Christmas 2013

This year we went home to Maryland for the Christmas holiday. We spent two weeks with our families there and enjoyed every moment! The kids were spoiled rotten with all the attention from their aunts and uncles and grandparents and even great grandparents. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have because I was too busy reading THREE and a HALF books while other people entertained my children. It was glorious! 

While at home we spent a long weekend up at a ski cabin at Deep Creek Lake with Sam's Dad's side of the family. Sam got to ski for the first time in many years and the kids got to meet Sam's cousin's daughters that are close to their age and were very fast friends. 

Sam and I also snuck away from everyone for a night to a Bed & Breakfast in Annapolis which was a wonderful start to our New Year. We haven't yet found a babysitter in CT so date nights are few and far between these days unfortunately. 

This is the face LK makes when she gets flashed by the camera- haha! 

Pile on Uncle Colin! This went on forever...

Lanie Kate was thrilled that the appetizers at Uncle Colin and Aunt Gianna's Christmas Eve party were just at her level. 

Snacking and Pop Pop Christmas Eve

Colin and Gianna's Christmas Eve dinner party

Our little family on Christmas Eve

Lanie Kate is obsessed with "big-people" cups and Mom Mom is just the softie to indulge her

Quinn is infatuated with Uncle Kirk's long-time girlfriend, Andy ever since she played bubbles with him at the beach this summer. Watch out Uncle Kirk, you've got some competition!

Christmas morning at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's. Santa brought Q a Kindle Fire, a Ravens football helmet, the Planes movie, and a drum set. Santa brought LK a stroller, doll, and diaper bag.

Christmas morning at Nana and Granpop's. Santa's second stop for the Fromille kids! He brought Q a couple educational games, play dough toys, and How To Train Your Dragon. Santa brought LK a PB Anywhere Chair, a purse, two chunky necklaces, The Little Mermaid, and a couple board books by her favorite author. He filled their stockings with Craisins and Dried Mango- some of their favorite treats! 

Granpop set up his electric train display for Quinn and Q got to blow the train whistle. This display totally saved Christmas because when we arrived at Nana and Granpop's we were 45 minutes into the worst tantrum we have ever experienced over getting dressed {which required him to take off the football helmet}. When he showed up and saw the train set, the helmet was quickly forgotten.

LK insisted on wearing both of her new necklaces.

Carving the turkey breast with an audience.

Hoping for some turkey...

Master chef Nana. It was so nice to have someone else doing most of the cooking! 

Zia made Q and LK a hand painted giraffe growth chart. Probably my favorite Christmas present. My sister is so creative and an amazing artist and her gifts are always the best. She made me two sketches, one of each of our dogs. And painted a catamaran sailboat on a navigational map of the Bimini Islands {where Sam use to sail in college} for Sam. 

I am pretty sure we have a picture of my dad in some sort of goofy head gear for as many Christmases as I can remember.

Nana and Granpop totally spoiled the kids with presents and this little stand mixer and cookie cutter set was a favorite for both kids. 

Another favorite from Nana and Granpop was this little purse. LK got 3 purses for Christmas but this was by far her favorite and has barely left the crook of her arm since!

My fur babies snuggling

Q rocking out on his new drum set. Santa may regret this gift... ;)

There is a good chance that this will be our last Maryland Christmas for awhile and it was such a fun one full of family and great memories with the kids at this fun age. It even snowed after Christmas so Quinn could go sledding, which may be his favorite memory of all time- we sure hear about it enough now! We hope your Christmas was as full of wonderful moments and memories as ours was!

Intentionally Focused in 2014

It's a new year! And over the past couple of weeks I have spent some time alone and with my husband thinking, praying, and discussing our goals for this year. Somehow January 1st sneaks up on me every year catching me unprepared to declare grand resolutions and instead is when I start thinking about goals after the busy-ness of the Christmas season has died down and I can think straight again. This year I had clear direction from God before the ball even dropped on New Year's Eve as to my major focus for the year but have only begun to figure out what that direction means in terms of specific goals.  My inspiration for 2014 comes from Hebrews 12:1-2;

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

In 2014, I will fix my eyes on Jesus! I will learn to live the life God has prepared for me with endurance. Endurance. It takes endurance to be the wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, that God intends me to be. And the only way to achieve that is to keep my focus in the right place! 

Today was our first day back at our home in Connecticut in over two weeks. Since all of us are sick with a nasty cold we stayed home from church and watched Seacoast Church online. Pastor Greg shared a great message which helped me to think more about specific goals for this year. He challenged us by asking What Do You Value? and What Do You Want To Change? because according to 1 Corinthians 10:23, "everything is permissible... but not everything is beneficial" and as Proverbs 17:24 says, "an intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions." He offered four areas to think about making goals in; intellectual, physical, spiritual, and relational. So as I have thought about what I value and what I want to change in each of those areas as well as how Hebrews 12:1-2 could be applied to my life in each of those areas, I've come up with a few more specific goals. 

Intellectual

As a stay-at-home-mom I often feel like my brain is dying because nothing I do as part of my "job" takes much intellect. It is one of my biggest struggles as a stay-at-home-mom because I love using my brain and learning new things. So this year I plan to further study an area of interest to help stimulate my intellect. I have always loves anatomy and physiology and I love fitness and health. I have learned that I don't want to make a career out of those interests, but that doesn't mean I can't learn more about the connection between A&P and my personal fitness routines just for fun as something to stimulate my brain. 

Physical

I have a pretty good exercise routine as it is so I plan to keep that up. I have missed my gym in CA that had great childcare because here in CT there are no gyms in my area with childcare so I have just been working out at home on my treadmill and using free weights. I greatly miss PiYo, Kickboxing and Spin class. I would love to find a video for one or more of those that I actually like. Any suggestions? I'm also open to trying one of the popular high intensity video workouts but don't really want to spend the money on one before knowing if I even like it since I've never seen a workout video I actually liked. 

Spiritual

For the past couple of years I have participated in Good Morning Girls online Bible studies which I plan to continue in 2014.

Scripture memorization has had a powerful impact on me over the past year so I would like to be more intentional about hiding more and more of God's Word in my heart. 

An area I want to work on personally that I think will pay great spiritual dividends is my desire to constantly be doing something. I attribute this to the ADD that I have had all my life. I often get bored even with just a few spare minutes. And boredom is one of my biggest fears and something that I am constantly running from. So I frantically fill my time with unnecessary tasks to make sure I am never bored. I think this attitude is hindering my spiritual life. I think I need to learn to be okay with quiet moments. I need to give God the chance to speak to me. And therefore I am going to take steps this year to limit some of the typical time-fillers I use to fill the quiet, beginning with a 21 day fast from facebook. I love facebook for keeping in touch with friends and family who are far away and I will miss you guys! But I find myself popping on there on my phone for no reason but to pass time so I think a break will be good. I will use the time to work on Scripture memory and prayer and hopefully fleshing out more of my goals for the coming year.  

Relational

2014 will be a year of lots of relational transition. We have just settled into a new home and will likely be moving again in a few months which will involve reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. Additionally, hubby will be returning to sea tour and deployments which means a transition in our marriage and also for our children. During this time, we want to make sure that we continue to be intentional about building into our marriage. One way we plan to do this is my having more media-free nights at home where we play a game or talk rather than reading our own books or watching television. I also look forward to being intentional about building relationships in our new home, wherever that may be, but don't yet know how that will look. 

These are rough starts at goals, but I wanted to write them down while they were fresh in my mind and before it gets too far into the new year to be making New Years blog posts! 

Unshakable

American Thanksgiving isn't a religious holiday, but when I think of giving thanks, I naturally turn my gratitude to the Giver of all good things. So as our family has been preparing for this holiday we have made it a habit during prayers at bed time to discuss what we are thankful for and to include those things in our prayers. We have so much to be thankful for in this life! Family that loves and supports us, health, a secure income, a lovely home, abundant food, friends, and many luxuries. It is easy to make a list a mile long of all the things we have to be thankful for. But, I think those are just the small things. Yes, I am immensely grateful for those things, but what if I had no family or was estranged from my family? What if we had no secure income or no place to live or food to eat? What if tragedy struck our family and we lost a loved one? What if, all of the above? Because there are those for whom that is a reality and yet the Bible commands, "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" {1 Thessalonians 5:16-18}.

It might be easy for me to rejoice, but it is not difficult to imagine circumstances in which gratitude for the hand you have been dealt might be difficult. Here is the thing, we are not called to be thankful for the hand we have been dealt in this life, we are called to be thankful to God for His presence in our life. The presence that means no matter what we are facing, He is greater than the challenge and capable of redeeming even the most terrible circumstance to work it together for the good of those who love Him {Romans 8:28}. This makes all the "small" blessings in my life that are so important to me, truly seem small. Everything is small in comparison to the One who holds the whole earth in His hand and yet cares intimately about every detail of my life.

Hebrews 12:28 says, "Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe." My whole life could be falling apart, and yet this life is temporary and I can still praise God with thankfulness in my heart because my inheritance is a kingdom that is unshakable. "So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever" {2 Corinthians 4:18}.

So this Thanksgiving, I am focusing my heart on the unshakable. I am thankful for all I have in this life but I am most thankful for the presence of God in my life and for the unshakable Kingdom that is my inheritance.

• I am grateful for Jesus who made God's presence in my life possible. For the sacrifice He already made on my behalf and the righteousness He transferred to me so that I could enjoy God's presence here and now as well as for all eternity. 
• I am grateful to be chosen, holy, and beloved. {Colossians 3:12}
• I am grateful that my God is kind and merciful and that He is in control of all things. {1 Chronicles 29:10-20}
• I am grateful for God's grace renewing me day by day. {2 Corinthians 4:15-16}
• I am grateful for peace that surpasses all comprehension. {Philippians 4:6-7}

Unlike the many wonderful physical blessings in my life, these things are unshakable. And no matter what happens, I can praise God with thanksgiving in my heart because of these things. 

The following words were written by a psalmist as he relayed his frustration over his observation at the prosperity of the wicked and then realized the real blessing was not the things the wicked enjoyed in this temporary life, but God's eternal presence. These words resonate with me as I think about the subject of my thanksgiving;

"But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

That I may tell of all Your works."

~Psalm 73:28

We enjoyed a wonderful celebration with some of our military family this evening. And I hope that each of you enjoyed this holiday in the presence of friends and loved ones. Most of all, I pray that as we enter this season celebrating God's love for us, that you experience the unshakable blessing of God's presence.

Baking Up A Little Love

 My little man loves to help me in the kitchen. He sits on a stool at the counter and measures and mixes and cheers me on. So I had him do most of the work baking these Valentine's cookies for his daddy.  They are a family recipe that we make every year.

A little sugar

Lanie Kate supervising

Taste testing

The Finished Product

I am truly blessed to have so much love in my life on Valentines Day and every other day. 

I hope you all felt very loved too!

Christmas 2012

Christmas morning is so so so much fun with a toddler! We spent weeks educating Quinn about Santa Claus; watched Santa movies, read Santa books, went to see Santa, talked constantly about Santa. In fact I think we went a little too far with the Santa education because on Christmas Eve when we asked him what Christmas was about {despite the Little People Nativity set we've been playing with since Thanksgiving} his answer was "Santa Claus!" oops. And on the way home from Christmas Eve church service after singing "Joy to the World" at church Q was singing "joy joy joy joy Santa Claus!" in the car on the way home.  We were probably even more excited than him though to see his face when he came down the stairs Christmas morning to the pile of goodies left by Santa. 

At first coming down the stairs he was overwhelmed and didn't even know what to say or do.  It didn't take long for him to start playing with his new play kitchen though. It did take some time for us to get him to leave the play kitchen to open other presents, but by sometime in the early afternoon he had made his way through all of his goodies. He particularly enjoyed Skyping with both our families and showing them all his new toys.  Technology sure makes being away from family for holidays much easier.

 Q's Nana and Granpop gave him his very own real guitar which he has hardly put down since he opened it. He loves to sing and play and his current original song goes something like this, "one, two, santa baby, yea!"

 Daddy is thrilled that Q has his own guitar now because now daddy gets to play his own guitar without help from little hands. Q's new favorite thing to do is have jam sessions with dad. It is adorable watching them because Q copies Sam's every move. Sam pushes his sleeves up and Q pushes his sleeves up, Sam stops playing for a second and Q stops playing and looks up at Sam.

Q getting a guitar lesson from daddy the day after Christmas

 Q absolutely loves his big present from Santa, his play kitchen. {And it's a good thing because this play kitchen took Santa's elves over 3 hours to assemble!}

It is fun watching him cook because it is clear that he has been paying attention when we cook based on how he mimics every little thing like when to turn on the stove and using an oven mitt when putting things in and out of the oven.

 His godparents gave him his Melissa & Doug pots and pans and his Melissa & Doug fruit cutting set. He loves cutting apart his velcro fruit pieces and cooking with them!

Rockin out 

 Both kids got new stuffed puppies for Christmas. Q's has a microwavable packet to make it warm with a lavender scent for sleeping with. {mommy might be stealing that...}

 Another big present from Santa was his Radio Flyer tricycle. He barely can reach the pedals but I predict he will be zooming around here in no time once he gets an extra inch or so.  His Mom-mom and Pop-pop also gave him a balance bike which he loooves but we had to put away because he can only reach the floor with his tippy toes and gets frustrated that he can't operate it on his own.  I know he'll be loving that as well once he gets a couple more inches.

 LK's big gift from her Mom-mom and Pop-pop, which Q seems to think was intend for him, was a Radio Flyer red wagon. It is a pretty neat wagon with flip up seat backs. As much as LK loves her big brother I think it makes her love her gift even more with him riding in it with her!

LK passed out with her new paci and new kitty rattle after a busy morning playing with new toys

 We are having so much fun enjoying all the fun new presents the kids received {and the new camera lens I received that took all these pictures :-)} but are most grateful for God's gift to mankind, Jesus. I hope as our kids grow they will also love and appreciate the true reason for the season! 

Christmas Eve Fun

For the first time ever we spent Christmas without any family. In the past, when we haven't been able to get home for the holiday, my family has come to us.  This year they came out for Thanksgiving instead and we were on our own for Christmas. So we invited some friends over for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner after church.  It was so nice to get to go to our own church for Christmas Eve service! 

 Our friends brought a gingerbread house kit over for the kids to build while dinner cooked. 

 Once they realized candy was involved in the decorating, they really got into it. We learned that Q has a real affinity for gum drops which I didn't know anyone actually liked.

 "Is this sufficiently decorated yet? Can we start eating it?"

I'm pretty sure Quinn's dinner consisted of sugar with a side of sugar... but it's only Christmas Eve once a year so I guess it's okay! We had such a nice evening with our friends and their daughter who Q just loooves. 

A Christmas Tradition {ornaments}

 Every year my husband's family all go to Valley View Farms and everyone picks out a Christmas ornament and then we go out to eat for a family dinner.  It is one of our favorite traditions during the Christmas season and it makes decorating our tree each year a lot of fun because our ornaments bring back memories of Christmases past.

 This year we didn't travel back to Maryland for Christmas but didn't want to miss out on the ornament fun so we took the kids to a local store with lots of ornaments to select from {and steered Q away from the $60+ ornaments...}.

 One of Q's favorite things are fish. Especially "nemo fish" so it was no surprise when he picked out a clown fish as his ornament for this year.

 It took him an excessively long time to find an appropriate place on the tree to hang his ornament but he finally decided on a spot in the front and center.