a week after supper.  They want to restart this tradition.  I'm dragging my feet since it's still so long until the holiday.  Plus I would rather wait for a few more lights to go up :)

Joseph is done!

Finally!  Actually, I got him done 2 weeks a few days ago and just forgot to take pictures.  Poor St. Joseph!  First I forget to take his before shot (until after I start painting him!)...

Then I forget to take his after.  I wrapped him up and put him back in the box with Jesus, Mary and the other figurines (still unpainted)!  Poor guy.  Well...here he is at long last :)

Nice, huh?

She's Done!!!

Mary's finally done.  Actually she was done several days ago, I just never got around to posting pictures :)

Here she is

While I'm at it, here's the before of Joseph.  I got so excited by the progress I was making that I forgot to take his picture BEFORE I started painting.  So here he is

I've made quite a bit of progress on him so far and I expect to be done with him shortly into the beginning of November.  I had hoped to be done by the end of October, but got behind (sick kids).  Now I have a few other obligations that I have to take care of.  At least the Holy Family will be done well before Advent.  I MAY even get to Gabriel  before Christmas :)  We'll see how Advent goes.

Our week off

We recently took one of our weeks off, and I took the opportunity to get a few things done.
1.  I decided on the colors for Mary for our Nativity set.

Now, I just need to get her started. :)

2.  I deep cleaned and organized The Professor and Velcro Boy's room.  Not there was much to do mind you.  There wasn't really anything I could get rid of.
3.  Planned our activities in Year With God up to Advent.  That's going to be a whole other ball of wax, so to speak :)
4.  Planned our October/Halloween crafts.
5.  Picked up my new glasses.
6.  Bought hubby a "new" car and got it insured and registered.
7.  Updated the kid's photo albums.
8.  Send the portraits and regular prints to out-of-town relatives.
9.  Found Halloween costumes for the kids!

Doodlebug's going to be a teddy bear (used costume from Velcro Boy)
Velcro Boy is going to be a UPS driver (I found brown pants, shirt and a hat, I just need to dye the hat        and make a "nametag")
The Professor's going to be a FedEx driver!  We have pants and a hat already, so I just had to find a shirt.  And I also need to make him a nametag.  The pants and shirts are things that the kids can wear again, so I didn't mind spending the money.

I also got them canvas bags (inspired by my SIL) that I'm going to decorate for Halloween loot bags.  I'm tired of trying to find storage space for those big plastic pumpkin buckets :)

10.  Of course I spent some time in the kitchen :)  I made banana bread, graham crackers, salad dressing and several other things.
11.  I found room darkening curtains for the boys' rooms.  I got them hung Saturday night and they really do block a lot of light.  (It's hard to tell if they help, we've all been sick and no one sleeps well when they're sick).  I did this in anticipation of the time change November 1.  My kids already get up before 7 (I know it's not the crack of dawn, but still...).  I hate to think of that becoming waking before 6.  I try to get up before them to shower, dress and have some prayer time BEFORE they wake up.  I'm rarely successful, but I can't imagine having to get up at 5 to get all that done.
12.  I also did our regular cleaning and gave the van a good vacuuming out.  It needed it.  It's been ~8 months since it's been done.

Our week off, updates, etc

We took last week off, actually the week before - I guess I'm running a bit behind :), and I got a few things done around here. I've been falling a bit behind lately. Velcro boy's toddler bed was busting at it's seems, literally, so we decided to separate the bunk beds and set him up in his own "big boy" bed. We got the mattress, comforter, etc (I already had sheets) and got to work. We redid the room, came out quite nice I must say. After a couple days of making it myself, Velcro Boy has learned how to make his bed all by himself!!!! (Less work for me :) !)

I also did some decluttering and deep cleaning in the master bedroom. We didn't get rid of much, I try to keep up with it as we go, but we did clear out some space in hubby's closet and dresser.

Last Advent we purchased a new Nativity set. Hubby had the idea of getting one with lots of pieces that I could paint. Of course, he knows that I love to paint figurines, so I was all for the idea. To give him credit, he has offered to paint an inconspicuous piece, but I flatly turned him down. It's something I enjoy doing and I don't get to spend much time on hobbies anymore. This covers it for quite a long time to come :) So, while we were on break, I painted the baby Jesus figure. I think it came out fairly well.

Before...

After...

Not too bad. One down, 18 more to go... I'm going to try to get the Holy Family done by Advent. Wish me luck :)

I also got a much needed haircut! I had her go shorter this time. It's up to about my shoulders now.

Of course, knowing me, some time was spent in the kitchen. I made another batch of colby cheese crackers. They're almost gone now, so I need to make more soon. I also took a crack at making graham crackers. Given the rapidity with which they disappeared I would say they were quite good. They really were, and the kids LOVED them! I need to make another batch soon too. The boys have been bugging me about making bagels lately. I've been putting it off since it's a fair amount of work, and I already have enough to do. And I don't need the caloric temptation hanging around.

School is going well. The professor was giving me such a hard time about his spelling (turns out he was bored), so we went through the rest of the 2nd grade book and he knew all the material! We only needed to review one set of sounds. He nailed those, so we've moved on to the 3rd grade book. The work is harder and much more on par with were he is. He's also in the 3rd grade grammar book. We're onto a quick subtraction review in math. We took a while on the addition review because he managed not to learn his math facts last year. We drilled on those for a while and did some review work and I think he's on top of the problem. He still doesn't have them all down cold, but he's getting better and now knows when to count (fingers). We covered Reptiles, herbivores, carnivores and herbivores so far in science, now we're on to the skeletal and muscular systems. We'll spend quite some time on these areas. We're wrapping up our study of North America this week and then we move on to South America.

Velcro Boy (and Doodlebug) are working on the unit for letter "I". Velcro boy surprised me the other day. We were reading and he recognized several letters we haven't covered yet! I was amazed. He's also getting better in his number recognition lately.

And...someone can open doors now! Bet you can't guess who! He can turn the knobs and push the door open into a room, but can't turn and pull the door open (yet). I'm sure it won't be long.