Our 4th Christmas Here...

It sounds so weird to say that.

Four Christmases in this house? FOUR?!

We moved in just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2008. Wild. ness.

So, our fourth Christmas in this house began at 6:06am, when I awoke to the sounds of four children yell-whispering, "STEAM ROLLER!!!" (so as not to scare the baby - thoughtful, really) followed by Sam and I being shocked into further consciousness by four bodies jumping on our bed and rolling all around on top of us.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like having the breath knocked out of you before dawn.

Hooligans.

After stocking shenanigans, we all opened gifts...

And, yes, that does say "catapult". Momentary lapse of reason in Santa's workshop.

(Hmm... looking at this photo now, I think maybe we should have given her a few more bracelets.)

After gifts, I made creamed eggs for breakfast (do you know creamed eggs? I had never in my life heard of them until I married in to Sam's family. Maybe I'll post the recipe some time...) and we got our hustle on for family arriving mid-morning. My parents and my sister with her little crew.

The sun had risen by that time, so the photos were brighter than those previously taken in the (still very dark) wee hours...

See my mom? She's glowing. Literally.

Her earrings and necklace lit up. And blinked.

Silly and festive :)

Love her.

(Also silly and festive^^^)

Then we ate stupid amounts of food, played Farkle, fell asleep... standard.

But I didn't take a single photo after gifts. I wasn't even Instagramming. Which is bizarre. I just wanted to be in it. To live it. To enjoy it without the need to "freeze" it, you know?

It was a really nice, long day together.

Then, the snow started in and Sam's family arrived that evening... and the next day we did it all over again with them!

Except with them it was BEEF. And my mother-in-law makes the best bearnaise sauce. Beef is my love language. For sure.

Over the weekend I had a migraine that just would not quit. Days later, I'm realizing it's probably some weirdo virus. It's like a sinus infection without the draingage... or something. I'm not even congested, but the pressure in my head is clearly telling me something is up.

Sam and the older 4 are out bowling with our church... a New Year's Eve tradition. Baby and I stayed home so she could nap well and I could chill out a bit... rest my sinuses (?). Tonight's plans are still a bit up in the air. We may wind up over at our friends' home for games and snacks... or we'll hunker down here together after bowling and watch Anne of Green Gables. We just finished reading the book aloud together, and the movie was a gift from Sam's brother. We'll see what the kids want to do more.

Either way, I know... we are wild and crazy.

Happy 2013 to all of you! Hope you have a wonderfully fun (and safe) night. Without sinus trouble.

I'm looking forward to some fun things in January. I think I should actually have TWO room reveals for you! Yes, legit reveals! As in... done. Just tweaking some odds & ends first.

Okay... time to rest my sinuses. Happy New Year!!!

making home {photo project} 7

Did you all have a great Christmas?!

We had a wonderful time with all kinds of family. It was really so precious to be able to be with so many we love!

I had intended on putting up Christmas photos before posting the Making Home pics for this week. But, when I downloaded all my photos, it became overwhelming pretty quickly. I took a lot of pictures! And I just wasn't down with editing a zillion photos tonight. I'll get to them soon, but for tonight... just a few.

Making Home... Christmas week... 2012 :)

The first couple of photos were Sam reading Advent devotions with the 4 older children. At the end of each night's reading, one of the children would hang an ornament that had to do with the reading on the tree.

And the last photo... Biebs... he was a prank. Dude came running downstairs on Christmas morning and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the stocking. He yelled to his sister, "Justin Bieber's on your stocking!" And she didn't believe him... until she saw it, too. I think, secretly, at least one of our girls might think JB is cute, but no one would ever actually admit that. Dude calls him Justin Pooper.

Maybe he should get the stocking next year!

making home {photo project} 6

Sam's sister and her family arrived this afternoon, and we are really enjoying having them with us. Their little boy, Max, is just a few days younger than our Baby. They are a hoot together. It's almost like having twins in the house!

***********************************************

This week's Making Home... Merry Christmas!

gingerbread house

Can I make this a Wordless Thursday?

You wouldn't believe me if I told you how late on Wednesday night it is right now.

It's late.

But I've spent the evening/night getting a ton of things done that have been pressing on my week-before-Christmas self. And now they press no longer. It feels good.

Not that I don't have plenty of other things still left to do before Tuesday, but this was at least more than a drop in the bucket. Tonight's productivity makes the rest of my "to do" list seem manageable.

I think.

Since I'm up anyway, I wanted to share these photos from earlier. I love the colors. Happy, happy colors.

Hope they brighten your day a little.

We have family coming in on Saturday, and then people are kind of coming and going until several days after Christmas. We're hosting two family Christmases this year. Fun, fun, fun! The bonus is, of course, no traveling. Which is really, really nice.

A final burst of crafty elfness is planned for tonight. I'm looking forward to some twinkly lights, Christmas music on Pandora, and craft paint :)

making home {photo project} 5

I can see how, as time goes on, it's going to get a lot tougher to find "encouraging" shots for my Making Home project. I wonder if I'm going to run out of lovely spots to capture. What then? Will it just be extra incentive to create more lovely in our home... something new to photograph, but also something new to bless my home and family?

I wandered around for a moment before I got the photos I wanted for this week. As I walked from room to room, I began to doubt... everything needed dusted. Half a dozen things were left unfinished. Could I find enough? I really wasn't sure at first, but they eventually came. Often made extra beautiful by the children.

All but one were taken on the same day... slacker.

Here's where I found beauty quietly waiting around me.

In the end, this turned out to be one of my favorite weeks of the project so far. Funny how that happens, isn't it?


"Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye." - Shakespeare