Pierce Turns 11

I started blogging when Pierce was 3.  Two weeks ago, he turned 11!  We had some family come to celebrate and it just happened to be on the actual birthday of my aunt, Pam.

I didn't have time to do a cake that week.  So I took Pierce to Sam's to pick something out.  We were flipping through the cake book and Pierce complained, "Mom, I'm TOO old for decorated cakes!".  So I told him that it was Pam's birthday too, and that she liked decorated cakes.  So he picked out a cake for Pam.  All with an air of "I'm just humoring my great aunt, but I am much too old for decorated cakes". 

A couple of summers ago we went to see The Secret Life of Pets with Pam and George, so Pierce picked that out as her theme.  Plus, Pam is an avid dog-lover.  Pierce then chose the most boyish frosting colors he could find.

He sure didn't complain any when he was gobbling up those teal blue frosted flowers!  Thank goodness we had Pam around to thank for our cake this year.  A birthday without any cake sure would be a sad affair.  I'm guessing this whole incident officially puts Pierce into that "tween" category. 

Merry Christmas

Last year I went to a Christmas party and I won a door prize for a photo shoot with a local photographer.  We saved it until last May, when the flowers were in bloom and everything was green around our place.  I thought I'd share my favorite photos from the session.

Besides, why focus on cold, wintry weather, when you can remember warm days with s'mores and campfires?

I've kind of had it in mind to use this hammock one on a future blog header, but it seems that by the time I get around to updating my header this may be long outdated.

This is the one I made prints of to include in our Christmas cards that I sent out this year. 

An extra sweet picture of the twins.  You'd never know how much they argue, would you?

Readers, I'm hoping you all celebrate a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays with family.  Enjoy!

If you are local and looking for a photographer, you can check out Olinda Pulley Photography.

Bike Races

Paul has always been a big cyclist, and he made sure all of our boys were riding their bikes at age four.  The twins never even had training wheels, thanks to lots of time spent on one of those balance bikes.  When we went to one of those Jellystone campgrounds recently, they had a fun bike track, and the boys had a blast racing around it.

It did look very fun.  I would've liked to have given it a shot, but we ran out of room on the car bike rack.

So, instead I settled for taking lots of pictures.

Check out those serious faces.  Pierce was trying to pass Cort, and he didn't want that to happen!

Alas, Cort was no match for his dad, when he decided to pass.

Around and around they went.

A happy ending to the day.

Readers, have you been biking lately?

Greensboro Science Center

Every summer I take the boys down to Greensboro to spend a fun day with my aunt and uncle, Pam and George.  This year, they took us to the Greensboro Science Center.  It had some new exhibits since we were there last year.

Like penguins!

And stingrays.  And a tank of sharks with a real diver that the boys just loved.  

But what was really cool was the new pirate exhibit.  The boys got to look through telescopes to try to spot the pirate ship.  And I enjoyed looking at cases filled with various treasures brought up from sunken ships.

They also had those hurricane machines, where you go in and shut the door and it creates hurricane winds.  I thought the twins would be a little scared.  But nope.  The boys went in the hurricane machines over and over and over again.  I think they would've been happy to just do hurricane machines all day long.

Pierce learned how to work a robotic arm, and used it to pick up a coin and deposit it in a bucket.

Outside, there was some leap frogging.

And I fell in love with the smartest cockatoo.  He came right over to me and when I whistled, he whistled back.  Cort and I played with him for a while, but when we went to leave he threw a terrible tantrum.  I have never heard such a racket.  In the end, we stayed for a while longer because we felt too guilty to walk away.  If you go to the Greensboro Science Center, be sure to visit the cockatoo!  He's a real charmer, and he seemed desperate for attention.

The boys groomed the little goats for a while.

And took one last shot as pirates before heading out to lunch.

What a great time we had with Pam and George!

Skiing in Maine

Has everyone else noticed that it's become popular to do posts of old pictures on Instagram and Facebook lately?  I don't tend to do that very often on social media sites, but I do like to share on my blog at times.  Here's a fun one of me with my brothers in Maine, circa 2004.

Sure does make me happy to see April.  Finally, right?

Legend of the Christmas Spider

The weekend before Christmas we took the boys to visit their great-grandmother.  While we were there, she asked me if I'd heard of the legend of the Christmas spider.  I hadn't.  So she told me to dig through this wooden bucket sitting by the couch.  This bucket was stuffed full of 5 million things.  Seriously - you would not believe what you can fit in a bucket.  Five cookbooks, two children's books, 50 embroidery threads, a cross stitch, a secret listening-through-walls device (I couldn't make this up if I tried...), a stack of letters, some knitted Barbie clothes, dozens of patterns, several balls of yarn, wrapping paper from Christmases gone by, a best Great-Grandmother plaque, and there, down at the very bottom, a box labeled 'Christmas Spider'.  To tell you the truth - I was impressed that she knew it was down there.

The box contained a kit to make the Christmas spider from silvery beads.  My grandmother had already crafted the spiders.  They are oddly beautiful, even though usually spiders are not my thing.

Here is the legend:
According to Legend, a poor woman had no decorations for her tree.  A spider who had hidden in her tree to escape the dust mop watched as the woman prepared for Christmas.  As the spider crawled about the tree that night he left a trail of dusty web.  But when the woman awoke on Christmas morning, she found that the dusty web had turned to shimmering silver.

How about you, readers?  Have you heard of the Christmas spider?  I'm looking forward to having the three my grandmother gave me on our tree for years to come. 

Merry Christmas Eve

I was at Pierce's school recently for their Winter Wonderland event, and I was captivated by the artwork on his class's door.  A sleigh filled with elves, and pulled by reindeer made from the children's handprints.  It was adorable.  And then I saw Pierce's elf on the back of the sleigh.  Modeled after our Elf on the Shelf, it was so cute and sweet I had to take a picture.

The boys are excited for tonight.  We always open our presents on Christmas Eve.  This year, we are following the 'four' gifts tradition for the first time.  Each boy has four gifts under the tree:  Something you want, Something you need, Something to wear and Something to read.  I love how simple this tradition keeps things.  I finished my shopping easily, and it was kind on my tight budget.  And the boys know what to expect and seem happy about it.  I don't know what Santa has planned for tomorrow - but I'm guessing he might be keeping things simple too ;-)

I will be taking tomorrow off, but I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

Greensboro Science Center and the Great Vomit Machine

Last week the boys and I took a day trip to the Greensboro Science Center, where we met Pam and George (my aunt and uncle) for a day of fun.  I took too many pictures.

There were a few scary moments.  We had to watch out for dinosaurs, giant beetles, and snakes.

There was plenty of wildlife to be observed.  The boys especially enjoyed brushing the goats, who were remarkably subdued.  I thought the one the twins were brushing was a pregnant female.  Oh did 'she' ever have a big belly.  Triplets for sure!  And then I was informed that all the goats were male.  Whoops, my bad! 

Cort enjoyed petting India the rat.  And we saw a rather strange snapping turtle. 

By far, one of the biggest attractions was the vomit machine seen in the upper left corner of the collage below.  They pushed a button and foul brown liquid came squirting up.  It was SO gross and my boys were engrossed.  I didn't think I'd ever pull them away from the awe of the vomit machine.

 

 

What a fun day!

We were there just a few days before the grand opening of their new aquarium, so we hope to make a return trip sometime soon.  The entire place was marvelously hands on and I was impressed by how helpful the staff was and how generous they were in allowing the boys to interact and touch the animals.  If you're in the Greensboro area, I'd highly recommend it (whether you're a kid or not!). 

The Children's Museum in Greenville, SC

On day 2 of our Spring Break, my sister-in-law and I took all 5 boys to the Children's Museum.  Pierce was particularly excited about this.  Shortly after we got there he headed into the wind tunnel.

One of the most popular parts of the museum for my three was the grocery store section. 

Note that Reid stocked his cart with several boxes of honey buns and chocolate peanut butter bars.

Reid seems to be gathering supplies a little more quickly than his twin brother....

Pierce, meanwhile, has waited patiently for his turn to be a checker.  He loved checking out groceries for other kids.

Pierce climbed a rock wall on a large window overlooking the street. 

One of the really interesting parts to the museum are these glass climbing slide things.  They are kind of creepy since they are clear, but the kids were all over them.  They went really high!

Of course there was an excellent pirate ship.  Here, Pierce is mounting the black flag. 

Looking for other ships. 

Captain Cort.  I think he needs a step stool so he can see where he's sailing.

On the lower level of the museum is a huge water table set up.  The boys loved all the water features, although they did get slightly wet, even with aprons on.

There were plenty of boats for everyone.

And if you knew just where to crawl, you could duck under the water and wind up in a bubble in the middle. 

Can you guess what the first thing Cort said to me when we got in the car to go get some lunch? 
"But Mom, where's all my groceries?!"  Poor thing - he thought we were really taking home the groceries he "bought" at the museum. 

Cupcake Covered Babies are Cute

When visiting my brother's family, we had a little belated birthday celebration for my nephew, who had just had his first birthday.

 My sister-in-law, Meredith, and I made a joint effort in Elmo cupcakes.  Dean was extremely cute when eating his cupcake.  In the middle of his feast, he started sucking his thumb and rubbing his face with the cupcake as though it were a blanket.  Adorable.

Cupcake demolition done!

Is Creativity and Craftiness Genetic?

My recent descent into days of madness crafting left me thinking about the talented women from whom I descended.  On one side of the family, my grandmother and great grandmother had a sewing shop.  I have one of the old machines that they used in their shop.  On the other side of the family, I know my grandmother did some needlepoint, as I have this lovely piece on the vanity stool that accompanies her bedroom set.

And you know I'm a bit of a psychology nerd, so it's only natural as I toil over my sewing machine, grumbling that I should be destined to be able to make it cooperate with me, that I ponder....is creativity genetic or learned?  The answer, no doubt, is that it must be a little of both. 

My environment growing up, had frequent exposure to craftiness.  My mother always had a sewing room wherever we lived (we moved a lot).  She sewed my prom dresses and even my simple wedding dress.  When Cabbage Patch dolls were all the rage in the early 80s and you had to be wicked lucky to get one, she started crafting dolls that were quite like the Cabbage Patches and selling them in the community.  Whenever I needed a costume for some project at school my Mom was right on top of it. 

Yet I was always a bit of a tomboy, and this craftiness didn't seem to reach my not-for-your-life-are-we-gonna-knit-fingers.  I did like working with clay some, dabbling a bit in creating small clay magnet animals for the fridge.  I tried cross stitching, which mostly made me mad, as I didn't have much patience for when I messed up, which was very, very frequently. 

I think that I got the creativity genes from my female ancestors intact, they just seem to have manifested themselves slightly differently.  Sure, I seem to have random bursts of craftiness, with small art projects with the boys or more recently with all these tiny (and odd, to me) sewing projects.  Mostly, though, I think my genes (which I imagine to be jumping up and down as I write this, and tweeting in excitement like little zebra finches) have decided that instead of doll crafting or painting or pottery, they would much rather......blog. 

What do you think, readers?  Where do you get your creativity? 

Making a Thomas the Train Cake

Since I took that first month of level 1 cake classes, I've been looking for ways to keep practicing what I've learned.  So when the topic of my nephew's third birthday party came up, I decided to volunteer to make his cake.  He's enthralled with Thomas the Train right now, so of course it needed to be a Thomas cake.

I started with a Funfetti style cake because kids always like sprinkles and color.  I used my cake leveler to level it off and make it easier to frost.  I decided to go with chocolate buttercream frosting, as it is quite delicious (says the person who ate about 2 cups of leftover chocolate frosting during the holidays).  In the middle, I did a layer of my homemade wineberry jam (I canned several batches of this jam since the berries grow wild on our land, so I seem to have an almost endless supply of it).  After frosting, I did a border of shells around the bottom.  I loathe making shells - they are the toughest thing I've learned so far, so I wanted to make sure I got to practice them.  You'd think they'd be much easier than they are.

Once I had the cake frosted, I mixed up a batch of vanilla buttercream, and set about mixing the colors I would need:  blue, red, yellow, black, gray, and white.  I used a coloring book picture of Thomas the Train as my guide for the picture on my cake.  I used the stars and dots techniques on the cake.  I still need to work on remembering to rotate my stars so the frosting below doesn't show through so much.  After I finished the train (which took me quite a while!) I used my #3 tip to write on the cake.

I'm pretty pleased with the results, and now I know some of my weaker areas that need more practice.  Luckily, I have tons of leftover frosting to eat spoonful by spoonful practice my skills.  My second level of cake classes started last Thursday, and I'm excited to learn new tricks!

Operation Christmas Child #OCCGiving

I try to teach my boys that every day is a day to give back. We often talk about ways to help in small kind acts when someone is struggling or having a hard day. But the holiday season is a time to step up in giving efforts to help those in need. This year, our family packed a shoebox to send off to a child in a third world country. Perhaps you've heard of the Operation Christmas Child program, through Samaritin's Purse?

We had our first family discussion about the program one night at dinner. We decided to pick a 10-14 year old little girl for our project, partly because I never get to shop for girls (ha ha) and partly because I think most people might choose a younger age range. I told the boys about the mission trip I took when I was 16 years old to Costa Rica - a trip that changed my heart and outlook permanently. I told them about the families that had nothing in their houses - how the children would play with the wrapper of a butterscotch candy for a toy.  Many families I met didn't have so much as a picture on the wall or a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom (if they were lucky enough to have a bathroom - most did not). I told them that even today, over 20 years after my trip, I still remember those beautiful children who lit up my life with their smiles and their sweet hugs. With that in mind, the boys and I picked out some items for our shoebox.

Our shoebox includes:
A magnetic notepad, zoo animal shaped paperclips, a manicure/pedicure kit, sparkling American Girl markers, a gingerbread ornament kit, fun pens, a Nativity 500 piece puzzle, Judy Moody's Girl's book of fun, a book of horse postcards (I thought she could hang them on her wall as decoration), frog clips, Trident peach gum, a set of 3 ice cream flavored lip glosses, a Hello Kitty toothbrush and holder, a blowpop, a handbraided keychain I made, a mint hot cocoa package, Pop Rocks, a pink ribbon hairbow hair tie, and three pairs of pink and white socks. I wanted to focus on simple items that could get a lot of use and wouldn't need replacement batteries, which is why I made some of the choices I did.  Plus, it was important that we stay within our tight family budget! 

I let each child make a special individual choice for the box.  Reid's favorite item was the Hello Kitty toothbrush set (found at Dollar Tree):

Cort's special item was the American Girl Sparkly Markers (found on the clearance table at Barnes and Noble):

And Pierce's favorite item was the Trident peach gum (he actually used some of his birthday money to purchase this for the little girl):

The boys had so much fun helping to pick out items for the shoebox, and I could tell it really helped them to feel good about making someone else happy. Once we had the shoebox all packed, we printed a label off the Operation Christmas Child website, and then we tucked in a $7 donation to cover the cost of shipping. We also tucked in a letter to the child, telling her a little about us.  On November 12-19th, we'll drop off our box at a convenient drop off location, to be sorted and shipped.
I hope that one day I have the opportunity to give back to children in a third world country in person again, but for now, I am pleased to be able to help from afar, and to include my boys in realizing how important it is for us to focus on others, instead of on ourselves, during the holidays and throughout the year. I hope that you, readers, will consider also participating in this wonderful program! It is such an easy way to brighten the life of an underprivileged child this holiday season.

This holiday season build a box with your family to teach kindness, compassion, and generosity.

Operation Christmas Child and influencer marketing platform BlogFrog have teamed up with 200 bloggers like me to spread the word about this great cause.

BlogFrog will match the first 200 boxes that are built. Pledge your commitment below to build a box today on Facebook or Twitter!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Operation Christmas Child. The opinions and text are all mine.