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13 December 2015

Santa


Last Thursday was Hometown Christmas.
This is such a fun tradition our little town has.
Santa arrives on a fire truck and lights our city tree.
Our family has these very special best friends. We are all close--the kids see each other as cousins or siblings as do the mommies. It is so special to have forged such great friendships.

The kids entertained the crowd by singing Christmas songs as they paraded around the tree.
These ended up being my favorite photos of the night.








Then came Santa. I do have to say I was a tad disappointed about the backdrop or lack there of...I wish they would have thought it through better. There is a tree just on the other side of MW. However the angle of the chair means it won't show up in the photo. Just a tad annoying but the real reason is for the kids to see Santa and that is all that matters. Who needs a photo op? {ME! ;) }
Grandma Rachel brought over this suit jacket of Chad's from his childhood on Wednesday. MW thought it was the most wonderful, coolest jacket ever. When I told him to get around for Santa he insisted on wearing his fancy gold button coat for the occasion. There was no way I could say no. So he is looking quite dapper for his visit.


MW is finally getting ok with seeing Santa. Here they are telling Santa their wishes.

The rest of the night was spent eating chili, making smores and crafts. It was a really fun night made extra special with good friends.

01 December 2015

Fa La La La LAAA


That really just seemed like a fun title, but really this is more hodge podge.
First up a few photos from my parents while watching my kids a few weekends ago. I so appreciate this. Chad is now on staff at our church for all the 5 weekend services and when I sing we are in a bit of a childcare dilemma. I love our church and our kids love our church but 5 services is pushing it for them to attend. HA! My parents always graciously watch these ya-hoos. They always have a ton of fun.
Here they are watching movies.

Auntie Meg is the best. :)

After my last weekend signing I realized that my voice was really struggling. I kept dealing with chronic hoarseness and/or laryngitis. No matter what I did I would be back in the same boat after a long day coaching or just singing in the car. It was super frustrating. One of our worship leaders is super talented and knowledgable on all things voice. He encouraged me to get to the ENT and get scoped, which is my least favorite thing. HA! Think tube up your nose and down your throat.

So I did---after much drama from that office. Apparently this practice doesn't believe in second opinions; as in if you have already seen one doctor you can't see any other doctor in that same practice! I mean what kind of "rule" is that?! It is my care, my $$, all to say super frustrating--I finally got in with another doctor and was scoped. I have nodes. Yes insert Pitch Perfect movie clip here.

 Here is my perfect boy, patiently waiting at my doctor's appointment. He was SOOOOOO good.

It is super frustrating as a mom, coach and singer. I am vocal rest for 6 weeks. Now I am down to 4, but still...shoot me now. Everyone has been supportive and helpful.
Vocal rest means little to no talking period. I am only talking on a as needed basis--hello I am a mom. Coaching is proving the most challenging. And the reason I am dealing with this. While I don't yell a lot it is super loud in there and you are constantly re-directing. Now I use a lot of white boards.
So if you see me don't be offended if I don't speak to you. Prayers appreciate.
That is the latest on my life. The holidays should be super fun. HA!

Back to life.
We had 3 rounds of Thanksgivings.

Round 1 was with my MIL, where we had lasagna {insert praise hands as I am not really a turkey fan.} and then went to the Peanuts movie.



Round 2 was on the day with my FIL side. They had ham, so that made Chad happy.  No photos. Our poor kids are really the only kids there, but we always have a good time catching up since it is really the only time we see that whole extended side.

Back to round 3. We got together with my grandparents and sister's family.
The girls trying to break the wish bone...maybe they will figure it out next year. HA!
My grandparents with the grandkids from-- well us. They have 4 more from my cousins side.


Grammy with all the grandkids at the Good Dino movie. It was a good movie with a great message. 
 Our Tree of Thanksgiving.
For the last few years  we each {most days} write one thing we are grateful for on a leaf and place it on our tree. It has been a fun tradition and been fun to see what the kids come up with each day.

These two ready to brave the cold, rain and ice.
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Oh and lest we forget this hot mess. That isn't a shadow. That is water leaking in from our roof. AWESOME. {insert sarcasm}. It rained, iced, rained, iced, rained and rained some more for 5 days. Now I am all for the rain--bring it on, but when it starts leaking into the house--rain rain GO AWAY!!!
Apparently according to our amazing contractor friend who climbed up on the roof in the rain to check it out found that the ice on the roof was sealing in the melting water underneath and well the water needed a place to go...so it ends up not being too big of a deal, just a fluke situation. And we weren't the only ones this happened too---we had at least 6 other friends have a similar problem. At least it wasn't a big fix, especially this close to Christmas.

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Here are our magical Thanksgiving photos. If you have followed this blog since the beginning, you know every Thanksgiving we gather together, put the camera on a timer and take a family photo. They always turn out great in 1 take. Every.time. Micah has always made this challenging, but it is who he is so it counts. This year he was much better. HA!

The perfect photo. :)

And then we started the tradition a few years ago of doing crazy out-takes. These actually end up being my favorites.

And noticed the fireplace is WHITE this year. AHHHH!! :)


Leighton has been BEGGING to decorate for Christmas for weeks. I told her the week of Thanksgiving we would slowly start...I care about baby reindeers and I don't want their deaths on my hands. :)

I promised that on Thanksgiving day we would put ornaments on...as luck would have it the power went out at 8am. I became very grateful for power. AND the linemen that braved the cold, icy rain to fix the lines. I mean how else do you get the coffee in the mommy?  3 hours later the lights were on! 

So decorating finally could commence.
Leighton is quite the helper. I love having a daughter.



MW went to his room to decorate his little tree. Good job buddy. Good job!





Oh look who wants to help? Yep lasted for about 2 minutes...
The finished product. We moved the tree this year. I like it there so much better---not so shoved in the corner.

All lit up.

And now on to the Advent season.

17 November 2015

Day in the Life

Today felt like a good day for A Day in the Life post; {coupled with random photos}. My last one was two years ago. yikes. So much has changed since then considering now Lo is in school. Life is starting to take on a whole new dynamic as the kids grow and become more involved in school and activities.
MW and I having some quiet Bible time on the driveway.
I thought it was so cool that I was reading in Proverbs 24 and the Bible study page he turned to to "read" was from Proverbs 24. It's the little things.

To be honest I have been struggling with out new normal. Letting go of the pre-school toddler years and spending all day everyday with them has been hard for me, mostly because I go to work in the evenings shortly after Lo gets home, so it limits family time. However, I am learning to enjoy the time we do have together.

On to our days.
Mornings start around 7am. 
The kids are at a great age where they can take care of themselves as long as we pour the milk. 
Chad usually does the breakfast duties.

740a--Chad and Lo are heading out the door for school. I love that he is in the same school with her. I love that he can check in on her and see how she is doing throughout the day.

A few weeks ago daddy and I had lunch with Lo. It made her feel so special. 

Micah and I spend our days hanging out playing, taking bike rides, grocery shopping, laundry, editing, coloring, snuggling and sometimes cleaning.
I have said this before, but I am appreciating our mommy son time together this last 2 years. Next year he will be off in Kindergarten and then I will be all alone; and while somedays I cherish that idea to be able to think or finish projects un-interrupted I know it will be too quiet at times---and if you know MW you will understand how quiet is an under-rated thing around here.

He plays really well by himself. Sometimes I feel bad for him because he doesn't have a playmate, but he always makes his own fun.

On Tuesday MW goes to MDO {Mom's Day Out}. This is his absolute favorite thing. He starts counting down the days until next Tuesday. I am so glad he likes it, it has been a great opportunity for him to have something of his own and to get a little "school time." He is a tad jealous of sissy going to school everyday, well most days at least.


Wednesday is my only morning I work. While I miss teaching all my little pre-Ks it has been nice not having to run off to the gym each day. Although, in hindsight perhaps I should and you know run a lap once in awhile---nah, that's just silly.

Friday mornings we get together with some friends. Mw plays with his friends and mommy gets to drink coffee and chat about life. Bliss.

Quiet time is around 130. I use this term loosely as MW doesn't comprehend the word quiet. Most of the time he plays in his room on a rare occasion he may slow down enough to doze off.

Playing with neighbor friends.

3/330 wake up time. And head to the school to pick up Lo. 

Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays I head to work around 4/430 until 730/830.
On Tuesdays Lo has team gymnastic practice from 5-7. I can't believe she is a level 2 already. I am so excited to watch her compete in a few months. I don't even care how she does or how many falls she may have, I am just giddy with excitement!

She came to early morning sound check with me at church.

Wednesday is small group night. The kids love spending time with Grandma Rachel when she comes to babysit so we can go.

Days after school consists of snacks, shows, and homework.

Dinner is around 5p
Followed by baths, books, another show and snack.
Bedtime promptly at 730p.


Now I wish I could say my angel babies went right to bed and I didn't see them again until morning...but you know they always need one more hug, drink, story and comment.

Again the playing all alone. He took all his lovies out their to be his friends.

From 8-930/10 Chad and I relax and watch Netflix. Currently our new show is Bones. 

And that is our day/week.




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