Category Archives: Holidays

Events, Grandparents, Holidays

Happy Mother’s Day to My Mothers

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Dear Beloved Mothers,

Please accept these simple words in place of a bouquet of gorgeous flowers. Alongside the flowers is a beautiful, hand made Mother’s Day card. This post is that card.

I love you both!

pass the flowers

Dear Mom,

You are an amazing mother. In so many ways you are truly my hero and inspiration. Any bit of patient, sweet, loving mothering that flows from me comes from your example. You modeled for me a vibrant, living walk with the Lord – leaning on Him for joy in your marriage, wisdom in your parenting, and strength in your struggles. You showed me mothers and daughters can enjoy a sweet friendship. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me through all the different stages of my life. If ever I am lonely or sad or feel unloved and unlovable, I need only hear your voice to feel comforted. I have never doubted your love for me or your faith in me. You have steadfastly communicated to me acceptance and belief. You told me I was beautiful, smart, godly, strong. And you meant it.

My greatest hope is that I can share the same love with my own children. Happy Mother’s Day!

Dear Mom/Robbie,

Thank you for raising such a godly man. I am incredibly blessed to be his wife and a part of your family. From the very beginning of our relationship, I have felt welcomed and loved as a daughter. You have a gift of making people feel special and accepted. You inspire me with your passion and energy. I see your love for the Lord deepen every year and I praise Him for giving me such a godly mother-in-law. Thank you for constantly turning the ordinary into something special – a family dinner into an event, a cup of tea into a tea party, a casual gesture into a meaningful present.

You have shown me it is possible to love a daughter-in-law as a true daughter. As a mother of three sons, your example gives me hope of a joyful friendship in the future with my own daughters-in-law.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Kathy

mamie and g'ma

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Holidays, Project 366, Rachel, Sarah

Advent Sugar Daddy

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Some families celebrate Advent as they look forward to Christmas, but our family has always been a little, well, different. Today I took my two girls out for an ice cream cone, in honor of Advent.

It is true that Easter came pretty early this year, but I think we still have a little time before the Christmas season is upon us. I’d hate to miss the summer, for starters.

Down to the cone
We were so busy eating, that I didn’t remember to use the camera until the ice cream was almost gone.

No, we were celebrating last Advent, in our inimitable style and tendency to procrastinate. As Kathy mentioned in her Advent Calendar post, each year we offer daily prizes to the kids in daily Advent calendars. One of the prizes they particularly appreciated was a small slip of paper, inscribed with these fateful words:

A Special McDonald’s Outing with Daddy

I found it amusing that the scraps of paper bore Kathy’s handwriting, and that she hadn’t bothered to check with me before she volunteered my services as a prize. Sometimes she panics when she doesn’t have quite enough little prizes for all five of the children, times 25 days.

Truth be told, I absolutely love Christmas, and I greatly enjoy foraging for ice cream with my kids, so it wasn’t much of an imposition. :)

Rachel enjoys a Sugar Day
Rachel has been very faithful on her 5 for $5 goals, avoiding sugar six days a week. But this was the seventh day, and she rested.

The boys redeemed their coupons pretty early-on, but Rachel and Sarah hoarded theirs. Thus the Advent celebration while April showers and flowers abound. I bought the ice cream and we sat companionably, licking the sides of the generous cones to prevent unsightly drippage.

Girl time over cones
Sarah positively adores her older sister, and with good reason — Rachel is very good to her.

After we finished our cones, Sarah wanted to explore the Playland structure, while Rachel and I looked on, swapping memories. “I remember,” Rachel sighed in reminiscence, “when Sarah was too scared to climb above the second level … and now look at her!”

Indeed, time flies. I remember when Rachel was too small to climb above the first level, and it seems like only yesterday. I am greatly privileged to be the Daddy of such delightful young ladies, and I’m intent on savoring as many moments as I can, before I look around and they’re off “on whatever adventure Aslan brings them”, as C.S. Lewis would say.

Sarah behind bars
Sarah, a true child of the blog, is always willing to pose for the camera.

On the way home, we stopped off at Wal-Mart to buy another one of those cool Jiffy Seedling mini-greenhouses that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. This time, in honor of my girls, we bought flower seeds.

Tim
Project 366, Day 97

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Grandparents, Holidays

Easter Pictures

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How about a few more Easter pictures. Grandma made the adorable Easter lamb, I can’t take any credit for it.

dying eggs

It wouldn’t be Easter without dying eggs. LOVE the bright colors!

beautiful girl

Nothing like some pearls to liven up a dull paint smock. :)

grandma helped dye eggs

While I worked on last minute meal preparations (and our lamb roast took FOREVER to cook), Grandma helped the children work on Easter eggs. It’s important to have professional help during the holidays.

Kathy

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Holidays, Project 366

Packing Up Christmas

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We don’t like to rush through Christmas here, nor do we hurry along the close to the holiday season.

how many do you have?

An Advent train – Daniel counts the boxes.

But at some point you have to put things away.

You must say goodbye to red bows, ribbons and Advent Calendars. Christmas dishes, mugs and even lights.

some more boxes

I have a Christmas notebook that I bought at Barnes and Noble several years ago. I use it to record decorations, recipes, gift ideas, and more. I have a section where the contents of all of our Christmas bins are detailed. For example, Bin 3 has Christmas party supplies, a small poinsettia plant (obviously not real) and an angel (also not real). I love having everything all organized. I can find what I’m looking for by flipping to the decorating section in my Christmas notebook and then tracking down the appropriate bin.

If only the rest of my house were so well ordered.

so long, farewell

Sarah waves goodbye to Christmas.

Our Christmas tree, however, remains in its place of honor. Every morning, first thing, Tim comes down and turns on the Christmas lights. “It brings me joy,” he says.

How can I deny him holiday joy? It turns out the only reason, in years past, we used to pack up all of our Christmas adornments in a timely fashion is because we had a real tree. There weren’t enough needles to hold up the ornaments and the lights.

With a fake tree, we might still be celebrating Christmas in March. Anyone ever heard of a St. Patrick’s Day Tree?

I checked the official blog records (aka our archives) and it looks like we didn’t pack up the tree until January 20th last year. I’m obviously rushing things this year.

Just don’t call me Mrs. Grinch!

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 12

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