prepping for christmas.

ahh, the most wonderful time of the year.  it's here, and i couldn't be more excited.  but the fight to remain "un-busy" (that could be a word, right?) seems so much harder around this time, you know?  it's like a rule or something.  from thanksgiving until the first week of january, you must be busy.

period. not up for discussion. 

we are fighting the good fight, though, and trying to make the most of this holiday season and treasure the spirit of what this season means.  so, like a lot of families, we tried to start doing an advent calendar and activities each day to prepare for christmas.  however, two days into it, we discovered that with our schedule, it just doesn't really work.  we have a window of time between 11:30 am until 1:30 pm that is "free", where for the most part, we are all together under the same roof, but it just feels like too much to try to schedule some type of activity in there.  i tried really hard to organize it, creating a calendar of full of family activities for everyday, and on that second day when i was sitting on the couch all by myself, i realized i was going to have to let go of my advent ideals and just have to accept that it might have to be more spontaneous this year.  so when the opportunity presents itself, we jump on it.  it's a lot less stressful and way more fun!  the other night was one of those times.  we grabbed dinner out and as we drove home in the snow, mike drove right past the driveway and headed over to a house that puts on a musical light display complete with their own radio frequency.  it was such a simple activity, but to us it was so special to have a night where we could choose to live in the freedom of a night without responsibilities.

my heart's desire for christmas in our home is to protect the spirit of christmas and create fond memories for our kids.  i want eli and any future children to look back and remember the fun we had during this time of year, as well as to learn from a young age why we celebrate christmas.  but i'm thinking, this is really hard with a 2 year old.  we tried reading through the "jesus storybook bible" and you would have thought we were reading from encyclopedia britannica.  he sat through maybe a paragraph and proceeded to climb off my lap and locate the nearest toy to escape.  so, either our child hates the bible or he's just not quite ready for that level of reading material.  so, then i found a children's book, a golden book no less, about the christmas story.  perfect. this will be perfect.....until we come across sentences like "The streets were full of cheerful, jostling kinsmen." really? jostling kinsmen?  so that book will go on the shelf until next year or 5 years from now.  i guess for now we will stick to talking about the nativity set and try to focus less on the wise men bringing Jesus presents and more on baby Jesus.

and of course, what's christmas without some crafting? this time of year always sparks my desire to make all the things.  and naturally i want to impart my love for arts and crafts onto my son.

here's a recent conversation between mike and i after an arts and crafts session:

me: "so i feel like eli isn't going to love crafts like i want him to."
mike: "what do you mean?"
me: "well, i try to do crafts with him, and he he's done after like 2 minutes. he just doesn't seem to love it."
mike: "well, he is 2."

yes, there is that.  me and my high expectations.  i will keep trying though, don't you worry!

on a completely unrelated note, can i tell you what i can't get enough of this christmas season? candles!  i love christmas scents. my hands down favorite christmas candle is one i found at kohl's years ago called "white christmas".  i stock up every year.  but then there are so many other yummy smells.  i seriously have to restrain myself from buying a candle every time i go to the store.   there's just something about cozying up the couch with a hot drink and candles burning when there's snow on the ground and a chill in the air.

now if only those little elves would be so nice as to come keep my house clean everyday in preparation for christmas.......

how do you prepare for christmas at your house?

summer bucket list '13: the zoo

we can finally cross an item off of our bucket list this summer.

{sure, summer is almost half over, but technically we have until september 21, right?}

last week we hit up the national zoo in DC.

what a great trip!

we went with one of my best friends, her 2 kids, niece & nephew & a family friend of theirs.

she was a brave woman in my book to venture out in the city with 5 kids in the 90+ degree weather, taking the zoo by storm!

yeah, 90+degree weather, you read it right.

it was melt-your-face-off hot.

surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. 

between the shade, the indoor enclosures & misters, we survived & had a very enjoyable time.

i highly recommend checking out the zoo.
best part? it's free.
and in eli's opinion, definitely worth the "choo choo" ride to get there!

what's your favorite part of the zoo?

details.

 sure, i've known about it for months, but of course, here it is july 1, and i'm just now getting around to switching over to bloglovin'. 

in true shannon fashion, naturally. 

so, if you haven't done so already, my faithful followers, you can find me if you just click on this link right here:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 and because who wants a blog post with just silly information like, 

"hey, go follow me in a new place"??

some pictures to catch you up on life lately and some thoughts on how God shows himself in the details of every day life.

we finally got our pool opened.

we were really holding our breath on this one because that pool has some type of curse on it or something. 

we gave up last year after it collapsed twice & i just prayed that this year would be the year that we wouldn't have issues so that eli would be able to enjoy it. 

God cares even about small details like being able to be refreshed after a hard workout & seeing a smile like the one above light up our little boy's face.

another project that has been looming over our heads for several months now.

these bookshelves.

friends, today they are finished!

i put the last coat of paint on this morning & they are now ready to be styled.

which honestly, it's kind of an intimidating task to me.

there's a lot of shelves & i really want them to look cool.

i might need some help in this department.....

i'll keep you posted!

i wanted to share another blessing that has happened recently that shows how God shows up in the details. 

if you remember, mike & i have been on a journey to a healthier lifestyle which includes participating in crossfit 3 times a week.
{it's been AWESOME, by the way!}
recently mike aggravated an old injury which was impeding on his ability to do crossfit.
so, our coach called up a chiropractor who used to work out there to see if he would be able to see mike.
not only did he say yes, but he's been seeing him every day after working out for the past 2 weeks FOR FREE!
{we don't have health insurance right now, so HUGE BLESSING!}

 we are about to enter into month 3 of our journey & just within the last probably month or so, i've really tried to change some of my eating habits.
i am a sugar fiend.
there, i've said it.
i absolutely cannot keep sweets in the house, or i will devour them.
and this is one of the major changes that i have made.
i have cut out sweets, save for one cheat day throughout the week.
even on my cheat days, i've done pretty good & haven't gone buckwild with the desserts.
but saturday i was craving a donut &, i can't believe i'm going to say this, but (insert shamed face here), i totally ate two of them!
oh my gosh, they were so good!
{and i definitely took the opportunity to do the extra credit workout today at the box!}

 mostly, though, i really do try to keep things healthy!
see, grilled chicken!
{and if you have a trader joe's near you, you definitely should try this soyaki out! yum!}

 what i'd most like to say about life lately is that i am truly amazed by how much this little boy is growing & changing day by day.
the other day i made a list of all the words he is saying & it was somewhere near 75.
how is it even possible that almost 2 years ago i was heading into the hospital wondering what life was going to be like as the mom of this little boy?

we have been beyond blessed with this little one & with how God has ordained our time in this season of life.
 just the other day mike & i were thinking about how decisions we've made to trust God when it just didn't make much sense have led us to where we are now.

not long before he took the job with the paper, he was actually offered another job with another paper.
most people suggested he take this because it was a job offer & at the time, after over a hundred  applications, it would be stupid not to.
but deep down, i just didn't have a peace about it.
i felt like he wouldn't be happy in this position & i felt like, if we held out for just a little longer, God was going to lead him to the perfect job.
{you can read more here.}
because of this job, he gets to spend his days with us.
we get to spend family time doing things during the week when places are not crowded like they are on the weekends.
 we like this. a lot.
 he & i have been able to embark on a life changing adventure doing cross fit, together.
this is huge to us because we are each other's biggest fans which makes toughing it out during a grueling workout so much more enjoyable!

and maybe they seem like such inconsequential things, but to us, they speak volumes of the way our Lord loves us & takes care of us.
it reminds us to not take these things for granted.
they are gentle reminders of His hand at work in our lives, weaving the pattern of His plan & His purpose for our lives.

our summer bucket list

"summa, summa, summa time,

time to sit back and unwind"

anyone else recognize this as the official call to summer?

to be honest, i have not heard this song in a super long time, but it seemed like as soon as we heard this song playing over the radio waves, it was like summer could officially begin.  

then up until 2 years ago, it was that magical day known as the last day of school.

one of the most glorious days of all time. 

these days it's more like, it's hot and attendance is down at church.....must be summer!

this year we won't get to do a summer vacation & so i thought it would be fun to do a summer bucket list in order to give us some fun things to do & experience as a family. 

recently mike & i came up with our list while on a mini-date.

we were really happy with our list & are looking forward to crossing things off!

what would be/is on your summer bucket list??

life lately {i'm still here!}

so it's been a little while since i've posted. 

yeah, about that.

it's funny because i was just reading a blog today in which the girl announced her pregnancy. 

she said that generally when a blogger takes a long break it's because she's pregnant. 

nope, no pregnancy here.

sorry folks.

just a little case of writer's block, i guess?

i don't know.

i've sat down several times over the last few weeks to write & ended up just staring at the blank screen for a while, then just shutting the computer & pushing it aside. 

but i've missed this little corner of mine on the ol' blogosphere & thought i would check in to say,

 

"hey! i'm still here!"

i don't have much to say today, but oh so many pictures that speak about what's been happening around here lately. 

{i'll try no to overdo it!}

if you follow me on instagram, this is old news.

so....a few from the camera...

thanks for letting me share these with you. 

it makes me feel really good to be back here!

snowstorm of the season

we've made out pretty good this winter as far as snow goes, in that, we haven't had much!

i'm not a big fan of snow. 

before i became a mom, snow was my favorite because i was a teacher & snow meant snow days.

no school!!

hubby & i could spend all day in our pjs. 

i could spend all day snuggled up reading a book.

 though these days i can definitely spend all day in my pjs (yep, happens quite frequently), i don't get much reading done.

wednesday we were supposed to get a big snow storm. schools were closing the night before even before a flake fell from the sky.  i guess because we haven't had snow is so long, people were forgetting what it was like! 

and when we woke up.....i'm not even sure we had 3 inches!

some storm.

but since this was the last of the snow we will see for awhile, we took eli out to play in the snow for the first time. 

 i had to get some good use out of the $2 puffy coat i scored at a local thrift store earlier this year!

i had to document it too so that he knew that there was a day that mama came out in the snow with him. (playing in the snow with my kids will be a labor of love for me. i dislike it sooooo much!)

this boy & his sticks.

he just loves them!

poor dink had to stay inside.

 

i think he could've stayed out all morning, but mama was freezing.  

he threw a fit when it was time to come in.   

all he wanted to do was shovel & shovel & shovel some more. 

 

soon enough we will venture outside, though we won't be wearing our puffy coats!

this weekend it's going to get close to 60 degrees!!

come on, spring!

 

my week via instagram {missed week}

so i'm sure everyone was worried about the fact that i missed a week of posting my pics.

i got busy & then i started feeling like i was getting sick, so i laid low.

now i'm back with tons of pics to share.....though i can't say the "i think i'm getting sick" feelings are gone.  

i blame this crazy weather....and my dad.

stay tuned to my next post to find out why!

we headed down to williamsburg on tuesday thanks to groupon!

our first family vacay!

 this was our little home away from home for a few days.

we stayed at the historic powhatan inn & would highly recommend it.

it was a really great place to stay.  

here's eli testing out the bed for us.  

now as for colonial williamsburg....not exactly our cup of tea.

unfortunately we learned an expensive lesson in figuring this fact out.

mike took this pic to represent our feelings towards this lesson.

this was one of the highlights of our trip...taking eli swimming!

he was pretty indifferent towards the giant bathtub.

but he certainly looked ADORABLE in his swim trunks!

every friday i want to try to sneak some pics of our connect group & i finally managed to do it.

this group is a very important part of our lives.

we're very blessed to have them in our lives!

and yes, charlie is an active participant in the group.

 for the last {maybe...can't remember exactly} 7 years we have celebrated what we call 

"the sager family christmas".

it started with just myself, smit & the sagers.

then mike came along.....

and this year we added caleb.

we have never actually celebrated at christmas....it's always been late january.

but this year our schedules were so crazy that we put it off until st. patty's day.

we exchanged gifts with the kids & gift cards between the adults.

we had to shoot them with the nerf gun in order to claim them. 

to top it off, we had breakfast for dinner:

green pancakes!

and just for fun:

green beer.  

then smit asked jen & i to be her matrons of honor.

woo hoo! smit's getting married! {finally :)}

 finally, we have the #marchphotoaday pics:

1.  "fork" -  monday of this week we had some of mike's family over for dinner. what a great time!

2.  "a sign" - our entrance into colonial williamsburg

3.  "clouds" - i was totally on cloud 9 when we found a sweet frog in williamsburg.

we LOVE sweetfrog & can't wait for it to open here!!

4.  "car" - this was the view from the car on our way home from our trip.

1.  "sunglasses" - my new faves

2. "green" - old faves

3. "a corner of your home" - where i rock & sing eli to sleep

now it's on to the next post....see you there!