Weekly Menu - The One with Christmas and Nate's Birthday

Welcome back.  I'm kind of amazed that it's time to think about Christmas Food.  Josh asked me recently what we eat for Christmas - he saw a cartoon that talked about special food and, had to find out what we eat that is special.  I did a lot of baking this past week so we have lots of fun Christmas goodies for the week and are looking forward to a wonderful holiday week.

Friday - Goulosh, Green Beans and Rolls

Saturday - Tonight we are going to eat out.  We want to take the boys to do their Christmas shopping and then drive around to see the lights.

Sunday - Today is Nate's actual birthday.  I'm going to mix it up a bit and make Chicken Nuggets and Fries ;-) That will make him happy :-)

Monday - I'm not sure yet - it is going to be a "Freezer/Pantry" meal.  With Christmas Eve and Christmas, my grocery budget needs a break so I'm trying to just shop from home for most of the week.

Tuesday - Christmas Eve :-)  It is our tradition to have snacks in the evening but this year I've had to get creative due to Darryl's stomach issues.  Plus I wanted stuff the kids will actually eat ;-)  So, we are having "tea sandwiches" - PB and J, Egg Salad, and maybe Tuna.  (I'll cut the crusts off and cut each into 4 . . .they will be cute.), Cheese, Crackers and Pickles, Fruit and Dip, and Christmas Goodies!

Wednesday - Breakfast is always special . .. .well, as special as it can be with two toddlers HA!  Unless something changes drastically with Darryl's stomach, we can't have our traditional food so, at this time, I'm planning Waffles, Sausage, and a nice fruit bowl. Christmas Dinner!  Ham, Cheesy Potatoes (and a Sweet Potato for Darryl), Pioneer Woman Green Bean Casserole, Roasted Carrots,

Thursday - What is best the day after a holiday?  Leftovers, of course!

Merry Christmas from our Family to yours!

So here it is!  Our Christmas card :-)  I ordered from a new company this year, thanks to an groupon where I got a $70.00 package for $20.00.  I'm not going to share the company name because I found that their templates were NOT easy to use at all and, when I opened the envelope with my photo cards in it, I discovered, well, that they weren't mine.  I had someone elses cards which included their address, phone # and e-mail address on the confirmation!  (And mine had been shipped to someone else . . .).  The company made it all right but I won't order from them again!

Anyway - if you feel like reading, our Christmas letter is below!

Christmas 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello!  For me personally, I always enjoy this time when I get to sit down and reflect on our past year in order to share just a little bit of our adventures with each of you. 

Our Animals – China, our wonderful dog, is still doing great J  She is just as much of a couch potato as she has ever been but has also become quite the “guard” dog with the boys.  During the summer she is outside with them often, seemingly sleeping in the sun, but if someone approaches the yard, she puts on her “mean dog” face and lets them know they can’t enter the yard.  Nate especially loves her and often sits next to her on the couch, resting his hand on her back.  Misty is really showing her age but she still has spunk.  Sure, her jumping isn’t quite as high; her hearing isn’t quite as keen; but she still loves to snuggle in and stay warm!  It’s hard to believe she is about 18 years old.  We did lose one pet this past year – Stratocastor passed away not long after Christmas last year.  We noticed the day after Christmas that she was having trouble walking; we were trying to decide what to do when she made the decision for us, curled up and went to sleep forever.  We are thankful for that but I sure missed seeing her on the porch this summer, stretched out in the sun!

Our Kids – Josh and Nate are doing great.  We worked on homeschooling this year with Josh in K-4 and Nate in preschool.  Both boys enjoy learning and, more importantly, enjoy learning at home J  They also attended a weekly homeschool co-op where they were able to enjoy gym class as well as other learning classes.  We have moved on to bikes with training wheels this year – Josh and Nate both love their new bikes and their new freedom to ride in the drive-way.  Josh continues to entertain us with his stories, jokes, and take charge attitude (He often asks me if it is his time to be charge . .. ).  Nate continues to have that sweet spirit that coincides with his “all boy – not afraid of anything” attitude.  I’m his best buddy right now and I wouldn’t change that for anything! 

Our Work – Darryl continues to drive a Taxi for Calder City Cab in Grand Rapids.  It is something he enjoys most of the time but does get a little stir crazy sometimes.  So far, God has not opened any other doors and has supplied for our needs through this job.  I am still helping a friend out and watching her children – ages 3 and 10 months.  We added a Girl to the mix with all of the boys as the 10 month old is . . well, a girl ;-)  My boys love her and would like her to live with us . .. except now she is ‘on the move’ and they really don’t like that at all! 

Our “fun” – Darryl continues to play with the group “Alive” and has enjoyed that more this year despite his long hours at work that make it hard to stay awake during practice.  He also enjoys writing and recording his own music too.  Scrapbooking is still my main hobby and I had the opportunity to take a weekend away with friends to do just that in the fall.  It was a great get away and I got a lot done!!  I have also enjoyed singing in the Lakewood Choral Society again this year and am looking forward to an upcoming Christmas concert. 

Our “Not so much fun” – As I write this Christmas letter, Darryl has been off of work for over 2 months.  At the end of September, after struggling with a very sore back, he ended up flat on his back due to a back injury.  After a trip to the ER, some awful pain meds, and an MRI he was sent to a Neurosurgeon to see what could be done.  It continued to get worse so he was sent for a CT scan as well where they found that the L4 and L5 Vertebrate had “tipped” and were severely irritating the nerves making walking very difficult and causing his legs to go numb.  During this time, he started dealing with stomach issues that turned into pain so severe that I had to take him to the ER again; after several tests it appears that he has gastritis and a possible ulcer.  Thankfully, a very, very plain, simple diet has helped that all heal and he is doing much better (and has lost 30 pounds!!).  We are still working on the back issues but, again, some good news is that it seems to be less painful and the numbness is not so severe.  Having Darryl home has been great – we’ve always joked that we wish he worked at home so we could always be together but, he is technically self-employed so we’ve had to really trust God to supply our needs, which He has done.  It hasn’t been a stress free 2 months by any means, but I can say that our faith is stronger J We are hopeful that he can slowly return to work over the next month and going to hold off on any surgery to see if it continues heal on its own otherwise surgery will have to happen at a later time.

Our Home – If you have read this letter through the years you know that I often have a “water” story.  Well, I don’t want to let you down!  This spring, this area experienced severe flooding – some of the worst that has been seen in a very long time.  All of our neighbors had water filled basements and ran sump pumps for weeks to get water out.  We did not J  We did end up with just one small “puddle” in a low area in the basement but I think that was from all of the neighbors adding water to a water logged ground.  We did have a “flood” of our own, though . .. our water softener broke and flooded our basement.  Not once, but twice.  Seriously.  Uuuggg!!!  After the second time, we replaced the old girl and put in a new system (Thanks to the Cullegan Man!) which, after almost 3 months, is finally working the way it should – the secretary knew my number because I called that office so many times!! 

Our Vacation – This year we enjoyed a fantastic family vacation with the boys.  We decided to stick close to home and headed to Mackinaw City for a week.  The boys were beyond thrilled – we even made a countdown chain to hang so the boys could keep track of how many “sleeps” until we left.  I can’t even express in a letter how much fun the boys had but on the morning we were packing to leave the boys cried, ask to be left behind, requested that we take the pictures off the hotel walls to take home with us and we had to drive over the bridge one last time.  Even now, 6 months later, Josh will ask when we are going back because Mackinaw City is his favorite place.  Can you guess where we are going on vacation next summer??

Christmas Decorations - the rest of the House

I'm not sure what happened but I've run out of days HA!  I had it in my head that I could post once a week and get through the house but . . .then I looked at my blogging calendar and guess what?  I can't.  Between Advent Posts and Homeschool Posts not to mention one little boys birthday that is coming up . . .well, I'm running out of days.  So this post will include the rest of the house :-)

If you missed the last two posts, please take a look at our Kitchen and our Dining Room.

Now, on to the Living Room!

 After I had finished decorating the Living Room, I glanced at the photo boards and noticed they looked out of place because they held all of our recent photos . . .taken in the midst of a beautiful fall!  The fall pictures just didn't work so I went through last years Christmas photos and picked out some favorites, had them printed and have put those on the boards.  Such a small thing makes such a big difference!

 The boys stockings.  I'll be honest, they are never big enough HA  But, we love them.  We purchased them at Bronner's in Frankenmuth before each of their first Christmas'.

 A favorite spot of the boys - the candy dish! 

 I used to wrap the pictures on the walls but, as nice as it looks, it is alot of work so instead I'm slowly adding Christmas artwork.  In this case, these are paintings the boys did last year.   The shelf holds a couple of special decorations.  The Christmas Tree was a gift Darryl brought me on our very first date.  It is supposed to light up but it doesn't anymore - I still love it though!

 Then there is this Reindeer Noel - I bought it for my first apartment and have never found anything else like it.

 The Trees are a new addition this year.  I found them at Walmart after Christmas last year for just a couple of dollars.  They look great by my special snowmen.

 Another thing I love to do is hang ornaments from the ceiling.  I think it adds dimension for not a lot of effort!

 Donald Duck.  This is something we picked up at Frankenmuth years ago.  I will admit that he often stays up most, if not all of the year. 

 Our Christmas Tree (and it is snowing really hard outside too!)

 I left some things for the boys to decorate with (I decorated while they were at Papa and Nana's) because I know how much they love to help.  I even left this whole stand empty for them and this was Josh' creation. 

 Such a pretty photo of the tree and all of the snow outside!

I picked up this house through a Home Interiors party quite a few years ago.  I like that it is whimsical - and it is made of Tin verses the classic Glass houses.

 Another picture of the tree to showcase the lights. 

One last photo - see the guy in blue?  That is a toy from my Husband's childhood.  (Not HIS toy - he and his brother destroyed their toy like that making it do all kinds of things HA).  He resides on the cabinet all year long but at Christmas he gets a hat and some jingle bells :-)

Now, on to the bathroom!

 The Christmas shower curtain - an all time favorite.  And the rug :-)  Those two things alone make the bathroom much more festive!

 The shelf in the bathroom is home to some more of my favorite snowmen!

This, once again, is Josh's handwork - he felt the tree would go perfectly right on the bathroom cart and who am I to argue? ;-)

I love wreaths on the doors.  This is the bathroom door and then in the distance is our bedroom door.  This year, that is as much decor as our room got.  I usually change out the bedspread but my husband is using that quilt on the couch to sleep most nights and, after cleaning out all of my stuff this summer, I ended up without stuff to use in a few rooms.  That's ok - our room right now is "filled" with boxes holding Christmas gifts, or at least it FEELS that way!

Finally, the boys room.

 Their door decoration.

 Each of the boys has a tree.  They love them (and they will probably be up until April!!)

 This year the boys are really beginning to understand what Christmas is - that there was a special baby born just for us.  I love the Nativity Sets they each have and, it is even ok if they play with them!

 I used wreaths as wall decorations in their room - there is one hanging over each of their beds.

Some ornaments from the ceiling add lots of fun for them too.

A nice shot of their trees and nativity sets.

That's our home this year!  I've mentioned before that I've had more fun this year because I have less stuff and have been able to add a few new things.  Next year I want to add more lights and wall decor more than anything else.

Merry Christmas!

Homeschool Corner

The boys are really enjoying "school" this month.  The advent Bible reading has gained their interest as have the Christmas Books and Crafts.  I realized one day last week that I need to start prepping for January.  Printing, planning, cutting and prepping all take time.  I want to do something a little different for the rest of the year and that is I want to print everything now and put it in file folders so that each week I just have to pull papers that I need.  I'm also starting to look at curriculum for K-5 next year.  I think I have it narrowed down to what I want to do and am looking forward to a Homeschooling Conference in May so that I can do some looking and shopping for curriculum there as well as attend sessions.

This is what we did this week!

The Grinch Advent
Monday - We had originally planned to take the boys to see Santa; there is a local Husband and Wife that are "official" Mr and Mrs Claus and they set up a really cool Santa House for free photos.  Well, I asked the boys if they would actually sit on his lap or stand by him and they said NO!  My kids are very shy when it comes to new people or characters . . .so I'm letting go of that "tradition" for now :-(  Instead they opened up a small stamp set . . . which they loved and made fingerprints and hand prints.  I obviously didn't think that gift through :-)

Tuesday: Nuetlla snack cups with cookie stix - a favorite treat of the boys!
Wednesday: Starburst Candy Books
Thursday: Christmas Pez Dispensers
Friday: Stuffed Animals - to which Nate promptly said, "I do not like it; do not give me stuffed animals as gifts. Geesh!
Saturday: Airplanes
Sunday: Ring Pops (a big hit!!)

Our Bible Advent
Using the Storybook Bible is fabulous.  Once we finish with the advent, I plan on using it at Bedtime - we have started reading stories at night so I think we can add reading one of the Bible stories as well.  We are not doing this advent 7 days a week . . .so I am picking and choosing some of the stories/ornaments we are doing in order to make sure we get to the end of the stories on time.

Just a sampling of what we are doing.  I mentioned to my husband this week that, well, our boys are not artistic.  It isn't that they aren't creative - they are - they just have no artistic talent HA!  Their coloring consists of one solid color and it drives me bananas.  Oh well.  They must get their non-artistic talent from me - I can't even draw a stick figure!

And since these posts have been a little less than exciting, I thought I would include some misc photos from our week.

On Saturday, the 7th, it started Snowing and the boys were over joyed.  They slipped on some boots and went outside in their PJ's Saturday morning.  Nate went out first and it was just too cute to NOT take photos! 

 Notice the glove on one hand?  He started with two gloves but realized he couldn't feel the snowflakes with the gloves on so he took one off.

 Of course, once the camera came out, Josh had to get in on the fun!

 Then, the snow really started to amp up on Sunday.

 First up, the boys found some new cookie cutters I had picked up for making Christmas cookies (remember we were going to make them last Friday but I was SOOO sick!) and they BEGGED to make cookies.  Darryl took on the task on Sunday afternoon.

 Now, really, this is all they did - they cut them out, we baked them, they ate a bite or two and that's it.  No decorating.  The cookies were made with sugar cookie dough (refrigerated) and I didn't realize that it wasn't really meant for cut out cookies . . .. they spread and the cookies had no shape.  Plus, they weren't really that tasty.  I plan on making some real cut out cookies this next week so the boys can decorate them.

 Once the cookies were made, they headed outside and played until it was dark. 

Monday brought even MORE snow!

The boys used bowls to make snow forts, got their bikes and out played "crash" in the driveway (they would fall over and the other one would rescue them) and again, played until almost dark.

The weather turned bitter so on Tuesday and Thursday they couldn't go out at all; on Wednesday, I let them go out at about 3:45 and Josh stayed out until 5:00 - he's warm blooded like me, though, so he can last a long time in the cold ;-) 

Things My Kids Say

* Nate got sick in the middle of the night last week; I heard him up and got up to meet him at the bathroom.  He nonchalantly walked past me and said, "Mom, I puked so you need to wash my big blanket.  I just need to wipe my face and go back to bed.  As he carefully wiped his chin . . .not noticing that his PJ's . . well, he had a bigger mess on his hands.  Poor little guy : -(

* I asked Nate what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, thinking he would say chocolate or vanilla.  No, his reply was, "I want a pony or rocket or maybe a bunny - you know, mom, the kind we see at the store. Lets go to the store and buy one." LOL  I love how he thinks.

*Nate looked at me one morning as I came out of the bathroom (he had been waiting for me . . . .) and said, "Mom, that was a long shower.  I used to take long showers when I was a grown up like you too.".   Where does he come up with this stuff???

* At the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse they sing "The Hot Dog Song."  Nate stood up and said, "Everyone is singing and dancing, including I!!" LOL  Then he danced. :-)

*Josh is my perfectionist.  So, sickness is not on his list of "perfect things".  This past week he has also been hit with the flu but anytime I say, "Well, you feel like that because you got sick last night."  He'll respond with, "Mom, I'm not sick, I just . . . drank too much water, ate too much dinner, was too hot, was scared of something in the room  . ..  .(you get the idea)".  It makes me snicker . . .someday he will accept that being sick doesn't impact his "perfectness" LOL 

Our Book Advent - Week 2

December 9

Since "Mooseltoe" was checking everything off of his list - we made a simple little Christmas decor craft that I picked up at Michael's a few weeks ago :-)

 Josh's Wreath :-)

Nate's Wreath :-)
December 10:

This book goes through the Alphabet with lots of fun things . . .I liked Jingle Bells so we did a fun craft from Education.com.

The boys enjoyed this project - they each had their own sheet of stickers along with some left over foam stickers from Monday to decorate their Jingle Bell Cups.  It surprised me that Nate enjoyed this project the most - he used every last sticker up (His is the cup on the left!)

December 11

My original plan was to make pine cone Christmas Trees but I came up dry on pine cones - shoot, I couldn't even order them on Amazon because they were sold out!  My boys have been begging to paint and I've been wanting to do Q-Tip painting so I figured we would paint Christmas trees.  Josh loved this craft and ended up making two trees.  Nate "got tired" and wanted me to paint for him (which just means he is done!)

 Nate's Christmas Trees . . .

Josh's Christmas Trees - paint is Josh's friend!

December 12

And this is real life . .. I didn't feel like doing anything today so instead of doing my orignally planned craft . . I pulled out another purchase from Micheals.  These were Scratch Ornaments . . except you can't see the scratch part because once the boys scratched off all of the black part they covered it all up with the foam stickers.  They did love doing the scratch off part though :-)

December 13

Naturally, we decorated Gingerbread men today (and then ate some!)

 My cookie :-)

 Josh's plate of sprinkles . .. I mean his cookie HA!

Nate's cookie - yes, there are Halloween Sprinkles on this cookie too!