How did we get here?!

First day of Kindergarten: 2012-2013

And I'm back to blogging.  Excited to start logging away our family's adventures once again.

Christmas is here, fa-la-la-la!

The weekend after Thanksgiving we set up our tree and decorated for Christmas. By far, one of the best moments of our year with the family! I love the holidays. 

 Christmas baking

 Christmas kiss

 Christmas tree and decorations

Christmas craft (homemade gingerbread play dough)

'Tis the season to be jolly!  Looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ this year with my sweet family.

thanksgiving 2011

This year we spent the holiday in OKC with some of my extended family.  We loved seeing the fall colors really turning, as you can see in the picture of Aron with the stroller on our walk to the park after our Thanksgiving meal.  So much of this season brings back memories of my childhood spent in OKC; no matter how much time has passed, certain sites, smells, even weather, can trigger good memories of life when I was little. The kids did well on the trip, enjoying being in a new place.  I have noticed as they've gotten older that travel has grown more and more enjoyable.  Grateful that we live nearby and can take these trips often!

Toothless wonder

I grew up reading Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth and still read my childhood copy to Maggie from time to time.  Now, she is just like Little Rabbit and has "a window in her mouth" yet again.  In a matter of a week, she lost her two top teeth, bringing the total of lost teeth this year to 4.  She now has that adorable, huge hole on top.  I love it. She seems so grown up and is not quite 5 years old!

life lately

Life continues to move along and I'm just loving time with my kiddos lately. It's truly delightful to watch them grow and learn and love the world around them. Parenting has its daily challenges of course, but I'm so blessed to have a husband that parents alongside me: he listens to me, encourages me, teaches and corrects the kids, and is passionate about doing life as a family, even amidst this busy season of finishing his Master's degree. I've been feeling more joyful and settled lately, getting to connect with friends over coffee, email, and the phone. This is a necessity for me as "quality time" is almost my number 1 love language.

Here's a glimpse of what we've done these past few weeks.

Our church had a family service on Sunday and both Curren (amazing!) and Maggie did well sitting in the service with us (C is in the orange shirt and M is sitting on his right). There were children's songs, a shortened sermon (16 minutes, all of which Curren basically sat in his chair watching our pastor speak on the screen), and a children' time to come sit and listen to a story up front. I love these Sundays!

We took family pictures on Saturday afternoon and it went well, minus several meltdowns from the kids and Maggie (Maggie?!) failing to cooperate for some of the pictures. I do love the candid shots because let's be honest, this is life with young children, it's not all a soft hue of sunset and peaceful smiles. I do hope Allison (she is my good friend and such a gifted artist!) got at least one good pic of us all smiling. How funny is Kate in the first pic, eating the parking block?

Obligatory pumpkin carving which is more of Aron's thing. I could do without this yearly tradition; sorry, is that just me?
Kate in her hilarious cuteness as of late means we see her like this often daily: sucking her thumb and poking her belly button simultaneously (these 2 invariably go together now) and also just waking up uber happy after nap times (below).

Maggie's latest art creation: a lion. We LOVE it. Her art teacher, a friend here on campus (and art major) is so talented and is doing a fantastic job with Maggie. Inspired by my friend Laurie, I will probably host a "gallery viewing" in a couple months to display all Maggie has learned.
This is the best homemade pizza I've ever both tasted and made. It's so easy and I have batches of dough in the freezer waiting to be thawed and made for weekly dinners. I'll never buy another frozen pizza again, I swear. Many thanks to a friend on campus who hosted a perfect pizza making party and taught us all the tricks of the trade. I'm a believer.

A Bright Spot

I love Joy's Hope and was *SUPER* excited to see the launch of The Happy Day Project (see button on the right). Love the idea of blessing others randomly. And I'm stoked to get my kids involved with this too!

Fall Bucket List

This is our fall bucket list and I love it. Maggie, Aron, and I came up with it together and I think it lists reasonable things the we will get to and not-too-out-of-the-ordinary-things that are doable.

I like this whole concept of a seasonal to-do list for family times together. Not only does it help you focus in early on what you value (or what your kids' hopes and dreams are), but it also gives you something intentional to do. And it's an added bonus that in the midst of our blogging world where everyone seems to be doing everything well, I don't have to feel defeated if I can't get to all I see before me. It's good to feel successful in your parenting. :)

My friend Casey did a summer list and I loved it and had to do a fall one. I think Leslie may have been the originator of this concept, but I could be wrong. Love her thoughts behind it, too.

pumpkin patch 2011

We enjoyed the Dallas Arboretum yesterday, traipsing around, looking at the assortment of pumpkins (they used over 50,000 pumpkins to decorate the landscape and also build 3 pumpkin houses!), and of course, choosing a couple to take home and carve. The kids enjoyed the afternoon and we snapped some traditional annual pictures. I couldn't find the one from last year (old computer died, only so many pics got transferred). Regardless, my kid are looking so grown-up to me!

I did find a photo of me and Mags (age 22 months) upon our return to Chicago, prior to Curren's birth. My how, time flies!

I love the fall season and all it brings.

Fall 2009, a blast from the past

in those dark moments

Something I've noticed is that when I am not handling life well as a mom, blogging gets shelved and I kind of go dark for awhile (hence my almost-month hiatus from here). I'm still reaching out to friends and family, calling, initiating, I do these things well, but eventually I back off and isolate myself and spiral into loneliness. It's an interesting cycle for me--chaos brings isolation which brings loneliness. It's a real spiritual battle for me to stay in it (being honest and living life with others) and to *not* isolate myself. The hard thing I'm still trying to work through is when those closest to me also happen to be crazy busy or not handling life well as a mom either, and they are thus, not as available to me.

Many times, I have left voicemails for a few close friends and my sister that say, "I'm having a really, really hard day and I just need to talk." Sometimes, I've even been close to tears when I leave those voicemails. It's very humbling for me, to be real and raw in the moment and to ask for help. I'm getting better at it because I care deeply about doing life well in community, but I also find I have to force myself to reach out in the moment (not a day or 2 later; you know how it goes, checking in with a friend, "How are you?" "Oh, I had a rotten day on Tuesday, but I'm better today.") I think those who know you best should see you in your most glorious and your most difficult times. I feel deeply grateful to have a number of close, close friends who know me and seek me out.

On the other side of some very tough days, weeks, or longer seasons, I see God's faithfulness, drawing me into a closer relationship with Him through prayer and time in His Word. In these recent hard days, I've fought to stay focused on Him. God's grace is good, moment by moment.

How do you handle loneliness and those dark moments in life?

on being away and coming home

I left on our anniversary day in September for a good friend's wedding in which I was a bridesmaid. It was a fantastic trip, overall, as I was able to ride 1st class (redeemed Aron's air miles for the same amount as a coach seat, who could pass that up?!) and eat a real meal with real silverware and even have leg room to spare. I read books on the plane and just relaxed. It was heavenly.

The wedding was incredibly gorgeous, set on a ranch in the hills, with a cool breeze blowing, and the day was perfect, just perfect. Cayla has wanted to be a wife and mother since I've known her (13 years) and at the right time, God brought Mike into her life and almost one-year to the day they met, they got married. Super cool, right? She also lived well in her singleness, traveling the world with Cru, training and equipping students on short and long-term missions teams. Singleness was very difficult at times, but she truly was able to live well in the moment and do incredible things for the Lord. Love that.

I know some of you know her and some of you don't, but if you have 3 minutes, it's worth your while to scroll through their wedding album. The photographer was incredible, the day captured splendidly, and so much of it I would do if I was getting married; I still loved our wedding day, but I loved so much of what Cayla and Mike did for their special day. Check it out here.

I love my hubby, love that he took such stellar care of our kiddos while I was away, but man, it took almost 2 full weeks to get back in the groove of things, with kids being off, Aron not feeling well, both of us exhausted from our respective weekends, etc. Getting way is completely necessary at these stage of life with young kids, but at some point, the "getting back into the groove" on the other side might not be worth it. At least not for such a long stretch of time. Regardless, my in-laws were incredible hosts and it was fun to catch up with them and also to get to spend so much time with my close friend, Linds. And of course, all the wedding festivities. I'm so glad I was able t be a part of it!