Authors in the House

My kids have always enjoyed making books.  They make picture books and handwritten books and poems and short stories and book series.  Staley wrote a chapter book several years ago, and Zach got it formatted and bound into a "published" book.  Adelie had been working on a chapter book of her own.  She finally finished it, so Zach spent some time formatting it so that it could be sent away for publishing too.

Adelie is officially a published author.

Adelie ordered a few copies of her book to give to family and friends.  But she also wanted to give one to our local library.  Miss Angela was very excited to add Adelie's book to the library's collection.  She catalogued it, made a nice display, and sent me a picture of the first person to check out Adelie's book (which happened to be a friend of Adelie's).

It's pretty exciting having another published author in the house.

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas was a quiet family day at home.  Briggs demonstrated extreme patience as he read on the couch until 7:45 before coming upstairs to wake me up, and then he waited again until 8:15 when I gave him permission to wake up Adelie to start our Christmas morning.

After reading the Christmas story from Briggs' storybook Bible and taking the obligatory Christmas morning picture, we enjoyed present opening time as a family.

Stockings were filled with the fun "necessities"...new socks, toothbrushes, body wash, gum, chapstick.  There is always joy in the little things that the kids get in their stockings.

Most years the kids make each other gifts.  This year, as the kids all get an allowance now, they decided that they wanted to buy each other gifts.  Adelie got Staley this fuzzy new coral blanket for her room.  Staley and Adelie gave Briggs the first 2 Harry Potter audiobooks.  Briggs gave Staley a notebook and some pencils and bought a craft kit for Adelie.

Staley got Adelie fake mustaches and a magical mixie, which were both things on Adelie's Christmas list.  (Yes, fake mustaches were on Adelie's list.)  I loved that all kids put good thought into what to get for their siblings and came up with great ideas that still fit within their budget.

Each kid got a few things from us as well...a sweatshirt and socks, something for their room, and a big item off their list.  Briggs got this Harry Potter Lego set.

Adelie got a hoverboard.

Staley got a new comforter and these Converse high tops.

We also gave the kids a few group gifts.  They got a game, a couple soap making kits, and tickets to a show on Broadway in New York over spring break.

We have owned a Nintendo Wii since long before the kids were born, but have never set it up for use with the kids.  As part of their Christmas gift, Zach got our Wii working and we wrapped up a few games for them.  Mario Kart has been the favorite.

We spent the rest of our Christmas day at home.  We had a brunch with breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, pastry puffins, and fruit.  There was more Wii playing, including some Just Dance competitions.

Briggs built his whole new Lego set that afternoon and then played Harry Potter Legos for a long time.  Staley set up her room with her new comforter set and blanket.

The kids all took turns learning how to ride the hoverboard.

We spent the rest of our day relaxing and playing at home, eating a yummy Christmas dinner with contributions from Grammie and Miss Vickie (since we had intended to eat dinner with them before our house was overtaken with sickness), watching a Christmas movie, and just spending time together.

  Maybe God knew that what I really needed out of this Christmas break was to enjoy an empty schedule.  No playdates.  No obligations.  No outings.  With our covid Christmas, I had an excuse to just stay home and be.  And it was very merry indeed.

Countdown to Christmas

As our kids took turns being sick with Covid around Christmas and our calendar was busy with kid activities, we did not get to enjoy all of our typical Christmas traditions.  But we were still able to fit in some festive fun leading up to the Christmas holiday.

Although I never got around to Christmas cards or Christmas baking this year, we still got up all our Christmas decorations.  Since our Mickey Mouse inflatable (Pepe) bit the dust last year, we got a new Harry Potter inflatable to fill the void.  Adelie named him "KKibble."  (With 2 k's so as not to be confused with dog food.  Your guess is as good as mine.)

We didn't make it to the Festival of Lights (yet), but the girls and I joined the Hostetler girls at the Northwoods Church Christmas extravaganza.

I didn't know what to expect, but it far exceeded my expectations.  Singing and dancing and costumes and choreography and trampolines and acrobats and live animals...even camels!  It was very impressive.

Briggs was feeling better and was back at school for his school Christmas party.  I was glad that he didn't have to miss the games and snacks and crafts and fun.

Although not necessarily Christmas-y, Staley went to a Taylor Swift-themed birthday party for a friend.  she dressed up as Taylor from her 'Red' Era.  I don't even really know what that means.

We celebrated with Zach's family several days before Christmas.  Staley and I left early because Staley wasn't feeling well, but we enjoyed some good food, Christmas trivia, time with cousins, and present opening.

Adelie's highlight gift was this mermaid tail.

We spent the next few days enjoying new Christmas gifts.  Adelie hung around the house in her mermaid tail, Briggs built Legos and dug for dinosaur bones, and Staley tried on new clothes.  But the biggest family fun was trying out Briggs' new laser tag set.  The warm December weather made it perfect for shooting each other out in the yard.  Nothing says Christmas spirit like trying to take out your own family members.

Although Staley had to stay home with Zach because of her covid isolation, the rest of us got together with my family for Christmas celebrating on Christmas Eve-eve.

Staley and Zach joined us on-line for present opening so they didn't have to miss out on all the family fun.

There was more food, more gifts, more cousin fun, more family time.  And it was nice that we fit it in before Adelie joined the ranks of the sick in our house the next day.

Since Adelie's fever showed up on Christmas Eve, we had a quiet day of time at home.  We played outside in the 60 degree weather, watched some Bear's football, and then made the Christmas cookies that we hadn't had time to make yet.

Family cookie decorating and a family Christmas movie rounded out our Christmas Eve.  And then we sent the kids to bed early so that we could wrap presents, fill stockings, and got ready for a fun Christmas day.

Our countdown to Christmas this year didn't include all the things.  I might have dropped the ball on  the baking and card writing and delivering.  We never drove around looking at Christmas lights or made it to the Festival of Lights.  Our Christmas movie watching was pretty limited.  We missed the Christmas Eve evening church service.  Our Christmas countdown included more fevers and medicine and congestion.  We had more isolation and less time with others.  It might not have been our typical Christmas countdown, but we still got time with family, time with friends, and time to relax.  What more could we want??

Behind the Smiles

In today's society filled with the unrealistic bar of social media perfection, we can often get caught comparing ourselves or our families to others and feel like we are coming up short.  There is a pressure to take the best vacations or fill our lives with the most fun activities or cook photo worthy meals or train our kids up to be the best at their sport or activity.  It can be exhausting when we spend our time trying to live up to the societal expectations of what a good mom or a good kid or a good family should look like, while knowing full well that the bar is based on fantasy and not reality.

On this blog, I try to show the realistic side of our lives.  I try to show the good moments and the fun moments because yes, there are many of those.  But I also try to show the realistic moments and the crazy schedule and the parenting frustrations.  Because each of these, the good and the bad, are what makes up our family life.  This blog is not to show the perfection, but the reality.

As I was reflecting on this Christmas photo, it made me think about how pictures do not always convey reality.  I wanted to snap this picture before walking out the door on the last day of school before Christmas break since all 3 kids were wearing their fun Christmas sweaters.  And this photo turned out great.  Sweet smiles, snuggly sibling love, and a very festive photo that would make any Christmas card proud.  What this photo doesn't reflect is the reality of the moment.  We were running behind to get out the door for school.  Briggs was being obnoxious and making silly faces or throwing up peace signs and otherwise making the process much harder than it should have been.  Adelie was on the verge of a meltdown because she was worried about being late for school.  Staley was all attitude as she was telling her sister to shut up and rolling her eyes at her brother.  And in the midst of that reality with a few threats of my own, this picture appeared in all its glory.  I could have just posted it here to show a picture of family perfection, but that does not reflect what was occurring behind those smiles.  The reality is much uglier, but it's truth.  And the truth is that our family is not perfect.  And that is okay.

I love my perfectly imperfect family!

Christmas Performances

Our December is always filled with a variety of Christmas performances that get us in the holiday spirit.  This year was no different as the kids sang and danced and played and acted their way through the month of December.

Although Staley was out of town at her quizzing tournament, Adelie and Briggs represented the family as they sang and danced their way through the Festival of Lights parade with NTA.

The following week-end, all 3 kids dressed in their 50's best to perform in the Santa Claus parade with NTA.

Briggs even made an appearance on TV during the parade.

The kids also all performed at the Kickapoo tree lighting ceremony where Adelie and Staley both got to perform their Christmas solos.  Adelie sang "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" while Staley performed "Shake Up Christmas."

The kids rounded out their NTA performances with the Christmas Cabaret.

All 3 kids performed with their Rising Stars group.

Staley also performed with Singapella and Kickline while Adelie performed with Broadway Dance.

Both girls also got to perform their solos one more time.

There are always so many opportunities to perform with NTA.

But our performances didn't stop with NTA.  Adelie showed off her new clarinet skills in the 5th grade band Christmas concert.

Staley fluted her way through the 7th grade band concert.

And then immediately followed up with the 7th grade chorus concert.  (And by immediately, I mean that we left as soon as Staley finished playing her flute and she changed in the car to make it in time for the chorus concert.)

Briggs is our only kid left to perform in the Davenport Christmas program, but he knew all his songs and sang them well.

Adelie and Briggs were both supposed to participate in our church Christmas program.  Unfortunately Briggs was sick so Adelie was the only family representative this year.

Adelie was Elizabeth.  She knew her lines well and also jumped in to improvise when some of the other kids didn't know their lines.  Briggs was supposed to be the main wise man, and he was really sad not to be there as he told me he was the only one who knew the lines.  It was obvious while watching the play that Briggs was right about that as the wise men really didn't seem to know what they were doing.

All the kids Christmas performances filled our December calendar, but also gave us ample opportunities to get into the holiday spirit.

Popular

My dad picked up Briggs from school for an orthodontist appointment yesterday.  My dad said as Briggs was leaving, all the kids were saying good-bye to him.  My dad said, "Briggs, you must be really popular."  Briggs replied, "I'm not popular.  I just have a lot of friends."

Life Goals

Staley:  "I've always wanted to write a bad review for something.  It's on my bucket list."

#bucketlist
#lifegoals
#icanthinkofbettergoals

#maybeaimhigher

Dance and Sing

We have these signs up in our bathroom.  They say "Dance as though no one is watching you" and "Sing as though no one can hear you."  I was thinking about this the other day and realized that Staley lives the opposite.  She dances and sings as though everyone is watching her and everyone can hear her.  

The world is her stage and that's how she likes it!

My Heart!

Over the past few weeks, Briggs has had lots of questions for me as I'm tucking him in at night about being a Christian.  The other night as he was saying his bedtime prayers, Briggs said his prayers and then ended with..."help me be a Christian and please let me come into your heart."

I love that Briggs has made the decision to ask Jesus into his heart.  And even though he got the words confused, his heart is right. 

And that makes me so happy!