January 14, 2013

So, what's the date today?  Oh really?  Fourteen days into January and this is my first post??  (**crickets**)

Sadness abounds.  No thoughts on where to begin, just suppose I'll dive into a list.  Lists are what I do best.  Lists and sugar.  I seem to do very well at consuming sugar in all sorts of forms.  It's my generational gift that I've passed down squarely on the shoulders of...Carter.  Yes son, you're welcome for that.  If you're anything like your Dad, it won't ever be a problem for you and you'll just run off whatever you consume.  But if you're truly like your Mom, consider this my apology now.  It what it is.

Hmm, well....
What a perfect lead in to my musings on...???  Kids?  Life?  Theology? Marriage?  Weather?  The Golden Globes?  The flu outbreak?  Wood Wick candles??

Yes, it's all so riveting and on my mind at this particular moment in time.  How will I ever begin??  With a list?  Here goes.  In no particular order of course...

• Downton Abbey.  It was the first thing I thought of just now.  I love it!  Love it, love it, love it.  It makes me so happy that it's on every week now.  Who would have thought we could actually wait a whole year for a show to come back on??  Well, the odds were defied and we did.  It's been a great start to season 3, hasn't it??  Those English, they just don't toy with ridiculous story lines and drag our emotions out too long.  I like that.  **SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven't seen episode 1 & 2 of Season 3, skip the rest of this.  You've been warned!  Ok, so for those of you who are watching, aren't you so happy about Matthew and Mary??  Their story line just makes me so happy.  I was totally expecting the writers to make that romance into another will they/won't they thing, but I'm so glad they didn't!  And after last night, who's excited about the money??  And the salvation of Downton.  Come on, no way was Cora going to move to "Downton Place" with a smile on her face!  At least Mary was honest, it would have been torture.  Now, the real news...Edith.  Oh boy.  That was awful!! Jilted at the altar???  Could they be more cruel to her poor character??  I'm really hoping we don't have to endure a season of her bitterness and depression, but I have a feeling that's where we're headed.  Sad.  I just knew there was too much happiness going on.  And Sir Antony was making me nervous staring straight ahead at that altar.  I had a bad feeling....
• We're almost 2 weeks into the new year and I have no planner.  What??  I live and die by my Erin Condren life planner and I haven't even ordered my new one yet!  I can't believe it either.  I'm truly feeling like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, and I am.  I have a makeshift calendar that I'm using, but it's not making my boat float.  I'm used to my EC system and I'm missing it!  Guess what I'm doing when this post is over??  
• Ava is sick today.  Like throwing up all night sick.  It's been a few hours since she tossed her cookies last, but I hate seeing her sick.  Even more, I hate the thought of it spreading through the rest of us...please Lord, spare us!  She was so pathetically sick and sweet last night.  She woke up at 2 am in tears and covered in vomit.  That's always a fun way to wake up :)  After we got her cleaned up, the bed stripped of her clean, white sheets I had just put on her bed a few hours prior (Thank you Alanis, that was SO ironic), and in the shower, she turned into a little chatty cathy.  She was cracking us up, but was also pretty sick.  We both got an hour or two of sleep while she threw up every half hour or so.  Thankfully we are vomit free since mid-morning, but she's had nothing more than some sips of water, so I'm not believing we're out of the woods yet.  Sweet girl.  It's a movie day for her today and so far that's the only thing that's given her reason to smile.  
• Would you like an update on life with my new Kitchen Aid Mixer??  I know, why wouldn't you want an update on that??  Ha ha!  Well, as I expected, it's great!!  I use it constantly.  Last week I made (for our family and another one) some protein breakfast cookies, banana bread, chocolate cupcakes, butter cream icing, chocolate mocha cake (sense a pattern??) and some banana chocolate chip muffins.  And I shredded five chicken breasts in seconds.  That made me almost happier than all the chocolate!  The troops are eating well over here, but as for my new year eating healthy plan???  Not so much.  
• It's freezing here.  Like under 10 degrees freezing.  It's winter, yada, yada, yada.  I don't love it when it's this cold however.  We have been indoors a lot in the last few days and I'm guessing we will be for the rest of this week too.  Our kids latest requested activity?  Riding their bikes in our underground (heated) garage.  They love it and beg us to do it.  Carter especially!  I'll have to take some pictures, it's hilarious.  All of our neighbors are getting a big kick out of it too.  The only drawback?  It's filthy down there. I'm insisting on them wearing old shoes, which usually puts a cramp in Miss Ava's style :)  
• Last week I was all wrapped up in the drama over Pastor Louie Giglio essentially being forced out of his invitation to pray at the Inauguration, because of message He preached 18 years ago on the topic of Homosexuality.  I'm sure you've read about it, if you follow me on twitter, sorry for all the retweets.  I'll just say it's very sobering being married to a Pastor and watching our culture and government systematically reject Christianity and the Bible.  Travis and I are convinced it's only a matter of time before Pastors will be under fire for "hate crimes" and the tax benefits and exemptions Churches enjoy now will be stripped away.  And why?  Because we hold fearlessly to the Word of God in its' entirety.  These are eye opening days that shouldn't shock us, but should deeply sadden us.  I have no idea what we'll face in the coming years, but for the first time the book of Acts is becoming very real to us in a way that America has not experienced.  Thankfully, like the early Church, all this hatred for the Lord and the Gospel only fuels the fire to be obedient to the Lord, standing our ground and defending truth.  It's not an easy thought to imagine what will unfold from here, but the veils we've ignored for years are lifting and we (the Church) need to be prepared and ready to stand firm for the Lord, even if many are unwilling to do so and face persecution themselves.  Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!  
• I have lots of thoughts lately about this blog.  It's been almost 7 years of blogging for me.  Can you believe that??  I can't.  I clearly remember starting this blog in what seems like another lifetime ago.  Over the years it's grown and morphed into several things, and the Lord has really used it in some significant ways.  And I've really loved it.  But there are times I feel the mounting burden to post and the stress of feeling like I'm so behind I don't know where to start and I consider getting rid of the whole thing.  It's also a little mind numbing sometimes to think about the creepy people who lurk out there, looking for ways to pervert innocence or use my kids/photos in ways I never intended.  I struggle to discern what's fear and anxiety and what's a prompting from the Holy Spirit to be wise.  I don't know what that means, other than to say that I'm wrestling with how to move forward.  It's so interesting to deal with technology in a way that our parents and the generations before them never had to or even dreamed of.  There are so many benefits, so many good things, but we're in uncharted waters as parents in 2013.  Lots of things to take into consideration, and to bring before the Lord for wisdom to discern what's best.  I will say, the thing I miss the most is the freedom to write what's on my heart and express the things I'm learning from the Lord.  I love to write and I love the outlet it's been.  So, we'll see where that leads me in 2013!  
• Sure enough, just as I was wrapping this post up, my little Ava got sick again.  Sigh...I hate it when my kids are sick!  But when they are, I'm always reminded of how thankful I am to be the one home with them, not worrying about work or sick days.  I obviously want her to feel better, but I'm so glad I'm the one who gets to take care of her too!  So I'm off to be a Mom and a nurse... Happy Monday!  Hope it's been better to you than to me :) 

Over the River and Through the Woods...

To Grammy and Grampy's house we go!

After a delay due to the Midwest snowstorm last week, we picked up Aunt Stacie and Uncle Jesse at the airport and loaded them up in our (very) packed sleigh to make the short drive to my parents house.  The kids have been so excited to go to Iowa for weeks and Ava kept telling us, "I'm SO esscited Mama!  I can't wait!" 

We saved two open seats for Stace and Jesse, but that was literally the only open space we had. 

Thankfully we had each other and some Christmas movies to get us in the spirit and pass the time!

 I'm not sure who was more excited to arrive, the van full of the "out of towners" or the waiting Iowans??  It was a toss up.  The glow of Christmas lights never looked so good :)

 We went to Church on Sunday with my parents and Ava wore her new Christmas dress from Trav's Mom.  It was darling and she loved it. 

 Carter on the other hand, was equally as darling in his Christmas sweater, but pretty unhappy about having his picture taken.  You'd have thought we asked him to drink poison based on his reaction.  Just a little smile or at least sitting still for 10 seconds??  It's all we ask. 

Apparently it's still too much :)

I did manage to catch this before the shock of what we were doing set in.  It's close enough!

My parents got 10 inches of snow a few days before we arrived, but on Christmas Eve we were happy to get a few more inches, simply because it's incredibly charming when it snows around Christmas :) We had a quiet day at home and my Mom made our favorite meal, her BBQ brisket for dinner.  Afterwards, we surprised the kids and let them open 2 gifts, one from Trav and I and then the gift they picked out for each other. 

 When we were growing up, we talked my parents into letting us open one present on Christmas Eve, during the latter years of our childhood.  It was always a gamble based on which one you chose :) After awhile my Mom got wise and steered us to gifts that were strategic, like new pajamas.  

It's seems like yesterday that we were little again, dying for it to be Christmas morning.

 Ava and Carter were totally on board with the present thing, you don't have to tell kids twice to rip open a gift!

 I continued the new jammies tradition with them and they loved them!  They're both into footed pajamas right now and they call them "slipper jammies."

But the real excitement came from the gift they chose for each other!  Carter picked out a Beast/Prince doll for Ava (which was a HUGE hit) and she was totally surprised when she opened it.

And Ava picked out a Mr. Potato Head for Carter, which she recognized as a fun toy from "Toy Story" for Carter.  He loved it too! 

 Christmas Eve pic

 Poor Carter, again, not thrilled with the request for a picture.  It was a rough 24 hours for him :)

Thankfully he's easily distracted by his new toy from Nana and Papa!

Jesse and Stacie

 Dave and Jennie

And Ryley!  Our first baby :) It's been awhile since I've posted about Ryley, but here he is!  He's still as good as ever, just a little more mellow these days.  He'll be 9 in May, which is so hard to believe.  Travis and I got him as a puppy a few months before our 1st Anniversary and we miss him.  He's lovin life with Dave and Jennie though, and he's back in his coveted spot as King of the Castle in their house.  Our kids love Ryley too and it's so great that we get to see him a lot and that he's still loved and in the family.  What a sweet Christmas boy :)

I love this picture. 

Just hanging out with the boys!

After dinner we got the kids in their new jammies (SO CUTE!!) and told them we had another fun surprise for them...

Time for a Christmas light tour around town in their pjs, with Grampy and the aunts and uncles.

It's too bad these kids aren't loved.

Ava was ready to go, although I had a feeling after she got buckled in the warm car with her blankie, she might be asleep after a few minutes into the tour...and that's exactly what happened :)

Trav and I stayed home to breathe for a minute before we had to do bedtime and some major gift assembly, but when the troops returned we had two very tired kids, very ready for bed!

 As all parents know, the real work of Christmas morning begins the second the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve!

We saved the kids "big" gift for Christmas morning and brought it with us from Minnesota. 

Carter's was pretty low maintenance, until Trav discovered they forgot to give us 2 essential screws.  Of course, right?  It's like the murphy's law of Christmas Eve.  Missing parts.  So frustrating, but thankfully the guys came up with 2 that would work from my Dad's stash.

While the boys were searching for missing screws, the girls (in OUR matching jammies) were lost in the world of princesses and a million, tiny pieces of plastic.

 What Carter's gift lacked in parts and assembly, Ava's more than made up for it! 

We were totally into it though, I'm pretty sure we all took turns playing with it :) We grew up immersed in the original Disney princesses, so the magic of the dream castle was not lost on us.

I mean seriously, is this thing cute or what??  She's been receiving the dolls for the last few birthdays and Christmases and I had her bring them with us, knowing this gift was coming and she'd love playing with it after she opened it!

 Carter got the masculine counterpart to a dream castle, a hot rod :)

It's a glider bike we found for him and we knew he'd love it.  He also got a helmet, which I was informed by all the men, was lame!  Ha ha!  I at least chose the more masculine "Cars" version, as opposed to the Mickey Mouse one I almost chose.

 Not gonna lie, it was a late night :)

But oh so fun to think about all the joy ahead and the look on their sweet faces when they saw what we chose for them.  It's hard to not make Christmas all about gifts or to get caught up in the commercialism and materialism that often permeates our culture, but we tried to really hammer home the gift that Jesus is to us and the motivation we have to give gifts because of the Father's love for us and his generous heart for his children.  Do they understand that?  Probably not yet, but our hope is that they catch more of Jesus and less of everything else as we tackle each holiday every year.  There's really a great deal of thinking on your feet when you're a parent!  I'm realizing with every year and every stage how important it is to be walking in the Spirit and sensitive to how He leads us. 

 

Christmas eve was fun, it was great to be with my family again and we loved buying/wrapping the things we typically say "no" to all year long  :) 
We went to bed very tired, but very thankful for kids to buy gifts for and thankful for the ultimate gift of Jesus Christ, our Savior. 

It was a sweet Christmas Eve and we couldn't wait to wake up on Christmas morning!

Christmas in Minnesota

We always travel at Christmas, which means that we never get to have Christmas morning at our house so for the last few years, we've been having Christmas a little early and surprising the kids.  It's great to not have to take so many gifts to my parents house and it also gives us a chance to have some family time together.  This year we broke it up between two days.  We gave the kids a bath, then surprised them and told them we were going to let them open some presents from their Texie.

As you can see, they were excited!  Love those cheesy grins! 

It seems to be the only way these two know how to smile these days :) 

Miss Ava has been asking me for weeks, several times a day, "Is it Christmas yet?" and "Can we open some presents today?"  You can imagine her delight when I finally gave her the green light to indulge.  There were squeals of joy for sure!

Carter was a bit more stoic.  I'm pretty sure he had no idea what I was talking about until he saw Ava in action and caught on!

Christmas cuties! 

Their pile from the relatives had been growing and accumulating for weeks, we were shocked they managed to stay out of them.  

It took Carter all of 2 seconds to catch on and rip into his pile!

Pure joy :) Ava chose wisely and opened one of her coveted gifts first. This was the beginning of a theme for her.  It's been a Disney Princess Christmas for Ava! 

 And as is typical of a two year old boy, Carter's Christmas has been all about planes, trains and automobiles!  One of my favorite things about Carter is how he plays.  He immediately drops to his tummy and gets up close and personal with his toys, mostly his trucks and trains.  It's so cute and so fascinating to me, probably because I only had sisters.  I love having a little boy :)

A Thomas book and a little smile :)

Some princess books made Ava's night!

Seriously, isn't he cute??  So funny!

New books for Christmas, always a hit!  We told the kids that we were only opening gifts from Texie, but when they went to bed that night, we stayed up to wrap the rest of the gifts from Travis and I so that we could open them in the morning and they could play all day while we packed for Iowa. 



 Ava's pile

Carter's pile

There is something so fun about giving gifts to your kids.  I love that about being a parent!  We were giddy thinking about their reaction and knowing that they would be so happy to play with their new things.  I did lots of shopping in advance this year, faithfully hiding things away in our closet, so I was pretty happy to pull out things I'd forgotten about and to finally free up some closet space.

 

After breakfast, we finally let them come into the living and room and they spotted another stack of presents.  They were ready to go!

 Last year Carter didn't really understand the present thing so this year was pretty fun with him.  He was very excited and while he opened every gift he would say, "Dares somepin in dare!"  "What's in dare??" 

 Ava of course was totally on the ball and hilarious.  She gave us tons of running commentary on every gift she opened.  We have some priceless video from this year!

 

 

All was exciting and fun, but one look at this excavator from Aunt Shaye and Carter was won over!

He couldn't take his eyes off it  :)

While Ava was opening his gifts Carter got us a screwdriver, in case we needed help opening his excavator faster :)  He's a helper, ha ha!

Sassy boots that Ava helped me pick out, she loves them!

This was one of Ava's favorites, Prince Charming himself.  She was completely thrilled and we captured her shrieking on video when we unwrapped him and screamed, "It's Prince Charmin!!!!  From Cinderellllllllllaaaaaaa!!!"  It was totally hilarious! 

We had such a sweet morning with our kids, they are at such fun ages where they are thrilled with everything they open and so contented to just play all day with their toys.  I'm so glad we let them open gifts early and enjoy themselves.  It definitely made it easier for us to pack in peace.

We aquired a few new princes to add to the fairytale fleet.

There was some dancing going on...

Some heavy construction too  :) 



Curious George is always a guaranteed crowd pleaser, just like he was when I was a little girl. 

When I was cleaning up the kitchen I came back to check on the kids and found this funny sight.  It appears Ariel made it safely out of the sea and into a cozy boot with the man of her dreams! 

Sounds nice to me :)

Merry Christmas to our kids!