Christmas 2011

One of my favorite holiday traditions is to have a custom family tree ornament made. Our names and the year make it so fun to look back and see how our family has grown in the past 14 years. 14 years!

This Christmas was sweet and wonderful. We piled the decorations on the tree until it looked almost droopy. And since we celebrated at our own home this year instead of traveling, Santa took the opportunity to really spoil the kids. The highlight of the gifts this year? A wii to replace the one that no longer worked, and a bean bag chair for each kiddo :-)











We were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas day with Grandpa Jim and Grandma June --- we had a nice day of opening gifts, deep-frying a turkey, and just generally stuffing ourselves silly :-)





We has lots of fun with the kids' school programs. These brave kids shocked me! Thomas was the star of the show (maybe just to us since he's the only one we had eyes for), and Clara actually got on stage and danced (blue shirt)!







This was a tough year of loss for us, and we really felt it this holiday season. We especially missed Luke's mom as we decorated our home with some of her special things. I felt good to have a little bit of her with us though...







This was also the first time in many years that we didn't celebrate with my parents. Thankfully, my Dad got to come out for a visit after Christmas (we missed you Yaya!). It's been so precious to watch my kids and Dad enjoy each other. I especially enjoyed watching Dad teach my kids the "catch the dollar" game that my grandpa used to play with us :-)











And here we sit enjoying the last few hours of 2011!





This has been a tough year, but s great year. I'm thankful for my healthy family, our cozy home, and the promise of a fabulous year to come. Happy 2012, friends!

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Big Love

This year, Valentine's Day was simple and sweet and everything it should be:  an extra hug and kiss, a clear "I love you" with a smile before school, and little love notes...just to be sure the message gets through.

Luke did such a neat thing with the kids this year.  He got them each a little thing of candy, and wrote a personal love note to each of them that was tied in with the meaning of their names.  The kids just seemed to stand a little taller with these words of love and encouragement from their wonderful Daddy...

It was fun to put their little treats out on the table before we went to bed...I loved the idea of them waking to proof of our love for them :-)

We got some wonderful little valentines too - filled with hand-made hearts, hand prints, and "I love you".  Life is so much sweeter with these children!

One of our valentines even came through the mail!  Inside, was a precious card that read "I love you as high as the sun. Sam."

My heart...it overflows...

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Sweet Christmas Treat

Sorry, bloggie friends!  I have been so busy with home, kids, holiday prep, travel, and business.  Life in my little corner of the world is so rich and full!

Before the holidays are over, I just had to tell you quickly about a sweet little holiday treat I found.  They're called "Heart and Soul" candies, and are some incredibly delicious little chocolates.  My personal favorite is the dark chocolate, of course :-)

But the actual chocolate is only half of the story - each of these candies come wrapped with a message of Truth and Love.  The two...ahem...empty wrappers on my desk right now have their own little gift.  One says "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us" 1 John 4:16, and Grace and peace to you from God the Father" 1 Corinthians 1:3

Jesus AND chocolate in one little package - could there be anything better?!

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Thanksgiving 2010

We woke up on Thanksgiving to a dusting of snow on the ground, and very cold temps - perfect for fast snow down our back hill!

My first order of business was making pies.  One traditional apple, one crumb topped apple, and one pumpkin.  Yum-O.  I love Clara's little turkey.  She was our resident Thanksgiving decorator this year:-)

My wonderful husband likes to fry the turkey each year.  Something about submerging an entire bird in gallons of boiling oil that just makes him happy :-)

I love an opportunity to pull out the good china.

Clara also made us all napkin rings...along with a note on everyones plate saying that she'd like to give us a kiss.  I was touched that I got two notes...

My Grandma was on my mind as I mashed potatoes (always my job at her house), and as I filled her apple bowl with green beans and corn.  I also thought of her as I quickly cut the apples for the pie.  I could almost hear her voice saying, "Ach!  You're wasting so much apple.  Slow down and cut more carefully!" :-)

The bird is done!  Look at that good lookin' turkey!  And the bird - look at the bird! ;-)

We got to celebrate wit a couple of our favorite people.  We're so blessed!

Oops - these are out of order - they belong at the top with the sledding pics (and I'm too lazy to move everything around right now).  Look at my cute little man getting un-bundled from his sledding adventures...

These pictures aren't from Thanksgiving DAY...but are from Thanksgiving vacation.  WE MADE POTICA!  Potica (poh-teet-zha) is a traditional bread made by my dad's side of the family for generations.  I LOVE making it, but we never do because you're supposed to fill it with a mixture that includes walnuts or pecans, and Clara is terribly allergic to tree nuts.  We experimented this year with a potica recipe we found that had cream cheese as a filling (blech), and we did another with ground sunflower seeds instead of nuts (YUM).  It was so fun to share the potica tradition with my children!

My Dad's old recipe with his handwriting, and a few of my husband's hand-written notes.  It's funny how little things like this are so precious to me.

Pardon the hair.  This is what happens when I take a shower right before bed - I have clean, but crazy, hair the next day.  My kids were good enough to call me the 'mad scientist' all day.

Ha!  Oops!  Another sledding picture - filled with neighborhood kids.  It's sort of a good representation of our lives anyway...life happening with kids running in and out from all over the place.  Happy sledding season!

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