We're Still Here...

We've been a little MIA lately.  Even if you live near us we have been slowly and surely becoming more and more recluse because...well...we can't see to shake this.  The twins can't, at least.  The fevers developed into runny noses, that then moved their way down to a cough, and the cough has just been getting worse.  The pedi said that this bug just takes a long time to work its way out.  I'm so done.

While this has put a complete halt to some Christmas activities, and has definitely impacted my productivity (family starts to arrive in 3 days and I haven't even started cleaning, although I did get groceries).  But we are still managing to have some fun.

The twins found a container of dominoes that Lucas scooped up from a garage sale (and then we put on our game shelf and completely forgot).  Rather than play dominoes, they (Ryan) have been using them to make elaborate towers and tunnels.  After several crumbled before I grabbed my camera, I managed to snap a few pictures of this one:

And no, no adults helped with the making of this tunnel.  I say this because I was so shocked when I walked in the room and saw what he made that I almost checked the closet!

The biggest change this week has actually been mine.  A while back I decided that I wanted to grow my hair long enough to donate.  I reached the necessary length and chickened out (of the cut, that it).  My hair kept growing and growing and I kept trying to figure out when, where, and how I would cut it.  Since we made December our month of giving, it seemed like the right time to jump in.  I have a friend who is in the hair academy, so she came over to my house.  I showed her pictures that I had been collecting for ideas, and then I told her I trusted her and to have fun!

Before

 The cut.

 A literally weight off my shoulders!

I will confess that it was a bit of a shock to go so drastic, but I love it.  If for no other reason than because my frequent head and neck aches have disappeared since I cut it!  But I also love how quickly I can get ready, and have been experimenting with styling.  Just having fun and enjoying the new extreme :)  Too bad I can't get a decent picture...

This was actually just a test shot to check my setting (which is why I'm not smiling).  I didn't have the right settings (which is why it is black and white...the color was completely red).

 Got the settings right and color correct and a smile on my face, but it's all blurry.  Sigh.

The twins have been having fun despite the sickies that plague them.  A package arrived at our door today.  A fun surprise from Nebraska Grandma!  Hats!

Lately, Allie thinks that closing/hiding her eyes is the way to take a picture...

Ryan like stacking all the hats at once.

10 hats and no pants.  That's just how we roll...

I have great hopes for tomorrow - that it might be the day that we see the light at the end of the sickie tunnel. Until then we are hunkering down and taking every measure we can to get healthy.  We have to before family starts to arrive! 

Not Quite There

While we aren't SICK, we just aren't quite healthy.  I feel like we are slowly, one at a time, going down for a day or two.  It is driving me nuts.  I think I would rather have us all in the throes of a terrible stomach bug for 24 hours than this illusive fever thing.  The result is that we have been pretty much laying low.  Only doing what we have to.  Watching a lot of tv/movies.  You get the picture.

We did go out in the first "snow" of the season.  We woke up (Late.  The up-side of not feeling 100% is that everyone sleeps in!), opened the shades, and there was snow falling!  The twins were convinced it was magic.  They have been confident that Christmas couldn't come without snow and had been waiting and praying for it to start falling.  Finally, it was here!  I realized pretty quickly that it was really a small flurry that would be done quickly and melted just as fast.  We quickly bundled up and ran out to get pictures.

If you look REALLY closely you can see the final few snowflakes falling.

 Tasting some snow.

 I asked for a smile...

It only took about 5 minutes before they were, of course, bored with "playing" in the snow...

We are, once again, making our own wrapping paper this year.  It is just so delightful that all of the presents we order online come packaged in this beautiful (and often barely crushed) paper!  I have many plans for different styles of paper (we have a lot, so we are wrapping everything we can get our hands on.  It's so fun!), but we decided to just use markers to make some paper for some special packages we were giving away that day.

 One thing I have not yet blogged about in depth, because I keep forgetting my camera to take pictures, is the swim lessons we have been doing.  They actually have completed 2 7-week sessions.  We are on a break until after the New Year.  Perhaps I will remember to get decent picture next time.  Last night was the last class before Christmas.  Even thought it is almost stifling warm in the pool area for non-swimmer (as in, I swear this picture is blurry because the lens was foggy), those who are wet from the pool are always complaining that it is cold.  Allie is especially always shivering.  Last night she apparently scooted close to Ryan and put his arm around her.  He, being a sweet brother, happily obliged and put his arm around her after that whenever they were waiting.  So sweet.

Actually, it was really funny last night because of the seating arrangement.  There is a little girl that has become friends with Allie who sat down by Allie before Ryan got there.  Ryan was distressed because he wanted to sit by Allie.  So the little girl moved over and let him in.  But Allie wanted to sit by her friend, so pretty soon she and Ryan switched places so that the girls could be together.  Then, one of the times that Ryan was swimming, the other little boy in the class scooted over to be next to Allie.  Ryan got back from swimming, looked up, and said, "Hey!  That's my sister!"  The boy didn't move.  Ryan took a different spot.  But then he took it back while the boy was out swimming later.  Did I mention they kept changing places when the swim teacher was working with another student?  Every time she looked up, kids were in different places!

And now back to another viewing of a Charlie Brown Christmas...

Snapshot

I'm pretty sure it isn't December without some sort of sickness hitting our house.  As of right now, I am knocking on wood that we have officially had all we are going to have...and knowing that I will feel quite blessed if that is the case.  Allie ran a fever for a little over 24 hours and Ryan had a fever for about a day, but they both seem to be doing better. Phew.

A snapshot of our day laying low.  We pretty much let the kids watch a ton of shows/movies (they were super-sensitive because they weren't feeling well, so whenever they would get up to run around and play someone would be crying within 10 minutes).  We even got the VCR out of storage and scavenged through our VHS collection to find some treasures (3-2-1 Penguins!).  The twins were delighted to discover my Tigger movie (what they are watching below).  Popcorn and a movie by the tree is a great way to spend a December afternoon - even if you aren't sick.

The kids have been really funny the last couple of days.  They are always funny, but the things they have said the last few days have been exceptional.  Every time they say something funny I think, "That was hilarious.  I will never forget that."  By the end of the day, I'm trying to remember the funny things and I can't remember a single one.  I do remember this, they have been quoting lines from Merry Christmas Charlie Brown like crazy.  In fact, Ryan has been walking around all weekend going, "My baby sister!"  Which is Charlie Brown's response to Sally's letter to Santa.  Apparently, it's a bit they do now...

More December Adventures

I'm patting myself on the back for being so quick to post this time.  Really it is just a case of insomnia (in the daytime, but I didn't sleep all night, so it counts).

This year Lucas (and I...although I play a minimal role) started up the youth group at our church again.  It has sort of minimally functioned the past couple of years, but we decided that we were starting to get a large enough group in that age bracket that we needed to really invest consistent time and energy. I'm so glad we have.  One of the bonuses is that Ryan and Allie LOVE youth group night.  I get it.  I remember when I was little and my parents were the youth leaders.  I loved when the high schoolers would come to our house.  I felt like I was hanging out with grown ups, and the attention they gave me made me feel so special.  I see that now with Ryan and Allie.  They get so excited when their "friends" show up.  Because it starts a little before the twins' bedtime, we usually let the kids join them for a little snack, singing, and maybe watching a short game.  The twins especially love snack time...and the youth especially love sneaking the twins extra snacks.  It's a win-win.  This past week, we realized that 1) it was the only Sunday we could have youth group in December and 2) we had a Little Caesar's make your own pizza kit with enough individual pizzas for all of the youth (Thank you Nana and Poppy!!!).  So we decided to turn it into an Advent Party with pizza, games, prizes, etc.  We started it extra early, which meant the twins got to eat dinner with the youth.  So exciting.  Since we weren't sure there were enough pizzas in the kit for the twins, we let them make their own homemade pizzas.

 That is her stretching-far-to-reach-the-cheese face.

In the end, they loved the process of making their own pizzas, but didn't like the pizzas they made.  Figures.  They still had a blast being part of the youth party.

Every year we like to go and experience the Nite Lights at the nearby fairground.  Seriously, the best Christmas lights display I have ever seen (and if you have seen our neighbor's house, you know that's saying something!).  This year, we managed to combine some Christmas shopping (the twins' advent activity for the day was to take their own money - from their piggy banks - and buy a present for each other.  My savvy shoppers managed to buy 2 presents each for $10!  Even better, they really thought about it and picked presents their siblings will love) at our favorite toy store.  Thankfully, the toy store has free wrapping, so we wrapped those babies up right away to make sure no siblings peeked (and then let the twins hide their bag of presents once we got back home for extra excitement).

Then we surprised the twins by going to see the lights (technically, we had already seen them.  But, not only were the lights better this time - they had the music, mom - but the Winter Wonderland was open after).  

Warning - I got much better pictures of the lights than of the kids in the Winter Wonderland after.  My apologies.  Lucas got me a new lens (to replace the one we broke a while ago), and I'm having so much trouble re-adjusting.

I love the creativity of the lights.  Not only are there so many Christmas-themed displays that are so funny (a cartwheeling ginger bread cookie for example), but they have a lot of other creative displays (a cowboy lassoing a bull for example)

An Elf riding a hot air balloon.  They also ride trains, helicopters, airplanes, and pickup trucks.  We love all of the transportation themed displays!

A present cannon.  The presents "fly" over your car!

I especially appreciate that they don't leave Christ out of their Christmas display.  First you drive through a tunnel of lights with lit up angels playing their trumpets on the sides (the twins favorite part). As you go, you see the shepherds watching their sheep and the wise men following the star.  Then they all converge at the manger.  Even better, this display is at the center of all of the the others - a wonderful reminder of what is at the center of all of our Christmas celebrations.

At the end of the lights (it took us 25 minutes to go through - and we didn't go slow), they have the winter wonderland.  I took much better pictures last year.  Our favorites are the live reindeer.  

Allie asked their names.  They are "Blizzard" and "Nick," in case you were interested.

There was no line at Santa, so we asked the kids if they wanted to go and see him.  A little backstory...***spoiler alert (for any young children)*** we don't "do" Santa.  Let me start by saying that this is no judgement on any parents who do.  For us, keeping Christmas as Christ-centered as possible meant moving Santa to a supporting role.  This is, of course, tricky because we don't want our kids being "that kid" who tells all the other kids that Santa isn't real (we are not in the business of ruining other kids' - and parents' - fun), and because Santa is everywhere.  So, we actually talk about Santa a lot.  I tell the kids about the legend of Santa -  a man who cared so much that he went around to the houses of all of the kids whose mommies and daddies couldn't afford gifts to give them presents for Christmas.  Why?  Because he knows that Christmas is about God giving us the ultimate gift of love by giving us Jesus, and each gift we give shares God's love to others, and he didn't want a single person to have a Christmas without someone sharing God's love with them.  I tell them that he did such a great job of sharing God's love at Christmas that we remember him today, and that every time we see Santa we can be reminded of his example and how we should try to share God's love with everyone too.  As of right now, we don't talk about Santa not being real (so that they don't even have those words to accidentally devastate other children).  But we don't tell them that Santa will, or will not, bring them presents for Christmas (in fact, other than buying presents for each other, we don't talk about the presents they will GET at all - only the presents they will give).  We don't tell them they have to be good to get presents, from us or Santa (because we like to see presents as a metaphor of God's grace, which by definition is given despite the fact we don't deserve it).  And, on Christmas, we won't pretend any presents are from Santa.  I know that some people think that I'm depriving my kids of some of the magic of Christmas.  I get where they are coming from (and love the effort so many parents put into creating a magical Christmas for their children).  But I honestly think the simple story of God coming to earth as a baby is so incredible, it far outshines the temporary magic of belief in Santa (and, I'll be honest, I don't want to deal with the devastation I have seen so many parents handle when their kids discover Santa isn't real).  Again, I don't say this because I think no one should do Santa, or because I think my way is the only way (in fact, I think I'm an incredibly imperfect parent and often pray that God's grace will cover my many weaknesses).  I can't say often enough that I firmly believe we as parents should encourage and support the decisions we each make for our unique family made up of our unique individuals and circumstances (with the obvious exception of abuse and/or neglect).  I say all this because the way I have gone about things meant that our kids are not used to being asked what they want for Christmas, nor were they prepared for Santa to ask (or, for that matter, the idea that Santa would actually bring whatever they did ask for on Christmas), and that is key to the story.

So...the story at hand...Santa invites Allie and Ryan to sit on his lap.  Ryan flat out refuses (I told them as we were walking up that they didn't even have to talk to or go near Santa if they didn't want.  I get how intimidating it can be for a stranger to ask you to sit in his lap, and Ryan is especially shy). Allie hesitantly gets on his lap, but she won't look at him.  Then he asks her what she wants for Christmas and she gets this look on her face - like that is the silliest question to ask.  He asks again and she kind of looks around embarrassed (at this point I am feeling terrible that I did not prepare my children for this question) and then mumbles something under her breath.  I was pretty sure I heard something about "dollars," but Santa was convinced it was dollies (and that sounded better), so he promised her dollies (she laughed and looked at him like that was another really funny thing to say), and then gave her a candy cane and she hopped away.  Ryan gave Santa a high five for a candy cane (they LOVE candy canes...) and then we left.  In all of the potential scenarios I imagined, it was pretty much the least awkward.

A little later, Allie and I take a trip to the bathroom.  The second we are alone, Allie says, "Mommy, do you know what I said to Santa?"  I respond that I don't and she says, "I told him I wanted dollars.  Tens and twenties.  Wasn't that funny!  And then he gave me a candy cane instead.  Which is about the same.  I like candy canes!"  I was so tickled.  When faced with a question she wasn't sure how to answer, she responded with a quote from one of her favorite movies - Merry Christmas Charlie Brown where Sally is dictating her letter to Santa!  A quote from a movie intended to get a laugh - she is so the child of Lucas and myself!  Even better - she considers candy canes as good as money.  I love this age!

We finished off the night with a lap through the Christmas Tree festival, a viewing of the puppet show (that they not only remembered from last year, but enjoyed with a ton of giggling and minimal eye covering from Ryan - my shy, sensitive little guy), and the craft provided by Home Depot (they got their own orange aprons!).  Then we headed home.

Lucas and I discovered that we had an entirely free Saturday (which is extremely rare).  We talked about what we might do with our free time, watched a movie, and stayed up far later than we normally would knowing there would be plenty of time for naps the next day.  We were basically like kids on Christmas Eve.  Not long after we went to bed, Allie woke up with a raging fever...and woke Ryan up...and there was little sleep in our house the rest of the night.  Oh well, it wouldn't be the holidays without some sickies in the house, and at least we were already planning on laying low!

Our First Christmas Adventure

Yup.  This actually happened a week ago...but I somehow didn't manage to post it until now.  I warned you I wouldn't be super on-the-ball in December :)

The local Christian campground does a Live Nativity every year at the very beginning of the Christmas season. We went last year, but because it was so cold and the kids were so little, we just stayed inside and enjoyed the trains and snacks.  This year, we decided that they could do the carriage ride (with real horses wearing bells on their harnesses!).  We knew the lines get long fast, so we got there super early, and were first in line...but that meant a lot of waiting. 

Waiting for the horses and carriages to arrive.

Lucas had done the Live Nativity with the youth group, but I had actually never been through.  It was so wonderful.  They do such a great job of really setting the seen and the mood to start your Christmas season off right.

Then, of course, we went in to enjoy the trains and snacks...and the trains some more.  Did I mention this is all free?  What a blessing to the community!

For snacks they have decorate your own cookies, popcorn, hot chocolate, and nuts (in a yummy sugar coating).  Ryan and Allie have been taking their babies on adventures all week - and every adventure is to a place that has the same yummy treats.  It doesn't even matter, to them, what the adventure is as long as those treats are there.  Clearly the food really hit home.

 Allie didn't leave the table until she had finished every last kernel of popcorn, but Ryan couldn't stay away from the trains.  His favorite was the set that also had a fire station with a firetruck that had flashing lights and a siren and would come out.  Even better, the conductor who was controlling the set knew Ryan loved it and had the firetruck running continually whenever Ryan was standing there.  It was fun, from my perch, to see the conductor enjoying watching Ryan delight in the magic he was creating.  I think there is probably a sermon illustration there...

My favorite memory of the night?  Each table had a cup full of candy canes.  Allie came and asked me if she could have one and I responded, "Peanut, we have so many at home (2 boxes).  Let's leave these for the other kids and you can have one at home."  I turned to check on Ryan (at the train set) and suddenly heard Lucas call out.  I turn to see Allie army crawling across a table to grab a candy cane.  That's my girl...

It has been great to have that visual when talking about Christmas with the twins.  It was wonderful to start our December that way.  Perfect first Christmas Adventure.

To Giving...

I mentioned that I have been pulling together all of our Advent activities.  I say "activities" because not all of them are simple calendars.  It is funny to me that we started out the first year with one simple calendar - the one I had growing up - and I worried it wasn't enough.  This year we have that one and 3 more!

  Of course, I put together our Advent book basket.  I absolutely love having a book to open and read each night!  

My mom also bought us a fun magnetic one for the fridge.  I like the extra dose of Christmas in the kitchen where there tend not to be as many decorations.  

Lastly, I put together a "Gifts for Jesus" calendar.  

Last year, I talked with the twins a lot about how Christmas was Jesus' birthday.  It didn't take long before they were wondering what we were going to give Jesus.  It was a great question.  We talked about options.  We decided that what Jesus would like most for His birthday was for us to show others His love.  Because this conversation came up in the midst of the December madness, the only thing I was able to pull together was making cards to send to the Grandpas and Grandmas at the nursing home.  All year, I have been thinking of ways I could make this a daily project for us.  I have seen Advent calendars where they do a different Christmas themed activity every day, and I thought we could potentially do a version of that.  I have been looking online for ideas, working at keeping all of the activities within our budget, going over our December calendar to try to make sure we don't overburden ourselves during an already busy time, and trying to think about the conversations I want to have which each thing we do.  In the end, I came up with something that works well enough for this year, but that I will  probably want to tweak in the future.  A lot of the days involve making gifts for the people in their lives - swim teachers, neighbors, friends.  Some of the days involve doing something nice for the people that serve in our community - fire fighters, mail person, garbage people.   Some of the days are service opportunities (like delivering for Meals on Wheels).  Some of the days I wanted to get them farther outside their world - like buying something from Heifer International to send to kids in need.

Today we did the first of our activities - painting cards to send to (potentially wounded) soldiers.  I saw something going around facebook suggesting that people send an extra Christmas card to wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Hospital.  I thought that would be a perfect Advent Activity, and decided to look into it more.  Turns out, that won't work.  It was a good idea, but not actually organized.  You can, however, send cards through Red Cross.  Get all of the info here.  Since they have to be postmarked by a certain date, I made that our first project.

My hope is that, through each activity, I can have conversations with the kids about what we are doing, why we are doing it, how it all ties back to Jesus and Christmas.  Unfortunately, I got a phone call right when we were starting, and then I was racing to try to keep up with their painting speed, and then Allie spilled not 1, but 4 (medicine) cups of paint, and then she purposefully stepped in the puddle of the last cup right after I said, "Be careful not to step in it!"  And I lost it...and I yelled...and I had to apologize...and Allie and I ended up spending some quiet time together watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special - which she will probably remember more.  So day 1 was not the idyllic Christmas moment I anticipated.  But I have 23  more days to have those conversations.  Hopefully, just as the daily thankfuls built up to create an atmosphere of gratitude, each activity will build up to create an atmosphere of generosity and sharing God's love.  

Oh, and I won't blog about each day the way I did about the thankfuls.  Mostly because this month is already busy, and I don't want keeping up with the blog to feel like an obligation.  Partly because there is a fine line between "Here are things we are doing that you might be interested in doing too," and "Look at us, aren't we SO awesome?" and I don't want to cross that line.  You will probably see pictures of days here and there as I tied, as many as I could into things we were doing.  I will probably include a full list (and maybe pictures) at some point after the holidays (because this blog serves as our history/memory keeper, and I'm hoping this will be a memory we want to preserve).  In the meantime, if you are interested in doing something similar, I thought I would share some of the places I got my inspiration (one of them is a blog where they did 1 service project a week for a year with their little children - so it could be a New Year's resolution in stead of advent...):
Teaching to Give
Kid Activities
Generation On
A Holy Experience
I know there were some others, but apparently, I didn't bookmark them (Doh!).  But that is a great starting point :)

Also, I mentioned before that I had been trying to make it so that all of our Christmas wishlists were gifts that "gave back" in some way.  I discovered that 1) there isn't a great central place where you can find things like this. 2) There aren't a lot of great ones for kids (and our Christmas wishlists tend to be only for the kids because Lucas and I don't want/need anything so we tend to opt out of gift exchanges).  3) Almost everything was over the price limit of the gift exchanges we do for the kids!  But, if you are interested, here are the links I found (for young and old alike):
Lists of "Give Back" Gift Ideas:
Rage Against the Minivan - a great list of "give back" gifts!
Ecoki - another list of gifts that give back
LilSugar - A list that is kid specific.
Charitable Businesses that I Especially Like:
Ever After Clothing - the recipient of the gift gets to pick the charity that they would like the proceeds donated towards...and one of the charities helps abandoned babies in Uganda!!
Krochet Kids - this is the "Made in Uganda" specific link :)
Superhero Supplies - one of the most unique "give back" businesses I have seen!
SixtyFeet - An organization I love that is working in Uganda.
(un)Adopted - a ministry of our adoption agency.
31 Bits - beautiful accessories...and many are made in Uganda (do you sense a theme...)!
Charities/Charitable Businesses You will Recognize:
Kohls Cares
St. Jude's
Toms
These aren't exhaustive lists by any means, but they will help get you started.  There are other websites and articles that have lists of "Give Back" gifts (I finally have started to see the ones for this year, but you had to wait until Black Friday for them to come out...our wish lists were all due earlier).  There are also a lot of other great charities/charitable businesses.  These just happened to be a few of my favorites.

From Thanks...

November 26, We Are Thankful For:
Ryan: Bumble.  Ahhh.  We have returned to his first love.  It feels right, after days of forgetting, for this to be his answer again.
Allie: Ming Ming.  From Wonder Pets.  She actually really struggled at first.  She couldn't think of something for which she was thankful.  Finally it came to her.  She does love that little duckling.
Me: Returning to real life.  I don't necessarily enjoy it.  I so enjoy being surrounded by people I love. I enjoy a house full of chaos and laughter.  I enjoy the special adventures that come along with visitors.  And I especially love the break I always give myself from the usual housework.  Aside from doing dishes (so we can eat future meals) and general picking up (so we can move around the house), I want to spend my time spending time with people with whom I don't get to spend enough time!  But the day after everyone leaves it is time to return to the real world - especially catching up on laundry!
Making Christmas Cards.  I needed a project for the kids.  I needed to get things accomplished, but I didn't want them to watch tv all day.  I remembered a container of winter-themed, foam stickers (some of them glittery) in the craft room, and we had some card-sized card stock left over from another project.  So I handed it over to the twins and invited them to make some Christmas cards.  I thought they would make enough to send grandparents and cousins - maybe even the great-grandparents if I was lucky.  They loved it and made over 50!  I'm thinking all I need is another morning and I might have enough for our entire Christmas list...I didn't think we were going to get cards out this year, but I might be changing my mind now that my little elves are so enthusiastic about making them!
My favorite of the turkey pictures.  I saved it to put up for Thanksgiving...and then forgot.  So I'm using it now (since I don't have many pictures for this post).

November 27, We Are Thankful For:
I completely forgot the twins AGAIN.

Me: Items Shipping. Okay, last year the children really convicted me by asking what we would give to Jesus for His birthday.  In their innocence they got something that I felt I had really missed.  I have been thinking ever sincer about how I wanted our Christmas to be one that is outward focused, and ways to bring that about.  One of the things I had wanted to do was make sure that everything we asked for was a gift that gave back in some way - a portion of the proceeds going to charity, etc. (which turned out to be more difficult than I thought, but that is another long story).  Then we figured our Christmas budget and I didn't have the money to do what I wanted for my kids.  Conflicted isn't even the right word to describe what I felt.  We believe that everything we have (including and especially the money Lucas earns) is from God, and really is God's.  We try to be good stewards and to give generously wherever we can, knowing that our needs are really few.  But suddenly I wasn't sure I could provide the Christmas that I wanted, and all that flew out the window.  I wanted to hoard money, to stop being generous, to save it all for them.  Is it bad to want to give my kids good things?  No.  But I was completely losing sight of the exact thing that I wanted to infuse into our Christmas!  It took some wise words from my mom and a lot of prayer for me to even start to realize that my attitude and example would really determine what my children took away from Christmas far more than the presents they receive.  In the end, some savy shopping got us the amazing table AND the train set (for about half its price) - making it possible for us to do even more than we originally planned for Christmas (although not much...just because we can doesn't mean we should.  I don't want the volume of presents to take away from the value).  The kicker for me was when I received the e-mail, from the website where we ordered the train set, telling me it was on the way.  At the bottom was a little note telling me that for every order they ship, they also provide 3 meals of nutritious  organic food for a child in need.  It was like a gentle reminder to me that it was possible to look for good deals, to give my children good things, and to still give back - even in small ways.  It was the nudge I needed to continue in my plans to infuse this season with a spirit of giving.  And with that, I'm going to tell you all that you should hop over to ecomom.com and see if you can do any of your Christmas (or birthday or anytime) shopping there.  Because my order might only have provided food for a child for one day, but every order adds up, and if I can add to that by encouraging others to shop there, I will.
November 28, We Are Thankful For:
Allie: Mommy, Daddy, and Ryan.  There is a story here.  Lucas was actually doing bedtime.  I was taking a night off to just relax.  Thankfuls were (once again) completely forgotten.  Suddenly I hear Allie say, "I need to say what I'm thankful for!  I'm thankful for mommy!  Mommy!  I'm thankful for you!"  Melt my heart.  It took about 1 second for me to close my laptop, come out, and help them fill out their thankfuls.  Then Daddy felt sad that no one was thankful for him...and soft-hearted Allie asked me to add him and Ryan (to pre-emptively ensure Ryan wouldn't feel sad).  Best bedtime ever.
Ryan: Mommy.  Seriously, could they melt my heart any more?
Me: Laundry Complete.  Because of our stupid water softner, we can only do 3 loads of laundry before we have to recharge the softner (otherwise it starts to leave rust stains).  When I haven't done laundry for almost a week, this makes catching up difficult.  It felt good to finally be there!
Feeling Good.  Something I haven't talked about much is this major change I made about 7 months ago.  I changed my diet.  For years (5 or so) I have struggled with chronic pain.  I haven't had a dr. come up with an explanation yet.  Last year I finally started working with a dr. here to try to find a solution, but in April we had only found dead ends.  I was discouraged.  And then I met a friend of a friend who had struggled similarly (she was luck enough to get a diagnosis, but whatever), and had been able to control her pain primarily through diet.  So I jumped in (literally, 2 days later).  Within days I felt like a different person.  I have (for the most part ) stuck with the diet for 7 months now.   If I cheat (I have) I can usually feel the pain within 30 minutes (and now that I feel good I can't believe I lived with that level of pain constantly for so long).  I know now that I am only cheating myself.  For me, the time I felt the worst was during the winter - and I really struggled during the holiday season when the exhaustion from being in pain all day long collided with a much heavier schedule than normal - which all collided with the expectation I place on myself for Christmas and the things/memories I would provide for my children - creating a perfect storm of pain and mommy-guilt tat clouded the holidays.  I'm still not 100%.  I still have pain (MUCH less). I struggle with sticking to the diet (in case you were wondering it is no gluten, no nightshades, no citrus fruits, no onions, no pork, no caffeine (I'm down to 1 cup of half-caff coffee a day and working on going caffeine free), no eggs (although I have found that farm-fresh don't bother me, or at least not as much as store-bought), and no sugar (not sure I will ever fully give up this one) - a LOT of things to give up).   But today I did some cleaning, some organizing, some projects with the kids, some Christmas decorating, AND had energy left over in the evening.  It honestly was more than I used to be able to do in a week stretching my energy as far as I could.  Being able to feel, see, and enjoy the vast difference made me so thankful.  Ask Lucas.  I was practically bouncing all evening because the difference was so amazing and made me feel so happy.  And feeling this good is making me really excited for Christmas this year.
November 29, We Are Thankful For:
Ryan: Daddy.
Allie:  Daddy.  Apparently tonight was Daddy's night.  I didn't even ask if they would include me.  They are in such a mommy phase right now that I thought it was nice for Daddy to get the spotlight for an evening.
Me: Moms Group.  Yeah I started it, and coordinate it, and perhaps it is basically just me making friends for myself.  But I really enjoy the mornings getting together with other moms.  I enjoy the laughter and the opportunities to support and encourage each other, and the fun my kids have with their friends.  Best morning of the week.
Our tv Night.  Thursday night is the night most of the shows Lucas and I watch together are on tv.  Some of them we have watched for years and watch out of loyalty even though they aren't as good as they once were.  Some of them were shows I liked first, and he grew to like. Some of them are shows at which we once turned up our noses...and now they are a guilty pleasure we wholeheartedly enjoy.
November 30, We Are Thankful For:
Allie: Mommy and Daddy.  She rounded out the last night of thankfuls with both of us.  Sweet girl
Ryan: Trees.  Lucas asked if he meant Christmas Trees?  Ryan said nope.  Just trees.
Me:  Helping a friend.  I have a friend who has been having some medical issues and needed to have some tests.  I was not only able to help her out by having her son over to play while she was at the hospital, but she happened to know the tech who was working in the department where she needed tests and she got rushed through.  She ended up having enough time to do her tests, go to the chiropractor  and run some errands - all in less time than she originally told me the tests would take!  And then we got to hang out and talk while the kids played.  And then we all went to lunch together at the church.  It was a great morning!
LIFT.  The night of the church bonfire, a few ladies thought it would be nice to hang out and decided to start a new group - Ladies In Fellowship Together, or LIFT.  We had the first get-together and it was wonderful.  Sharing a warm cup of tea and delightful conversation with the women of our church was wonderful.
Last-minute productivity.  With an entire week between Thanksgiving and the beginning of December, I felt like I had plenty of time to 1) work on presents and 2) Get my advent activities together.  But somehow the week got away from me and I was nowhere near where I wanted to be.  I spent the evening pulling together our December schedule/advent activities/making the advent calendars....although I fell asleep before I completely finished.  Good thing the one I have left to finish isn't needed before bedtime...
A shot of the finished Thankful Tree

And that concludes our month of Thankfulness.  If the next month wasn't Christmas (with it's own theme/projects) I might continue.  It was a lot of fun, and I especially loved the twins getting into the habit of saying every night before bed, "Wait!  I have to write what I'm thankful for!"