The Week Prior to Vacation

In the week leading up to our vacation, we were able to house the Pileggis so that Jason wouldn't have to deal with the hour and fifteen minute commute to Dover. It worked out well because our schedule was more free. Since Enzo is being homeschooled as well, it worked out that Joni and I schooled in the  morning and then the kids would play in the afternoon. Marshall and Shaylen blitzed through their schooling. Christmas vacation was in sight and they wanted to get everything accomplished by Friday.

Christmas Program: Worship CHRIST the newborn KING

With countless hours put into practice and preparation, our church did its Christmas program Sunday morning, December 12th. We had a great turnout with 32 visitors. (Thanks go out to our church folks who invited, invited and invited!) That was incredible. We had tons of people involved: the 2's & 3's Sunday School class, strings, flutes, readers, children's choir, ladies' ensemble, adult choir, brass, pianists and organists, a soloist, our talented sound room guy, ushers and a terrific choir leader/pastor. Because everyone helps share the load, it isn't a huge "burden" if you will, on any one person. The result is a beautiful program that focuses our attention on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ...in a (hopefully) stress-free manner.

Marshall and Shaylen did a great job with their children's choir. The group did two pieces alone and one with the adult choir. I had to get a snapshot of them from Sunday morning. We were unable to videotape it or snap up pictures because Taigen was leading the program and I was leading the children's choir. So sorry. You'll just have to trust me when I say they did a great job. I am so proud of them and their willingness to use their talents for ministry.

Busy Thursday/Friday

So sorry for the silence on the blog, but if you follow closely, I'll try and get everyone caught up and back in the "know."

On Thursday the 9th, we had our annual HBC Ladies' Cookie and Ornament Swap here at the house. We had twenty-two ladies come to our meeting. What a wonderful turn-out. I feel we have a fairly decent size living room, but with 22 ladies and a Christmas tree, for the first time, our living room seemed a bit small.

Our meeting was wonderful. We had some testimonies given by a few of our teen ladies and then a raucous ornament exchange that left me laughing SO hard. It is a wonderful blessing to have church family that I consider my dear friends.

The next day I needed to get the kids homeschooled, clean the house and then get ready for our Homeschool Cookie Baking afternoon. The kids (i.e. Moms) make cookies and then the kids frost them for some of our "wiser" folks in our congregation. It's a special treat just to let them know they are being thought of. Many times our kids are given to and given to. So much so, that there is a temptation to think the world revolves around them. Activities like this help them reach out to others and get the focus off of themselves.

Finally on Friday night, we had our annual Deacon/Wives/Children party at our house (minus one family

gone due to illness...we were so sad!!!). There were finger foods, lots of laughter, games for the adults and kids and a White Elephant exchange. We especially loved the fact that everyone stuck around for relaxation and conversation. It's such a busy time that it's nice to just sit and chat with these wonderful, godly people who help lead our church.

We had a busy end to our week, but our hearts are full of joy.

Lego Land

Marshall and Shaylen spend hours playing with Legos. I put it on their birthday and Christmas lists this year, knowing the extreme joy they would bring. There is no end to the things they can create with them and it encourages creativity, so you know I love them too. The kids got several sets of Legos for their birthday and they have been busy creating, tearing apart and then recreating.

Loving Renovations

This is a long story, but I'm actually going somewhere, so bear with me.

One of the things that Taigen wanted to get done in our basement this year was a re-organizing of the storage area. The previous owners of our Saco house, Larry & Erika Gray, had finished the basement when they owned the house. It was super-duper nice. Everyone that came to look at the house when it was on the market commented on the wonderful basement. It's the one thing about Maine the kids always say they miss. There was plenty of room to spread out and play. There was also a storage area in the basement that had been done really well and it worked for all of the handy dandy storage bins we keep hand-me-downs, summer/winter clothes and memorabilia in. Taigen and I wanted to mimic that storage area.

Our church was also in need of some storage shelves for one of the attic rooms. (Whoever designed our church was a genius because there is storage everywhere! It's not a matter of where to store things...it's how to store things. Organzied or unorganized? That is the question.) Well, remember the man in our church who did the chair rail in our renovated dining room? His name is Dale and he's a wood-working genius. The amazing fact here though, is that he is legally blind. You'd never know it though. Dale was able to whip out many shelves and get them ready to hang in the church attic so that it could be more organized. When they were done, he gathered a couple of guys, and bang! They were done. The finished result was amazing. Taigen asked him how he did it so that he could mimic it in our basement. The two of them got to talking and it ended up with Dale offering to let Taigen use his workshop and teach him how to do it.  Another thing that Taigen wanted to ask Dale about was how to go about making a new platform for our washer and dryer. The former owners must have been much shorter than I am, because when they finished the mud room/garage/guest room, they built a platform for the washer and dryer that was only about 6 inches high. They left us a wonderful front loader, but I was still bending w-a-a-a-a-ay over to check inside for stuck socks after the load was finished washing. It really wasn't a huge problem, but Carol heard about this and said it would never do! "That's not how front loaders are supposed to function," she said. She volunteered Dale for this project as well and so it was added to the docket of "things to do in Dale's workshop!"

To make a long story even longer, we knew we now had to clean out the laundry room in addition to the storage room in the basement. The current room was a jumbled mess. There was a hodge-podge of stuff stored in there and it was unorganized to say the least. My opinion was that it was a storage room that just happened to have a washer and dryer in it. I had secretly hoped that since the room was going to be all torn apart and emptied, that it could be painted a different color than flat contractor white (with hints of dirt and grime). Never in a million years would I have asked Taigen to paint it. It's December after all, which happens to be our busiest month. I didn't even pray about it. So imagine my surprise when Taigen and I were getting ready for bed one night and he said, "You know, Hon. I was thinking. Since we are going to have that laundry room all emptied out, I should really paint it and make it nice." Can you imagine my utter jubilation at the thought? I quickly agreed. (I nominate him for the Husband of the Year Award.)

The next day I grabbed a curtain that had been given to me when we first moved in. It was from a friend at church that had purchased the curtain for a steal-of-a-deal, but then it didn't fit in a window that she had bought it for. I loved the curtain and have saved it for 2+ years. I took the kids to the paint store and got a gallon of paint. That night, Taigen started the painting and even got the kids in on the action. They had a blast!

The building of the shelves and new washer/dryer platform took place last Monday. Taigen left early in the morning and got home shortly before dinner. Dale & Carol came too and we enjoyed a nice dinner with us before the guys headed downstairs to install them. They were able to finish their installation in about 40 minutes. Those shelves are super-sturdy and will last for decades.

The platform was equally as amazing. I was envisioning a simple wooden box. What the guys hefted in was a beautiful platform about the size of a coffin. Let me just say that I would be proud to be buried in that thing. It was so much more than just a wooden box. It was beautiful, trim and all! Taigen and I put things back on Wednesday night after church and then Taigen has worked off and on in that laundry room here and there. It is finally done. The room looks amazing.

In the process of reconfiguring the room we solved another problem we were having. We needed a home for all of our shoes. Anyone who has been to our house at some point knows that we typically had a pile of shoes in the mud room area just before you stepped up into the house. It was nice that we could take off our shoes there, but they didn't always stay neat and it could cause someone to trip if they weren't watching where they were going. Taigen found some shoe shelves and installed them in the laundry room. Every shoe has a home. This emptied out a closet in the main part of the house which I now use as a ginormous small appliance garage & storage closet. It is a wonderful luxury!



And there you have it. My very long story. I enjoyed doing laundry to begin with, but now, to have everything within reach, organized AND beautiful is such a treat! The laundry room looks like an extension of the house, not a pit in which a washer and dryer reside. I'm so thankful for my hard-working husband who loves me so much in order to work all day and then work all night in order to help make my house a warm and inviting place. I'm also thankful for Dale (and his wife Carol) and his vision to help Taigen with this project. Taigen sure enjoyed using all of his power tools and heated shop! God has blessed us with such wonderful people in our church here in Dover.



BEFORE

AFTER



BEFORE

AFTER

Happy Birthday to the Twins

Can you believe that the twins are now seven? I've been in denial about it for quite a while now. The kids had a countdown going months ago and would frequently ask me how many weeks/days were left until they were seven. I told them that this was the LAST birthday they could ever have. They were not allowed to get older. They reminded me that if they stayed young, I would still get old and gray. That's encouraging. So against my better judgment, I allowed them to have a birthday this year.

They had a few wishes. I knew about them because the kids are doing journals this year in their Spelling class and an early entry focused on the topic of "birthdays." Shaylen made sure to make her requests early. She said,

Can I have balloons at my birthday? There's nothing better than balloons! Can I invite some friends over please?

Marshall was a little more general. He said,

I would like to play outside with you! I will have a birthday cake. I will like it!

Since their birthday fell on a Sunday, we decided to celebrate with a special Sunday lunch. At the twins' request I made Ravioli Lasagna with Four Cheese Italian Sausage and fresh baby spinach instead of the squishy frozen kind. Taigen made his award-winning Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake. Our friends, the Bergerons, were also able to come over. Marshall and Shaylen love their kids and enjoy every moment with them. Taigen and I love the whole family too! This was the first time we've been able to have them all over here (aside from large church functions at our house like the Labor Day Picnic or Ladies' Meetings). There were balloons and presents and the kids got completely spoiled...as usual.

We are so thankful for the seven wonderful years that God has given us with the best kids on earth. We are truly blessed.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving proved to be so delightful. We were able to go over to our friends' house for the day. We were so thankful to be able to barge in on their family gathering. It was a wonderful time! There was a little boy present who kept us entertained by throwing a little goat and then wondering where it landed. Seems simple enough, but it was hilarious! Marshall and Shaylen were off playing with their friends, Taigen was able to play some ping pong and watch football and I sat and sipped coffee while watching the goat fly. I really didn't do much more than that except eat the food offerings that were brought for the meal. I made sweet potato casserole (yum!), chile con queso dip for wa-a-a-a-y after the main meal, and two pumpkin rolls (double yum!).

What a relaxing day! After we came home, we cleaned up the house a bit and then waited for Jason and Joni and the kiddos to arrive. They were up in NH spending Thanksgiving with their family. We were so thankful that they came to spend some time with us. They stayed with us Thursday & Friday night. Joni and I had high hopes of going out on Black Friday to do some shopping, but some freezing rain (and probably common sense) kept us at home until that afternoon where we found some good deals at Target. The kids had so much fun together as they normally do. Toys were strewn about, but the kids worked together at getting some semblance of order before hitting the hay at night. We enjoyed our time with friends this Thanksgiving. We are so very blessed.

Shape Poems

During English a couple of weeks ago, the kids were instructed to create a shape poem. A shape poem doesn't necessarily rhyme, but the words are so descriptive and it is written in the shape of the object you're writing about, that without mentioning it specifically the reader is able to deduce what the poem is about.

The kids really enjoyed this project. I encouraged the kids to write down descriptive words and then we looked up those words in the thesaurus so that they could be even more colorful. Boy did they have fun with that! The finished products were so good that I had to post them!

Marshall's says: "It dwells within a huge community. It soars in the blue sky. Flying with heavy wings, it is a ginormous Boeing Bird. Ascending high, people are transported. The sun glints off its shiny wings."

Shaylen's says: "On a bright sunny day a tiny insect glides in the air. It has spots and it stops to sit nectar from flowers. Antennas help lead the way."

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.