Thankful - Even When Life is Hard

I'm feeling very blessed this Thanksgiving evening.  My belly is full, we enjoyed a beautiful day surrounded by family, I'm sitting with Scott in our cozy little home that we own, enjoying the glow of the fireplace and feeling thankful for all that God has blessed us with.  It would be easy in this season of life to feel depressed and sad...even hopeless...watching my Dad battle stage 4 cancer is by far and away the worst thing I've ever had to go through in my 30 years of life, but I'm also keenly aware of how much good surrounds me...How the beauty of God's creation lifts my spirits.  How snuggles and hugs and giggle fits with my boys brighten my day.  How the little kicks in my belly remind me of new life and new love.  How listening to my boys pray for Bepa (my Dad) every night tugs at my heartstrings and fills me with joy all at the same time.  Life is messy, but it's wonderful too.   

"The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me 
Let me be singing when the evening comes."

We had a wonderful day surrounded by my grandparents, parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece, and in-laws.  After our meal, we sat around the living room together and each wrote a note on a little paper leaf about what we were thankful for.  We went around the room sharing our thoughts and then the kids took turns hanging the leaves on our little Thanksgiving Tree.  Micah's first thing he wanted to write was "Bepa."  Camden made about six leaves with things ranging from our family, to the outdoors, to blankets and our couch.  He's a kid who knows what it means to be thankful for the big things and the little things in life.

 It was a good day.  And we all have a lot to be thankful for.  

A few things that I'm especially grateful for today...

Last but not least, my wonderful father-in-law celebrated his birthday today (although we're having another little family party for him tomorrow).  He's a pretty great guy and I'm (along with the rest of my family) very lucky to have him in my life!  xo

Football Fun

We had a fun day with other Proctor families on Saturday watching the football team play in a bowl game against Suffield Academy.  Our football boys had an incredible season going 8-0 and finished the season as the highest scoring team in the league.  Unfortunately, they went up against a really strong Suffield team and ended up losing this final game of the season 34-16.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and the boys had a blast playing with their friends and running around a different campus.  We even got to stop at Bertucci's (my favorite!) on the way home!  Here are a few pictures from our football adventure in MA.

Here's the crew.  We love our friends!

 Camden and Hannah are little buddies from both Proctor and pre-school!

 These two boys just love to wrestle!!

Scott congratulating his friend, and head coach, Ben.  Great season, Ben!

And now the fall season is officially over and we are already into basketball season - a long, but enjoyable season for Scott to coach!  No more crisp, cold fall days...back into the gym!

Some Early Christmas Spirit

I have some serious issues.  I mean, I'm not kidding when I tell you that I have been suppressing an overflowing Christmas spirit since the beginning of October.  This is bad.  Embarrassing actually.  I have all of our Christmas cards ordered and sitting on the counter ready to be addressed (only to sit around for another month until it's actually acceptable to send Christmas cards).  I've been perusing various websites during the boys nap time trying to come up with new and exciting and meaningful Christmas traditions to start while my children are still young.  Camden and Micah have watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the little Dr. Seuss 20 minute cartoon version) about 5 times already and we may have whipped out Amy Grant's Christmas album in one moment of serious weakness (that was actually all Scott, but it made me oh so happy...even though it was during the first week of October). 
I don't know what it is, but I am so looking forward to the beautiful, warm, cozy, family-filled Christmas season.  I can't wait to cut down our tree at the tree farm right after Thanksgiving, spend cozy days sitting around the roaring woodstove, listen to Christmas music without feeling like a total loser, gather with family and friends at our annual Stone Chapel Christmas service and enjoy watching the boys' wonder and excitement as they take in all the beauty of the Christmas season.
I actually started writing this post a few weeks ago, but figured you'd all really think I was nuts if I posted it before Halloween!  Now that we've had our first snowfall, the temperatures are cold enough for us to run our woodstove day and night and the holiday decorations have already emerged in stores I feel somewhat more justified in my Christmas spirit.
I can't wait for this...

I'm so curious to hear more about different Christmas traditions you have started with your children in recent years or what you especially enjoyed as a child with your family?  I want to incorporate as many fun and meaningful ideas now while the kids are young so that they'll have wonderful Christmas memories as they grow up.  Do you open one present on Christmas Eve?  How do those of you who are Christians balance teaching your children about Jesus' birth and also enjoy the more secular parts of the holiday (or do you avoid Santa altogether)?  Is your house a free-for-all on Christmas morning or does each person open a present one at a time so everyone can share in each gift (as my family did growing up and I am attempting to have our boys do as well).

A few things that we enjoy doing with Camden and Micah are:
- Cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm the weekend following Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it for as long as possible!
- We make a Birthday Cake for Jesus to help celebrate his birth.
- This year I am going to wrap each of our Christmas books up in wrapping paper and put them under the tree.  Each evening in December the boys will unwrap one book that we will read before bed and then add to our Christmas book basket to continue to enjoy for the rest of the season. 
- This year we're also hoping to talk more about Advent so if anyone has any special things they do around advent please share!

When I was a child, my parents let my sister and I have our own little Christmas tree upstairs in our room.  We put the colored lights and all the ugly kid ornaments on that tree and LOVED it!  Maybe we'll venture into that when the boys are a little older.

So, fill me in and leave a comment - What are you favorite or most special traditions?  If I get some really good ideas I'll do another post in a couple of weeks sharing some of my favorites! 

It's supposed to be in the 60's tomorrow all of a sudden, but don't worry, nothing will dampen my Christmas spirit!  :)

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! 

The boys had so much fun this year!  For months they had been working on halloween costumes with Nan - they were going to be the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion and Scott was going to be the Scarecrow and I would be a pregnant Dorothy...but alas, they changed their minds a couple of weeks ago when Camden suddenly had inspiration to be Bob the Builder.  It was honestly much easier this way since we had a helmet and a tool belt that we had picked up at a yard sale for a dollar this summer, but it would have been pretty cute to prance around town as the Wizard of Oz characters.  Oh well.  Maybe next year.  Camden refused to wear his tools in his toolbelt, but he was still a handsome little Bob...

 And here they both are before heading out on our "parade" around campus with the other faculty and preschool kids. 

 Here the boys are getting nice healthy treats from the Health Center.  We go around to all the different departments on campus and get yummy (mostly healthy) treats.  It's a fun morning activity before the chaotic, unhealthy evening events. 

 Micah was feeling a little timid...

 At night we went trick-or-treating through the village.  My Mom and Scott's parents joined us and we also met up with some Proctor friends.  Here they are at their first house of the evening - Thanks John!  (It's fun to go trick-or-treating in a small town because you pretty much know the people in every house you go to)!

 We stopped in to show Bepa our candy on our way by my parents house. 

 Hanging out with our good friends (These guys live at Proctor with us AND go to the same Montessori school so they are pretty good buddies right now)!

 Lots of fun and laughter...

Hard to believe we'll be lugging around 3 kids of our own next year!  :)  Can't wait for many more wonderful Halloweens to come!

Celebration

Our little Micah-Man turned 2 a few weeks ago!  I'm still kind of coming to terms with this milestone...wasn't he just born?!?!  Every year for the boys' birthdays I make them a special photo book with pictures from the entire year and a nice long note to them at the end.  We just received Micah's book today and he is having so much fun going through it and pointing out himself over and over again in all the pictures.  Here are a couple samples of what the pages look like.  It's a 12x12 book, so the pages are nice and big and doesn't seem too cramped...

And here's the recap of Micah's year from the end of his book...

Oh little Micah-Man!  What a joy you are.  You have brought so much happiness to our family these last two years.  Your smile can light up a room and everyone loves that little blonde head of yours.  You have such a funny little sense of humor and love to make us laugh.  You refuse to say the name, Micah, and think it's hilarious to refer to yourself as "Ba-boop" instead.  You make the silliest little face and do the cutest thing with your fingers when you just want a "teensey, tinsey" little bit of something.  You are forever trying to keep up with Camden.  You guys usually play very well together, putting on "plays," playing with trucks, riding your "blue bike", reading books and chasing each other around the house, but there have been a few occasions where you get very mad and bite your big brother.  Despite your charm, you have a very strong will and haven't quite learned how to properly show your frustration.  Instead of trying to use your words, you generally throw all of the items near you across the room, throw your food on the floor, knock over chairs and just generally throw a major fit.  I'm hoping that this stage won't last forever!  
You are quickly growing up from a little baby to a big boy!  You can count up to about 14 and then start repeating random numbers again from that point on.  You know many of your letters and when we read books you often have to flip back and forth between pages showing us matching letters or similar pictures.  You are a very picky eater and would probably live only on yogurt, frozen berries, puffs and spaghetti if we let you!  You just stopped nursing this month and even though it seemed like you would nurse forever if I let you, you made a very smooth transition away from it.  You go pee on the potty often, but aren't yet showing much consistent interest in potty training.  You are still sleeping in your crib and finally just this summer started sleeping longer stretches.  You love to push your dolls and stuffed animals around in your stroller and sing them lullabies and you seem to be very excited about "Baby Goose" growing in my belly.  Every day you put your head on my belly then pop up saying, "Baby Goose Hi!" with the biggest smile on your face.  I think you'll be a wonderful big brother, especially since Camden has been such a great one for you.  We are so proud of you and love you more than you will ever know.  Happy 2nd Birthday, Micah Gray!
Love, Mama and Dada

We had a fun, low-key family party to celebrate. Here's my masterpiece...

 Birthday boy...

 We were even able to get my Dad into our house for the first time since he got sick in March!  Here's part of our nifty ramp...

 Dad was such a trooper...it's not easy for him to be moved around like this (and it was after a long day in the hospital) but he did great and I'm so glad we made it work.  Thanks, Daddy!

 "How old are you?"

 We Skyped with Caren, Dave and Clara for a few minutes.  It was kind of strange to have a family event without them here!

 Wish my Dad's hand wasn't blocking his face because this was a very cute moment after Micah unwrapped his dinosaur from Bepa.  He loved it and ran up to show him his new toy!   My Grandparents were here visiting from the Cape as well, which was another wonderful part of the evening...

 Micah LOVED his new fire station dollhouse from Nan and Pop!

 

 So glad he could be there!

Happy Birthday, Micah Gray!  Thanks for making the world a better place!  We love you!