Sunday at the Naus House

I made up the dough yesterday with julia... so that it could be in teh fridge for a while before we used it. So today, after a short quiet time which we had once home from church, we rolled, cut, baked, and then iced a bunch of delicious cookies! Christmas is on it's way!! (if you ignore the BRIGHT pink which doesn't look very festive!!)



I was shocked at how well Sam did with this task. He iced, by himself!! He decorated, by himself!! And i only caught him eating a couple times! haha. He was very focused. Every time he finished icing a cookie he said triumphantly, "I did it!!!!!" hahaha.


GOodbye Toys! Goodbye puzzles! Look we are all away in our homes, cleaned up and ready for anothe rday of play!
I asked the kids to clean up while i made icing for the cookies we had just rolled and cut out. This is what i was surprised by! :) They (julia directed the work) did a great job!

Cenotaph: photographs by Julia

A day of Remembrance

We visited the cenotaph in remembrance of those who served their country to protect the freedoms we enjoy here and now. Seeing the flags, hearing the bagpipes (which julia LOVES) and the bugles, watching police in uniform, soldiers and Vets decorated and standing tall - something about it all is very humbling, bringing some perspective to life. I find it fascinating: the marching, the commands, the self discipline and solemn nature of the event. The respect and honor given to those who served so selflessly, who endured a horrific era, it is so real. I find it a beautiful thing, seeing these men, boys and girls in uniform, saluting those they never met, who fought for the freedom we have now. So serious. So honoring. I guess i love it because it isn't video games, or movies, or the latest pop star or sports team.... we are so quick to be serious about such shallow things. I love to see people getting serious about something REAL. i hope to learn from them . anyway. enough ranting for today! :)

Below is a picture that you cannot talk about with Julia... it is a surprise! her Christmas gift is a 'room change' . I'm painting her headboard (this is only the beginning) in a lovely horse-theme, and hopefully doing a few other small, inexpensive things to jazz up her side of the room! :) yippeee!! i love homemade, on a "dime" type gifts that will be so very pleasant to give! Julia has been asking for a horse themed room for a while now, but she knows i cannot repaint the whole room... so i am excited to surprise her! :)

Lest we Forget

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
John McCrae

Let's remember together.

Hard work

Preparing for winter is hard work. So goes the list: Take potted plants indoors, rake 20 - 30 bags of leaves, clean up garage so that outdoor items can fit into the garage for the duration of snowy-wintery months, clean out eaves troughs so that our basement won't get water in it during heavy rainfalls, etc etc etc. whew. Good thing it is a balmy 18 degrees outside today so that it is a pleasure to get these things done! :) The last two days i dedicated to leaf raking with the kids.

Let me tell you, i like the task. Being outdoors, exercising with my kids under foot, it is lovely. But it isn't easy. Child A: helps a lot. She rakes piles for me and picks up dropped toys of child C. Child B: well, lets just say he likes being two and is very good at it! haha. He loves to pretend he is incapable of learning to rake. ("i can't doooooo it mommy. i can't dooooo it") He loves to run through the piles of freshly raked leaves, dragging the colorful things far and wide. (which i suppose is most of the fun, so i don't usually stop this action of his, instead, i use it to my own good... haha. i get him to drag the leaves toward me where ever i am filling bags, and then he ends up helping me even though his aim may be to foil my plans! And i make sure to tell him how helpful he is to get it through to him that it is GOOD and appreciated when he helps!) Child C: sits. watches. occasionally cries for dropped toys. whew! oh and while i'm supervising these three, i'm raking and bagging 20 bags of leaves!!

Now isn't the time to go into my neighbors insulting me and basically telling me i'm lazy because it took so long for me to clean up my yard (see first two paragraphs) ..... but i still have to work on not being angry about that.....God wants me to be a good neighbor... not a resentful one!! :)

Time to go enjoy this gorgeous day!!

Niagara on the Lake

thank you Lord for a refreshing weekend. good friends. great family. and time with my dave!

A long while

Whew. It has been quite the week. Sickness ran through our home, and now is slowly leaving. We have been down on the couch, the bed, well, you get the picture. We were tired, sore and praising God that we never got really terribly sick. Mild flu and cold symptoms, that's all.

Now we are watching the gorgeous leaves tumble and dance over the road. Last night they lay so thick, it was like orange snow in the gutters. now they are on the move though, and there will be leave drifts up against fences and cars and sidewalks. ah, Autumn. It has always been my favorite season.

Well, i thought i'd say hi to the blogger world out there... and post a couple pictures that Julia took, plus one from the sick days. enjoy! i'll post about my upcoming trip later this week!

-S