christmas letter 2012...

...Merry Christmas from the bruin’s...

We hope that you have had a wonderful year and are enjoying this joyous season.  With 4 littles in the house things can be crazy at times all the time, so we are trying hard to slow down and focus on advent and the birth of Jesus.  That means we have given up some things (like baking!), but our annual letter is something that did not get cut!  We do so enjoy hearing from everyone around Christmas and wanted to be able to share with you too.

(family photos in no particular order!!)

God has certainly blessed us in 2012!

January:         Carsten turned 3, and we spent the month staying in and snuggling tiny baby Henry.

February:       Steve was ordained as a deacon at church. We drove to Edgerton for Henry’s first visit to the farm over a long President’s Day weekend.  Grace learned how to knit from Cary’s mom!

March:           We enjoyed the first signs of spring and being able to play outside more. Henry was rolling over easily now(4 months)!

April:               The chicken pox outbreak of 2012 - Grace came down with it first mid month and had to miss a week of school.

May:               Willem and Carsten got the pox 2 weeks later, then Henry got it one week after that.  After a month of being quarantined, we really enjoyed our trip to Willmar for Mother’s Day!  Also, we finally got a playset for the backyard (Best. Purchase. Ever.).

June:              Summer break began!  Cary’s mom came to stay for a week during VBS and we made (LOTS of) strawberry jam.  Henry started crawling first and then sitting up (7 months).  Willem turned 5, and Cary and the kids enjoyed a road trip to both grandparents at the end of the month.

July:                It was a busy month of kid activities!  3 weeks of soccer for Grace and Willem, 3 weeks of swimming lessons for Grace, and 1 week of swimming for Willem.  Went camping at Sibley State Park with all of Steve’s family.  Carsten learned to pump on the swings.

August:           We went to the farm for a big hog roast celebrating Cary’s dad’s 60^th birthday and her Uncle Jim and Aunt Marcia’s 50^th wedding anniversary.  Henry signs his first word (“fan” at 9 months)!  Grace turned 7, and we made our annual trip to the state fair. 

September:   School started for Grace (2^nd grade) and Willem (Kindergarten!!!). Cary started teaching Carsten’s Sunday School class.  We had fun attending neighbor Katie and Tyler’s wedding.  Henry says his first word (“bye” at 10 months)!

October:       We participated in the annual CCS bike marathon.  Sister-in-law Amy and niece Evelyn visited us for a super fun week.  We also made applesauce with Steve’s mom.

November:   Henry turned 1 & took his first steps!  We celebrated Thanksgiving in Willmar by Steve’s parents.  Willem learned to tie shoes!

December:   We are focusing on Jesus daily with a special advent calendar.  We enjoyed our annual outing to the Holidazzle parade.  The kids’ Christmas programs have been wonderful!  And we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in Edgerton with Cary’s family.

 

           Henry is such a sweet little boy.  Crazy to think he is already a year old, that went really fast!  He loves his siblings and is in the stage where he is trying to mimic whatever they do and follow them wherever they go.  He takes a few steps at a time now, but reverts back to crawling because he can crawl like lightning and get around much faster.  He has a determined spirit and cannot be distracted easily from something he wants.  He is saying and signing more and more words each day including:  hi, bye, ball, da, ma, yeah, no, more, puppy, fan, light, and all done. 

            Carsten still loves to play with Willem and Grace, but now that they are both in school he has really grown a lot in being able to decide and do things for himself.  It was a big adjustment for him, and he still loves the days that Willem is home from Kindergarten, too.  Carsten loves to play with trucks and cars and balls, and swing outside.  He likes to be read to, and loves to count everything (might be our math boy?!!).  He feeds our 2 goldfish every day, and loves to help momma with Henry.

            Willem is an official Kindergartener and he loves it.  He loves school and is doing very well!  He has known how to read for quite some time now, so academically school is not a challenge, but it took some getting used to the routines and social aspects as well as going for 3 full days a week.  He is always excited to come home and tell us all about his days.  He reads a lot (even some chapter books!!), loves to play outside with his brothers and sister, likes to pretend play inside as well as play with cars and legos and balls (my serving spoons are never in the drawer as the boys use them for “hockey spoons”).

            Grace is growing way too fast for her momma and dadda, and is becoming such a beautiful girl.  She loves school yet, although now that there are a few more responsibilities and tasks to complete for school there is a bit more grumbling than we have heard before.  She loves to play with her friends, but her brothers are still her favorite playmates.  She loves to read as well, loves art and crafting, and music (sings all the time!).  She also loves to play outside.  She is such a great helper with Henry and really dotes on him like a second mom.  Grace was also old enough this year to start with the GEMS program at Faith CRC near us.  This has been a fun activity for her and she loves going to meetings 3 times a month on Wednesday evenings.

            Steve continues his job as a pharmacist at Costco, and is blessed to be busy in today’s economy.  His hours are going to be increased as of 2013, but it hopefully won’t be too much of a change as he has been putting in extra hours for a while already since they have been so busy.  He is also busy as a deacon at church and is enjoying serving on Consistory.  Cary is noticeably busier at home with four kids (imagine that!), but found time to enjoy being part of a small group at church this year, and is teaching Sunday School and also is a room mom at school for the Kindergarten class as well.   

            While there are times that we think life can’t get crazier or busier, we are so blessed to have so much joy and love and laughter in our home.  We wish the same for your home in this upcoming year!  God bless you and yours!          

Much love,

Steve, Cary, Grace Willem, Carsten & Henry 

merry christmas...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

merry, merry...

The house is bustling with finishing up all sorts of Christmas merry...

little gifts for teachers (filled with lots of G&W-made things plus some treats)

  package sent off to MI today...hope it makes it in time!

Christmas cards ready to be addressed and sent...

...and Christmas letter almost finished

All worked on with Christmas music in the background makes for a lot of merry merry in our house this week!

(except for the poor baby who decided to cut FIVE teeth at once...not so merry there!)

worshiping the king...

Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season!  We are taking it easy, plugging in the Christmas lights each day (on 2 trees!), enjoying our advent calendar, not baking (and not blogging much either, sorry!), listening to Fa-La-Lattes, and participating in the programs of the season.  Our church's Christmas program was last night.  Titled, "Worshiping the King" there was readings, songs sung by the kids, instrumental numbers performed by some of the kids (including our dear nieces, great job K&G!!) and also a couple songs by our adult choir.  It is always a joyous night celebrating Christ's birth and as a parent there is nothing better than watching your children sing!  Mom and Dad R were planning on coming up for it, but icy roads prevented it, so I video-taped a few songs to share here for them.  The rest of you can watch too if you would like!  (Just click on any of the photos in the slideshow below to play)
 


Stay tuned for the school program at the end of this week! =)

hello snow...

a book for my baby...

I was blown away by this blog post from SouleMama back in May.  She and her kids made this fabric book for their youngest daughter's first birthday.  What an awesome idea.  What a perfect gift for a child who lives in a house full of kids and toys already.  What an incredible amount of work and there is no way I could do that.

Well?

I kept coming back and reading that blog post and looking at the photos over the next few weeks.  I even commented to my sister-in-law A "if I start now, do you think I could get this done by November 2?"  I eventually convinced myself that I could and I did made a book very similar for H for his first birthday.

Now A, once I showed her pictures of the finished product, said I was a super momma.  I happen to completely disagree with her.  I am just a stubborn momma.  My heart loved the idea, and my head said I was nuts to think I could do that with a house full of littles.  I maybe should have listened to my head, but I was just plain crabby that the sensible thing to do was not do it.  So my heart is happy that it is finished.  And I enjoyed doing it (even if I did have to fight for time to complete it).

Ten things I learned while making this book for H:
1.  Layout takes an incredible amount of time and is extra important with a book to make sure you have the order right.
2.  Take the time to think the whole project through and see if there were any ways to complete it easier without compromising the quality.  (I made big rectangles of the same fabric on both sides for pages which allowed me to use the same color thread for a longer time and that saved a lot of extra hullabaloo, and the only place I have two of the same pattern together is the very middle page.  If that makes any sense.)
3.  It is totally worth it to get higher quality materials.  (The fabric I got from our local quilt store rather than the big-box and it was oh so soft and adorable and wonderful to work with.  The photo fabric I used was awesome, and I also splurged for good batting which helped tremendously when putting it together.)  Ultimately it will save you time and frustration to get the good stuff.
4.  Think twice sew once, or spend a lot of quality time with your seam ripper.
5.  Seam rippers are amazing inventions.
6.  My kids are talented and love their brother and went beyond my expectations with what they came up with for their pages in H's book
7.  A bottom freezer makes an excellent table for cutting and planning.  (Sewing in the basement wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.)
8.  Always listen to my mother-in-law's sewing suggestions when she gives them...she is usually right.  =)
9.  If you think you have a dull needle, change it.  It will save you a lot of grrrrrrring at your sewing machine culminating in a completely bent needle because it was too dull.
10.  Completing this project over a months' worth of naps worked, but was hard (just when I would get in the groove of something H would wake up and I would have to stop).

It sapped about all the creative crafty out of me, but it was totally worth it. 

cutting all the pieces out :: layout!! :: beginning to sew the photos to the fabric

pinning the pages with the batting  ::  G - "look momma!  this little girl is helping her mom like I am helping you!"  ::  W putting the pins back in the pin cushion for me.  This is a job that I distinctly remember doing for my mom when I was little.  Although W did not put all the pins in by color like I used to do, he did match up my thread and bobbins

G helped turn a couple pages after they were sewn  ::  top stitching  ::  hand sewing the pages all together

H really likes it.  He "OOOooo'd" when he first got it, and loves to look and point at the people he loves on the pages.  He also likes to crawl around with it on his head, but that is just totally him.  I am so happy he loves it, just like I love this little guy so.

And in case you would like to read it, I am going to try to put a slideshow here of the book's pages:

a meaningful Christmas...

Christmas is my favorite season of the year.  I have wonderful memories of Christmas's growing up with my family and then with S and the kids as our own family has started and grown.  But honestly, my favorite memories are always of simple things and simple traditions...opening stockings on Mom & Dad's bed, candlelight services at church, Christmas lights on the loft in my dorm room, S's & my first Christmas tree (18 inches tall with tiny ornaments...all that would fit in our 350 sq ft apartment!), the kids's Christmas programs, Christmas pj's for the kids, Holidazzle parade, and Advent calendars.

A quote in an article we recently read started us thinking about how we celebrate Christmas and what, or who, we should focus on: "Our family is going to celebrate Jesus this year in a manner worthy of a humble Savior who was born to two teenagers in a barn and yet still managed to rescue humanity."   It is very easy to get caught up in the commercial side of Christmas these days, even without being greedy.  It is even hard for me as a parent not to want to buy our kids everything they could possibly want!  But do I remember every single gift that I have ever gotten for Christmas?  No.  (Although there have been some great presents, don't get me wrong!)  Do our kids need an enormous pile of gifts under the tree?  No. (Want-Need-Wear-Read will be good!)

We want our kids to have a meaningful Christmas.  To make special memories and to keep/start traditions (decorating the house with dada and momma, the advent calendar, the Holidazzle parade, watching Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer - kids just watched it this weekend with Mrs. L and loved it, Christmas pj's, and Christmas programs at school and church).  But overall, to know the reason we celebrate Christmas and how huge a gift that God gave us when He sent His Son, Jesus, to be born...to teach us...and to ultimately die on the cross to save us from our sins.  Without Christmas we would have no hope.  And when the reason for Christmas is taken out of our hands, suddenly the pressure is off too.  I can't make it a perfect Christmas for my kids or for S or for myself - Christmas is way bigger than me.  But what I can do is share the story and the love and the meaning of Christmas and it is ok if one day of the advent calendar is missed or if I can't make handmade gifts for everyone.  Because hopefully we will all be focusing on Jesus and not on whether or not the Christmas cookies get burned or even made at all!

Phew!  What a lead-in to the 3 photos that I wanted to share today!!

One of the things that Steve and I want to do with the kids this year is give.  And have the kids have a part in the giving whether it be choosing where to send money, or what we could do for some someone.  And fortunately one opportunity was laid in our laps from school:  Operation Christmas Child.  Students were invited to pack a shoebox for a child in another country who would not get a gift otherwise.  We watched videos about the program and saw some stories of children who have received boxes.  G was especially touched by these.  That night before bed she told me "Momma, I am thankful for our family and that we can have presents and that we can give presents to people who can't buy presents themselves."  And so we headed out to Target to pack plastic shoeboxes with school supplies, hygiene items, new socks, and toys and fun things for some boy or girl in their age category (we let G, W & C each pack a box).  Then they wrote notes to their new friend who would get this box on the back of a photo of the kids.  We brought them to school during a special chapel where the kids were encouraged to serve others at school, in their community, and in the world.  (Besides Operation Christmas Child, they introduced another global project the students will be working on in the next couple months...I'll share more about that later.)  Our kids were all excited about helping others and we hope that these things will begin to instill a lifelong servant attitude in our kids.

white friday...

No waking up at the break of dawn or earlier to wait in line for deals at stores for this momma (are you kidding?  lose more sleep?), rather our Friday after Thanksgiving was spent with dear friends having fun in our first playable snowfall.  So. much. fun.

and how cute are these babies?!!

thankful....

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."   James 1:17

"Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."    Psalm 103:1-5 

Bless the Lord, oh my soul!

a lovely evening...

I love my husband so.  His birthday is 5 days after H's, and although I had plans to make it special,  S didn't mind that I couldn't find a gift for him this year, the house didn't get cleaned, G had to leave approximately 30 minutes after he got home from work, my attempt at making steak and potatoes for supper was awful (read non-edible!!!), and the birthday pie was not homemade.

So life is made of a lot of planned days like H's and S's birthdays that don't turn out like we hoped, but it is also made up of a lot of wonderful surprises like last week Wednesday.  S was off for the day, and we didn't have much planned, but on a spur of the moment he asked if we wanted to have a campfire for supper.  And so we did, and what a great evening we had together - pizza sandwich picnic, smores, and playing in the dark on a chilly fall night...

(3 kids swinging in the dark, can you see them? =)

Thankful, so thankful, for wonderful evenings like these, and yes, also for evenings like H's and S's birthdays.  While none of them turned out like I thought they would, at the end of each night I was overwhelmed by the incredible blessings that God has given us.

a birthday...

My baby turned one on Nov 2.  There.  I said it.  I still can hardly believe it, but I said it.  Without tears this time even...ok, maybe just a few. =)

Birthdays are pretty low-key for us.  We celebrate together and usually invite over family and neighbors to join us if they can, but no themes or invites or Chuck-E-Cheese or dozens of little kids running all over.  We also usually go out to eat at Noodles and Co, a family favorite.  Requests are also granted for dessert/cake and some other special foods on the big day.  And of course gifts, which I told you we are starting to do the want, need, wear, read, and also any homemade when we can.

But I really wanted to do something special for this baby of mine for his birthday since he is #4.  I didn't want it just to be run over or forgotten in all the busy that is four children.  Now I know, this was really just for me as a momma, and for photos for him later since all he needs for the day to be special is for momma and dadda to hold and snuggle him a little extra and for big sister and brothers to dote on him just a little extra too.  BUT, I moved forward with plans for a simple gathering after supper with yummy cupcakes and pretzels/crackers and dip to make for low stress and easy visiting (hindsight, I would have forgotten drinks like I always do and would have stressed about it, sigh.).

 (Don't worry, I didn't go totally overboard here, 

I emailed this out using a super easy app that sis.in.law A showed me.)

I also moved forward with plans for gifts for this little boy...a tiny water bottle like his brothers' and sisters' big ones (want), new soft shoes since the hand-me-down ones were almost worn through (need - thanks Aahma and Boppa!), new bibs to let him go to town with eating table food himself (wear - thanks Aahma and Papa!), favorite new book to replace the falling apart one that he can't get enough of (read), a fabulous home-made toy from his siblings, and a momma-made gift.  A gift I have been obsessing about eyeing since this summer and finally decided that I was not going to let the excuse of 4 kids and no time stop me from making it for him. 

I had been working on the gift during naptimes for almost 3 weeks before his birthday and was thinking I would really be able to get it done though I had to promise my dear husband that I would not stress out about it and that I knew if he got it a week late that it was ok.  But I really thought I could get it done (with only minimal stressing!) until it came to the Tuesday before his birthday.   I got a terrible head cold, before I was even done getting over my last head cold.  But I thought if I could just get through to Friday I could rest and be sick after that.  Well, the Lord apparently needed to remind me again that I am not in control over everything even when I am trying to not stress about it.  I came down with the stomach flu Thursday night.  Bluch.  Then H came down with my horrible head cold so he was sick and miserable too!  Fortunately S had taken H's birthday off so H and I were able to just be sick and sleep all day Friday while S took care of everything else.  But H's party was officially cancelled, I officially did not finish my gift, and I was upset about it all.  I thought I was upset for H because I wanted him to have such a special birthday, when really I was upset for myself because it didn't turn out the way I wanted it too.

And then the big kids got home from school and were all excited for the birthday boy.  I was able to be awake for more than 30 minutes.  We got Noodles for supper and I felt like eating.  We stuck a candle in a rice crispie bar from noodles and we sang Happy Birthday 2 times because H enjoyed it so much and smiled and clapped.  We gave him his presents (mostly unwrapped...shhhh! don't tell!) and he loved them.  And...

...H took his first steps.  On his first birthday.

It was SUCH a special birthday, one that all of us will remember.  Yes partly because we were sick, but mostly because of H's laughs and giggles and how proud he was when he took that first step and we all cheered him on!  And how we had such a good evening together despite the sick and no party.

Lesson learned (until 5 days later, but that is a story for another post).  Now onto pictures!

 Happy Birthday sweet H!  (he loved the rice crispie bar, by the way)

(and just so you don't freak out I quickly took the flaming candle away before he grabbed it =)

And here is the game the kids made H!!!  It is seriously awesome.

They decorated the sides and top of an oatmeal container, and I cut the hole in the top.

Then they filled it with plastic practice golf balls.

And now H can have fun putting all the golf balls in the container for a hole in one ("since he is ONE now momma!").

I know he looks skeptical in the photo, but give the boy a break - he was running a fever!  He really loves it and will sit and play with this over and over.  And the big kids loved that they were able to make him a gift!

And is this not the cutest no-haired sipping on a tiny water bottle wearing new tractor shoes one year old ever?

Love him.

Always.

(stay tuned for a post on his accomplishments now that he is one,

and also a post on that gift I am almost done making him!)

fun friday...

 Coon Rapids Dam

supposed to be a special picnic snack of "monkey smores"...

but silly "gettingdarkbeforefiveoclock" time is already upon us...

so snacks were enjoyed indoors instead.  (warmer and easier to clean up the mess too!)