We are soaking up the holiday season around here and attempting to slow down in the midst of the bustle. This week has been far from slow and I am feeling the effects. There have certainly been moments of calm and lots of memory making moments, but also tough times thrown in.

We decorated the Christmas tree on Saturday and curled up Sat night for a homemade pizza/family movie night.  We watched The Polar Express.  It was a big hit! Seth and I saw it in 3D 8 yrs ago when we started dating. 3D would have been way too much for the boys but the regular version was great!

On Sunday night we spent the evening worshiping with our friends Tim and Susan and their children at Floris United Methodist Church. We made an advent log with candles to light each week. Seth and I have always wanted to do advent activities as a family but somehow it typically gets lost in the shuffle. This year we are trying to do a family devotional in the evenings at dinner time. The boys are enjoying lighting the candle and listening to the story.

On Monday we  met up with Owen’s new friend from Sunday school. A few weeks ago the SS teacher reported that Owen was attracted to JT and spent lots of time interacting with him. JT has cerebral palsy so it takes a little bit longer to say what he wants to say but Owen doesn’t mind a bit. He waits JT out until he gets the answer he wants. And if he thinks JT isn’t listening he just gets in close until his buddy gives him a big smile and responds. Owen loves interacting with him and they have become great buddies. We met he and his mom and siblings at Frying Pan park for the boys to have a play date.   Many of my hours each day are spent disciplining and getting after Owen for not being gentle and kind. This play date kind of rocked my world and gave me a glimpse into this sensitive, gentle side of Owen.

And today was the big cast cut off day, for the big red cast that is!   Jackson was delighted until he learned he can’t do recess or sports until the end of Jan!  It will be an interesting 6 weeks of continued carefulness. Testing us all.  Pray for patience!!  I realized I haven’t even written yet about the second break but to be honest I am so not enjoying this part of life write now so I may just avoid the whole topic a while longer.  I never knew what the impact would be of Jackson being so limited in activity. But back to the good stuff…

his arm is so scrawny and stinky!  My mom wanted me to use the word “scrawny” again so I could spell is correctly this time. He’s bending his wrist funny in the above picture…I promise he doesn’t still have a bent arm.  It is sore and he is not quite sure how to use it again but I am guessing a few days from now he will forget and be using it normally.

I was going to title this post “our week in pics” but I was a bit shocked to discover it’s only Wed and I have spared you lots of our week!!  Tomorrow is St. Nicholas day and I am thinking about making the little bread boys like we did with Daniela last year!  I will try to hop back on and share some pictures if we get around to baking!

This year I am trying to be intentional about enjoying the holiday season. For money reasons we are keeping things simple gift-wise but we are trying to still pick some special things to do with the kids throughout the holiday season. Yesterday we had tickets from a living social deal for an enchanted forest. It was really just a small Christmas bazaar. I had built up my expectations so didn’t think it had as much as I thought going on but the kids had no idea what they were missing and we all had a good time. They had crafts for the kids, performances by different dance groups, a train room, a magic show, etc.  The highlight was a room full of holiday train sets. The boys loved it. Their other favorite thing was a magic show by a pirate, who oddly used lots of potty talk and didn’t seem to know what was appropriate, sheesh. So much for potty mouth boot camp at our house. As we snuck out of the magic show early we ran into Santa Clause who was about to get going with all of the professional cameras. While the people bustled to get set up he told us we could snap our own pictures. Owen is standing by his closed eye smile! It wasn’t until after the pictures that I realized this was our first fear-free, scream-free year of meeting Santa. The boys walked up like they knew him and didn’t hesitate when I told them to jump on up. It was a fun morning out as a family. Away from the house projects and upkeep!

I ordered our Christmas cards last night. I have NEVER had them done this early. And it is just a little way I am letting go this year. I began hunting for the perfect picture, pining to take a more recent one, wondering what everyone would wear, and then I just pulled up a picture of the boys from yesterday. Not perfect, no.  Owen’s hand has a big pirate tattoo smack next to Jackson’s cheek and his eyes are almost closed in intense smile oblivion, but they are loving each other and happy and I am letting go of the perfect Christmas card picture for the sake of enjoying the other things that feel far more important!

My next item on the holiday checklist is to get gifts wrapped in the next couple of weeks. Not to be superwoman but to avoid being so stressed and bogged down as the holiday season progresses. I am usually in such a tailspin and so tired by Christmas that it passes by without being enjoyed! Hoping to avoid that this year.

and some blasts from the Santa’s past…

Bogota 2007

Bogota 2008

Bern 2010

We have been lucky enough to get free Santa pictures at Embassy parties in past years. The times we were in the US Seth didn’t think it was worth the money to pay for crying kids to sit on Santa’s lap.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a nice warm weekend and spent lots of time outside. This afternoon we took a hike through the forest with the boys. It was actually a really good activity for Jackson because we all had to walk slowly to avoid branches and roots under the leaves on the path. He didn’t feel left behind, not being able to run. The boys were in their all boy element.

“shhh. listen it’s a bird”…little nature observers

Our Sunday afternoon cooking project of the week was cinnamon sugar donuts. Easy, peasy, cheap and the kids loved them! I remember seeing them on a blog a few years ago but I don’t have a clue where I saw them. So I am by no means taking credit but thought I would share.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

1 roll of pillsbury (or any brand) biscuits. Look for the buttermilk or something other than flaky…the flaky ones taste like butter and flaky donuts are a bit strange. Store brand worked just fine.

1 cup of granulated sugar

1-2 T Cinnamon to taste

Unroll dough and poke a hole in the middle or cut out a small circle of dough for mini’s. If they are super thick cut them into two so that you have two thinner rounds. Drop into a shallow layer of hot vegetable oil a couple at a time, turn over when golden brown. When both sides are puffed up and golden take out of oil and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Enjoy!

and look at this little blast from the past…this pic was taken when we made the donuts in Bern. Jackson has grown up so much!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. It’s not that it’s been a bad week but I feel as though I am coming down off of the need to blog daily and balancing that with being in a bit of a funk with Jackson’s arm.

So, I thought I would just share with you some pictures from our week.

we started the week off at our friends farm…the boys got to collect the eggs, Jackson’s survived, Owen’s wasn’t so fortunate.

then came lots of raking and leaf jumping (for those who are allowed to jump)

and a cheer up dose of hot chocolate after school!

Our last few weeks have been a bit off. I think the time change, hurricane and wacky arm stuff has us all mixed up. Glad it’s the weekend!  Things are looking up!