He is Risen!

When Chris and I were dating he had a roommate who was semi-active in the church. One Sunday he slept in and everyone else went off to church. When they arrived home he quickly questioned the guys about how they had been able to make the stereo play He is Risen! when he got out of bed.  They all had a good laugh at the ironic coincidence.

So it is with this blog. Like waking from a long nap, this blog is ready to rise again (or so I tell myself)! It will be an effort to move forward from where I am and fill in the years that have passed by.  I don't journal and have a horrible memory. This blog will be a demonstration of the lack there of or an antidote to these problems or all of the above.

The years are passing by, the kids are growing up and life is passing by. Here's a New Year's Resolution to do better on the blog!

December is Craft Month...Apparently

First, there was my brilliant idea to make stockings.  Why are stockings so ridiculously expensive? Well, now that we have Thea, I thought it was high time we had coordinated stockings. But I couldn't find any online that I love-and you better believe that if I am paying moola out the wazoo I gotta love them! 

In looking around though, I didn't love them, and not just the material or colors but even the size was frequently too big. I mean, if your child has a big stocking it's going to require a lot of stocking stuffers! I really wanted something not to big, not to small, and as ever with me, not too matchy-matchy. 

I figured it wouldn't be such a terrible stretch of a sewing project for an inexperienced sewer like me. I would make my own. Well, as it turned out, Mom offered to make them for me as our family's Christmas gift. You better believe I jumped all over that! We got together to try and find some fabric for the country-ish/quilty stockings I wanted to make. It was crazy how hard it was to find material that we liked that went together that...well, that we loved! Maybe this could have been remedied if we had searched and bought online but time was limited and we found some that worked so we went with it. 

I decided that I wanted to make something for Mom (and Dad:). Mom said that she would like some kind of calendar with everyone's birthdays on it. It is hard to keep track of six kids, 5 spouses, and 22 grandchildren!

Of course, I picked something crafty and decorative that she could hang on the wall in their new house on the lake.

I thought it came together pretty well! 

The reality of all these crafts is frequently the budget. And I like doing crafts:) But, the driving force is often the budget. When you want to get your friends gifts for Christmas but you have so many...oh, what a great problem to have!

Pinterest saves my bacon so often!  These charming owls were a Pinterest Christmas gift special for our friends in our babysitting group.

 

Pinterest is responsible for the Christmas tree ornaments as well. As a RS Presidency we got together to make ornaments to give to those who serve in RS and those we thought could use a little extra cheer this time of year. Our list had 41 people on it. Overachievers much?

It took us 6 hours. 6 HOURS! We had some dark moments (What?!? We only have 11 done?!?) but we got them made AND delivered!!

How's that for a Christmas miracle?

Family, Family and Family at Thanksgiving!

Since Chris and I have been married we have always lived pretty far from family. Long drives are our norm.  And it is usually us that does the traveling. There are exceptions, of course.

Oh, how we prize the exceptions!  This time we were even so lucky as to have them overlap!

 Stephanie came for visit and you know we have to take advantage. It's only right as her family that we test her handyman skills. Right?!?

This was actually quite the feat that Chris and Stephanie accomplished.  We had a tall entertainment cabinet that I just got to hating and decided it needed to go.  It was so tall it was taking over our whole living room. Chris was sure that it could be cut down and still be useful.  I doubted his chances of success in being able to make all the cuts level and even all the way around, given the tools he had to work with.  I should really give up my Doubting Thomas impression-he comes through every time. Stephanie just jumped right in and was the other pair of needed hands.

Andy came to visit and overlapped with Stephanie.  That was pretty sweet.  All though as parents we still had to get up in the morning, it was with little regret that we enjoyed the late night talking and catching up that seems to happen best in person.

How fun it was to have 4 Williamson siblings together in the far reaches of WI!

We tried to feed them well so they would want to come back!

Andy was able to make friends with Thea, a major win for him.

 He also stayed over for Thanksgiving with us and headed down to my brother Ian's house, as we have in years past.  And as in years, past I neglected to take pictures as I soaked up the goodness of hanging out with family.

The day after Thanksgiving we headed over to Chicago so Andy could do a little sight-seeing.

If you are a city person, or just enjoy a quick visit (like me:), Chicago does not disappoint!

And the success of Thanksgiving and our trip to Chicago was all due to this awesome guy, who also managed to win over the wee one!

Chris' Birthday

Chris was out of town on his birthday. We are always a sad, whiny bunch when he is out of town. It seemed especially depressing to me to have him gone on his birthday.

We did celebrate for real when he was home.  We are always so excited to have him home again and to wish him another year of happiness (with us, of course)!

Thea in November...and the other kids.

 At 13 months, Thea continues to walk to the beat of her own drum.

 And she is so stinkin' cute doing it!

 Which is good for her because otherwise...well, let's just say that being cute is frequently her saving grace!

Let's not forget, though, that I do have other children! They are super great too! (Can't you tell?!?)

Bath Time

Every child needs some bath pictures, right? It's like a right of passage or lifetime milestone...at least it's a wedding video necessity!

Special Time with Dad

 Chris instituted "special time" with the kids. He made a chart with pictures from the friend and a spinny arrow that points out turns. The kids adore it!

 Since I am writing this post 3 years after the fact I have no idea if this was Ian's first time or not. But there are pictures so I am posting them. They enjoyed a trip to the Downtown Milwaukee Library.

 It is a pretty cool library and offered a variety of attractions and things to do besides books, though, Ian isn't one to pass those over completely!