The first sunday of advent

Yesterday was the first sunday of advent. For the first time in my life i did a Christmas wreath, or better an Advent wreath. I never heard about ( is it that clear i come from a scattered family isn't it ? ) but then searching for Christmas crafts i found some instructions. It said to light four candles, one for each sunday of the Advent. The three purple candles in the Advent wreath symbolize hope, peace, and love. These candles are lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle symbolizes joy and is typically lit on the third Sunday.

Then on Christmas day we'll light a white candle, sybolizing the birth of Jesus. So yesterday, before dinner we lit the first candle and talked about Hope, and about the four gifts Jesus gave us, Hope,Peace,Joy and Love. And we talked about Jesus life for a while.

Then today after some table work ( math, grammar and history ) we started again working on our Christmas decorations and talks. Our advent calendar is almost done, we have 18 house ready, but well, since we need the toilet paper roll for the houses ... well it takes sometime lol

Then we are preparing another advent calendar with some Bible story about the birth of Jesus and we also prepared a paper nativity. And then we also prepared 4 Advent wreath to hang on the door of their rooms.

At work

Advent Calendar

Recycled Santa #1

Recycled Santa # 2

Ready for baby Jesus to be born

Leo and Gaia's wreath

Milla's and Seba's wreath

Don't you love the Christmas season ? Don't you love the story of the birth of baby Jesus ? Don't you love Mary's attitude ? The way she used to pray and give thank and just accept the will of the God ?

I know for sure that when i can keep in my mind and in my heart her attitude and try to let God work in my life at His time and pace, well extraordinary things happen for me as well in my little humble life.

May the Christmas spirit of Hope,Peace,Joy and Love be with each of you and in you, lovely people.

Shalom

The little blacksmith

Last week the kids have been on stage once again, and once again it was quite fun. This time the recital was about a little blacksmith (Leo). We have studied the job of the blacksmith the other week and they all found it way interesting especially Leo. So here how it went. (It was a two act show, outdoor and indoor. Second part has not much to do with the first one, but still we enjoyed it all )

Leo the little blacksmith at work (please notice the wooden anvil they built )

Here Leo forging a sword

And Gaia and Seba in the battlefield

Then Milla arrives riding her horse

And the four of them posing for the final act of the first part ....

The second part was indoor, our little blacksmith has also a restaurant, so the scene takes place in the restaurant

Hello ! Do you need a table ?

Yes, it's me and my husband ...

Let's check the list ....

Mmm ... yummi !!

Oh my ! My wife is about to deliver !

(and brave Seba helps his wife to deliver the baby - yes in the restaurant - )

And here mother and baby back to the table ready for dessert :)))

(of course at this point i was laughing so hard, with tears running on my face and aching belly )

And to finish the show, some music and dance

Man and wife :))))

And a little side note, greetings from Tappo !

He is part of our little schoolhouse now :))

Hope you enjoyed the show as i did !

I love love love their creativity !

Shalom

All good gifts

I found this on the lovely blog Holy Experience . I daily read it and find inspiration and peace. I loved this hymn and thought to share with those who might visit here.


 

All Good Gifts

We plow the fields, and scatter

The good seed on the land,

But it is fed and watered

By God's almighty hand.

God sends the snow in winter,

The warmth to swell the grain,

The breezes and the sunshine,

The soft refreshing rain.

All good gifts

Are sent from heaven above;

We thank you Lord, We thank you Lord

We thank you for your love.

You only are the Maker

Of all things near and far;

You paint the wayside flower,

You light the evening star;

The winds and waves obey you,

By you the birds are fed;

Much more to us, your children,

You give our daily bread.

All Good Gifts

Are sent from Heaven above

We thank you Lord,

We thank you Lord,

We thank you for your love

We thank you then creator

For all things bright and good,

The seedtime and the harvest,

Our life, our health, our food:

And all that we can offer

Your boundless love imparts

The gifts to you, most pleasing

Our humble thankful hearts.

All good gifts

Are sent from heaven above

We thank you Lord

We thank you Lord

We thank you for your love

All good gifts

Are sent from heaven above

We thank you Lord

We thank you Lord

We thank you for your love

~ Rev. Matthias Claudius, 1782

Shalom

Family life or the goofy faces week

Another week has gone. Joys and struggles.For my sanity i chose to have faith and rejoice even in the midst of difficult times. Well i have to say that in the end facing the hard moments with grace was the way and the week ended out being nice and happy after all.

On tuesday papaF took Gaia and Leo to the hairdresser. Gaia's head needed just a good brush from a professional hand ( no haircut for my girls ! I love their hair ) while Leo's wild hair needed a good cut. Here they are once they got back. Goofy faces were my punishment for harrassing them with the camera :)

...And of course Milla had to join the fun. I love the way they looks alike in this picture, but one - Gaia - has darker hair and blue eyes while the other - Milla- has blondish hair and darker eyes.

Then our dear Tappo, he is so fun and nice. Now we can just open his door and let him out, he has his 'toilet' in a corner of the hutch so no worry about having to clean after his 'afternoon walk' and then when it's time to get inside we only have to pat him on his back and he will run inside on his own. We really love him !

Then something funny i did. Our headphone foam covers was all broken so we had to take it off, but the plastic was quite unconfortable so i tried just for fun to crochet a new cover, and well it came out nice :)

Then here it is Seba, while hosting his night, yesterday. He asked for pizza and supplì ( those rice-balls on the black tray ) and of course all of them were homemade. But since he was the first time i gave Supplì a try he kept complimenting me all the time ' Mom, i didn't notice you went to the store buying them them ... what ? you didn't buy them !!  ...'' So so sweet i was on the verge of melting :)

And while i was getting the dinner ready Leo was practicing with pen and ink, oldfashioned boy :)

And in the end the scoop of the day : drum roll pleas ......

SEBA LOST HIS SECOND TOOTH !!!!

And before leaving for a good night sleep, here the Words that kept me company for this rollercoaster week

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to go on the heights.

( Habakkuk3:17-19)

Have a peaceful sunday and joyful new week, shared with those you love the most.

Shalom

The musicians of Bremen and much more

On wednesday evening the kids started acting very weirdly. They told us not to go downstairs or outside, because they were doing something . Every parents know how it feels when little people say so. You want them to express themselves, you don't want to spoil the surprise they're preparing for you ... but you can't help thinking if they'll end up giving fire to the house or flooding the bathroom. Anyways we decided to trust them as we usually do, and we did the right thing, since we got a beautiful surprise.

After a while they called us outside. With the firewood we collect they built a stage and they were ready to show us a puppet show they made. We read The musicians of Bremen the other day, and Gaia prepared a short version of it ( without any help or anybody asking her to do so ! ) and Leo drawed the characters, while Milla and Seba helped bulding the stage and put together the 'puppets'. Here some evidence of the show.

Gaia announcing the show

The first character entering on stage

And here the second one ( if my memory serves me right first one should be the donkey and second one the dog, but i'm not sure )

Leo is reading his part (  a perfect school project, writing, reading, drawing, and i didn't even had to tell them, they did it by themselves, call it unschooling )

Here the third character ( the cat i think )

A close up of the meeting

Seba reading ! Praise the Lord he so much need some practice reading, and he was doing it just for fun !

The fourth character, the rooster

And here little Milla reading ! She is only five and this year she wasn't supposed to learn reading, or writing or doing math, but you know what ? She wants to do all this, and she can do it ! It's amazing isn't it ?

And Gaia helping here ! My heart was just melting of joy and praise !

The end of the comedy and

THE GRAND FINAL !!

Then the next day, well yesterday actually, Gaia decided to write something original, so they gathered us downstairs and performed a short comedy for us. At the beginning Milla refused to joing brothers and sister, but then ...

Gaia and her faithful actors, she is announcing the show once again

Seba reading his part

Leo's restaurant

And here leo is .... ok i don't have a clue of what he is doing, maybe practicing for joining a  circus ! lol

At this point Milla, who was sitting at my side, all of a sudden started regretting her choice of NOT joining and whispered her concerns in my ear. So i asked Gaia if there was a small part for her to play ....

....Luckily Gaia's imagination is quite vivid and sure there was a part for little sister to join !

This was the final act, with the tragic - not so much - death of Seba. It turned out quite comic with Seba arguing with Gaia ' hey ! don't talk with me, i'm dead'

So quite a fun week we had. And all the credit goes to the kids, because i'm not really in cheerful mood lately, and their constant presence is a real blessing to me. To end up this post, couple of more picture. First of all out superfun rabbit Tappo, resting while we were schooling

And then how Gaia and Seba set the beautifully the table today, after sending me away in the other room getting some rest. How sweet and nice from them. I realize only now we were in such a hurry i didn't praised or thanked them enough for what they did. How easy it is to criticize, and how easy it is as well to forget giving thanks. Something i need to work on.

Have a blessed weekend with your family and dear ones !

Shalom