A New Year, A New Beginning

It's the day after Christmas, and I have a million things to do.  There are still gifts in opened and unopened boxes all over the house.  The kids are currently enjoying our brand new flat screen amongst blocks of Styrofoam and ripped open clear plastic bags.  Adam is off running errands and spending gift cards from last Christmas. And I'm just sitting here overwhelmed, so overwhelmed that I don't know where to start. 

In the last month or so, I've been trying to get the downstairs organized and sorted.  It's gone nowhere.  Well, not completely nowhere...just almost nowhere.  As usual, life has gotten in the way.  Mostly, our joyous holiday season was interrupted by a most unfortunate event; my cousin Bryan's suicide.  I've contemplated blogging on that...and maybe I will someday, but not today.  Anyway, after a good two weeks of grief and brain fog I had to find the time to find 26 thoughtful gifts for Christmas. This number doesn't include my husband, or the gifts that Santa brings...so I had my work cut out for me! Normally, I don't wait until after Thanksgiving to get my shopping done.  So, finding the time to organize amongst shopping, taking care of my family (2 bouts of strep, 3 colds, and a tummy bug), school, work, and whatever else I do as a virtually single parent was near impossible.  I say "virtually single parent" because Adam has been traveling about 80% of the time in the last 3-4 months.  With all that said, I found myself asking "why?"  Why, as a stay-at-home mom, can I not find the time to get anything done?

I've said it before...I enjoy being busy.  I like doing things for people, working on projects, being involved with school and church activities, etc.  It was my hope that my life would slow down once both kids were in school full time.  Quite the contrary has happened.  Sure, I may have a few slower mornings where I get to enjoy some "me" time, but once the clock strikes 2:40 life begins.  That's about the time I get in the car (if I'm not in it already) and head to pick up the kids from school.  The kids are in school for 7 hours, and they have no desire to think about school when they get home, let alone do their homework.  This is a touchy subject for me.  I hate homework.  As a kid, I always tried my best to make sure I managed my time well enough at school to not have to do any of it.  Usually, I succeeded, and it was like a reward.  School has changed in the last several years and now homework is part of every child's day.  Assigned homework.  Daily assigned homework.  And when you have a kindergartner and a 2nd grader, it might as well be called "daily assigned parent homework."  I, along with my kids, do this homework every night.  And despite the fact that it shouldn't take that long...it does.  Add that to bath time, dinner time, and play time...you are left with no. more. time.  Forget extra activities, going to town, etc.  Believe me, I do actually understand why kids have assigned homework these days.  And it's not just homework that wears me down.  Really, that's just the tip of the iceberg!

There is a point to this rambling...and I'm getting to it.

So why have I been trying to clear and organize my downstairs? Because I'm taking the plunge.  I'm going to do what I said I would NEVER do. I'm going to home school my kids.  I'm going to start out with a public online charter, and maybe do 100% home school in the future.

I still have mixed feelings about this decision.  I love the school my kids attend.  I think, as far as public schools go, it's pretty awesome.  My kids have great friends there, and fantastic teachers. I guess I just want something more for my family.  I want to give my kids more time to be kids...more time to enjoy the home that they love.  I want to teach them how to be successful, responsible, contributing members of this world that God created.  I also want to build better relationships with them.  As it sits now, the time I spend with them is short, strained, and often on-the-go. 

Yes, this is a commitment...a very big time commitment on my part.  I say I don't have enough time.  Well, my days will look very different with two school-age kids in tow all the time.  And I can't fully predict the future, but I have a strong hunch that the stress in my life is going to start to diminish. Sounds crazy, but I have high hopes.

Bottom line: The Lord has blessed me with the ability to stay home with my kids.  He has also blessed me with a good education...a degree in elementary education, to be exact! So why not try out this home school thing?  I'm hoping for the best, but if I find it doesn't work out, I have a great school to send them back to.

The Annual Christmas Marathon

Christmas with Adam's side of the family, Tuesday, December 20th:

Adam was able to take most of the week before Christmas off, but there was lots on the agenda! We started our Christmas marathon at Steve and Patty's. Patty had made gingerbread loaf houses for each family to make, then we opened gifts and had lasagna and pizza. We didn't stay too late so that we could get home to check on our sick puppy.

Steve and Patty have a few "pet" squirrels. Soren was able to feed one by hand two different times!

Synnove and Soren's creation

Soren got another Candyland game to add to his collection as a gift. It seemed like he and the cousins enjoyed playing together!

Annual Camp 18 dinner and Christmas with My side of the family, Thursday, Dec. 22nd:

Grandma Barb joined us this year because she decided to go to Leavenworth, WA with a friend for Christmas this year. This was the first year EVER to not have Christmas Day at Grandma Barb's house.

Back from dinner to open gifts at my parent's house

Soren got a voice changer from Uncle Henry...here he is with the "old man" voice...ha ha!


Synnove was very excited for Adam and I to open her gifts to us. At school she painted an ornament and made a calendar with hand print pictures. They are precious!

Baking and cleaning day, Friday, December 23rd:

Elise and Chris stayed at my parent's house for several days during the week. Mom was working at the coffee shop while Elise stayed home to bake all the Christmas goodies. She made everything...pumpkin pie, berry pie, pecan pie (for Adam), rocky road, dream bars, magic cookie bars, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, frosted sugar cookies, and date bars. I came in the afternoon to help do any cleaning or last minute chores before the big Christmas Eve dinner the next day. But, because of Elise, most everything was done. The kids stayed the night there while I had to go home to help Adam with Lucy.

Sweet Evelyn in the kitchen watching her mommy bake...

Christmas Eve dinner with the Thompson clan, Saturday, December 24th:

I don't have very many photos from this day because I'm usually busy with the gift exchange game. For some reason, Christmas Eve felt very quiet and low key. It was nice. Unfortunately, Heidi had been in the hospital with kidney stones! But, she made it out in time for our evening. The poor girl looked miserable. This was our first Christmas without John Bradley, an older gentleman from church we "adopted" several years ago. He passed away last spring. Other than him, my cousin Bryan was the only one missing. He is a lost soul in need of a lot of prayer.

My mom and Aunt Jeanne

Mmmm....Hammmm...

Christmas morning at my parent's house, Sunday, December 25th:

The kids stayed the night Christmas Eve while Adam and I went home to take care of Lucy. We literally drug ourselves out of bed to try to make it to my parent's house by 9AM...we were only 10 minutes late. I knew the kids would be up early to see what Santa had brought to grandma and grandpa's house. I got a phone call at around 8:15 from Synnove saying "we're up..we're waiting for you!"

My dad with 2 out of 3 "grand-dog's." Sophie (left) and Trigger (right) are Chris and Elise's schnauzers. However, if you ask Sophie and Trigger...they'll tell you that my Dad is their master.

Evie gazing and grandma

Soren's new viewfinder!

Evie talking to Uncle Henry while getting dressed after her bath.

Sweet reindeer buns

After opening gifts, a few of us headed to the kitchen to make a big breakfast with eggs, hash browns, and biscuits and sausage gravy. Then we all lounged in our jammies all day watching Muppet Christmas movies. The boys did end up venturing out later to go shoot Henry's new gun.

Christmas Day evening at our house, Saturday, December 25th:

Because we didn't go to Grandma Barb's this year, we were able to head home at a reasonable hour. The kids were eager to get home to see if Santa brought gifts to their house as well. Of course, he had.

Soren got an Angry bird (he'd gotten a pig and an Angry Bird blanket as gifts prior), some more Hot Wheels, and a miniature Candyland game...among other things.

On the way home from my parent's house, I asked Synnove if she had gotten everything she wanted for Christmas...she said, "yes....but, I really wanted a Tangled doll..." She wasn't unhappy with her gifts, but that doll was one of only two things she asked for for Christmas (the other being a new pair of rubber boots). It was really fun to see her face at the very end of our Christmas marathon to open her very last gift...a Tangled doll.

Some December Photos

Patty and Steve's Christmas Party, December 10th:

Santa and Mrs. Claus gave out small gifts to each kid and asked each of them to make sure to make their Christmas lists. Both of my kids were very excited to see Santa this year!

Soren's Preschool Christmas Program, December 15th:

Soren and Kendall were Mary and Joseph, and JR was the innkeeper. Kendall was nervous and sort of forgot what to do after walking down the aisle and seeing all the people...but that's OK. It was very cute and Soren sang all the songs and did all the hand motions (a huge improvement from last year!)

Kendall refused to hold the "baby Jesus" in rehearsal because it wasn't HER baby. Her mom had to bring one from home...ha ha!

Trip to "You Paint It!" in Seaside, December 16th:

I rarely get to spend time with my good friend Tonya and her darling daughters. Faith (her stepdaughter) was only going to be in town for the month of December, so we made sure to set a date. It was Tonya's idea to go to "You Paint It!" I had been wanting to take the kids, so it was the perfect outing.

Synnove picked a peace sign mug (she's really into peace signs lately) and Soren picked a "transformer" (robot). He wanted to make it look like "Optimus Prime...like the one Uncle Chris has," and he gave it to Chris for his birthday (Dec. 26th). I think he really loved it :)

Soren was very concentrated in his efforts...and did his very best. Synnove's ended up taking quite a long time because of all the colors and things she wanted to do. I helped her quite a bit to get her moving.

Tonya helped Faith make a coffee thermos for daddy for Christmas.

And Miss Avyrie was a perfect peach the entire time! Ooo...I just LOVE this face!

Christmas Sillies

I know...Christmas was a month ago, but I've got to document it sometime! So, instead of boring you with the traditional family poses, I thought I'd pick a few sillies...

I kept asking him to smile, but he kept giving me faces...I think this was the second face I caught.

At Camp 18 for our traditional pre-Christmas family dinner...
Synnove and I both got robes for from my parents, and in the middle of posing, Soren decided to come and scare me with his new "Toothless" toy (from "How to Train Your Dragon").

Elise bought her husband a Wii for Chrismas...the kids are just learning how to box...Synnove beat Soren virtually every time. It was pretty funny to watch them.

We got home late Christmas day to find gifts from Santa. Soren got the BIGGEST kick out of his new wind-up toy...as you can tell...

Synnove watched one of her cousins open this gift earlier in the day and was really excited to get one herself!

Pre-Christmas December

My sister had been planning a surprise 30th birthday party for her husband, Chris, for quite some time. His birthday is the day after Christmas, so birthdays for him have been (I'm sure) less than exciting. Elise thought it was PERFECT to surprise him by throwing him a party on her birthday (the 10th). We were supposed to meet her and Chris for "dinner at the Shilo for Elise's birthday." Somehow we lured him downstairs to the banquet rooms for the big reveal. He was surprised...and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself :)

Auntie Piggy gives a shocked Chris a hug...

Soren's Christmas program was the next week. He was a Christmas Star along with all the other 3-4 year olds. He did everything he was supposed to do...except he didn't smile or sing. Maybe next year?

A rare photo of myself...and my little bruiser. He had a goose-egg on his head (ran into the corner of a wall), a swollen and bruised jaw (tripped and hit a barstool). A few days later, he fell and split his chin open!

He was the HIGHest star!

A couple of days later we had a big storm. Really...the wind was blowing hard, but not harder than a typical coastal storm. But, because the wind was blowing in an easterly direction, branches were falling like raindrops! I didn't sleep well that night because there were constant thuds on the roof...I was afraid one of our skylights was gonna shatter! The next morning, we woke up to this....

Frankly, this picture doesn't fully illustrate the magnitude of the mess. Adam was busy fixing his Mitsubishi (AS USUAL!) and I worked non-stop for 5 hours cleaning up the property. I could have done more, but I was soaked to the bone and a bit chilly. Except for our "hurricane" 3 years ago, I've never seen a storm create such a mess! Fortunately, the larger branches managed to land in perfect places!

Only 9 Days Left!

I couldn't believe it when Thanksgiving came and went, and I only had two Christmas gifts purchased. I didn't have a plan either. I was at a loss as to what to get for everyone and I was starting to panic! Fortunately, I got the Christmas card ordered before Thanksgiving! Last year we didn't send one out, so I had to get one out this year. By the time I paid for all the postage, I was wishing I had skipped this year as well! I started looking for blocks of time where I could get out without the kids. The weekends were full, Adam was busy, and I was starting to brainstorm other options. My Mom was in a bit of a panic as well, as she often relies on me to help her figure out gifts. Somehow we found a block of time to run to Longview for a quick trip. But, before we left, I had to take the kids over to the local church to meet Santa. Synnove had been begging to go! It ended up being a bust because neither of the kids wanted to get within 6 feet of Santa...

In about a weeks time, I finished my Christmas shopping. Online shopping is great!! I could finally breathe a bit...but the house still wasn't decorated. Synnove was soooo excited to decorate, and asked me several times a day..."when are we going to get the decorations out!?", and my response was always.."not until we get our tree." Getting the tree was proving to be difficult. We were busy...constantly busy. And when we weren't busy, it was either dark or raining. We were looking forward to cutting our own tree out at the dairy, but I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have to pay an arm and a leg to the boy scouts down the road for one of theirs. BUT, the weather cleared one day after Synnove got out of school, and we raced to Brownsmead just in time to be home by dusk.

The kids took a bath before dinner (they were filthy and wet) and I made homemade pizza. When dinner was over, I turned on the Christmas music and the decorating began. The kids had such a great time. I think this is the first year that I felt the kids could handle decorating the tree on their own (less the lights and garland)...and they did. Adam helped, while I decorated elsewhere. It really was a fun, no-stress, Christmassy time!

Soren loved all the ornaments...and was constantly coming up to me saying "look at this one!"

Synnove was my grown-up helper girl...she's got this whole Christmas tree thing down pat.

That night I was exhausted, but determined to wrap a few gifts. I ended up wrapping every single one! I still had a few that hadn't come in the mail yet, but, for the most part, I was done! I went to bed well after midnight and was dragging the next day. The kids were surprised to see all the gifts under the tree the next morning and started checking the tags for their names. Synnove was pretty disappointed that there was only one gift with her name on it...ha ha.

We still haven't put any lights outside, and I haven't done any baking...but it feels good to be almost ready for Christmas!

One of Each

Christmas is always a maxed-out holiday for us. Of course, I have quite a few pictures. So, I only chose one picture from each Christmas event to share...

On the 22nd, we traveled the icy highway to Camp 18 for dinner with my immediate family. We then opened gifts from each other at Mom and Dad's. Their house is all torn up from the water damage, but Mom still put up a little tree with a few decorations. Below is a pic of us all at Camp 18.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house this year. I really enjoyed having everyone over. I think there were 26 people in all...and EVERYone was able to sit down for dinner! This was also the first year we decided to play the "gift game!" I think it was a hit! After gifts, some of us girls decided to do MK makeovers! Fun fun! Below is a pic of the "adult table" in the living room. I had to do some rearranging of some furniture =)

Mom, Dad, Elise, and Henry (Chris had to work) stayed the night Christmas Eve so that we could do our traditional Christmas morning with stockings. Mom brought her stockings from home and the kids got gifts in 2 different stockings (ours and hers). Soren also gave his pacifiers to Santa this year (just like Synnove did last year). Below is a pic of Dad reading the letter Santa gave Soren for giving him his "guckies."

After opening stockings, we all headed over to Grandma Barb's house. I just realized I didn't take the opportunity to snap photos of her kitchen all finished..oops! It looks 100% better than it did before!! Anyway, Great Grandma Backe's health has been steadily declining, and hasn't been over to the house in quite some time. She made it over for Christmas dinner! Below is a pic of her coming in to see Grandma's kitchen all redone (it was the first thing she wanted to see when she walked through the door). Of course, she loved it. Tay was excited to see her, and snuggled with her on the couch for a bit.

The next day, we made the trip to Steve's house in Vancouver to spend Christmas with Adam's family. I thought we were just going to be there for a short time to open gifts since Patty had already hosted Christmas the day before. Little did I know, they all waited to celebrate with us! We had a full Christmas dinner and spent the entire day visiting! We were even able to make it home by 8:30...just in time to put the kids to bed.

Preschool Christmas Festivities

On Thursday, Synnove performed in her very first Christmas program. They acted out the story of Baby Jesus and sang a few songs. It was so incredibly cute! I volunteered to help out, so I was in charge of the 5 sheep below...

Left to right: Daisy (wouldn't put on sheep costume), Katie, Synnove, Carlie, and Grace. This is the girls putting on their best camera faces for the 5 minute photo-op time...ha ha!

The next day was the last day of preschool before the new year, so Miss Kara deemed it Pajama Day! I was so lucky to be snack helper for the day. Grandma Patty had spent the night the night before because she came for Synnove's program, so she put our hair in festive pig-tails before school. We played games and made a special egg-free (with substitute), soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, nut-free, and maybe a couple of other "free(s)" Birthday cake for Baby Jesus! Sound gross, I know, but the cake was surprisingly delicious! Wanna try it? Click HERE!

Novie and I...Soren in the background playing with Legos.

Everyone got the chance to use the mixer. Miss Kara always includes Soren in on the fun during my snack helper days...he fits right in.

On the 1st Weekend of Christmas...

The first weekend in December was jam-packed full of fun! We had several plans for Saturday, but we ended up ditching them all for varying reasons. So, we spent the whole of Saturday getting the house ready for Christmas. We had heard of a u-cut tree place way out in Brownsmead, so we headed out late morning, hoping to find some signs to follow. We ended up at Aldrich Point Dairy and found the perfect Noble Fir for $25!

The kids really enjoyed decorating the tree this year. I wasn't as into it, and didn't care how the tree looked. In fact, I only put out a couple of decorations. We didn't even put lights on the house. I don't know what my deal was. That all changed last week when my parents' house flooded when a pipe broke in their attic during the freeze. I volunteered to have Christmas at our house! Sitting 30 people down to dinner will be a bit of a challenge...but I'm up for it!

On Sunday (the 6th), we headed up to Vancouver to Steve's house for a Christmas party. Patty even invited Santa and Mrs. Claus over for the fun! The kids were so surprised when he and his wife arrived! Soren was a bit reserved at first and wouldn't even sit in the picture with all the kids. Synnove enjoyed visiting with Mrs. Claus for the majority of the time that they were there. Santa gave each of the kids a gift while they sat on his knee and asked him for what they really wanted for Christmas. Before the afternoon was over, EVERYone had sat on Santa's knee...including Steve's reluctant sons and their wives.

Once Soren saw that Santa wasn't so bad and that each kid was getting a gift, he started to like him. I even caught a picture of him on Santa's lap...smiling!

Synnove loved Santa this year! She was a bit shy as usual, but was anxious to go up and talk with him. He really was a great Santa...with a real beard!

The party was nice. We got to meet Steve's 2 son's and their families, and hope to meet his daughter soon. We all enjoyed cookies, candy, and cheese fondue! However, while eating some cheese, my crown popped off! I have a root canal scheduled for after the new year. Merry Christmas to me!!