Constant Beginnings

We have made it beyond 25 weeks and nearly to 26 now. Hard to believe that in less than 100 days, we'll be meeting this little guy. We are so excited. The holidays have certainly helped pass the time and I know March will be upon us before we have time to blink. I feel so badly as I have done a pathetic job of documenting this pregnancy. Life has gotten the best of me. Between Claire's schedule, Mya's schedule, my schedule, Chris' schedule and finally our family routines, time to reflect and think has been kept to a bare minimum. I do feel great. My clothes still fit nicely. I am wearing my prepregnancy staples of cardigans and colored t-shirts with my dress maternity pants each day to work. Friends at work were asking how I was feeling the other day. My comment was simply "large." I feel like I look larger than I did with the girls at this time, but another friend, who typically tells it like it is, spoke up and told me I look great! She asked if I was at...

Two weeks before Christmas, I planned a quick trip to Brugge, Belgium to visit the Ice Festival. This year it featured the movie, "FROZEN!" We saw the movie a week before we went, which was absolutely adorable. Brugge is about a 4 hour drive from our house. Our drive was filled with a mix of rain, then snow, and finally rain again. Sadly, it rained throughout most of our visit, which put a bit of a damper on our activities, but we will definitely be back again. Brugge was such a cute little city.  The Ice Show wasn't cheap. Children's tickets were 11 Euros each and adults were 15 Euros each. However, it was worth every penny seeing our kids' faces light up in delight. We wandered around the city a bit, enjoyed some Chinese food where we were amazed at the son's owner who visited with us. We were the only one's in the restaurant and he was a nice kid. As a high schooler, he knows 5 languages. Chris and I are always taken aback by the amount of languages ...

We've been doing "elf on the shelf" for the past 3 years or so. Our elf does crazy things, the girls laugh, but basically forget that he is "watching." The impact on behavior isn't significant. In fact, the whole idea is kind of ridiculous. Sooo, when/if I find that elf (Our last move threw us for a loop. We have the box, but the elf somehow escaped.), we are going to mix things up. I typically put together an advent calendar filled with good deeds and family activities/projects, but I am going to change gears and include those good deeds directed by the "kindness elf." We work hard to show our children the "giving" side of Christmas and we donate/do random acts of kindness as a family, BUT I like the idea of doing something special/different each day of the month. Our Advent calendar is going to focuse more on the Bible verses that correlate with Christmas. It should be a fun change. For more information on the kindness elf, see the lin...

a few weeks ago we received a special present from santa. he sent an elf to come and watch over us until christmas. claire and mya were very excited. maggie the elf has been with us ever since and she runs back to santa each night while we sleep to tell him of the good and not so good things we've done. claire and mya enjoy looking for her each morning, but little miss maggie has found herself in the same spot the last few mornings. gasp! i tell claire that she must really like the view from on top of the air conditioner. thankfully, claire is satisfied with that answer. the elf on the shelf is a great little find that i came across last year. i didn't buy it then, knowing our kiddos were a bit too small, but i am so glad that i remembered it for this year. it has added to the christmas spirit and will become a little tradition of our own.

It is finally Christmas Eve. Amen. I feel like I have been working for far too many days in preparation. I am thinking I should have resorted to my procrastination ways as I am pretty good under pressure. Regardless, I have alot to do. We are making the traditional Norwegian meatballs (edited for Lisa & a tradition begun by my Grandmother & continued by my Mom), gravy, mashed potatoes meal tonight, followed by church and of course, opening presents. Tomorrow we are entertaining 15 of our friends and their families for a Christmas dinner and game/craft night. It should be fun, but I am guessing a bit stressful. We are hoping this will be a great Christmas even though we are thousands of miles away from our families. We love you! Have a Merry Christmas! I think I first saw this or read this two years ago when Chris was in Iraq. It is a great reminder. Now for something fun and uplifting. This going round and round the bloggosphere. Gotta love Jack Black....

Mya lovin the lights.   we had the pleasure of having mark help us decorate the tree. hopefully it gave him a little taste of home too. we definitely think of him as family.  claire was a great little helper. she loved learning which ornaments were hers. i am so glad i started their collections right away. ornaments are a cherished possession in my family. both mya and claire already have several ornaments courtesy of my mom, sisters and of course, me. can't wait to see the collections grow. chris made several comments about missing the after christmas sales this year. hopefully my sisters/mom think of me and score me some cute ones?!! the hallmark rush will be missed! claire and i also put up my little tree with my hallmark miniature ornaments in her room. she loved it. i think that may be a new little tradition for us. it was a good quality moment together. last year our christmas decor was set up two weeks BEFORE thanksgiving. this year, we set i...

  Today was a rather busy day. I agreed to do summer speech for a few students which only involves 3 hours, one day every other week. Pretty easy and decent money. However, today I also had a doctor appointment thrown in the mix, so we didn't get home until later. Anyway, I almost didn't have it in me to get this page done, BUT I did it! I am so pleased that I have stuck to my promise thus far and yes, Lisa, I did go walking today in addition to a little ab workout AND Squats!! Don't choke in your amazement. All I can say is....Bye-bye 20 pounds!! I didn't mention yesterday, but Harvest has another freakin' hotspot. It is quite the ongoing issue. We've been around and around with our vet (he charges a fortune and prescribes creams/ointments vs. pills that have been proven effective) and actually ended up taking him to the vet on base. However, she was busy and couldn't fit him in for 2 weeks. Way too long for a dog who is licking himself like he is made of h...