Reliving Christmas

Erik and his sisters, circa 1970's

It will take a few posts but I hope to relive Christmas over the coming days.  It was an amazing 1.5 weeks for our family, as we traveled across the state and visited with all of our family.  As I write I am listening to the beautiful sound of my Christmas present, a Roomba, clean my house for me.  Seriously, the best present ever!  My husband hut a home run with this one.  For a girl who hates to vacuum this was the best gift!

We started the holiday off with lots of class parties.  Santa even stopped in to say hi at Lucy's party!

After school dismissed half a day on the Friday before Christmas we loaded up the car and headed to East Tennessee to spend time with Erik's family.  We sure missed his sister who lives in DC and her daughter who was visiting Chile this Christmas for 2 weeks.  Thankfully everyone else came and we did some major family bonding over a 5 day period.  The weather was super yucky so we were stuck inside most of the time, but we did manage a few walks around the cup-du-sac each day to keep Lucy's legs limber and our sanity in place.  There were lots of trips to feed the donkeys who live in the neighbor's yard and several rides in the wagon around the house.  Most of all we had a great time baking cookies, making crafts and just being together as a family.

When Erik and I first got married we lived only one block from his sister and her family.  We were able to see her first baby be born and watched her step-son from the age of three become a part of our family. We had the great opportunity to live in the same town for about 5 years and I can honestly say we took that time for granted.  Now we don't live close to any of his family.  His parents are 6 hours away, his middle sister is 9 hours and his oldest sister is at least 13 hours away.  We miss so much between the months of us being apart but I can promise that we make up for it when we are together.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family (and I'm not just saying that because they will ready this.)  Just like any family we have our moments, but I really won in the in-law game.

More to come...

Champions Trip Sneak Peak

Over the next few weeks I hope to post pictures and detail events from the Children's Miracle Network Champions trip.  If I don't do this soon I'm going to forget the fun details that I know I want to remember.  I was able to download some pictures the professionals took through the CMN website.  and I thought I would share them with you.  This will probably be picture overload but there are so many fun ones.  Stay tuned for more!

A Christmas Carol

These girls...

 I know I'm biased but they are just so beautiful.  I am crazy proud of them both and their performance last night made me smile.  Our school had its Christmas concert and both girls just shined.  Lucy played the hand bells and totally rocked it!

I know I say it all the time but I will be eternally grateful for our school and the impact it has made on my family's life.  Its so easy to get bogged down during the Christmas season and my epic ability to over program doesn't help.  Being in the church auditorium and listening to these precious children sing helped me refocus and prioritize a few things for the remaining days before the 25th.  I know all too well that January will be here before I can blink.

Each night this week we have had obligations and that will continue through tomorrow.  Thankfully, Friday starts our "break" before Christmas and I am looking forward to watching Christmas movies, baking and visiting with family.

In case you haven't counted....8 days until Christmas.

Deep Thoughts and Christmas

Ok, so the title is a bit misleading.  I haven't been really having "deep" thoughts as much as I've just been having thoughts.  I started getting my 2012 blog ready to print (yes, I'm behind a bit) and started thinking about what my blog was and what its become.  When I started blogging when the girls were little I wanted a journal/scrapbook of our year.  It was a great way for me to stay connected to friends and family and document the fleeting moments of our life.  Raising two kids kept me busy and I had no way of keeping a real scrapbook. Not to mention I'm not real crafty.

As I was reflecting on what my blog had become I began to miss the good ole days.  I miss posting about the random events of our life, all the while not worrying about whether someone was going to like or not like what I had to say.  I am so grateful for the vessel that this blog has been for sharing Lucy's story.  I am grateful for the friends I have made along the way and the prayers that have been said for my baby girl.

Another factor in my not keeping up with the blog on a regular basis is that the daily activities of our lives  keep us so busy that it's just hard to find time to sit down and write.  I regret my lack of writing this year, though, because my 2014 book is going to look pretty sad.  I really want 2015 to be a revival year for my daily writing.  I'm officially declaring this my 2015 resolution.  I.  Will.  Write.  More.

Starting now....

This is a belated picture from Thanksgiving.  These two are such a mess.  We love our cousin Maddie.  

Christmas is in full swing at our house.  I've decorated, baked, wrapped and sat down utterly pooped almost every night since Thanksgiving.  But I am loving every minute of it.

Harley, our elf, made his return this year and has thankfully behaved himself.  Ella would like to see him by a bit more mischievous but that's just not happening.  Someone has to clean up after him and that person is usually me!

In keeping with Erik's German heritage we always celebrate St Nick's Day on December 6th.  The kids love opening their stocking and seeing what goodies St Nick brought.  Even Daddy and Mommy get in on the action.

One of the funniest memories from this year will be these darn notes that Ella has been writing to our elf each night.  Ella has almost fully hit the age of not-believing, but she's fighting it tooth and nail.  She's a lot like her mother in that she wants the experience the magic of every occasion.  Christmas has always been so very special to me and it is the same for Ella.  So, each night she writes a dissertation asking Harley 1,000 questions. And every night, Harley answers these questions.  Yep, its been fun!

Have I mentioned that I just love Christmas?