December {In Pictures}

 

We haven't been slammed with snow as much as I thought we would be at this point (and I'm ok with that).  We have had a few good snow days though.

 

The boys watching the snow fall...

 



 

 

This particular day there were HUGE flakes and it covered the ground in about 30-45 minutes.

 

 

The boys coming in from playing in the snow.

 

 

On December 7, the Home School Group was invited to a Saint Nicholas party at The Seehof.  Soon after we arrived Saint Nicholas arrived and handed out small gifts to each of the children.

 

 

 

Blaine did great and sat at the table for a whole hour!!! The plateful of cookies and candy probably helped. :) 

 

Ryan and Colin greatly enjoyed the unlimited supply of hot chocolate.

 



 

 

 

We only made it out to two Christmas Markets this year.  Tim and I ran through the one at our downtown while on a date a few days before Christmas.  Then on Christmas Eve we all took a small trip to a local town, Forccheim (one of the few that was still open).

 

 

 

This couple playing music was probably the best part.

 



Christmas In Review {The Project Side}

 

This was the first Christmas in 3 years that we haven't been on the move.  Over the last few years I've collected a few decor pieces from Hobby Lobby's 80/90% off sale.  There were a few things still in the original box or still with tags on it.  The last few years I've also collected quite a few ideas, thanks to Pinterest.  Here's what we made this year....

 

  

1.  Wooden Nativity Sign - I originally pinned this a year or two ago.  There is a wife here that owns a Silhouette machine and we (my friend, Marque, and I) paid her $10 to print the scene for us.  We bought the wood and painted it for less than $6 and she came over and put the vinyl on the board for us, and wa-la! 

 

2.  Wooden Merry Christmas Sign - Back in the beginning of November I set up a Mini Christmas Photo Shoot for 5 clients.  Inspired by the link above I made this sign as one of my props to use.  I figured if I made it well enough I could use it as decor as well, so I made it out of wood.  Unfortunately, I didn't have strong enough hooks to hold it this year and it fell down after about a week of hanging across our big living room window. 

 

 

 

 

 3.  Wooden JOY Sign - Not quite the same as the inspiration piece, but I had some extra wood from the "Merry Christmas" sign so I decided to put it to good use.

4.  Fingerprint Ornament - I'm sure you've seen this floating around Pinterest.  The fingerprints don't really come out looking like the fingerprints on the inspiration piece, but it still works.



 

5.  Stamped Salt Dough Ornaments - Who knew?!!  Some stamps and colored ink?!  The possibilities are endless!  Thanks to Tim's Grandma and the box of stamps and ink she sent me a few months back we had plenty to choose from.  We made a good amount of the above ornament and handed them out as gifts to friends this year along with our annual cookie tins and bread loafs.  Ryan and his friend, Liam, also had a great time making these!  The following is one of Ryan's!

  

 

Side Note:  I compared two or three salt-dough recipes and had trouble with the first batch.  I ended up having to add 3 to 4 more cups of flour.  After we were done with those, we still wanted to make a few more and the next recipe I tried turned out great!  I had it mixed, rolled out, stamped, and in the oven within 10/15 minutes!  Just in case you are looking for a good recipe..and just so I don't forget...

*1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 of water. Place on a baking sheet lined with Parchment Paper.  Bake at 250 for 2 hours; turning every 30 minutes to keep flat.

 

6.  Cinnamon Ornaments - No picture for these.  ( I think there's one in the background two pics up.)  I tried making these last year and they were a complete failure.  I had trouble with the consistency in the dough and I ended up chiseling them off the pan.  I searched for a different recipe and I figured you can't go wrong with Martha.  I was right!  The boys were even able to help with them as well.  The above link takes you to her recipe. 

 

 

7.  Subway Art Printable - I have two frames that I kept out and just added a Christmas themed printable to them.  I printed the Subway Art from the above link and cut it to a 4x6 and it is a bit squishy.  If you have a 5x7 frame it would probably work better.

 

For this second frame, I just played with a font and size on Word and printed out "NOEL". 

 

8.  Pine Cone Tree - At some point in the last few years Target had this gorgeous pine cone tree for around $25...if I remember right.  In some after season sale at Walmart I came across small boxes of mini pine cones.  I bought them and stored them away.  This year I found the tutorial linked above and made my own; also getting the worst hot glue gun burn to date!  If you are up close and personal there are some obvious holes, but from a general view, it looks great!

 

 

 

9. Scrap Paper Tree - I'm sure most of you have seen this on Pinterest.  At first I just had the boys make one for themselves and they decorated the trees with stickers and such.  I still had a ton of paper left and had this grand idea to make our Christmas cards this year based on that idea.  The boys helped make a few of them, but I was left to the other 40 by myself.  :)

10.  Ruffled Tree Skirt - My biggest project!  I just finished it yesterday.  The original tutorial is a no-sew project, but of course my crazy brain decided that it be better long term if I could make it more permanent and washable.  About $15 worth of broadcloth fabric and 10-12 hours of labor and I have this beauty!  Finishing this tree skirt concludes my Christmas projects for this year and I'm so excited to put it all away and move on!

 

 

Next year new stockings!  Someone hit up the sales at Hobby Lobby for me!!!!



A Five Day Breather

Well, December has come and gone...way too quickly.  Last I wrote on here we were waiting for us (the family) to be added to Tim’s orders so that we could, hopefully, travel together to Germany.   The Lord answered our prayers and we got the orders and we are currently at Tim’s parent’s house a few days shy from our flight to Germany! 

I really want to remember the last month though, so I’ll try my best to recap….

Since we figured we’d be traveling during Christmas we invited both of our families to join us for Thanksgiving at our house!  It was the first holiday we have hosted!  I was SUPER excited!  We honestly thought Tim’s parents and my parents would come, but that would be it.  We were blessed to not only have our parents, but my sister, one of my brothers, and Tim’s sister and her three kids!  It was a FULL house!  But we loved every minute of it! 

Tim has been wanting to fry a turkey for the last three or four years and since we were hosting he was determined that we would make it happen!  With all the people we had though we bought two turkeys.  Tim fried one of them and I baked the other.   They were DE.LI.CIOUS.

After Thanksgiving was over we re-focused our attention on tying up all our loose ends while still waiting on those orders.  They FINALLY came in the afternoon of Monday, December 5^th!!!  Tim went down to pick them up right away and had our moving date set up.  On December 21^st we were packed and they loaded it on December 22^nd.  We did the final walk-thru for our house on the 22^nd and drove out of town on the 23^rd headed to Tim’s parent’s house for the holiday.

The time between the 5^th and the 21^st was spent sorting, packing, shopping for last minute items, squeezing in play dates, dinner dates with dear friends, and Christmas parties.  The last week also included three trips to the doctor which resulted in four ear infections and two eye infections.  Oy-vey!  There were other bumps along the way...but we managed to get what we needed done! 

Checking out the Christmas Lights at Blora.

Andi, Ryan, Colin, Milly

Connor came over to play!



Dinner with our friends.

Blaine, Milly, Colin, Connor, Andi, Ryan, and Cameron.

The most amazing friends ever!!!

Matt, Sarah, Tim, me, Jenny, & Sidney

In all the craziness and non-stop action of moving/holidays it’s been hard to let the reality of leaving our friends really sink in.   God blessed us beyond what we prayed for with their friendships.

Christmas Eve seemed like the first time we had a chance to breathe..for a few minutes at least.  After some heart searching and discussion with Tim over the last few weeks we decided that we wouldn’t be doing “Santa” with our family.  In the past we’ve neither pushed it, nor dismissed it, but Ryan is older and wiser and starting to ask questions and was also greatly influenced by his friends at school at the “reality” of Santa.  (I would LOVE to go into more detail about why we choose this route..but this article here explains it best.  I HIGHLY recommend reading it!)  All that to say, we finally set down with Ryan and Colin about 5PM on Christmas Eve in the church office to tell them that Santa was not real (short-version) and what we want them to remember most about Christmas.  My mother’s heart was warmed (true sarcasm) when not but three hours later after we get back to the house Ryan exclaims, “We have to hurry and get to bed before Santa comes!!!”  Ha.  So glad to know my son was listening! That’s ok though.  We have a whole year now to remind him and to impress on him the reality of our Savior’s birth!

On December 26^th we packed back up and headed out to visit with Tim’s Mee-Maw for a few days.  Unfortunately, she had a trip to the hospital about two months ago and she hasn’t been doing the best since.  I’m so glad we were able to make that trip to see her, but it still makes it hard knowing that it (honestly) might be the last.  She’s a fighter and she always seems to rebound after a fall back, but things never seem to go back to the way they were before.

We made it back to Tim’s parents on the 29^th and then Tim and I hid away the evening of the 30^th at a local hotel.  We debated catching a movie at the theater, but we ended up staying in the room, ordering in dessert, and sleeping!  It was great to have some time to relax and unwind.

My parents ended up driving in last minute to spend the weekend with us and the boys since we weren’t able to make it out to see them.  Their visits always seem too short, but we are very thankful that the drive and the lack of time doesn’t hinder them from coming to visit when they can.  Mom even brought super hero capes and masks for the boys, which they of course loved!

In other random news of December Blaine finally started walking more than he is crawling and Ryan learned how to tie his own shoes!

Now December is over and 2012 brings on a WHOLE bunch of new and un-charted territory for us.    There are still many unknowns.  Decisions to be made.  Some big.  Some not so big.  Some need to be made by others first before we can make our own.  There is still the big unknown of another deployment for Tim.  The unit Tim is joining returned from their last deployment in the Fall of 2010, which means that they are due to go again soon.  We are doing are best to take it as it comes and trust in the knowledge that God has our best interest at heart (Romans 8:28), but sometimes the inevitable still weighs on you.

I'm getting excited about seeing what our new "home" will be for the next three years.  I'm nervous I brought too much stuff.  I'm hopeful for the time we will have to grow closer as a couple and as a family, but fearful of the effect of another deployment.  I'm looking forward to fewer bills and a simpler schedule.  I'm nervous about driving.  I'm both nervous and excited about navigating the German shops.

We are thankful for these few days of rest in between all the traveling.  We are scheduled for a night flight and are hoping the boys will get some good rest so they are ready for all the traveling/waiting around that will come the following day.  We would appreciate your prayers for healthy bodies, safe travel, and extra grace for all that comes to adjusting to a new home.

We hope you had a great holiday season visiting with your family and friends!

One to Gift, One to Give

So, not long ago I mentioned I took a challenge to make two of a certain gift. If you missed the challenge, it's not too late!  Here's my previous post.

I decided to go with a cowboy vest and I actually made three.  One as a birthday gift for a friend of Colin's, one for Colin, and one to give.  What little boy doesn't like to dress up like a cowboy?!!  Colin loves his!

Here's the one I made to give.

A friend of mine from church has had personal experience with the Ronald McDonald House and she immediately came to mind when I took this challenge.  So with her help I have a name and address of a lady I can send my stuff to for donation!

Crunch Time

Tim turned in our 30 day notice today for our home.

This makes me sad and anxious.

No matter how I feel though, it's happening.  Much quicker than I would like it.  And during the holidays, no less, which seems to make it even more chaotic with emotions running wild.

Tim finally received his orders about a week and a half ago, but since we aren't on them we are still waiting with bated breath for the call to let us know his amended orders are ready so we can get the rest of the process moving.  I know I am to "not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present my requests to God.", but it still isn't easy for the planner that is in me!

I NEED DATES!!!!

It would be nice to know when we are shipping our car.  It would be nice to know when the movers are coming.  It would be nice to know if we get to go when Tim goes.

The thing is...even without that information, our time here is coming to an end.  Our 30 days notice is in, and whether or not we go when Tim goes..we only have about four weeks left here.

With it being the holidays, I'm trying my best to keep it simple while still making it something special and memorable for the boys.  This will be our third year without being able to decorate our own tree.  (Not that we have a tree to decorate, but...)  Even without the move, it is our hearts desire to stress the focus of Christmas on our Savior and not on all the excess...but I've even been struggling with it in my own heart the last few days.  I'm having trouble finding the balance.  Should I really be sad that I don't get to decorate?  That we probably won't be "stable" and have any wrapped gifts or stockings?  I know that those things are not what is most important but it is a battle.

So, with the encouragement/challenge of a few articles here and here, I'm trying my best to "choose the best and letting go of the rest to ensure a peaceful Christmas season."  Baking is still on the list.  It will help me clear out my cabinets before the move and make some goodies for our trash man and mail man! Thanks to Pinterest I found this advent calendar that we are going to start.  Ryan has also been asking for a snow globe, so I think we might give this tutorial a go.  

Now, just to continue to pray for peace, and for the Lord to direct my steps in choosing our activites for the next few weeks.