A Few Words About Christmas and Our Future

Merry Christmas, Jonas; you get your own Lola!  We're thankful to Ikea for continuing to make these stuffed golden labs so that all our kids have been able to collect one over the years.

We did terrible with pictures of the kids this year, one of the main reasons I let go of sending out Christmas cards.  Next year we'll just run with it.  If Christian is covering his face, Daphne is wearing a My Little Pony crown, and Jonas is holding a wind-up radio, so be it. Set the expectations low now. 

our family Christmas on Dec 27

This is J trying to escape Christmas Eve dinner.

And this is "Daphne" enjoying "her" new microscope on Christmas Day.

I guess I did end up with one photo of all three kids on Christmas Day! 1/3 smiling, 1/3 looking at the camera, 3/3 blurry...photography magic right there. 

excuse me...I also need to be in that box

We got one little house project finished just in time for Christmas: finally figuring out what to do with our wood stove nook. We would love a mantle, but wood stove standards call for very high clearance above the stove, something like 58 inches.  So instead David made the corbels from extra spindles from the front porch, and attached Amish-made iron hooks to some matching boards for our stockings.  When we moved in this spot was just a gaping hole with light blue tiles, the old wood stove gone because it didn't meet current stove standards. Now it's cozy and cute with no blue tiles in sight. 

All the kids' stockings look very happy in their new home.

Next year's Christmas photos should be a breeze. 

Cheerful Christmas Photos

First of all, our house is looking lovely right now. Don't be dismayed at my vanity over its beauty.  (Outside beauty, at least.  On the inside...why doesn't anyone ever want to clean up after themselves?!)

colorful lights on the playhouse, too

When we started painting so many months ago I told David I was afraid we would leave the front undone for months at a time and it would be sooo embarrassing.  So yes, we still have to put shutters on upstairs, and I kind of want to put a sign on the front yard that says, "YES, WE ARE MISSING SHUTTERS. COMING SOON.  SORRY." Maybe if it would stop raining for five minutes so that hanging shutters could be safe.

This next cheerful picture is when I tried to get a nice Christmas picture of the kids.  I'm not kidding, this was the best one.

Jonas got Llama Llama Jingle Bells for his Christmas book this year.  So far I've read it 9,345 times.  I thought it would be a good idea to show Jonas that reading with Daphne is just as fun as reading with mom.  At least Daphne was happy about that plan. 

"don't take away my mama/book time!"

But carols on the trumpet with Dad is always a good time.  Jonas's favorite was singing/yelling along and sticking his hand up the bell. 

Gingerbread houses.  How do you feel?  I hate that they fall apart so easily, so for the past few years we've just flipped ice cream cones upside down and decorated those like Christmas trees.  Simple and kid friendly.  But this year Daphne had been talking about gingerbread houses and how she would really like one, and then Ikea had them for $4.99, so I guess it was time to man up and let the kids do a house.  I've heard several people say they hot glue theirs together, and ever the follower, that's what I did.

PROS: the house did not break while the kids decorated.  The roof has since collapsed, but that would be from the piles of jujubes frosted onto the roof; the seams that I glued held fast.  CONS: It was hard to glue because I had to hold the thing together for forever until the glue was totally set.  It slid apart quite a few times while I was gluing.  But since it held together so well the next day when the kids decorated, I would still hot glue if/when we do this in the future.

we did trees, too

I bought frosting for this project.  Daphne exclaimed, "the frosting is ALREADY MADE?  That is SO AMAZING!"  Oh, the wonders of the modern world.

teamwork

Nerds were one of the decorating candies.
Daphne: "Oh, Nerds! I love these! Do you, Christian?"
Christian: "I don't know, I've never eaten nerves before."

he's eaten them now and approves. on the nerds, at least

You're really good at decorating, Jonas

Also fun: Christmas trivia.  FYI: Daphne is an expert in the Christmas song category.  Out of the blue the other day she said, "You know what's an even prettier sight to see than holly on your own front door?  Smiles on people's faces."  Ha.  What a little Christmassy nerd she is.

Christian is not so good at Christmas trivia.  His answers are usually Jesus or Santa.  We would just cheer and say "Yes! The reindeer who's name starts with 'B' is definitely Jesus! And also Blitzen."

Oh, this picture is nice of all three snuggled together for a Christmas movie.  (Do not be too emotional over the sweetness in this picture.  This is the same night Christian secretly put shampoo on Daphne's toothbrush.)

Happy Advent to you.

Father's Day and a Pie Crust Recipe Link

Remember Father's Day?  It was awhile ago.

Jonas and I left early that morning to get breakfast fritters from David's favorite doughnut place, and coffee. Christian showed love by sharing his doughnut with his dad.   

no, he didn't

Side note here, but Daphne doesn't like doughnuts.  She'll eat raw onions, and cooked broccoli is one of her favorite things, but she says doughnuts are 'fuzzy'* and therefore inedible.  It's the weirdest thing.

*fuzzy: the fluffy cake part inside a doughnut. 

We got to host a little dinner that afternoon.  David requested fried chicken and strawberry pie for the meal. I don't particularly enjoy making pies, mostly because I don't like to eat them, and partly because I have a hard time getting a pie crust not be too dry.  A quick Pinterest search provided this crust recipe and...winner!  It was SO easy that I ended up making two pies and taking one to the neighbors.  That's saying a lot because, for reals, making pies is not fun. 

 the picture David took that day

a pretty good group, if i do say so myself

Papa Great's intro to Bob Books

3 generations

post dinner naps

A Father's Day comprised of food and naps; I think there could be worse days. 

For the Love (Or Not) of Valentine's Day

Daphne said to me the other day, "You must really love holidays because you always get excited for them."

This could be taken two ways.  Either 1) "Mom, you're a big, annoying weirdo," or 2) "Thanks for making holidays fun for us."  Obviously we choose option #2.

She went on to recall fond memories of Valentine's Days past, especially last year. (My favorite comparison from last year to this year is now we have our OK to Wake clock that keeps them in bed until 7:19 every morning.  That clock has changed my life.)

I won't lie; I thought it was sweet that Daph noticed we have fun on holidays.  But here's the deal:  if you're a parent who doesn't love the little (or even the big!) holidays, your kids won't grow up to hate you or their childhood. When it's hard enough to find time for a shower, time for a pink and red heart-themed breakfast on this one day may be nearly impossible.  Maybe you'll have more time in June, or July, or next October.  Make a heart breakfast then; they'll love it just as much.

The heritage of a happy, love-filled childhood leaves a longer impression than the traditions of one day.

And for the record, I don't like St Patrick's Day. I don't love green or gold (or at least the combination of the two) or four leaf clovers or pinching people.  My kids will probably grow up and have no idea that St Patrick's Day even exists.

I'll let you know if they grow up to hate me for that one. 

P.S. Right now it's 7:26 and all the kids are still sleeping! It's a Valentine miracle.

P.P.S.  They didn't get up until 7:31!

Our Christmases

David worked both Christmas Eve and Christmas this year, but if there is one thing years of an unusual work schedule has taught us, the date doesn't really matter and we get to have a wonderful Christmas even if we don't have a typical December 25th. 

the best 'Christmas morning' picture I could get

The 24th and 25th were full, busy, and fun, but the post-Christmas weekend was really nice and relaxing and reminded me more of Christmases of my youth, where little kids bugged the big kids and we played Pictionary even though it's such an exasperating game (you know, like when people draw what looks exactly like a spider and yet they claim it's a hand...not that I'm saying that happened).  Of course the weekend was probably relaxing only because I didn't have to do any of the cooking and because I wasn't one of the big kids being bothered by the babies.  Ha. 

Christian doing the Christmas Hover while visiting the downtown tree

I asked our kids what they loved most about Christmas this year, and Christan told me he loved our tree and the train track that went around it.  Daphne said she loved everything, and Jonas said he loved the constant smothering and love that he got.  I knew he would say that.

Here's a funny story for you:  Daphne had a Shriners appointment the week before Christmas to get her new shoes. (Horse pattern this time; way less obnoxious than the American flags.) The front desk people gave us a box and said, "Have a Gingerbread House!"  We thought it was so fun to be given the stuff for a Gingerbread House!  We got home and opened it...and found a perfectly put together and decorated house.  What?  Is this a thing?  People send each other completed Gingerbread Houses? (Because there was a card enclosed giving instructions for how you could send houses to your friends.)  I thought the fun was putting them together?  Anyway, after getting over our confusion, and once Daphne stopped wailing her disappointment at not getting to make a house, David said they could eat it as long as they used no hands.  So that was definitely second best in terms of Having Some Christmas Fun. 





















Daphne was much happier with getting to make and deliver Christmas cookies.  Christian's cookies were usually left off the plates, seeing as how there were bite marks/lick smears on all of his.  One neighbor in return gave us some tuna he had caught; I say we got the better end of that particular deal. 

(Daph also wanted to carol but I said No.  Maybe next year or maybe not.)

David's chore this season was to get some mistletoe from my grandparent's trees when we were down there after Thanksgiving, but he forgot and then I was mad at him until I made some out of felt scraps.  My kids are experienced mistletoe users; be careful getting yourself caught under some with one of them. 

Christian developed a huge crush on Santa this year.  We went back to our old neighborhood to visit the same Santa we've seen every year.  He rode up in his motorized wheelchair this visit, much to Christian's dismay.  "THAT IS NOT A SLEIGH!!" he yelled.  I bet Santa felt really great about that moment. 

J didn't love it

I wish we would've gotten a family picture, or at least a picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits, but in the busyness we didn't.  We took our Christmas card photo in November, in the front yard with the camera perched on a bench with some bricks.  We'll say that counts and call it good. 

Christmas was wonderful this year (aside from a few "are there more presents for me?" moments...I always said my kids would never say those types of things, so high five on that). 

And I was totally right: our new house makes a perfect Christmas house. 

and also plays host to some unusual holiday dance moves

The Tree

It's our tradition to get our tree the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Not for any significant reason except that David works weekends and is home on Mondays, and we want to get the tree early enough to enjoy it for the whole month of December.  The tree farm we've been going to for years is now a mere 4-ish miles away.  How convenient is that?  If it was snowy here and we had a horse with a sleigh, we could ride to the tree farm.  Except no snow and no horse, so that 'perfect tree hunting' stereotype will probably never happen.  Even though it would be so nice if it did. 

I'm pretending this is us getting our tree

Sometimes I feel like tree-getting day is so chaotic.  Fall stuff is mostly put away while the Christmas boxes are an exploded mess around the living room.  We clear a path for the tree and ornament boxes and hope we remembered to have some sparkling cider or something on hand.

This year, though, thanks to a majorly chaotic weekend of getting ready for a Sunday event, the house was sparkling on Monday, and there was even time to bake cookies and make this homemade sparkling apple juice in time to bring the tree in!  Plus, this year I FINALLY got myself a Christmas apron.  I felt like Martha Stewart herself, except a nicer version with no felony record.  And with brunette hair. 

the perfect tree...tall and skinny, just like we needed.

look at that sweet little reindeer!  another little boy wore that outfit HERE

three kids and a train

This year I'm feeling like Norman Rockwell himself came in and painted me a life.  An awful good one, at that.

But for good measure, here's another fake picture of fake us:

we're really happy in our fake life

Who Doesn't Love a Gluten Free Thanksgiving?

Just a few things to say about Thanksgiving 2014:

1) We've discovered that this house goes with holidays like macaroni goes with cheese.  Peanut butter with jelly.  OSU football with sad fans.  (Ha.  Kidding.  You don't have to be a winner to be happy.) 

Holidays and this house are fantastic.

2) We got some good pictures of our first Thanksgiving hosted here, the first of what will hopefully be many Thanksgivings to come.  I love hosting Thanksgiving if for no other reason than I get to make turkey stock after the meal is over.  And because Daph loves donning an apron and getting messy in the kitchen with me. 

"Is this the turkey's buns?"

They set the table with no regard for proper place setting etiquette

well, hi there, handsome

at the last minute David miraculously got the day off!  yay!

post dinner football

We loved this house in the fall, but now that the pumpkins are put away and Christmas has taken over...well, I just want to hole up here for the month of December and never leave. 

Eggs and Matching Blues

I said to David, "Don't you think this year it would be fun to make our own egg dyes using food and spices?"

His response was basically along the lines of, no.

But that could not stop me!  I didn't go crazy...just beets, coffee and turmeric, since those items were readily available in my cupboards.  Cooking them was a fun and sensory-filled experience as our kitchen smelled like an Indian coffee shop that sells beets and vinegar.  How delightful is that?

The colors turned out lovely.  More subtle than the store-bought kits, but kind of earthy and natural looking.  I definitely recommend this project.

David almost missed our egg-dying due to overtime at work (story of our lives), but we kept the kids up late so he could participate.

(When he finally came home he took a drink of the coffee dye.  He said it did not taste good.)

And while I do endorse making your own egg colors, I don't so much endorse doing a project that involves dye at a time of night when the kids are usually sleeping.  Just a good parenting tip for you right there.

After eggs and basically shoving some overly-hyper kids into their beds, Daph sang Christian to sleep with an Easter song she composed herself.  It went something like,

Tomorrow is a special Church Day
Because Jesus is Alive.
We are so happy, 
Because Jesus is alive.  

Before church the kids hunted for eggs.  We very nearly lost one, but Christian finally found it wedged into the toe of one of my boots.  That would have been an unfortunate egg to lose track of.  

While giving the kids hints as to where to find eggs, I clearly remembered hunting eggs once many years ago, and my dad's hint being "do you think it snowed last night?"  So of course I excitedly looked out the window only to see no snow and just a dumb egg on the window sill.  A major let down that's never been forgotten.  

As far as Easter outfits go, I wanted the kids to match this year.  Daphne got a new little blue dress and Christian already owned a matching blue shirt, and then even David owns a few blue shirts, so they all got to match.  I own nothing blue so I did not match.  That was sad.  At least the three of them looked beautiful and handsome.  (Daphne insisted on wearing her fur vest because it's her favorite, even though it kind of hid her dress.  Oh well.)

This was the first Sunday David has been to church with us since Christmas. We liked it. 

the bow tie did not go to church

and then there's that...

Happy Easter!