Passing Down The Christmas Spirit - Part 1

I think we've pretty much established that I love to decorate our home for Christmas. Some people look at it as a chore, some look at it as an expectation, and others choose not to do anything it at all. For me, it is a joy. (Not to say that I wasn't exhausted the other day when I was all done.) but I love doing it, I really do.

I also love to Christmas shop (although I am VERY behind this year.) I love to buy thoughtful gifts for people. I try really hard not to buy something for someone just for the sake of giving them a gift. I love to give gifts that are thought out based on what I know somebody really wants or needs.

I've said before that my parents always made Christmas special for us. From the tree to the decorations to the gifts to special times together with family and friends....as a kid, it was a magical time. I have wonderful memories of Christmases past. 

Over the years I've also realized that a lot of how I feel about the celebration of Christmas was passed down to me from my Gramma. (Yes, I know that's not how you spell it, but that's what she was. Not Grandma or Grandmaw....just my Gramma.)

She loved Christmas! It would actually all begin on Thanksgiving day. By then she had received the Sears and J.C. Penney Christmas catalogs in the mail. It was a given that we would write out a wish list for her to shop from. So my sister and I would pour over the catalogs and make our lists.....dog-earing pages, circling toys we hoped for, writing down sizes. Then we would have to explain our list to Gramma, so she knew EXACTLY what she was looking for when she went to the store. We didn't have extravagant Christmases. We didn't get everything on the list. But what we received from our grandparents came directly from those lists we made because Gramma knew it was our hearts desire (at least for that year anyways) and she loved to make us feel special.

(I'm sure my mom has lots of pictures of Christmases past with Gramma, but this is the only one I could find that I had. It made me laugh though because this was so typical. Gramma was down on the floor, making sure all the grandchildren's gifts were passed out.)

And the house would be decorated too. Usually it was the same decorations that were pulled out, including the many ceramic figures that Gramma had painted. There was a Santa that played "Jingle Bells," and a set of carolers, amongst others. Every year she would buy a new ornament or two to add to the tree. Part of the tradition was that when we arrived at their house we had search the tree to find the new ornaments for that year.

 

She also did a lot of baking and  bought lots of candy for Christmas. It was also tradition that on Christmas Day, it was my and my sisters job to arrange all the cookies and candy in special Christmas dishes that she had also painted in ceramics class. Maybe that is why I love Christmas dishes so much.

We would have a big Christmas meal and the main dish was roast beef. Always. (And I've discovered over the years, that is not common.)  Gramma would send Grampa to the meat market (not the big chain grocery store) ....where they knew the butchers by name....to buy the roast for Christmas.

We had a lot of traditions and it was always very special. Gramma put her heart into  every detail. She passed down her spirit of Christmas to everyone in our family. I miss her often, but never so much as at Christmastime.

And so I do what I do at Christmas, not to try to impress anyone or because I feel like I have to. I do it because I love my family. I was given a great gift from my parents and grandparents and I hope that someday my children will realize that I passed the Christmas spirit on to them as well.

November Is Here!

It's hard to believe that we have already flipped our calendars over to November! The weatherman is already predicting cold and snowy days in the near future. Our calendar is filling up with birthdays to celebrate, doctor's appointments, days off school, a wedding to attend, and of course Thanksgiving.

The kids are already getting excited about putting up the Christmas Tree. But it seems to me like we just took it down a couple weeks ago!

 

 

Back in the Summer, I wrote about being intentional. This season of the year is also an important time to do that. It can become so busy with activities and things we THINK we have to do. It can become really easy to forget the importance of and the reasons why we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas if we aren't intentional about how we spend our time and what truths and memories we want to instill in our kids.

 

I've actually had the idea of making a "Holiday List" (incorporating both Thanksgiving and Christmas) to try and focus our attention. We'll see how that goes.

 

What are YOU doing to prepare for the last two months of 2014? (Yikes, I can't believe I said that!)

 

 



A Playroom Update

Good Monday morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

Ours was....I'm tired of saying "busy," so I'm going to say "full."

It actually started on Friday when Hubster took a day off from work to help me....you won't even believe it....PAINT THE PLAYROOM!!!!  Hooray!!

We worked hard on Friday. Hubster continued to work like a dog on Saturday while I went and watched our daughter run in her cross country meet.

Sunday morning we had our normal church activities. After church we celebrated this guy's Gotcha Day. It's been fourteen years! FOURTEEN! I can still remember the excitement mixed with panic when they first placed him in my arms in that Kolkata hotel room and I became his Mom. He has come such a long way since then. And my, how the time flies!

(He loved that Dad picked him up a crown at Burger King. He wore it until he went to bed last night.)

 

 

So back to the playroom.....

 

I thought I would give you a little update about what was accomplished over the weekend.

 

 



 

 

First, we had to finish cleaning the room out a little bit. Then we got to the painting (SW Sea Salt. You can read my process in choosing this color HERE and HERE.)

As you can see, we also took a big step (for us) and painted the doors "black."  The color is actually a very, very deep brown, Fired Earth by Valspar.

 

 

It took a little convincing for Hubster to see the vision, but we're both really happy with how they turned out. There are three doors....our front entry door (which hardly gets used), a bedroom door, and this coat closet door. On Friday, we also went out to Lowe's and purchased a new door for the closet. The original door didn't match the others, plus it had been painted over a couple times and wasn't in the greatest shape.

 

Here are the before and after photos.....

 

 

On Saturday, Hubster finished painting the trim, cleaned the carpet, and put together the IKEA Kallax shelves that I purchased back in June. I told you he worked like a dog!

 

 

I can't wait to fill up these cubbies and make them look pretty.

 

I found this wall art at Hobby Lobby a while back at 50% off. I thought the cheerful colors would be perfect for this room. Plus, the kids love maps so it's perfect.



 

 

 

Obviously, we still have some projects head of us. I'm thinking about what kind of window treatments I would like. And in the meantime, we are seriously considering replacing the windows in this room. There is a crack in one that has been there since we moved in (eleven years ago this month!) So hopefully we will get that taken care of before the weather gets too cold as it does cause a bit of a draft in the room.

 

Plus, I'm still in negotiations with Hubster about a new couch and chair, so we'll see. The ones we currently have are still pretty sturdy. They were handed down form my in-laws, but we've had them going on twenty years and between three kids and a dog, they have seen better days. And I'm a little over the country blue plaid, you know what I mean? 

 

So there's still a list of things to do before we can call this room "DONE," but I finally feel like we've made some progress.



September Chalkboard Calendar Update



Hey Everybody! I hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend! Did the weekend fly by, or was it just me? Our weekend was full of family get togethers, church, and just hanging around home (recuperating from our first week of school, I think.)

 

I found some time on September 1st to get the monthly calendar up on the chalkboard.

 

 

 

 

That meant erasing our Summer List. It was bittersweet....looking back at all the fun memories we made but knowing that it's time to move on to something new.

 

We did pretty well with our list this year.

 



 

 

 

But now September is upon us. The month is filling up already with cross country meets, our annual "camp" weekend with Hubster's family, a Fall church picnic, hopefully painting the playroom (PLEASE can we get the playroom painted already?!?), and I'm sure more than I can remember at the moment.

 

 

 

 

It's that time of year when we get back into a routine, yet there's a lot of NEW too. How about you? Are you holding on to the last fragments of Summer or you moving full speed ahead to whatever is in store for you?

 



 

 

 

 

Back To School 2014

 

 

It's that time of year again....Back To School! We survived  enjoyed our Summer, but all good things must come to an end. Yesterday was our kids first day of classes.

 

I always try to get photos of the kids before they head off to school for the first day. I tried to make it as quick and painless as possible yesterday and had them post in front of our chalkboard again this year. (You can check out last years pictures HERE.)

 

I have to admit, since we had our Summer List up on the chalkboard, I got a little lax about doing a calendar. August never made it up there. So I decided to make a little 1st Day Of School graphic for our photos before the list gets erased for this year and September (gasp!) makes it's way up there.

 

I took each of the kid's photos as they were ready. First up....our middle guy.

 

 

He was so excited for his first day back! He actually did five weeks of Summer school, but he was still happy to return for the school year. He couldn't wait to see all his friends. What a blessing! I remember the days back in Kindergarten and First Grade when I had to literally push him on the bus every morning. It was traumatic for both of us! Now he tells me all the time that he loves school. He's come a LONG way Baby!



 

I especially love this photo. I may be a little prejudiced because I'm his Mom, but I think he has the best smile ever.

 

 

Next up was my daughter (She and above son are both in 8th grade this year.) She REALLY dislikes getting her picture taken. Always has. In her first couple baby photo shoots she has tears streaming down her face. I cried too....and we bought the pictures anyways.

 

I reminded/warned her the night before that we would be taking photos before school. She said she would only cooperate if I promised to put them on my blog.

 

Here you go funny girl!

 

 

I love her cute boxer top from Target. So cute! She insists on carrying this huge binder case for school. It cracks me up!

 

She had a lot of ups and downs last year, but I am excited to see how 8th grade goes. She has a new teacher this year and I think it will be a good change for her.

 



 

 

And last, but most certainly not least, is our oldest son....a.k.a. The High School Guy. Yep, this one headed off for his first day of High School yesterday. He was cool as a cucumber. I think I'm a little more excited/nervous/terrified than he is.

 

It takes a lot of planning, work, brainstorming, and communicating to make sure everything comes together for him at school. Sending him to a new school with different staff always makes me kind of nervous as his Mom and advocate. But I am really excited to see what high school holds for him.



 

 

And what other child do you know who is most excited because he has Geometry first period of the day? Seriously, he loves Math!

 

 

We had a super busy afternoon since my daughter also had a cross country meet after school (who schedules these things on the first day of school?), but it was fun hearing all their stories and excitement about their day.

Here's to a GREAT school year!!

Have your kids gone back to school yet? Do you have any First Day traditions or special photos that you take?

A Road Trip To IKEA And A Playroom Update

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.

On Saturday, I got to do something I had been looking forward to for a while. I headed off on a road trip to IKEA with all my favorite girls. It was a Ladies Day, Road Trip, IKEA-Shopping Extravaganza!! Our traveling party included me, my daughter, Sal (an IKEA first-timer), my niece, and my Mom.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. BUMMER. But we didn't let that dampen our spirits. Oh no....we forged on!

(See that sky? That's what is was like. All. Day.)

 





It's been a long time since I had been to IKEA on a Saturday. It was BUS-Y!

Since the closest store is two hours away, I always try to think ahead, make a plan, and use the trip wisely, so to speak, since I don't know when I'll be back again.

As you know, I've been thinking a lot about our "playroom" and have been gathering inspiration.

So I picked up some Kallax shelving.

And I also picked up this rug. I think it will add a fun bit of color to the room. It was a good deal too. It's over 4x6 ft. and with my IKEA Family card I got it for 14.99! Rugs can be expensive, so I was a happy camper.

I got a few small things too.

 

 

I bought a couple more of these sea grass placemats. I have two already, but I wanted to be able to do a whole table setting using them.

 

The black and white striped plate caught my attention.

 

Those little metal planters are only .99. I had one, but was wanting another....for symmetry. I have a thing about symmetry. Ha!

 

I love the cork hot pads. They're great in the kitchen, obviously, but I find myself using them to raise objects up in different vignettes I do. So sometimes I run out of them in the kitchen!

 

And lastly, I thought this black and white geometrical print pillow was really cute. Another good deal at only 5.99.

 

It was a good day. We girls always have so much fun together....lots of talking and laughing. I love them all so much and it was great to spend the day with them.

 

So now I have a little start on the playroom. I want to paint and I figure I probably shouldn't put the shelves together until after the painting is done. Less to move, 'ya know? But our calendar is looking pretty full over the next few weeks, so I have no idea when that will get done. All in good time, I guess.

 

 

 

 



Summer List Update

Today I thought I would give you a little update on how we are progressing with our Summer List. (If you don't know what our Summer List is, you can read all about it HERE.)

 

 

As you can see, we're making some progress and have already checked off about a third of our ideas. In hindsight, I wish I would've been more conscious of taking pictures of everything we did. I will have to remember that for next year.



 

 

 

Even though we haven't checked off the library, we have been a couple times. And my daughter has already had her turn cooking. This past weekend we killed two birds with one stone, so to speak, and celebrated our daughter's birthday by getting doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts for our Saturday morning breakfast.

 

 

 

 

If you read my original post, I talked about being intentional. I've am reminded every year when we do this that it takes more than making a list to be intentional. It takes thought and action. It would be easy for Hubster and me to get to the weekend and just take it easy and relax or busy ourselves with so much that needs to be done around the house. It takes planning and sometimes even reconsidering priorities!

 

And now in the interest of full disclosure....

 

As far as the goals I told you that we made for each of our children.....that plan is not going as well as I would have liked. Let's be honest, not too many kids want to spend the Summer working on their Math skills. It takes a lot of motivation from Mom and honestly, that's probably why we aren't making as much progress. On a positive note though, two of the kids have been listening to audiobooks (a wonderful thing for kids with learning issues) and have gotten very interested in a new (to them) series of books. So it hasn't been a total loss. I just think we will have to rethink this for next year and maybe come up with a better plan. We may have bit off a little more than they can chew....at least for our kids.

 

So how about you?  Did you make any goals for yourself or your family? Are you making any progress?

Being Intentional About Summer

It's June and so it's time to share our calendar on the chalkboard wall, right?  But since it's Summer, we're shaking things up a little bit around here. During the Summer, our chalkboard becomes our "Summer List."

Summer flies by so fast. There have been years when, once it was all over, I felt like we had wasted so much time and didn't take the time to do some of the fun things we really wanted to do as a family. So, the Summer List was born.

 

Each year when school ends, we sit down together as a family and make a list of all the things we would like to do that Summer. Sometimes they are simple things like going out for ice cream and sometimes we have bigger dreams like going on a little trip. We don't always accomplish everything on the list but we try and it at least gives us some goals instead of just winging it. And the kids love being able to check things off the list.



 

(I couldn't help it though.....I've gotten so used to having the calendar on our wall though, so I snuck in a smaller version next to our list.)

 

 

 

 

Another thing that Hubster and I decided to do is to come up with some personal goals for each of our children for the Summer. They each have a reading and math goal (thanks to a math website recommended by our school district) and then each of them have a couple other goals specific to them. These are things that we would like to see them learn or practice. We're trying to make it fun while sneaking in some skills we'd like to see them develop.

 

Hopefully this will help keep away "I'm bored!" and "There's nothing to do!"  I think (at least, I hope) it will help keep me on track too as far as helping the kids in areas they are struggling with and spending individual time with each one. I have high hopes, so we'll see.

 

But it's all about being intentional with our time this Summer and not letting it just slip by us.

 

So do you have big plans for this Summer? What are you intentionally doing to make this Summer count?

 

** You can get a peek at last year's Summer List  HERE. **

Remembrance

I'm BA-ACK!!

My son and I returned Friday evening from a four-day trip with his eighth-grade class to Washington, DC. Despite a lot of rain and problems with the wheelchair lift on our bus (which my son needs), we had a great time.

 

 

It had been several years since I had been to Washington for an extended time and was able to see a lot. Our days were packed with visits to various museums, monuments, and memorials.

 

 

 

 

 

I was reminded over and over of the great contributions and sacrifices that men and women have made throughout our country's history to protect and defend our freedoms.

 

 

 

 

 

Never so much as on our visit to Arlington Cemetery though (someplace I hadn't been before.) It was sobering to think of the number of lives that have been lost in the defense of our country.

 

 

 

 

 

The morning after our return, we received a sad call that Hubster's Grandma had passed away. She had been in declining health for the last few months and took a turn for the worse while I was gone.

 

She was the one of the sweetest, positive, and  most cheerful people I've ever known. She loved the Lord and she loved her family. She also loved to cook and often overdid it on holidays.....much to the rest of the family's enjoyment. The last time we visited with her was on Mother's Day. Despite how she may have felt, she never complained. She was in good spirits and was sitting up in a chair watching Food Network.....typical Grandma. She was also known in the family as "The Sticker Queen" because on every card she ever gave any of us for birthdays or Christmas there were always several decorative stickers on both the envelope and card.....along with a special Bible verse.

 

This morning as I was thinking about Grandma, I remembered that a few years ago as she began thinking about the possibility of moving out of her own home, she gathered all of her granddaughters and granddaughter-in-love (that's ME) together and let us each pick out a cup and saucer from her teacup collection. I decided to get out the beautiful cup and saucer and use it for some tea this morning to remember Grandma.

 

 

 

 

We will say goodbye to her on this earth later in the week, and we will miss her, but her influence on us all will never be forgotten.

 

 

 

 









Four Things For Friday 5.23.14

It's been ages since the last Four Things For Friday....like since February, I think! I thought I'd hit you today with a few random thoughts and goings-on.

Ready?

1.) A few days after I wrote my post I Am Enough I saw a similar one by Laura over at Finding Home (another one of my favorite blogs that I am going to write about someday.) It seems like there may be an online epidemic of women who are trying really hard but still feel like they don't measure up. I love how Laura relates it all to grace. If you have time, I encourage you to read her post Grace And Grocery Store Flower Arrangements.

2.) I am looking forward to this Memorial Day Weekend. Do you have any traditions for this holiday? We have a couple that I love. 

First off, we have family that visits from New York every year for the weekend. This has been a tradition since I was a girl and now my kids look forward to it each year. We gather over at my parent's house and always have a lot of fun together catching up, playing games, and eating good food.

Hubster's family has a very long-standing tradition as well that was started by his grandparents. On Memorial Day morning we all gather together to have a breakfast picnic....rain or shine. Everyone pitches in by bringing different breakfast items and we actually cook a huge breakfast on camping stoves. The morning used to also include a long hike after breakfast. I remember my first breakfast when Hubster and I were dating. It rained that year, but we still hiked. They teased me that the Memorial Day hike was my initiation into the family.

3.) I've been itching to change up my décor a little for Summer. Unfortunately I just haven't had a big chunk of time to spend on doing it yet. Last week I was busy preparing for the Thank You Dinner and this week has been busy with end of the school year activities, a baseball game, as well as preparing to go with my son on his 8th grade class trip to Washington, DC next week. Hopefully when I return I can do it.

4.)  And on the subject of going to Washington....I probably won't be posting at all next week. We depart very early Tuesday morning and won't return until Friday evening. My son is very excited about the trip and so am I. Last time I was there was when the kids were VERY small and we just went for a really spontaneous two-day adventure. I don't know what we were thinking. The kids were way to small to appreciate any of it or even remember it. My son has had American History this year and also read a book that took place during the Civil War so I'm hoping that this trip will make that all come alive for him (we will be stopping in Gettysburg, PA on our way home.)

I'm looking forward to a little break away from home and our normal routine as well as spending time with my son. I'm technically not a chaperone. Because of my son's special needs, I'm just going to travel with him and take care of his needs. We'll see how that pans out, but I'm looking forward to it.

I think that's it for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend making memories with the ones you love and being thankful for those who have sacrificed for the freedoms we have here in the United States.


P.S. - I've added a new little gadget at the top. If you're not able to stop by every day, hopefully this will help you see any posts that you've missed. Have a great weekend!

May!!

Wow, it's May!

May is one of my most favorite months of the year and not just because my birthday is in May. But I love Spring, the end of the school year, warmer temperatures, and flowering shrubs and trees. My favorite flowers are the flowers of this time of year too.....daffodils (although I think they're a little late this year), tulips, and lilacs.

I chose to add a bunch of lilacs to the calendar this month.

Our family's calendar has already gotten pretty full for this month. Mother's Day, a special dinner at our church that both Hubster and I are involved in planning, baseball games, birthdays, end of the school year activities, a band concert, and Memorial Day. I will also be accompanying my son and his class on their 8th grade class trip to Washington, D.C. during the last week of May. Phew....it makes me tired just thinking about it!

 

 

Yes, it's a busy time. But it is also an opportunity to make so many memories with our children or grandchildren. I'm ready to dive in....how 'bout you?

 

 

 

 

Is your calendar filling up too?

 

What are your plans?



Easter Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We enjoyed ours immensely!

Fortunately, Hubster had the day off on Good Friday. That afternoon, we celebrated Easter with his family so that his sister who lives out of state and her family could be with us. We enjoyed a good meal and then headed outside for the annual Easter egg hunt for the kids.

I must say that the weather this weekend was just gorgeous. It was so nice to be outside in the sunshine and not have to be all bundled up. After this winter, I was just thanking the Lord all weekend for such glorious weather.

The kids love the egg hunt. It's been tradition at Nana and Grandpa's house since they were very little. All the grandkids are growing up though, and so the egg hunt's years are numbered I'm afraid to say.

Our Saturday began with Easter baskets at home. Yes, on Saturday. This has become our tradition over the years. It really began because honestly, we were usually so busy on Easter Sunday that we didn't really have time for baskets. It has worked out well though because now our Easter is more focused on Jesus instead of the Easter Bunny.

 

We never made a huge deal about the Easter Bunny when the kids were little (most of that kind of stuff entered their lives via school.) One of the first years we did baskets on Saturday, they were so excited about the Easter Bunny coming to our house. but we told them he wouldn't come unless they took a bath. So they all got in the tub and while Hubster was giving baths, I hid the baskets. For a couple years after that they thought that the Easter Bunny only came while they were in the tub. Worked out great for us! Ha!

Now they know it's just Mom and Dad hiding the baskets and so they huddle in one bedroom while we hide them and then come out and search. We don't have many great hiding spots in our house, so the search is very short. But it's tradition.

 

 

(I'm such a bad blogger. For the rest of the weekend the camera was pretty much forgotten about.)

 

The remainder of Saturday was spent getting the house ready for our guests for Easter dinner the next day. My sweet Hubster even went out and bought some flowers to plant outside by the door to welcome everyone. 

 

Easter Sunday started early for us. At our church, the youth plan the early service (formerly known as the Sunrise Service). Since two of our kiddos were involved in that this year, they had to be at church especially early. Hubster drove over with the kids while I came a little later to do a few last minute things at home.

 

The kids and our Youth Director did a great job. It always feels so right to start out the day joyously celebrating that Jesus is risen.

 

That service is followed by Easter Breakfast....scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, fruit, juice, and this year, a French Toast casserole....YUM!

 

Next came our main service. The choir sang in this service and my parents, long-time choir members, recruited our middle guy to sing in the choir for Easter. How sweet it was to see his face buried in his music trying his hardest to follow along. I also had to privilege to be part of the worship team this morning. It's always wonderful to be able to lead people to worship Jesus, but it was even more so on the day when we celebrate the Resurrection.

 

After church, we headed home for lunch. (Don't know how we had any room for lunch, but we managed. Ha!) What a fun time we had around the table. We always do. Mom, Sal, and I had all contributed to the meal and everything was delicious. Here's our menu in case you missed it.

 

We finally relaxed after lunch by all sitting around and watching Frozen. Yes, all eleven of us! Those of us who had seen it a time or two or more sang along. Fun times!

 

Shortly after that the party broke up. Hubster and I cleaned up, put the kids to bed, and collapsed in front of the TV to watch the Amazing Race. 

 

Our weekend was full. But these are the times when I look back and realize how full our life is....kids, family, church, home, friends.....and even more important things like love, hope, and the Giver of it all.

 

I hope your Easter weekend was blessed as well!

 

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Before I go, I want to tell you about a great giveaway that Sal is having over at Drinking From My Saucer. She's talking about Spring and mason jars today and has a set of green Heritage Ball jars to give away. So if your house is still needing a little Spring in it, head on over and you could win a set of those beautiful green jars!

 

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