Cheers to Hump Day, Christmas Edition

Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas is right around the corner, and as of 11:00 am today, we are officially on Christmas break. Hooray!!!!!!!!

Here are a few things we are saying CHEERS to this week:  

Luton Family Christmas. Last weekend, we traveled to Aiken, South Carolina, to celebrate Christmas with my hub's "side" of the family, which included eight adults and eight kiddos. 

It was so nice to all be together and start a couple of new traditions: just before the chaos of eight kiddos opening their gifts, their Nana asked that they all sit together and take turns reading pages of a children's book about the birth of Jesus. It was just the sweetest thing and reiterated the importance of the true meaning of CHRISTmas. 

Nana and Pop also bought each grandchild their own personalized mug and served them hot chocolate and cookies around the dining room table. SO sweet! We had a wonderful weekend with wonderful family. <3

Turning 36. Although 36 means I'm inching closer to 40 (gasp! ;) ), I had such a lovely day, thanks to my hub. Not only did he take off work and take over complete kiddo duty (I didn't change a single diaper nor feed/dress a single child!), he started my morning out showing me the most beautiful gift: a video he spent hours and hours creating, filled with photos and videos of our little family over the years. I have cried every time I have watched it. <3 The day was filled with breakfast and Starbucks in bed, a Pure Barre class, a holiday feast with my Banks at his school, wine with two of my girls (who gifted me something that made me cry out of gratitude), and then a perfect evening in Aiken with our Nana and Pop, which was capped off by the carrot cake deliciousness my hub home-makes for me every year, using my momma's recipe of course. It truly was such a wonderful day!

Dinner with friends. The fun continued into the start of the week, as two of my bestest, our hubbies, and I all headed out to our second annual, special dinner. We laughed so hard our abs were sore, our eyelids were heavy, and our stomachs were still full the next day. So thankful for these special friends and this special night. 

1st Grade Party. I organized a lil' holiday party for Banks' 1st grade class yesterday, and I think the sweet kiddos really enjoyed it! Four wonderful mommas and I each ran one of five "stations": a snack/bev station and four game stations. The games were quick and easy to pull together; so, I thought I'd share in case anyone needs to tuck these ideas away for next year. The first was "Pin The Nose On Rudolph." I created the board using a large foam board I already had and quickly sketched and cut out the reindeer. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the letters for the board, as well as 20 red noses. I applied a glue dot to the back of each and voila! 

 

The second was "Jingle Bells." I simply slapped on stickers to the bottom of Hershey kisses and drew pairs of upper/lower case letters for the students to match in a game of "Memory." Make a match, eat the kisses!

The third was candy cane fishing. Easy and yummy!

And the fourth was Christmas Bingo, which required no effort other than printing out the (free!) Bingo cards from Pinterest and bringing in a large bag of M&Ms for the kids to use to mark off their squares as the game progressed. And that was it!

Preschool party. Speaking of parties, my sweet friend, Jennifer, hosted the most adorable preschool party this morning for a bunch of our neighborhood littles who had big sibs who were busy at school during today's half day. She had fun activities, such as cookie decorating, ornament making, and bag decorating (with the bags being used at the end of the party for a big, fun candy cane hunt). There was also a bounce house and plenty of ride-on toys for the preschoolers. Meanwhile, breakfast and snack foods were served, along with mimosas for the mommas. It was a great time for all!

Gymnastics programs. Raleigh had her first ever Christmas gymnastics program, and it was really sweet to watch. And y'all. I was SO proud of her. 'Cause my girl tends to be painfully shy and nervous in these types of situations (among many others). But she didn't show an ounce of hesitation nor anxiety. She proudly showed her skills and then smiled and waved at the audience. 

BUT ALSO? In true Raleigh fashion (the girl's emotions can go from hot-to-cold-to-hot again at the snap of a finger), after her turn was over, she was having a grand ol' time "in the wings" while waiting for her next rotation. She was smiling and laughing and showing off her bridge and just being silly. And then, one of her coaches quietly and kindly and gently approached her and encouraged her to watch the other gymnasts perform, in the nicest possible way. Which, of course, meant Raleigh had to shut down. She pretty much pouted for the rest of the program and was staring holes through my head trying to get me to look at her and, for the love, notice me over here pouting, Momma. I am just devastated, Momma. See? Don't you see me pouting, Momma? Jesus, take the wheel, y'all. The emotional roller coaster of this beloved child is just unreal. 

And then she finished out the show and that was that. 


And there you have it! We have very few plans for the rest of the week, aside from an adult's only Christmas party on Friday followed Christmas Eve church service on Saturday. Other than that, we will be spending time as just our party o' five, watching movies, going on Christmas light drives, eating too much sugar, and snuggling as much as possible, and I am just SO excited about it!!!

I have two more fun holiday posts I'll be putting on here in the next couple days, so come on back y'all! Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve! ;)  
 

Cheers to the Weekend, The Big 3-6 Edition

It's Friday! And just nine days until Christmas! And also, my 36th birthday! I'd say that's a pretty good trifecta for this momma. ;) That being said, here's what we're saying CHEERS to on this Friday, December 16th:

BLOMPSmas. We lovingly refer to my "side" of the family as BLOMPS. Twice a year, my parents and all six of their children and our spouses and our kiddos get together for a wild, crazy, chaotic, FUN time (This makes for 14 adults and 11 kids in one house. Whoa!) One of those times is our annual week at the beach. The other time is our gathering to celebrate Christmas, which happened for us last weekend. My parents recently moved in to a brand new house; so, this was our first time gathering in their new house for the celebrations. We ate, we drank, we laughed, we snuggled babies, we wrangled older kiddos, we played games, we got very little sleep, we opened gifts, we played outside, and just had a jolly ol' time. 

 

The Nutcracker. For the third year in a row, Raleigh, my momma, my momma "in law," and I went to the Columbia City Ballet's Nutcracker. Not only is it so incredibly special to me to have both grandmothers there with my girl, but the show itself is absolutely beautiful--it never gets old! I can't wait 'til our second Little Lu Lady can join in the tradition with us. <3

Cookies. I fulfilled my last cookie order of the year (#adoptionfundraising #docmommabakes) earlier this week, baking nine dozen cookies (snowflakes! Christmas trees! mittens!) for Christmas cookie bundles. And while I love baking cookies to help fund our adoption, I am very glad for a break for a few weeks so I can focus all of my time and attention on my family. <3

Apple cider vinegar. As of yesterday morning, I now take 2 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar every morning. I have two friends here who swear by it, and insist it helps to keep them healthy; so, I am giving it a go! Anything to help ward of illness during the cold and flu season! But y'all? It is DISGUSTING. And I feel like I smell like fair fries doused in vinegar after I drink it. Yuck!

School schedule. As it is with every child during the holiday months, whew! Things have been busy with lots of school activities. On Monday, Raleigh and Harrison had their preschool program, where Raleigh played the role of the Nativity Cow ;) and Harrison played the role of the 2-year-old toddler who loves nothing more than making people laugh-he rang his little bell like nobody's business, smiled as hard as he could, made funny faces, and jumped around while singing. Oh my word, it was adorable. 

There will be two preschool parties next week as well as a holiday party I organized for Banks' 1st grade class (#roommom). Throw in a holiday feast today at Banks' school and several themed days next week and things will definitely be a little nutso 'round these parts until school lets out for Christmas break. :)

Bday plans. I love, love, love holidays and birthdays and am excited for some fun today! My hub and I snuck away last night for a pre-birthday dinner and today I am looking forward to hitting up Pure Barre in the morning before joining my Bankster at his school feast, then going to grab a glass of wine with two of my favorite friends. Finally, we'll hit the road to head to Aiken to celebrate Christmas with my hub's "side" of the family. Sounds good to this 36-year-old!

Y'all have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back soon with some fun Christmas posts. :) 

Cheers to the Weekend, BLOMPSmas Edition

Hip, Hip, Hooray! Not only is it Friday, but it's also the day that all five of my siblings, our spouses, and our 11 babies will head to Bammy and Digby's house for our Christmas celebration with my "side" of the family. It promises to be a weekend of loud, chaotic, crazy, wild FUN, and I absolutely cannot wait! Before we hit the road, here are a few things we are CHEERSing today: 

The return of Gold E. Locks, aka "Goldy," our elf. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know some people are anti-elf, but I am basically the opposite of that. ;) My kiddos LOVE running down the stairs each morning to see what our crazy ol' elf has been up to the night before. As always, I'll be recapping all of his hijinx once he has made his final trip back to the North Pole in a couple of weeks. :) 

Painting pottery. Every year, I take my babes to the local pottery painting place, where I decorate a plate to add to our Christmas dinnerware collection and they select a small figurine of their choosing to decorate. We went yesterday and ended up with the plate as well as a pony, a princess, and two small Transformers-ha! Jingle all the way, right? I can't wait to see how they turned out when I pick them up in a week!

Baking. Although my kitchen will be buuuuuuuuusy next week as I crank out 9 DOZEN cookies for holiday bundles, I was able to sneak in a fun project this week, making some personalized mittens for 8 of the 11 kiddos from my family whom I will see this weekend (the other 3 are still a tad too young for cookies ;). 

Christmas shopping--check! I started early and hard this year and am SO happy to say that I have officially finished all of my Christmas shopping. Yeehaw! I set this goal for myself this year so that, after I crank out those cookies next week, I will just be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the holiday season, and I can't wait! 

LifeGroup family fun. Our LifeGroup headed out to the Billy Graham Library early this week to take in the gorgeous sights and sounds of their Christmas display. Between the live nativity, storytime, hot chocolate and gingerbread men, and horse-drawn carriage rides to check out the beautiful lights covering the grounds, it was just a lovely evening with my people. <3 

 

This jolly ol' soul was not an actual paid Santa. Just a friendly patron who had no problem taking on the role of Ol' St Nick, posing for pictures, and giving our kids candy canes. ;)

And that's it for now, with a full and fun weekend and week ahead! I hope y'all have a great one! And now, we hit the road for family celebration numero uno... :)

Wee One Wednesday: The Sacrifice

A year ago, I wrote a blog post about the immeasurable love of a parent, sharing the truth of how God sent His son to die for us, for our sins:

He sent His own SON to die for us. 

He sacrificed His son to save my own. 

 

And then I went on to say that I, selfishly and sinfully, am not capable of making such a sacrifice. I would never be able to send my child head first into such fate, even if it were for the benefit of others. I would not be able to sacrifice my child.

Which leads me to today and the grief I have been experiencing lately, the tears readily and frequently falling, the deepest ache in the greatest depths of my soul now commonplace, every time I think of our impending adoption. 

Because here's the thing: 

For us to bring home our daughter, another mother has to lose hers first. 

This mother has to sacrifice her daughter--the one she created and loved with all her heart before she ever even laid eyes on her. This mother has to walk away from her beautiful baby, somehow actually walk away from her daughter, knowing she will never see her again. This mother has to live her life wondering what her daughter's laughter will sound like, whether she will prefer braids or buns, what she wants to be when she grows up, what she will enjoy doing on the weekends, who she will fall in love with, what she will look like on her wedding day, how many children she will have, what kind of woman she will became, what kind of career she will choose, what kind of life she will lead. This mother will sacrifice all of those things, all of those moments, all of those feelings, all of those memories. 

She will sacrifice her daughter.

I am not as brave nor as selfless as this mother. But here is what I hope and pray, with all my heart, that this mother knows: that she will always be our daughter's family. She will always be her mother. She will always be treasured within our family as the one who gave us our littlest Lu. She will be spoken of with all of our love and respect because it is the most beautiful, selfless act of God to be able to sacrifice a child in the hopes that she will have a better life. I hope and pray she knows that a mother's love is unconditional, it is not bound by blood nor birth nor name, and that I already love the daughter she brought into this world. And I hope she knows that we love her, too.  


For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11.