Oh boy am I behind! I am not quite sure how to intro a post about winter and Christmas in the middle of summer. So let's just jump into it! :)
These pictures aren't going to be in order either! I imagine at this point nobody cares!
Christmas Eve breakfast is a yummy waffle spread. I love my Dash waffle maker for all the holidays.
Christmas Eve service family photo. We took one inside and one outside. Sometimes we get a good picture. Sometimes we don't. I was happy with both. An early Christmas gift to me! I'm just trying to grab a photo every time we are all dressed nice in hopes I will get a couple I like each year.
Christmas Eve service with kids is always a hoot. Yes, let's give our four children flames to hold! I am both laughing and crying (and usually sweating). I look around and see other women so beautifully dressed and I'm sweating in my platform Uggs. I think at one point I even said why do we even bother. But Brent so kindly reminded me we are instilling tradition and our faith into our children. Oh yeah. ;) It is really wild though. I am sure one day I will look back fondly on these crazy services trying to entertain children, keep them quiet, and not burn the church down. :)
But gosh, they sure are cute though. And we only dress up like this a few times a year so I guess I'll take it.
Afterwards we enjoy our annual Olive Garden dinner out and I look around and count my blessings.
Christmas morning was lovely and magical. I have been learning to manage the day better and it helps keep it feel positive and light. Santa is consistently bringing the kids a book and small lego set for their gift and a few fun things in their stockings. They work on their lego set and we eat breakfast before getting into the rest of the gifts and it helps the morning to not feel so rushed.
I put everyone's gifts in separate piles so they could visually see how many gifts they had left. This worked out so much better for us this year as the older kids tend to get through their gifts much quicker. And then they each took turns opening something.
Our extended family is so generous at sending gifts for all the kids but we had years that the amount and excitement got out of hand leading to some ungrateful attitudes. I am happy to report that with experience and adjustments, it has lead to much happier Christmas mornings. I also try to be really mindful with putting together wish lists for the kids and sending it out to family. I have found that often the type of toys they receive can also lead to certain types of behavior.
I have become quite ruthless over the years about what I allow in my home. With four kids and protecting my sanity, I have to create boundaries at what we keep in our home.
I say all this because I am hesitant to just say, "Christmas was magical!" Getting here took work, assessment, changing expectations, and figuring out a system or rhythms that works for our particular family.
We got the girls American Girl dolls this year which was a very special and extravagant gift for us. But I never got an American Girl doll growing up so it has been a little dream of mine to get one for my daughters. I also wanted to get them early enough that my older daughter would have years to enjoy her doll. And so when I saw that they brought back the original historical dolls, we decided to go ahead and get Samantha and Kirsten. They LOVED them. It was really special and so fun for me.
I realize that giving a two year old an American Girl doll is pretty young! But I really wanted to make sure we got the original historical girls while they were still available. I also didn't want to store the doll for years to wait to give to her. Plus I knew they would enjoy playing with them together.
So, yes, I cringe when she holds her Samantha doll by the hair but so far she's still in good shape. I just told my oldest daughter that we aren't changing out their clothes for now and we keep them in a special spot in their room. But these dolls are also supposed to be played with so I try to only request these things within reason. They know they are special and treat them gently but are also welcome to play with them all they want.
Christmas mood (and new jacket!)
I always love setting our Christmas dinner table. It evolves every year - I am finding more and more beauty in simplicity. Also, my favorite rechargeable electric lighter that is pretty enough to be left out on the table all advent season.
Runner | Napkins | Candle Holders | Advent Wreath | Round Basket Tray | Rechargeable Electric Lighter
The dinner table is usually pretty busy, loud, and crazy most nights. But these holiday meals that have candlelight, yummy food, and a little more leniency in what they eat, have proven to be so special and fun.
We always enjoy the local Christmas activities around our town. They are rooted in our holiday traditions each year. We feel so fortunate to have landed in such a family friendly place.
Getting to visit with Santa is always so special and sweet. Baby girl was not interested though! ;)
Our December 1st traditions include chocolate advent calendars (from Trader Joe's - they always have 4 different designs!), these little Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer finger puppets they play with each holiday season, and their ornament for the year.
I usually get their ornaments from Target but struggled to find something for the girls that I liked. I found these angel ornaments on Amazon instead and they are so sweet and beautifully made. They come in a set of three.
These handmade snow globes we all made years ago continue to be a favorite item we put out each year.
This year we set up our regular toy train and tracks out around the tree and it was such a fun little detail. The kids would turn on the battery powered train and watch it go round and round.
What started as me settling on a simple advent wreath has turned into a beautifully layered masterpiece. I love the different colors and textures.
My winter uniform in full force. I continue to love my long vest, second hand anthro scarf, and platform UGGs.
A friend got the kids some Christmas nativity stickers and it was sweet to see them all very focused on creating their scene.
Catching all the fun Christmas decorations around the neighborhood on our bus stop walks.
I read the book Wear It Well: Reclaim Your Closet and Rediscovering the Joy of Getting Dressed and it was so insightful! It helped me narrow down my style to three words and helped me see the clothes I kept in a whole new light. It felt so good to go through my closet, purge, and have my style much more defined.
I also finished reading Minimalista: Your Step By Step Guide to a Better Home, Wardrobe, and Life. I am a big fan of the author Shira Gill who incorporates minimalism and style. It motivated me to go through some things around the house including our bedroom fireplace.
Fun holiday crafting.
These cozy winters together are so special. Once spring rolls around I often forget how we made it through the long rainy winters. But I think we did a lot of this - cozy days at home. Movies, fire, crafts....
And when the big kids are at school - Daniel Tiger and creating your own floor spot to lay down.
While purging, I went through the few real books I still keep around the house (I just read on my Kindle now). This book Lord, I Want to Be Whole was such a help during some difficult seasons of depression. I flipped through my notes and highlights. Still so applicable and helpful today. This was the first step to some emotional healing as an adult and I highly recommend it.
An english muffin pizza night. Everyone enjoyed helping.
Another holiday craft activity from a different friend - this giant coloring page was really fun for me and the kids!
I have been using some of our extra inexpensive outdoor wreaths on our dining room windows the past few years. I really like having them here and they proved the test of time. So in my attempts to have fewer decor but higher impact, I set out to find some nicer more natural looking wreaths. I was SO pleased to find these beautiful wreaths at Target. I moved the bow it came with to the side and it was the whimsical, French country Christmas feel I was looking for.
I finally decided to pass on these Christmas houses I have had for years to my mom. Thank goodness she wanted them! I have loved these for so long and tucked little battery powered candles in them. But I haven't used them the past two years and decided I liked the simplicity of just my candles.
Pizza movie night by candlelight.
I have wanted to do some sort of chapter book read aloud with my kids for awhile but just never felt like we had the time. It felt a bit like a mom fail until I realized I could read to them in the drop off carpool line at school. I also had read 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. It was the reminder that I can make small pockets of time more intentional. We haven't finished Heartwood Hotel yet but it was a sweet and purposeful time together.
She was so cute acting independent in the elevator on our way to her doctor's appointment. Until she pushed the alarm in the elevator! Yikes!
Caught her sitting quietly playing with Barbies. She sure is growing up quickly.
Tis the season for hot chocolate in our nutcracker cups.
We are becoming pros now with our yearly power outages. Luckily nothing like the bomb cyclone but still we lose power a couple times of year when it gets windy and trees come down.
Being forced to enter the night by candlelight has a certain peacefulness.
Christmas cookie decorating - we buy the store bakery cookies and I color some frosting into pretty pastels. It is always an easy but fun tradition.
We use bladeless spreaders so the kids can eat frosting off their knives as they go. I am pretty sure more frosting is consumed than cookies!
Making some painted ornaments of her own to add to our collection. I like to give them one pastel color and white paint and then we add glitter.
I love that she is barely peeking over the table!
Taking inventory of Christmas gifts. I collect things over time and some of these were gifts from family.
Sweet baking helpers.
These girls love their Barbies! I am so glad they enjoy playing together. Our Barbie collection is all from my childhood that my mom saved for us. So nostalgic!
Trying to get a picture of her in her reindeer sweater. We were both festively dressed for my MomCo Christmas gathering.
We always do a favorite things exchange at our Christmas MomCo meeting. Some of the ladies even made us all personalized stockings to bring our goodies home in. So cute! I also used it to wrap one of my gifts in for Christmas morning.
I did quite a bit of reading this fall and winter. I also read No New Things. I thought I was going into a book about zero spending but it actually focused on buying second hand, using what you have, and encouraged me to repair instead of buy new. It was very inspiring! It felt so good to fix the handle on an old favorite basket. After I repaired it, it felt like new! It was so satisfying and an easy project to do while watching a show.
I put together a simple gift for our bus driver for Christmas. We had a woman this year who has been so wonderful. I often hear from my daughter about the little chats they have together. I am so grateful when others love on my kids. I gave her some of my favorites - a shower steamer and Lindt truffles.
Our friends had these cute decorations on their tree. I took a picture so we could make our own sometime. Maybe this year!
Coming home to our house lit up with Christmas lights is always so magical.
Of course when the American Girl dolls were delivered to our house, I had to open them up myself and do a little photoshoot! A childhood dream come true. ;)
They are so beautiful and precious. Just as I remember them from my childhood. I never had the dolls but I had all the books. I am sad I didn't end up keeping them. But Kirsten and Samantha were always my favorite.
I used up the last of my Stendig calendar paper that I had from my kids' monthly baby photos. It feels like the end to an era of that beautiful black and white paper. So I started saving all the brown packing paper that comes in packages. I was quite pleased with it's beautiful simplicity and that I didn't have to start buying wrapping paper!
I stuck with ribbons and printable gift tags I found online. I also have some poofy bows that I put on later. But for storing purposes, I could stack up wrapped gifts more efficiently without the big bows.
These two dressed up for his preschool Christmas performance.
And me getting a caffeine treat before school events and birthday parties these days! A little boost in my mood is helping this tired introverted mama be more social. :)
I thought this Christmas tree themed activity was really cute. Contact paper with the sticky side out so you can decorate with bows and shapes.
A special Christmas treat - M&M hot chocolate at The Woodinville Cafe. They serve this incredible hot chocolate all year but it feels extra festive during the holidays.
My little baking helper. We used premade chocolate chip cookie dough and added pieces of peppermint candy on top.
Another pizza movie night. They love lighting our advent candles every night.
We of course have to watch all the Christmas classics.
These scarf wearing cuties wanted to bundle up like their mama.
Our gingerbread house making spread. I always use graham crackers and premake them by "gluing" them together with melted white chocolate.
Our finished houses on display.
Everyday life seems more magical to the backdrop of Christmas.
A duplo Christmas creation. Looks like Elf is keeping busy.
Caught this cute little elf reading.
I started letting the kids earn Wii video game playing time when they fill up their star reward jar. They earn if for good behavior, for helping me do certain tasks, and for little things like making their beds or bringing their dishes to the kitchen.
They only get to play every so often (and when their grandparents visit and Brent and I leave overnight). When they earn it as a reward they get to play it for an hour and I set a timer. I also put it away when we are done, mostly because I don't like looking at it! But also because I don't need them to have a visual reminder of it.
I continue to be very observant of if they start getting crazy or if I see their behavior change. If it does, we go back to earning a candy from their star jar instead. When they are handling it well, it is actually very sweet to see them all playing together and having fun. It is a constant reassessment for me to see how much and how often this works for our family so that we can keep it feeling light, fun, and like a reward.
Another festive waffle meal. To be clear this is breakfast for dinner. :) I only make a breakfast like this a couple times a year. Maybe when they don't wake up at the crack of dawn starving, I'll make hot breakfasts again one day!
After Christmas Eve service and our Olive Garden dinner we waited in a very long line to see this fun Christmas light house nearby.
All ready for Santa's arrival.
Santa left the kids some candy on their trains!
Stacks of gifts were separated and organized for Christmas morning.
Everyone got a special drink in their stocking this year. I loved having an easy coffee to start a whirlwind morning!
The calm before the chaos. These sweet quiet moments are pretty magical as a parent - preparing for the joy and anticipation of my children.
Once advent was over, I switched out my centerpiece for something wintery to last through the new year. Bows on candlesticks were a favorite detail for me this year.
I love the slow days between Christmas and New Years. The kids have so many fun new things to play with and I like to putter around the house. I am still loving our Happy New Year banner.
After Christmas, Brent picked up from where we left off last Christmas break with our kitchen remodel. As you can see below, we still had a water pipe running from our upstairs bathroom to our kitchen. We had to move some things around, like my desk space to jump back in.
While Brent worked on the kitchen, the kids and I did our thing. Playground stop before picking up groceries.
Lots of cozy days at home. Brent and I watched all the Jason Bourne movies. We have been doing this almost every Christmas break for many years. It is a fun tradition. Here is my favorite Happy New Year banner.
Running the water through a different wall was a big job. But after a stressful week of work he did it!
Baby girl didn't like the loud noises.
We celebrated New Year's like we always do with a low key day at home. They get to play with the noise makers for one day and one day only! And then we have dinner at Tipsy Cow and make our NYE crowns while we wait for our food.
Cheers to a new year and some Marie Callender's chocolate pie.
Some photos from the process...
Finally the pipe is gone and water is running correctly! Things not pictured - me holding that bucket as water poured from the ceiling while Brent was trying to work something. The pictures are gratifying but the process is long, frustrating, and messy!
New Year's day with our favorite cheesy bread and a movie.
The rerouting of the hot and cold water pipes.
I am pretty sure I meant to make some pasta with our breaded chicken and cheesy bread. But kitchen work continued and we made do.
Off to the hardware store to get a kitchen island counter top!
We saved our upper cabinets that we took down last year to use as an extension of our kitchen island. We had a kitchen cart here temporarily until we were ready to put down the countertop.
More cuddles during demolition.
Building a phase one kitchen island. Using what we have and building around it.
Lots of sawdust...everywhere!
Rewiring outlets.
Letting the kids "help" put down the countertop.
Everyone is already so excited for our new counter space!
We got a beautiful and inexpensive laminate to cover the wood.
Helping the glue set.
Seeing all our books on display and so excited for a new photo backdrop!
Here are the upper cabinets on the left of the island. They were just a tad short but we made it work for a temporary fix.
After the countertop was glued down Brent put in another temporary edge. We were concerned about the wood edge getting wet so we went with something that would protect it. The lip is a little inconvenient for cleaning crumbs but it is done for now. We no longer have a pipe running through our kitchen and we have double the counter space now. Just in time for Brent to go back to work! :) It continues to be a long project but we are so pleased to be a step closer.
We ordered some more bar stools so all the kids have a place to sit.
We have come a long way from this once inclosed kitchen. The open space and light is life giving. We are enjoying it so much.
I continued with my home purging. I was finally able to let go of a lot of clothes I had been storing. It has taken me years to get here, letting go a little at a time. But this was a pretty ruthless cut. Reading Wear It Well helped me see my personal style better which allowed me to let go of some cute clothes I had loved at one point but no longer fit my lifestyle and current aesthetic.
I got myself down to just a few small storage boxes. A few pieces that are still a little tight but I was able to wear before having our fourth child. And a couple sentimental items like my high school letterman's jacket.
It felt so good to get to this place. I went from three large bins down to two small ones. It felt like a huge win. But the childbearing years are hard to know what to keep and what to pass on. Holding on to some of these clothes has been part of my journey as I have changed over the years. Each step of the way has been a growing or healing process as I have accepted and welcomed a different version of myself.
And one of the most gratifying moments of our new kitchen island was bringing home a week's worth of groceries and they all fit on the countertop! Feeding six people is no small task.
With the barstools out now I ran out of room for my exercise bike so we moved it into our room. It proved to be a nice quiet spot in the morning.
These happy kids love having breakfast at the bar! They can also holler and yell at me so much more because they are closer now! It is hilarious though. I dreamed of this space being a better place to connect with my children but now they can just bug me more. :) But I love them and it is a work in progress. And truly, I do believe this will continue to bless our family that people can sit and talk with me while I am in the kitchen.
A favorite winter outfit. Wide leg sweats, an old tank tucked under to make it crop, and my go to jean jacket, scarf, and platform Uggs. I pretty much wear the same variation of a few items and it makes getting dressed while feeling pulled together so much easier.
A Portland favorite, Voodoo Doughnuts, opened in Bellevue. We had to check it out!
I mean, it's not the best donuts ever, but we have so many Portland memories from here. The kids love the fun toppings and it takes me back to the first time we visited and I fell in love with the PNW.
We had to stop at the Bellevue downtown park while we were there.
I say this all the time but one of my most favorite things is when city and nature collide!
Making his own Wii remote!
Going through my old clothes brought back some old outfit inspiration. I loved wearing leg warmers over my boots with a dress when we lived in Virginia. This time I paired it with my long vest.
0 comments