Gingerbread house- mistakes!

I learned 2 critical lessons this year that apply to decorating gingerbread houses.

1.  Decorate one gingerbread house (GBH) per household.
2.  Limit how much sugar is consumed

Okay a little explination...
1.  We had our dear friends over to decorate GBHs.  H, and his best buddy Ev wanted to decorate a house together.  They had so much fun, giggling, devising a plan, dripping frosting all over my entire kitchen, eating candy, decorating, eating candy, licking frosting, decorating... you get the picture.  We had 2 budding artists, 2 little people investing all that their little kindergarten hearts and creative minds can come up with into a very special little GBH...

Well, somehow it never crossed our minds that at the end of the night, both of these sweet little peeps would want to keep this GBH.  Uggh, WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THAT!  So needless to say, when it was time for our friends to go home we had to make a game plan.  I talked H through it and thought he was going to be fine with Ev taking it home... however his little heart broke.

Needless to say that next year we will do one house per family, not one house for the big kids and one house for mama to work on with Bug.  I felt SO very bad!

2.  And well, too much sugar can give anyone a tummy ache, and if you know H well, you know that he is apt to throwing up... and he did... and it made the night that much more sad! 

maybe someone can learn from my mistakes! 

Nativity

my all time favorite decoration for Christmas is my Willow Tree Nativity Set.  This year it was the only decoration that was put out for the first half of December.  (we had a very busy start to our December)...  This year my sweet in-laws sent our kids the Little People Nativity.  Which was good, because no one can touch mamas!  Mr. Steady We  learned that lesson when H was a year old and let him hold a lamb... to which he enjoyed for a moment then dropped on the ground, poor little lamb lost an ear that night!  All the more reason the kids needed their own.  The kids has loved having their own Nativity that they can move the guys around, move people and animals in and out of the stable, have the people move all around the house... it has been a lot of fun.  And I love that they are learning the real reason why we celebrate Christmas!  We are celebrating when Jesus was born in a stable over 2,000 years ago!  We are celebrating our Savior!  We are celebrating God's perfect plan to bring his grace to our world!

I want my kids to understand the Christmas story as much as their little hearts and minds can.  I really had wanted to do a full advent with them this year, or Jesse Tree.  But I didn't, and I really do regret it, but I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed with mommy guilt.  Anyway, one day last week we had a window of time and some sweet friends over, so I asked the kids if they wanted to act out the Christmas story.  To which they were all VERY EXCITED!  I pulled out my stash of fabric and whipped up some outfits as fast as I could.  It was quite comical, as soon as I got one kid situated and started working on the next kid's outfit, the outfit of the first would start falling off.  It took many tries, especially figuring out how to get a queen-sheet to stay up on tiny little Bug as her angel costume (without having to cut it).  But alas it worked! 

  "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”- Luke 2:10-12

Merry Christmas!  May your heart be full of the wonder of all God has done for you in sending His son!  As you celebrate the last few days of this Christmas season, I pray that you will be blessed by His grace, and peace!  May the real Nativity story grip your heart in amazing ways!  We all have so much to learn and really soak in about God's love and his perfect plan!

Being fully present

I have been thinking so much about how I am missing out on little nuggets of life, missing the beat of our family song, half-heartedly being a part of a conversation... all because I am distracted, pulled in different directions and at times mentally "checking-out."

Just this weekend as Mr. Steady and I were on our way to Alaska, we had a glorious "day-date" in the Seattle airport for 3 hours!  On this random fun little date, I was embarrassed how many times I looked down at my phone to see if emails came through, to see if anyone had text me back, even fighting the urge to check facebook. Seriously, would you have wanted to be on a date with me.  Ummm, NO!

For me, I am constantly tempted to stay connected to others via my phone (text, email, facebook...) that I end up lessening my connection through real face time.  Once I realized I was doing this to Mr. Steady, and we talked about it a little, I confessed how often I am doing this to my kids.  "Just a minute H, I have to finish sending this text, then i will come and see what you are working on."  "Hold on, I can't answer that question buddy, I'm trying to consentrate on what this email says."

I don't quite know what the answer is, because we all know having technology at the tip of my fingures is often so very conveniant and can save time.  However, I need to get some pesonal limits in place, because as one friend said to me (about herself) "I don't want my kids to just remember my profile, of me looking at a screen.  I want more face to face time with my kids."  Oh so true!!!

I'm not wanting to limit media just for the sake of limiting it.  I see how much time I am spending on my phone, and honestly discourages me.  I don't like it because it shows me what is really going on in my heart, I realize how often I am looking at something on my phone just so I can "checkout." For instance, I just looked at the weather on my phone 5 minutes ago, I don't need to check it again... really I am disconnecting from the chaos of my own house, and covering up my selfish heart!  Maybe that is what it comes down to, me being selfish with my time.  Anyone else struggle with this?

I truly desire to figure out what is realistic, and what is right... for me.   I want my time to honor God, to treasure the relationships that God has put in my life, to live fully present in each moment, and to be considerate of those around me, even if they are only 3 years-old!  On the other hand, I have some amazing friends and ALL of our family that live hundreds of MILES away, that I don't have the pleasure of getting enough face time with... and in these relationships, I am SO very thankful for my phone to keep me connected.  How do I balance it??  I would love prayers for wisdom, conviction and strength to follow through, to be disciplined to have some non-phone HOURS in each day. 

I want to live in the moment!

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Maybe it is my fault my kids like screen-time so much.

Monkey see, monkey do!

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I must say, this post REALLY encouraged me, especially this quote...
"
“But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this.
I did not live in the moment enough..."  by Anna Quindlin

Hello again...

I feel like I need to re-introduce myself... Hi, this is Kelly!  Do you remember me from a few months ago??

Oh my, oh my... how surprised I am that it is already December!  Where have the last 3 months of our lives gone.  Uggh!  Life has been so crazy that as you can tell, I have hardly even been able to post on here all Fall.  Part of me wants to write one big update for all that has happend.  But for today, I think all I have time for is to say hello!  I'm ready to get back to blogging... it may have been so long that I have lost all readers... anyone out there : )

oh, and since I last posted on B-man... not only has he learned to walk, run, dance, climb, but now he is attempting to master the skateboard too!