Baby Christmas Photos - Mastiff Style



Under the Tree

I'm really enjoying Pinterest and all the great craft ideas, recipes, etc.  But one of the cutest features of Pinterest is all the adorable baby photo ideas!  Crazy me, I just put a camera in front of my babies and snapped away! 

Today I shared with Abigail the adorable Christmas baby photos with the diaper clad baby sitting in the pile of twinkling Christmas lights; but was unsuccessful in getting her to agree to pose for such a photo.  However, fortunately we have a large dog that is a big baby! 

Abigail arranging Padme'

Padme' of course is an English Mastiff, being a girl she is rather small 130lbs as compared to our male English Mastiff, Clifford, that topped the scales at 200+.  Mastiff have such a gentle nature, that Abigail told Padme' to lay down in front of the nine foot family tree in the living room and then proceeded to arrange the dog.  I only tell you the size of the tree to help you appreciate the size of the 'big baby' laying in front of the photo. 

It probably isn't as cute as the photos of the babies with the twinkling lights, and I'm sure if I'd read the Pin on  setting the aperture of my camera and slowing down the shutter speed I would have achieved more twinkle.  But honestly, I was just enjoying playing with Abigail and the 'baby!' 

Then our sons in their youth
will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
carved to adorn a palace.
Psalm 144:12

Wizard of Oz Christmas Tree Skirt



If you've been in our home at Christmas time you know there are Christmas trees everywhere!  One of my favorite is our Wizard of Oz tree. 

Yes, we have a six foot tree with nothing but Wizard of Oz ornaments.  In the 50+ years since the movie debuted lots of manufactures have made ornaments.  I also have great friends who find ornaments to add to the tree each year. 

This year it was time to decorate under the tree!  I used blue gingham fabric and rick rack to create a Dorthy skirt under the tree.  For added fun I made Witch legs wearing ruby slippers! 

I love when friends with young children visit and 'oh and ah' over the trees.  Some of the ornaments play music, many have blinking lights, but the best part is the smiles! Who wouldn't walk past a tree with witches feet sticking out and not smile!

she can laugh at the days to come

Proverbs 31:25

Christmas Tags

There are lots of things I enjoy about Christmas time, an the presents are definitely one of them!  I love wrapping the gifts, my sweet friend Ms. Kresta always had the prettiest packages with matching paper! I love the matching paper and ribbons.  I generally try to color code the ribbons so I can easily tell the packages with red ribbons go to Jon's family, green ribbons go to my Dad's home, and silver and gold ribbons are for Christmas morning. 

But none of those things are what my children enjoy, their favorite part is the tags, yes, the Tags! All the gifts to the children from Jon and I have creative names in the 'from' section.  For example, above there is a gift To:  Frankie   -  From:  Van Gogh. Now the name in the from section will give some kind of hint as to the gift.  A gift from Van Gogh could be art related, paints or bushes, maybe coloring books, tickets to an art exhibit, no telling, that is part of the fun.

Above you can see a gift to Caleb, From: Captain Jack Sparrow.  What could be inside?  A DVD, a Keith Richards CD, maybe eyeliner, who knows!  You can also see a gift to Abigail, From Mike Wazowski!  Inside could be something Monsters, Inc. related, but that would too obvious!  Think about Mike Wazowski has one eye, it could be eye glasses case!  Mike Wazowski is also bright green so inside could be Neon Green nail polish! 

Of course, I have actually listed the enclosed content because the kids read the blog, but you get the idea.  My kids love the tags almost as much as they love the gifts inside!  Family traditions don't have to be big things, it the smiles and fun we share each day!

Show me the wonders of your great love

Psalm 17:7

Homeschool Recital

Guitar



Grant doing a Nerf demonstration.



Little Violinist!

Hannah singing!

Every year our home school group holds a Christmas Recital.  It is an opportunity for the children to showcase their talents.  In addition the children can present their artwork.  It's fun to see all the kids develop the skills to get up before an audience and perform. 

This year Caleb performed Fur Elise on the keyboard and Abigail performed Alma Mater Blues.  Abigail has been taking piano lesson with Simply Music for one year and she usually comes home and teaches Caleb whatever new thing she's learned.  She really enjoys being able to 'teach' Caleb something, as a general rule Caleb teaches Abigail everything. 

Along with their relatives—

all of them trained and skilled

in music for the LORD

Chronicles 25:7

Dallas World Aquarium

Abs, Caleb & Richard

Ms. Belinda's Boys







Eric & Frankie



Blake & the kids






Today we visited the Dallas World Aquarium with about sixty-five of our home schooling friends. The aquarium is three stories, with all kinds of wildlife and habitats, with large glass aquariums.  Our last visit to the Dallas Aquarium was about this time last year and it was neat to see the updates they've made since our last visit.  The aquarium features a large shark tank that you can walk under, similar to the Oklahoma Aquarium, Oklahoma's tank is larger, but the Dallas tank you can walk around and view it from the top. 

The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth,

and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that

 moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea;

they are given into your hands.

 ³ Everything that lives and moves about

will be food for you. Just as I gave you

 the green plants, I now give you everything.

Genesis 9:2-3

Schakolad Chocolate Factory

Schakolad Chocolate Factory (pronounced shaq-oh-LAD) is a small chocolate boutique in Legacy Park in Plano.

Chocolates are hand made using a three-generation European style family recipe.  Goodies are prepared, hand dipped and decorated.  During today’s field trip the kids got a “behind the counter” tour of the facility.  The owner gave them an overview of the history of chocolate along with health benefits and other fun chocolate information.  They were allowed to sample all kinds of chocolate and even hand dip their own chocolate covered caramels.

It is probably not surprising to find out that we have had other chocolate field trips, like a visit to the Sweet Shop in 2007, and ‘The History of Chocolate” with cocoa trees at the Dallas Arboretum.  The Schakolad Factory was definitely a smaller scale factory but it involved a lot more sampling which is always a bonus!

I made it beautiful with abundant branches,

the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.
Ezekiel 31:9

Screwtape Letters

For the last several years the kids and I have read C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters together.   This is such a great book.  It is the letters from a senior demon to his nephew Wormwood advising him how to best tempt his patient to "undermine faith and prevent the formation of virtues" in a recent convert to Christianity.

Max McLean has been given permission by the C.S. Lewis foundation to perform a 90-minute stage adaptation.  It ran on Broadway for over 300 performances!  McLean is now touring the country performing.  Tonight he performed at Dallas’ Majestic Theater, which in itself was a huge treat!  

The performance was super, fantastic, amazing, hysterical, stupendous, and lots of other flattering theatrical terms! 

McLean has also recorded several version of the Bible called ‘The Listeners Bible.’  We enjoy audio Bibles, there are some passages that it is easy to get bogged down with pronunciation and the audio version is easier. 

the name of the star is Wormwood.

A third of the waters turned bitter,

and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

Revelation 8:11

Book Club - Oliver Twist

This evening was our PEACH Book Club.  The kids have been reading Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist and tonight they got together to discuss the book.  This was a tough read, 500+ pages and Dicken’s writes using colloquialisms in 19^th century London.  It is not a book the kids would have picked up and read on their own, but they seemed to enjoy reading it for Book Club. 

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure

and faultless is this: to look after orphans

and widows in their distress and to keep

oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

DMA Class - Mark Bradford

Each month the Dallas Museum of Art hosts a homeschool class.  They are generally interactive classes for parents and children.  This month’s class we took a look at the Mark Bradford exhibit currently on loan in one of the museums galleries.

Today’s class was Art and Community.  Bradford is an artist who uses found items in his work, posters, wrappers, cardboard, duct tape, etc. One technique he uses takes string glued to the surface and then he mounts strips of paper in a decoupage fashion over the entire surface of the piece.  The last step is to pull up all the string leaving grooves in the art work. 

It is an interesting craft technique but in my opinion, it’s not really art.  It is very random and it is not something I would hang up in my home.  But it was an interesting class and fun to see the kid’s reaction to this style of work.

there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,

because that is their lot.

For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Ecclesiastes 3:22

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Every year our homeschool group gets together in the fall for a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving at the Gungan’s home.  Much like the television episode, the group gets bigger and bigger as phone calls go out for invitations to the feast.  Guests bring a dinner that would make Linus proud, complete with toast, pretzels, popcorn, jelly beans and more.

Somewhere in the midst of our quasi-feast Ms. Donna gives a great history of Thanksgiving, complete with games and crafts.  The kids play for hours everything from chess to Nerf wars, while the moms enjoy great camaraderie together.  These are some of my favorite people; together we solve the world’s biggest problems and encourage each other in all things mom! 

This year I think we arrived around 10:30am and didn’t head home until after 5:30pm.  And like the Charlie Brown episode, every little Woodstock went home with contented smiles and patting their full stomachs!   

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.
Phillipians 4:6