EASTER 2015

Happy Easter, and praise be to God that our Redeemer lives! I hope you all had a great Easter weekend. I loved seeing all of the sunny, outdoor photos of everyone's kids dressed up in cute little Easter outfits and big Easter baskets. Our celebration was extremely minimal with it being so cold and drab here {there's still snow in our back yard, as you can see}. And between the last minute preparations for the new baby and the general exhaustion of being 8 and a half months pregnant, I have to admit that we didn't even get our act together enough to dye eggs this year. But we escaped Watertown for a great little family vacation to Rochester Friday over Saturday, and then had a wonderful morning in church followed by an Easter egg hunt in our backyard later that afternoon. One of these years {when there's not a deployment, or a move, or a new baby right around the corner} I'll get organized enough to dress the boys in adorable little outfits and do Easter "right", haha. But until then, I'm just thankful that we were together this and that in the absence of all of the traditional holiday festivities, there was more time to rest in Christ and to fix our hearts on His unfailing love, His willing sacrifice, and His victory over death!

ASHER'S FOURTH BIRTHDAY PARTY

We were so blessed to enjoy the company of many wonderful friends for Asher's fourth birthday! Thanks so much to all of you who were able to be there, and for all of the out-of-town family and friends who couldn't be, we love you and miss you! In case you missed it, be sure to get a closer look at Asher's A-mazing "A" Party decor here. Have a great weekend, friends!

OUR WEEK IN VIRGINIA

After staying at home for our first Christmas morning together as a family with kids waiting on Santa, we spent a really relaxing week visiting family in Virginia. The weather was so nice! A lot of days were mild and sunny and we got out for lots of walks and playtime. We had a lot of great time just sitting with family, a few post-Christmas gift exchanges, and Thane and I got to go on TWO dates. The second one was a four course meal with live music for New Year's Eve. That's not something we do just any old time {or ever, haha}, so wow, and boy did we appreciate our family watching the boys for us! And the cherry on top of it all was that Willow got lots of great play time with her brother Rugby {who was adopted by another member of the family}. Anything that helps get her crazy energy out is much appreciated. There were warm fireplaces, yummy meals, four-wheeler rides, and even a lot of quietness. Thane got to do some shooting and see his best friend, Asher LOVED seeing all of his grandparents, and it was the first time in a while that I felt like I could actually sit still for more than five minutes at a time without a long laundry list of things to worry about doing. We're already looking forward to going back!

CHRISTMAS MORNING 2014

We had a wonderful Christmas! Here are a few snapshots of Christmas morning, 2014. Other than Thane coming down with a terrible stomach bug at about 3am on Christmas day {he gets sick almost every Christmas without fail, sigh}, it was a good morning of exciting gift opening. At one point Asher yelled "did God or Santa bring these?!" hahaha. Although I have to mention that he has some reservations about Santa. He was very concerned about a strange man coming into the house to deliver gifts and he was worried he'd eat all of our Christmas cookies. Even after seeing all the gifts under the tree and getting to open them all up, he still made comments about preferring Santa not to come next year, haha!

AN EASY CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDER FOR KIDS

I had no plans to make a Christmas advent calender this year, but when Asher kept asking me "is it Christmas yet?" the need became apparent. I've seen some truly amazing ones, like this one- wow! Ours is incredibly simple but we were able to throw it together in about an hour's time with no real planning or prep. And as much as I'd love to do something really amazing one year, that's generally how I like projects with kids- fast and easy!

It started with a simple calender that I drew on our chalk wall using a yard stick...

But since we had exactly one week until Christmas, it seemed like it would be fun to mark the last week's countdown with something fun and special. Something that would engage the boys and point to the real reason we celebrate Christmas; Christ, of course! So, we made eight little cards and wrote a special bible verse in each, accompanied by two dark chocolate chips that they'll get to share each day.

You know the really cute decorative tape you see in stores today? Well, I wanted some for this project so I made our own by drawing stripes onto masking tape with a green sharpie.

Can you believe Christmas is around the corner? Just like Thanksgiving, it sort of snuck up on me this year. My guess is that we're all heading into a pretty busy week or two, and I hope it's a time of fun and joy and refreshment for all of us. No doubt there will be a few *moments*...you know, the ones that make you wish the holidays could just be over with already. But that's where it really helps to remember the point of the season- the peace, rest, and joy that comes only from Christ. Take a moment to pause and remember His words; "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." {John 14:27} 

Merry Christmas, friends!