Boys vs. Girls

Occasionally I get asked how similar Dutch & Ellis are in their personalities.  For the most part they are VERY similar.  Both are cuddlers who love to read & to learn.  Ellis is generally a quiet learner who observes and takes in everything, while Dutch is more vocal and desires to communicate about what he is learning.  Ellis' small personality has grown significantly over the past 6 months & she is pretty passive until she wants something and then she is sure to let you know.  She likes to sing and play tea party, but mostly just wants to play with anything Dutch is playing with (which usually is something related to firefighters- in fact, they both refer to Dutch and introduce him to others as "Fireman Dutch")  However, I think this series of pictures I ATTEMPTED to take before leaving for Christmas Eve service PERFECTLY illustrates their personality differences.  Ellis looks almost exactly the same in every picture, while Dutch, on the other hand, cannot contain his excitement and energy.  Going through pictures to write my post about Christmas just had me laughing so hard at these lol. Obviously Ellis just wants to eat her marshmallow & Dutch wants to dance & sing about Christmas lol

Let me show you what I'm talking about (and just for a point of reference I took all of these pictures in about 2 minutes lol):

Isn't that the funniest thing?!  And yes, sometimes I DO take 4 bazillion pictures just to get one, half-way decent picture lol

Christmas Recap {2017}

The past few years we have intentionally made Christmas slow & relaxed; it's worked well for our family to make sure we soak in these precious moments when our babies are little.  We don't go anywhere & we don't over-commit; this has allowed us to really cherish the Christmas season and focus on the real "reason for the season". Just fair warning, this is going to be a photo-heavy post!  Consider yourself warned ;-)
On Christmas Eve this year we got coffee & headed to the park.  When we got back home, we walked around the neighborhood delivering Christmas cookies to our neighbors & made some Christmas crafts.  Since church was in the evening for Christmas Eve, the kids took an early nap before heading to church.  Our church does not have child-care during the Christmas service so the kids got to come to "Big Church" with mama & daddy.  I will be honest: I could not sing a single Christmas song because of the HUGE lump in my throat that if I released I would be a HUGE puddle of waterworks.  I just felt the Holy Spirit, & watching my kids feel it just took everything out of me.  So I stood, watched, & listened to the blessings of God for the service (while I tried desperately to keep from having to touch-up my mascara lol) This was the first year that we let Dutch hold the candle during Silent Night & he thought that was the best thing in the world.  He lifted the candle along with everyone else without instructions and just acted like such a little gentleman.  Ellis was pretty impressed with the pens & prayer request cards ;-)  After service we got dinner at a Chinese restaurant (I promise we referenced A Christmas Story as often as possible), got hot cocoa, & drove around looking at Christmas lights.  When we got home we got in our special Christmas jammies, read our last Christmas Book-A-Day book, which was the REAL Christmas story, laid out cookies & milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer (and a special dictated letter from Dutch), before heading to bed.
Christmas morning, the kids were up around 8:30, which is about regular for them, but gave mama and daddy time to start breakfast, turn on the Christmas music and get showered and dressed.  The kids had breakfast, we read from Luke 2, & sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and then let the kids open some gifts. I made a big Christmas dinner that we ate at 2 and then just lounged around in our jammies and playing.  It was very slow & relaxed.
Christmas with little ones is far better than it ever was for me as a child, and I love taking the holidays slow so that I can absorb every last moment.  It was a wonderful Christmas.  How was yours? 

Elderberry Gummies

Y'all went crazy for my Elderberry Syrup recipe for skipping the flu & I'm THRILLED that y'all have enjoyed it so far. Today I wanted to share my recipe for the elderberry gummies that I make for my kids (and I sneak for myself every time I open the fridge hehe).  It's easy & simple; you can do it and stay well this flu season!  Enjoy this healthy snack while boosting your immune system, enhancing sleep, & promoting anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup tart cherry juice
4 tbs unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup elderberry syrup- here is my recipe
2 tbs raw, unfiltered honey
gummie bear mold- I have this one  Using this mold, this recipe makes 290 gummies

Directions:
1. Heat 1/2 cup of the tart cherry juice over medium-high heat until bubbling while stirring frequently.
2.  While the juice is heating, combine the rest of the tart cherry juice (3/4 cups), elderberry syrup, & honey in a medium glass bowl.
3. Pour the heated cherry juice into a glass jar with the gelatin and whisk until all of the gelatin is thoroughly dissolved.  Then stir into the medium glass bowl with the rest of the ingredients. 
4.  Pour into gummie molds.  My gummie bear molds are really small so I use a pipette to get them into the mold.  Refrigerate for about an hour, until they are solid, and then you can eat. Store in the fridge in a glass container & eat as many as you want.
5. Enjoy!

Keep the Cards!

When all the Christmas decorations are packed away it can be a little sad.  You know, the post-Christmas blues? We go from non-stop celebration to nothing and getting back to normal.  Y’all know I love Christmas, and am one of those crazy people that listen to Christmas music year-round; I just love it. But I also love to keep the Christmas cards up year-round; we call it our "wall of love."
It's an easy way to keep the sweet spirit of Christmas alive throughout the year. 

I don’t throw Christmas cards in the trash. 

I don’t pack Christmas cards away for the next year. 

Instead we pick one card a week and pray for that family.  We pray for marriages to deepen, increased health, available and disciplined finances, safety and protection, children, blessings in the workplace, patience, compassion, giving spirits, and that they would be the Light to others during their storms throughout the year.  So friends, if you sent us a Christmas card this year, please know that we will be praying for you for at least one full week this year!  (Sidebar, please don’t think prayer is bought with a Christmas card.  This is just a way for us to focus our prayers on others.  We still pray for y’all even without a Christmas card).

If you’ve got Christmas cards laying around the house and you don’t know what to do with them, I encourage you to use them during your prayer time.  By letting your children pick the card to pray for each week, this is also a great way to help engage, demonstrate, & encourage an active prayer life.

Have a great first week of 2018 friends!!