Goals for 2012

Last year, I did a whole post on what I do in lieu of New Years Resolutions.  I like goals to set goals for myself, challenges to overcome, and think of way to be better in life.  Scot and still have to sit and do our big annual "check-up", but for now, while I have time, I thought I'd post about this year's goals.

To recap on last years' goals:

Black type = last year's goal.  Pink type = a review of the past year and 2012 goals. 

Bible. This past year I finally got into a good rhythm with my quiet time and I want to keep that up. It's so hard sometimes with the boys and life, but I always feel so much more refreshed when I've spent time with the Lord and His Word. I was thankfully able to accomplish this goal for the most part.  Leading a ladies Bible study helps, but also makes it a little more challenging to have a separate quiet time.  
For 2012: Read through the Old Testament with Scot and have a more structured family worship time in the morning after breakfast with the boys.

Food. This year we didn't do as much tweaking as previous year. We're committing to going hormone/antibiotic free on our milk, eggs and meat (which is only chicken since we cut out cooking with red meat a few years ago), and buying a fruit/vegetable wash spray thing for produce items. I also want to post something new on the food blog once a week.  Well, we went above and beyond this one going vegan in the house.  I was able to post regularly on the food blog, too.
For 2012: Try to cut refined sugar out of our diet more (in the house) and continue with recipes on the blog.  Entertain more despite our itty-bitty kitchen.

Weight. In previous years, the goal was always to lose to fit into a wedding dress, to get back down to my wedding weight after Evan and before Drew. Now, though, it's just to maintain. I'm back to where I was when I got married, I fit into my wedding dress just fine, and I'm very happy with the way I'm fitting into clothes again. So for now, I will continue to eat healthy and do my little elliptical workouts and maybe even start running again in the summer when it's actually fit to be outdoors.  I actually ended up losing about 5lbs this past year with my continued exersice and healthier eating habits. 
For 2012: Maintain weight and exercise regimen. 

Purge. Each January I purge. Clothes. Toys. Kitchen stuff. Books. Kick nacks. You name it, I go through it. I love the feeling of bringing great big bags to Goodwill or Salvation Army, handing it to the man there, and driving off without a second thought. Ahh...purging. I love it.  I purged through out the year and felt great each time
For 2012: Recycle and Upcycle more.  Coupon when I can (ie: when it won't stress me out) 

Books. I love to read. College slightly zapped my ability to pleasure read for a while, but then I read with a vengeance. And then I had kids. I still have the desire, but the time doesn't seem as plentiful. Somehow the laundry and house and cooking get in the way. So this year, I want to read at least one novel a month. I have a few on my list all ready and I'm excited to look back next year and see what I've read!
I read quite a bit this past year.  You can check out the books I read and reviewed here.  My favorite read was The Paris Wife.
For 2012: Re-read some great parenting books and implement ideas when possible/applicable.  Read some books that I've been meaning to read for a while but just haven't: Heaven at Home and A Proverbs Driven Life to name just two.

Other random goals:

• Do some structured teaching time with Evan twice a week while Drew naps.
• Research homeschooling and curriculums
• Wash, dry, fold AND put away laundry all in one day.  

Here's to a wonderful and happy 2012!

Flying Changes

[Source]

First off, let me say how sorry I am that it's been three whole months since my last book review!  How did that happen?  

Second, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  I know I did.  One of the best things for me this Christmas was the oodles and oodles of time I had to just sit and read.  You'd think I would have read 3 or 4 books with the amount of time I had, but alas, things did need to get done, so only one book was read.  But I'm happy to announce that it was a good one to end my year.  I may not have read a novel or every month, but I think I got at least a dozen in.  That still counts, right?

A while back, I read "Riding Lessons" by Sara Gruen - "Flying Changes" is the sequel.  You don't have to read "Riding Lessons" in order to get "Flying Changes", but it certainly does enrich the reading process to have an entire books worth of background.

Again, I loved Gruen's work on this book. You can tell she put research into her writing, and while her actual writing style isn't quite up to "Water for Elephants" or "Ape House", it's still beautiful and vivid and a cut above most of the fiction novels out there.  It is her second book after all -- you'd hope her writing only gets better and better and not the reverse.

Gruen transports you to a horse farm out in New England and involves you directly in the inner-workings of about 3 or 4 different relationships.  Both the human kind and equestrian variety. The emotions are beautifully  raw and tangible.  On a couple occasions, I caught myself scolding different characters or holding my breath in anticipation. 

A great "beach book" if you need one or just something to pick up while the children are sleeping and the laundry is actually put away.  It only gets really addicting for the last 50 pages, so my house was not in danger of being left untended with this read.

A Christmas mini-recap

For more pictures, go here.

As a last minute decision, we decided to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Basically, I wanted to eat my big piece of cake instead of just looking at it.  We knew we were going to go to church (leaving the house at 9:15am) Sunday morning, and we also knew that we wanted to have our traditional leisurly morning of opening up stockings and eating a big breakfast and then opening presents and going for a walk (if weather allows, which it did) and just lazing about.

Well, that very wonderful traditional picture did not fit inside the "going to church Sunday morning" frame.  

So Friday night when Scot got home from work, I sprang the idea of doing Christmas the next day on him.  Without hesitation he said yes.  Then he told me we needed to wrap like crazy.

So we wrapped like crazy and got the stockings stuffed (I think I've mentioned how much I absolutely adore stockings on here before, but just in case you're new here - I. LOVE. STOCKINGS.) and presents under the tree all in the nick of time.

We were able to tell the boys what was going on before they went to bed, so Evan was quite excited when he woke up.  Drew warmed up once he saw his brother's excitement, but it took a few minutes.

Christmas (eve) morning was everything I could have hoped for and more.  We love to stuff our stockings and do one bigger gift under the tree.  I grew up with a low-key Christmas and bigger birthdays and we're keeping that tradition.  The focus of Christmas for us is Christ after all, right?

The boys both loved their stick horses (who are yet name-less) and their new match-box cars. Scot and I both enjoyed all our gifts, but we really enjoyed watching the boys light up at their little trinkets and gifts.  And for any interested in knowing, the alternative healthier treats went over really well. :)  We were able to regroup during the boys' nap and upon their waking we got ready for our beautiful evening candle-light social and service at church.  It was such a great end to a memorable day.

Christmas morning started off slow with the conclusion to our Advent Door Book (our new family tradition), a delicious breakfast, and opening one gift each left over for this purpose.  And then our morning looked like any other Sunday morning.  The other treat was opening gifts my folks got us in front of the computer on Skype so they could see our(the boys) faces.  It was a sweet time.

What a wonderful celebration of our Lord coming to earth as a babe - fully God and fully man, perfect in every way - in order to die on the cross to atone for our sins. 

Christmas Letter: 2011

Eskestrand Escapades: 6^th Edition

December 2011

Merry Christmas from Cleveland, Ohio! This past year has been one full of ups and down, but the Lord is faithful and pulled us through it.  We hope that no matter what your last year looked like that you, too, were able to experience the joy the Lord’s goodness brings.  For it is only because of the Lord’s gracious mercy that we are able to give a report of our blessings.

*~*~*~*~*

Per usual, we had quite a fun time hosting friends and family who passed through or stayed to visit.  It was an extra special treat to have my folks out to see us this Fall (my mom also came solo in April) – it’s always so fun for the boys to wake up with Grandude & Grammy in the house!  We did our fair share of traveling to visit friends and family, too.  The boys and I were able visit my grandmother in Florida and see my great-grandmother blow out all 90 of her birthday candles.  We took our first “real” road-trip down to NC in the spring to visit a friend I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years, as well as a family I used to babysit for.  The drive was gorgeous and the boys did great.  In June, the whole family was able to make a trip to Chicago to visit family and see the sights, we had a blast riding a real train and doing touristy things.  Unfortunately, Scot was not able to make it out to Colorado with us in the summer, but we still had fun while we were there, -- we enjoyed time with my folks, my grandmother, and saw friends.  Scot and I celebrated 5 years of marriage in August, and we drove the 3.5 hours up to Niagara Falls, ON, and were able to spend a short weekend alone while the boys had a blast with friends down the street.

*~*~*~*~*

Scot started off the year as an intern, or as we like to say, as the dirt underneath the totem pole.  He learned a lot, grew a lot, and is now so thankful to no longer be “dirt” status.  He’s halfway through with his Internal Medicine residency and is looking forward to job-hunting in mountainous regions if that’s the Lord’s will.  He loves being home (the boys shriek and giggle when he walks in the door, so the feeling is quite mutual) and finds great joy in wrestling with them and treating me like a queen.  He’s a great husband and takes delight in caring for the boys when I have somewhere to be, he especially likes taking them to parks.  A high point of his year was being a best man out in Jackson Hole, WY – it was a wonderful weekend getaway for him.  He is also enjoying a lighter call schedule that allows him to attend church more often and even some of our day trips.

*~*~*~*~*

Evan is now 3.5 and our little laid-back sunshine.  After quite a few hard months, he now realizes that the toys he once thought were his alone are actually family toys, and yes, Drew can play with them, too.  He now loves playing, wrestling, and even sharing with Drew.  He is a help and encourager.  It makes our hearts smile when we hear him say “Way to go, Drew”, or “May I help with that?”  He is sensitive and prayerful and our hope is that he never knows a day without the Lord.  He is very literal, which makes for some hilarious conversations and quotes.  He loves playing pretend, running at the park, zooming anything with wheels, kicking the soccer ball with Scot, and helping me cook.  His newest milestone is dropping his afternoon nap a couple times a week, so we’ve had some fun one-on-one time.  He is funny and witty and still loves to “put on a show” much to everyone’s delight.  He is practicing for the upcoming Christmas Program at church and loves learning all the songs. 

*~*~*~*~*

Drew is 20 months and balances our family out with his demonstrative personality.  He is generally a charmer with an easy smile, but he plays, loves, and gets mad with fervor.  He has come a long way in the past year and we are enjoying the sweetness of not being in the 9-18 month stage and finally seeing some hints of self-control and first time obedience.   He tries to do all that Evan does, even if that means climbing a ladder at the park and going down the high swirly slide.  While he is “all boy”, Drew is our cuddler and loves to read.  My heart melts when he comes to me, arms stretched out with a book in hand, saying “Ree? Peas?”   He is frequently seen blowing kisses and waving good-bye to random people and trucks, and he makes us laugh on a daily basis with his random facial expressions.  His newest activity is praying – we don’t understand anything except the “Amen”, but it’s heartwarming to see him close his eyes, fold his hands, bow his head, and talk to God. 

*~*~*~*~*

I’m busy as always being sanctified in my roles as wife, mother, and friend.  I had a rough start to the year until we realized that I needed sunshine to boost my mood.  Since that’s in short supply in the winter months, I now take what I call “happy pills” (aka: Vit D) every day and life is much brighter.  I have really enjoyed getting more plugged in to our amazing church and nurturing some friendships there as well as in other realms of life.  I lead a small Ladies Bible study here at the house each week, and I’ve loved getting to know those women and building a tight community with them – we encourage, challenge, weep, and laugh with each other.  I am exploring and experimenting in the kitchen more than ever, and reading when I get a chance.  I still love to throw a fun dinner party and be outside exercising when possible.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with sweet friends in Pittsburgh and plan to stay quiet for Christmas making memories and building traditions with the boys.

*~*~*~*~*

We pray you enjoy the Christmas season and look forward to all the Lord has in store for you and your family in 2012.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year With love,

Scot, Sarah, Evan & Drew

Frugal Fun: Everlasting Candle

So I totally got this idea from fellow blogger and friend, Kjerste.  (Hi, Kjerste!)  And this year, I was bound and determined to try the tip out.

After searching high and low in stores for a little candle-lit candle tart, I finally just ordered one off Amazon.   Like this one.  And then I took an old candle that I love/d and scraped out the old, dead remains and put them in a baggy for future use.  I got a little tea light and put it all together and let me tell ya what!  I got to smell my favorite candle all day long.  And the next day, too.  And tomorrow, as well.

Pretty neat, huh?

You go from this:

To this:

more Evan funnies

Upon finding some half-chewed bits of cracker on the floor:

Me: What is this?!
Evan:  Drew's crackers.  He bless-you'd them out of his mouth.

---

Talking about Evan playing a little drum in the Christmas Program:

Scot:  Oh, do you think I could play one, too?
Evan: Sure, if you get smaller like me you could play one.

---

On eating breakfast:

Evan: Oh mom!  This is simply delicious!

---

About a particular tree ornament:

Evan:  This one is the prettiest to me (his emphasis)

---

Talking about Noah and the ark:

Me: Yes.  And then all those animal were on the ark.
Evan:  Not on, mom.  They went in to the ark.  Not on top

--

Evan:  No, no, Drew -- that's only for adults.  Not little babies like you.

Proceeds to take the remote from Drew and go sit with it on the futon

Me:  Evan.  Are you an adult?
Evan: Uh, well, I'm not a little baby like Drew.

sledding fun

It finally snowed here today and after about 10 minutes of shoveling, Scot came in and asked if we could go sledding.  At first, I didn't want to go out.  I was comfy in my sweats with some hot tea.  But then I thought of the fun we could have and how well the boys would sleep for their naps. :)  So we took the boys sledding for the first time and after the initial shock of the cold snow flying in their faces, they loved it! 

For all the pictures from morning, go here.  I just couldn't pick which pictures to put up.

Bad Habits

I'm full of bad habits.

Ask my husband, he'd tell you one of his biggest pet peeves is seeing clean and sometimes folded laundry just sit in the laundry basket/s for days. Why is it so hard to put it away?  It seriously takes so much less time to put it in drawers or closets than it does to wash/dry/fold.   Ahh...one of life's mysteries has a name.  Laziness.

In the same vain of laziness but only annoying to myself is this bad habit right here:

Why is it that I can't seem to take my earring off in the bedroom where I have my very pretty wrought iron earring holder and instead must take them off in the bathroom right before I wash my face?  After a few days, I end up with 4 or 5 pairs of earrings sitting in the little cubby.  You'd think I would just put the pair from the day before back in after washing my face the next morning, but no.  I can't do that.  A new outfit requires a new pair of earrings.

So one of my New Year's Resolutions this year is to be less lazy in many areas of life, but especially in the areas of putting clothes and earrings where they belong.

Our little Christmas cow

Evan was a little cow in our church's Christmas program on Sunday morning.  We've been practicing for weeks now.  He didn't have any lines, but he did have to know quite a few (7) songs - either in whole or part.

He did great.  Squirmed a little bit and was distracted by the pretty girls in the back row, but for the most part sang with gusto and faced forward.

It was wonderful to see all the children up there singing and reading and telling the story of our Lord's birth, but it was just so special to see our little guy up there.  He's growing up and doing new things all the time, this being only one of them.

 Walking in to "The Little Drummer Boy" - one of his favorites

 Par Rum Pum Pum Pum

 "Away in a Manger" I think?

Silly little cow

There are a few more pictures here.

it's begun

Brother #1 covering for Brother #2

the conversation went like this:

me: evan? did you do this?

e: yes.

me: buddy, you know better...

e: well, i told drew he wasn't supposed to, so i rolled it back up when he was done

me: oh.  well...thanks.

Photography: Using Bulb

So I'm learning my camera very slowly.  With the help of a little photography group I'm learning faster than if I were going at it alone.  This month I'm experimenting with using the "Bulb" setting on my shutter speed.  It pretty much means that I control when my shutter opens and closes and how much light I let in. The other cool thing is that while the shutter is open, the camera captures all the activity in the lens. It means you can capture really sweet pictures like this:

 [Source]

Obviously, I'm not even close to being able to accomplish this, but it gave me inspiration for this little trial.

 I set the tree up and focused the camera on it and then told the boys to run around it in a circle.  Pretty neat, huh?

This one I'm calling "snow flurries".  There are only 5 little snowflakes, but by leaving the shutter open just long enough to not totally wash the picture out and slightly moving the camera up and down while the shutter is open, I got this lovely, slightly blurry, picture.

I've also taken pictures that look "normal" in bulb, too.  It's pretty simple, you just have to know when to release the shutter so you don't let too much light in. 

 

Oh, and a fun one...this was my very first attempt at a "cool bulb picture".  The neat thing?  There is only one ball and it was stationary for the 'photo shoot'. :)

Too Quiet

You know when the house becomes too still?  Too quiet to be housing two rambunctious boys?

That happened the other day and my mind flew to all the possibilities. 

Toilet paper all over the bathroom.

All my makeup strewn on my bedroom floor.

Clean and folded laundry no longer folded and possibly not even clean.

The list goes on...

So when I came into their room to find this, I was first relieved and then my heart simply melted.

Christmas Tree 2011

 This past weekend was "Tree Getting" weekend.  Every year the weekend after Thanksgiving, we go get our tree.  In years past, we've cut down our own, paid too much at a random "fresh cut" lot, and even gone without when we've been out of town for Christmas day.

This year, we heard that Home Depot had a good selection of trees for a great deal.  Our sources were not lying!  Home Depot was running a promo on Frasier Firs (our favorite due to their stiff branches and moderate fullness -- I like to be able to string my lights and ornaments in the tree as well as on the edges of the branches) to help make people more aware of them.  Well, since we were all ready well aware of how wonderful the trees are, we just stayed in the Frasier Fir rows and headed for the 6-7 foot trees.  We have higher ceilings and I know we could fit one. :)  So for $18, we got a beautiful fresh cut Frasier Fir.

I was fully intending on just setting the tree up in the stand and letting it relax so Scot and I could dress it after church on Sunday, but I decided to put the lights on it ... and then the star ... and then I just couldn't stop myself!  During the boys nap-time, I dressed the entire tree and had a blast while doing it.

Oh, and the boys reactions when they woke up from their nap?  Priceless.

And they are still enthralled. And weren't we all at that age?  To be 3 again and to experience the wonder of Christmas -- the Christmas story, the lights, the underlying excitement...

Evan is beyond captivated by our tree, yesterday I walked into the living room to find this:

Does it get any sweeter than that?

Cookie Decorating!

Last year, a friend of ours hosted their annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Party.

This year, we went again.  And again had a blast.  The Christmas Story was read, cookies were decorated and eaten, and this time both boys were able to play with their friends. 

Healthy Stocking Treats

I know I just posted this over on Hearty Helpings, but in case you don't visit very often, here's the link to some different ideas on how to fill your stockings this year with yummy, healthy, treats!

Also, if you don't follow this blog or the food blog, you should. 

Just sayin'. 

A special visit

When I was in middle school we lived in Washington state.  These were my beyond dorky years.  I'm glad I don't have any pictures to prove it, so you'll just have to take my word for truth.  I know most everyone goes through a dorky stage, but I went through years of dork-hood.  I didn't know how to dress, I had no idea what to do with the mass of unruly hair on my head, and I had both BIG glasses and braces at. the. same. time. 

Amazingly, I look back on my middle school years with fondness.  I had a fabulous group of friends.  I loved going to church and youth group.  I experienced my first real crush.  I would spend wonderful afternoons out in our extended back yard playing "Army" with Jared, making forts, running around, picking the largest blackberries you've ever seen, or reading out on the back deck.

We also attended a great church for those years, led by one of my all-time favorite ministers, Pastor Anderson.  A good ole farm boy from Iowa, he was gentle to his flock and firm from the pulpit.  Because of him I have a very full understanding of T.U.L.I.P. and could tell you what each letter stands for if woken in the middle of the night and interrogated. 

I also seem to have a special place in his heart, for even though it would have been easier for he and his wife to keep to the highways on their way to PA, they ventured into the city and onto foriegn roads to see me and meet all three of my "boys"!

It was such a treat to be able to host him and Nancy for the time they were here.  We caught up, laughed at the boys, and enjoyed each others company over a good dinner.  It seemed all too soon when the time came to say goodbye, but we hope to catch them next year when they pass through again.