Calm No More

Well, our calm start to 2016 didn't last very long. That's not really surprising. ;) We are LOUD, talkative, crazy busy, stubborn, out of control silly, defiant, and did I mention loud? I'm not rolling with the chaos in an excellent way, but if I look hard there are a lot of good (maybe even GREAT) things happening around me.

I was challenged recently by a mature prayerful woman in my core group at Community Bible Study. Although my default is melancholy and "glass is half empty", nothing is impossible with God. Rather then make excuses, maybe I should PRAY specifically for God to change that character trait? The Holy Spirit can teach me to be full of joy and peace in all circumstances. Really?! That's exciting to consider and that is my prayer for 2016. That gives me hope. :)

"The Lord will work out his plans for my life, for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever." Psalm 138:8

Here's what's happening around here:

Aaron is having a great time with basketball. 

The last night of Christmas lights. Cheery and chilly!

Ethan is swimming twice a week, which means I keep the other three 

active while he swims. (If it's warm enough.) We've taken scooter rides, 

walks to the library, playground play, and on these colder days they play cards in the YMCA lobby. 

Ethan has gotten on a cross stitching kick and once he starts he can't stop!

Seriously! I have found him hiding in his closet stitching after 9pm and before 6am. 

When he is interested in something, his focus is amazing. 

Our first TASTE of snow...more snow coming very soon.

Aaron has been performing and thinks he is a rock star. Oh dear!

Brrr... chilly morning runs! 16 degrees.

It's actually not too bad with the right clothing. 

The calm before the storm is worth getting out of a warm bed. 

New Year's Eve and Day

We celebrated New Year's Eve in two rounds. Round 1: kids party; Round 2: date night!

The kids were super excited to make their own pizzas and have sparkling grape juice. 

They had toasts galore! They were so tired from many late nights and traveling so they didn't balk

about not staying up late. They just rang in the New Year 3 hours ahead of schedule. 

After the kids were asleep, we had date night! (heavy appetizers, champagne, and a movie)

We watched "War Room." I highly recommend it! A great faith filled movie about the transforming

power of prayer and the power of God's word. It's at the top of my list of favorite movies. 

Every New Year's Eve/Day we have the kids fill out a survey about the year. Then we tuck them 

away until the next year. It's a fun tradition and they look forward to reading what they wrote. 

We spent New Year's Day being leisurely. Yeah!

 An outing to a explore a park in the area we have never been to. It was chilly, but not too bad.

This picture above captures my little ham. ;)

We found these cool structures for climbing and pull-ups. The boys loved it! 

I couldn't do ONE pull up. Maybe that should be my goal for 2016. oh my!

A little monkey bar race...

It was a quiet, slow moving, peaceful way to start the new year. 

Travels

Our second week of Christmas break was spent traveling to see family. 

First stop: Pennsylvania to see Darin's side of the family. 

Smith cousins - ages 12, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 14 months

They really had a good time playing games and enjoying each other. 

After all our warm days, we had our first taste of winter in PA. My endless summer boy (Aaron) was not thrilled to be wearing jeans and long sleeves. And then I asked him to wear a warm coat?!? gasp! The nerve of me! ha! We took a walk to burn some energy and the boys had fun tossing a football with Uncle Michael. This is such a great age.  

It's fun having an itty bitty cousin too. This little cutey 

was the apple of Ethan's eye. He enjoyed keeping her in his sights. 

The extended family cousins... not much more room on the couch. :) 

We made it home for New Year's and then were on the road again. 

Second Stop: Day trip to Maryland to be with my side of the family - minus our Canadian family :(

Do you notice I'm not very good at taking pictures of adults? I think I need to work on that in 2016. 

During this visit we got to celebrate Christmas and two birthdays! My mom and this handsome guy...

8 already? wow!

 Christmas jammie train!! 

Now I know why the two weeks went by so quickly...we were so busy and gone a lot. 

Christmas Day

In the months leading up to Christmas, there was much discussion about gifts and Christmas morning. We have SO much (maybe too much?) and I feel so antagonistic about materialism. It's so easy to shift our focus away from what Christmas is really all about. Of course we want to give our kids everything...to see the wonder and joy in their eyes! But, is that really best for them? I became a little obsessed, majorly conflicted, and grinchy about the whole thing. It's a good thing I have Darin to balance me out. ;) Don't worry. We didn't cancel Christmas, but we took some steps back in Christmas spending. I'm not sure we did it right, but we did what was best for us this year.

There were still three packages for each kid around the tree (much to the relief of very perceptive boys who were inquiring Christmas Eve...worried from overhearing me that there would be no gifts. oh no!) We still read the Christmas story from the Bible before opening gifts. The biggest change is that after the Bible story and before they opened their gifts, we gave each of the kids an equal amount of money to spend in the World Vision catalog. They were intrigued and excited. 

 

I gave them each a stack of pretend money to count (I couldn't resist the money counting practice. ack!) Then they selected items from the catalog to spend their money on. It was a little window into their hearts to see what they chose. Later that day, I happily selected those items online. This was a really good compromise for us and I'm thankful for the idea from a blogging friend. ;)  

The rest of the day was leisurely and peaceful. Gifts, big breakfast (Daddy made delicious omelets!), windows open, sunshine streaming in the windows, togetherness... I'm thankful for how it all unfolded.

Late in the afternoon, we traveled over the river and through the woods to Grammy & Poppy's house. My favorite gift this Christmas is that somehow in the midst of a frantic pre holiday season and some hard days, God blessed me with a peace in my heart. Oh how He loves me! My mom even commented on it. Praise God for His peace. 

 The kids were ROASTING in their Christmas jammies, but we had to get a picture!

My mom does a beautiful tree and winter scene. 

(A talent or patience I haven't developed yet... maybe some day.) 

A Christmas Day to remember. Happy Birthday Jesus!

The Week Before Christmas

The days leading up to Christmas were full of family parties, 

entertaining, and last minute Christmas preparations. The week FLEW by! 

I made the Ukrainian Kolach bread. I was too rushed this year, so it looked better then it tasted. One of these days, I will plan a traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve meal (with the help of some details from my Ukrainian Aunt). However, this was not the year. Since Ukraine celebrates Christmas on January 7th, maybe I should plan ahead for next January??

We hosted our Virginia cousins for dinner and a gift exchange. Our tradition to exchange books for the kids each year is such a hit with so many readers! The adults enjoyed 15-20 minutes of peacefulness as the kids began their new chapter books (that is before the giggling, game playing, noise and chaos began!) 

I love having everyone crowd around our dining room table. 

Should have gotten the photo with the smiling, happy faces. 

Ethan decided to make all his cousins and some close friends parachord bracelets. He was a busy bee. 

We played outside in the rain on Christmas Eve. It was over 75 degrees!

 My little artist asked to be the official baker and cake decorator for Jesus' Birthday Cake. (A Christmas Eve post dinner tradition) I need to pass along more cooking responsibility to this talented young man. He is a quick study. He made this three layer white cake with white icing. It looked beautiful but the kids all agreed it was too sweet. 

And last but not least... a blurry picture of our Christmas Eve guests. Our tradition is to attend the Christmas Eve worship service at church (which was awesome!) and then enjoy a simple meal with long time friends.

Surprise Sweets

This year I decided to follow the public school calendar and take TWO full weeks for our Christmas break. We were all so eager for those carefree, school free days. My mind whirred with possibilities of how we could spend our time. How did it all go by so fast? We didn't do nearly all I had hoped, but I'm not so good about having realistic expectations. ;)

I loved surprising the kids with a little spontaneous sweets.  For the past 6 years, the kids have begged me to buy one of those gingerbread house kits you see in the stores. There are already so many sweets at Christmas time, so I've always discouraged it. None of us can handle having sweets in full sight without over-indulging! But I decided this was the year to surprise them. They were in disbelief and I loved saying YES. (I don't do that often enough!)

They kept occupied with this project for HOURS. Well, some had a shorter 

attention span then others, but most of them just kept going and going. 

Not sure what we'll do about next year, but I will treasure the memory from this year. I loved the pretty houses, but as one boy said, "Every time I walk by them I get a whiff of sweets that is irresistible." I was pretty glad when they went in the trash. ;)