Week 52 - Christmas, oh Christmas

A few days before Christmas we woke to the most STUNNING sunrise. I actually thought there was a fire the way it glowed through the window--but upon further inspection, it was just God splashing the most beautiful, bright pinks and oranges across the Amarillo sky.
 

Christmas Eve was strange. It was one of the first we have ever had just us. I wanted to have people over, but at the same time I was just feeling ready for family time. Just us. And so we did. 

We ate earlier than usual, and spent the evening doing our traditional acting out of the Nativity, stories, sibling gifts, and at the end we had new PJ's for everyone. 



Kaden turned to his creative side and spelled out Merry Christmas with Duplo blocks. I wish you could see better in the picture--it was pretty impressive!


Annual Christmas tree picture--I really am going to miss the beautiful lights of the tree when it's time for them to come down!


Christmas morning...

A few years ago we had a talk with Santa and decided that he would only bring stockings. No big gifts, no wishlists, nothing like that. It has really been the best thing ever! As I watched my kids hug their socks from their stockings and be excited about the little things, I realized that for us, this works.




Spencer got a magic set and has been in heaven since! He is always trying to perfect his latest trick! :)


Grandma got the boys Pokemon binders to organize their cards. Since I have now washed numerous sets of them, this is a really, really good thing. :)


Jenna was so sweet and bought me a necklace and earrings set that said mom, and had a card that said, "not just my mom--my best friend" I love my sweet girl. She is so thoughtful!


This has to be one of my favorite pictures of Carter ever! Seriously, from a guy who can do a grumpy face like the best of them, I LOVE his genuine happiness here!




Brandon got some new bike pedals and bike shoes--he is excited to try them out once this snow melts and we get some nice weather again!



And he was surprised to see I got him in on the Nerf gun action that happened in our house. :)



Jenna also got a nerf gun--hers was the mother of all guns and much larger than it looked online! lol She LOVES it!






We actually opened all our presents without Josie--way more enjoyable that way. This girls needs her beauty rest for sure. ;) But it was really fun to focus just on her when she woke up.



After having 5 kids, I finally got this Christmas thing right. I bought her one present and a box of clothes, and Grandma/Grandpa bought her a stroller. That was it. And she was completely content. She would not have done well having anything more. Simple is best...



While we were house hunting, Josie would loved every house that had a little Cozy coupe. She would run to them--it was like she had a little radar. :) So when I found a deal on this one for $25 new, I snatched it up! In earlier kids, I would have made sure it was gender neutral. Knowing she is the caboose, I went pink! :)


Her sweet babysitter gave her the cutest little doll that blows kisses--and of course she had to haul her around in her car and stroller.




Our magician at work! :)





Kaden got a remote control car and took it out in the back lot to explore.


We all joined in--playing as long as we could handle the chilly weather.






Little Miss Jenna is getting all grown up. She loved her pink jean jacket and new scarf and jeans...the boots she bought with her own money. Texas will turn her in to a cowgirl, I am certain of it. :)





I bought all the kids--even the adult one--Nerf guns this year. When we were looking at the house we are buying, Brandon mentioned it would be the perfect house for a Nerf war. Now, I like calm--I hate wrestling and playing around (someone always gets hurt!) And Nerf guns aren't my favorite thing--but I knew THEY would love them, and Brandon was right--our new house would be PERFECT for such a thing. So I surprised them all--I LOOOVED this surprise, because it was not something I would typically do, and I didn't even tell Brandon anything about it. It was so fun to see their reactions!



After Christmas came, we were hit with a yucky blizzard. We didn't get all the snow we thought we would have, but it blew EVERYWHERE and caused so many people to get stuck! We were pretty much shut inside for a few days, through cancelled church, etc. and Brandon's office had to close Monday morning because it was still so bad.


During that time, we were able to play lots of Monopoly Deal (waaaaaay better than the traditional version) and just enjoy our time together. It was really, really nice.


Christmas brought about much reflection for me--I truly am grateful for the Savior. For His birth and His perfect life. I am grateful for His example and to have the knowledge of the gospel. I genuinely feel so much gratitude and love for Mary and Joseph, who faced what must have been incredible uncertainty and fear to some extent. Their courage and dedication to follow God's plan inspires me to do the same...

Merry Christmas...

Week 51 - The most wonderful...er...busiest...time of the year.

The week before Christmas break was a chaotic madhouse. I am still not sure exactly why--I took few pictures, but there was literally something all. week.

We had Jenna's first band concert--you know, during the day like most band concerts are. {HUH?!} It happened to be only 30 minutes different time than Spencer's class musical--which was several miles away at a different school. Thankfully Brandon was able to attend Jenna's concert, and I took off after the first 20 minutes of it to catch Spencer's play.

They both did a great job!


The next morning Jenna took part in her school talent show. They only chose 12 acts from her whole grade and she was really excited to get to perform her piano piece. She was first--and thankfully the gentleman in front of me didn't pull out his giant Ipad to record everything till after she was done. Common sense fail...for reaaaaal.



Josie looks forward every day to the kids coming from school. She runs out and as soon as she sees them come around the corner, she takes off down the street. This little girl LOOOOVES her siblings!


Speaking of siblings, I am grateful for Kaden...he is so kind to help Spencer with his tie. It's one thing I just don't know how to do. And because Brandon is visiting other wards so often now, he doesn't make it to church with us as much. So Kaden saves the day! :)



Josie. Oh this girl! She has decided she no longer wants anything to do with the booster at the table, and has found herself a perfectly good personal table at the step stool. I found her this morning in the pantry, with her yogurt, at her little "table". She's full of funny surprises! :)



We also had our ward party, class parties, Scout pack meeting, among other things. As much as I love Christmas, it is crazy busy every year. I suppose the upside of that is that it makes me really appreciate the few weeks of downtime afterward. :)

Happy Sunday.

Week 50 - Practice makes perfect

As like most of the online world I know, we had piano recitals this weekend. The kids each did 2 pieces-- one Christmas and one other. The Christmas song was played a 2nd time as a duet with their sweet teacher, Jessica.

The kids have been practicing lot--they had to learn their stuff AND memorize it, which caused Kaden to go into a slight panic. But he did it! Both he and Jenna did great. I loved hearing the other kids who were more experienced. You could see the kids' faces light up as they looked forward with hope at where they could be someday.

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They have worked hard! I can't say they always WANT to practice or that they didn't make any mistakes. But they did their best and that's really all you can ask. ;) I love seeing them blossom and grow their talent, and I hope it carries on a long time!

Week 49 - Ch-ch-ch-change

Oh how things change, often so quickly!

After posting about building our home, and sending plans back to the architect, I stopped by an open house at a home that we never really considered but was SO cool and I just was really curious about it from the pictures online.

But after walking through out of sheer curiosity, I could see such potential! I scheduled with our realtor to bring Brandon back the next morning. We both loved it! We had said from the beginning that we would be willing to lose the money we paid for plans only if the perfect house came up--and this house was everything we wanted and MORE! I joke that this house was built for us, 20 years too soon and with way more money than we could ever put into it. We threw out a number substantially less than they were asking in a verbal offer via our realtor and started praying that if this was right, they would accept it. They came back higher than we had offered, and we said again that it was our max and that we would know this was right only if they accepted the low offer we put in.

They came back with a verbal yes--and told us to put our offer in writing. Suddenly I panicked. This is a BIG change...we would be moving mid-year. New schools, new district. We would be switching wards (congregations)...which was very, very sad to us. I also worried about what people would think. It's a big house. There is no denying. But we aren't in this to buy a showy house--we certainly never were looking for this. It just came up. We don't want people to think we are rich. Blessed after a lot of years of hard work, we are. Wealthy, we are not. It would only be purchased because we could get it for a really, really, really good price.

Over the week I went back several times to look, and get estimates for some work we would potentially have done if we bought it, etc. I was trying to get every piece of information, from utility bill costs to upkeep and maintenance prices for things, etc. I really wanted to be fully informed before we signed the dotted line and officially submitted the offer because this was SO far from what we expected to be doing...

After a 4th quote on some work, I stood outside the house and looked at the beautiful trees in the front yard and had the very distinct though, "does it really matter what it costs? This is the only place I can picture as home".

We went home and signed the dotted line and put an offer in...completely switching life gears in one swift signing.

I sit here today, unsure of the future. I don't know how this will all work out. We still don't have a firm written yes--verbal, yes. But I will believe it when the listing says pending...

It is really a dream home. It has the 5 bedrooms and an office I wanted. It has a big backyard. It has the eat in kitchen area that fits our family. And it even has the separate laundry room you don't have to walk through to go outside. And then it gets almost strange how many little details we wanted that it has...As a kid I always said I wanted a drinking fountain in my house. I have joked about having one through the years, and low and behold...this house has A DRINKING FOUNTAIN! I was also pretty adamant about our architect building in lockers so each kid would have one--so it was pretty much amazing that this house we loved already has...drumroll....lockers! Enough for every member of our family. And then there is the fireplace in the master bedroom. Always wanted one--but never enough to pay for it. It has the big pantry I wanted, the gas stove, the extra living space on the main floor that we couldn't have if we built a home because the lot wasn't big enough...it has an amazing shop in the garage where Brandon can work on his bike and we can set up a workshop. It has the 3 car garage we wanted. It literally has everything! And THEN...it also has an indoor pool. What the?! YES! And it's amazing...and so far above what we ever, ever, ever thought we would find.

So I am waiting...on pins and needles...to see if this will all pan out. To see if this is what the Lord has in store for our family. To see if this is the answer to our prayers.

If so, it will bring about much change...and sometimes change is hard! But we are moving forward and praying the Lord's hand will guide us through these uncharted territories of life so we can make the choice that will be best--that we can use whatever home we have to serve Him and serve others. That truly is our desire...