Higher Level Math

Jon and I were going to hold signs, but my brain got tired.

The NO GIFT Truce and New Year's Reolutions

 
I have had a few friends ask me what Jon got me for Christmas.  He got me exactly what I wanted and exactly what I got him.  NOTHING.  

You see, we tried to exchange gifts the first few years of marriage.  Jon got me some high quality hiking boots the first year so that I could do some serious hiking with him.  I wore them once and realized that I didn't like hiking in them any more than I liked hiking in my Nike's.  If a path requires more than tennis shoes, then I really don't need to be on it.  I have no desire to step in mud, climb steep terrain, or maneuver on slippery rocks.  And so, the wonderful boots sit in the top of my closet just waiting for me to have a change of heart.  The next year, he got me a heater since he knew that I always seem to be freezing during the winter months.  Good thought, but this was not your average heater.  It was a huge, yellow, industrial strength heater that about blew me away when turned on.  He was happy to tell me that he got a great deal on it since he bought the close-out floor model from a local hardware store.  No refunds on that one!  I recall being with a group of ritzy ladies at work after Christmas break that year, and they were all showing off their new jewelry & gadgets that they had received from their hubbies.  I was frantically trying to think of how I could glamorously describe my construction site heater to them, but thankfully the topic changed before it got to me! :) 

Now, to be fair, I have had a few doozies myself.  The first year, part of my gift to Jon was a brilliant red t-shirt with MARINES written across the chest in bright yellow letters.  He could almost glow in the dark!  Apparently, I should have gone with olive drab.  Jon didn't have any bright red long sleeved t-shirts in his closet for a reason.  Looking back, I guess it did look more like something a kindergartner would wear instead of a grown man.  Another gift to him one year was a thoughtfully compiled music CD with songs for him (us!) to listen to while on road trips.  He made it through that one once.  Now, come on Jon, what's not to like about Twila Paris and Point of Grace?

So...that is why we are content to just exchange a hug and a "Merry Christmas, Darling" from now on.   HA!:)  Oh how different we are and oh how we love each other! :)

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Each year I make and break New Year's resolutions.  Despite my failure rate, I always enjoy making new goals and aiming to do better.  Here are some of the things we are striving to do in 2013...

*Eat more meals at home starting with Jumpstart January- no restaurants at all for a full month (stupid Donatos!)
*Search for and incorporate God's promises for prayer requests
*Organize and thoroughly clean each area of the house (Started with kitchen cabinets on Day 1.  As usual, I had plenty of help.)

Scott:
*Create and stick to a daily schedule with more purposeful teaching & learning
*Scott jumped on the resolution bandwagon and declared that his goal was "to not play very much anymore and to help you more"  ...EEK!

Natalie:
*Take away Natalie's pacifier for real this time (Complete.  Such torture watching Kate suck on her binky though)
*To finally potty train (She's doing her best to make this process as "fun" as possible....AHHH!)

Kate:
*To sleep through the night (She's done this once, so we know it's in her.)  Oh...if all of my resolutions were as easy as Kate's!

Christmas Recap

We had fun celebrating the birth of our Savior and spending time with family.  Here are a few pics from Christmas morning...

The kids were excited about the simplest of gifts and made Christmas a lot of fun.  Here they are with their new engines.  I couldn't help but think of the time I convinced my brother to ask for a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas while I was wrapping Natalie's new train.  She was happy to receive it, but I think it's spent more time in the hands of her older brother ever since Christmas morning!  

 

 We also surprised Natalie with a little pink step stool for Christmas.  (More as a gift to me so I don't have to always go downstairs to turn on the lights for her.)  I didn't think this was a very exciting gift, but Natalie kept saying, "I always wanted a pink step stool!" and said it was her favorite gift.  Go figure.

 

On Christmas Eve, Scott sang "Joy to the World" and "Joy to the Christmas Tree" (a Scott original) to our family at my parents' house.  He had been planning this for weeks, but we were pleasantly surprised when he actually followed through and sang for the crowd.  

 

It was certainly a very merry Christmas! (Although I must admit that I was so happy to take down the tree on the 26th.  The daily rearrangement of bulbs and ornaments was a constant temptation for a couple of little people in our house.  Since then, we've moved on to new battles such as not playing the "Band in a Box" toy over sleeping Kate's head.  What was I thinking when I bought that anyway?!)

Milk does a body good...

3 weeks

 9 weeks

Her dress is becoming a little more risque!  In a few more weeks, it will not be approved by the Cedarville dress code. 

Loving Locomotives

The day Scott had been waiting for finally arrived!  Jon's mom and grandma took us to a very special train exhibit downtown.  Scott was standing in front of the displays saying, "Take my picture with this one."  He didn't have to tell me twice! :) 

Scott even had an outfit planned for this day (a train shirt, of course).  

 

Thank you, Grammy, for a fun time!