Deck the halls...

Cornucopias, scarecrows and  hay I love to decorate for the fall. I put a little bit of harvest joy in almost every corner of the house including the bathrooms, but we are wrapping up with the Thanksgiving holiday quickly, it seems. Since I could not convince ANY of my family to drive out to our house to celebrate we will be driving to Portland. 

With the knowledge that when we arrive back home it will already be December, I had to switch gears. I like to be immersed in the season for as long as possible. This is a characteristic that can drive Brent a little crazy at times. I have boxes and boxes of holiday decorations. The biggest season I decorate for is Christmas, followed by Thanksgiving and Halloween, then Easter. I have small miscellaneous thing I put out for Fourth of July, St. Patrick's Day and Valentines, but no where near the stockpile for Christmas. So I pulled out all my favorite Christmas CD's, brought in all the boxes and we went to work.

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year. From the warm feeling I remember being enveloped in when I was a child surrounded by family, to the joy that comes from giving. I always wanted our house to feel like a magical place for our kids. They have enjoyed the decorations over the years and many nutcrackers have fell victim to their play. My parents always had elaborate Christmas villages with building and fake snow. I remember playing with the little figures and ornaments. Laying under the tree looking up at all the lights.

There are a few things we do as traditions each year. We are not even sure why these things are traditions or why they are so important. Like many of the crazy things we do it was probably my fault. For instance, I have always wanted to have my tree to look elegant.
Stemming from my childhood experiences with trees. As a child my most prominent Christmas tree memory is of my grandmother. She always got one of those trees that were flocked (covered in fake snow stuff). They would be pink or white and donned with tinsel and homemade ornaments.  My sisters, cousins, and I  would sit around little fingers picking and scrapping off snow. I guess in California it was popular to have "pretend" snow.
My childhood household it was always a massive hunt at a tree farm. Walking for what seemed like days, and then waiting in the cold for my dad to chop the tree down. Once the tree was erected in our living room we would have the Christmas music on and my sisters and I would go to work. Again, putting our homemade ornaments all over. With multi-colored lights and straw bearded Santa missing eyes, ugh! Tinsel blobs, because one of my sisters would not take the time to nicely place the tinsel one strand at a time.
My younger self always envied the trees at department stores. Glowing cones of perfection. My eyes would trace the flowing ribbons around, captivated with matching ornaments and white twinkly lights. "When I grow up, I'm going to have a tree like that!"

And wouldn't ya know it, I did...but, I am starting to see the pleasure in those old home made ornaments.
The boys have made me several over the years. Instead of "ruining" my perfectly coordinated tree I bought a small fake tree for them to put all of my "special" ornaments on. Now they are out growing their little tree, and I need to integrate their masterpieces with my perceived perfection. At first the idea made me cringe. I love my boys artwork, but I love symmetry and order too! But now...
Each time I see one of their little Popsicle stick snowflakes or cotton ball snowmen I am transported back to the very moment I was handed a tissue paper ball and their tiny smiles beamed as they waited in anticipation while I opened the package. Now I try hard to preserve my treasures, and my tree is becoming more and more like that in my memories.

Another tradition I started after seeing or reading something and thinking "hey that would be cool, when I have children I am going to do that."

Each year we buy the boys an ornament.
When Mitchel was born I appointed him a star for an annual ornament.
Brayden a snowflake,
and August (his brothers decided) is a heart.

Each year the boys chose an ornament in their appointed symbol. Some years it has been hard to find ornaments they like, but generally there are always stars, snowflakes, and hearts.

One year Brayden chose a snowflake that was bigger than his head...naturally I wanted to sway him to finding something more conventional, but Brent relishes these moments when the boys show their independence. Always looking at the big picture. (It lives on the backside of the tree usually)

It is going to be a long month for August. Ever since we put the tree up each morning he wakes and asks if Santa came!?

Christmas Decor
While working at a school you tend to accumulate a lot of holiday decorations. Students would bring in presents almost each holiday. I received several Christmas plates, dishes, and novel snow-globes.
One of the teachers I worked with for two years bought me wood carved statues. I have a snowman and a Santa from her.

One of our latest house guest brought us a poinsettia, which I love.
Brent's uncle used to give a poinsettia to each family at Thanksgiving, but he has not done that for awhile now.

Another Tradition
We also go get our picture taken with Santa each year. This is another amazingly fun thing to look back on. Not only to see the changes in the boys over the years, but the changes in Santa! This trend has caught on more and more. It used to be you would go to the mall for your child to see Santa and tell him what they wanted, and they would give you a Polaroid of your visit, NOW the whole thing is centered around the picture. They charge way too much and sometimes Santa doesn't even ask the kids what they would like for Christmas.

We try hard to embody the spirit of Christmas. A central part being the celebration of Christ's birth. Focus on what this time of year should mean.
We used to over do the presents for Mitchel and Brayden. We were just so excited to see our boys excited we just got carried away. When Brayden was about three we tried to reevaluate what message we were sending and what message we wanted the boys to really take from this special time of year. We started doing "gifts of time" for each other. With no monetary value, our gift has to be something  where we are serving another.
We also have limited the amount of gifts the boys receive. We only buy them three gifts each Christmas (plus stockings). This practice has helped us not only control our spending habits, but to reinforce that Christmas is not about the presents! Which is hard to do now-a-days.

My carved snowman

my nativity scene...for now!

August has been playing with all my candles, trees, and wreaths

BLAST FROM THE PAST: these porcelain girls are from my childhood. They are cracked and glued, but I love them

Our pictures with Santa wall

Brent and I randomly decide to join in the pictures here and there.

From Mitch's first grade. His foot as the face and hands as antlers

The small tree with the homemade ornaments and "special" ornaments the kids have picked out over the years

Our stockings...I am cleaning the chimney soon, so I am waiting to hang them

A spotty tradition of ours is going to see Christmas lights. We like to drive around and look at Christmas lights (by we I mean "I"). We have done the Zoo lights, the Grotto, and Peacock lane. We need to check out the Portland raceway sometime, and street of dreams.

This year was EXTRA special, because this is the first year we are getting to decorate OUR house.We look forward to many wonderful Christmas memories in our new home!

The season is starting out right and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, around here.

Turkey ART

I need to try and document more of these fun things that the boys do.

Gobble, Gobble!

Bless August's teacher,

 I can only imagine the craziness that making these 

apple/marshmallow/turkeys caused in the preschool room.

 August thoroughly enjoyed his turkey!

The next week he brought home his turkey crown!

 And my favorite HAND PRINT art! A colorful turkey picture.

Not only is the artwork always fun, the things the boys say when they describe it is hillarious. 

I need to REMIND myself to keep better notes.

Just so we remember

 Our life as it is...

Boys, boys, boys!

Sometimes I sit here and am faced with the challenge of adding one more thing into our schedule. This is always super fun! (sarcastic wail)
Lets do a small breakdown of our current daily schedules, just for kicks...someday we can look back on this and laugh.
My responsibilities: 
Not only do I have the (what seems like) sole responsibility of cleaning the house, laundry for all five of us, cooking, shopping, paying bills, and tending to my darling offspring, I am also currently in college. I have classes four days out of the week. This term was extremely tricky to schedule due to the science labs I had to juggle around. I live by lists, calendars, and organized schedules. Like giant flow charts I have us pretty much squared away, but somehow these things are in need of constantly tweaking. For it seems I have excuses as to why some things never get done! That is why God gave my Daddy. He keeps me centered and supports my crazy obsessive natures, while reminding me to take  a breath and enjoy the moments.

Brent:
 is generally home four nights and two full days during the week. Brent works anywhere between 50-80 hrs a week. It is one of those situations where even though you are not physically at work, you are working. They call you. You have work at home all the time because somehow even though you are always there it all still does not get done. He is patient and calm with the boys. He has very high standards and expectations and best of all he is able to uphold them. He loves to talk and spend time with his boys. He has the amazing ability to actually focus on just YOU when he is talking. (I am still working on that one) I have never met anyone who works as hard and has real integrity. He truly believes in empowering those around him. He builds people up and develops their weak spots into strengths. I know if he had it his way he would be a stay-at-home dad. I'm working hard to get through school, so he can work less.

Mitchel:
Mitchel, you are surviving middle school. I know it can be tough. Seven classes, five teachers and you are at a new school this year.
Your school has this policy where not only do you get academic grades, you also get "citizenship" grades. Which is a grade determined by class participation, organization, and turning in your work. This year started off bumpy so we had to start a homework template that you carry to each class and write your homework on. You bring it home, I check it and if you filled it out and got all the signatures you should have you get reinforced. Your chores that actually get done regularly are the dishes, taking garbage out, and picking up Cosmo deposits in the yard. Things you are still working on laundry, making bed, putting clothes away nicely, realizing the benefit of showering. You are on the basketball team for your middle school. You have practice everyday after school from 3-5pm. So, pretty much you get home in time to eat, shower, do some homework, have a small amount of R&R, read and go to bed. (Welcome to growing up) Soon you'll be joining the Boy Scout Troop and will have that as well..
Brayden:
Yay for fourth grade. You bring home homework on Tuesdays and Thursday. Other than that, when you come home you get to relax. You are great at doing some of your chores without being asked too many times. Dishes, recycling, checking the mail, and feeding Cosmo. (you get out of cleaning up Cosmo deposits, by extensive negotiations with Mitchel) We are trying to find a sport you actually want to do since you have said no to basketball, football, and wrestling. You'd still love to be taking piano, but your last teacher moved and it has been hard finding one in our budget. Your teacher has just recommended we start reading aloud to you. So we have started our family reading circle. We went to the library and got enough books to all be able to read together. It has been fun and one of my favorite times of the evening (when we actually get to do it).
August:
You go to preschool three days a week right now. You love school. You are a model student and your teachers love you. You are great at doing puzzles. You love to help cook. Right now I would say your favorite foods are pancakes and malt-o-meal. You always ask me to rub your back or to do Eskimo kisses. You own a billion books and choose to pull one out at a time and leave them in heaps in your room. Sometimes, I can even get you to pick them back up and put them back on the shelf. Frankenstein is your flashlight friend, you named him yourself. He is a dinosaur. You say when you grow up you want to be a "real" power ranger. To make sure I get your point you make sure to tell me that you will be a "real" one, not your costume. Okay sweetie!

Overall, being busy isn't so bad. You get to a point that not being busy feels weird. I can remember the feeling of only having Mitchel. Thinking how complete my world seemed back then. After Bray joined our family we felt even more blessed and realized how natural a big family was for us. Now with August and Cosmo we are definitely living the dream! Now that we have a house of our own we are learning all about the maintenance and responsibilities that come with that. Especially with 10 different fruit trees in the yard. I have to remember in all the madness to stop and appreciate it all. My  sarcastic teenager is a gift. Like the natural ebb and flow of relationships there is one constant in our lives, it binds us and keeps us humble. I am so grateful for my family, even if some days I feel our lives are on fast forward.

Honey

In addition to some fun birthday shenanigans, I also got to visit Annette.

This was nice, since I have not been able to see her as much as I would have liked this past month. We try to get together every couple weeks. We sit around drink coffee and do puzzles. She is slowly processing the recent passing of her sister, so I feel our visits are more and more meaningful. I can't even imagine how it would be to pick up the phone to make that call and then be hit with the realization that they are not there anymore.

I keep praying she will find some form of peace and be able to look forward to seeing her sister again in heaven...for now I try to see her more than usual and call her more than usual. It's not much, but it fills a small piece of that void left behind.

 She showed me pictures she has been stock piling. Of how hard it has rained, her granddaughter who is now engaged, her son playing with his band at a local venue...

We worked on trying to put the ground together on a puzzle of deers in a meadow.

Each one of these visits make me realize how precious time is and how we take trivial things for granted. I am hoping to remember the joy in the mundane.

*sigh*

Simple joys

Cousin Charles is Two!

This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending our little cousin Charles second birthday party. It was a construction themed party. Brent had to work and I was feeling a little under the weather and losing my voice, so needless to say the boys acted a little crazier than I would have liked. Thank goodness we were surrounded by understanding parents.

We were kind of the second guest to arrive. Charles, Gwenevere, and Grace were there playing when we got there. August jumped right in to playing and Brayden hung out with his older cousin Justin. They each got their little aprons and construction hats on and were ready to p-a-r-t-y...

 More and more, and more people showed up with their children and the kids took over. As kids do, they just enjoyed each other. We made our rounds at the snacks table. I had to control August's consumption of strawberries. He would have cleared them out if I didn't regulate him.

 There were a couple games that were started, but most of my time was spent keeping August in toe. One was pin the hammer on the nail. Even with no blind fold the kids did not seem to hit the nail on the head! August was in a mood that day and did not have his listening ears on. He kept trying to go upstairs to play with other toys, so I only got pictures of the aftermath...

 After awhile we all went outside to do the pinata.The kids helped Rebecca set up the
 tarp to help catch the spoils. My favorite part was watching everyone's faces. Not only the kids wielding the stick, but the adults watching.

 Grace took a couple swings and then tried to hand the stick over to Gwenevere. It was adorable.

 Then Charlie got his turn. You can tell he is no stranger to pinatas. He was very serious about getting those goodies out.

The kids were all allowed 3 swings, which of course neither of my boys abide by. I miss doing pinatas. I realize I have not swung at a pinata in awhile...guess I know what to get for my birthday this coming year!

 Look at that determination in Gwenevere's eyes...

 Brayden was a little less excited about being the "only" kid his age there. He was however, happy about getting to be the "older" kid that got to break the pinata! I tried to tell him there were perks

 Following the theme of construction and building, there were great mud treats...no worms in this soil.

 One of the more comical times was the group picture fiasco. These kids had no idea what we were asking of them. I was off to the side, so I did not get a picture that did not have an adults guiding hand, or one of the kids standing/jumping right in the way.

They were adorable. I love this age.

 Usually the two year old blowing out candles can be pretty funny. 

I remember when Brayden was two, he was so excited to have everyone singing to him he kept saying "again, again" and having people sing happy birthday over and over which meant he could keep blowing out the candles.

Charles again, handled the candle blowing like a pro. 

 Max noticed how quiet it got once all the desserts were passed out and being enjoyed...

 There's the handsome Birthday Boy!

 At first the kids payed no-nevermind to Charles opening presents, but then slowly August made his way over. He was commenting and trying to help open everything. There were too many people in the way for me to really make my way over and correct him, plus my voice was gone almost, not a good parenting combo. I stopped feeling as bad when Gwenevere joined in the interest of Charles presents. I guess it is a four year old thing.

 Poor Max kept trying to hold the shirt up so I could get a picture, but kids kept standing in the way and then Charlie wanted it on and tried putting it on himself.

 Apparently Charles is a huge Elmo fan?! It was equally cute that Grace was wearing a matching shirt. (didn't get a picture of that)

 An oldie but a goodie. I do not know what kids has grown up without one of these! As Charles looks intently on while Dad demonstrates it's opening and closing.

Thank you for inviting us to the party! 

It was great having all the kids get to play together. Charles seemed to definitely enjoy himself thoroughly, as did my boys.