The start of something new!

Raise your hand if my post title makes you start humming that song from High School Musical!

Sunday night our family joined with 9-10 other families from our neighborhood and went Christmas caroling.

The weather was absolutely perfect, the voices were strong and enthusiastic, and it was great fun! Our group was very large and I'm afraid we might have scared a few people when they opened their door to see all of us on the lawn but they seemed to enjoy having us sing to them! The one neighbor who listened to us sing every single verse of The Twelve Days of Christmas with a smile on his face the entire time was such a good sport!

After singing, we went back to our next door neighbors' home for hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. We even had an ornament exchange. I love that this is the ornament we ended up with. What a perfect reminder of a fun evening with our neighbors.

The snowman is holding a candle and a songbook that says "2010". It's just perfect!

My creative, energetic, generous, and amazing friend, Heather, organized the whole night. She made songbooks for every family (easy, kid-friendly favorites) and distributed them beforehand so the kids could practice. Believe me, the kids took her seriously and were well rehearsed! She also bought battery-operated candlesticks from the dollar store and gave each family a couple to use for the evening. We gave everything back to her to save for next year because it was such a great evening that everyone wants to do it again next year!!!

If our neighborhood 4th of July Pancake Breakfasts and Block Parties, and Halloween carnival and hayrides, and Bunco, and Summer Happy Hours haven't convinced you that we live in the BEST neighborhood ever, then maybe our Christmas Caroling party will?!? WE ARE SO BLESSED TO LIVE AMONG SUCH AMAZING FAMILIES!!!

This is what we're giving our neighbors this year for Christmas.

It's cookie dough that they can refrigerator or freeze until they're ready to bake again (are y'all cookied out yet?) I totally copied the idea from this blog. I copied the Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe too. My Silhouette and snowflake punches came in handy yet again for the red wrapper. We still have more dough to deliver, so if you're my neighbor and you're reading this, please act surprised when we show up on your doorstep bearing gifts later this afternoon.

Redemptive Road

I love summer. If you know me or if you've read my blog for any length of time you know that it is my absolute favorite time of the year.

Last summer was not a good one. A week after school let out, my dad started having all kinds of health issues. Some were directly related to his pancreatic cancer, others were just weird and random. The days and weeks that followed were hellish. Summer failed to be a life-giving season for me and my family. Instead, it stole a lot from me. From us. It stole joy, fun, leisure, and it literally stole life.

My biggest hope is that this summer will be a redemptive one for me and for my family.

And if the weekend was any indication, I'd say we're on a redemptive road. Hallelujah!

Friday night we had our first weekly neighborhood Happy Hour. About 20 adults and 30 kids gathered in my neighbor's front yard. The kids played and had popsicles. The parents visited while sipping cold drinks and keeping an eye on the kids. Happy Hour stretched into hours, and a great time was had by all. John and I don't really love our too-small house but we absolutely love our neighbors. We're a close bunch and are always doing fun things together. Tomorrow night the gleeks among us are getting together to watch the season finale of Glee!

We enjoyed a super lazy Saturday morning. John made breakfast for everyone. Later, we did a little house work, a little yard work, and then John suggested we head to downtown Colorado Springs for some pizza at Il Vicino. It was beautiful evening so we ate outside on their patio (and evidently missed seeing some friends by mere minutes). The kids followed their pizza with some Ben & Jerry's, and when we returned home everyone (except me and my bum leg) hit the trampoline. I loved listening to my peeps play and laugh while the sun set. It was a perfect summer Saturday.

John preached at our church yesterday and I thought he did a terrific job. He always does. We came home and grilled brats for lunch then he and I took a nap while the kids watched television. We helped Will and Sarah get everything packed for camp this week and then we grilled again for dinner. It was another perfect evening to dine al fresco and so we did. Eating dinner outside is one of my favorite things about summer! Don't summer Sunday evenings have such a great feel? I sure think so!

This week is going to feel a little different with both Will and Sarah gone. Abbey says she's excited, and she is, but she's also a little sad too. She adores her brother and sister and they love her too. We have plenty of fun things planned for the little princess though.

I hope your summer is off to a glorious start as well!

Worth Repeating...

I decided to re-post something I wrote last fall after a fun afternoon with my neighbors. The reason I'm re-posting it is because we have been enjoying our neighbors so much this summer. This morning I woke up excited because I had a date with some neighborhood moms for coffee! After book club last month, we sat around and talked for a couple of hours and decided we needed to get together and do that more often. It was very fun! I'm very social (been sort of a hermit this summer though) and always feel energized when I'm around people. And my neighbors are some of my most favorite people to be around! I'm just feeling grateful for them and wanted to let you know how very much I love where we live...

Originally published October 2008:

I love my neighborhood.

The houses are alright, I guess, but our neighbors are what make our neighborhood great! I love my neighbors. All of them. Well, almostall of them. The ones with the dogs that bark at 10pm drive me a bit crazy.

A couple of weeks ago, I came home from running some errands and saw two of my neighbors out talking by the mailboxes. I waved, pulled into my garage, went inside and went about my merry business. About 10 minutes later I walked past the window and I noticed they were still out there talking.

Have I ever told you that I hate to be left out of something that looks like fun? Well I do.

I decided right then and there that MY mail needed checking, so I walked outside and joined them. We ended up chatting for almost an hour about everything under the sun!

One of the things we talked about that day was our love of oatmeal. The old-fashioned kind cooked on the stove with lots of brown sugar and cinnamon and raisins. NOT those goofy instant packets. We even decided that we needed to get together for an oatmeal breakfast some morning, and TODAY was the day!

I took the kids to school then walked across the street (in my slippers) and had coffee, fruit, and oatmeal with Monica and Heather. It was SO much fun! And we talked for way longer than half an hour this time!

After awhile, we decided to move our little party to the Bead Shop downtown where we spent the rest of the morning (and afternoon) talking and making jewelry. I'll have to post a pic of the necklace I made. I think it turned out very cute!

There are so many great families and couples in our neighborhood! We've lived here for five years and we've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the people around us.

We've shared 4th of July breakfasts and fireworks in the cul-de-sac. We've had block parties, kids craft nights, bike parades, Bunco, yard sales, and play groups. We "Boo" each other around Halloween and take pictures of each other's kids trick-or-treating. Summer finds us outside chatting on the sidewalk while our kids play and ride bikes. Winter finds us outside chatting while shoveling snow and building snowmen in our yards.

My neighbors are willing to watch our kids, our dog, lend us eggs or butter in a pinch, and get our mail and paper when we're out of town. I can call them night and day for almost anything (and believe me, I have!) and they know they can call us night and day for almost anything (and believe me, they have!)

We've seen lots of babies born (including two sets of twins), we've mourned the loss of pets, we've shared meals together, and we've laughed until we've cried.

I absolutely LOVE my neighbors because they're not just my neighbors, they're my friends! I know that not all neighbors and neighborhoods are like this which makes me all the more thankful for mine!

My Most Favorite Day of the Year

I love the 4th of July.

It is my all-time favorite holiday and my favorite day of the year. 

Why, you ask? Well let me give you a few reasons:

1. It's in the summer, and I LOVE summer!

2. It's usually a pretty laid back day and doesn't bring the stress that other major holidays do!

3. We usually celebrate outside, and that's my most favorite place to be.

4. It's filled with all of my favorite "f" words--friends, family, fun, food, freedom, and FIREWORKS!

Moving to Colorado has only increased my love of July 4th. 

Why, you ask? Well, let me give you a few reasons:

1. It's not usually hot. Our high for the day was 75 degrees, and it was in the 50s when we watched fireworks--jacket weather!

2. We don't have mosquitos.

3. Our town has a *fabulous* 4th of July parade!

4. Our neighbors have a flag raising/pancake breakfast to kick off the day's events--complete with one neighbor playing "Reveille" on the trumpet. (If that won't rouse you from your slumber, I don't know what will!)

It is just a super fun day all the way around. Here are some of my favorite pictures!

Will snapped this pic...pretty good, eh?

Waiting for the parade to start!

Our parade has a little of everything--kids on bicycles, floats, horses, beauty queens, marching bands, protestors (see the TEA party pics), Shriners in small cars, clowns, firetrucks and SO much more. It's the best small town slice of life you'll find anywhere. It lasts about two hours and has been dubbed the Best Small Town Parade in America! We truly love it!

Click on this picture to enlarge it. My kiddos LOVED these little doggies pulling the wagon!

92.9 is a radio station in Co Springs. They drove this SUV in the parade and played Michael Jackson music the entire time. It was awesome. People everywhere were dancing. Thriller was playing when it cruised past us. Lots of people doing the Thriller dance--so funny!

I took this pic especially for my friend, Lisa. Sorry I was on the wrong side of the street and it's backwards.

We watched fireworks from the cul-de-sac at the end of our street. It rained all afternoon and was still raining when we walked outside so we just drove down there and sat in the van while waiting for them to start! We could see the US Air Force Academy & Palmer Lake fireworks shows. Definitely not the same as being there, but we had thunderstorms ALL afternoon so it was worth it to not be sitting on the soggy ground.

(I love making fun of John and his Harry Potter toboggan. He has a matching Gryffindor scarf too.)

Hope you had a fabulous 4th of July too!