Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) 2014 October 28, 2014

Hello dear ones! This is our 7th year celebrating Sukkot. Usually we go camping but pregnancy and other circumstances changed our plans. We did however continue our pottery tradition, learn about some neat birds, and enjoy a small town Harvest Hoedown.

I’ve got a couple of links to update you on this holiday and our family traditions.

• Here’s info on what the holiday celebrates and Sukkot pictures going back to when Michael was itty bitty:
  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/my-family-rocks-sunday-sukkot-the-feast-of-tabernacles/
• Last year’s Sukkot celebrations at Enota Campground and the Dahlonega Gold Mines. Also a short trip to Helen, Ga:  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/my-family-rocks-sunday-sukkot-at-enota-dahlonega-gold-mines/
• Our trip to the pottery store last year and a look at how it all works:                   https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/crafty-monday-part-1-ancient-egypt/
• A look at last year’s pottery when it was finished and also a picture of all our Sukkot pottery together (minus this year): https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/crafty-monday-ancient-israel-and-her-neighbors/

Autumn is a very special time for our family. I go to town with the decorating because it’s my favorite season. Sukkot (a Biblical harvest celebration) is one of my favorite holidays. We usually go camping since Sukkot means feast of booths/tents basically. We also take a trip to the pottery store and paint harvest themed pottery. This year I did a bowl with owls on it. Since I’m pregnant I added an egg for “the year of the baby”. Michael painted a small owl. We spend hours at the shop and we have to wait a week to pick up the finished product. Here’s pictures of our pottery in the works.

I was thrilled to be able to celebrate Sukkot this year. Morning sickness ruined any chance I had at celebrating Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Talk Like a Pirate Day (I like holidays). I knew I wouldn’t be able to tent camp though. So I booked a cabin at Roosevelt State Park. Unfortunately, when we got there we couldn’t stay. A water line had burst and the management booked us a room at Callaway Inn instead. We were a bit disappointed. I had cooked a lot of food and most of it went to waste. We couldn’t play the guitar and the t.v. was a distraction we wouldn’t have had in the cabin. There was no camping about it. But we did however get into Callaway Gardens for free and we still got to see Roosevelt State Park.

Pic: The view from Roosevelt State Park on Pine Mountain.

We did make a leaf chain to decorate our “sukkah”, which was a hotel room. It didn’t have the same feel at all but Michael got to have fun collecting leaves atleast.

We had a big breakfast at the Inn restaurant. We hadn’t budgeted to eat out but it was nice to eat well. We visited Callaway Gardens which was right by the Inn. We’ve been to Callaway many times but we’ve never seen their Birds of Prey program until now. It was great to see an owl, a hawk, and a vulture in person. Okay, the vulture wasn’t that glamorous. I learned about the benefits of vultures but I did not enjoy the thing flying so close over my head. Here’s a pic of my favorite critter: the owl.

We took a walk in the vegetable garden. It’s a great place to take photos. Here are my favorites.

So it wasn’t camping and we did end up watching a lot of HGTV (we don’t have cable at home), but we did do our devotional and learn about the harvest. The day we left we caught a small town harvest hoedown in Warm Springs, Ga. We found our pumpkin for the year (another Sukkot tradition). You’ll see pictures of it in another post when the guys carved it. Warm Springs is such a charming town. The festival was small but quaint. We walked away with home cooked barbeque and some delicious funnel cake. Here are my favorite pictures.

Balloon animals!

Country music while we chomped down on boiled peanuts

Michael decorating a small pumpkin

We didn’t get to have our s’mores and hotdogs until we got home that night. We’ve got a fire pit in the backyard so it worked out.

The best laid plans don’t always work out but you can still have fun if you’re flexible. Our Sukkot celebrations are usually not by the book and this year they weren’t for sure. But it’s important to get to the heart of any holiday. The Israelites lived in tents in the desert. They faced all kinds of hardship and unexpected events. Our plans didn’t work out and we had to stay in a dwelling that wasn’t what we wanted. Our sukkah was a hotel room but it still wasn’t home. It’s a reminder as believers that the Earth is a temporary dwelling. Our true home is in Heaven. For now we are pilgrims and this world is our wilderness. It’s a crazy journey with surprises around each corner. But the Lord Jesus dwells with us and reminds us that home isn’t that far.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Enjoy these festive pics of our cat Chester (Winchester).

Father-Son Camping & Chris’ 30th Birthday May 24, 2014

Hello dear ones! I hope you’re having a lovely Memorial Day weekend. May 13th my darling husband turned the big 3-0! It’s hard to believe that we’ve had so many  years together. I’m not far behind. I’ll turn 30 next year. We were also learning about South America that week, so we went to Red Lobster to have some “tropical” food. Michael tried crab for the first time. Chris showed him how to crack the legs and he also showed us how to play with our food ;). I had no idea that you could pull the tendon and make the claw move! That Friday the fellas took a Father-Son camping trip. Another dad was with his kids, so they made friends. The nice family shared their smores. I literally ate Mcdonalds and watched the rest of a t.v. series all night. I was lazy but it was nice to have time to myself. It’s very rare for me to be completely alone, and that is excluding the animals. They were still there….meowing, barking, and whistling.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

My Family Rocks! Sunday: Sukkot at Enota & Dahlonega Gold Mines September 29, 2013

In this post: Our trip to Enota Mountain Campground to celebrate Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) and our stay in Dahlonega, Ga to see the gold mines. 

PS: At the end of this post I have links with our past Sukkot celebrations and what Sukkot is all about. 🙂

Hello dear ones! Last weekend the family and I traveled to Enota Mountain Campground near Hiawassee, Ga for some Sukkot camping. We had originally planned to camp at Desoto Falls, a favorite spot of ours. Then we saw that it was going to rain Saturday and didn’t want to go there for just one night. Anywho, long story short, through a series of events I found Enota and we decided to stay one night in Enota and then spend the next at a hotel in Dahlonega. I had thought about Helen but since we’ve explored it before, I thought it’d be nice to check out the Dahlonega gold mines.

So it took us most of the day to drive to Enota. We got there that afternoon with just enough time to set up and for Michael to fish before it got dark.  It was a nice drive into the mountains.

The staff were super friendly.

I like how the lodge has a fence made out of antlers. Enota used to be a camp for boys.  It was a bit run down compared to how it looked on their website. Times are hard in the states. This is a non profit place and money is probably short. Still we enjoyed our stay.

We decided to camp near the stream. It was peaceful and quiet. We did get neighbors on the other side of the stream later that night. Thankfully they were quiet.

Michael was glad to be “free” of the van lol. Here’s the other view. Follow that road and it takes you to the lodge, farm, and playground.

Michael and I helped Chris set up the tent while he made a fire. Here’s Chris and Michael.

We decided to roast some hot dogs before letting Michael catch a fish. I was comfy :).

Enota has a trout pond that you can fish in as long as you keep what you catch and pay $6 a pound or per fish. You don’t even need a fishing licence to fish there. They had poles too.  Here are the ducks that live at the pond. They have these crazy mohawks! The white one pecked my toe while I was filming. I don’t know what his problem was. We fed them too!

Chris helped Michael catch a fish. We didn’t want to pay for or clean more than one.

Michael was thrilled :).

There was a small “waterfall” if you can call it that, near our camp.

Here’s Chris cleaning the fish in the stream. I’m so glad I married an outdoorsy man. I’ve never did well at cleaning fish.

Michael throwing stones. He was disgusted when Chris showed him the fish’ insides lol.

Chris cooking the fish on a stick while Michael draws. Later we wrapped the fish in tinfoil and seasoned it to make it cook faster.

Michael and I had collected leaves earlier that day. That night we strung them up.

We hung them on our tent for Sukkot decoration. We talked about why we celebrate Tabernacles (Sukkot) and how this world is not our true home. Our bodies are like tents but one day we will go home to Heaven. We are pilgrims on this earth. We talked about the Israelites living in tents in the desert until they made it to the promised land. We also talked about how Jesus put on flesh and came to tabernacle with humans. We discussed how it’s very possible and likely that Jesus was born during Sukkot and that the manger was a sukkah.

We roasted marshmallows and…

had smores :).

We sang worship songs and campfire songs. I played the guitar this time. This is how dark it really was.

This is how it looks because of the camera’s flash ;).

That night I read Michael a Jewish Sukkot legend for fun. I got this book at the library. Its about an evil magician that makes all the adults forget holidays and at that time Sukkot. So the kids celebrate themselves and they break the spell off their parents.  Now supposedly in a certain village, the kids lead the prayers etc in honor of that time.

We woke up that morning to light rain. It was so light that we were able to pack up without getting soaked.

Since Sukkot is also about the harvest and being thankful, we went to tour the farm at 8 am. The tour guide never showed up. They were busy trying to save the pond that had started draining the day before. Another family showed up as well so we just all walked to the farm ourselves.  I was unable to milk a cow like I had wanted but we still got to see animals.

Maybe one day we will go back and milk a cow…maybe help plant and harvest vegetables.

Michael still wants turkey for Thanksgiving :).  He’s not super sensitive in that way.

We got to pet the pony.

We had plenty of time before our hotel was ready in Dahlonega. So we stopped by Helen, Ga on the way.

We had breakfast at the Huddlehouse which I believe is the only breakfast joint there. We had to stand and wait for a table. We were wet and cold so the hot breakfast was wonderful. Yes Fall made it to North Ga on time. It was chilly. I’m glad I packed sweaters for Michael and I. We didn’t want to linger long so we just stopped by Hansel and Gretal’s for chocolate and left.

We decided to tour the Consolidated Gold Mines in Dahlonega before going to our hotel. We bought a tour which came with gold panning. We panned for gold first and found about $8 worth of gold. Yep, real gold.

Then Chris and I had to put on hard hats to go into the mines. Michael was too short to need one. We watched a brief video on the history of the mines.

The stairs etc were steep and I was honestly really nervous going down there.

Here’s our tour guide using Michael as an example. Did you know that back in the day little boys were used to pass messages in the mines? It was because they were considered expendable back then. Horrible I know! Miners also didn’t live long . It was a terrible job. They often had hearing loss because of the booms. The chemicals that were used caused black pneumonia I believe, that would slowly kill a person. The miners had to stay down in the mine while they were blowing things up. The pay wasn’t that great and if you got injured you were out of luck and no longer important. There were no labor unions.  Anywho, our guide in a witty way made it clear that we would not have wanted this job.

The gold on top of the Georgia capitol building came from this mine.

It was a bit chilly and very damp. Sadly, we didn’t see any bats. The guide says they are usually everywhere.

Here’s a rock formation that took about twenty years.

The one place where you can see the light!

We got a souvenir magnet and a hard hat for Michael. He played miner at the hotel the rest of the day.

We really enjoyed relaxing in a hotel room after “roughing” it the day before. I think it should be a new Sukkot tradition, camp a day…relax a day.  I brought along a couple of Scarecrow books to read. We also watched shows about kittens lol. We don’t have cable so we enjoyed that.

This Sukkot was different but very enjoyable. We’ve usually pitched our tents in our backyard or somewhere nearby. You can see other Sukkot celebrations here: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/my-family-rocks-sunday-sukkot-the-feast-of-tabernacles/

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/crafty-monday-pumpkins-sukkot/

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

My Family Rocks! Sunday: Yom Kippur Celebration with Friends September 22, 2013

Hello dear ones! Last weekend we camped out at our best friends’ house, the Chamber’s. We had a great time of fellowship and Hannah made some delicious food. We also sang worship songs and camp songs around the fire.  It’s always a joy to be with our buddies in the Lord.

Olivia, Michael, and Liam around the fire pit.

James, Hannah, and Chris

The kids being silly. We had hot dogs, chips, and baked beans.

For dessert we had pumpkin bars, apple cider, and later s’mores.  Here’s Chris playing worship & camp songs on our guitar.

Liam, Hannah, and me worshiping the Lord.

The kids roasting marshmallows.

We jokingly arranged Michael and Olivia’s “marriage” years ago. I don’t know who God wants my son to marry and if he will even get married but it’s interesting seeing how his friendships grow.

Michael and his best buddy Liam. The guys are taking down the tents in the back.

Our tents in the back yard. Who says you can’t camp in the suburbs? 🙂

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown~Tarzan, Jungle Book, & Tom and Huck July 16, 2013

In this post: Fun, food, and crafts with a Disney-fied camp “in”. Puppet snakes & a flashlight safari. Bug goodies and more! Here’s #6 on our Disney countdown!

Hello dear ones! I hope you’ve had a great week. Sorry this is late! Last week we combined our Disney movies with a camping theme. We called it “Camp Dover”. Tarzan, The Jungle Book, And Tom & Huck went well with our outdoorsy theme. We had lots of fun. Come, I’ll show you!

Take the link below to countdown #5:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/crafty-monday-disney-countdown-robin-hood-mickey-mouse-brave/

It’s been incredibly rainy this season. I had planned to have our camp indoors anyways so I set it up in the living room. I hung a blue plastic cloth on the wall and decorated it with paper stars, bug cut outs, glow in the dark jungle animals, Michael’s moon night light (that only comes on when it’s dark), and a sign that said “Camp Dover”.

I hung a tent rain top from the ceiling and put a cloth with stars on it as well. I covered the sofa with a green blanket (that kept falling off as you can see) and I taped a pretend fire on top. The fire is made from toilet paper rolls and tissue paper.

I got this sleeping bag poem craft from here:

http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2012/03/camping-capers-open-house-sadsville.html

Michael camped out in the living room for three nights. We got the jungle themed lanterns from the Dollar Tree.

The first day we watched Tarzan.

We had “camp food” like hamburgers and BBQ sandwiches.

I read this book about a Sunflower and then…

We went to look at ours, which was pretty pitiful.

This flower turned out nice though.

That night we sang campfire songs. Michael’s posing. Chris and I actually played the guitar. We had so much fun singing the songs in different ways. Michael loved singing things the “Country” way (meaning with an exaggerated Southern accent…worse than our natural one).

I found lyrics and chords here:

http://www.songdrops.com/childrens-songs-chords-and-lyrics

I was thrilled that I could actually play some of these easily.

Our dessert was S’mores of course ;). Can’t camp with out them.

Michael agrees :).

I tried to take pictures in the dark. Here you can see the fake moon.

Michael with a flashlight. You can’t really tell the stars are glowing (I painted them with glow paint). I also strung up some leaf lights.

Since we watched Tarzan, we played Flashlight Jungle Safari that afternoon.

I turned out the lights and hid several stuffed animals in different rooms.

Michael had to find them with his flashlight. We took turns hiding them. This pic is too funny because he kept going past the monkey when it’s out in the open. You can’t tell because of the flash but it was a bit dark in there.

That night we went outside to play hiding seek with flash lights. I didn’t get any pictures because I was so busy hiding. It was a lot of fun. We finished the evening watching two more Disney flicks “Mulan” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2”. If I had the time I suppose I could’ve whipped up a Chinese themed day for Mulan but that would’ve been too much.

The next day we watched The Jungle Book.

Michael made these snake finger puppets found here: http://www.mrprintables.com/finger-puppets-snakes.html

That night we told stories with shadow puppets.

Michael added dramatic music to his show. 😛

Just had to throw in this cute pic of Chester snoozin’ in Michael’s reading pool. This was the last week of “Summer” school (light book work). Michael read “Pelts and Promises” for his devotion time.

Proof that a seven year old can do his own laundry ;). I have him sort them into piles first. His drawers are labeled pants, shirts, and pajamas. Underclothes go with the pajamas. He can wash and dry too. Now if he can master cooking and a budget then he can move out next year ;P he he just kidding of course! You take me too seriously!

That night Michael listened to “Camp What-a-nut” on Adventure’s in Odyssey (a very kewl radio show). You can get it here:

http://www.whitsend.org/en/albums/02-the-wildest-summer-ever/037-camp-what-a-nut-1-of-2.aspx

We ended with Tom & Huck and bugs. I had some messy fun planned for Tom & Huck but we didn’t get to it. Michael did make a raft out of Popsicle sticks but never got to sail it and I didn’t take a picture…sorry.

Since we were talking about bugs, I thought “Thumbelina” to be an appropriate book to read. She’s as small as one.

That got us into the proper thinking for Michael’s writing assignment “If I was a Bug…”

If you look close it says that Michael would bite and tickle his Dad if he was a bug. 🙂

So this was a simple themed food. I made box cupcakes with chocolate frosting and put plastic bugs on top.

I actually don’t like food that looks like creatures. I would never survive a Halloween party without hurling. I had a hard time eating my cupcake that had a plastic fly on it. I’m a very visual eater. As a kid, the cafeteria spaghetti always reminded me of worms. So I never ate it. But boys are usually into this gross stuff. Michael loved the bugs.

I forgot to show this to you last time. I got this tooth brushing calendar from Crest and Oral B. I magnetized it and put it on the fridge.

I found this snack and drink cup at Family Dollar. Seriously, Disney is everywhere. It’s kind of creepy…in a happy way.

Michael and I went to see “Epic” as a Summer reading reward a couple weeks ago. We took these sweet pictures in the photo booth. I hope we’re always like PB & J….in a healthy way of course :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

My Pinterest links (remember email sub. to come to my blog to see the links):

http://pinterest.com/doverette/disney/

http://pinterest.com/doverette/summer-fun/

PS: Join us next week (Lord willing) for Toy Story, Tangled, and Cars!

Disney Countdown # 7

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/crafty-monday-disney-countdown-toy-story-tangled-cars/

My Family Rocks! Sunday:Dates with our Son, Hunting for Leprechauns, & Pet Parade March 25, 2013

In this Post: The importance of one on one time with your kids (our special times with our son), actual St. Patty’s came & we had a fun leprechaun hunt at the park (also Lucky Charms pancakes!), and lastly our pets got a not so professional photo shoot (looks good for an amateur).

Hello dear ones! I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend. It has been chilly here with crazy weather. We had hail last week and that is extremely unusual for March in this area. I’m praying it’ll be sunny and warm on Easter and Michael’s upcoming birthday party. I think everyone is sick of this long winter.

Well, here is a taste of the pet parade pics at the end of this post. Here is Snowball, our guinea pig, in all her glory. She’s enjoying clovers under the trampoline. We have a dog, a cat, a guinea pig, and a mouse. I’d like a chicken but Chris needs convincing. We will see ;). More pics to come but on to the dates with our son.

Sometimes special memories just happen and we may have a camera to capture them. But I find often, that magic takes a bit of planning. Romance may start with a spark and friendships may pop up over night but it takes effort to sustain these things. It seems the longer people live with each other the harder it is to connect.  I blog some amazing memories but our life isn’t always like the pictures. There are days that we all sit in the living room on laptops and other electronics and never look each other in the eye. And that’s okay because we don’t let it become our norm…though it easily could become that.

We have to set a standard in our home to eat together and to cherish each other….to look at more than a TV screen. Chris and I have to put aside our selfishness and put each other first. We have a date and focus only on each other. I am with our son, Michael, every day and since we homeschool I (Lord willing) will be with him many more days.  Chris works and goes to school. Sometimes we struggle to get by financially and sometimes we struggle for our sanity because life is BUSY. My husband is a vet and war changed us both. We live with that daily though Chris is retired. Chris and I both deal with physical disabilities and pain. Homeschooling  takes work and a ton of patience. Some days our heads are barely above water. We live on one income.  I say all this not for a pity party because I believe we truly have a beautiful and blessed life…that’s what I capture with my camera…the silver linings of life. I say this because we could choose to focus on the hard parts of life and maybe we do sometimes. We get lost in our own pain but we don’t stay there.

Our family has survived all our hardship (taking care of parents, losing my Dad, deployments to Iraq, infertility etc…) because Jesus lifts our heads out of the sand. He tells us to love when we’d rather be angry and selfish. One of the ways He does this is by family time and special one on one time. Just as Chris and I set aside the pain of life to “live” in the moment together, so we must do that with our son. Because Michael will only be little once. Like I said, I’m with Michael all the time. So often I just want to be alone. But there is a difference between teacher time and just Mommy and Michael time. So Michael and I have date nights where we don’t focus on school and just treasure having fun together. We do this once a month and then Chris has guy time with Michael once a month. We do many family things together in between and Chris and I have date night twice a month. I believe a good marriage is needed for a healthy child. So after the Lord comes my husband and then my son.

I share these memories with you, in hopes that you will be inspired to create memories with your family. You may have to set some things aside to make this happen. Maybe you need to get rid of a few activities that tear you apart. We all have busy lives but we make time for what’s important to us. I learned early in marriage that love and beautiful moments can happen even when you’re thousands of miles from your loved one. It can also happen late at night in a nursing home when your loved one is confined to a bed. You can make memories as long as that person is alive and there is some way of connecting. So enjoy these pics and make your own memories:)!

My date with Michael began early that day. It extended into the afternoon so Chris could have alone time. We spent the day at a fun place that has laser tag and skating. Here’s a pic of Michael skating with a bit of help. He was scared to try at first and he fell a lot. I was proud that with a bit of encouragement he wiped his tears and kept trying.

Laser tag was great. I had never done it before. Normally you hide behind things and shoot at each other. Well, we were the only people there (benefits of homeschool lol) so Michael just chased me in circles for seven minutes! He kept shooting me in the back. Thankfully he got wore out a few times and we stopped to breathe. We finished the day with a dollar movie and a trip to Nana’s.

A couple of weeks later Chris and Michael had there Father-Son time. Chris decided to camp out which was completely free and just as fun as dates that cost money.

Michael helped Chris set up the tent.

They roasted hot dogs over the fire pit. I “encouraged” them to stay outside to eat so I could have the house to myself. They played “worm” with the sleeping bags and went to sleep.

They were nice enough to share a hot dog with me though I didn’t roast it myself. I decided to camp in the living room and set up a nice pallet. I enjoyed some Mommy time and then some time with the Lord. It was nice. I got woke up super early though and Chris climbed under the covers and froze me to death. I sent both of my freezing guys to the bedroom so I could get some sleep and stay warm lol.

I’ve done several posts gearing up for St. Patty’s. Well, it finally came and we had a lovely day with some humorous memories (to Chris: flying ticks he he he).  Our morning started with green pancakes with lucky charms added to them. I used my Dad’s blue ribbon pancake recipe found here at the end of this post:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/my-family-rocks-sunday-the-beauty-of-sex-within-marriage-family-night-a-secret-family-recipe/

I just added food coloring and the Lucky Charms.

Michael wore his leprechaun beard.

Remember the leprechaun trap in my Crafty Monday post?  Well, it worked! This toilet paper tube leprechaun has been with our family for a year or two. Michael knows it’s all pretend but we have fun with it.

We’ve got into the tradition of watching “Behind the Waterfall” during St. Patty’s. It’s a lovely family film about a “leprechaun” or angel (you decide) and how he helps three troubled children. Michael also made this pot of gold that says “Who is worth more to you than gold?” He drew a pic of his friend Liam :).

Michael made this pic at church as a reminder to store his treasure in heaven. Cute!

We explored a bit and picnicked in a place off the beaten path. That’s where the “flying ticks” came in to play. No worries…no harm done. Then we headed to what’s becoming a favorite spot. You may recognize this park from other posts I’ve done.

We took Tessa, our dog, with us. I printed out St. Patty’s facts and fun sayings and hid them (along with foam shamrocks) so they would make a path to the pot of gold near the waterfall.

We usually do some sort of treasure hunt. You may remember that one year the “gold” was at the end of an obstacle course and Michael had to drive out the “snakes” like St. Patty did out of Ireland. We also had a pretty kewl paper chain rainbow. Post here: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/happy-st-patricks-day/

Michael finding the shamrocks…

Chris wanted me to take this “awesome” picture of his jeep lol :). My guy… *rolling eyes*

This paper was about a fun one about tricky leprechauns.

Tessa says the water is too tempting!

We found the leprechaun and his pot of gold!

And he has cookies! Woot!

The guys had some fun…

Skipping rocks

Now, for the pet parade 🙂. Sometimes our pets need one on one time too and that’s hard when you have so many. Tessa (dog) and Chester (cat) force themselves on us. Snowball (guinea pig) and Cinderella (mouse) have to be taken out or we may forget they are there.

Snowball is fat. She can’t even wear a guinea pig harness. I worry about her obesity so I’m trying to get her outside where she can walk a bit. The trampoline is a great place because it has barely any ants under it, it’s shaded, and I can keep her within the circle. Snowball enjoys being outside but mainly so she can eat clover…sigh.

Snowball giving us her best side.

Cinderella is super timid and you can tell she was bred in a cage. I’m trying to get her to use her brain because mice are smart. She needs a challenging obstacle course. The poor mouse has a terrible anxiety disorder and often shivers, grooms herself like she has ocd, and has an upset tummy when she’s held. I was able to get her to do some climbing but she preferred the safety of my hand.

“What’s this green stuff?” ~Cinderella

“This is WAY too high up! Maybe if I wash my hands I’ll feel better…”

Tessa is spoiled and gets away with everything. She’s super sweet but hiding the cats food is not beneath her. She gets very jealous which we realized when she pooped in Michael’s nursery when we brought him home. She still treats Michael like a pup and groans when she’s annoyed.

Chester is our crazy black cat who acts bipolar since he was fixed. One minute he is overly affectionate and very vocal (he’s part Siamese). The next minute he’s attacking us and destroying things. He seriously needs a psychologist. Now that he’s fixed and an indoor kitty we have to put him on a leash to go outside. He hates the leash but the nearby road is too dangerous.

One day Nana came over (Mom in the swing) and Michael read his book on the trampoline. We took all the animals outside. We hooked the kitty’s leash to the trampoline and he watched the guinea pig romp about.

Zoom in on this pic. You can see both the guinea pig and the mouse. The cat is so wishing he was free to eat the mouse. Chester has broken things trying to get into the mouse’s cage. Interesting note: Chester (cat) will eat a salad if it has Ranch dressing on it. I’m finding he will eat many things…that are on my plate. I set Cinderella on Snowball’s back just to see what would happen. Snowball freaked out a bit. She is just as annoyed with the mouse as Tessa is annoyed with all the other animals and child (she was hear first right? lol).

Will Snowball lose some pounds? Will Cinderella become an Olympic mouse? Will Chester and Tessa ever get over their psychological issues? Tune in to my blog and maybe we will find out.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Thanks for reading and the sweet comments and likes. They make my day.

Prepping for St. Patty’s:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/crafty-monday-prepping-for-st-pattys-easter-brazil-country-study/

St. Patty’s Celebration with Homeschool group:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/crafty-monday-st-patricks-day-celebration-with-the-homeschool-group/

My Family Rocks! Sunday: Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) October 7, 2012

Hello friends and happy Sukkot!. We are nearing the end of this biblical holiday. Here’s links with more information about Sukkot:

http://heartofwisdom.com/biblicalholidays/2012/09/28/sukkot-tabernacles-in-bible-times/

http://heartofwisdom.com/biblicalholidays/2012/09/28/birth-of-christ-feast-of-tabernacles/

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

KJV  Revelation 21:3

This will be our 5th year celebrating Sukkot as a family. I celebrated it once in highschool with some friends who now live in Israel. They actually built their sukkah (tent). It was made of wood with a very thin roof (thin fabric or leaves? I can’t remember). I hung out with the daughter and we looked at the stars. It was my first time camping out like that. I was so surprised when I woke up the next morning soaked with dew :).

In the beginning we would put up a large tent in the backyard. We would forget to take it down and it’d rot :(. But during Sukkot we ate most of our meals in the tent. We even hooked up a tv in it one year. Mom, Chris, Michael, and I all watched the nativity. Read the links above to understand why. Btw we still celebrate Christmas. I love both :).

Last year we camped one night and my mom came. It was fun. We read a Choose Your Own Adventure book around the fire. It was about pirates and people got to choose how the story would progress.

Shadow Puppets

Michael and I make leaf decorations to decorate the sukkah (tent).

This year we camped inside. Chris stapled camo netting to the ceiling and he strung Christmas lights over the top. With our Scarecrow and pumpkin decorations the living room felt like the outdoors lol. Michael and I watched the nativity. We stayed up to watch Star Trek episodes and Michael enjoyed hot chocolate.

The first two years we painted plates for Sukkot. The third year we made Sukkot t-shirts and the fourth year we painted a mug.

This year I painted a tea canister and Michael painted an owl. They should be finished next week for pick up.

Chris stopped by and helped me near the end.

Usually we take a trip to the farm near the end of Sukkot. We find a pumpkin to carve and I begin the process of cooking everything pumpkiny.

Last year we visited a farm with our buddies Hannah and James  and their kids Olivia and Liam.

Olivia & Michael

This place had the coolest playgrounds

Chris decided to play in the ball pit lol

This year we  ended Sukkot by camping with Hannah and her family.

Me chompin’ down on a s’more

hot chocolate and apple cider

We had a big breakfast the next morning

Hannah and James 🙂

The campground had a nice playground

My Michael

Liam, Michael, and Olivia

Roasting marshmallows again yummmm

Btw, I’m a fall nerd but I had to show you my cool orange bed sheets. I got the fall quilt last year but I got the orange sheets recently. Chris picks on me because I squeal when I look at them lol. They make me feel like I live in a ritzy hotel.

Also we got this cinnamon broom. Mom didn’t think it was very fall like. So I added some leaves and a bow to it. Voila!

I’m actually writing all of this ahead of time because today we are in Helen. Another check off my bucket list! So we also end with Octoberfest. I hope to see lots of fall leaves. I’ll show pics next Sunday, Lord willing. 🙂 It should be obvious why Sukkot is one of my favorite holidays. We have such a blast.  I hosted our homeschool group Thursday and I talked to the kids about Sukkot and how Jesus left his Heavenly home and came to tabernacle with us. I asked the kids who they wanted to meet in Heaven etc. It was great to hear their responses. More on that tomorrow.

Well, I hope you’re having a blessed holiday. It’s been nice getting comments. For my reader in Hawaii, I wish I could bring fall to you! Maybe you could do fall crafts anyways and make a fall tree in your house? That just may be something I would do. I’m a bit eccentric. If I visited you I’d bring a fake fall tree ;).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover