Oh Where Is My Hairbrush?

The Wet Brush Detangling Shower Brush is one of my favorite things, but it's also one of my daughters' favorite things. This brush is amazing. My sister-in-law introduced me to one last year and I bought one immediately with some Christmas money. Seriously miraculous. You know, when I can find it. I spend a shockingly large amount of time wandering the house singing this song.

I'm thinking St. Nicholas needs to bring a couple more of these to our house on his feast day. I notice it comes in a two pack that would be just perfect...


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Those Who Love Nicholas the Saintly

First Son had fun playing St. Nicholas in our homeschool choir concert yesterday while the little ones sang Nicholas the Saintly.* After a long day of mass, singing and feasting with Grammy, we came home to hang our stockings!

Here on the Range we hang stockings for St. Nicholas to fill on the eve of his feast day. (Some families use shoes.) We tell the children St. Nicholas will fill them, but I have a feeling First Son guessed it was us this year. He's not saying anything, though.

We chose one slightly larger gift each for the girls and First Son in addition to some smaller items.(In case anyone is wondering, St. Nicholas does not wrap his gifts. The kids also receive stockings from Grammy and PawPaw on Christmas day that have lots of "essentials" like socks, toothbrushes,** toothpaste, Kids Flossers, and a some fun gifts, too.) Here are this year's gifts:

1. Chopsticks - St. Nicholas left some of these a year or two ago but we didn't have enough for everyone, especially after First Son accidentally broke one set, so St. Nicholas brought four more. Now we'll have extras for guests.
2. Basic Beat Pair of 8" Combination Rhythm Sticks - St. Nicholas knows how much fun they've been having with rhythm sticks in choir. Second Son received some of these as well.
3. Dollar coins - two for Second Daughter, four for First Daughter and seven for First Son (whose birthday is in less than a week, oh my).
4. Homemade bookmarks and a matching game.
5. For First Son: Ribsy. (I haven't read this book, at least not in years, so we'll be reading it together. Kansas Dad picked it for us. We have listened to Henry Huggins and Henry and Ribsy in the van. First Son enjoyed them immensely. He sometimes even laughed out loud. There are quite a few instances of kids being not nice to one another, but nothing too awful and we've talked about how that behavior isn't acceptable. Also, in one of these, though I can't remember which one, Henry says he knows his father is the one who leaves money under his pillow when he loses a tooth, just in case you don't want that kind of knowledge shared in your household.)
6. For the girls: doll diapers. These are so adorable!
7. Gold coin chocolate candy, of course! I was lucky to find it this year. I think I tossed it into our cart sometime before Thanksgiving when wandering the Christmas aisles of a superstore. (Is anyone else disturbed that "superstore" is a real word?)

For breakfast, we feasted on waffles! Kansas Dad and I even had homemade strawberry syrup.

I bought a new book to read for the feast day. It's the first of our Advent books to be one we own (yes, I wrapped library books; the kids don't mind a bit), and it was a surprise when the kids opened it. I had intended to take it to adoration to share with the other families there, but Second Daughter was sick and needy today and I didn't feel capable of handling her and Second Son at adoration, so we just read it at home together. Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Steigemeyer is delightful! Ms. Steigemeyer expands on the legend of the dowry gifts in a wonderful way that exemplifies how we can learn through prayer and petition how to do his work on earth. St. Nicholas's deeds, and ours, are directly linked to our love for Jesus and our thankfulness for his blessed birth. Don't worry that it may be "too Catholic" as it's written by a pastor's wife. The illustrations are also lovely - full of light and life. This is most certainly one of my new favorite books!

We also watched what I think is our first video of Advent. Through no real effort on my part, we seem to have gotten out of the habit of watching every day, or even every week. Today, though, was a feast day. And Second Daughter was sick, so we had a relaxing day with a few lessons, lots of Legos and a video: Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, of course! (If you're interested in VeggieTales, I wrote brief reviews of our favorites last year.)

Now that we're past St. Nicholas's feast day, it's time to prepare for First Son's birthday. I never realized how complicated life could be when I married a man who was born in December and then had a baby in December who was baptized before the end of the month. It's a lot of celebrating!

* For those who do not know the song (as I did not before we learned it for choir), you can see the lyrics (slightly different than what we learned) and listen to the tune at the website for the Saint Nicholas Center.

** I find it necessary to have a solid stash of kids' toothbrushes. I can't believe how often they drop them into the garbage or the toilet or decide to scrub the sink or bathtub with them. Seriously? You won't pick up a few toys off the living room floor without groans and moans, but you'll scrub the sink? With your toothbrush?

LarryBoy Fans

LarryBoy

In Case You Want to Try Some Veggies

We've been watching Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving and it's fine. Nothing too amazing, but not too bad. Here on the Range, we are firm fans of Veggies. First Son himself has pre-bought a few of the recent videos. We simply must own them all. I've resigned myself to the fact.

Not every family is a Veggie family, of course. I'm sure there are some families that just want to own one or two Veggie videos. If so, you might be wondering which are worthwhile. Here's a list of our picks:

Lyle the Kindly Viking is Kansas Dad's favorite. It's a fun little story of sharing. The first half, Omelet, is hilarious if you know Shakespeare's play Hamlet at all. The Lyle story is designed around the music of Gilbert & Sullivan and is a delight. Even the silly song is full of references that will bring joy to any adult watching.

Gideon Tuba Warrior is my favorite. The story of George Mueller, a man who trusted God for everything is amazing. The silly song is hilarious. Gideon's story is told with a marching band, slushies and flashlights. Believe me, it works. Kurt Heinecke is amazing.

Sumo Of The Opera may be First Son's favorite, though he would never pick just one. This story is particularly good at helping First Son deal with his frustration when he can't get something perfect the first time. Even he will spout, "Perseverance is when you keep on keeping on." The telling of the story of St. Patrick is truly one of the finest moments in VeggieTales. You can watch it for yourself here.

Madame Blueberry is a classic. Every family can learn a little about real contentment and happiness from Madame Blueberry's trip to the Stuff-Mart. We even love listening to the song until the credits end.

We can't forget LarryBoy, of course, everyone's favorite plunger-headed hero. The best of the bunch is LarryBoy and the Bad Apple. In it, LarryBoy actually saves the day and everyone learns about temptation as well as some tactics for fighting it.

Josh and the Big Wall and Rack, Shack and Benny are also wonderful. They are classic VeggieTales.

We enjoyed both Veggie movies, especially First Son. Honestly, the Pirate Movie soundtrack is one of the best Veggie products. (I'm not alone on this. Recently, the Big Idea Store had all CDs and DVDs half price and this CD sold out first. I know. I tried to buy extras to give as gifts.)

Another great CD is A Very Veggie Christmas. Kansas Dad and I have enjoyed this one for years, long before we had children. We've always planned to host a Christmas party and serve every Polish dish named in this song. Someday we'll get around to it. Maybe when the kids are older and ready to help make some of the recipes.

There are so many other wonderful Veggie movies, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Please feel free to comment if your family likes something else the best.

If you are interested in buying any Veggie DVDs or CDs, watch the advertisements for local Christian stores. Ours often has at least one in every "doorbuster" sale for $5.

While it's true Kansas Dad and I have eventually tired of watching most of the videos, we are continually thankful our kids have chosen Veggies as their characters of choice. Most of the other ones out there (and we're familiar with most of them) are quite grating on adult ears. The Veggies are always including little jokes and asides purely for the parents in the room.

Baby's First Words

bye bye
baby
all done
water (wawa)

And now....

Bob.

As in, the Tomato.

Yeah, that's right. Mama and Dada have yet to make the cut.

Art Gallery: First Son

LarryBoy and His Grabber


It's a Girl!


Spotted Bear

Need Some Bob and Larry in Your Life?

Head over to Faith & Family for a chance to win a VeggieTales DVD. We limit our TV to videos and I don't know what we'd do without the quirky and clever Veggies that make watching a show for children so entertaining for adults, even when you've seen them hundreds of times.

Angry Eyebrows

First Son made angry eyebrows, but he wasn't so good at making an angry face to go with them.

LarryBoy at the Zoo

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We started the day with green eggs in honor of the Irish.


I was going to make corned beef and cabbage (with little hope of either kid eating any of it) but we decided on a quick dinner and a baseball game instead, so we'll do that tomorrow night.

We did, however, take the time to watch one of the very best VeggieTales clips ever. As they say, it's "(mostly) educational and (somewhat) historical)." At the very least, it is hilarious and they have very kindly provided the code so I can even embed it right on the blog.

Oh, one last thing, Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland is my favorite book about St. Patrick, but I really liked Saint Patrick and the Peddler (Orchard Paperbacks) as well.

Ahoy There!

A friend who is also an artist painted this mural for us based on the much-loved movie and its predecessor.


The kids love it. First Daughter is especially enthralled when she's having a diaper change. (It's above the changing table.) Of course, we had many talks about how Ms. J could paint on the walls but First Son can't paint on the walls and First Daughter can't paint on the walls. So far, so good.

She's probably available for other murals if anyone nearby is interested!

What He's Been Drawing

A Boy and A Camera

Sailing, Sailing, Sailing the Ocean Blue

Larry, In Pencil

Indoctrination

Have We Got a Show For You!

Anybody Need a Hero?

Sometimes, Even Superheroes Need Naps