Happy Thanksgiving Friends and Family!

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Amen!"

We hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving. Much love to all of you from the Joos family.

Shaylen's Fifth

In all the hubbub of the symphony and the Joos Annual Psychedelic Christmas Cookie Decorating Fest, I forgot to post about an important event in our household. Shaylen lost her fifth tooth (bottom left gap). I can honestly say that we didn't even know it was loose. She was brushing her teeth before bed one night and felt it come out. She carefully spit out the toothpaste and voila! The tooth was there in the sink. To me this is the best way to lose a tooth. No tears. No floss. No Orajel. No worries. No oozing of blood. It's just over with.

Shaylen is looking like such a cute little jack-o-lantern lately and she has a little speech issue with her "S" to compliment her slightly grovelly voice. I could just gobble her up! She has her other front top tooth to lose, but it's hanging on for dear life.

Sour Cream Cookies

Several of you have asked over the years for the recipe for the cookies we use for the Psychedelic Christmas Cookies. These are similar to sugar cookies, only so much more moist and flavorful. If you enjoy them, then give thanks to my step-mom, Cathy, who shared her recipe with me many years ago.

Here's what you'll need for the cookies.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sour cream (not fat free or reduced fat...get the real stuff)

2 2/3 cups flour

Cream together shortening, sugar, vanilla, egg. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add alternately the sour cream and flour. Mix until dough doesn't stick to your hands. Roll out and cut with cutters (make them thick so that they will not be crunchy). Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 425 degrees for about 6-8 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool and then frost.


4 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbs. melted butter

Mix together and divide into small bowls. Then, create the "funkiest" colors imaginable with food coloring. Only then can they be "Joos Psychedelic Christmas Cookies." For those of you who want to make picture perfect cookies, here is what I would recommend: Don't add as much milk at first so that the frosting is thick enough to be piped around the edges. (If you don't have official frosting tips, bags, etc., you can probably use a thick ziplock-type bag and just cut a very small hole in one corner. Think: pencil lead thickness. Just go slowly so you don't burst the bag or glop on your cookie.) You want only a thin line on the edge. Then add the milk to remaining frosting until the frosting is thin enough to "flood" the cookies. In order to get the striped effect, flood the cookie then go back over drizzling the alternate color for fun. It will meld together as it solidifies. They don't look professional, but we sure have a whole lot of fun!

We make a bunch (usually tripling the recipe), frost them, let them sit for a while and then freeze them. Be sure to put wax paper between the layers so that they don't stick together.

13th Annual Joos Psychedelic Christmas Cookie Decorating Fest

Yesterday we had the 13th Annual Joos Psychedelic Christmas Cookie Decorating Fest. I cannot tell you how much we enjoy this annual tradition. It's got to be one of my favorite things during the Christmas season.

Have I told you what started it all though? Once upon a time, a long time ago, Taigen and I decided to make sugar cookies for our first Christmas together. I accidentally doubled the recipe and we had sugar cookies coming out our ears. What were we going to do with all those cookies? We decided to frost them in a very untraditional way with funky colors and give them away. I wish we could've had pictures from that first batch of psychedelic Christmas cookies. Taigen and I had so much fun doing those that our tradition was born. Now, thirteen years later, we're enjoying that tradition with our two favorite munchkins. We had gobs of colors this year and we enjoyed decorating a triple batch (tripled on purpose) to give away (and a few to enjoy).

I want you all to note the Christmas tree shaped cookie that is featured on this post (left). For the first time in the three years that I've blogged about this, I am picturing one of my husband's cookies. Usually, I have a hard time discerning the difference between his and the kids'. Too funny. Be sure to contact him and tell him how beautiful, artistic and masterful it is. Maybe he'll be encouraged to branch out and get in touch with his inner-Martha Stewart more often. (Note: I did NOT picture his green camo-Christmas bear cookie...I don't think I need to explain why.) Of course, I'm joking because we really don't care what they look like. After all, they are "psychedelic Christmas cookies." The key is to have lots of fun, make a ginormous mess and stash away terrific memories, like here, here and here.

Fine Arts Opportunity

Some of Marshall and Shaylen's dear friends are Ellen, Paul & David. These fellow homeschooled kids are much older than the twins, and yet they interact with them, talk with them and show them attention. Basically, they aren't "too cool" to have little friends. It's just one of many things that I appreciate about these teens. In fact this would describe all of the teens in our church. Not your typical teens, eh?

Ellen, Paul and David are wonderful string players. Ellen plays the violin, Paul the cello, and David the viola. Not only do they frequently use their talents in church for ministry, but they also participate in the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra. Twice a year the USM (University of Southern Maine) Youth Ensembles perform. This concert includes performances by the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, the Portland Young People's String Consort (little tykes), the Portland Youth Junior Orchestra and then the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra. I've tried to make it a point to attend these concerts in the fall and in the spring. They are wonderful. I especially wanted to attend this fall's though. Why? We were so proud to hear that Ellen had been chosen to be the concertmaster this year! This is quite an honor! It took a great deal of self-control to not stand and whoop when Ellen came across the stage accompanied by the applause of the audience. It took even more self-control to not stand, cheer and whoop when the conductor came out and shook her hand. We were so proud.

When we found out about the concert and Ellen's honor, we decided that this would be the year that we started taking the kids up to watch and enjoy this. They've had exposure to concerts and classical music from the moment they were born, but this would be their first time watching an orchestra live. It made it extra special that their friends were performing and Ellen would have this important role. The concert is long, but Marshall and Shaylen enjoyed it immensely. They sat very still and watched everything. I enjoyed showing them different things that they have learned about...like the celesta. They've listened to & heard about this instrument many times (thank you, Tchaikovsky), but have never seen one. They also enjoyed hearing the gong, whistling tubes (extremely awesome, mystical sound from those), a ratchet and a whip-crack. Marshall even leaned over at one point and whispered to me, "Mommy, I heard a piccolo!" The Youth Symphony Orchestra was the highlight of the evening. They played two pieces with a Mexican flair (Danzon No.2 by Marquez & Huapango by Moncayo). The orchestra had a wonderful sound and personally, I thought their conductor was a delight to watch (not all are, you know). I think Marshall and Shaylen enjoyed their first exposure, but I think their highlight was seeing their "famous" and favorite string players after the concert!

Shaylen's Turn!

This past Wednesday it was Shaylen's turn to play the prelude at church. Since it is very close to Thanksgiving, we chose "Now Thank We All Our God." Shaylen did a wonderful job with no mistakes. She was a little nervous. When we would practice, if she made a mistake she would look at me with a "uh oh" face and then promptly lose her place. I reminded her that she should keep her eyes on the music as much as possible and to just keep on trucking along even if she did make a mistake. As you can tell from the video, she did just that. I'm so proud of my Peanut!

I'm so thankful that they are willing to play in church and also thankful for the emphasis their teacher (Judy Endean from CBC in Scarborough) places on ministry during their piano lessons.

My Little Fish

This past Wednesday the twins wrapped up their swimming class. They are doing really well (Level 3), slowly getting the coordination down that involves kicking and using their arms for strokes at the same time. I often joke with the teacher that Marshall is like a little mechanical toy. His arm strokes might not propel him forward very quickly, but they move with a certain rhythm. Shaylen loves the crawl stroke. Her right arm is pretty powerful coming out of the water, slapping down once it comes around.

They will be in Level 3 again. It's a pretty basic class that they have to grasp before heading into Level 4. They're not ready for that yet, but I'm proud as punch for how well they have done. They love the lessons, their teacher and playing in the water.

At the end of the 8 weeks the pool staff turns on their big slide. This is the cherry on the top. Marshall and Shaylen LOVE the slide! After they turned off the slide the kids practiced jumping into the deep end and trying to touch the bottom. They were unable to do this a couple of weeks back when their teacher tried it with them so they really wanted to conquer this. After several attempts and some encouragement and a little coaching from me, they did it! Small victories make such happy little people and a proud mama.

Marshall's Ministry in Music

Tonight Marshall played for the first time in church. We chose "O Worship the King." It is a wonderful piece that Marshall enjoyed playing. He actually had his piece memorized weeks in advance! Not knowing what part his nerves would play, both Judy Endean and I encouraged him to use his music (which also meant keeping his eyes on the page, not on his hands). We were so proud and so thankful for his love of music & his willingness to play in church.

NEACS Teachers' Convention

A while back Pastor Endean asked us if we would be willing to provide the music for the New England Association of Christian Schools Teacher's Convention. We were very surprised and honored that they would ask and said "yes!" This involved singing one or two pieces for each general session...probably the most we've ever sung together since our college days.

On Wednesday night, we handed off Marshall and Shaylen to Scott & Amy Meroff for our two night/two day getaway. The twins were ecstatic! They would spend Wednesday night, Thursday and Thursday night at the Meroffs and Friday at our friends, the Dustins. It was wonderful to go away knowing that the kids were in good hands and would have a blast in the meantime.

The convention was really good. I got to see friends that I haven't seen since college! Even though the convention was for Christian school teachers, there were several great sessions that I got to sit in on. Fortunately for Taigen, he was able to study in between general sessions up in our hotel room so that his two days away weren't completely study-free and he would be swamped today in preparation for Sunday.

(The picture on the left was the one we provided to NEACS for our write-up in the booklet. I think it was the first time we had to do an official bio on ourselves. I was tempted to put "pastor's wife, mom, homeschool teacher." I had a feeling that's NOT what they were looking for.)

Shaylen's Fourth

I'm so excited to announce that without many tears, Shaylen's fourth tooth just came out. She's been babying it along for quite a while, taking every bite from the side, and in the process smearing food on her left cheek. Taigen has tried two times already to get it out, all to no avail. There was just one itty bitty corner that wasn't giving up.

Shaylen asked me yesterday if I could be the one to pull it out. So today, after lunch I mustered up courage, went upstairs, numbed it, flossed it and then wrapped the tooth with the floss. One little pull and the tooth was finally free. There was much jubilation in the Joos house! Doesn't she look so cute? The middle tooth next door isn't far behind. My guess is that she'll be the cutest, toothless wonder by Christmas.

Beautiful Penmanship

Marshall and Shaylen knew coming into 2nd grade that they would learn how to write in cursive. I don't think a week went by that they didn't ask me, "Is this the week we start cursive?" Well, this week it finally started. When I told them, they were so excited. Each of them has taken their time in learning the formation of each letter and then taken the time to write them neatly. Such big kiddos!

"Jesus Loves Me"

This past Sunday the HBC Children's Choir (joined by our jr. high boys and all of our teen girls) sang "Jesus Loves Me." This was arranged by my dear friend and musical genius Sandra Achterberg.