Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

This year is the first year Judah is really into the Advent Calender. We tried to do it last year, but he didn't really care about it and wouldn't sit still to listen to a reading. This year, though, he is ready to take the ornament out of the pouch almost as soon as he gets up; all through dinner he pesters us to do it. He is still wiggly during the reading, but he loves seeing all the ornament shapes. Jeff and I went out last night, so we had two nights to do tonight. A good friend and her daughter came for dinner and were around to help us find the ornaments. (Incidentally, it looks like I haven't blogged much about our advent calender/Jesse Tree. I should remedy that. It's one of my better crafting projects. Maybe after the Holidays?)

I think someone has inherited his mother's love of being outside in the rain. And I decided that this year's DPP would be all pictures of people. All in black and white. (Yes, I know I already took one color flower pic, but that will probably be the only one. Probably.)

In addition to our weekly Sunday morning baked oatmeal, the other weekly tradition we've started is Friday night movie night. It's been fun introducing Judah to all the Disney classics, and he loves to help Jeff make popcorn on the stovetop. I have many fond memories watching my dad make popcorn every Sunday night growing up (which we ate while we watched Star Trek) and I'm happy that Judah will hopefully have some similar memories. Incidentally, I'd love to know what are your favorite kid-friendly movies. Our library has a decent selection, but after the rather terrible pick of Brother Bear (animism, pantheism, reincarnation, oh my!) I think I need to do a better job knowing what's in the movies ahead of time. For more DPP, head over here !

I have been perfecting my homemade pizza recipe lately. I make it just about weekly, tweaking things frequently to get the best pizza I can. I had been using a pizza dough recipe from the smitten kitchen cookbook, but then a few months ago she posted this no-knead recipe with a recipe for a raw tomato sauce that cooks while the pizza cooks. It's fantastic - you can start the dough the night before OR the day of, and then sauce comes together quickly after you drain the tomatoes for a while. My personal favorite toppings are caramelized onions and mushrooms with goat cheese and pesto. Jeff prefers his standard pepperoni. Naomi had pizza for the first time tonight - light tomato sauce with cheese. She managed to gum a few little slices into mush before feeding them to the dog. Judah actually also ate pizza for the first time. He's always been a bit of a picky eater but he tried some tonight and (of course) liked it. One problem I have with the DPP is that when I bring m...

Even though we still have about two weeks until her birthday, (sniff) Naomi seems more and more like a toddler and less and less like a baby every day. Case in point: she LOVES to empty things out of boxes and bags and then put it back in. Which is why the contents of the diaper bag and my purse are constantly on the floor. And why there are about 10 ornaments on the floor right now as well. This morning she found the bin with all the ornaments that didn't fit on our tree and slowly pulled them out and put them back and pulled them out again.

This was supposed to publish last night but our internet was on the fritz. So today you'll get two posts! We got our tree today and decorated it while drinking hot chocolate and listening to "Behold the Lamb of God." Judah was WAY excited about tree decorations. It was a lot of fun picking up the tree with him and getting out all the decorations , even if he did already ask about when he is going to get a present. Apparently we need to work on remembering who this season is all about. It's beginning to feel more like Christmas now that there are stockings hanging up. After getting the tree we went to the playground for a bit. Which is why there are so many photos. I just couldn't pick one.

I just couldn't resist one more. For more of the DPP, head here .

Judah asks to go to CVS almost every day. You'd imagine that CVS wouldn't have the appeal of say, Toys R Us or Walmart, but I guess since we go to those places so rarely he doesn't know what he's missing. But he loves the car display up front at CVS, which is why I think he loves going there so much. I forgot to get batteries when I went to the grocery store this morning, so after I picked up Judah from preschool we walked over to CVS before walking back home. Judah did a little toy car racing before we left.

Even though we've been here for 6 months, I find I'm still adjusting to our new Sunday rhythm, a rhythm that includes Sunday afternoon church starting at 1pm. Most weeks the kids and I go in a bit early with Jeff and eat lunch at church, but I often feel uncertain as to what to do Sunday morning after we eat our weekly baked oatmeal. I try to take the kids on a walk, both to give Jeff a bit of quiet to prepare for worship and to get some pre-church wiggles out. Today was a beautiful, though windy, day and I think we all enjoyed the walk.

The December Photo Project is back starting tomorrow! I'm going to do the best I can to be a little more regular about posting, even if it is only some photos. But first, a quick little update. 1. I dusted off the sewing machine to make a few things for Naomi: a rainbow geranium dress for her birthday and a geranium tunic in some bolder colors. I really love how they turned out. She hasn't worn the rainbow dress yet, but I made it with vintage fabric I found in my Grandma's stash when we were cleaning out her house. I love that Naomi's first birthday dress will be made with fabric she bought. 2. I love several things about this photo: the first being PIGTAILS (Naomi's first!) and the second being her wearing her new tunic. I love the shorter length with leggings; it's also nice since she's still a crawler. 3. We had a great Thanksgiving with my Aunt in Northern California. The road trip up left something to be desired as we managed to turn what is...

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you have a some idea how we've been learning a lesson in patience lately. From a long time job hunt to pregnancy loss and infertility , I have been getting a (to be honest highly needed) lesson in trusting the sovereignty of God AND his timing. So when we decided to move to California, I started praying for job. While I knew that finding a job wouldn't be hard (primary care doctors are always in demand) I suspected that finding a job that I would be excited about would take time. Just about a month ago I sent my CV around to a few people I had some connections with. I also got on the internet and looked up a local residency to see if they needed help. I went on an interview for a position at an urgent care - not something I was excited about, but something that would be easy to do part time to bring in a little money. They offered me the job. Then the residency director emailed me back, and, to my great surpris...

I grew up with 3 brothers, so I thought I understood boys. Two of my brothers are younger and I have vivid memories of them being toddlers, so I especially thought I understood toddler boys. (One of my brothers even stabbed me in the head with a fork when he was 3 or so - so my knowledge is of the boy-est boys around.) What I didn't realize is how many different ways boys can find to do things that they shouldn't do - things that you could never imagine ahead of time. A few cases-in-point: 1. Judah came out of the bathroom yesterday holding one of the tiny white buttons that are on the top row of the laptop - I think it was the F2 button. "Here, Mama, I got this out of the potty." After immediately telling him to wash his hands AND that we NEVER reach into the potty, I tried to investigate how said key got into the potty. Although Judah acted clueless, I'm fairly certain he first dropped the key into the potty and then picked it back out again. 2. Jeff wen...

We took a short trip home last week, a wonderful visit with friends and family. I actually flew with them by myself. [At this point I feel I should make a formal apology to Delta for the cheese, raisins, and pretzels that may have ended up ground into the carpet. Sorry. I was trying to keep my children entertained. And nothing is apparently more entertaining to a 10 month old than cheese.]   We seriously were almost late for our return flight because I was taking these leaf photos of the kids. I didn't realize until I got to SC how nice the fall colors there are, and how much I missed them here.  (I have no idea why Judah wanted to wear a crown. But he did. So I rolled with it.)

Yet another post without photos. And you know that the Halloween pics are cute. So here you go.  I had two very adorable kids around here on Halloween - one super hero, and one very cute peacock. I love how both of their costumes turned out - I was especially proud of the cute peacock tutu Naomi was wearing. Naomi didn't mind her costume - mostly because it didn't impede her love for crawling. I had been meaning to make a cape for Judah for a while, so I finally got some motivation to do it. I used a freezer paper stencil on the t-shirt. Trick or treating was really fun with Judah this year. At first he was kind of nervous to say "trick or treat" at each door, but once he realized he was being given candy, he really got excited. He also loved passing out candy once we got back to the house. All in all it was a very fun night!          

Just realized that this post has been up all week and the photos didn't post. I often use Picasa to post photos and I can't figure out why sometimes the photos don't post. Anyway...here's a repost with actual photos. Enjoy. Since Judah had such a good time at the pumpkin patch the first time we went AND since I forgot my camera the first time around, we went back the other week. I actually managed to get a few cute shots, although none where both kids are looking at the camera simultaneously. Oh well.