Michigan Highlights

Photo Favorites of our time in Michigan...more from Illinois to come!

Spending time with my love

and my best friend and sister

Catching up with family we don't often see and cuddle babies

Josiah's face as he opened his presents Christmas morning. Everything was "Woah, cool!"

John and Eric both killed a deer on one of the most amazing hunts they've ever been on...it's a great story.

We threw a Polar Express party for the kids and it was a huge hit!

The kids giving "Conductor Eric" their official Polar Express tickets to ride. He punched their first initial into them and they all held tight to them. During the "Hot Chocolate" part of the movie, all of us ran around the tv with popcorn and sippy cups full of hot chocolate for them. Sure, we're cooky, but memories were made by all!

We made clothespin reindeer with the kids and went to a senior citizen home to pass them out, sing Christmas carols, and visit with the residents. The first of many service projects we'd like to do with the kids to share God's love in a practical way.

Making a reindeer with my bugaboo

Sharing the gift of being pregnant with my sister, Jess. She had her baby the week after we were in Michigan and I can't wait to squeeze her and for our little girls to play together.

A Family Christmas (Part I)

We are having a great week spending time with family in Michigan this week. It's not Christmas yet, but the gift of spending time with family has been better than any I'll open in a few days. Living 800 miles away makes you cherish the moments our kids can play together and we can sit and spend quality time as a family. As you get ready for Christmas in less than 2 days, I wanted to share this with you. My sister's pastor had a great idea to invite your whole family to share in remembering the birth of our Lord Jesus, and to celebrate the life he came to give us. What a great tradition to keep up, or maybe to start this year! Here it is. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

The Week of Christmas Parties

I love having parties to go to and seeing everyone dressed up. We had a good time tonight at John's company Christmas party, complete with a visit from Santa for the kids. I was not expecting this to go well, but I wanted a picture of Josiah with Santa, even if he was crying. To my surprise, though, he sat, smiled for a picture, and happily accepted a goody bag from Santa. I was so proud of him! Two down, one more to go this week, then it's off to Michigan...yay!

Deck the Halls

This year we had our Christmas tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving. Being that we are a military family and usually doing a lot of traveling over the holidays, we wanted to be able to enjoy our holiday trimmings before we head north to be with family. Since I'm pretty sure we were the first people in our city to buy a Christmas tree, there was no cutting it down at a tree farm, but rather, picking it out at a Home Depot parking lot. Really sentimental, I know. I hope someday we will be closer to a tree farm, but I don't even know if they exist this far south!

Anywhoo.....we had a lot of fun because Josiah was more than interested in why there was a big tree in our living room. He loved helping hang (and pull off) the decorations, and within the first day of having it in the house, pulled it over. I was at church when it happened, but John assured me that it didn't fall on him, and it was for that reason we decided a smaller tree would do us just fine this year. Within the last few days, he's become unnervingly brave around the tree. So, without further ado I decided to post some pictures.

I can't say it feels like Christmas around here, because North Carolina is still having days in the 70 degree range, so we're ready to head north singing "White Christmas."


Idea adapted from Pinterest.com


Can't get enough of burlap and jute webbing, my garland in the tree this year.

I got this idea from my sister. Wrap your mantle picture like a present in, of course, burlap. Thanks, Bec!





Josiah helping trim the tree. He hung up his Classic Pooh "1st Christmas" ornament and I will soon make a mold of his hand for this year's ornament.


Josiah loves the plastic Nativity I picked up at an antique store in town. He loves to hold and kiss "Baby Jesus." I hope he's this sweet with his new sister!

I wanted to share my new frame I made out of recycled fabric, jute webbing, and twine. If you like it, there are more ideas here, at the Nate Berkus show.

Reeeewind Thanksgiving

My parents (Kristin) came down for Thanksgiving, which was amazing considering we didn't have any plans this year and have a hard time traveling 800 miles for a long weekend. My parents are troopers, though. They packed their brand new Honda Odyssey to the brim with furniture and presents for Josiah. It was great to see them and know we would be up north in a few weeks for Christmas. Josiah had some good bonding time with both Grandpa and Grandma. "Bapa" and "Meme" were their nicknames and I think they both might stick.

My mom bought Josiah two of his new favorite things. A step stool with an airplane on it and a big boy bean bag chair (I didn't get a picture of this, but every night he drags it into the living room and plops down on it). By far, his favorite thing is to carry that step stool all over the house and get into trouble. It's given him a lot more independence, but it's also made me a little paranoid about a hot stove or the soap dispenser on the bathroom counter. He can reach just about everything now, including John and my toothbrush. If I need 10 minutes to put my makeup on, I just turn on a trickle of water and ask Josiah if he wants to brush his teeth. Hopefully it will lead to some good hygiene habits.

Thanks for coming to visit and play with Josiah. Can't wait to see you next weekend!