I have sat down a few times now to crank out “our year in review” and have come up empty. A few days ago I looked through the calendar of our year and it has once again in true Kolb-style been a wild ride. We started the year by meeting with a realtor, which led to putting in an offer on a foreclosure and eventually getting the home. That mixed in with preparing for a move, living life to the fullest in our last months in Switzerland followed by diving right in here, preparing for Kindergarten, two broken limbs, a miscarriage, birthdays, lots of laughs, a few lot of cries, and so much in between. 2012 is memorable like all of the years before. It wasn’t predictable and I think at my ripe old age I am beginning to realize it never will be. Routines roll into new routines, boys outgrow habits and clothes, grey hairs increase. Life is dynamic and there is no stopping it. There is no waiting around for things to feel settled or to slow down. There is just the need to learn to enjoy it as it comes. Which at times in our house feels to be at break neck speeds.
In the new year I have very few new goals…most roll over!
1. Carving out times for quiet to have the time to grow and to see the fruits of spiritual growth.
2. Always working on getting/staying in shape and losing weight. Guessing I will think about it the day I die and still not have let that one go. Hoping to have a healthier view of it all.
3.Working on having more patience with the boys and not raising my voice!
4. Taking a photography class
5. Fostering meaningful relationships. Not the side salad type, more the steak type. I want to pour into others and get to know them for real. I have the treat of having people in my life like this already but we are in a new neighborhood and essentially a new church since there are so many people we don’t know.
6. Getting back into writing notes and doing more thoughtful things for Seth. When we were dating and prior to kids I was so much more creative and thoughtful. I loved surprising him with a note in his briefcase or his favorite meal. Survival mode with tots sort of reduces taking the time to step back and take the time to do the extras.
7. Doing projects and creative things even if I don’t think I will be good at them. I have a sewing machine and fabric for a little curtain…and yet it sits. I hate doing things I will likely fail at. I know I won’t be good at many things and that is why we are blessed with friends with varying skills and talents…but I want to not avoid things just because they aren’t my strength.
8. Letting myself be silly with the boys. Laughing at their jokes, listening better to their stories (not encouraging the abridged version), racing them to the mailbox, reading more with them…
I am cautiously optimistic about the new year. I am tempted to hang on the tails of 2012 just because a whole new year feels a bit intimidating. In the past I was optimistic about an upcoming year particularly if it wasn’t slatted for an international move combined with being 8 months pregnant or caring for a newborn. I think I am in the clear on that possibility but I don’t pretend to know what to anticipate anymore.
One thing is for sure, we will learn and grown and change and we will be guided and provided for by our faithful Lord. We have seen His faithfulness in years past and we wait in expectation to see what he has in store for our family this year.
Owen turned 3 on December 21st. I will never forget that first glimpse of his quivering lip! The nurse said “oh boy, watch out for that pouty lip”. His round little face. His new baby smell. His daddy passing out just after his birth. His flipping and flopping inside me going breech and back to head down and back again. We were hooked up to an IV on December 19th for a c-section but the snow storm blew into Northern Virginia as Owen decided to flip head down so we were unhooked and sent home to wait out the storm. That silly boy. He was born a few days later via C-section because he went back to breech. The swine flu had broken out so we weren’t allowed to have visitors except for my mom, sister-in-law and a friend. Jackson couldn’t come meet his brother…which at the time was so sad but meant we spent lots of time resting and cuddling those first days! Owen has had quite an adventurous life with a move to Switzerland at 6 month, lots of travels and then another big move at 2 1/2. He may be the younger brother but he is doing his best to at least make as big a presence as his older brother. His favorite things to say are “yea, that’s right”, “hi guys”, “and then…and then…”. His favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…correctly pronounced as “peanujelly sanwich”.
For his birthday this year we kept it to just family. My parents had flown in from Texas for Christmas and my brother and his family live about 25 mins away with my two nieces and nephew so it was a crowd! Our friend Bonnie also joined in on the fun. Owen requested a fire man birthday party and we just so happen to have a fire station around the corner from our house. We took the kids over for a tour of the station and then came back to the house for dinner, presents and dessert.
the kids colored at the table while we pulled dinner together. We served giant hot dogs and chili with fixings so people could have chili or make a chili cheese dog, We also served loaded baked potato dip with chips and fruit.
Owen didn’t remember opening gifts from last year so he was pretty comical. He kept telling people not to look and then when he had a gift opened he would lift it above his head and yell triumphantly “here it is”.
the cake tasted great but was by far not my most creative creation. The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting which worked well per Owen’s request for a red cake. The flames on the chandelier might have been Owen’s favorite and accompanied by the red table cloth were my minimal attempt to make the house look appropriately dressed for a Fire Man party and not Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all of you! We started our marathon with a birthday party for Owen on Sat, followed by a baby shower Sunday, Christmas eve on Monday and the big shebang yesterday. We have had a merry time but I won’t lie, this extrovert has been stretched if that ever was possible. We are all tired and using this day to re-coop and enjoy the surprise snow! My parents arrive this afternoon to stay at our house. We are planning a less exciting and lower calorie few days before they have to head back to Texas
Before I jump in to pictures of our holiday festivities I thought I would share a few holiday superlatives!
Most applicable book
I won’t be shocked if someone writes on here that this book doesn’t exist in real life and appeared miraculously for our family. Jackson came home with this from the library and as I read it I laughed out loud. Grab The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. This child, Teeka, is supposed to train the reindeer for guiding the sleigh and they are wild and keep fighting and locking antlers. Teeka realizes that she continues to lose her patience and raise her voice and that doesn’t help the reindeer obey. So she determines to not yell and the reindeer begin to obey her. Hmmm. If that isn’t a Christmas miracle I don’t know what is.
Most likely to cancel each other out?!
the chia and flax seeds are camping out on top of the Christmas cookie tins. Hmmm. I just gave in to adding the seeds to yogurt and oatmeal, but I haven’t totally given up the tin contents. Is that like ordering fries and a diet coke?
Most likely to be treasured forever
Jackson gave us the first gift of the season. He made this pinch pot in his class. I love that he used his little fingers to craft each part. It was wrapped in crumpled tissues paper and a little frayed piece of red yarn, such sweetness.
Least likely to stand still award
Owen performed a few Christmas songs with his bible study class. I hadn’t really prepped him for the performance but for those of you that know Owen I was fully expecting him to be jumping off the stage, calling out about going to the bathroom…instead he held his hands together and stood perfectly still, and he didn’t sing a single word. He did flash a few smiles!
Most comical Bedtime song
Silent Night…they just aren’t so silent around here. Between casts and dreams and earning stars on sleep charts we are just in a funny season of life. Sure glad the stable was silent and baby Jesus didn’t make a peep but mine sure make a peep.
Most memorable Christmas gift of Christmas past!
tiredest elf
Best Joke-ster Award
Santa brought Jackson a joke kit and he was cracking himself up all day. PopPop was the recipient of the bug ice cube! and we’ve all got snapped fingers from his gum offers!
Most Helpful Husband
Seth and I hosted a Christmas eve buffet for our family and my sister-in-law’s family. He worked all day with me to pull it off!
Last weekend we did the drive to NYC to see my younger brother and his wife. It was such a fun day of seeing the sights! The only thing missing was my parents who know the city like the back of their hand and my older brother and his family! In the future we might have to do it again with the whole gang. New York City at Christmas is so magical.
We didn’t tell the boys where we were going or that we would see Tina and Graham. We got them into the car super early and drove. As we drove in we pointed out the Statue of Liberty. (Jackson has had a fascination with it for yrs) He was so excited when he spotted it. I asked him where we were on our adventure and he squealed excitedly “France!!!) Last he had heard we had seen the one in Paris so he was so confused. He was so excited to find out we were in NYC.
NYC is a crazy city to do with kids in many ways but the people watching alone kept them entertained most of the day. The city was having their Santa bar hop while we were in town from 10 AM on so we saw hundreds of people dressed like Santa and elves, festive costumes, etc…Jackson spotted this gingerbread man as we began the day. A city filled with people in costume was kind of a kids dream.
FAO Schwartz was a highlight of the day! FYI if you have a stroller you can skip the line and head in the back door! I remember going as a child so it was fun to take the boys. Owen slept through lots of it but Jackson enjoyed it so much! We were all kind of amazed by the giant candy section.
I tried to talk the boys into adopting a baby at the pretend baby nursery
After a quick lunch we stopped by my cousins new bar in Brooklyn. It’s called Exley if any of you are ever in Brooklyn you should check them out! They have done a great job with the space that used to be an old garage. The boys enjoyed ginger ale so no worries!
we left Brooklyn and headed to Central Park where the boys ran and played and we watched a street performer doing bubbles and then there was a big bird spotting.
we finished the day with a walk through Times Square (rather a push and shove through, it was packed! ). I’ll spare you the naked cowboy pics since this is family friendly. Once we survived Times Square we grabbed dinner and exchanged Christmas gifts. We got dessert at a little bakery called Amy’s Bread. I highly recommend it! Not one thing didn’t look yummy!
We said our goodbyes and loaded up the kids to head back. We stopped over near Philly for the night and met friends for lunch in Wilmington on our way back. It was a whirlwind trip but so fun.
