4 Golden Eggs

4 Golden Eggs
our children

Monday, October 31, 2011

First Snow

Just last week we were enjoying our autumn weather and the peak of foliage here in New England. It was getting cooler and we enjoyed evenings and mornings in front of our fireplace.
Then, a dusting of snow greeted us a few nights ago. Our children loved being in the dark of the night watching the snow lightly fall on their faces. That light snow melted by the next midday.
This past Saturday afternoon it began snowing and snowed all night and by yesterday morning it had stopped. The weight of the wet snow broke many tree limbs and caused power outages throughout our state. We were fortunate to have power but, three large tree limbs were broken from two of our trees and one of our pine trees bent down to the ground. Thankfully, I still have my pink rain boots and so I doubled my socks, left on my fleece pajama bottoms and pulled on flared jeans over those and went out to start moving the branches to our back bog. Then I began to shovel the wet snow from our driveway. I was listening to our neighbors snow blow their driveways and was hoping one would be a good neighbor and help me out (I am without a husband or snow blower and no winter gear right now) but, none did.

I was about a quarter of the way through and family friends of ours from church showed up with snow shovels and mittens for the kids. Grant and Max had been wearing socks over their hands and they were so happy to now have warm, dry mittens to wear. The four of us shoveled our driveway in no time and the boys carried the heaviest limb out to the back pile of wood.
The Thompson's are wonderful, quirky people. They have hearts of gold and were our true neighbors yesterday. We thank God for them.
It's nice to know that I have help when I need it and help even when I didn't ask for it.
I was willing to clear the snow and clean up the yard on my own but, it was sure nice to have help!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Collecting for a Fairy House

Today, after school, I took our kids to our town cemetery. They love playing among the headstones and climbing the trees but, we went to find twigs and acorns and leaves for the fairy house we will build.
Max discovered a hollow in a tree and had fun sitting in it.

It was a cool, crisp day. We are supposed to get our first snow on Friday. I know I am not ready for snow.
We found smooth twigs and bark. We were inspired to make a fairy house when we saw one of our neighbor's fairy houses. She made it from things gathered in their woods and some Spanish moss she bought from the craft store.
I'm sure some of our inspiration comes from recently reading the book Twig (about a little girl and an Elf and Fairy Queen). I bought a hot glue gun, some Spanish moss, and pastel colored glitter (since all my craft supplies are in storage in MN) and I'll sketch out some ideas for the design tomorrow. I have some ideas in my head like turrets and circular stairs.
We have plenty of acorns and pine cones. It may take us a while to make it but, I hope it turns out like something like these photos.
Once we finish building it, I'll post the process.
I made four adorable ice skating snowmen out of pipe cleaners today. I'll show you those next time.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Twig ~ A Book We Love

My dear friend Rhonda introduced me to this wonderful book by Elizabeth Orton Jones called Twig. It is a delightful book. Our four children would beg me to read another chapter each night. Even our 9 year old son enjoyed the story.
Twig is a little girl who lives on the fourth floor of a "high sort of house" in the city. One day Twig finds an empty tomato can and places it upside down in the bare back yard. She thinks it looks like a pretty little house perfect for a fairy. A fairy queen shows up and is wearing a fur around her neck. There is an elf, a couple of sparrows with eggs, ready to hatch, in a nest, Old Boy the ice-wagon horse, Old Girl the cat, Lord Buzzle Cobb-Webb a magician and humans too. The story is full of magic, fun and fantasy interwoven with reality. It is a tender story and encourages imagination.

Elizabeth Orton Jones captured the innocence of childhood in such a precious way in this tender story. I highly recommend it. She wrote and illustrated this book in 1942. Miss Jones was born in 1910 in Highland Park, Illinois. In the early 40's she moved to a house in Mason, New Hampshire. She bought her first house with her first royalty check from this well loved book.
She named her new house Pickity Place. Miss Jones passed away in 2005 at the age of 95. Pickity Place is a charming place. It is still open today with a gift store, cafe and garden.
In the story Twig, the Fairy Queen is wearing a fur. Elf is very interested in this fur and calls to it, "Here Kitty-Kitty". The fur crawls away. It is a fuzzy caterpillar. When Charlotte found a fuzzy caterpillar this week, she was thrilled.
Max named it "Kitty-Kitty". Charlotte made sure her new friend was safely returned to our backyard after I told her, "No, we can't keep Kitty-Kitty".

What are some books you enjoyed reading or having read to you when you were a child?
My mother and sisters read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to me and when I was old enough, I read them to myself. My siblings also read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings aloud while we took road trips. J R R Tolkien remains one of my favorite authors to this day. I also loved Nancy Drew mysteries in my pre-teen years. If you want to know more about these books or authors, follow the links. Here's another great book for kids and adults ~ The Dragon of Cripple Creek. It is an intelligent read, with adventure, mystery, and moral. You won't be disappointed.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Celebrating Seven Years!

 It is truly amazing. Our triplets just celebrated their seventh birthday. Many of you know that my Beloved and I tried to have children for ten years. We experienced many dark days with loss and miscarriages. I would cry out to God asking Him to bless us with children.
We eventually chose to adopt and after nine months with our adoption agency, our first son was born. I had the honor of being in the delivery room when our birth mom gave birth to him. It was a transforming experience for us.
Then, two and a half years later, a miracle occurred in our life. I gave birth to three babies. They were seven weeks early but, perfect. Max came out first. We called him our "Atlas" because for 33 weeks, he held the other two up. He weighed 3 lbs 8 oz. Charlotte came next. She had little, downy curled hair (very briefly) and then was my beautiful, bald headed baby for the longest time.

Now she has long, beautiful hair that I brush and braid each day to prevent tangles.
She weighed the same as Max.
Ben was last to come out. Dr. Nicole Brown reached in to pull him out and he kicked her hand away. She had to reach in again and get a solid hold on him to pull him out. He was our biggest baby weighing 4 lbs 4 oz. They were in NICU for 6 days and then transferred to a step-down unit to grow and gain some weight before they came home. They came home on Veteran's Day (27 days after they were born). We consider all our children to be our miracles. So, it is with great joy that we celebrate their seventh birthday.
I stayed up late the night before their birthday making three, individual cakes. Each year, they tell me what kind of cake they want and I try to make their dream come true. In the morning, they came downstairs to find their special cake waiting for them. Of course, they ate cake for breakfast, cake for elevenses, for lunch and supper I serve something healthy and then they sneak some more cake before bed.
This year, Max had an odd request. He asked for a "blob cake".  There is a Wii game that he enjoys playing. It is adorable. I highly recommend it for 6 to 10 year old boys. You can find a copy of it here on Amazon So, I had to get creative and make a blob cake for him.
Charlotte asked for a Hello Kitty cake (this is the third year she has asked for a Hello Kitty cake).
Here's a photo of the Hello Kitty cake I made for her fifth birthday.
Benjamin had numerous requests. First it was "Sugar Bunny" cake; then it was a "Lego City" cake and then a combination of "Mario in Lego City". I helped him settle on a Mario and Luigi cake. I think he liked it. Usually he chooses a dog cake. Here's the cake I made for him on his fifth birthday. I had a lot of fun making it.


Happy Birthday to our trio! May you all be blessed with many more!


Thursday, October 13, 2011

We had some unseasonably warm weather a few weeks ago. My Beloved came home for a visit and we decided to take advantage of the summer-like-weather and head up to one of our favorite beaches in Maine.

Max always comes prepared with his mask.
It's good to have the family all together.
We are in a journey of waiting right now. I live with our children in our empty home. Our home has been on the market for a couple of months. We have buyers interested but, they can't make offers until their homes sell. We can't make an offer on a home until ours sells. This seems to be the reason the real estate market is so stagnant right now.
We are hoping as the leaves turn colors and our area of the country is draped in such beauty, that people will feel a greater confidence in buying. It is a 'buyers market' right?
My Beloved has found a room to rent in MN. Our household goods are in storage there too.

We are making do with very little right now. Our children have what they need and we splurge on family times together. My husband has booked flights for the triplets seventh birthday and Thanksgiving. It will be so good having him home with us.
It has been an educational journey for us. We lived through a year and a half of unemployment without foreclosing on our home. My Beloved was able to finish his Master's degree during that time.
We had begun a bread ministry with Panera before unemployment and we were never without food.
Of course, we had our times of doubt and uncertainty. It's a scary thing to have no income, especially with a mortgage and four children. Yet, God provided all our needs. We were even able to travel and visit family and spend time in Wyoming and Cape Cod.
We are so thankful for work. There are so many qualified Americans without work, without health insurance, loosing their homes, suffering poverty. We are grateful for what we have.
Simple blessings mean so much. An afternoon at the sea with the ones we love. Sand between toes, watching our creative kids dig holes to keep warm in as the sun moved west, watching my Beloved teach our youngest how to balance on a Boogie Board in the surf, eating salty snacks in our car, listening the the Beach Boys sing  "California Girls", and driving home together.




Yes, it's the simple things in life that matter the most.
I am thankful.
What are you thankful for?