Saturdays

Many Saturdays, if we don't already have specific plans, I feel so torn on how to use our time.  There is always so much to be done.  Cleaning chores, house projects, errands, piles waiting to be organized...the list could go on and on and on.  But then I also want family time to just play and read books and take out board games and bake treats and just be together.  And THEN, I also crave rest time, too.  A nap, a novel, some tea, a movie.  I often feel conflicted on how to best use our empty time (which is a rare thing) when there are so many different directions we could go with it.

This morning, friends, I feel quite content exactly where we are at this sweet Saturday morning.  Zach just got back last night from a six day trip to Washington, D.C., which he does every several months.  As most of you know (or have read), I feel complete once again with him home.  The week went quickly and smoothly, but it is admittedly NOT my favorite thing when he travels.  I love doing life together.  I much prefer it that way.  So this morning, with him home and with the smell of bacon lingering from a yummy breakfast he cooked for us, we bundled up our four kiddos for a trip to the beautiful snow.  It is a winter wonderland this morning, with fresh, thick blankets of gorgeous, white snow everywhere.  And, finally, the temperatures are warm enough to venture outside!  I went outside to watch them sled and to snap some snowy pictures and to eat some snow myself.  

And when I came inside, and looked around at the books strewn across the floor and the baby dolls spilled out of the basket, when I see the piles of hats and gloves and the wet, snowy boots dripping on the rug, the unmade beds and the crumbs on the floor under the table from breakfast, I smile big and think that this is exactly how I want this Saturday to be.  The chores will get done.  The books will get put back in their place, the blankets will get folded, the rug will dry, the dishes will get done, and showers will eventually be taken.  But right now, to stop and play in the snow and slide down the hill and laugh with Ella at how she can SIT in the snow and marvel over Sophia's sweet voice and how excited she is to have Daddy home from, "D.C.!" - that is the perfect way to spend a Saturday.  The projects can wait.  The piles can sit.  But the children?  I long to soak them up as long as possible.  To hug and snuggle and laugh and just be.

The boys are off to the sledding hill with Daddy, and I am off to throw a casserole together to put in the oven later for dinner.  We have an afternoon birthday party for a friend from church, and a certain three year old is asking for me to paint her nails.

So here's to the BEST kind of Saturday.  Here's to being present in the moment, whatever that moment is.  Here's to choosing relationships over chores.  To choosing "present over perfect," as Shauna Niequist often says.  

Enjoy today to the fullest, friends!

Happy Saturday!

It's a New Day!

This morning, at 6:00, after being awake in the night at 12:00, 3:00, and 5:00, I sleepily peeled an orange and filled plastic, colored bowls with dry cereal while I started a morning movie for my kiddos.  My body wanted to go back to sleep but my spirit stirred within me.  Today is a new day.  

Moments from yesterday can be left behind.  For my kiddos...and mostly...for me.

Moments like Ella's fit at the library over not wanting to share a fairy, Sammy's meltdown at the start of handwriting, Micah's constant distraction during cursive time, and that time I needed to ask someone eight times to put their boots and coat and hat on.  Also those moments in which I growled at my children like some sort of a mama monster through gritted teeth to obey and listen and make good choices and work as a team.  

Sometimes I get it right, when I get down at their level, look in their little eyes, and talk to them intentionally and calmly about their behavior and about how their hearts will be happy when they make good choices.  And other times, I lose my cool.  I yell.  I become harsh.  My negative emotions bubble up inside me and they take over.  I become the mom I don't want to be.  The days can sometimes lean in one direction or the other, and yesterday, I concluded that the impatient mama took over more times than I would have wanted.

So as I awoke today, I spoke that truth to myself.

Today is a new day.
Yesterday is washed clean.
Grace abounds...yet again.
Time after time after time after time.
And this morning?
Well his mercies are new every morning.
Praise GOD!

Today, even though I am tired and not particularly motivated to make today fabulous, I am taking a moment to ask for God's grace today as I parent and mother and school and discipline.  As I toast bagels and brush teeth and change diapers and drive to karate and read geography and listen to readers being read and as I load the dishwasher and fold the laundry and remind my children to listen and obey.

More of you, God.
Less of me.

The kids and I just ran to the window to catch the glorious, orange splashes of the sunrise this morning while they were making beds.  What sweet timing!  As I am thinking of God's new mercies for me today, a picture of his beauty right before me as a reminder that He makes all things beautiful.

May your day be full of his abounding grace and his mercies that are new for you today.

Today, friends, is a NEW DAY!

Christmas Highlights

Although Christmas is now weeks behind us, I still wanted to capture some of our holiday highlights.  We really had a special December this year, busy in a just-right kind of way.  Lots of special events and activities marked our month, and for some reason, the month just wasn't stressful!  We were able to shop and wrap and celebrate in a fun, peaceful way, which isn't always the case, so I am celebrating that in a huge way!  I love Christmas, and I love all that comes with it.  I love celebrating Jesus's birth and the joy that his life brings our lives.  I love all of the music, I love the advent devotions, and I love the special baking and cooking.  I love our lit-up tree and our nativity set that gets arranged and re-arranged many times each day for the whole month.  I really love it all.  So thankful that we were able to have a sweet season of celebrating.  

The week after Christmas, we traveled to Minnesota to celebrate with Zach's family.  We arrived on New Year's Eve afternoon, so after the kids were all asleep, Zach and I went out for fish and chips and to a late movie!  So fun to be out on New Year's Eve!  We enjoyed our time in Minnesota, but we also enjoyed coming home to settle back into our routine after a busy few weeks.  We took last week off school, as well, knowing we would have just gotten home from our trip, and gave ourselves time to pack away Christmas decorations, organize and put away Christmas gifts, and start up our new activities for the kids.  I was ALL set to jump back into our schooling on Monday, and had spent time preparing our week and our curriculum.  BUT, of course, sometimes life gets in the way.  Micah woke up Monday with strep throat, I found myself with strep throat Tuesday, and Wednesday found Ella with the flu and Sammy with an ear infection.  Thursday was Sammy's day for a fever and today is Sophia's turn.  We've had quite the week around here, complete with four trips to the doctor and three to the Walgreens pharmacy.  We have a list on the counter of who's had what medicine so we can keep track of it all, and we have spent extra time watching movies, Little House on the Prairie episodes, and YouTube clips.  One night, our kids were all asleep before 6:30 pm.  It's just been one of those weeks.  But we are adjusting and making it through a day at at time!  All this to say, we are still not back into our "normal" after the holidays, but we are attempting to go with the flow.  So (finally!) here are our Christmas highlights...

Sammy and Ella both asleep after a most beautiful Christmas concert at church.  How precious is this??!!

A farm near our house had free pony rides and a time to meet Santa one Sunday in December.  The kids all loved it!

We loved our cooooold - but SUPER fun - trip to Brookfield Zoo to see the holiday lights and shows!

Santa's Model Railroad was the highlight of our zoo trip!

One of my favorite parts of the month...our family date night in the city!

I got to take this sweet girl out to breakfast for some Mommy-Daughter date time before meeting up with my mom, my sister-in-law, and my niece for our first girls' trip to American Girl.  Oh. My. Goodness.  WHAT a fun day!  Truly magical.

Savannah and Ella each borrowed mine and my sister's dolls from when we were girls for the day, and they loved every minute of it.  Here they are on the train.

Lunch in the American Girl restaurant was as sweet as could be.  Loved it all.

Christmas Eve morning!  Thankful to have been able to borrow Christmas dresses from their cousin, Savannah!

Christmas Eve morning at my in-laws...photo taken by Micah.

Christmas Eve at my Mom and Jason's...all 20 of us, plus our dear family friend, Tony!  It was such fun and such loads of happy chaos that I hardly got any pictures of the day!

Christmas morning!

Sammy with Nana before we got dressed and went to see the movie, Frozen, on Christmas afternoon!  SO much fun!

Micah's favorite Christmas present...the Harry Potter series!!!  He read the first book in three days and has since re-read as much as possible!  Zach is reading ahead of him to "approve" the next books.  They have both completed the first three books now, and guess who they got started on the series??  Yep, just started the second one myself and am loving reading what my son is reading.  It's so fun to be able to discuss it all with him.  I am not super into the sci-fi/fantasy/wizard-type genre, but my Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan husband has persuaded me more into appreciating and enjoying this unique genre.  

Christmas at my dad's house with his family 

Christmas with the Schmidt Family...Zach's Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt with all the kiddos

Christmas in Minnesota at my in-law's.  Sophia LOVED her new horsie!!!

The bag was a hit, too!

Celebrating my sister-in-law, Leah, at her bridal shower in Minneapolis!  My mother-in-law, Lois, Leah, Ella, and me.
Ella's first shower!  She loved it!

AND we loved our game time in Minnesota...Twister with Paul and Mary Kay, my in-law's best friends who are basically family

And my boys LOVED the game, Aggravation!  So fun!

Hoping you and your family had a most splendid of holidays, as well.
Happy 2014!!!
Here's to a new year with more love, more joy, more grace, and more gratitude!!!

Love to all!

Family Date Night

The past few years, Zach and I have been talking about how to "do" Christmas with our kids.  We want it to be meaningful and special, and we love to bless our children with gifts, but we also don't want it to be too much, either (for practical purposes and for philosophical purposes).  We do incorporate Santa into our family Christmas, but we hold it very loosely, and we mostly "play" Santa and let the kids make their own conclusions.  We enjoy the "magical" aspect of Santa, but, of course, we really work the hardest at making Jesus's birth the center of our Christmas celebrations.  We settled on us giving each of our kids an ornament each year that represents something they enjoyed from that season of their lives, and then on Christmas morning, Santa brings three gifts to each child.  We have told our kids that Jesus got three presents from the Wise Men, so they get three presents, too!  They seem to enjoy the connection.  I have loved the simplicity that this has brought to our Christmas shopping, wrapping, and opening.  Our kids know what to expect, and they love and appreciate the three things they get.  We also take them to the Dollar Spot at Target and have them each pick out one thing for each of their siblings.  I love the value of them learning to give gifts to each other, while also sticking within our budget.  

We decided that with this "simpler" way of doing Christmas, we wanted to have a family experience for a gift each year.  This was more special to us than one more present under the tree, so we have chosen to make it our annual tradition to do a Family Date Night downtown Chicago.  Last night was our night!  We had such a blast.  We love taking our kids to the city, exposing them to the sights, sounds, and smells all around us.  I love them getting to soak in all the people and places and activity happening all around.  At Christmastime, we love looking at the lights, listening to street musicians, explaining the Salvation Army bell ringers, and seeing all the hustle and bustle on the streets.  I also love the opportunity to teach our kids how to bless people less fortunate than us.  One thing my husband wisely remembered to do was to bring McDonalds gift cards to give to those who were homeless or begging.  It soon became a treat to observe Micah looking for "people to bless," as he said.  When we ran out of gift cards, he wanted to stop and buy more, and I loved getting to watch his joy in giving to others.  I also was happy we could teach our kids not to be scared of homeless people, but, rather, to hand them the gift card, talk to them and say Merry Christmas, and simply give them a smile.  It was truly a joy.  

Sammy went on an earlier train to "work" with Daddy, a huge privilege for him.  Then the two of them met us at the train station to start our Date!  Our first stop was Macy's, and since we had extra time, we ended up walking through the maze to Santa Land and got the kids' picture with Santa.  We found the huge tree in the Walnut Room, and then we took our time walking to each window display outside, soaking in every detail and talking about all our favorite parts.

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Sammy pretending to be Buddy the Elf on the escalator.

AND....this is the way we roll.  Yep, that IS indeed a double stroller on an escalator.  My ambitious hubby's idea...But, hey, it worked...

The HUGE tree in the Walnut Room

Our next stop was Italian Village, a "fancy," restaurant, as our kids call it.  It is SO special to go, once a year, to a fun restaurant like this and teach our kids about cloth napkins, quiet voices, not putting spoons in their water cups, sitting nicely, etc.  We all even shared two pasta entrees, so it was pretty reasonable, too.  We had SUCH a nice and yummy dinner, and we got to be tucked away in our own, secluded booth!  Loved it.

Our last stop was the Christkindlmarket, which was busy with activity and people!  But we weaved our stroller through and loved seeing all the unique, German food and crafts.  We tried a cup of hot cocoa and some spiced, cinnamon almonds.  Yum!  Sophia liked them most of all!  We also loved the huge, lit tree!

And lastly, a McDonalds ice cream cone to end the trip at the train station before dashing onto the train.  We cozied up for some reading time on the way home, and Micah was thrilled that he got to have some ipad time past his normal bedtime!  Big deal in his world.

 And, Sammy?  Well, he fell asleep at 6:15 tucked into the stroller at the outdoor market and slept the next three hours until we got home, where we changed him into jammies and tucked him into his bed.  What a trooper!

Hoping that you get some sweet time with your family this Christmas, too!  May you be blessed!

Merry Christmas!