Memories

Do you have any favorite memories of holiday time spent with your grandparents?

Some of mine include going out to eat with Oma and Opa.  It was always such a special treat because we were allowed to order BOTH a soda and a dessert.

When it comes to food, I'm a total scrooge.  My kids only get drinks other than milk/water/juice on VERY special occasions.

But grandparent's aren't scroogey...

And as you can see, they LIKED it!

Merry Christmas!

      

Christmas morning with little kids is so much fun!

Especially when they delight in Christmas presents for the dog... 

Yes, this is the dog's new Christmas sweater.

Meet Me In St. Louis...

Who knew that I'd be spending Christmas in St. Louis every other year all those years ago when I was obsessed with the Judy Garland movie, Meet Me In St. Louis...

In keeping with tradition, we made our usual stop at Steak N Shake on the way home from the airport!

While that is an ongoing tradition, this trip had a lot of 'firsts' for us.

Our first time seeing a Marrionette show. 

The puppets were amazing. 

The two guys who own the place also make their own marrionettes.  I love how they came out for some of the songs so we could see them work their magic with the strings!

First happy meal

First slipper socks.

First white Christmas -for me and the little boys at least. 

We were giddy with excitement!

Recorded

Today was a fun day.  Xander, who has always had a flair for the dramatic and adored being in a recent play, had the opportunity to lend his voice to the fight to protect religious freedoms in our country!

The Alliance Defense Fund, needed a child's voice for a project they are working on.  He had so much fun going into a mini 'recording room' and following prompts to try out different ways to say the lines that needed to be recorded. 

The man overseeing his recording was none other than Chuck Bolte, of Adventures in Odyssey fame!  Of course, I hadn't made the connection and didn't think to take a picture until later and he had already left for lunch.   Thankfully, the boys didn't really care.  They were just thrilled to see Oma's office, get chocolate and adoration from coworkers and talk into the cool mike!

Mr. Bolte was thrilled with how Xander did and mentioned that he could have used someone like that back when he was the executive producer (and voice of Mr. Barclay) for Adventures in Odyssey.   

So that does it.  We're packing up and moving to Colorado Springs!  hahaha, I wish.

making lemonade...

My sister and I have been talking about perspective and encouraging one another to seek God's perspective in whatever situations come our way.  Everything is for our greater good and His glory.  He's preparing His bride to spend eternity with Him!

It is amazing to see the difference when there is a change of perspective... 
It reminds me of something my mom used to always remind us of:

"When life throws you lemons, make lemonade."

With this way of thinking I can really and truly be thankful for just about everything! 

So here goes this weeks list of little things that I'm grateful for:

19. promises like this one: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matt4:4)  Feasting on His words provides sustenance, even in lean (economicly speaking) times...

20. worshiping God with my husband, children and fellow believers, even if I don't know very many of them.  There is such joy in knowing that we have the common bond of a transformed heart!

21. watching my kids have special time with Oma, decorating gingerbread houses, especially since I've discovered that I'm not too fond of doing that kind of thing...

22. enjoying fleeting time with family!

23. watching my boys delight in gifts

24. watching coonskin capped boys enthralled with bubblewrap 

25. competitive gaming, even if I don't always get to participate each time

26. little boys who are watching, learning and wanting to play too!!!  Oh, I see many game nights in our future!

27. anticipating time spent with family in the midwest

28. grateful for kids who (in general) travel well

29. boys that keep me on my toes from the minute they are up to when they go to bed at night

30. sleep in a warm, soft bed, cuddled up next to my hubby

She Scores Again...

Boys are R.O.U.G.H on clothes.  I'm amazed at how quickly they go thru jeans.

Due to my obsession with re-using stuff whenever possible, but also having a penchant for asthetics, I am always on the look-out for a "cute" alternative to the boring plastic-y blue patches...  Last year, due to Xander's obsession with football, I fashioned a football patch out of some brown corduroy.  It was a HUGE success.  Keegan fits those jeans this year and wants to wear them every single day.  So I decided to make another round of football patches.  Even Treyton, at 22 months, is obsessed.  He's been running around all day pointing to his football patch!   (But then again, for the boy who said 'football' before 'daddy' I guess it really isn't a huge surprise.)

I'm now ready to branch out and try some alternative shapes...   hopefully non-sports related.

In the meantime, football season is still in high gear and these boys of mine could not be happier with their patched-up jeans!

Handmade Christmas!

Tomorrow is 'Christmas' with my family as we'll be leaving for St. Louis on Tuesday and I can't wait to present our gifts to my little niece and nephew as well as our boys!

It's a 'mostly' handmade year for gifts. 

Because our boys are such car fanatics, I made each of them a "car cozy".  I found a fabulous tutorial here.  She graciously provided a tutorial even though she also sells them all made up in her etsy shop.   Jona over at Fabritopia is selling some great car fabric. 

I am so incredibly excited to give this to them on Monday so they can load it up with a few cars for our plane trip.  I have visions of peaceful and happy boys tooling around with their car cozy on the airplane trays...  Yup, I'm an optimist!   Heck, I had so much fun playing with cars while I snapped a few pictures, I'm sure my car-crazed littles will fall in love with them!

The boys actually spotted the fabric while I had it out to iron, so I let the older boys pick out their favorite fabric, but aside from that was able to construct them during naptime and away from curious eyes!

All rolled up and ready to be wrapped!

No child should miss out on the experience of bean bags.   They are a staple in our house - especially in the hot homebound summer months...  My little niece and nephew will receive these tomorrow:

And finally, after a year of trying to construct a pattern and putting it away in disgust, I was able to figure out how to recreate a gripper ball from one a friend lent me that her kids had played with 25 some odd years ago...  My little nephew, at 6.5 months, is definitely in the grabby stage, so I'm excited about seeing him play with this little thing!

I love that both of these projects required only small fabric scraps!  It's a great way to use up remnants!
And I have the crafting bug again...  I'm already mapping out my next project.  Of course, I've told myself that I can't try that until I complete the half-finished apron that I started last year.  I'm so pattern-impaired.  But I resolve to finish it!

Not Who Anymore...

Phases: Kids go through them at a rapid rate.

Although sometimes it doesn't feel like it, kids really do go in and out of phases rather quickly.  A while ago, Xander went through a 'getting married' phase and had picked out his future spouse.  The result was him 'proposing' to several girls.  He scared off one and had one acceptance.  But it appears that this stage is behind him.  He's gotten together with girls lately and has not made one mention of marriage to any of them, including the one who had previously accepted his offer...  phew.

But that doesn't mean marriage and weddings aren't on his mind from time to time.  They were enthralled with Auntie's wedding and still re-enact parts from time to time...

No wedding can take place without the proposal, right?

And of course there is dancing...

This last picture cracks me up because growing up in a family of all girls, we all took turns being the 'boy'.  (I mean, someone had to be Mikhail Baryshnikov.)   Now we are dealing with the reverse in my home!

gratitude

gratitude.

It makes such a difference when we realize how richly God has blessed us.  It has been a joy to keep my gratitude journal this last year.  I've found that I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be, so my goal is to post each Monday, along with others, what I am grateful for...

It is an old tradition.  I remembered keeping a gratitude journal about 20 years ago and managed to dig it up in my box of childhood memories.  Poor spelling aside, it was a joy to reread after all those years.

6. enjoying Christmas traditions with my family.

7. wonderful Arizona winter weather

8. soft baby/toddler cheeks - both kinds ;)

9. early morning quiet.

10. conversations with God and soaking up His Words by candle and tree light in the early mornings...

11. reminders from others that I am ardently pursued by God.  I am His beloved.

12. morning baking with my early riser.

13. singing Christmas carols off-key with my kids (thankfully they join right in and don't seem to mind)

14. the smell of stew simmering on the stove

15. reconciliation after a sibling argument

16. the craziness that is my life right now

17. but hearing that Still Small Voice amidst the noise of life

18. savoring the season and the 'reason for the season'

"Getting the bad guys"

Recently, we were reading one of Xander's current favorite books, Sam the Minuteman.  It is about a boy who helps his dad when the redcoats were marching on Lexington and Concord. 

When they heard the second call to arms, Sam's mother didn't want Sam to go out and fight again after a friend of his had been wounded the day before.  When I asked him why the mother might not want him to go out to fight, he responded:

"Because she wanted to shoot the bad guys herself."

:shakes head:

He has a long way to go to emphathize with or understand a mother's heart.  Although I don't know if I really understood until I had children of my own, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

As an aside:  There is a cool companion book from a British boy's point of view: George the Drummer, that we also enjoy.  We will be utilizing this pair of books when we formally study the American War for Independence as it is helpful to see that we are human no matter what side we are on. 

loving...

A few things I'm loving right now:

1. walks in the rain

2 enjoying creosote - the source of our wonderful 'desert rain' smell

3 talking about the crown of thorns while checking out a thorny desert tree

4 drinking warm tea with my boys

5 I love rainy days.  It always puts me in a thoughtful, meditative mood...

Handy Boy!

We made a discovery today.  Home Depot Kids workshops are so much fun. 

Xander was inspired and empowered to try something he had never done before.

And we didn't need to find the idea, gather the supplies, prepare a work area or clean up afterwards!

Yup, he wants to go back!