New Thanksgiving Tradition?

In my goals for this year, I wanted to start a new holiday tradition.  It seems that a tradition isn’t really a tradition until it takes hold, but I do think this activity that we added to the our Thanksgiving this day might make a good contender for new tradition.

(The tradition my parents started last year of the Annual Thanksgiving Silly String Fight is definitely here to stay.)

This tradition, though, is a thankfulness wreath.  I wrapped a foam wreath form in ribbon, and then all family members cut out cardstock leaves to pin on.  We filled most of the wreath with the many things for which we are thankful.  Some of my favorites — JA: “that I am loved” and “squid”; Molly “paper and crayons and colors.”  When I put away the fall decor today, I carefully hung this in the closet.  Next year, I plan to pull it out, remind ourselves of what we wrote, and add new leaves.

Exploring the world and falling in love with it

Way back last spring, I pinned this activity for the girls to do over the summer, but summer came and went and we never did it.  I really love how it encourages kids to explore their environment so that they begin falling in love with the natural world around them.

So I made it my goal to complete this fall — a much easier time to send the girls outside than the summer — and we finally did it over Thanksgiving break.

The instructions are:

1.  Do the activities on the cards.

2.  Take a picture of the card during the activity.

3.  Write a letter about your experience.

4.  Make a new card to add.

5.  Send the letter and cards to a friend so they can do it, too.

 

The girls had a great time playing in the backyard and walked over to the park by themselves to take pictures of ducks.  They even found a butterfly (or moth) in November!

Ode to Books Wins!

Remember when I wrote about Jane Anne’s poem, Ode to Books?  Well, she submitted it to her school’s Imaginations contest, and she won 2nd prize in the Literature category.  (I read the 1st place poem, and hers was definitely better.  And that’s from my expertise as an English professor, not as a mom.  Obviously.) There was an awards ceremony and she was awarded a medal and a cash prize ($10).  Pretty sure I’ve never made money on any of my writing.

Here she is with Mrs. Smith, the principal.  Way to go, JA!!

Update on my 37 things

Now that it’s 3 months past my birthday, I thought I would give you a quick update on how I’m doing so far.  I also started a pinterest board to keep track of recipes and books that I’ve completed

1.  Cook 52 new recipes from pinterest or my new cookbooks — so far, so good.  I’m trying something new about once a week.

2. Institute some kind of sabbath in our family — a weekly rhythm of rest

3.  Go to Germany — plane tickets bought!

4.  Start a new holiday (Thanksgiving or Christmas) tradition

5.  Read 24 books for pleasure — going well.  It’s amazing how much more I read (especially during the school year) when I’m intentional about it.

6.  Run a 9k So fun!  I got to run it with my friend Susie on a perfect Chicago fall day.

7.  Catch up on scrapbooking and start a new system in 2013

8.  Read aloud to the girls nightly — I’ve been hit or miss with this one.  We have finished two long chapter books

9.  Attend yoga regularly (once a week?) — I’ve been going to a lunchtime class almost every week.  Loving it.

10.  Blog at least twice a week — yep!

11.  Plant something that I can eat

12.  Begin composting

13.  Explore the Kerrville area — Spent an afternoon with Jozie on our way home from San Antonio. I hope to return soon.

14.  Bike in the Tetons

15.  Commit to more regular date nights with B — we’ve had one date night so far, not a great record.

16.  Write a journal article and submit it for publication

17.  Host a conference at ACU

18.  Be intentional about being unplugged when the girls are home — oh my, why is this so hard?

19.  Experiment with natural laundry soap

20.  Attempt some kind of spending fast for a month

21.  Finish the Slow your Home boot camp  — I’ve completed 12/20 tasks.

22.  Pay off our Visa card

23.  Cull books from the girls’ bookshelves (I ended up culling some shelves in my office, too.  We donated one bag of books to Molly’s first grade classroom, and sold the rest at Half Price Books for $20!)

24.  Master the bouldering wall at ACU

25.  Take the girls to swim at ACU on the weekends — we’ve gone 3 or 4 times, and they’ve been really fun.

26.  Organize and cull my recipes

27.  Apply for a Cullen Grant

28.  Reconnect with at least one old friend

29.  Work on writing with Jane Anne and helping her feel more confident about it  — this has been a huge focus in JA’s language arts class at school this year and she’s loving it!

30.  Plan monthly excursions with the girls — in September we went to the Abilene Zoo, and in November, San Antonio.

31.  Begin planning for another study abroad semester

32.  Develop a Rhetoric of Food course

33.  Light candles at dinner more often, especially as the days get shorter

34.  Take more family walks — at least once a week

35.  Find some good crock pot meals for Mondays when the girls are at dance

36.  Continue our family’s focus on geography that we started this summer

37.  Go on a “longish” hike in Yellowstone with the girls — maybe Mount Washburn

Home

Chicago, Boston, and San Antonio were fun destinations to hit in the past four weeks — and each one held a unique adventure — but I am so glad to be home for a while.  We aren’t traveling for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so we will just be able to slow down (a rare gift at this time of the year) and enjoy the pleasures of home.

The combination of traveling more than usual and the approach of Thanksgiving has made me particularly thankful for everything that home holds.  It seems obvious and cliche to say that home is more than my house.  It holds the people (and animals) that I love most, and they are the ones I most miss when I travel.

But I really like my house, too.  I like my bed.  A lot.  I like the large amounts of counter space I have in my kitchen.  I love all the windows and the way the house is flooded with natural light in the morning.  I like all the colors on my walls: red in my kitchen, green in the living and dining rooms, yellow in my bedroom.

I’m even thankful for the parts I don’t love.  Much of our upholstered furniture has one area that’s been shredded by a cat (and some of it has really classy tape over it to keep the cats away).  But I love having cats.  I don’t love my prefab shower, but I love having plenty of hot water and pretty good water pressure.

I love thinking about the transformation over the past 11 years of living here.  Some changes were simple, like new paint in every room, but others, like new flooring and a remodeled kitchen put much more of our mark on the house.  And I love dreaming about other changes we might make down the road, like that shower.

I am so thankful to have someone(s) and something to beckon me back home.

And On to San Antonio

This past weekend, Bill and I both attended a conference in San Antonio and decided to bring the girls along.  Between conference sessions we managed to have some really sweet family time.

We explored the Alamo.  In 4th grade, JA is studying Texas history, so she really enjoyed getting to see this Texas landmark.

We went to the San Antonio Zoo.  One of the best parts was the butterfly exhibit, where both girls had several butterflies land on them.

We explored the Riverwalk.  While one of us was in a conference session, the other would take the girls down to the river to stroll.  One afternoon, the girls and I wandered for a couple of hours down a particularly quiet section of the river.  We talked, laughed, took pictures, and just enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon.

On the way home, we stopped in Kerrville for the afternoon.  We explored a local park with Jozie — throwing rocks into the Guadalupe and taking a nature walk — and then ate lunch together.  I loved getting to spend time with Jozie, and it was a perfect end to a great trip.

Quick Trip to Boston

I’ve been serving on an editorial board for a forthcoming composition textbook for Cengage Learning, and last week the entire editorial board — including the textbook’s author — convened in Boston for a day of meetings.  It was a very short trip (made even shorter by airline delays that meant I got to hang out in DFW for 4 extra hours), and our day of meetings was useful and informative, but long.

Still it was a good trip.  I enjoy the inability to access the electronic world during flight; I like having time with my thoughts for a while; and I like having a king bed to myself for a couple of nights.  I tire of my own company quickly, but a few days of aloneness is renewing for me.

Early morning walk to Starbucks

The most enjoyable part, though, was getting to reconnect with friends.  Katie and Jeremiah, friends from church and work, moved to Boston two years ago, and we were able to meet up Friday night for a lovely evening.  I met Katie downtown near her work, and we spent some time strolling through the Public garden, the Beacon Hill neighborhood, and on to the North End to meet Jeremiah for dinner.

Making Way in the Public Garden

It was such a treat to explore with Katie.  Sandy’s wind hadn’t knocked all the fall color off the trees, and we wandered quintessential Boston neighborhoods as we chatted about living in a city, being far from loved ones, and cold winters.  I had a wonderful lasagna at dinner and then we headed out for gelato (sorry, Shanna, no Mike’s).  Katie, Jeremiah, and I talked about church, friends, marriage, work, and life, and the evening flew by.  I’m thankful for a deepened friendship with both of them.

And as quick as I came, I headed home.  Less than 48 hours after I arrived.  I was disappointed that I didn’t get to spend more time in Boston — it’s a fantastic city — but was ready to be home to sweet ones that awaited me there.

Halloween Fun

The girls dressed up as a kitty cat and a hermit crab this year, making their own costumes.  They had a great time wearing them to Trunk or Treat at church, to their dance classes, and Trick or Treating last night.