2012 For Our Family

As this year winds down I was taking time to review all we accomplished, experienced or celebrated.
Our year began with a determination to clean up and clear out to simplify and organize our lives. I began by organizing the garage with all the Christmas boxes finding a new storage area.  Then cupboards and closets were cleaned and decluttered.  Progress was stalled when Kevin had to redo the kitchen flooring due to a water leak that started behind the refrigerator.

We decided to join in A Bushel & A Pecks blog Spring Cleaning challenge, and continued to clear out the last of our consumer debt which we did late Spring with our final truck payment. 

Birthdays and Anniversaries were celebrated.  Amber and Eddies 1st Anniversary and Kevin and my 29th.  The girls both made a lot of progress in their homeschooling, with big bro Cameron helping.
Our garden and greenhouse projects were quite successful and even now still provide us with fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs and greens.

Projects were a big part of cleaning up and clearing out our "to do" list.  A new roof over the back room addition.  Repainting the house and barn from yellow to olive green.  I did a complete makeover of the kid's and my bathrooms.   Then Cameron and Kevin also stucco'd and put up guttering on the back room addition.

Travel was a part of the schedule for Amber and Eddie who began the year by going to Israel, then a couple months later to Vancouver, Washington.  Kevin and Cameron did some travelling too, to check out our new house in Florida and begin removing the ugly wallpaper and a few other things in preperation for our eventual move there.

It's been a busy year and this next one will probably be too as we finish up here in anticipation of our Spring move to Florida.  Stay posted for our upcoming adventures.

Our Families Christmas in Review

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa fulfilled your "wish list"!!!  We had a great day and were truly blessed by our time together, a day filled with fun, food and family.

Our celebration began Christmas eve with both girls excitedly checking Santa's progress online through Norad's site.

Then as is our tradition they each opened one gift, and a plate for Santa and a reindeer snack was left out.  This year we substituted our homemade pumpkin bread for the usual cookies.

Then headed to bed with both girls eagerly anticipating the big guys visit.

Tree with gifts all set for the next morning.

Christmas morning I could hear our "creatures stirring" and got up so I could get some pictures.  It still took them a half hour to actually get up, so I had Kevin join me with his camera at the ready too.
After getting Cameron up, I went to Hannah's room and she asked "did Santa come"?  She then jumped out of bed when I acknowledged he had.  Next Lauren scooted out of bed and both girls ran out to see what had been left for them.  Lauren squealed with delight when she saw her gifts and stocking filled. She said "yay, Santa took me off the naughty list"!!!!   Needless to say she's been on it a lot lately. We're still working through some behavioral issues with her and changes in schedule or even fun events can trigger negative behaviors on her part, that had her receiving warnings from us and I guess the Disney movie Prep and Landing Naughty and Nice, reaffirmed she might be on it (insert sneaky mommy smile here). So getting gifts and not a lump of coal made her day.

Cameron got a gun of his own for hunting trips, he was quite surprised and pleased

Santa's plate after his visit

After spending the day opening gifts, enjoying them, having our Christmas meal and of course a nice after dinner nap!!  We then headed out late afternoon for Amber and Eddie's to have dessert with them and exchange gifts.

Amber and Eddie

Kids opening gifts

My girls!!

Hannah taking a picture with her new Learning Pad

The guys

It was great visiting and finally with the girls bedtimes looming, we said our goodbyes and headed for home.  It was a wonderful Christmas celebration for what will be our last Christmas in this house.  Next year we will be in our new home in Florida!!

Hope you all had a good day too.  Wishing you the very best each and everyday as we finish out the remainder of 2012.     Lynda

"Tidings of Great Joy"

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

A favorite Christmas Poem

 

 

 

 

From our household to yours, a joyous and blessed Christmas.

 

Lynda

Cold Season

"Tis the season" for Christmas Cheer, holiday preparations that include way more outings to stores and visits at gatherings.  It's a busy and generally happy time of eating too much and probably having way too many sweets.  At the same time it's also the season of weather changes and a variety of "bugs" or germs that await the opportunity to infiltrate your system and spread the wealth of the common cold or flu.

This past week a cold bug invaded our home and systems starting with Cameron and moving through the whole family.  So cold remedies of decongestants, immune system building hot teas.  Our favorite is a combination olive leaf, green tea and vanilla/chamomile blend we put together in a big pot and all enjoy with a bit of honey.  The vaporizers are running to help with those annoying coughs and now after a few days of feeling generally lousy, we all seem to be on the mend!!

















So the vitamins are now a mandatory part of our day.  Orange juice is flowing at breakfast for extra C and fluids.  The amount of sugary items is on the "eat in extreme moderation" list.  And we move forward to enjoy the rest of our Christmas and New Years celebration in a hopefully much healthier state than we've experienced this past week!!!

The preps continue as the "BIG DAY" the kids are eagerly anticipating is almost on us.  Checking my list again, and am thrilled to see almost everything has been purchased and we're ready to enjoy.


Hope you have a happy, HEALTHY, Christmas.  God bless and keep you.

Lynda

Crafting and Visits

Headed up to my parents home yesterday to pay a visit and carry our presents to them.  Once there my mom had the girls open a gift early, it was a really nice set of paper dolls for each that they were able to use to entertain themselves while we were there visiting.

It's been a tradition in my family to give my dad boxes of chocolate covered cherries at Christmas, so we brought some for him to have. This started as a result of his being the baby of 10 during the depression.  One of his older brothers worked at a drug store, and there were Christmases when the only gift was some of the left over candy that hadn't sold during the season.  Chocolate covered cherries were some of his favorites, and so our "tradition" began.

Then not to be forgotten, mom gets her favorite Turtles.  Chocolate over caramel and nuts.

We had an enjoyable visit with Cameron and Hannah helping Baba get dinner together.

My sister and her kids came to join us and I gave Anna her birthday present a few days early.

I've been busy making more ornaments and I added to my sister-in-laws collection for her birthday last month and for my sister Anna's birthday as well.  I began making ornaments last year and really enjoyed creating them as I sit to watch TV in the evening. So this year some of my newer works are here and I'll have photos of the additional decorations I've added to Kevin and my stocking in a different post, as I'm still adding to these : )

Anna's Collection

Karla's collection




All my best,  Lynda                                                                               

Finding Peace

It's a fun, but crazy time of year with all the Christmas preparations, extra trips to the stores to do shopping for presents, food and all.  So at times it can be a bit overwhelming with all the extra activity.  I am an early morning person and I especially like cool mornings like today to have quiet time in the word.

A nice hot cup of coffee.

And, at times I'll grab my camera and walk outside to greet the day and capture images of it's beginning.  The cool crisp air with the smell of rain just has a soothing effect. 

So now that I'm refreshed and ready to take on the day, I hope it's a good one for you all too.

Lynda