Christmas in our new home

Our first Christmas in our new home!

It was everything I thought it would be.

Magical, Wonderful, Amazing, Delightful, Sweet, Sentimental, Joyous, Restful, Relaxing, Fun!

I took most of the photos on my iPhone.  I started decorating before Thanksgiving, and I plan to leave up the decorations until the new year.   It's been exciting to celebrate in our new home that we've dreamed about for so long that I couldn't take it all down just yet.

Happy Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving 2016

Colossians 3:15 "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful."

Fall Decor in the New House

It's been special spending two seasons in the new house.  Summer was a big adjustment since we were still unpacking. Fall has been wonderful because we feel settled and at home.  In our old house, I was never one to change out decor for the seasons except for Christmas.  The new house has me inspired to change with the seasons.  Below are photos taken during the months of September, October, and November with fall decor around the house.  You can see that items changed slightly as I added things, moved things, and tried to find the perfect spot for pumpkins, leaves, and all things fall. 

 This one doesn't look particularly fall-ish but I wanted a photo of my chalkboard pantry door before I changed what was on it for Christmas.

 The kitchen towels reminded me of my grandma, so I had to add them to the kitchen.

Front porch 

 

Will is 10!

Today Will turns 10!

Here are a few photos from his party this weekend.  We had it at the new house and in our backyard.  It was fun and exhausting to have a house full of boys.  We made a lot of good memories.  

Two years ago we had a party at the land but it was so different then.  We did a scavenger hunt at that party, but the kids are older now so I couldn't repeat the same thing.  I made up clues and hid them in balloons.  They had to find the clue, pop the balloon, and read it to find out where to go next. The clues were hidden all over the land.

Here is Will reading clue #1. 

The scavenger hunt ended with everyone getting a headlamp, which came in handy because it was getting dark.

We are a sweaty mess, but we had a blast celebrating our big boy turning 10.

Here are some of Will's favorite things.

Favorite food: Turkey, cheese, mustard and mayo sandwich

Will's favorite drink is Coke. 

Favorite fruit: apples

Favorite veggie: potates

Favorite sport to play: Baseball

Will's favorite sports team is the Texas Rangers. 

Favorite toys: PS4, Ninetendo 3ds

The best show on television according to Will is Arthur.

Will's favorite thing to learn about in school is writing and reading.

Will's favorite thing about school is seeing friends.

If Will could go anywhere in the world, he'd go to Washington, D.C.

Will's favorite color is blue. 

When Will grows up he wants to be a road designer.

His favorite book is Book 13 Series of Unfortunate Events.

Favorite holiday: Christmas

Favorite animal: Dog

One of Will's favorite memories of the last year was going to the Mall of America, Target Field, and seeing the Lerews in Indiana  

Will really likes Texas Rangers baseball and any MLB games that are on TV. 

This morning we had donuts and this evening we took Will to eat at the new Chipotle in Greenville. 

10 LONG Months

It's been 10 very long months without Internet service at our home.  

Here is a timeline of those events.

We moved from our home in town to a rental property in December 2015, and we could not get Internet service.  

We moved into our new home in May 2016 and there was not a reliable Internet provider option.  

Finally we have Internet in our new home.  I shared the moment on my personal Facebook page this week.  When the Internet people arrived to do the install, one of the boys said, "Now my dreams have come true."   I wanted to hug them when they left but I knew that would be weird.  We felt like the family in the funny commercials that had to live without internet.  It's hilarious in commercials, not so much in real life.  The struggle--it was real!

September has been a good month.

We are back to normal.  It feels like the new house is perfect.

We take access to the Internet for granted and I have a new appreciation for how much I used it without even realizing it.  Of course, I've missed blogging and my social media has been limited, but there were other things that were more important like paying bills and taking care of appointments.  It's difficult to be an adult now without reliable internet.  

I'm excited to get back to blogging and writing some posts about our new home.  I haven't been able to share images of the house, like the photo above of our chalkboard pantry door.  

If anyone out there is still reading this old blog, then you are a faithful friend and family member.  Thanks for your patience.  

Imperfectly Wonderful World is back!  

Celebrating Ben's 7th

On Ben's birthday, he had donuts for breakfast and cupcakes at school with his class.  The fun continued all throughout the day because it was field day at school on his birthday.  How fun!

That evening once we got home from school and church, Ben opened a few gifts from us.

We had to work hard to find a a free weekend to have Ben's party.  End of year baseball tournaments and other activities made it a challenge to schedule it this year.  We ended up celebrating this weekend so it felt like Ben's birthday celebrations lasted about 2 weeks.

Ben chose Chuck E. Cheese's for his party.  This was a first for us.  Since attending friends' parties there he thought it would be cool.  I have to admit it was easy for us and low stress so I'm not against this for a birthday party.

I made throwback cupcakes instead of cake.  Notice the candy letters like we used to have on our birthday cakes when we were kids.  I decided on cupcakes instead of a cake so I didn't have to worry about transporting a decorated cake there.  The party treats were candy kabobs that I'd seen a friend on Instagram make.  There are all sorts of examples if you look it up on Pinterest.   

The TICKET BLASTER!!!

I think this was a big part of why Ben wanted to have his party at Chuck E. Cheese's.