Friday Funnies

The latest in hair accessories:

UPDATE: People have kindly asked for clarification if the airplane was successfully removed from Dandelion #4's hair.  It was indeed.  No crazy haircut needed.

34 Weeks of Clean, Week 2

For the record, I'm behind.  If you want to keep up with Michele as she blazes the cleaning trail, pop over to her blog.

Week Two's assignment was the pantry.  It's the ONE closet we actually have in this house.  It has built in, adjustable shelves, then we added some wooden shelves, and a big US oven.  Being right off our kitchen, it's where we store our food, paper goods, cleaning items, recycling bins, and more.

 I had been wanting to re-adjust a few shelves, rearrange the storage, and it was good to wipe all the shelves down.  I also had a couple bins that had junk food and some expired items that needed to be discarded.  Though I do shop on the economy for all our fresh items, I realized how much I stockpile from our monthly trek to the commissary.  I have an entire shelf dedicated just to peanut butter and cereal!

BEFORE

AFTER

Friday Funnies

The Belgian breakfast of champions.

Friday Funnies

Sitting at dinner the other night, Dandelion #3 pipes up in a serious tone, "Hey mom, I need to tell you something.  Never shake hands with a lobster."  

I asked her from where she gleaned such wisdom and she responded, "I read it in a book.  A long time ago.  I stored it in my brain."

Such is AF life...

Just when we are getting into our groove, there's a change in the tune...

(Can you hear the scratching, screeching halt of the record player?)

Last week, the Hubs flew off to another continent for a few months TDY.  We've been apart for a lot longer, but it's still a long time.  He's in a location where I'd love to be, near sweet friends, and all things English & familiar.  We'd planned to accompany him until we actually crunched the numbers.  Phooey.  Plus, it's just not easy to put life on hold in Europe.  Figuring out how to hold mail, pay bills and manage our affairs here was daunting.  It's just not as easy as in the states.  That, and I still have curtains to hang...

Thankfully, as we are settling in, God is connecting us with new friends who have been kind to offer help.  I have also (finally) learned to just go ahead and put on the life ring before we jump into another separation, lest I drown.  Grandma is coming to visit for a whole month, we've hired a wonderful gal to help with the house, another girl to come watch the kids so I can escape go to Bible study at church and run errands, and we've had lots of other offers to lend a hand at any time, as things arise.  I am grateful, and every day, the paper chain gets shorter!

34 Weeks of Clean, Week 1

My friend Michele is hosting a 34 week series on cleaning and decluttering...two things I truly appreciate!  Every Friday, she'll be giving a new assignment/goal for the week.  I've completed week one myself, but I'm behind on posting, so if you want to join in, hop over to her blog: Family, Faith and Fridays

Advent Traditions

Advent season...preparing our hearts and minds to celebrate our Savior's birth.  I love to decorate for my own kids' birthdays, so of course I delight in decorating for Jesus' day!  We have several traditions over the advent season.  Some are from my childhood, some are new, some are just for fun, but most are to teach our kids about the true meaning of CHRISTmas.

Hot chocolate, popcorn and Christmas movies in the evenings...The Nativity Story is our favorite!

Lighting the advent wreath at dinner every night...complete with Cheerios for decoration.  If you are looking for advent readings to do, we love the ones Thriving Family publishes every year.  

Our "What God Wants for Christmas" nativity and book.  You can find it at Family Life.

Our countdown tree, hand-crafted by my talented mama.  It's a tradition from my own childhood.

Baking Christmas cookies with Grandma TX (with Grandpa as taste-tester).  They traveled almost 5000 miles to keep up the tradition this year!

All dressed up for candlelight service!

Opening one gift on Christmas Eve...it's always new PJs from G&G H.  The kids haven't figured that out, yet, though, so they're always surprised.

Cinnamon rolls and mimosas (for mom and dad) on Christmas morning.  There are no unhealthy, pre-made, out-of-the-can kind in Belgium, so I had to make them from scratch this year.

Stockings and presents on Christmas morning.

We have other traditions too...Christmas-themed books that only come out at Advent, several nativities for the kids to play with, and more.  One of these years, I really want to do a Jesse Tree.  

We did not have a white Christmas this year, but just a couple days later, we surprise snow storm.  We left town just as it began, but there was still a little bit left when we returned.