Christmas 2010

Christmas was really fun and relaxing in our home this year. We have really enjoyed that we spend a lot of that time at home and make plans as we go. No rushing from one home to another...we enjoyed time with good friends, but missed our families far away like crazy!

On Christmas Eve Joe worked some of the day and Owen and I hung out at home and continued his potty training efforts (another post for another time) Our church's service is earlier in the evening and we enjoyed sitting all together singing lots of music, worshiping God and celebrating His son's birth,  together as a family. We also do a short video for the teaching versus a traditional Christmas message. It was a short and sweet service. After church we headed up to our friends' The Scotts house and ate finger foods with lots of other friends, played Rock Band, and just enjoyed one another's company. We got home late and put a very sleepy little boy to bed. After Owen went to sleep Joe and I watched  A Christmas Story and wrapped ALL the presents we had, plus any presents from family. We went to bed after midnight and slept SO good!

Christmas morning was really fun with Owen this year. Although, his attention span for each gift was about 30 seconds, he LOVED unwrapping gifts this year. He loved all his presents, from all who spoiled the child! He would open one gift, be excited for a bit, then say "another present?" Joe and I gave each other our gifts before Christmas, and knew what we were getting. I got Joe tickets to The Avett Brothers, a band he really likes, and a gift card to get some new running shoes. My lovely husband gave me BOOTS! Oh, how I have wanted a new pair of boots for such a long time. I LOVE them! He also scored an awesome deal on a Flip camera for me. =)

The best part of the morning was our big reveal of the baby's gender. My friend Shannon gave me an idea of finding out the baby's gender in a special way and I selected her to help me, since it was her idea. That morning we found out we would be having a baby girl, in April! We are thrilled to welcome this child and cannot wait to see her sweet face. Aside from Jesus being the best present, ever....finding out this baby is a girl was one of the best Christmas mornings I have ever had!

Crafty Mama!

For Christmas this year I am channeling my inner craftiness (with the help of my dear friend Sarah) and hoping that it becomes a Christmas tradition of making my kids one homemade thing that they can open Christmas morning. Something made with love!

It didn't take me long to decide I wanted to make something CARS for Owen. If you know my son you know that he love loves with anything CARS. I decided on a blanket. I didn't want to do anything to complex, so I started asking Sarah and my other super crafty friend Michelle about some tips. I went to Joann's bought two different fabrics (when they had a super sale and used coupons) one yard each, cut up a white sheet to put in between the fabrics, and sewed it all together. Now, it wasn't that easy...but pretty close. I will say this is the second thing I have sewn in my whole life. So I needed a lot of coaching and guidance and "that a girl's" from Sarah. All of which she did perfectly! =) Also, I used a machine that was so much easier than the one I used on my first sewing project...some burp rags for my niece. Having a machine that works and works easy is a major plus!


Here's the result!!! Best part less than $15 for a super cozy blanket that I know Owen will LOVE!

My new favorite side dish/lunch

I have always loved a good combo of black beans and corn. Last Saturday night I made a steak that was marinated with cumin so it had a little bit of spice to it. I wanted to make a healthy side dish to go along with it so I searched my pantry and found a few treasures. It was perfect!! Here's what I made:

1 can black beans
1 small can of corn
1 red pepper
1/2 white onion sliced
1 can of Rotel-loved the sicy that this brought
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
a little olive oil
a dash of sugar
salt and pepper

I actually tried this little salad mixture in the oven and served it warm. SO GOOD!

I also served this meal with some wild rice. I had both left over and it has served as two great lunches for me. One lunch I did was threw both the rice and black bean mixture in a bowl, heated it up and enjoyed the yumminess. Today I wrapped it both in a whole grain tortilla and had a slice of cheddar cheese and that was my lunch!

All of the uses of this ridiculously easy dish has served me and my family well!!! YAY for healthy and delish food!

My lil' Rascal

Oh, how Owen has kept me on my toes the past few weeks! Owen has never been a kid that was into everything or mischievous. I never used gates as a safety thing, in one of the houses we lived in I used them to keep him in one spot because the house was huge and I would lose him. I never used safety locks on my cabinets or doors. And, I have always been able to run upstairs and leave him to play for about 5-10 minutes while I needed to get dressed or brush my teeth. I probably have given him too much freedom, but he never proved to be a kid who needed all that.

I'm seeing so many changes in my little man in the last month or so. As we are approaching three years old he is becoming more and more independent and expresses it too! He wants to put his clothes and jackets on. He wants to brush his teeth and hair...things like that. But, we are also seeing a different more mischievous side of him too.

Since moving to a big boy bed his new thing is taking off his jammies at some point in the night. Even when it's below 30 degrees outside! I can't figure out if he's hot or if it's just more comfortable for him to sleep in just his diaper. But, most recently he is not only taking off his jammies (which has led me to check on him every night before I head to be) I'm finding him completely naked! And, more times than often he has peed in the bed already!!! Not fun.  The best thing he's done to date happened just last night. I went upstairs to take a bath before bed, and flipped on my light.  Guess who was in my bed??? Just some cute little almost 3 year old! He was all cozy and passed out in our bed. So, I lifted his beloved monkey blanket off of him to take him to bed and again....NAKED! So, not only was a little escape artist from his room, but a naked one at that! Joe and I could not stop laughing!!!

One of the scariest things he has done is getting into some prescription medicines of my Aunts a few weeks ago. Thank God the medication wasn't anything like pain killers or anything. It was medication for her thyroid. We think he took A LOT of the pills. After calling poison control we found that the symptoms to look for would be some vomiting and diarrhea, fever, and hyperactivity. We were told these symptoms could take up to a week to show up. Well, about a week after the incident Owen was vomiting and had has has diarrhea. FUN!! So, I think it's pretty certain he did get into her meds.


As of late I have found him on top of kitchen and bathroom counters in some other scary situations! But, thankfully he has not been hurt. And, he got into Windex before church this last week. Oh, the joys of a crazy almost three year old curious boy! I'm sure there will be other stories as he grows. I'm sure there will be other times he scares me half to death. I'm sure there will be other times that Joe and I laugh together hysterically because of something so silly that he's done. What I have learned is, he has not gotten seriously injured or sick. He will only be this age once. He will not always be this curious. Most of all to I have learned to laugh about it!

Mary and the Angel

One of the highlights of the weekend was Owen telling me all about Mary and The Angel. Owen and I were getting dressed at my Aunt Leslie's house and he randomly told me, that "Angel came and Mary was scared, mommy." I was shocked that this is what his little mind was thinking about and that he is actually retaining what we are reading in the Bible! I went on to explain that yes and Angel did come to tell Mary she was going to have a baby, then Owen told me his name was going to be Jesus. We had a real conversation about Jesus being born in a stable with the donkeys and cows (Owen threw in that Jesus slept with the kitties-there is a cat in his Children's Bible that is looking at baby Jesus in the manger)

It warmed my heart that he is understanding and articulating what we have been teaching him! It was a good moment, one that I will cherish!

My newest favorite Christmas song

I am in love with this song. It makes me cry every time I hear it. Imagine, being Mary, who was only thirteen when an Angel appeared telling her she would birth The Messiah! She was graceful and totally up to to it! I would have freaked out! This song puts images to mind about how the birth of our Lord most likely happened. Probably far from what is really told to us in Children's church...

Here are the lyrics and a video so you can hear the song too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjYi4tYvXU

Oh, Christmas

I am struggling. I am really hating how I, and it's me and no one else, feels the pressure to give gifts. I thought I made peace with all this, but as Christmas is nearing I find myself struggling. Why do I feel like this? Why has it been conditioned in our minds that we have to give to EVERYONE and their mom on Christmas? Here's my dilemma I love to give, whether it's Christmas or not. I have had to come to terms that sometimes I cannot do this, because Joe and I choose to live a different kind of life. We have chosen for me to stay home with our kids, and as our family grows so do the expenses. We choose not use our credit card and refuse to use it for Christmas buying especially. We live on a pastors salary. We are blessed, but is it wise and being good stewards of Gods money to go buck wild and buy for everyone that our hearts desire? I do not believe it is. We have landed on giving very little gifts. The gifts we give will be thoughtful and or useful,  and in a price range that are not too big.

This now leads to how we we hope to shape what Christmas looks like for our kids. I know that we will only give 3 kids. Just like the wise men gave to Jesus. What I would like this to kinda look like is one gift being something homemade. This year I will put my VERY beginning stages of learning to sew to use and make Owen a Lightning Mcqueen blanket. The second gift being something educational or useful. The last gift will be something fun.  We want to keep the season and especially the day focused on Jesus. Not gifts. We have not landed on the Santa thing. That is a whole other post. I will say we don't want to steal any kind of fun or magic, but I DO NOT want my children to focus on Santa and not Jesus. Just haven't made any solid decisions on this subject just yet.

This is my heart my honest heart.