Notes to Self . . . Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with three full days of Christmas activities. The kids had a great time celebrating. The days seemed non-stop; as Greg and I unwound from the weekend last night, we thought through some ideas to make years to come a little easier. First, the highlights of our Christmas . . .

Christmas Eve service with family. Family gathering following. Home for Christmas pjs. Long evening of construction and assembling. Christmas morning followed by brunch. Presents with my family. Visit with Granddaddy. Christmas dinner and Landon's birthday celebration! SNOW!!! Sunday no church or power. Snowman and snowball fights. Christmas lunch with Abrams. Presents with Abrams family. Clean up. And more clean up.

Favorite gifts: Camden - microscope. Landon - pillow pet. Sarah Manning - sort shape blocks. Hannah Katherine - zoo animal train.

Favorite memories: Gingerbread day with kids. Making dresses with Camden for his gift to the girls. Reading Little House Christmas with Landon. Nightly Jesse Tree Bible reading.

Now, onto notes to self for Christmas' to come as a family of six . . .
*limit the number of gifts per kid from grandparents. thinking next year three per kid. our house looks like toys r us right now.
*plan ahead a little better. i really wanted to have a handmade gift for each child this year - i was planning on making the boys their own quilt and the girls a little robe. because i didn't gather it all together soon enough the gifts did not get made.
*prepare ornaments for jesse tree before december 1st. this year we continued with our nightly readings from the jesse tree. i had intended to create an ornament to go along with each symbol for us to hang on our jesse tree but they never were made. i'm thinking this would be a great family project over thanksgiving break.
*make sure Christmas picture is taken at least a week before Thanksgiving. this we actually did this year and it was so nice to not have to have our Christmas cards rushed.
*don't schedule all three major Christmas present openings back to back to back. the kids had so much to open and so close together i still don't know if they have seen everything really.
*go to grandparents. it was nice to not travel with the girls this year because logistically we have to travel in two cars and the girls are not sleeping well at all right now. however, there is something special being at grandmom's house and having those memories for our kids. next year there should not be a wedding the weekend before Christmas and the girls should be sleeping through the night.
*make sure Greg takes at least an extra day if not week after Christmas off. this year Greg had to be at work today. since we just did Christmas with his family yesterday, our house was chaos. we needed another day with us both home to de-clutter and clean up.

Well, we just packed up the tree tonight and we are now trying to clean up and organize as we approach 2011. We had such a great time celebrating the girls' first Christmas - Landon's 7th birthday - but most of all we took time to celebrate our King of kings who came a baby so we could have Christmas. Holy Christmas.

Do as the Wise Men Did

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped Him." Matthew 2:10-11

As we race towards Christmas, my prayer for our family is that we can joyfully follow the light of Christ and stop, bow down and worship Him.

* Verse from today's reading in our favorite devotional right now - Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids

With This Ring . . .

I love weddings. I love to see two people embark on a journey together, full of love and hope. I love to watch God bring glory to Himself through the joining of two. I love it all - wedding music, receptions, the flowers.

This weekend my brother, Tripp, was married. We love his bride, Laura, and I am so excited to have gained a new sister. It was so fun to be a part of their wedding. The rehearsal dinner Friday, bridesmaid breakfast and wedding on Saturday - it was a full weekend.

The kids did great too! I was really concerned how they would do being shuffled all over the place. The boys went with us to the rehearsal dinner Friday night and the girls stayed with sitters at home (which made me nervous because the last time they were with a sitter they cried the whole time - they did MUCH better this time). Saturday morning Greg had all the kids and he even dressed ALL four for the wedding because I had to be at the church three hours before. He did a great job!! The girls only stayed the reception for a little while and then a sitter brought them home for bed.

Over the weekend, I was reminded just how much I love being married to Greg. It was so fun to think back to almost 13 years ago when we were married. Our life together has been such a fun adventure and even though it is cliche, I really do love him more today than in years prior. We had a great time dancing together, laughing together, and enjoying the time to recommit ourselves to our marriage as we witnessed Tripp and Laura take their vows for the first time.

With This Ring . . . loved shagging to this song as much Saturday as I did after Greg proposed to me. Welcome to the family Laura!!!

Girlies Update

The girls turned 11 months on Saturday, which also was the day my brother was married!!! More about the wedding to come . . . but a quick update on SMA and HKA. They are both crawling and are very curious - loving any drawer they can get into. Hannah Katherine went from a sit to a stand for the first time Saturday all by herself. They are both very vocal saying ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba, go-go, bye-bye, duck, and dog as well as quacking like a duck and barking like a dog. Sarah Manning's bottom two teeth are finally in and Hannah Katherine has one in and working on the other. We have seriously thouught they were "teething" since three months - turns out they actually have some reflex which was the cause of their fussiness not teeth!

We are having so much fun with them!

Life from the Carpool Line

After listening to the girls babble and cry for over an hour from their cribs, I realized that their naps were not going to happen. I decided to pack them up and head out early to get the boys, knowing they would fall asleep in the car. As I sit in carpool line waiting for 3 o'clock, I wanted to take some time to reflect on this year.

I try to always respond to people with a glass "half full" but this post is going to be a little more raw, simply to document for years to come our life this year as we transitioned to a family of six.

Yes, life has changed. Yes, things are much harder. Yes, we do have our hands full. That being said, we are very blessed and cannot go a day without a grateful heart. I always wanted a big family and Greg and I said from pre-marital counseling forward that we either wanted two or four kids, not three (we both grew up with three - nothing wrong with it - just already lived it).

As of now, Greg and I have not slept through the night in over a year. The girls still wake 1-2 times a night each. We have tried to let them cry it out but after two hours and still crying and the boys waking as well, we threw that idea out the window for now. It's easier for us to get the girls up, fed them and put them back down. I know we will not do this forever but it works best for now.

Our daily schedule begins around 6:15. We wake up, Greg showers, I tend to the girls and their bottles, the boys dress, and then we head downstairs for breakfast. Mornings can be chaos especially when everyone does not sleep well. Greg and the boys head out for school and work, while I start to feed the girls their breakfast.

We continue through the day with two naps for the girls, house tiding, LAUNDRY, and carpool. The girls get fussy around 5 pm, in part because they are tired but have given up that third nap. I attempt to make dinner - if the girls are content long enough to start it and if I have made it to the grocery store. From that point our night flies - dinner, then baths, bottles, reading, and bed for the kids. Then its off to clean the kitchen and sterilize all the bottles and pacis (which takes one hour each night).

Trips to the store and to run errands continue. I still try to do the weekly grocery shopping and Greg just picks up things as we need them through the week. At the store, the girls sit in their stroller that I push and then I pull a shopping cart behind me. I love our Publix - the employees ALWAYS offer to help and are so great.

Because Greg and I were the oldest in our families and remember our youngest siblings' births, we were very intentional about trying to not use the girls as an excuse for the boys not doing something. They continued with basketball, baseball, flag football and swim team this year. We have spent lots of nights on the ballfields.

For the most part, the boys have adjusted well this year. We definitely struggle with sibling rivalry more and there are times when the boys get frustrated when the girls' needs come first. We have separated the boys into their own rooms for the first time since Landon was a toddler. I think the rivalry was actually better before they had their own rooms. We may rearrange the rooms again at the first of the year.

We have definitely been carried by God's grace this year. There are many days when Greg and I get in bed at the end of the day and wonder how in the world we did all we had to do. We are tired. We are so done with bottles. But . . . we LOVE our life and our family.

For the year to come, we have purposefully scaled back. No winter sports for the boys. Commitments cancelled as we stop, reflect and get a fresh vision and direction for our family. God has given us our family and we want to glorify Him within it. We feel like we are exiting survival mode and heading into life with a little more intent.

Life in the carpool line, a little chaotic, a little loud, lots of crazy times, but full of grace, life and lots more ahead.

Preparing for Christmas

As we prepare to eat turkey tomorrow, followed by the early morning shopping of Friday, today I am taking some time to organize and plan the next few weeks events, projects and activities to make sure we stop and enjoy this season together.

Every year we have a family Christmas card. Our picture has been taken and I cannot wait to see the results later this week. This year we will be using Shutterfly to capture the yearly documentation of our family. They have some great options for photocards and are offering a wonderful deal to bloggers who post about their holiday collection - 50 free cards!

I really love these 5 x 5 card options they have this year. They have some really cute designs.


I also really like the gift tags they have available.

With Christmas card shopping crossed off the list, I can now move onto other Christmas tasks and holiday fun!

Autumn Fun

With Thanksgiving and the holidays right on our heels, I realized that the last three months have gone undocumented. Our weeks have seemed to fly by and I cannot believe we are rounding out the year already. Our family has enjoyed fall so much.

In September, we took the kids for a day trip to pick apples. Even though the temperature did not read fall, we had a great time picking apples, going on a hayride and looking at all the farm animals. The boys experienced The Beacon for the first time and Camden declared it his second favorite restaurant.

The boys both played fall sports - Camden played his third season of baseball for this year and Landon enjoyed his first year of flag football. Between both boys practices and games, we spent many evenings on the ballfields.

In early October, Camden celebrated his 9th! birthday. Instead of a big friend party, he decided he just wanted to have a family dinner. We enjoyed celebrating him and are so proud of the boy he is becoming.

Later in October, we enjoyed all things Halloween with a trip to Country Adventures, Boo at the Zoo, the church's fall festival, pumpkin carving, and trick or treating. The boys dressed as Braves players and the girls were little fairies. We had a great time together!

The girls are 10 months now and are so much fun. They LOVE their brothers and the boys are SO sweet to them. One morning I heard the girls stirring and was waiting to get them for just a few more minutes of rest. The next thing we know, Camden had gone into their room, gotten the girls out of their cribs, and he and Landon were entertaining them in his room.

We are now ready to decorate a tree, wrap lots of presents, and enjoy all the sights and wonders of the season to come. We are loving every minute of the blessings we have been given!