A big thank you to Kristin, I love chocolate covered pretzels but I have never made them. This quick and easy recipe is perfect! The only problem was no one liked them but me...so guess who ate them all?!! Another fun part of our week was preparing our goodie bags for our boys! Daddy and I shopped for all things small, fun and light..oh and that will fit in a Ziploc bag!
This dear family is going to pick up their sweet baby boy in only a few days and they have agreed to take these goodies to our boys and hopefully meet our boys and get pictures for us! So far we only have 3 pictures of each boy and of the three only 1 is clear ...so pics of my boys are the best Christmas present I could ask for!..Thank you Lesley and Thom!

Yes I actually it all of this into one bag! This is for our 3 1/2 year old.

This is for baby boy and everything fit except the blankie :(

Schimpff's Candy

Today our lesson of the candy cane came to life! We visited our local town treasure, Schimpff's candy store. The store has been in business since 1891! We were able to watch as they made cinnamon drops, which was very neat because it was very much like the candy cane process we had tried yesterday!
If you are ever in the Kentuckiana area I recommend visiting this neat spot!

This week we are doing our unit study on The Legend of the Candy Cane. It has been a fun filled week so far. With FIAR type studies you read the book each morning and then you pull out social studies, math, art etc from the story.
We began our study discussing how a candy cane resembles a shepherds hook. We talked about the similarities in ourselves and sheep and why we need a shepherd. The older children are copying Psalm 23 (Carson is cursive and Maddie in lower case print). Ther letter J is the letter of the week, a candy cane upside down is a J for Jesus.

We got our unit study from www.homeschoolshare.com where everything is always FREE! Here is the candy cane unit. The candy cane recipe and play-dough recipe on here as well.

After all of the "boring" work we got busy with fun activities! We made candy canes! Who knew most of the ingredients for candy canes are in your cabinet?! It was so much fun! This is what the mixtures look like before you twist them. It is very tricky because it is very hot but you cannot let it set or it will harden. Each kiddo and mommy finally got two pieces to twist together.

Here are the finished results! Cool huh!!! Oh and let me tell you the house smelled wonderful for hours! It was good for the sinuses too!

These crafts were something that I did in school as a young child and it was always my favorite craft. My kids obviously got a bit bored and did not fill in all of the spots. You take little tissue paper squares, wrap them around your pencil and dip in glue.

So we also had to make peppermint play-dough! We also added in glitter which the children loved!

Be sure to let the kids watch this video of candy canes being made at the Sprangler candy factory.

Here is another site with some free Christmas symbol unit studies.

Our project for Thursday is to make these cookies.

(Disclaimer-Please pay no attenion to the clothing/pajamas or lack there of my children wear to school!)

Court Date Explanation

Since Shelley asked I figured others may want to know too.
Our court date in Ethiopia will make the boys legally ours. The process is rather sensitive in the way that giving each individual judge exactly what he wants is like hitting a moving target with your eyes closed (so I have been told). There are 7 judges hearing cases. Each judge wants something a bit different. Sometimes it is a piece of paper, or an interview with the social worker that accepted the kid at the orphange or as simple as the judge does not come in to work that day.
So on December 12th (middle of the night for us folk) our prayers will be finished and it will be in Gods hands.
If we pass court we will then travel about 5 weeks later. During this time the US embassy requires another HIV test and makes new birth certificates.

If we do not pass court (I will have a meltdown and probably host a small pity party as well) we will be scheduled a new court date 6-8 weeks out and we will try it all over again! Meaning we will probably not pick up the boys until March :( Here is another fun tidbit...we most likely will not find out until Monday if we passed due to the time difference and computer problems etc. So it will be a ridiculous weekend!!

So I trying to keep positive because I KNOW the boys need to get home! And for my little Annie..every single day she asks if we are getting her "brodders". I hate to think about explaining that mess to her! So once again if you can pray Thursday night before bed that would be awesome!

So since I am SOO behind I will have to catch up generic style!

Thursday - We worked more on our FIAR story/lit. unit for the week.

Friday - We took advantage of our church Kids Night in program. The kids enjoy pizza and ice cream. They play games and make crafts. Annie had to hang with mom and dad (which she was unhappy about!) We went to O'Charleys for dinner and then did some Christmas shopping. Her big treat for the night was a cinnamon/sugar pretzel! We shopped for the goodie bags for "Jon & Issac" that will be taken to them next week when 2 other families travel to pick up their children.

Saturday - The girls and I volunteered at a party at the Salvation Army for mothers and children living at the apartments. Every year I want to do more in the community and in service of others. However, every year I am consumed with all of the shopping and other commitments that December seems to bring. This year we committed to cutting back on everything we buy for others and we also asked for our family not to buy for Paul and I and to cut back on the toys bought for the children. The mothers and their children were so sweet and so appreciative of the small tokens brought to them, it was so refreshing!
Saturday evening was equally as awesome! We attended our adoption agency Christmas party. We were able to talk with like-minded families. It is so inspiring to hear all the adoption stories. To meet the families adopting my childrens friends! To here the amazing story behind families who planned to adopt one child and are now picking up a sibling group of 3 or 4!! I believe there were about 10 couples present and by this summer we will have brought home 20 or so children...children together in Ethiopia will then be together in Louisville!
Oh and did I mention that if we pass court on Friday we are the next family to travel!!!

Sunday - Carson sang in the church choir all three services. My mom and I shopped all day and got much accomplished!

Monday - We began our weekly unit on The Legend of the Candy Cane. More info on that later!

22 Days until Christmas

-Found the kids Christmas outfits!
-Had a completely glorious school day!
-Completed a 2 page layout and some other random scrapbooking finsish ups!

No pics...see ya tomorrow!!

23 Days 'Til Christmas

So my fellow friend and blogger Teaque has committed to blogging each day in December to do a combo of thankfulness and December daily type posts. So here is my version!
I am thankful for the one space in my home that I feel is "finished"...this means ''regularly'' decorated as well as Christmas decorated! All my other rooms feel like they are always in ...waiting on curtains or carpet or pictures ....
So here is my foyer!
I love looking through the front door and seeing the sparkling lights of the season! It feels so warm and cozy and inviting!

I am thankful for my mom coming over yesterday and spending the entire day cleaning, organizing and getting ready for the boys and for Christmas! Mom re-organized my Tupperware cabinets and a few others. I told her I had always wanted a snack bin that the kids were able to grab an approved snack from without asking or digging through the cabinet!

So I am thankful for this simple, no-frills snack bin!!

I am thankful for my early Christmas gift!! A few weeks ago my wonderful, sweet, lovable, best ever hubby pulled into the drive with this!! We had a Sequoia so while we could seat the new boys in it, it would have been a hassle to flip the seats up each time. People don't forget that I will have 5 children in car seats! I wanted a van badly but Paul never really agreed to it. It is this the "flyest" ride ever (in mini-van form hehe!)...do you know how awesome an automatic door opener is?? Oh and did I mention a GPS for one of the most directional challenged persons ever! Of course most important, my babies can get in and out so easily!

Oh and how can I forget how thankful I am that I can filll it up for $26! My SUV was running over $80 a fill up!!

Love my little Annie's room....(still missing her first 2 ornaments)!

So thankful that my rooms are ready for the boys! Minus a few mattresses and shoes we are ready! I actually decided to keep the baby in Annie's room until we figure out the boys sleeping schedule.

I am thankful that most of the Christmas lights are out! I did what I could tonight with only 1 extension cord!

BTW Dec 1st's "thankful" was everyone in the Maynard house is WELL!!! YEAH!!

BTW part 2: 10 days until court