Deck the halls

About two weeks ago, we got busy decorating for Christmas. All the boys (young and old!) love the lights and decorations. This year we had help from Grandma & Grandpa AND Grammy & Poppy. Lots of hands make light work! So glad for all their help.

Notice 4 stockings... Luke, Ethan, Aaron and Irina!

We recently moved our television above the fireplace. We're not a big fan of having the tv out in the open so Darin is in the process of building doors to hide it. He added the shelf above the tv and the moldings to make it look like it was original. Can't wait to install the doors. 

And now there is the perfect spot for our nativity scene! 

I love the Willow Tree nativity because Mary is holding baby Jesus. 

For the past two years, we've prepared for Christmas by doing a Jesse Tree. This year, we're trying something new and doing an advent wreath and nightly readings. So far so good...

 Only 15 days until Christmas and SIX days until Irina arrives!

Map Room: Before and After

Well, the room is not "finished," but the painting is and we are definitely enjoying it for school! I still need to make curtains and pillows and hang up wall art, but that will have to wait until the summer. Unless some free time opens up! ha!

 BEFORE

AFTER

Darin added the molding around the map, changed the paint color and put up the scripture. 

I love this verse above the map. It looks even better in person. 

BEFORE

AFTER:

We decided to have the blue be the accent wall and painted all the other walls "Gobi Desert." Appropriate, huh? 

BEFORE

AFTER

When I was a little girl, I used to sit in the little school desk in my dad's art studio 

and color pictures while he did real paintings. It's very special to me!

 BEFORE - Lots of patching, sanding and priming!

AFTER : We sit climb all over this futon to do lots of "Exploring Countries and Cultures" reading. 

It's pretty plain for now, but someday there will be time to jazz it up. 

We love the new colors!

The Blue Room

We're slowly chipping away at some home projects around here. And when I say "we," I should say Darin is doing the work and I'm working at being patient. ;) We are 95% done with Ethan and Aaron's room. The last 5% is up to me, but it might be a little while until I can complete it. (Trying to keep my focus on school prep... only 12 days!)

Take a look...

 The walls were previously white. I spotted this blue color at a 

friends house and thought it would look great with their quilts. I love it!

 Darin did a great job painting the blue and red stripes! It was much harder then you'd think. 

I repainted their name letters with the same blue as the stripe. 

This is their favorite corner for setting up Playmobil scenes. 

 My mom and I made the navy curtains with white stars for Ethan's nursery in our old house. 

So glad to keep using them! They are great for keeping out morning/evening light. 

I repainted the wooden star wall hanging to match the blue stripe too. 

 We have some hooks to hang to the left of the door. Trying to decide 

if it is wise to hang them or if the boys will just use them to scale the wall! ;)

Here is where my project comes in... See that empty wall? 

I'm determined to make something special to hang there. 

I bought this value pack of 12x12 canvas's. I'm planning to use

four to hang together in a square. With a little help from 

my artist dad, I have great plans. You'll have to wait and see! Stay tuned...

CHRISTmas

In light of my previous post about what I desire my true focus to be at Christmas, I want to share ten of our special family traditions (some old and some new). Is there a way to make worldly traditions Christ centered and glorifying to Him? hmmm... I think so and I hope that we do. I'll try to post a couple traditions a day, if time permits.

1) Decorating

It's our tradition to decorate our house the weekend after Thanksgiving. My husband loves this. I have grown to love it too. I particularly enjoy seeing the delight in the boys faces as it gets dark and the lights are shining bright. We've been blessed with help from my parents over the last several years. They are very hard workers and we really appreciate them. This year we added wreaths to our windows after I snagged them on sale. It's silly how much joy they have brought me. Decorating is one of those worldly traditions that I hope can somehow glorify Him.

We had wonderful warm decorating weather. 

Worth much more then his tag of $14.97! (The cutest tree on the racks!)

This cracked me up. The boys decided to wear the skirt intended for the tree.  

They twirled with pure delight. Each boy took a turn twirling in the tree skirt. 

I am so thankful for Luke's sincere joy in helping to decorate. 

He takes after his Daddy in his love of Christmas decorations. 

2. Jesse Tree

Last year was the first time I had heard about a Jesse Tree and we decided it was a great addition to our Christmas traditions. Basically, we read passages in the Bible each day that weave together the story of Christ and add an ornament to our tree that goes along with the theme of each passage. We decided to make our Jesse Tree from felt and re-use it yearly.  The boys colored the ornaments, which I then laminated and attached some velcro. However, you can keep it simple and use the templates and packet found here. It's a little different from my version but basically the same. We all look forward to this each evening.