It was my intention to post everyday from Germany. Apparently that did not happen. :( But Jamie is posting some trip updates on the Consumed website. He has written some summaries on our different ventures and then Eric, Lisa, and I will also have some thoughts maybe even a video from our perspectives posted there as well in the upcoming days. I recommend you check it out! Now for the more trivial thoughts follow here...:)

Apart from precious memories, you always bring home some sort of trinket from your travels. I am not a huge chocolate person, but we did bring home chocolate, and apparently not enough because I seem to really like German chocolate, especially the children's chocolate. Yum....anyway...I digress. :) So.....I brought home the most wonderful of treasures this trip and it did not even cost me one euro. Tuesday evening Rob made dinner for all of us at the house where he stays and the German family that lives there joined us for the evening. The dinner was delicious, the company outstanding, the memories everlasting, and the cup I used to drink out of way too much fun.
When our host Ulla told us to help ourselves to a cup from her cabinets, Lisa quickly spotted and retrieved two adorable boot shaped glass cups for she and I. Rob told us that the kids love those cups and normally fight over who gets to use them. I guess Lisa and I won the fight that night. :) Ulla told us there was a trick to drinking from the cups because if you do it the wrong way it will spill on you. So she showed us to drink with the tip of the boot pointing towards your mouth. Now, Rob told us that if we drank from it the other way it would make a fun noise. We did not believe Rob. We had been warned that he may try to trick us with cultural nuances and that we should always get verification from a reliable source if he told us to do something (sorry, Rob, it is true). I am not sure if we got a verification or if Rob's persistence made us believe him, but Lisa and I turned our boot cups around and drank with the boot tip pointing out. Sure enough it makes this "glub, glub" sound and the liquid bubbles up and tickles your nose. I realize I should be too old to be amused by these things, but every time I did it (and I did it over and over again) it would make me smile, maybe even giggle a little. At one point, I had even shed a few tears over something sad and in an effort to cheer myself up I took a gulp from my boot cup and I did feel much better. After a long evening of eating, laughing, looking at pictures, and drinking out of my boot cup, Thomas (Ulla's husband) went back to the cupboard and brought me out my very own boot cup to take home. It has three little musketeers on it and I love it. I couldn't wait to get it home and share it with the girls and also find its perfect spot in my kitchen so I could be often reminded of my new friends in Dorsten, Germany.
This was on Tuesday and we had a lot more miles to travel before I returned home to Minnesota. With every new repack of our luggage I was most strategic about the boot cup. It would have been okay to forget shoes or even my favorite pair of jeans, but I was not leaving Germany without my new boot treasure. For most of our time in Germany my boot cup rode in the side compartment of the back door of our rental car. It was tucked away and safe from the millions of water bottles, streusel wrappers and other stuff we had collected in travel. But Sunday night at the hotel in Cologne I was making my final and most crucial repack for our return to the states. My initial thought was to wrap it in one of Jamie's sweatshirts in our checked luggage. I carefully surrounded it by gray Nike cotton and gave a hopeful prayer that it would remain intact during the flights. Lisa saw my decision and quickly voiced her concerns to me and highly recommended I carry it on. I agreed and wrapped it in my backpack where I could keep a closer eye on it.
My only concern with carrying it on was all the new TSA regulations. I would be devastated if they took my boot cup from me at the security checkpoint, as if my dear boot cup could be used for some sort of terrorist activity. When Jamie and I came to the ticket counter at the Dusseldorf airport the ticket agent went down the necessary list of questions about the security of our luggage and right after he asked me if I had anything dangerous, like a pocket knife or something like that in my carry on, I asked him if it was okay to carry on a glass boot cup. He looked at me sort of funny and chuckled a little as I used my hands to explain what I was talking about (Jamie was so glad to be traveling with me at this point). The ticket agent didn't think it would be a problem. Whew. So me and my boot cup made it safely home and it is now proudly displayed above my sink. The girls did enjoy their first gulp and I love looking at it and remembering my special time in Germany and the wonderful and warm people who gave me the most magnificent of traveling trinkets.

Instead of just watching the icicles grow outside our house...
...we chose to enjoy the beautiful, sunny weekend and embraced another winter sport:

(that is not me laughing in the background) ;)
Tori ice skating- Take 2:

Not too bad for it being her 1st time out this year and only her 3rd time ever.
And Isabelle, too:


Thanks Marissa for asking us to go and a special thank you for letting the girls hold onto you so they didn't fall. :)

My Dearest Tori,
This has been a different and difficult year. You have had to face some things as an eight year old that I am struggling to understand as a thirty-three year old. Yet you continue to amaze me with your beauty- inside and out. Today on your 9th birthday, instead of a clever story or summary of your year, I offer a prayer for you in loving memory of your Aunt Penny. I am saddened your time with her was so short. You cannot fully understand the amazing, godly example you were given in her, but I pray you come to see her legacy more and more as God grows you day by day.

I pray you will always greet whomever you meet with a smile.

I pray others will feel instantly comfortable around you and be able to share their heart, knowing you genuinely care.

I pray you will never seek the treasures of this earth yet always be generous with the treasure God gives you.

I pray you will pursue God's plan for your life, wherever it takes you, near or far.

I pray you will use all the gifts and abilities God has given you to love Him and love people.

I pray, as beautiful as you are on the outside, that you will pursue the true beauty of a godly character.

And finally I pray you will always affirm the faithfulness and goodness of God, despite the most difficult of circumstances. And that just as your Aunt Penny your faithful life would lead many to a deeper knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Dear Father, I commit Tori to you and I thank you for the past 9 years of her life. I don't take one day for granted--even on those days she is exceptionally sassy.

I love you Tori! Happy Birthday!

All I can say is they were pretending to be on a spa day in Vegas. I have no idea where they come up with these things. And it should also be noted they only had water to drink for dinner:

They are singing Laurie Berkner's "I'm so glad you're my family". It is on Nick Jr. Too cute. They sure do make life entertaining.

We did something we weren't supposed to yesterday. Not really, but Tori said it was awesome because it felt like it. We went to the nature center and ran around on the frozen pond. They were nervous to go at first. They made me take the first steps out on the ice and wanted us to stay close together. But once they realized it was safe, they had the best time sliding, chasing and playing with each other.

I confess I do not love winter. I have been known to hibernate through certain months and not leave the house for days at a time. Yes, it is pathetic and true. But lately, and maybe it is from breathing in too much Minnesota air- I have been struck by the beauty of this season. One sight in particular this week captured my mind and it has not soon been forgotten:
I was headed out to Chaska to catch up on some work at my job. It was a relatively warm day for January in Minnesota and the roads were not slippery, wet or slushy so my eyes were free to take in the scenery around me. There are several trees that line the way from Bloomington to Chaska and that day I saw them as I have never seen them before. Winter trees are interesting to me. They are all naked and exposed-their dark trunks a stark contrast to the white snow. There are even these trees over by the girls school that are painfully crooked. They seem life like to me--old people trees with arthritis or something. Anyway, the other day the trees on the way to Chaska had their usual dark trunks but the branches were a pure white. They looked as if they were encapsulated by crystal and it was breathtaking. Against the beautiful blue sky that day it was all I could do not to stare. I had never seen the trees like that and I told myself I would bring a camera the next time I drove that way to take a picture. Then, for some odd reason I watched the local news that night. I never watch the news. But I learned from my local meteorologist, Belinda Jensen, that we had experienced a winter inversion that day. She even had a picture of my trees on the screen that one of the viewers had taken. I looked for the picture they had on the newscast, but I couldn't find it, so here is a link to one I found online....it is obviously not in Minnesota, but you get the idea--GORGEOUS!

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/tree-during-winter-inversion-david-sidwell.html

So this sight got me thinking. In many ways our souls can have seasons of winter-a little colder and darker than some of the other seasons of life. Some days it may make us want to hibernate. But to hibernate completely would be to miss the beauty in this season. Even in the barrenness of winter, God is at work creating beautiful masterpieces our eyes have never seen before. And when we see them we should share them. Because something is always more beautiful when you can share it with a friend.

I still do not love winter. But so much of our perspective and attitude hinges on what we choose to see. I am choosing to see beauty in winter. And I am choosing to see God in winter and He is more beautiful than anything my eyes could ever imagine.

She is a big sister and a little sister. She is creative and crazy. She loves to love and is an amazing hugger. She is currently toothless. She is a good friend. She can be quiet and loud...very loud. She loves animals and anything tiny. She is confident.

She lives in her own little world most of the time. She looks like her mommy and has her daddy wrapped around her finger. She loves basketball but hates soccer. She laughs uncontrollably at times for no reason at all. She likes to color and create. She loves the little things. She really loves M&M's...a little too much. She is 7 today and we couldn't imagine life without her.

Happy birthday Ponsi!

p.s. pictures courtesy of sentimental soul photography (aka my sister Leah) :)

I know...a very rare double day post. But this is worth it:

Every child God creates is so very unique, but some just break every possible conceivable mold. Jamie is watching a loud, action movie with a friend tonight and it is well, loud. The girls were complaining about the volume as I put them to bed and I just told them to bury their heads in their pillow or wear some headphones. I just went in to check on them and this is how I found Isabelle....



Apparently, there were no headphones or earmuffs readily available so she made her own with two styrofoam cups and some post-it notes. You gotta love that kid!

Activity Advent Calendar: Day 5- Shopping for thoughtful gifts

A beautiful tradition of Christmas is sharing gifts with people we love. Our kids exchange names with their cousins in Ohio and Tori was expressing to me earlier in the season how she wanted to pick her OWN gifts for her cousin. Admittedly, I am a bit of a control freak and like to have a say in what they are choosing, but I am learning to (big breath)...let go. ;) This Saturday as part of our Activity Advent Calendar we embarked on a new adventure and visited the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis to shop for our cousins. They were having a Craft-O-Rama with all kinds of vendors selling homemade crafts and gifts. The first challenge in shopping with children, or maybe with shopping in general, is fighting the desire to look for one's self. As the girls and I shuffled through the very crowded fair, they were all too eager to choose trinkets for themselves and a little less eager to shop for cousins. Shopping for ourselves would not have communicated the message I was hoping to get across this day. :( But then, and I love when this happens, Tori spotted the perfect little treasure for her cousin Mikayla. She showed it to me waiting for my thumbs up or thumbs down on her find. Now, it is nothing spectacular, and I can't tell you what it is exactly, but Mikayla will like it. And in that instant, our time at the Craft-O-Rama became far more enjoyable and the much more valuable lesson was learned. Once the girls had tasted success in finding something thoughtful for another person, they became eager to find more things for the other people on their list. Truly it is far better to give than to receive. Merry Christmas!


p.s. Most of our Advent days we have been reading books or baking for someone....today we started building our own Nativity...stay tuned. :)

Advent (from the Latin word adventus meaning "coming") is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.
Christians believe that the season of Advent serves a reminder both of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting of Christians for the second coming of Christ.--from Wikipedia

I don't know about you, but I could use a little Advent spirit this year. I never grew up using an Advent calendar. (I would have been all about it because I love candy) But I never really had even heard the word until we moved to MN and our church recognized the 4 weeks of Advent with candles on the stage. Advent...expectant waiting as we celebrate that Christ has come and is coming. What is not to love about that?
So, last year my friend Tara told me she was going to do an activity advent calendar with her kids....hmmmm...this is good stuff I thought. I told her to blog about it so I could steal all her ideas, but she did not cooperate. :) So this year I am navigating it on my own. Christmas is one of Jamie and I's favorite times of the year. We love soaking in every moment of the season with decorations, christmas treats, festive music, sharing gifts and time with friends and family and this year I will be finding one small thing to do every day to celebrate this wonderful season with the girls. I pray you find your own ways this year to soak in the hope, joy, love and peace that the Advent of our Savior brings. Happy Advent!

Day 1: Miller Activity Advent Calendar- Gingerbread House--this is way harder than it looks. My mom normally does it with them and probably should in the future, since my roof totally cracked and caved in and I had to use paper to save it. :(




p.s. don't expect pictures of every day...that would be a Christmas miracle! :)

grandma and papa came to town this past weekend. i am pretty sure they played close to 100 games of quiddler, skip-bo and racko. we love when they come to visit. it means a lot of love for the girls, a lot of good conversations and laughter, and a lot of yummy food (we are talking about phil, here). thanks phil and sue for traveling out to see us. we love you so much!



macie just fell in love with this mickey mouse stool in an antique store in stillwater. she could have sat there forever reading old golden books.

Macie had a gift card to Target for her birthday. I wanted her to get some more wood food for her kitchen. She wanted to be like Daddy. Daddy wins. :(

Yes, Macie did eventually wake up and she did humor me with a little ballerina skirt to go with her ballerina shirt. She really perked up after our neighbor Joe gave her a Kool-Aid drink and she got to see Jasper, Shannah and Randy. What a booger..but awful cute. :) Can you see from that last picture what I am dealing with here????

Happy Halloween! I am manning my usual post in the entryway with my silver bowl of candy awaiting trick or treaters. But, alas, I have only had two, and they were friends who were coming to trick or treat with the girls so, they don't count. Bad news for me, but good news for you that I have time to post some halloween pics.




You may be wondering where Macie is in all these pictures. I, too, was eagerly anticipating how cute she was going to be in her costume this year. However, much to my chagrin and definitely not due to my lack of persuading, her official position on Halloween this year is she is NOT participating and she is NOT dressing up. She is upstairs sleeping right now. She did tell Isabelle, however, that she will let Isabelle share her candy with her and sad thing--sweet Isabelle agreed. Nice.


Happy Halloween.

(This is a long overdue post since Jamie said I would post it as a follow up to his blog and I never did...oopsie) :)

Family Friday night started as a ploy to divert the girls attention from something they were not going to get to do (I don't remember what, but I do remember we went for some ice cream special at Culvers for the first one) and it has become one of our favorite family occurrences. Admittedly, Jamie has come up with the most creative Family Friday nights and Chopped has to be one of his best. The girls and I love watching The Food Network together and we have managed to suck Jamie in for one of the shows. He explained Chopped on his blog, but basically chefs compete in an appetizer, entree and dessert round to create dishes from a mystery basket of ingredients. We decided to have our own version of the competition. Tori and Isabelle competed in a dessert round. Jamie and Macie were the designated judges and I was the kitchen helper (they are only 8 and 6). We all headed to the grocery store (always a fun excursion) and Jamie and I strategically picked some ingredients for the girls to use. At home we filled their "mystery baskets" (aka lunch bags) with the special ingredients for their desserts. Their ingredients were E.L. Fudge cookies, a roll of biscuits and marshmallows. I use biscuits to make monkey bread and homemade doughnuts, both of which they help me with, so I was hoping that would trigger some ideas in their minds. They had 20 minutes to complete their desserts. At the end of the time the girls threw up their hands, just like they do on t.v. :) Tori was laughing so hard as she did her presentation to Jamie she could not even get any words out.



Tori made a biscuit stuffed with melted marshmallow, chopped E.L. Fudge Cookie. She served it with a ball of peanut butter mixed with more E.L. Fudge cookies.






Isabelle made a deep fried doughnut stuffed with marshmallow, peanut butter, chopped E.L. Fudge cookies and jelly and topped with syrup.





Jamie got the pleasure of eating both desserts. He wimped out on a decision and made them co-winners-lame ;). He gave Isabelle the award for creativity and Tori the award for taste. We decided for future Chopped Championships we should not give them so many sweet ingredients, as eating their desserts completely would have made us very sick.

Macie turned 3 last weekend. Unfortunately for her she had to ride in her car seat for 12 hours on our way home from South Carolina, but she didn't seem to mind. She watched The Berenstein Bears over and over and over again while chomping down pretty much an entire box of Cocoa Puffs. :)

I am a little late, but it is never too late for some birthday love. Macie entered our family 3 years ago and I cannot even imagine life without her. She was very much a bundle of joy and has continued to be that every single day since then. Jamie told me yesterday that I am one of the luckiest people in the world because I get to hang out with her all day and experience her little world. I can't argue with him. I am pretty blessed. I love this age and all the personality that comes with it. One of my favorite things to do is to watch or listen to her play or interact with her best friend, Puppy. Puppy has been with Macie since day one, thanks to the Petersons, and it did not take long for them to become the best of friends.



In the early days, puppy did have some competition for Macie's affection. Jamie tried very hard to manipulate who would claim the role of Macie's most prized possession (he would put her arm around her Buckeye bear every night while she was sleeping), but over time Puppy came out as her closest pal. Puppy has been there every night and every nap as Macie has laid down to go to sleep. It is not an option for her to go to sleep without him. I remember trying to pass off a similar color bear to Macie one night, after I had been searching for puppy way too long with no luck, but she would have nothing to do with it. I eventually found him and she contentedly went to bed. Puppy has offered his ear for her to rub and even his own nose for her to suck on so that she could drift into sleep. I eventually had to remove his nose as it was a choking hazard for Mace, but they have remained the best of friends.

In recent days, Puppy has taken on more of a real life role in Macie's life. He is no longer just her sleeping companion, but he has become her baby that we hold or rock or her support as she tries to go potty and as you can see from the pics below he is her #1 playmate almost anywhere we go. I am a huge fan of the book the Velveteen Rabbit and Puppy has nearly joined the ranks of a real animal. :)

So Happy Belated Birthday Macie and Puppy. Macie I wish for you that you continue to bring joy, laughter and life to all the people that you meet and that you continue to grow into the amazing little girl God has created you to be. And Puppy I wish you another year of love from Macie, which hopefully does not include anymore lost body parts. :(




"In good times....



and bad times...



I'll be on your side forevermore...



That's what friends are for"