Merry Christmas!

In lieu of sending out Christmas cards this year, we are wishing you a Merry Christmas via our blog! Now I know this will not win me any "Miss Manners" awards, but I hope you will read on and see the reason behind it.

During this advent season, our church has been a part of the "Advent Conspiracy" - a movement trying to change the focus of Christmas from the consumerism it has become in America, to a holy event of worship and giving to those in need. One of the things we decided to spend less on this year was Christmas cards - and believe it or not, this was a hard one for me to give up because I truly do enjoy sending them out each year. But we were able to take the money that we normally spend on cards/photos/postage (along with money saved on spending less on some other things) and give it to a cause that we are passionate about - HOPE International.

Even before we heard of the Advent Conspiracy through our church, my Mom suggested to our family that instead of getting gifts for each other, we could combine our money and give it to the orphanage where my nephew Caleb lived before my brother Danny and his wife Kristen adopted him about a year ago this time. Everyone loved this idea and it was such an act of worship to give to these dear people that cared so lovingly for our little Caleb Eyobel. Thanks again Mom for inspiring us to do what for me was one of the highlights of the Christmas season.

This year, we will not make it out to Wisconsin to celebrate with our loved ones there. To you all - - we miss you, love you very much and plan to be with you again next year!

And to all of our dear family and friends, we wish you a quiet, stress-less, holy Christmas and invite you to take part in the Advent Conspiracy by worshipping more, spending less, giving more, and loving all. We have found it to be truly refreshing, and think you will too.

We love you! Merry Christmas!

Love,

Jon, Dawn, Sophia & Anthony

p.s. please leave us a comment to let us know you stopped by!

Sharing Christmas

My friend Megan is hosting a "tour of homes" on her blog. Basically she has asked all of her blogging friends to give others a peak into their holidays. Decorations, traditions, favorite recipe etc. So, here is my attempt to share what we do for Christmas...

Decorations - we don't do too much besides our tree. But each year we get a real tree from a tree farm - that's a must for us!

Our tree is pretty traditional - decorated with ornaments that have special meaning to us - many of them given to us by family and friends. I also love to get an ornament anytime we travel somewhere special. Here is my current favorite ornament, purchased during our Christmas in NYC weekend.

3 years ago, I got these great little Christmas trees for Sophia & Anthony. They love to decorate them each year and put them in their rooms. There are so many great little ornaments out there and I get them some each year. Sophia's tree is filled with Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, Dora etc. and Anthony's tree is filled with basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, Scooby Doo etc.

Two other special decorations are our Nativity set and our stockings, both given to us by Jon's mom (she knit the stockings which makes them really special).

Traditions - usually we split our Christmas holiday between home and Wisconsin, where my family is. This year we will not be going to WI - we are sad to not see my family, but just needed a break from traveling this year. We are a pretty young family, so we are still developing some of our own traditions. Going to a tree farm to get our tree the weekend of Thanksgiving is becoming one of those. If we are home on Christmas Eve, that is the time we celebrate with Jon's family. Most years we have attended our Christmas Eve service but have missed a couple due to babies or being in WI. If we are home on Christmas Eve/Day, Santa comes Christmas Eve and we open gifts in the a.m. If we are in WI, we have to get creative and celebrate before or after - which hasn't been too hard yet since our kids haven't known dates - but they are starting to track things like that, so the next few years will be tricky! Oh, one more thing about Santa - our kids are only allowed to ask him for one thing each - we decided that we don't want Santa getting all the credit! :-) and we don't want to place too much emphasis on Santa - it is something fun to do, but we don't want that to detract from the real meaning of Christmas.

Well, sitting down and trying to write out our traditions is making me realize that we don't really have that many - we'll have to work on that over the next few years!

Recipes - Those of you that know us well, know that we love good food! Jon always makes a trip down to the Italian Market on Christmas eve to get some great Italian cheeses, sausage, pepper shooters etc. Pappy (Jon's dad) makes homemade ravioli for Christmas. When we are in WI, we all take turns making special meals for each other so that my sister Deann, who hosts, doesn't have to do all the cooking - Jon and I usually make our current favorite recipe for them. I always try to make Christmas cookies to share with co-workers, neighbors and family. I will post my all-time favorite Christmas cookie recipe - Ricotta cookies. I guess they are not officially a Christmas cookie, but this is the only time of year I make them, so that's what they are to me. Oh, and it's not "my" recipe, I got it out of a Better Homes and Garden cookbook (just want to give credit where credit is due!) Here it is:

Ricotta Cookies:

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 15-ounce carton ricotta cheese

Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on med. to high speed until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until creamy. Add half of the flour, the baking soda and salt; beat until well blended. Stir in the remaining flour and the ricotta cheese. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 12 min. or until the bottoms of the cookies are browned. The cookie tops should not brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Frosting:

• 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• Ground nutmeg (optional, but recommended!)

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar; mix well. Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies. If desired, sprinkle with ground nutmeg. Store the frosted cookies, covered, in the refrigerator.

Well, there you have it - a peak into our Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it and for those of you in Megan's "tour", I'm looking forward to checking out your homes and traditions!

Christmas in NYC!

We just got back from an AMAZING weekend (actually less than 24 hours) in NYC! Going with Jon to NYC in December is something I've been wanting to do for years now - and it was even more special because we got to share it with our best friends Bethany and Quenton! We got into the city around 8:30 on Saturday night and walked from Times Square to Rockefeller Plaza - it is so much fun to be in the city at night - especially around the holidays! We got in line for ice-skating around 9:30 and didn't get on the ice until 10:55!! It was so worth the wait though as it was such a magical experience! We saw 3 marriage proposals and had such a blast skating. I had been looking forward to skating because it's such an NYC experience, but I didn't realize I would enjoy it so much - I thought I'd be hanging onto Jon for dear life - but it was easier than I remembered!! We got off the ice around midnight and walked to a Starbucks for some late-night refreshment and then got to Jon's sisters (where we were staying - thanks again Lizzie!!) around 2:00 a.m. - we crashed until 6:00 and were out the door again by 7:00 because we had tickets to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular at 9:00! We went to the show - which was as its name implies - SPECTACULAR!!! The Rockettes are just so amazing and it was so much fun to see them live after all these years of watching them on TV!! Bethany and I each bought a really special ornament of the Rockettes which I'll love putting on my tree every year and remembering this weekend! The other amazing thing about the show was that they did a Live Nativity and actually read Scripture and sang Christmas carols about Jesus - so cool that they still do that!! After the show, we went out for a great brunch at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square and then headed home around 3:00 - - we were SO tired but we had such a great time!!!

Thanksgiving

This was such a wonderful week! Jon and I both had off work the entire week and we had a great time just being home together. We made no plans except to be with our extended family on Thanksgiving day. We got so much done around the house - cleaned out the garage, organized the kids' clothes, and went through paperwork - not the most exciting things to do on vacation, but we have such a sense of accomplishment.

Last weekend, we went to visit some friends from college, Brian & Cristina, and had such a great time. We were there over Jon's birthday and they helped us celebrate - our kids had such a great time - they did not want to leave! There's nothing like getting reconnected with old friends!

We are thankful for so many things - most of all for Jesus and for our family, health and friends. We feel so blessed and have really had our eyes opened in this past year as to what we can do to bless others. Our trip to the Dominican Republic in March was life-changing and we are hoping that 2008 is going to be a year we are stretched in the area of giving to others.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

SCC Concert

Last night Jon and I had a night out without the kids (Thanks Grammy and thanks to my pastors for being cool with me missing a Leadership Team Meeting so I could enjoy this night out)! We went with Kyle & Kim and Bethany & Q to see Steven Curtis Chapman. I have been a big SCC fan since high school when his album "More to this Life" came out. Jon and I have a lot of memories tied to SCC music - hearing any song from "The Great Adventure" or "Heaven in the Real World" takes us back to Pills (college) in a second! I always think of Scott Leffler singing "Saddle Up Your Horses" in the cafeteria or of blasting that CD in my dorm room with Bethany! We also went to the "Signs of Life" concert when we lived in AL in '96 and any of those songs take us back to that time in our lives. His "Music of Christmas" CD is a favorite we have to play every year when we're putting up our tree. We only saw him in concert that one time in '96 (wow - 11 years ago!) and haven't bought any of his albums since "Speechless" in '99 - I was just looking on his web site and saw that he's put out 7 albums since we last bought one - geez, time goes fast when you're buying a house and having babies!! Anyway, it was so cool to be at this concert because his two sons are on tour with him. His 18 year old son Caleb plays the guitar and sings backup and his 16 year old son Will Franklin plays the drums - he is amazing! Bethany and I got our picture with him and I was telling him to not be afraid of the 30 year old groupies :-) It was really a great concert - both entertaining and spiritually challenging. SCC has a great heart for adoption - he has adopted 3 little girls from China and he has such a passion to help the orphans of the world. Hearing him talk about adoption reminded me again of how proud I am of my brother and his wife - they felt called to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia and last year in December they traveled over there and brought Caleb home - he has been such a joy to our family!

Lightning McQueen & Sally

Thanks to Crew Chief Auntie Lizzie, a Pit Crew consisting of Grammy and Mommy and a Maintenance Crew of Pop Pop and Daddy, we have Lightning McQueen and Sally for Halloween!!

Hmmm...what would it be like to have 5 kids?!

Well, we got a taste of it this weekend! We had Bethany & Quenton's kids for the weekend and it was really a lot of fun! Of course, it would be much harder to do ALL the time, not just for a weekend. Their kids are so good and get along so well with our kids that it really was not hard - it just takes a long time to do things for 5 kids!!! Jon was at work on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and so getting lunch ready for 5 hungry kids was quite the task!!









Briar is at such a fun age and Jon and I both really enjoyed having a baby around again! On Saturday morning when I was showering and getting ready, Jon was reading books to Briar on our bed and I walked in and saw the way he was looking at her and I said, "Oh no honey, do you want another baby girl now?" and he said, "Um, yeah, how can you not? Look at her!" Ahhh, she is such a sweetie pie!

11 Years!

It's hard to believe that 11 years have already passed since Jon and I got married! This year we got to take some time to just be alone and reflect on the last 11 years and talk about our hopes/plans/dreams for the next 11+. I've posted some pics here of us enjoying each other without kids - it's good to remind yourself once in awhile that you really like this person you have kids with! :-)

Second Generation Friendship!

This is a picture of Sophia & Eden. Eden is the daughter of my best friend Bethany. Bethany and I met when I was 11 and she was 13 and became inseparable (at least until we met our husbands!). We roomed together in college, lived together post-college and were the maid/matron of honor in each other's weddings. Our husbands became very good friends in college and it's just one of those very special friendships for life. For the first 8 years after we both got married (in '96) we lived far apart, but then by a twist of fate, luck, providence, whatever you want to call it, Bethany, Quenton and family moved here 3 years ago and live 1 hour away from us. When they moved here, we decided it probably would not be permanent since all of their family is in the Midwest and so we have tried to enjoy every minute we can with them. We have definitely built a lot of special memories over these last 3 years, and hope to build many more for as long as we're blessed to have them nearby. It has been such a delight for me to see our kids become friends! They truly love each other and have built such a foundation of friendship that I hope lasts a lifetime for them too. B&Q took our kids for us overnight this past weekend so we could have some alone time for our anniversary (next post) and it was just so great to know that our kids are so comfortable with them, it was like they were at their second home.

So, back to the picture of Sophia & Eden - we've always thought they look like they could be sisters - which is funny because Bethany & I don't look anything alike! But we love it that they do. :-)

Our Baby Girl Goes to School (slide show)

I just learned how to make a slide show so I thought I'd add these pics.

Fall - - My Favorite Season

Serious Turkey! Sophia, 7 months.

The Big Apple & The Statue of Liberty - Halloween '06

Dora & Boots - Halloween '05

Ah, there is so much to love about fall! I have always loved this season. Jon and I got married in October and we had the most perfect weather on our wedding day and usually have beautiful weather to celebrate our anniversary. I love buying pumpkins and mums and getting out all of the fall decor (seeing as brown is my all-time favorite color, my house looks best in the fall). I love food associated with the fall - anything pumpkin, apples, soups, cider etc.

I love Halloween now that I have kids - it's all about the costumes, not the candy! Thanks to Auntie Lizzie, my kids have had some pretty cool costumes (see pics!).

I love Thanksgiving! I'm starting to think it is my favorite holiday because there is not the stress and craziness like there is at Christmas. Last year I went shopping on Black Friday for the first time and I think that will be a tradition (how about it Lizzie?!). This year I am taking the entire week of Thanksgiving off because Jon has that week off and it will be a nice time for us to reconnect after a busy football season ends.

The beautiful weather today just made me want to share all the reasons I love this time of year. I am so glad to live in a state that truly has 4 seasons (although I could live with a shorter winter!)

Our Baby Girl Goes to School

It does not seem possible that Sophia is ready to be in full-day kindergarten 5 days a week! Where did the past 5 1/2 years go?! I was telling her how mommy & daddy are having a hard time getting used to having her gone all day and she just looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Sorry, but I still want to go to school!" We are so proud of her and are excited for her to have this new experience. Here is a pic from her first day.

Joining the blog world!

I've been wanting to do this for some time and am finally getting around to it - hopefully I'll keep up with updating it! I will even try to convince Jon to post once in awhile too! :-)