traditions

Saw this list of traditions and felt inspired to make up my own. I've been doing this mentally for the last week or so but am glad to get it down, I'll add more as I think of them. Some are new for us and others are not. One new thing is our advent box, with little doors for the kids to open each day. I plan to put in candies and little toys (dollar store finds) plus events: movie nights, popcorn balls with Mammie and hopefully one snow day. They are already super excited, knowing something is going to appear in those spots. I'm pretty excited too.

Here's a few traditions we look forward to enjoying as a family:
decorating the tree, with hot chocolate and Christmas music
looking at lights (again, with hot chocolate)
making gingerbread houses with the kids
a marathon baking day (with the kids, crazy I know!)
having friends and family (plus neighbors) over throughout the season
chicken wings and onion soup on Christmas eve (with my parents too!)
sledding or doing a sleigh ride at Sunriver
and mostly, enjoying a slow paced season with time to do the things we want and love to do.

Looking forward to enjoying and creating new traditions with the family.

happy Monday

We had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend-we really have so much to be thankful for. We spent the weekend in California with family-it was quick and busy but so, so fun. Here's just a few hightlights:


The Pony Party-our niece celebrated her fourth birthday with 2 little ponies-the kids were besides themselves with excitement-it was fun to watch them:


Cayden and the Birthday girl waiting for the party to start, they were this excited before they even knew ponies were coming...



Enjoying the California sunshine:




The whole family, minus one picture taking brother, getting ready for a family photo shoot:

OLW: full

This weeks One Little Word challenge, the word was full-a full, fun day pretty much says it all for me.

a cozy little nest

Finally got our bedroom done-new paint does wonders. I can honestly say that I have not exactly mastered the sewing machine but I got along with it well enough to get the drapes made. Hanging the drapes was another story-silly, impatient me could not wait for Zac's help and just decided to do it myself.

The first bracket went fine, the second one was almost curse inducing-really, truly it was. I got the hole drilled only to discover that the screw was not long enough to reach the stud-anyway, one more screw, one more hole and an hour later the bracket was finally up. I got the drapes on the rod, lifted it up to the bracket and the bracket broke-completely snapped. More almost cursing as I unscrewed everything to add the new bracket (thank goodness it was a bigger rod that came with three for a longer window).

Got that done, grabbed the decorative finial a dropped it, breaking part of it. No problem, we've got super glue-got the glue out, smeared it on the broken spot and lifted it up to the rod (now hanging from the bracket that is hanging securely from the wall). As I was lifting it, all the super glue leaked out down my hand, completely covering my thumb and part of my first two fingers. Thankfully I did not glue myself together or to the wall but the kids were starting to wonder what their crazy mom was doing. I was so grateful for Sesame Street this morning.

I guess the lesson here is that it is okay to be patient, good things take time sometimes and it really doesn't make much difference if it's done today or tomorrow (unless you're talking about taxes...). But, I'm really glad it's done and am totally loving the results, I think the process was just for building a bit of character in me.

baby words

just a few more words of Aida's that I want to remember: book, juice, water (wa-wa), amen, please, baby (we hear this one lots!), bubba (brother), sis (sister), oh (a very common one), hi, bye, night-night, tree, love you, thankyou, shoe, bottle, "rise among us" (from the song let the glory of the Lord rise among us, it sounds like "ise-m-us"), dog, okay, yeah, and my newest favorite: pretty (pi-pee). She's getting so big-16 months today.

matchy, matchy, cutesy, cutesy

This is how the weekend started-a few great quiet moments with Cayden while Aida napped and Levi was at school. I worked on a few projects while she drew pictures of the family, pretty sweet, and she's getting to be a pretty good little artist. The weekend ended just as good as it started (well, right now the girls are both crying because we keep telling it's time to go to sleep). But it was a good one-Zac worked on the shed, we got a bit of Christmas shopping done and Levi and I finished our button trees. Yesterday I even got the extremely rare pleasure of taking a nap with Cayden on the couch-I honestly can't remember the last time she slept on my shoulder, she's gotten so big so fast. It truly was a little bit of heaven. And finally, who could resist matching Sunday dresses. I gotta say it's pretty stinking cute.

Making Merry

Been busy this week-slowly getting Christmas out, a few things at a time. It really is fun to work at it sooner, gives me the chance to take my time and enjoy all the fun stuff that's been packed away for the past year. Being in a new house makes everything seem new; finding new places for old, familiar things from past Christmas seasons. Today the kids and I worked on a project, a cool little tree that we saw here.


Levi loved doing this-he declared his done, I need to pick up some more pins to finish mine. Here's a few other lovely Christmas goodies and the work in progress:

rest and life

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion ? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Mt 11:28-30


I've been thinking about this over the last few days-I love the thought of living freely and lightly, I love that Jesus does not offer us religion and rules but relationship. I love the thought of walking next to him and finding rest. It reminds me that my relationship with Jesus is not too different from any others-it's a journey, a process-a living active thing. It does require work on my part, like any relationship, but it's worth it. It takes me taking a step towards him, making a choice to pursue him. Today I want to make that choice, pursue intimacy and friendship with Jesus-in that pursuit I have the promise of life and rest. There really is nothing sweeter than that.

olw challenge

My first try for the One Little Word challenge-not your typical "delight" topic but very true to that day for me.

The journaling reads "I don't like today" he said to me, and honestly I agree. It's been a tough one, we're all crabby, grumpy and tired. In the midst of all those emotions there is a choice to make. I can give in and allow myself to be down or I can choose a better attitude, choose to enjoy the daily stuff, the stuff that on its own doesn't seem like it means much but added all together it's stuff that really matters. So today I am going to make the better choice, choose to enjoy the daily stuff and take delight in life. Today I choose delight.

love it when

I love it when I have a super productive day-got lots checked off the list today. Found fabric for our bedroom curtains (my first sewing project), found the curtain rods, bought paint and new stockings for Christmas. I love it when I can knock out a whole bunch of stuff and clear my head, it seems this time of year is when my head starts to fill up with too many projects to even handle. Today was a good one. I also love it when the kids enjoy peaceful moments together, I found them snuggled up like this last night. Levi was reading (well, making up the story based on the pictures) with great inflection and expressions-so thankful for kids who truly love each other.