due January 16, 2014
:)
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Christmas traditions
Growing up we had some family traditions and I always appreciated them but at times they seemed boring and I just didn't care (typical teenager, right? ;)). Some we didn't even do every year, others were changed or tweeked over time. I always loved them, but after having a family of my own, traditions became more important than ever. Norah is still pretty young to understand but we can still have fun preparing and getting ready.
Here are some of the Christmas traditions we've started:
-We, plus my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew, went to Historic Smithville (NJ) to see the lights show. We've all decided that instead of getting presents for all the cousins we would take them all out together to do something fun. This year they are still very small so we chose to do something easy. In the coming years we hope to try Storybook Land, Sesame Place, Rockefeller Center and even Hershey Park!
-Norah's Elf on the Shelf was "delivered" on December 1st. I don't like the whole "Elf-is-watching-you-and-reporting-back-to-Santa-so-you'd-better-be-good" bit AT ALL so our Elf is just a funny and playful little dude who gets himself into silly situations. It's mostly just fun for Norah to find him in a different place each morning. As she gets older I have a few ideas on how I will use the elf to teach her about giving and grace.
-On December 1st we also started our "advent" calendar, which is just an idea I stole off Pinterest. It's just 25 books wrapped up and labeled with a number. Every day (or we do at night before bed) we open up a book and read it together as a family.
-We bought Norah a dinky $5 (literally) Christmas tree from Home Depot for her to keep in her room. I wrapped a small strand of lights and we gave her some felt and plastic ornaments to hang. She LOVES this one! All day long she'll play with the "orn-mens" and ask me to turn on the lights :)
-I hand-make an ornament for each sub-family in our big giant family on my husband's side. I plan on including Norah with me this year, and each family will now be receiving two ornaments: one from me and one from her.
-We are sticking to this rule when gift giving to our kid(s): 3 gifts were given to Jesus so 3 gifts will be given to them. I don't include stocking-stuffers in the 3 since they are so little anyway - coloring books, crayons, a piece of candy, etc. $10 max. Christmas has turned into a giant shopping event and a battle to see who could spend the most money. We would like to keep the focus on the 'reason for the season' so to say and not on who gets the most stuff. We are going to keep Santa in the picture for now but that is for another post on another day.
-DORKY CHRISTMAS CARD PICTURE. enough said.
-Cinnamon buns on Christmas morning. This is a tradition that Mark grew up with so when we got married I promised that I'd continue it for him.
-Baking lots of goodies and giving them all away to neighbors, co-workers, mailmen, librarians, etc.
And some that I hope to start in the future:
-I would love love love to have a "handmade" Christmas. Pretty self-explanatory, but instead of buying gifts, you make everything for everyone! Of course buying supplies would be ok. Handmade presents are just so special and make me happier than anything store-bought.
-Hosting Christmas Eve/Christmas Day dinner has always been something I've looked forward to. ONE DAY! We just need our own house ;)
-Cutting down our own tree. Again, something we need our own place for.
-Awhile back I read somewhere that a family had a "Christmas Quilt." Basically a family member (maybe the mother or grandmother, I don't remember) would knit or crochet a granny square each Christmas. After a certain number of years, the squares were all stitched together to form a Christmas quilt. I thought this was very sweet, and could make a wonderful wedding gift, or a Christmas gift for newlyweds. I like to think that Norah would love to receive a quilt like that in 20 years or so (OR MORE! maybe 30 years! 40!). Since I completely forget how to knit AND crochet I would have to re-learn, but this seems pretty do-able even for me! If we ever have more kids I would just make that many squares per Christmas for multiple quilts.
-Volunteering on Christmas Day. I would love to wake up in the morning, have our own little Christmas celebration, and then go out and do something for someone else. It seems so much more beautiful to give ourselves on that day than to sit back and receive gifts and stuff our faces. There really isn't a reason why this one has to wait, it's just not one we've ever done before. More so, I would love to invite someone or even a whole family who is in need to our table on Christmas Day.
-Another idea on giving back/volunteering: I read that a family had a paper chain hung in their house with 25 links. Each link had a "deed of the day" written on it. The deeds were "easy" towards the beginning of the month (i.e. be nice to my sister today) and got more self-sacrificial towards Christmas Day (i.e. donate $, volunteer time, etc.). This would be a great way to involve Norah in teaching her about giving to others. After all, we are celebrating the day that God gave us the greatest gift we could ever know, the gift of a Savior.
So, do you have any special family traditions? I would love to hear them!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
togethers, a family!
ever since the other night, norah has been saying, "togethers, a family!" constantly. it's not the worst thing ever. in fact, she's created a new family motto around here.
i LOVE family together-ness stuff. think movie/game nights, traditions, rituals, rules, mottos, etc. i have been calling us "team-wilson." i have a small book of family traditions that i would like to start plus some that we already have established. i insist on multiple family photos every year even though mark tends to roll his eyes ("another one...?"). my family is the most important thing in my life second to God.
to hear my daughter say "togethers, a family!!" over and over just melts my heart every time. that little phrase, our little family motto, means more to me than she'll ever know. i can only hope that she values family as much as i do some day.
<3
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
norah says
me: "do you want mommy AND daddy to read stories with you tonight?"
norah: "togethers?!....a family."
me: *heart explodes and I die*
norah: "togethers?!....a family."
me: *heart explodes and I die*
Thursday, November 22, 2012
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Monday, November 19, 2012
makin' it monday // thankful leaf garland
this week's project comes just in time for thanksgiving! i had many plans for thanksgiving projects and activities this month that just didn't work out because of the hurricane and being without power for almost 2 weeks. i picked one of my favorites to share with you this time around and by thursday i should have one more mini-project for you. well...for the kids ;)
here's how to make your own thankful leaf garland:
here's how to make your own thankful leaf garland:
you will need: leaves (real or fake will do fine, we used real), paint, brushes, glitter, sharpie markers, embroidery floss, and a needle
with a sharpie, i wrote down some things we are thankful for on the medium sized leaves. i tried asking norah what she was thankful for but it was much easier to just ask "what do you love?"
norah painted the large sized leaves and then i helped her shake on some glitter
once the large leaves were dry, i paired each one with a medium sized leaf and tied them together with embroidery floss.
i alternated a leaf pair with a small leaf and strung them up with a needle and the embroidery thread
hang where you please and there you have it!
what are you thankful for?
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
family pictures
last saturday our good friend abby took some family pictures for us. we went back to the tuckahoe train station, where abby had taken our engagement photos three years ago. i am blown away by her work and i am so thrilled at how these photos turned out! THANK YOU, abby! we love them!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
unproductive
no matter what i begin doing today, i start losing interest about 2 minutes in. i guess it's just one of those blah-days where i don't feel like doing anything at all. it's rainy and cold and i'm just plain tired. norah is taking a longer-than-usual nap (and because i just said that she's probably going to wake up right.....now.....) and i'm sitting here wishing i took advantage of this free time by taking a nap myself. maybe i would wake up feeling a little more motivated for the rest of the day? who am i kidding though, weather like this means PJ's, a movie, and snuggles with my peanut. folding the laundry can wait. answering e-mail can wait. heck, the fridge is full of leftovers so i don't even have to cook dinner today.
and i was right, i can hear norah starting to wake up in her room. i'll get her out and take her downstairs where we'll share a snack and i'll have another cup of tea. we'll watch sesame street or maybe a movie and i'll snuggle her to pieces. we'll have a tickle fight or two or twenty and we'll play "horsie tea party" (her favorite lately). i'll make her laugh, but she'll make me laugh more. i'll kiss her and hug her and tell her i love her.
maybe this won't be an unproductive day after all.
xo
and i was right, i can hear norah starting to wake up in her room. i'll get her out and take her downstairs where we'll share a snack and i'll have another cup of tea. we'll watch sesame street or maybe a movie and i'll snuggle her to pieces. we'll have a tickle fight or two or twenty and we'll play "horsie tea party" (her favorite lately). i'll make her laugh, but she'll make me laugh more. i'll kiss her and hug her and tell her i love her.
maybe this won't be an unproductive day after all.
xo
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
wednesday night bubble-o-rama
wednesday night is THE night where she gets to have all the bubbles she wants. she gets super excited and rolls all over the tub, rubs bubbles in her hair and on her face and has so much fun. i know that our bubble bath nights will be something for her (and me!) to look forward to each week while she's still young enough to have them.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
babies on a trampoline
{{ wordless wednesday }}
{ lucy-3, norah-19 months, caleb-17 months, maverick-11 months, and one more coming in february! }
i know this is "wordless" wednesday but i would just like to point out that getting all four cousins together at the same time and then getting a PICTURE of them on top of that is extremely rare. maybe one day they will even LOOK at me when i take it! ;) i can only hope.
linked with:
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
praying with children
this was about two weeks ago, saying our bedtime prayers. we told her to put her hands together and close her eyes. thankfully my phone was in my pocket; i have never pulled it out faster to take a picture! hence the terrible terrible quality ;)
- - - - -
mark and i started saying nightly prayers before bed with norah about 2 or 3 weeks ago. we simply added a (very short) prayer into her bedtime routine, right after she gets her jammies on and right before daddy reads her stories.
we keep it short and sweet since she can't seem to focus for very long. a quick "thank you Jesus for our family and for each other. thank You for the wonderful day we had. be with us tonight and as we go about our day tomorrow. help us keep You at the center of our family and our lives. Amen." usually works. something to that effect anyway.
the first night or two she had no clue what we were doing but now when we say "ok time to pray" she comes over to the glider where we all kneel down. she puts her hands together and closes her eyes peeks at us while mark or i say the prayer of the evening.
i don't really know if she has any clue. we try to encourage her to say a prayer but she just stares back at us, unsure of what we're asking. i don't doubt that she has been in the presence of God before but i think it's up to mark and i to help her understand it. we started praying with her now because we wanted her to get used to it and make it a daily part of her (and our!) life. we figured, the sooner the better.
as she gets older we will be able to do more with her but for now this is good and it works. i was never introduced to God when i was young (except for mass on christmas and easter) so i don't really know what i'm doing! i don't know what the best, or even a mediocre, way of going about this is. all i can do is ask God for guidance and try to do what i think is best.
do you pray with your kids? did your parents pray with you? how old were your kids/you when you started praying? were the kids/you receptive? what kind of prayers did you pray? any advice is welcome!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
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