Gingerbread house

 Each Christmas Eve they decorate the gingerbread houses they’ve made the day before. This year they made a competition out of it by asking all the relatives who came by to vote for their favorite. Clair and Max ended up tying for first place. Here are the results 

Christmas stockings!

Christmas Eve in photos

Christmas preparations in photos

 The traditional cherry pie is having one decorate the Christmas tree of course. This is a tradition that Clair implemented a few years ago. 

FaceTime chat from Poland

 Max enjoyed a visit to see the Harlem Globetrotters with his basketball team. 

 Ellie enjoyed a secret Santa exchange at the Christmas party with her softball team. 

 Each kid participated in a Christmas piano concert and did a wonderful job. 

It was Clair’s first concert. She’s been playing the piano for five months now.



 It was also Max’s first concert, he’s been playing for five months as well. In these five months he has developed so much. He’s so musically talented!




I think this was Ellies 8 th concert and her music is really stepping up and becoming more difficult and more appealing to listen to

Christmas 2019

 This Christmas has been another whirlwind. I had to be in Poland the second week of December. This trip impacted my prep time. Despite that, the kids, ages 12, nine, and six, still enjoyed the holidays full of energy and excitement and anticipation of Christmas and each event that followed. 

We started off with Christmas at the fire hall to tell Santa what the bike on December 1. They see this is the start of the Christmas season and have each been doing it since they were born. We’ve been lucky to have the same Santa visit us here in to usually be joined by all or some of our friends. Ellie may be getting a bit old for this tradition but still participate.

Hazel also joined us for this Christmas. She arrive just after I left for Poland and has been a great help to David and the kids. The kids love having her here.

I also managed to squeeze in the most important baking items. This included four types of my fudge,  sugar cookies, dairy free sugar cookies, a couple pies, and peanut butter cookies which were shared with granddaddy. 

 Christmas Eve we went out to dinner and Frederick and enjoy the afternoon Christmas service. This allowed us to get home in time to prepare for Santa and ensure that mommy got to bed before midnight. That is a good start to the Christmas holiday for mommy. 

We had Christmas dinner with my mom and dad here at the house. We also had the cousin Christmas here on Friday. Both events went well. My dad doesn’t really have the patience for late meals, so I said we need to figure out how to do these things earlier next year.

We’ve enjoyed lots of downtime as the kids of been out of school since December 20 and they don’t return until January 2. I’m glad they have this time off. Max and Clair have played very well together. This break they have spent a lot of time doing bay blades. Clair is gotten really into it and Max has revived his interest because it something fun to do together. 

Ellie has enjoyed time with her electronics for temps at figuring out the right balance for wearing make up. Mommy and daddy find my make up smeared on the couches and doors.  She still got some work to do on finding the right balance.  I suppose that is age-appropriate at age 12. Ellie also managed to have a sleepover with Elizabeth and I think that was a big success for her Christmas break. 

 This has also been the year of hoverboards. Ellie got one for for 12th birthday and Max got one on Christmas. They’ve spent a lot of time in the basement writing these things. They refused to take him outside yet. 

 Personal highlights for me this Christmas. Lots of snuggling, lots of playing scrabble, a short visit from my sister and her kids, a relaxing Christmas morning at my moms where we didn’t rush out after everything was done, time off to sleep relax and rejuvenate, and watching the kids just enjoy Christmas. 

I wrote this on New Year’s Eve. I can’t believe a decade has flown by. It has been a successful decade in family building. We’ve established many traditions and we’ve had many great vacations. The kids are all doing well in school. As we embark on 2020 some of my goals will be consistent from years past, such as finally lose some weight.  But most importantly, looking forward to watching my children grow up in a decade 2020. By the time we hit 2030 it’s amazing to think that two of the children will be out on their own and the baby well on her way.  What an exciting journey lies ahead for us. One day, maybe your kids will look back on this blog, and if you do, I hope that you can understand how much I love being your mom. I wish I remembered to capture more of the moments here. 

❤️ 

Cookie time and other Christmas preparations

These last few days I’ve been trying to make up for lost time. I traveled for work a lot this month. And there is Christmas baking that must be done. 

Over the past few days we have made 5 types of fudge and 3 types of cookies. Each kid has helped at different times along the way. I like when they help me. 

Today was the final baking day - grandmas sugar cookies. Boy these things are a project. We missed my mom this year. She is not feeling well and couldn’t join us. It we made her a lot of cookies like she likes them. 

Ellie helped the most. She stuck with us until the end. Ellie also got messiest, like her momma, and my grandma! It’s passing through the generations. When one decides to bake, one must dive right in!

This was how Ellie dresses for Christmas spirit day on the last day of school. 

Be still my heart

She drew this for me in church today. So sweet!

Birthday preparations

Tomorrow Ellie turns 12. I think about what we were doing 12 years ago and the expectations I had, some I’ve held true and some are very different.

One of the things that turned out different than I ever envisioned it would is the expectations of my children have for what happened tonight before their birthday. Apparently I spoiled them so much when they were children at a young age that now they expect birthday tree, a special birthday breakfast, two cakes – one for the birthday and one for their party with friends, too many presents, birthday banners to be hanging, and there was even a mention of expecting balloons in the morning. David says it’s time to start disappointing them. Of course he’s sort of joking, and sort of not. I enjoy spoiling my kids, but I wish they didn’t expect the same exacts spoils for each birthday. 

That said, kick number one is made, birthday banners I’ve been home, the birthday tree has been pulled out of the closet and decorated, presents are wrapped and under the tree, cards are downstairs, a birthday menu it suits the birthday girl is prepared, and there’s probably more things I want in it trying to squeeze it in tomorrow.

 I’m so grateful to be able to give the kids are with they have. I hope you’re finding a balance and not giving them too much but they truly are spoiled. I do think we are good kids. I also think it’s important for children to not get everything they want, otherwise, it’s the encouragement to work harder.