I Don't Know What's Worse!

I Don't know what's worse--

Finding out that the way Emmie's middle school celebrates Homecoming week is by having "80s Day" {am I seriously old enough to have children having theme days based on my. . . um . . . glory days?}

Or discovering that the place she gets her inspiration is my photo album from jr. high. {Gotta love it! That's all I have to say!}

MY FIRST BLOG DRAWING!

I love going to friends' blogs and finding surprising little drawings for no reason. It's just a fun thing to do and it does prove that sometimes you do get things for free. So I am having my first {of hopefully many} fun little drawing just for visiting.

In honor of the "Christmas" card I just sent out, I am going to be giving this fun little book away to one of you to get ready for the season.

Just leave a comment {say anything you want, even if it's just your name--you don't have to have a blog to enter} on this post and you will be entered into the drawing.

I will pick a winner on October 5th, so you have some time.

Good luck!

Our Family Update 2010

To me, Christmas just isn't Christmas without going to the mailbox every day throughout the season to find Christmas cards, photos, and updates from so many of our dear friends around the country. We look so forward to all the updates, funny stories, and "I can't believe their kids are so big" moments that brighten up the gloomy winter days. But last year, Christmas cards just got the better of me. They did not get sent (or even thought about, for that matter).

But I was not going to let it slide. I had great intentions of perhaps sending out a Valentines greeting. But then I lost February. Then a spring greeting sounded like a good idea. But gone were March, April, and May before I knew it. (Does that happen to anyone else?) And then came summer--and, let's face it, I didn't even think about sending it out during the summer--just too much going on.

So here we are, already to the Fall again, without last year's card sent at all. So my solution? Send out a card right now that will count for last year as well as this coming year (as I know Christmas is going to be here before I am ready, for sure!).

I really enjoy adding updates to our blog and keeping up with others on their blogs as well. {And, I admit, I do not like Facebook. So if you haven't seen me there, it will probably stay that way. Blogging works for me.} I invited friends on our Christmas cards to join us here too. If you are here from that invitation, WELCOME. I hope you visit often. And to all those who already visit, I'm always glad when you come. If you didn't receive a card from me it probably means you either live near me or I don't have a current address. But please come visit often. I love staying connected this way!

For this year's Christmas message, I thought I would highlight some of the happenings in our family over the last couple years. If you are interested in the details, just click on the link and you can read a little more about it.

**We took a trip back east as a family. (It was so fun chronicling this journey day by day on our blog. Check out the other posts if you are looking for a great trip idea!)

**Emmie got to sing in the Iowa Opus Honors Choir.

**We suffered through a long, cold winter last year and are gearing up for another one.

**Olivia had adventures at the dentist.

**I tackled my job as the office administrator of the Des Moines Choral Society, the choir I sing with.

**Josh learned what it means to follow For the Strength of Youth.

**Jack started school full time and picked up a new hobby.

*Kris continued being an awesome husband and father as he provided lots of fun activities all the time {just a sample}.

We hope this greeting finds you all well. We look forward to the coming season when we find all your greetings in our mailbox. {Who will be first this year? We always wonder who it will be.}

Always an Adventure

Last year I didn't get Christmas cards sent. I just ran out of time. So I am sending them out this week (covering last year as well as this). While Grandma and Grandpa were here, we loaded up the kids, headed over to Centennial Park, and had them take about 250 shots (not exaggerating here) of our family--and got about FOUR that turned out. {Where is Erica Grover when you need her?} One will go on the front of the card.

Here is a sampling of what the pictures mostly looked like.

Love that sibling affection!

How is picture taking for your whole family? Ours is always an adventure.

The Latest

Since I last posted, we have had a few things going on around here. First, Grandma and Grandpa Hiltbrand came to visit for Labor Day weekend. We love having them come. It helps us stay connected. While they were here, they got to see Josh march at his first football game.

Grandpa spent time with the kids playing Wii. It's a great bonding experience for them all.

Grandma spent lots of time sewing halloween costumes and other things for the kids. (Thanks, Grandma! It is sooo appreciated! And I can't wait to show you Jack's costume. He cracks me up!)

And Grandpa got me hooked on a new thing. He is a movie lover. So naturally, he subscribes to Netflix. While he was here, he hooked up his LCD projector (which he conveniently had in his car for a presentation he was giving on the way home from their trip) to his computer and turned our family room into a movie theater all weekend with fun movies on the wall. We all loved it. So much, in fact, that I broke down and signed up for the 1 month free trial. So what have I been doing since they left? Yep, you guessed it. Watching some great movies. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Who doesn't love that?

I have to admit that this Netflix may not be the greatest thing ever. Why, you ask? Because I might get sucked in. I can't get enough of the British period pieces. It's a good thing there aren't that many out there or I may never get anything done around here.

Projects

Summer has been really great at our house. For so many years, as my kids have been growing up, summer has been a challenge. The kids say they want to have summer, but then I hear a lot of "I'm bored"s before the vacation is over. But this year has been different. I don't know if it was schedules or activities or just growing older, but I didn't hear "I'm bored" very often. It was really great. We weren't quite ready for the school year to start.

But there are benefits to the school year starting. While it has been interesting getting back to the strict schedules and such, it has also given me time to tackle some PROJECTS that have been waiting patiently through a summer while we were off having fun.

Project #1

Cleaning Up the Sorry Garden

When thinking about this year's garden the phrase "you win some, you lose some" comes immediately to mind. This year was definitely a "lose some" kind of year. I don't know what happened. It really looked promising at first. But through the summer, it really underwhelmed me. To put it concisely, we got about nothing. There may be a few things we can salvage, but overall, very disappointing.

So I spent last Friday cleaning it up (4 lawn bags worth) to make it at least look respectable for the neighbors. In another month, I will probably pull it all out and chalk this one up to failure, looking forward to next year when I can try again.

Project #2

Making and Canning Grandma Dorothy's Peach Raspberry Jam

I realize that this is probably not the most economical way to have jam at our house (what with buying all the ingredients since I didn't produce peaches or raspberries this year), but it really is our family's favorite. And I feel like I am preserving a bit of our heritage with every batch. In fact, Jack has resorted to eating ham and cheese sandwiches for the last month as we ran out of last year's jam early. He does NOT like store jam. He thinks it's disgusting. So he has been on me to get this jam made for a few weeks now.

So Monday, I spent the day peeling, dicing, cooking, and canning jam for the year. (Sorry to my friends for missing lunch--it took longer than I hoped.) We have a pretty good start. But I think I may do another batch or two, just to be on the safe side. We go through it pretty fast!

Now it's on to a few more projects, including creating the brochure for our choir, cleaning out several closets and messy drawers, finding a good book to read (summer has thrown me off a little), and cleaning the house in preparation for Grandma and Grandpa's visit.

What projects do you have going on? I would love to know. Maybe they are ones I need to pick up as well.