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.

2nd Grade School Photo Sneak Peek

Yesterday the weather was beautiful. I had been planning on taking the kids' photos for 2nd grade when the leaves were at peak, but the weather and our schedules didn't always cooperate. Finally, yesterday I had the good weather and the time to throw the kids in somewhat coordinated outfits and snap up a couple of pictures. I won't let you see all of them (especially the ones some of you might be receiving soon), but I will let you have this little sneak peek. I typically don't let the kids make faces, but in order to get the humor in the shoot (and natural smiles), I let them have a bit of fun.

The Continuing Cat Saga

Once upon a time there was a mama cat that decided to live under the deck in the backyard that belonged to a wonderful family. This suited the family because they didn't particularly care for mice.

Mice, you say?

Well, the mice had also, for a time, taken up lodging under the deck and occasionally attempted living within the house adjacent to the aforementioned deck. This resulted in traps, poison and horrific ends. (I shall not go into detail. There might be children reading this tale.)

However, when the new tenants (i.e. the cats) moved in, the mice moved out, or met with some unsavory...(well, at least for the mice it was unsavory) uh, shall we say..."circumstances." This pleased the family who owned the deck and the cats have been welcome stay in their Deck Abode ever since.

The End...kindof.

The cats still continue to linger around. We don't see them for the most part. They are very skittish around us, so don't get your hopes up that we're going to get one and lovey-dove on it. Every once in a while we'll throw out an unused leftover of chicken or pork and they will hesitantly come up and eat it. Today however, I looked out on the deck and the cutest one, the runt of the litter was just sitting there looking in our patio doors. There were some "dead" leftovers ("dead" meaning they were still fine, but just past their prime...I wouldn't purposely try and make the cats sick! I don't dislike pets that much.) so I cut it up, placed it on a plate and put it out. He scooted a little bit away, but quickly came back to eat up the snack I provided. He lingered for the rest of the afternoon which is very rare. After he munched, he must've been warm, full and content because he hopped up onto the railing and fell asleep. The kids LOVED it and enjoyed checking in after swimming lessons, during their piano practice, and after dinner tonight.

The kids have named him/her "Oreo." I know, I know, they've named it, which is just as good as having a pet. Let's hope they're content with keeping this relationship at this level. No litter boxes, no cat food, no vet bills, no shed hair, no allergies...

Time Flying By

May I say that time has flown since last Wednesday? And can you believe that this Sunday marks the end of October? Christmas decorations are already out in stores and soon I'll be baking for Thanksgiving!

On Saturday, the kids and I piled into the van and headed down to Jason and Joni's for Enzo's sixth birthday mini-party. Since we needed to get back early Saturday evening in order to be ready for church Sunday, we went down early and caught his soccer game. This kid is good. Either that or he was just excited that we were there to watch him play his game. Regardless, he did a great job. I got to talking so I have no clue who won, but Enzo enjoyed doing his part.

We came back and ate lunch. The kids played hard and then we celebrated by digging into a birthday cookie that Joni had made and decorated. We wouldn't be there for the official party that night, so Joni had made two cookies: one to celebrate with us and one to celebrate with the rest of the gang that was coming that night. Wasn't that sweet?

Jason and Joni are somewhat in a limbo situation. Their house was under contract and ready to close on when the potential buyer backed out due to financing. So, 75% of their stuff is packed up. This was made very evident when they went to light Enzo's candle. There were no matches and no butane lighters. Jason pulled out a small blow torch. It was so funny to see. When we started singing, Joni accidentally blew out the candle so Jason had to pull out the torch again to re-light it. I laughed so hard. You had to be there. Anyway, we're praying for the sale of Jason and Joni's house. This needs to happen soon too. Why? Well, I am SO thankful to say that Jason applied for and received a really great research-y, biology, science-y type job right in DOVER!!! He starts next week, so there is a sense of urgency. Would you pray with me about this? We are eager to have them near.

This past Monday night and Tuesday, we headed up to Maine for the FBF Regional Conference. The theme for this conference was Spiritual Discernment in Worship and Music. Dr. Mark Minnick was the keynote speaker. He was our pastor while we were down at BJU and we enjoyed learning under him so much. It was great to see him again. Taigen and I were able to sing Monday night and Tuesday morning, and then Taigen sang a solo on Tuesday afternoon. I was given the opportunity to speak for a ladies' session and I enjoyed the study that this involved. The kids stayed with our friends, the Gauthiers during the day, so they were able to play with friends, get spoiled by Sue's great cooking and join us for the evening service on Tuesday. It was a busy two days, but worth every bit of it. I felt like I was eating steak while listening to the preaching. Okay...steak and some rich dessert too! If you want to listen to the sermons, you can click on this link. Be ready to sit with your Bible, a pad of paper and a pen because you're going to need it. The whole conference was so encouraging.

Coppal House Corn Maze

Every year, our homeschool group takes a trip to Coppal House Farm to go through their corn maze. The kids really enjoy it and it makes for some really great photos. Every year the farm has a different picture that has been carved out of their corn field. Our first year was the dragonfly. In 2009, they had the skunk and this year's theme was the Great Horned Owl. The kids head into the maze and get clues as to which direction to go by answering clues correctly. The top teams this year made it through in 15 minutes. After the first time through, the kids all went through many more times and some even tried to get lost. Marshall and Shaylen were actually split up this year (with absolutely no tears at the thought). I went through with Marshall's team and Shaylen got to go through with her dear friend (and one of our babysitters)Ellen. Marshall was excited because he was on Paul's team (Ellen's brother). All in all, it was a fabulous, sunny day and a perfect field trip. I love these pictures below of Marshall and Shaylen (especially with the chocolate remnants of a cookie on Shaylen's face.)

Leaf Peepin' Via the Internet

Someone commented that I keep talking about the fall colors but haven't shown any pictures of them. I deliberately took photos of the foliage today on our field trip through a local corn maze (that post will probably come tomorrow at some point).

We just recently had a nor'easter blow through here so I think some of the vibrancy was lost in the storm, but you can still get the jist of just how beautiful it is here. Add to this beauty some crisp air and some fresh-pressed apple "cidah" and you have New England. Don't you just want to come and visit?

A New Fall Tradition?

When Jan Reimers was here for our Young(er) Pastor's Wives Mini Conference, she left a small gift for me. In the bag was a really nice cookie cutter in the shape of a leaf, some fall sprinkles and a leaf candy dish. I was really excited to receive these because I was actually looking for a leaf cookie cutter! Taigen had gone to Michael's and found another fall-type set for me so we had plenty of variety. We had plans to make sour cream cookies while Dad and Cathy were here, but we ran out of time. I had promised the kids that we would make these, so I finally fulfilled my promise yesterday.

Boy, did we make a mess! There were bowls, cups, spoons, knives, flour, powdered sugar, sprinkles, food coloring droppers, cookie cutters, frosting tips & bags and baking sheets all over my island and in the kitchen sink. Of course, some of it spilled onto the floor too. It's overwhelming when you look at the mess to clean up, but of course we had gobs of fun while in the middle of our creative project.

I loved using the fall colors to decorate our leaf and acorn cookies. We made sure to use only colors that we would have found in our area. If you have never seen New England in the fall, you need to come. You'll find reds, greens (dark green from the evergreens and lime green on the leaves), yellows, oranges, rusts and browns. It is spectacular! You really need to come and see it for yourself. Be sure to book the Jooses' Bed and Blessing ahead of time (around Columbus Day is always best).

The cookies turned out great. We used toothpicks this time so that we could get a swirly, vein-y look. AND, I might add, they tasted wonderful too. I took some to my ladies' meeting last night and they were devoured. What a wonderful afternoon with the kids. It just might be the start of a new tradition.

Our Beautiful Church (Inside and Out)

I love our church. By that statement I mean our people. They are a great group of friends. Can you believe that we've been serving at Heritage for three years? Taigen and I marked our third year here on Sunday, August 29th. We are so thankful to be serving in Dover. The end of August marks another special time too. Way back in 2000 we pulled our moving van into Maine to begin serving at Cornerstone in Scarborough. I believe our first Sunday there was August 27th. That means that we've been in full-time ministry for 10 years. Time sure has flown! Of course every ministry has it's bumps, but the tremendous joy in serving the Lord in this way quickly blots them out. I cannot imagine doing anything else.

On Saturday after apple picking, we went to the church to get work done. It was such a beautiful day, I decided to get an updated picture of the church. It is such a beautiful building, inside and out, but it's our church family that makes it so special to us.

A Bushel and a Peck

I've been thinking of a snippet of a song my parents used to sing to me when I was a kid. This is all I know because it's all I ever heard. It goes something like this:

I love you,
A bushel and a peck,
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap.
A barrel and a heap and a talkin' in my sleep about you.
About you.
I love you,
A bushel and a peck.
You bet your pretty neck I do!

Why am I singing this song? Well, because on Saturday the kids, Taigen and I picked a half of a bushel of Golden Delcious and a peck of Empire apples. Our church folks got together at Butternut Farms on Saturday morning for this fun activity. It was a little late in the season for this, but we had a great time nonetheless.

After apple picking, Taigen took a long, scenic route to the church so that we could enjoy some of the fall foliage. The leaves' colors are just popping! It is gorgeous this time of year.

When we came home from getting our work done at church, Taigen planned on mowing the lawn. I rolled up my sleeves, put my apron on and got busy making homemade applesauce with lots of cinnamon. The house smelled amazing. I must say, the applesauce turned out sooooo good. I used a new contraption that Cathy bought me while she was here. It's a fancy-schmancy food mill that works like a dream. I foresee apple picking in my future for many years to come. Too bad I didn't have it when the twins were babies. It would have made my baby-food making a whole lot easier!