Baby, Write This Down.

2015 is here and ten days strong!  

New Year's Day seems like a long time ago.  Since then Nathan has returned to school (except when interrupted by the weather), the girls are back in the swing of school, Matt is working five days a week again (sigh), Evelyn is being cute (and rascally), and I finally got caught up on the laundry.  We also spent this week at the hospital visiting my dad who had knee replacement surgery.  Thankfully things went very well and he's now at my sister's recovering and moving around.

 Like most, I like to take this time of year to reflect and make some goals for moving forward.  December was kind of a "loose"month (nothing was written down on the budget and much sugar was consumed), so it feels good to get back into normal routine.

For my sake I thought I would write down some of my 2015 goals.  There's nothing big or major (yet), and it's definitely not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it will help me to be successful!

For visual interest, I thought I would include photos of a New Year's Day tradition.  Besides taking down the Christmas decorations, we also enjoy decorating a gingerbread house.  I just buy a kit at the store.  They're simple, and if you wait until after Christmas they're 50% off.  Ella and Adeline did 90% of the decorating this year, though I did help with a lot of the frosting.  The neighbor boy came over as we were beginning, and Nathan chose to go play at his house instead.

Back to goals...

1.  Each month read one classic book and one non-fiction book.  I think I make this goal every year.  I really enjoy reading, I just need to make it a priority and schedule time to do so.  I've started so far with Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (my first time), and The Gospel by Ray Ortlund Jr. This second one our church gifted to every family in the congregation, so I would've read it anyway.  I already know what I want to read for the next couple of months...

2.  Complete 14 weeks of real food "mini-pledges".   We've been slowly changing many things about how we eat, and so honestly most of these are (thankfully) no longer a big challenge (week #3 and week #12 will require some effort though).  There are many different levels of eating real food. I need balance or my mind and time become consumed with food.  We try to eat and live simply.  This is an easy baby steps way to begin if you're interested. 

3.  Run a 5K in sub 26:00.  I just got in my first 2 miles today.  I don't plan on running my first 5k until Mother's day weekend, but this was my goal last year and I missed it by a minute and a half.  I forgot about the hill factor.  To some this is slow, to some it may sound fast, for me this will require pushing myself.

I would also like to add run a half-marathon here.  This is something I say every year and have never done.  Perhaps I just need to sign up and do it (and maybe find a running buddy!).

 Finished!

4.  As a family, participate in Life 96.5's Hands & Feet opportunity and/or our church's ministry opportunity each month.  These are typically simple ways to bless others.  I like that our children can be involved.  I think it will be a good chance for them to give, serve, and think of others.

5.  Improve this house, in a wise, meaningful way.  This year I would like to concentrate on the kitchen, garage, and basement as far as big projects go.  (I cannot confirm at this time if Matt is on the same page).  I'm also making it a January mission to get things up on the walls.  I don't believe in just throwing up meaningless things to take up space.  However, we've lived here for over two years and it's time to invest some time and money to make things a little more homey, especially in the living room and bedrooms.  (I don't even want to mention the half torn-down wallpaper in our bedroom.)

Evs did help decorate some as well.  The house was together for an afternoon....that evening they ate all the candy!

6.  Be hospitable.  We'd like to invite more friends and family into our home.  I'm also including schedule dates (and ladies' nights) into this category!

I feel like six is a good number to start with!  These are simple I know...hardly earth-shattering, but perhaps a good beginning.

Family Christmas; Christmas Traditions Part 2

Yes, New Year's is over, but I still need to get caught up on Christmas posts before I can think of resolutions.  (What does it say about me if I wait until the 2nd week of January to make resolutions?)

Our next Christmas was our private family celebration.  But, first I thought I would mention something new and non-traditional.  

 For the first time in our marriage, Matt put up Christmas lights!

It was before Christmas, around the 10th of December, and it was abnormally warm.  The year before I literally bought over 1000 lights for about $5 at an after Christmas clearance. So, since it was warm and there are already hooks in place on the house Matt put up a string of lights.  It took about 10 minutes.  Addie and I also wrapped another string around a tree trunk in about the same amount of time.  It's not an impressive light show by any means (I didn't get a final photo), but it's something we can build on for next year.

Moving on...
My sister Amy and her family were visiting from Denver the entire week of Christmas.  Monday and Tuesday they stayed with us, so we did a couple of fun things with them.

Another first for us was a light show at a local mall.  We didn't tell the kids what were were doing, but just that it was a "Christmas surprise".

It was a little different than what we were expecting.  I believe Nathan's comment when we got there was, "Is this some sort of joke or something?".  However, the kids all ended up having a good time.

It is basically a lighted castle with a bunch of trees, stars, hoops, etc. They go through a list of five songs, and the lights blink and change with the music.  It's a fun atmosphere and the kids can dance around. 
(The final song is, of course, Let It Go.)

It was a bit like a junior high dance.  At first everyone was self conscious, but after a song or two everyone was warmed up and dancing.

They're so cool.

 The next morning the girls put on a play.  It involved a lot of "Oh no the castle is messy."  It ended with Addie saying, "Tah-dah I cleaned the castled."  I was on the edge of my seat.

That afternoon, my sister and her family left for my dad's house.  The kids and I did some last minute Christmas shopping, and then shucked our popcorn!

We planted popcorn in our garden last summer, and though I feel like we harvested five or six ears, we had 4 left.  

After picking popcorn, you need to dry it out for three months.  So, if you pick it in September it is ready just in time for Christmas...I'm hoping this can be a tradition that continues.

That night, December 23rd, we did our family Christmas.  For the past several years we have made homemade pizza for dinner.  This year we had Papa Murphy's.  We like to have pizza and root beer and do our Christmas birthday party style.

 We lighted our Christmas candle, and finished our Advent countdown.  

We didn't want to leave our last envelopes for after Christmas, so we read 23, 24, and 25.

We didn't do any gifts this year (except a few smaller things in the kids' stockings).  We don't usually buy much for our kids because they get a lot of gifts from grandparents, but this year we bought a new t.v. right before Thanksgiving, and told the kids that was our family Christmas gift.  It was cute how even Nathan, who loves gifts, would remind us that they weren't getting gifts because we got a t.v.  Even when they had small gifts in their stockings they were surprised, thinking it went against what we told them!

However, since it is Jesus' birthday, we like to get Him a gift.  We try to teach our kids that what we do for the "least of these" we do for Christ.  So, we can gift Him a birthday present by giving to someone in need.  This has looked different in different years, and sometimes we've had the kids earn and contribute money.  This year, they all got to pick out an item from the Gospel for Asia giving catalog.  We didn't want to limit their generosity so we let them pick whatever they wanted.  We knew that if they picked something expensive like a water buffalo or a well we would only be able to purchase a share, but we didn't tell them that.  They all picked very practical things though...Nathan chose a mosquito net, Ella picked out a pair of rabbits, and Adeline chose Bibles.  I'm not sure why we didn't have Evelyn pick out anything, we'll have to involve her next year!

After dinner clean-up, all the kids get on their pajamas and hop in the van for some Christmas light viewing.  We've done this for three years now, so Matt is able to remember some of the more impressive neighborhoods (that are somewhat near us).  We like to end with driving through the light display at Falls park.

Evelyn's gift to us was falling asleep on the drive home.  So she went up to bed.  The rest of us popped our popcorn and made some hot chocolate.

I surprised the kids with the Charlie Brown Christmas video, but when we opened it, the wrong disc was in the case.  We tried watching part of it thinking the real Charlie Brown Christmas would be on it somewhere, but it was a fail.

Thankfully our new t.v. is a smart t.v. so we went on YouTube and found a clip from the movie.  So, we just watched the best part at the end where Linus recites from Luke 2 then all the kids decorate the tree and sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

I then got a "nice" picture of the kids in front of the tree before heading off to bed.

It was an enjoyable night.  I cherish these times when the kids are young and our family Christmas can remain simple.

We Need a Little Christmas (back home).

I have felt a little out of it this season.  Many regular traditions haven't seemed to happen as usual.  For example, we didn't get our tree Thanksgiving weekend, and we didn't participate in Operation Christmas Child at all this year (gasp, I know).  I also just started shopping, which sadly is a usual thing for me, but adds to my feelings of not-with-it-ness.  

Since moving back four years ago, we have also gone to my parent's farm to decorate for Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend.  That didn't happen this year either, (and my Dad even made a comment to a friend that he was "on his own" to decorate this year), but thankfully we were able to go the next weekend and help him out.

This is becoming a special tradition for us.  Our first two Christmases back my mom was doing chemo therapy and often tired.  This Christmas and last it has just been my dad.  I wish this tradition started under much different circumstances.  The time home is sweet though and hopefully can bring some joy for Dad during the month and the whole family on Christmas Eve.

We went after Matt got off of work on Friday.  It was after 7:00 p.m. when we got there, so we ate some pizza quick and got to decorating the tree right away.  My dad had already brought it up stairs and assembled it, so we just got to do the fun stuff!

My sister Brenda and her family came to help as well.

 (I debated whether my sister would want a picture of her in her pjs posted...then decided that at least they were cute jammies and it would be fine. :)

The girls were especially active in helping to decorate.  I think Nathan was playing with my dad's latest purchase and shooting some bear with a ball gun.  Evelyn was helping, but most often either trying to sneak a treat or snuggling on Papa's lap.

Poor Matt, I shouldn't do this to him.  But, it's all for the sake of archiving, right?

Yes, Matt slept on the couch while we decorated the tree.  In his defense, he usually wakes between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. on work days! 

Sweet Adeline was a big helper.  Though I would most often peg her as the "spirited" or challenging child, she is also the one most likely to dig in and start helping.  She loves to serve, and I'm thankful that God has gifted her in this way!  I look forward to seeing how this will continue and develop in her as she grows.

 

Once the tree was decorated it was time for bed.  We made plans to decorate the rest of the house and get some Christmas baking done on Saturday.

I'm not sure why I didn't take any photos of the rest of the decorations.  My mom used to go all out for Christmas.  We usually had to take all the regular stuff off the walls and shelves and put it in storage for the month of December.  Everything was Christmas.  We've definitely stream-lined and simplified since then, but it's also much more decorated than my own home!

We had the decorating finished by noon, then lunch break and on to baking!

But, first this:

She has no name, but Evelyn and I loved her.  She's the tamest of my dad's cats (most are just wild barn cats).  My dad had put leftover pancakes and syrup out for the kitties to eat that morning, so I think she was in a bit of a sugar coma and even a little extra tame when we had her.

It was super tolerant of Evelyn and very sweet.  She probably should have come home in our van with us.  Matt however was not convinced.

My second sister Lynette also joined us Saturday to help out with the baking.  As a team we made: peanut butter blossoms, reindeer cookies, peanut butter cup cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls (we like pb and chocolate if you haven't noticed), Rolo pretzel delights, and almond bark pretzels.  

Yummm!

 Here's Addie and Auntie Nette dipping the pb balls.  

Addie again was the big helper, she loves to be in the kitchen.

Our nephew Kendon also headed up making Nutter Butter reindeer cookies (different than the reindeer cookies listed above...we also apparently like cookies that look like deer).

It requires no baking, just assembly.  It's a great project for little hands that want to help.

My sister put the frosting on each Nutter Butter and the kids placed on the M&M eyes and nose and the pretzel antlers.

 

Cute, right?  

My sister was enforcing rules about allowable M&M color choices.  I'm guessing those green eyes really bugged her...

We finished up in time for dinner, went out to eat with my dad, and drove back home Saturday night.  It was a quick weekend, but definitely a fun and productive one.  

It occurred to me on our way home that we just put all the cookies into the freezer and none of us sisters took any home.  

 So, bottom line is we have A LOT of cookies to eat on Christmas Eve!

Christmas & Advent traditions 2014:: Part 1

I was blessed last night by a ladies' outreach event at our church featuring beautiful decorations, music, and most importantly a beautiful message.  The speaker was Noel Piper, a woman who has influenced me though we've never met.  We used to attend her husband's church (John Piper) in Minneapolis, and because of this I was introduced to her book, Treasuring God in our Traditions.  It's honestly a book you could read over and over as she talks about the importance of tradition in different seasons.  I set my copy out last night so I could reread the Christmas chapter.  I haven't done so yet, and I honestly haven't looked at the book in about three years, but seeing her did remind me of the importance of traditions and recording those of our family.

I should also add a quick disclaimer that I have not mastered this.   This is by no means a post stating the way things should be done.  It's simply a way for me to remember and remain accountable to myself.

One fun tradition we do, as do most Americans, is a Christmas tree.  We have happy memories from the Twin Cities of cutting down our own tree at a tree farm or choosing a tree from a local nursery where Matt's aunt worked.  However, we have not made the efforts to do this in Sioux Falls.  I think tree farms are around, but expensive and not hugely popular.  So, since moving our trees have come from Lewis, Menards, and now Costco.  Not super fun.  However, what we do is Matt goes out and picks the tree by himself.  We try to make it a surprise.  This year the kids were all upstairs and he came in singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" while carrying in the tree.  The kids ran down the steps and were super excited to see him with the tree.  It admittedly wasn't a huge surprise this year (I set up the tree stand before he got home), but there was still squealing and laughter nonetheless.

We typically set it up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year we were too busy (or maybe just too tired) to make it work.  Since we are also busy every weekend in December, ('tis the season), Matt brought the tree home on a Tuesday night after a church meeting.  The kids and I decorated it Wednesday after school.

It's always fun to dig out old ornaments.  I do love fancy trees with a theme or uniform color.  However we have so many meaningful ornaments from Matt and I's childhood (and some from adulthood).  We even have a few ornaments of Matt's grandma's.  So our tree is more of a mix of nostalgia with red and silver balls.  

I'm glad that all the kids still get excited about decorating the tree each year.  It's not a big thing, but I'm sure Nathan will be "too cool" too soon.  This year however he made sure we waited until he got home from school.

This photo is the closest I've come to taking a selfie...though not intentionally.

 

Looking back at the photos our tree looks a little like it was decorated by children...but it was!

I'm also not good at taking photos in the dark.  I was trying to get the glow of the tree, but it's a little grainy.

So far the tree has just been a fun tradition.  I know of people who make even this a Christ-centered event.  I love the idea of putting names of God on ball ornaments and talking about them as you put them on the tree.  I haven't done any as such yet though.

   What have however made efforts to make sure this season is focused on Christ.  We talk a lot of Advent, what it meant before Christ was born and what it means now. 

The word advent derives from the Latin word for coming.  Before Christ humbled Himself and came to this earth as a Babe, people were waiting for their Savior to come.  They were in a season of advent if you will.  We are still in a season of advent...we are still waiting.  Christ has promised to come back.  Not as a helpless baby this time but as a mighty King.  We discuss each day how the people counted down the days (years) for Christ to come the first time, and we are still doing the same.

A simple way we've done is through this Advent countdown.  There are 25 envelopes, one for each day of December until Christmas.  Each one has a Bible verse, starting with Messianic prophesy and continuing through the birth of Christ.   

There are so many great Advent ideas out there, this one works for us for now.  The kids would probably improve it with some sort of chocolate.  I could change it out with bigger envelopes or burlap bags if wanted.  My friend has a great one with stockings her mom made (I think).  My complaint is that those little clothes pins break if you look at them funny.  This is our third year with the envelopes, and I need to run to Hobby Lobby because we've used all our extra pins.

We also have Advent candles on our dining table to celebrate and focus this season on Christ.

There are four white candles for each week of Advent as well as a glittery-gold candle in the middle for Christmas (or whatever day our family celebrates Christmas).

 This year I failed to locate my wreath hanger, so the wreath got put on centerpiece duty instead.  Each night we light the appropriate number of candles.  We use this to build up to Christmas.  We discuss the Light of the World, and the Light that shines, and overcomes, the darkness.  We also get a month of candle lit dinners.

Finally, one very simple activity to remind our children of the reason for Christmas is our Fischer Price Little People Nativity set.  We've had it since Ella's first Christmas, and I love it.  The kids love to play with the figures, sometimes in Christmas appropriate ways and sometimes not!  Evelyn didn't remember it, and it's most suited for her age, so she has enjoyed it the most this year.  However it has to be put away under the tree, and is put in storage eleven months of the year, so it's still kind of special to even Nathan.

Granted no one at the First Christmas had pale skin or chubby cheeks. :)  I also decided to not set it up, but just take the photo "as is".  It looks like there was a tornado outside, but all is well in the manger.

We also try to incorporate several traditions for giving and serving at Christmas...but that's for another post to come!