Christmas Prep Doldrums

It hit me right at the beginning of this week. Coming off of the baby-high from the weekend visiting with family, I looked at what I still have to get done before Christmas and stalled.

I have a book I renewed from the library that I haven't picked up all week.
There is a sock and a half to finish knitting. This week I had to pull sock 1 back to the toe to resize it. Just caught back up to where I had been last weekend.
There are 5 washcloths still to finish.

The last pieces of Christmas shopping are coming in the mail.
Christmas cards are printed and coming in the mail.
The piano is covered in Christmas music, both vocal and musical.
I have a recipe book projected half completed on my countertop.
There are rotting pumpkins on my front porch.

It just feels like I rowed and rowed and rowed, but didn't get anywhere this week. And I'm OH so tired. The weather was dreary and cold. We didn't even get to spend the hour we normally do at the library this week. It's just off, an off week.

But, then there is the weekend!
I've been promised that Saturday morning will be filled with decorating my Mom's house!
Chad has no indication that he will have any work trips this weekend!

So, here's to Friday! Let's feel accomplished for finishing the week!

Mrs. Troyer

Baby Snuggles

Smooth skin

Soft rolls

Trusting snuggles

Fuzzy hair

Take my heart and melt it. I need baby's in my life, always!

Loved having my brother's family around this weekend, and I soaked up as much Eli baby snuggles as I possibly could. Ready for Christmas celebrations already!

From my FB 11/10/2017

"Last night was one of the hardest nights I've had in a while, for a few reasons. The daily parenting struggles seemed harder, I was mentally exhausted, I didn't feel like I could get a handle on the work I was trying to get accomplished all day. When I went to bed I felt defeated.
Then, I got up this morning knowing I needed to meet with God, but not wanting to out of selfish desire and guilt for how long it's been since truly sitting with Him. But can I tell you, He pulled me in, He romanced me, He took care of me, He brought me to my knees in repentance and there I found he held me while I cried.
The God of Heaven and Earth, He is my Father! No matter how far I stray, He's always there to welcome me back. No matter how many times I "forget" to rely on Him and instead try to accomplish the calling of wife and mother on my own, He will help me out of the mess I make! Hallelujah!!!"

Hosea 2:16-20 (ESV)

“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish[a] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

The Weekend Report

Weekends are for family and resting and not cleaning the kitchen (bad habit, but real life).

My wonderful husband made a cozy fire this weekend and it gave me all the cozy feels. We are in November, so my brain is full on cozy Christmas pre mode. Someday we'd love for this fireplace to be a gas insert, but for now we are using up the wood left in our basement from the previous owners.

Queso Chicken Bake is my JAM! I bought as an early Christmas gift Trim Healthy Mama's newest book Trim Healthy Table and this was my first recipe I made. OH. MY. GOODNESS! I will be making this again, maybe once a week until the family complains! Also, 2 out of 3 children tried and liked it (1 chose not to try it, but considering it was Alexi, that doesn't play into any food decisions for the family) so I'd call that a win!

I tend not to do a ton of work on the house on the weekends (see above, weekends are for family and relaxing unless there is a time crunch on something). I did tackle half the entry way for clutter (and shoes) and am actually quite pleased with the little bit of headway made. Maybe the rest of the clutter will be organized this week so it gets to painting time soon.

So Christmas mode means, gifts prep. I've been slowly gathering Christmas gifts since August, and it's made me so happy and relaxed about it. Here's some of the prep I did this weekend.

I finished 1 of 2 pairs of socks I'm making for gifts this year. (3rd pair of socks ever)

I've been knitting dishclothes as my mindless, "I-need-something-to-do-with-my-hands" knitting for a while, now I'm packing them up into sets for gifts

I decided I need to have some Christmas cheer in my own kitchen, so this was a fun cast on this weekend.

The kids clothes are in CONSTANT need of being cleaning out as they are growing like weeds. This week, it was Cadences closet as over half of it was too short for her now. Adding that to the clothes I've been collecting from closets and drawers for the past month completes a bag ready to be donated. Handily, my mom works for the local organization that helps families in need, so usually about once a month I hand her a bag of clothes, shoes and toys and I can feel good about where it's going.

That was my weekend, how was yours?

Mrs. Troyer

Quick Introductions

Since it has been years since I've done any blogging, I probably should introduce you to the main players in my life.

This man is the love of my life! Without getting too sappy, Chad and I have been married since 2011 (after being friends since middle school and dating during high school and after high school). He's truly my best friend and I never want to be apart from him. When we got married, we committed before God, our families, and our friends that we would choose to grow in love for the rest of our lives. That is a journey I embrace with my whole being. Okay...enough sappiness

If you look at old posts on this blog, you will see a little baby. If you can believe it, she has grown into a beautiful, strong 5 year old. Alexi is grown into such a beautiful young lady whose heart is soft to the Lord's calling on her life, and I love watching her shine.

Brian Joshua is our second born, 3 year old, little crazy person. Being mom to a little man is amazing, hilarious, and terrifying. He has a super inquisitive spirit that wants to examine and discover how the world works all on his own terms.

Cadence Jo is Brian's "Irish twin" (meaning born less than 12 months apart). Being born the day before Brian's first birthday was certainly eventful. She was also my first/only baby born at home, which was the best thing ever! She's a wild card: out of control hyper babe or quiet little mouse playing pretend in the corner. Her personality is so strong there is no fear of her being overtaken by her siblings.

So that's it, my tops people in my life. You'll see to much more about them to come.

Mrs. Troyer

Entry Way (1/2 complete)

We've lived in this house since May of 2013. Right before moving in we removed loads of wallpaper and painted just about everything white. Since then Chad has changed jobs 3 times and I have had 2 more pregnancies. To sum up, we are now a family of 5 living in a house that 80% of the projects we had dreams of doing have not been done. (I originally was going to estimate 90% but as I was writing the list below, I realized everything we have accomplished, I felt 80% was a better estimate.) Right after moving in we discovered that our septic needed replaced ($$ OUCH) and then we replaced our furnace, from a fuel oil furnace to natural gas (also $$ OUCH). Pretty much, home ownership is expensive and motherhood is tiring. Which adds up to projects not being done.

BUT!

I want to briefly talk about what has been done. (I will be saying we in these statements, but let the record show, much of the we business is Chad and his dad and his brother doing the heavy lifting and physical work. Thank you wonderful men!!)

First, we replaced our front door right before winter two years ago.

Second, we replaced the back porch so it wasn't rotting and scary.

Third, we tore out the bushes and plants that were overgrown, dead, or dying.

Fourth, we replaced our basement windows, which had been cracked and broken letting in water and bugs and who knows what else.

Fifth, the men built me a fence, by far one of my favorite things ever!! I'm looking forward to sending the kids to the back yard this winter without worrying that at any moment they will be running out to the road.

Sixth, I began painting in the entry way.

Seventh, most of the lights in the house have been switched to LED fixtures. The decision to switch the lights over got bumped up on our to-do list after a bad box of lightbulbs began exploding without notice, one in Brian's room right before bedtime. That was enough to scare me away from the light switches.

So, about the title project. The entryway is what we call the room coming off of the back porch and in from the garage. There is a bathroom connected to it that will be a total and complete gut project for much later, but for now, I just want to tackle the function and cosmetics in this entry way.

Step one, paint. This is what the room looked like when we moved in (well, what it looked like when it was cleaned up anyway)

And I'd say I'm halfway through right now. I've painted the doors and ceiling, primed the walls, and picked up the paint for the walls. I still plan on taking off the closet doors (painting them the same color as the doors in case we want to put them back up), but for now, I've just got clutter and junk to mess with before I can get the walls and trim painted. If you are afraid of chaos, perhaps stop scrolling now, what you see next may shock you.

Hope to bring you some progress next week!

Mrs. Troyer

October's Favorite Things

1. Listening to Alexi read...by her self!

2. Knitting and crocheting for Christmas gifts

3. Having almost ALL of my Christmas shopping done BEFORE November

4. Reading, just reading (I'm a mom, I don't do a lot of it)

5. That math is Alexi's favorite subject in Kindergarten

6. Afternoons spent with my sister-in-law (coffee+Doctor Who+knit and crochet=LOVE)

7. Squeezing my cuddles out of Cadence while she still lets me (even got to have naptime with her once this month)

8. The new back yard fence!

9. Holiday prep in general

10. Candles to take me through the end of the year!

11. Catching snowflakes on our tongues in our jammies

and lastly

12. I secretly love Brian's imaginative stories at nighttime (even though it gets him in trouble when he comes out of his room to tell us about it)

It's been real and it's been fun October, but I'm so glad it's November!

Mrs. Troyer