A Sunny Saturday

It was so good to see and feel the warm sun today.  To get to go outside and mull around was therapeutic.  I forget that when winter hits and its cold and snowy outside and dark by 5:00...how much we miss getting outside.  How much I miss sitting on our front porch rocking chairs, watching the kids play.  How much energy they can release by running outside.

The sun and warmer weather beckoned us to come out.  TJ got to work hanging some cedar greenery that I have always wanted!  I love how the real stuff looks, and I felt so "Little Womenish" when I saw it hanging on our porch.  I love to watch the movie Little Women and see how they decorated their home in that time period.

Wrong holiday, Bev.



TJ felt the urge to wash the vehicles, which in turn inspired me to vacuum out Sherman.  To those of you with children, is there anything more disgusting than cleaning out a vehicle that houses children who eat, color, drink, read, in them?  Not to mention the snotty Kleenex, remnants of food, and the who knows what that has dropped off from their shoes.  Seriously, in one week Sherman can get just down right nasty.  It was time for a good cleaning.

TJ was even able to persuade Thomas to let him buzz his long hair.

And these are my new favorite.  I must be craving grapefruit because I eat them like crazy.  No sugar.  

Thinking of lately...

This little one inside of me.  Within the next three weeks we will get to meet him.  Who will he look like?  How will it be having a newborn again in our home?  How will the others adjust?  Thinking of all the moments I get to see each one of them hold their new brother.  Such a precious time bringing a baby home is.

Thinking of how I spread my time and energy between my husband, each child, friends, family, school, and for my own self.  How can I possibly give the time and attention to a newborn as well?  How can I think less of myself and more about TJ, Thomas, Annie, George, Evelyn and the baby.  They need to come first, to get the best of me and what I have to give them. 



Thinking of what my husband talked to the kids about last night.  How they need to pick up one thing before going to the next.  How much less time we would spend picking up, if everyone just picked up a little.  How my tendency is to clean everything myself.  How I could help myself out if I just cleaned up as I went along....especially in the kitchen.  I blow it up...then have a disaster to clean up later.



Thinking how much I love to have the kids in the kitchen with me.  Even though it can be disastrous, it is worth it to me, seeing them learn in the kitchen.  Especially Evelyn right now.  Every time I enter the kitchen she knows it and I hear the dragging of the bar stool to wherever I am.



Thinking of a good friend post that I read yesterday.  Spending meaningful minutes with each child.  How I feel those minutes are far and few for me these days.  I'm sad that George asks me every day to come down and build a train track with him, and I find a way out of it every day. 

Thinking of my body and how I am in awe of what it is capable of.  37 weeks pregnant, housing a child that is developing and growing, and I can still get up early and do a Spinning class at the gym.  And even though I may look like a blueberry in the only winter coat I have to wear that is big enough, I'm feeling wonderful and grateful to be pregnant again.



Thinking of our children having free will.  That they will grow up and ultimately make their own decisions....good and bad.  Praying for confidence in that we raised them as children of God, taught them how to love their faith, each other, others, and showed them unconditional love in our home.  And then praying to be able to let go and watch them as adults.  I know it may seem far off, Thomas is only nine years old....but in a blink of an eye we will be there.



Thinking of while listening to the Christmas song It's the most wonderful time of the year..  how many people really feel that way?  Are more people stressed with buying, wrapping, baking, and cleaning, than savoring the beauty and joy of this Advent season?  What am I making important...getting tasks done, or really, really looking deep within and preparing for Christ's birth?

Thinking of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  After watching the Nativity this past weekend, I'm reminded of her complete and utter selflessness.  Would I hop on a donkey, now at 37 weeks pregnant, and travel one hundred miles?  No comfort, bathrooms, sweets, or computer.  After my phone interview yesterday with the hospital and my requesting an immediate epidural....like RIGHT when I get there, I thought of Mary so humbly giving birth to the Son of God in a dirty, cold cave.  No comfort.  No epidural, no bed, no blankets. 

Saint Nicholas Morning

The past few years, we have begun a fun tradition in our home.  St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6th and so we lay out our stockings the night before, waiting for St. Nicholas to come the next morning!  Many people lay their shoes out, but we do our stockings and lo and behold, when we wake up, they are filled with all kinds of goodies from dear St. Nicholas!

The kids wander downstairs whenever they wake, Thomas was the first one up at 5:15, so I wasn't able to get any pictures of him opening his stocking...geesh, what an early bird!  They have always found a pomegranate, and gold chocolate coins inside their stockings, and this year electric toothbrushes, tights for the girls, cars, a game for the wii, lip gloss, and even a chocolate orange were inside as well!

We also celebrate by having a big brunch.  The table is set and we feast on a candy cane cherry roll, and our favorite egg bake and hot chocolate.  I could eat this way every morning for breakfast.

George kept asking me all day if it was still St. Nicholas Day.  He said it was his best day.  He spent the majority of it on the floor playing with his new cars and trains. 

Staying up late the night before getting everything ready, is always worth it the next morning when I get to see their surprise and excitement.  St. Nicholas, pray for us! 

Little Snow Angels

Their smiles.... make me smile!

Advent

Here we are at Advent.  The beautiful season where we prepare for Christ's birth.  We're also preparing to have a new little one in the next month or so....I can't believe we will get to meet him here soon!

There are so many traditional advent practices that we do in our home to really try and prepare ourselves for Jesus to be born.  We light our Advent wreath and read a daily meditation at dinner time.



We hang an ornament every morning on our Jesse tree while singing O Come O Come Emmanuel....

And to help us prepare ourselves even more, I made a December countdown.  On the back of each day is an act of kindness that we try and do throughout the day.

I love Christmas music.  I have such good memories of when I was little, eating breakfast along with the Carpenters singing I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....from the boombox sitting on the kitchen counter.  The Carpenters, Mannheim Steam Roller and Bing Crosby are some of my favorites from my childhood.  I love to have it playing throughout the day while we read our Christmas books.

The other evening as we were waiting for TJ to come home from work, I took a good look around at everyone and soaked in the momentary peace.  Evelyn was reading Christmas books, Thomas and Annie were at the counter drawing the nativity scene, and George was driving his trains around on the floor.  Bing was belting out Silent Night.... it was warm and cozy in our house at that moment.

Making gingerbread play dough...

It's this season that our home is the most warm and cozy.  Candles burning, Christmas music playing, goodies baking in the oven....

Speaking of goodies, we are huge Biggest Loser fans in this house.  It's the one show that we watch religiously and even let the kids stay up on Tuesday nights to watch it with us.  I got a recipe from the show the other night for cupcakes that are only 100 calories.  Bonus! I thought.  I made them for an after school snack the other day and when Thomas came home he was so excited to try one.  The look on his face a mere moment later said it all.  They were terrible.  Worse then terrible.  Oh, they looked beautiful and healthy, but there is just something about sugar...lots of sugar, during this baking season that can't be replaced by a measly 100 calorie cupcake.