Dogs

are weird. But, I am doing much better with Niko. I take him with me when I drop off Corbin at school. He sits in the passenger side front seat, and lays his head on my arm as we drive. It amazes me how loving, loyal, and trainable he is! We have taught his to kennel up and this is huge. He will obey this command when we are leaving the house, or if someone is at the door, or if we need him to go away for whatever person.
He's growing on me. I like him.

Little House on the Prairie

Corbin's class read Little House in the Big woods in November-December. And, traditionally, the 2nd grade class at the Oaks has a "Little House on the Prairie"-style Christmas party the last day of school before break. Well, we got a lot of snow and with that, 2 extra snow days before break- so, no Christmas party. Well, the party was re-scheduled and here is the evidence. They ate johnnycakes like Pa used to make, danced to fiddle music, and got to milk a goat. Corbin was a natural at that! It was very fun!

Silver Mountain Indoor Water Park

We had SO much fun! Thanks Aunt Renae!!!

The Barker Road Bridge Project-

This (click here) is going on right next to our house. Quite interesting, really. And I think we're finally used to the amount of time and miles that the detour adds to our drive.

Mall Rats

Check out Lindy's $.99 new pink hat from Gymboree. So cute!
Corbin is wearing an Incredible Hulk sweatshirt.

Christmas Break, plus 3 snow days!!

We had so much fun and truly enjoyed our school break, just the four of us in the one car with the studded tires. I was not on call for any births, which also created a more relaxed mood. Here are some pics of the boys at home on break, after we got our new camera. (Thanks sisters!!)

Christmas 2008-

So, I'm running late. As usual.
We were at the lake house, my parents were in Arizona. The snow was beautiful, even magical at Christmastime this year. As you can see, the lake was gorgeous. And, we made it out there, with all our food, gifts and clothes on Christmas Eve, shortly after midnight. Some brave friends from church joined us for feasting and sledding on Christmas Day.
Note that Lindy is holding the Care Bear that Corbin sewed for her! (Thanks Nana!)

A Timely Post. . .

That I must pass on. May this minister to your soul, as it does to mine.
Click here.

My Four Favorites-

I wanted to share my four most favorite blogs. These are the ones that I have discovered through surfing around from blog to blog, and I check on them regularly. They are as follows:

• Method's Blog: A friend sent me this link, and I love it! This woman is an incredible baker. Since I've been following, she has mostly posted cookies and pastries, with occasional savories. A sweet tooth like me! But, I love how she substitutes wholesome ingredients into her creations. The pictures are always mouth-watering. So, for some kitchen inspiration, check it out!
• The Frugal Girl: A very practical site for homemakers. Kristen is so positive and encouraging. She blogs about being cheerfully frugal- mostly with groceries, but also other creative ideas. She posts her supper menu plan weekly, reports on her grocery costs, and every Friday takes a picture of her food waste that she throws out from her fridge. It is very motivating for me.
• Eyes of Wonder: This is the blog of a lovely wife and mother who live in the country somewhere. The photos and music on this blog are amazing. It makes you feel like you've been transported back in time at least 100 years. I think it's incredible to see families actually living like this in our day and age. Breath-taking.
  
• Anna Maria: My new ultimate favorite. If I had to describe my style, I would show people this blog. It is so gorgeous! Color, color, color. In fact, I discovered this blog off of a "10 Most Beautiful Blogs" list. My sewing skills are not quite up to par yet, but Anna Maria really inspires me to keep on creating beautiful things!

Quote I need to absorb into my skin-

"A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
By : John Henry Newman

Owl

Look what was waiting to welcome us at the top of our crabapple tree when we pulled into our driveway last night.

A Jack of all trades. . .

Corbin spent the day with Nana and Papa on Saturday and these are the photos I got texted to me from Nana's phone. Corbin worked on some shelf supports with Papa in his woodshop. He made a huge train track in the play room he was really proud of. And then, he apparently made a Christmas gift for Lindy.

Help-

I'm losing my good attitude about the dog. Arg!
So, what I'm looking for here is some encouragement from you dog-lovers reading this. Remind me again why I'm happy about having a sweet, dumb, huge doggy? Why is this good for our family? No comiserating please!

Thanksgiving report

And, for anyone wondering- Thanksgiving was fabulous. The turkey ended up a little dry, but the maple-glazed carrots, apple stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and turtle pumpkin pie were all big hits! I wasn't thrilled with the roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans, but Kent liked them. Just my parents came over. The pics are of Lindy helping Nana and I with the gravy (just before it boiled all over the stove because we were so busy taking pics!), and Papa covered with paper cut up by the kids, taking a little Thanksgiving snooze. Kent read a Thanksgiving story and led us all in prayer and songs. We all played cards while Lindy napped. It was a really nice day!!

Black Friday, an American tradition.

Painting by Norman Rockwell.

I did not shop on Black Friday, but I did go out with Kent on Saturday. Got many good deals- shoes and boots for the whole family. Pretty sweet!

Unicorns and Ladders-

Out of the blue (actually- we suspect this was "The Princess Bride" movie-inspired), Lindy declared while avoiding eating her dinner this evening, "I have an idea!" (A common phrase uttered by Corbin when he was 3 too, along with the expressive index finger pointing upwards) "After dinner, let's all go for a hike and look for unicorns and ladders!" Now, we live up north and it's already pitch dark at this time. But, it was so cute and sincere.
So, around 8:30 the kidsos were tucked into their warm PJs and beds, we grabbed them both and their fleece blankets from great-grandma, and put them in the car for a Jammy Ride. Off to McDonald's we went for ice cream cones and decent decaf for Kent. Corbin told jokes in the car, we listened to Christmas music, and even saw a few houses lit up already for the season. I drove so that on the way home I took us by a place where I've often seen a horse in the field, and in the dark it looked perfect: we pulled over and aimed the headlights into the field- it even seemed a little misty, and the white horse stepped out of the shadows, into view and nobly walked through our light, we could barely make out his head, and it looked just like a scene out of a movie. Lindy was just sure that it was indeed a unicorn. After shushing Corbin a little not to spill the beans, we returned home to tell Lindy the story of Snow White as she drifted off to sleep in her own bed, surely dreaming of princesses, unicorns and ladders.

Thanksgiving-

Here I am; 31 years old, been married almost ten years, and this year will be the first time that I will host a Thanksgiving day feast. I'm so excited! Got the turkey today. Happy thoughts and prayers welcome. I'll let ya'll know how it turns out!

Pooley Family Mini-Reunion-

Here are just a couple of pictures from our big family get-together when both of my sisters and their families were in town last week. Kent, Corbin and Lindy got to meet Annika for the first time, and I got to see her again. She is my sister's 9-month-old daughter- my kids' first cousin on my side of the family. She's adorable!
We took some professional photos I think I may be able to post on here soon. We'll see!

I remained calm. . .

This is Corbin's first big school project that we had to tackle together at home. It is a salt dough map of ancient Egypt. He was so funny when he brought home the instructions two weeks ago saying with big eyes: "We have two whole weeks until this is due!" But, did we start on it that first week? Of course not. Did we end up doing the whole thing the night before it's due? Of course we did. Grumble, grumble.
Overall, I did very well, considering. (Those of you that know me well, know that I have always struggled doing art projects, a.k.a. messy things, with my children. Like I live in some kind of pristine, glass box or something?! What's my problem?) I mean- where is the line with these kind of projects? My 8-year-old son can not do this kind of thing himself without disaster messes (one at home, and one to turn in at school), I'm sure. But, determining what to let him do, so that I don't do the whole darn thing for him, is tough. Ended up; he drew the map, he put the food coloring in for the brown land, he splatted the "land" dough onto the map, he cut out the labels, and put the labels in the correct spots. I didn't lose my temper and the mess wasn't too bad. And actually, I think it turned out nicely and he loved the experience. He actually seemed to have no idea that I was not thrilled with the experience, as he was.
He said- "I wish we had projects like this all the time in school!"
And I thought- "I'm sure they'll keep coming, and I will need to pray for continued wisdom and patience." and I just sighed.

Methods and Principles

You will notice when you are pregnant with your first child that you start to get advice and comments from everyone. This does not end when your pregnancies end- this is only the beginning. And women in particular become quite passionate about topics such as birth, breastfeeding and parenting. (I must confess here that I was one of these over-bearing, passionate women about these things about 4 years ago. I am wiser now. I think...)
Anyways . . . I love this article here from Nancy Wilson. It describes how to have peace among women in community at church. Very good advice!