Decked Out

"Mom, when does the Easter Bunny come?"

"Like, um, four months or something like that."

"Well, I'm going outside and when I come back in I was thinking we could take down the Christmas decorations and put up the Easter stuff."

I'm hardly up for the task to start taking down the Christmas decor, let alone putting up Easter decorations. However, this year there is not .1% sadness that Christmas is over and soon we will have to start putting our party decorations away. We've been truly blessed with another Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. It was a beautiful holiday stretched out over an entire season this year. Our children have really affirmed several things--a baby changed everything, Christmas is extremely wonderful looking through the eyes of a child, giving is better than receiving, and family is such a blessing.

It is my hope that you had a special moment like I did on Christmas Eve. Several hours after returning home from church, I was able to pause and give thanks to Jesus for all that He has done for me and given to me in the midst of the wrapping paper, cheers and laughs. For without His saving grace, I would have nothing.

This Christmas season has truly been a great reminder at the blessings that I am surrounded by.

For it's not what I don't have, it's what I have been abundantly blessed with.

I wish that your Christmas was not only abundantly bright and merry, but also a time of praise for our Lord and Savior.

With that being said, a little peek at our birthday parties for Jesus. Merry Christmas to you.

still deckin' the halls

We are in the middle of a snow storm people! It's been a great, yet long day stuck in this home of ours. I've enjoyed watching the storm from the comfort of my warm home; however some people have had to get out and experience the elements.

A little action shot of the neighbors helping each other get their mini vans unstuck in 18 inches of accumulated snow. I felt a bit guilty watching rather than helping, and a bit ridiculous taking pictures. BUT, it was a good reminder to stay indoors, and NOT drive a minivan.

However, I just didn't sit around all day. We had some pretty exciting stuff going on inside our home today. First, we must start the day with watering the Christmas tree. This little elf

can't get enough of the watering can. He's been obsessed for months with this little green can, and now that he can help water this amazing tree that we brought from the outside, inside--he's even more excited to help with his can!!

Then the busy little elf, put on his supervisor hat and watched over us make sandwiches for 363, which is an organization that distributes sandwiches to the homeless. This was a great opportunity for kids to get involved giving to other during the season of giving. We shelled out 500 bologna & cheese sandwiches in about 60 minutes this morning.

After lunch and a little nap by the foreman, Harrison and I got busy in the kitchen making a little goodie for ourselves.

I discovered the ultimate Christmas cookie magazine while waiting in line at Target one day.

I decided not to buy it because I figured I could find the recipe for--

online. A sort of replacement for the peanut butter blossoms that we don't make anymore due to our peanut free house. After searching for the recipe, I gave up and decided it was worth the $5.99. Let me tell you---this magazine is a lot of bang for the buck if you have a sweet tooth and do some holiday baking. I have looked this magazine over and over and just can't decide where to start, or better yet...where to end.

So that brings us to this evening. We're chillaxin, watching a little ABC Family Christmas movie, eating cookies, doing a little of this

and that. I'm only participating in "this". I refuse to play along with Scott and the boys as they play "that". "That" is the game hide and seek. I don't play that game indoors because apparently I was the one (victim, perhaps?) who knocked over one of these

one night at my grandparent's home. It was full of plants and well, it was a mess. I remember all of us grandkids were sitting on the spare bed afterwards (kinda like being quarantined) while our parents cleaned up the mess. Guess I did it. But it was dark, how come I got blamed? Anyhow, I like to laugh about it. I'm too scarred to play hide-and-seek indoors.

So instead, I choose to point Henry and Harrison in the direction of their hiding Daddy, sipping on a little adult beverage, while searching for a contest to enter my Drew Carey look-a-like.

Happy shoveling.

deck the halls

There are about a thousand little things that I could be doing right now while Harrison is asleep and Henry is at school. However, I've been reminded to post and since I have no motivation to do a few of the thousand things I should be doing...

SO! I've set a timer for 30 minutes and when it goes off...I'm done! No constant proofing and perfecting because this is the season of a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it.!!

I'll start with yesterday. We got our tree. This happens to be one of my most favorite things to do with my family. Now, it's way easier to go to the lot and pick out a real tree, but what fun (or work) is that!? So after church, we scarfed down a sandwich (made by my husband) and loaded up the boys and off we went! There was fresh snow from Friday night and it was a bit chilly. However, Mr. Harrison was buckled down and off we went with saw in hand.

It was tough to find the perfect tree this year. And after some time searching, we narrowed it down to three. However....this little one (in the sled) told us we better make a quick decision. He was cold and crying with boogers and tears making him colder. He just wanted to keep moving really because once the decision was made and the sled was moving, he was happy.

Henry liked to run after the sled. Needless to say, by 6:30 last night, we were one tired family from treking through the snow and fresh air.

Here's the tree untrimmed by the man who cut it down.

Here's our cute little neighbors who also cut down their tree yesterday at the tree farm. It was quite an adventure for all. If you haven't cut your own tree, try it--so fun!

And this lil man thought it was about the coolest thing to put a tree in the middle of the living room. The oohs & ahhs were like none other I've heard from him.

I bought an Advent calendar this year from a woman who handmade it in Finland. It's beautiful. I don't have a picture of it on my computer and I'm working under a tight deadline people. I have two things to say about the calendar: It's a great way for me to remind Henry daily that Christmas is NOT about Santa and gifts, but rather it's about preparing for the birth of the baby who changed everything. Secondly, it's a great way to bring in spending time with the kids, rather than just little trinkets of stuff. Believe me, we love the trinkets, but Henry was just as excited when he got to chop down a tree with his family.

Umm...have you ever given a kid a whoopie cushion and watched them say busy for hours? Henry received one as a prize at a benefit this weekend. The giggles and squeals from him and the little neighbor girls was pretty darn cute and funny. Try that for a stocking stuff this year.

Come on ride the train! The CRAZY TRAIN! OMG (on a time crunch, texting abbreviations are allowed today) this was SO MUCH FUN! I think it's probably not as fun to the average/normal mom, but when we met at Southdale Mall last week, the moms were just as excited about this train as the kids were.

I think we are still laughing, mostly at ourselves, because not only was the train ride so much fun, but also we owned the stage at the mall for a good hour. The kids ate snacks and danced like they were superstars. There were no toys and no messes to clean up. Just some good company, snackin' and goofin' around. Can I get a CHOO CHOO!

Buddy from Dinosaur Train. Need I say anything more? I think I'd run too, Harrison!

I have two minutes until my time is up, so while my pictures are uploading, I'm going to dump the last of it....

Thanksgiving was a blast! We spent a long weekend with my in laws. I have to say that when people complain about having to spend time with their in laws, I have nothing to add. We were blessed to spend time with cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. We ate well, slept well, played, did lots of art, and had lots of laughs.

Time's up!

Jen