Christmas Letter 2011

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

We hope the year has gone well for you.  It has been a very full year for us.  In February we started a class that was recommended to us called Financial Peace University. It was very eye opening and has made some big differences in our life.  We are now on a budget and no longer use any debt instruments (credit cards and the like) and pay for everything with cash, which means we don’t really worry about money anymore…very liberating!  We will be teaching this class at our church after the start of the new year.

In May we had some adjustments to make as Emmy again had to have surgery. It actually involved two surgeries at the same time to help with her peeing and stooling so that she can be continent.  While it has presented challenges, we have been very happy with the overall outcome.  (To keep up to date on Emmy’s journey, visit her Caring Bridge page: www.caringbridge.org/visit/emmareneearly.)

Sadly Jesse, our dog of 9 years, died in March.  We did not get a new dog right away and decided to try fostering dogs for a while.  In July we got a foster dog, Elmo, who was a very fun cute American bull dog.  Unfortunately we were unable to keep him as we found that Emmy was allergic to dogs. A couple of weeks after we got him Emmy suddenly had an allergic reaction with anaphylaxis.  We did not suspect dogs at first, but a couple of days later she had another allergic reaction with anaphylaxis, and then the allergy testing came back showing dogs as well as cows milk and egg whites, so we are no longer able to have a dog and our whole family’s diet has had to make some adjustments. 

Peder played t-ball and Soccer over the summer.  The girls are looking forward to playing soccer themselves next year. Peder then started K-Camp in late august and finally kindergarten. He had some adjustments to being at school all day.  He was really missing playing with his sisters. Emmy and Mari both started pre-k this fall and they are enjoying school.  We had originally planned on having them repeat pre-k since their birthday is in the summer, but after going to their first parent teacher conference, we were told by their teachers they are fully ready for kindergarten now and repeating would only result in their being bored.  So, in a few short months, all of our kids are going to be in school all day.  Where did the time go?

Melissa finished up with her schooling in June and can now do some amazing things with a computer.  Our holiday picture this year had some adjustments made to it.  Right before we took our picture, Jake managed to get a nice gash on his cheek.  Well, Melissa quickly and easily removed that little blemish. She has also designed her own website, Earlybirdcrafts.com to support her paper craft business and has plans for future websites to create a support network for the families of children with Emmy’s condition.  In August Melissa started working every other weekend in a group home and she will be having surgery in December to treat a chronic condition that causes severe pain.

Jake continues to play football.  His team has had some struggles this year.  They are all getting older and chronic injuries have resulted in a couple of people no longer playing. Jake has had lingering issues himself with plantar fasciitis.  It took him almost six months before he finally went to the Doctor at Melissa’s encouragement and finally started noticing improvement in his foot. He also continues with fantasy football, though decided to drop one of his leagues as he was having trouble finding the time to keep up with all of them.  He has also continued with his poker league once a month and was especially proud of one night when he managed to win every game he played, plus personally took out every person at the table one at a time.

We had a pretty good year and are looking forward to the new year!  We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and joyous New Year.

Time to Simplify

The holiday season always, ALWAYS stresses me out.  I get depressed, grumpy and overwhelmed.  It makes me sad, because I really do LOVE the season, the smells, the sentiments and the giving.  I love everything related to Christmas, but every year I get down emotionally.

So now, this year, actually in the last 24 hours, I've decided to make some changes.  Most of you know that every year I send out handmade Christmas cards, with a family letter and picture.  Every year I spend at least 20-30 hours designing and making the cards.  That doesn't include the letter, picture or addressing the envelopes.  Since I've been so busy this year I haven't even started any of that process.  So....I'm not doing it this year.  I'll still send out cards, but it will be a photo card that will take me an hour or two to make the 80 that I usually send out.  There's one load off my shoulders.

I'm also changing the family letter.  I'm not going to do the traditional format.  I haven't quite decided what the new format will be, but it will be quick and easy to do.  No more worrying about the grammar, spelling, etc.  In all honesty, it may just be a list of things from our year.

Now....what will I do with all this extra spare time that I have?  Well, first of all, I'll sleep.  WA-HOO!  I love sleep and it hasn't been around much lately, so I'm going to reacquaint myself with it.  THEN....I'll actually be able to enjoy my children's wonder of the season, rather then stressing about what else I need to get done this year before the holiday gets here.  I'll be able to bake and decorate cookies, take them shopping for each other and their dad, and continue our family traditions while being fully present rather then thinking of something else.  I'm also going to spend some time with my rarely seen husband....doing goofy things like playing Guitar Hero or kicking his butt at Wii Boxing.

This year I'm slowing down rather then speeding up.  I'm going to hold my family close and really enJOY the season.

The Christmas Season is Here

I took this picture on Sunday after we had decorated our tree.  The wonder of Christmas has filled my children's hearts and I'm SO happy and proud that they are mine.

Merry Christmas from the Early Kids

Emmy, Peder and Mari want to wish all our friends and family a VERY Merry Christmas.  We all hope that it is filled with joy and happiness and safe travel.

Emmy, Peder and Mari in their new jammies.  They get a pair every year on the 23rd, so they have special new jammies to open their gifts in the next morning.

Reading a very special Christmas story with Daddy before bed.  You can see our new couch that was delivered today.  The fabric on the pillows is what I picked out for our chairs.  It doesn't really do it justice, but we do love our new furniture!

Our Christmas tree all ready for our celebration that starts tomorrow morning.  I just love how beautiful and festive it looks!

Photo Challenge: Dangle

A scrapbooking website that I frequent (Two Peas In A Bucket) hosts a weekly photo challenge.  The choose a word and you take and upload a picture that you think fits the word.  This week is my first time participating and the word is "dangle." 

I took this picture while we were decorating our Christmas tree.  Emmy hung this ornament very carefully on the branch and it stayed.  I couldn't believe how perfectly it bent the branch and hung from our tree.  I had to take a picture. 

Do you have an interpretation of dangle in the form of a picture?  I'm really liking what I other people are posting on the website, it's great to see interpretation!  One is a picture of a kid looking shocked at his tooth hanging from a string.  It looks like it was just yanked out of his mouth.  Pretty great shot if you ask me.

Early Family Christmas Picture 2009

It sounds like people are starting to get their Christmas cards from us, so I thought I would post our family picture.  Later this week I'll post a picture of the card.  I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and that your hearts are filled with joy and love.

The kiddos from left to right:  Mariana (2), Emmarene (2), and Peder (4).

2009 Christmas Cards

Every free moment that I have had the last couple of days has been spent working on our Christmas cards.  This is a picture of my little work station.  The stack of cards in that plastic tub are the cards I have made.  I had some help from the girls and Mari saw the finished product and said, "PRETTY!"  Now I just need to write our annual letter, address the envelopes and get these in the mail.  I'm hoping to have them done and in the mail by Friday.  Wish me luck!

A Gingerbread House and Train

Tonight I took a break from figuring out financial aid for school and making Christmas cards to make a gingerbread house and train with the kiddos.  This is the first time (at least I think it is) that I've ever decorated a gingerbread house and let me tell you, we had a BLAST!

Emmy is looking forward to a career in baking and decorating.  She took this very seriously and when Jake wasn't on top of things, took the bag of icing and started decorating herself.  Very cute!

Mari was very intently decorating.  And then she realized she could eat what she was decorating with.  There were a lot of things that should have been used to decorate but ended up all over Mari's face or in her belly.

Peder was very good at telling me where things needed to go and what I needed to do so he could decorate the house.  I think he did a fantastic job!

All three kids with their final products.  Happy kids = a very good night!

After 7 years....FINALLY!

I have lights on the outside of my house!  WA-HOO!  Jake put them up for me on Friday night and it was COLD!  It will be a process, but next year I hope to get him to put lights up the peak of the front of the house. 

This is me, with my permagrin, after Jake had put up the lights.  I L-O-V-E them!  And Jake!

Christmas Shopping

Today we got a bunch of Christmas shopping done.  We took the kids and finished almost all of our Christmas shopping for the extended family.  Just one nephew left, but otherwise DONE!

Every year at Jake's work they do a toy drive for a local charity called VEAP.  In the past they have done a name drawing and had to buy a gift that the person would have enjoyed as a child.  This year they just asked for donations, so we decided that we would take the kids to pick out a gift for the toy drive.

As you can see, all 3 kids picked out a Toy Story item for the toy drive.  We know some children will absolutely LOVE these toys, because our kids had a hard time not opening and playing with them.

Annual Christmas Picture

Every year we take a family Christmas picture to send out in our Christmas card. My parents stopped by Thursday after their dentist appointments to bring me my mom's old sewing machine (WA-HOO!) and we had them do our picture. It took over 15 pictures, but we did get a good one of us. You'll have to wait for that one till after I've mailed out my cards, but here's a couple that we couldn't use.

After we were done my parents wanted a picture with the kids.  This is the first picture we took of them.  All the kids are behaving, everyone is smiling and it's perfect.  What gives?  :)

BIG News and More Christmas

Well, yesterday I went to Minnesota School of Business and talked to them about their Interactive Media and Graphic Design program and have decided to go back to school.  I'm REALLY excited about this.  I hope to fill out the application in the next day or two and then start in January.  With the number of credits I will be taking, I should be able to finish an Associate's Degree in 18 months.  There is free continuing ed, you just pay for books or supplies and life time career placement services.

So that's my BIG news right now.  Our life is going to change quite a bit for the next 18 months.

Now...on to Christmas.  I L-O-V-E Christmas scents and candles.  This year I found a new favorite.  Bath and Body Works Fresh Balsam candle is a little slice of heaven for me.  Before I decorated for Christmas I would just go to my candle shelf in the closet and smell this candle.  It lifted my mood and brought back memories of getting Christmas trees when I was a kid.  This candle makes me smile and puts me into the holiday spirit.

Meeting Santa

This morning we took the kids to meet Santa.  This is a picture I took of them talking to him during the photo session.

Book Group Christmas Party

Tonight was my church book group's Christmas party.  WHAT A BLAST!  It was at a member of our group's house (Beth H.) and she was a wonderful hostess.  Including me, there were 14 women there, and that means a ton of laughter and a ton of fun.  People brought a lot of delicious food and we all enjoyed the special treats.

Beth had her house all decorated.  This was on her dining room table....the mood throughout the house was festive and warm.  Perfect for a party!

Here is a picture of most of the group.  One person wasn't there yet, I'm taking the picture and Beth J. is hiding from the camera.  I was nice and didn't post the picture I secretly took of her.  :)

We played the dice game and fought over presents.  I was lucky enough that I got the present I wanted right away and no one tried to steal mine.  :)  This picture is Beth J., Beth H. and Leslie participating in the battle for the movie.  Carol ended up winning it, but the scramble betweeen these three was hilarious.  The whole game had us laughing, especially when people got to steal the gift they really wanted or someone stole that extra special gift.  I really haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

The night finally started to wind down at about 9:30p.  We were all shocked to see the time.  Beth H. was a wonderful hostess and sent us all home with a Poinsettia.

What a great and wonderful way to start out December and the holiday season!

Christmas Music

I love Christmas music.  L-O-V-E IT!  I turn it on while we're driving home from Thanksgiving and it stays on through Christmas Day.  I belt out the words to almost every song (except that song Christmas Shoes....the station gets changed immediately.  Way too depressing for Christmas).  I hear the music and my soul fills with JOY!

My love for Christmas music has resulted in a tradition in our little family.  Every year I get a new Christmas music CD in my stocking.  We listen to it as soon as possible and I look forward to adding it to my music for the following year.

I, of course, have my favorites.  My favorite secular song is "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey.  LOVE IT!  My favorite hymns are "Joy to the World" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful."  I pray that we sing those two some time during the Advent season every year. 

Do you have any favorite Christmas songs?  What are some songs you love?  Any that you can't stand?  I want to hear about your favorites so I can add them to my iPod playlist!

Christmas Tradion #1 - Getting and Decorating our Tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the beginning of our family's Christmas Traditions.  After church we grab lunch and then head over to Gerten's to pick out our Christmas tree.  All the way there today we had the Christmas music cranked and if I wasn't singing along I would hear, "MOM!  SING!" from the backseat.  Mari was really trying to sing along and all three kids were dancing along to the music.  I am teaching them my deep love of Christmas music.

Walking into Gerten's to look for our tree.

Peder watching all the people and waiting for the reindeer to come walking by.

Mari walking through the trees while we look.

Emmy happily looking for trees with Daddy.

Jake with our new tree.

Me in the afterglow of picking out our tree.

All 3 kids putting ornaments on the tree.  This was SO exciting.  And the tree was, "Oooooh, NICE!"

This is how the tree looks when a 4 year old and 2 two year olds choose where the ornaments go.  There are areas covered with ornaments and big blanks spots.  The tree will stay decorated this way, because I think it's super cute and I'll never get my tree decorated like this again.

The kids in front of their beautifully decorated tree.  I love it, they love it, everyone is happy with the final result!

Christmas on the Early Side 2008

We spent Christmas Day with Jake's family. It was a good day with good food and BIG news from two couples. We have a nephew due in April and another baby due in July. I'm going to be busy working on cross stitch birth announcements during the coming months. I was wondering what project I was going to work on next. Here are some of the pictures we took during the celebration.

Jake and Peder listening to the Christmas story being read from the Bible.


Emmy and Mari during the Christmas story. Marissa and Jenna have all kinds of cool doll toys.


Mari with Uncle John....she was quite the social butterfly.

Peder hanging out with John, Nick and Marissa. He retreated to the couch when Marissa kept trying to put him to bed. :)

Mari playing with Auntie Jill. Once again a very social girl.

Emmy playing INSIDE the doll house that Marissa and Jenna got for Christmas. She liked climbing in and playing with the door.

Peder playing with his new backhoe. Very exciting!

Peder loves this toy. He loves flying this around.

Mari loving her new Care Bear and pillow. What a snuggler.

Our girls love stuffed animals and dolls and are always giving them lots of love.

As you can see by Emmy giving a kiss to the orange Care Bear

Emmy with some of her new books. This girl loves to read.

This picture isn't Christmas related, but I thought it was too cute not to post. Jake's brother Nick came over to hang out for a bit while in town from Chicago. Mari took very good care of him. She snuggled with him, sat on his lap and forced crackers down his throat every chance she got...even after he had said "All done" numerous times. She just likes to take care of others.

Our Little Family's Christmas

We had a wonderful little Christmas here on Christmas Eve. Here are some pictures from our morning and gift opening.

All of our stockings stuffed with goodies and waiting for children to discover them.

All three kids in their chairs. The girls got theirs for Christmas and immediately sat down in them when they got up in the morning....no one even noticed the stockings.

Peder discovering his stocking and dumping out the contents. He was SO excited to see Annie and Clarabel (from Thomas the Tank Engine) in there that he ran across the room to show Daddy.

Emmy digging things out of her stocking. She immediately handed one of her candy canes to Peder for him to have. Such a sweetie.

Mari with her stocking. Like her Mommy she is slow to wake and it takes her awhile to get going.

Emmy opening her first present. She was very good at tearing open her presents.

Mari tearing in to a present. Notice the red shoes? She got those in her first present and put them on right away.

Mari opening up her favorite present, a Little People Princess Doll House.

Emmy on her favorite present, a rocking unicorn that sings and makes noises.

Peder with one of his favorite presents. When I asked him what his favorite presents were he said his guitar and harmonica....he loves all things musical.

Jake opening his favorite present, a reciprocating saw. (Notice a haze starting?)

Me with my present from the kiddos, a computer program for my scrapbooking die-cutting machine. It's AWESOME!

Mari in the present aftermath....what a mess! And see how the haze is a lot thicker?

It's because of this. I made homemade caramel rolls in a bundt pan that separates apart. The caramel dripped onto the bottom of the oven. I stuck a cookie sheet under it, but not before it was too late and the house was filled with smoke. Lesson learned!

Peder with some of his new hard hat, tool belt and some of his new tools.

We had a very Merry Christmas and hope the rest of you did too. I'll post pictures from our other two celebrations in the days to come!