Our Weekend

Us this weekend (minus the horse trailer)

Caroline has this Schleich SUV that is so much fun to play with. It is sturdy, rolls smoothly, has room for passengers, and--the best part--everything is detachable. You can take off the top, both doors, all four tires, and the spare. And the windshield folds down.

I think this is also what makes real Jeeps so fun--you can take them apart. Ever since Jeff got his Jeep a year ago, he has been itching to take the doors off. This past Friday, he finally did. Caroline was ecstatic. She says she never wants the doors to go back on. I asked her why she likes them off so much and she said because she can see everything and doesn't even have to look out the window. I can understand her enthusiasm--with no doors on, her backseat view is as good as any other--no craning her neck or stretching as far out of her carseat as she possibly can to see something we point out in passing.

Caroline sitting pretty in the back seat.
She made made this dress go off the shoulder. Oh dear.

I will admit I thought it was pretty cool too. We drove around at dusk and the evening air was perfect. It was a great sensory experience--you could see, hear, smell, and feel more. The best part was when we would drive near the lake or a grove of trees lining a creek and feel the air get noticeably cooler, almost chilly, for a moment.

It may seem like an unusual pastime (especially with gas prices as high as they are), but we really enjoy just driving around. We like to look at houses and land, sometimes revisiting places we have considered buying (we're renting right now) and sometimes just dreaming (land . . . sigh) or surveying the Texas countryside (wheat and corn fields, creeks, trees, farm ponds, sunsets, wind).

This weekend we saw acres of land and some houses on the lake. For around 1 million, you could get 22 acres, a 4-bedroom log cabin, a barn, and a pool. After seeing this particular lot with fields and trees and wide open spaces, I really wished we had a million. I can get absolutely dreamy picturing our family life in a place like that.

Just as dreamy was the house on the lake--not the house itself so much, but the expanse of yard leading down to the lake and the small island about 30 yards out. If you lived there, that would be your island to row out to and build a fort on and explore . . . probably along with several other neighbor kids who have also staked their claims, but still. It makes me giddy just thinking about having a place like that as a child (or an adult, for that matter). I took a picture that doesn't quite do it justice, but you get the idea.

This was one of our best weekends as a family since moving here. I want to remember the little things that were special this weekend and incorporate those things into our weekend routines or traditions. We are rarely so purposeful as to follow a prescribed routine, but I think it would do us good. Here is what I want to remember:

• Be together: We often run errands separately--one person goes and the other stays home with Caroline. This weekend we went almost everywhere together (Blockbuster, the donut shop, the pizza place . . .)

• Ride in the Jeep (with the doors off, if possible)

• Don't be in a hurry: We really had no plans, other than playing Settlers with Dan and Lisa (which was another fun thing)

• Give each other some space with no guilt: For Jeff that meant a long nap on Sunday after church and for me extra time alone at the gym and at Target :)

• Work on a project together: Jeff didn't necessarily do this with me, but he also didn't give me any grief* about working on this project (right in the middle of the living room floor)--sorting through papers and setting up a new filing system, which I got online (and am loving). While I was at the gym, he and Caroline even went to Best Buy to get an external hard-drive so we can back up our computer files. It feels great to be getting organized! We talked about having one goal for each weekend and working together on that. *Why might Jeff give me grief about this? Well, because it is an organizing project and I usually dive into such projects with abandon, to the neglect of other, more immediate needs like laundry or dishes or meals. And, as mentioned, I always make a huge mess in the middle of the floor.
  

***

So this isn't the typical Caroline post, but this is what's on my mind. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer! It is hard to believe it is almost August!

Caroline playing around on the Jeep as if it's a jungle gym.

Christmas Resolutions

Caroline and I just finished our Christmas thank yous a couple days ago. Normally, this accomplishment would be the very last Christmas-related thing we would do. But I am doing something different this January than I have other years--still thinking about Christmas instead of packing it all up and storing it until next December. Every year after the holiday, I have a pretty good mental list of all the things I would like to do differently in the next year. But I don't stop and write anything down or spend time really thinking more about it once the new year gets underway.

So this year I am thinking more about Christmas resolutions than New Year's resolutions. I want to really evaluate how we celebrated Christ's birth this year and in years past and how we could do things differently in the future.

In 2006 I came across a website that outlines a plan for beginning Christmas preparations October 21 and completing everything by December 1. The idea is that if you follow this plan and do certain tasks each week, you will have a calmer, less stressful, and more joyful Christmas holiday and a more peaceful December.

The site offers helpful printables and articles, all for free. Whether or not you follow the outlined plan perfectly, it definitely provides some food for thought and an organizational framework. How nice would it be to have everything done by December 1 and then spend the rest of the month just enjoying family, observing traditions, and worshiping Jesus?

The concept is great, but I have to remember that there is more to a joyful Christmas than super organization--and that super organization, in and of itself, won't really transform my Christmas. Only Christ will. The centrality of Christ's birth at Christmas time is something I've always acknowledged, but I have also gotten caught up in all the goings on of the season and haven't let this truth really sink into my heart.

So I'm letting it sink in now, and I am thinking of ways to thank God for giving us Christ all throughout the year. And I am making plans for this December, even though it's January.

I was super excited in the midst of all this evaluating to find a book that deals specifically with incorporating into your family life daily routines and holiday traditions that center around God and honor him. It's called Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper. The night I found the book I was so eager to dig in that I read most of it online (available for free download). It is packed with insight and truth and excellent suggestions. I've borrowed a copy of the book from a friend and am going to go through it again throughout the rest of this month and think on the questions it poses:

Guiding Questions for all our Traditions all Year
(from Treasuring God in Our Traditions)

• What is my greatest treasure? What is most precious to me?
• How do I reflect and express that treasure in my life?
• How can I pass that treasure on to my children and others within my circle?
  

Along with this, I want to consider the questions I've been asking all along and give thought to what I would like to incorporate into next Christmas.

My Christmas Resolutions, in no certain order
and some of them only in question form:

In regard to gift giving and receiving

• Buy gifts as I think of them for someone all throughout the year and save them for Christmas
• Put more emphasis on the thought behind a gift than a spending amount
• Do something with Caroline to teach her about giving in general and, in particular, to those in need
• Evaluate how much we spend at Christmas just to spend and try to determine better ways to celebrate with that money (more giving, using it towards time together with family instead of lots of gifts)
• Emphasize giving over getting with Caroline and approach the presents like they are just an extra treat, not the main idea
  

In regard to being more organized

• What things did I really want to get done before Christmas this year and wasn't able to? (making some handmade or sentimental gifts, starting a new tradition with Caroline, reaching out to the neighbors with a small gift . . . )
• When can I make time to work on some of those ideas or gifts throughout the year in order to have them done by next Christmas?
• What can I do ahead of time this year in order to be more organized?
  

In regard to being more worshipful

• How do I acknowledge the significance of Christ's birth in my heart and through my actions?
• What can I do (activity, tradition) to acknowledge the significance of Christ's birth in our home?
• How can I prepare my heart for Christmas?
• What can we do as a family to teach Caroline the spiritual significance of Christmas?
  
• See Treasuring God questions . . .

So there you have it, in case you were wondering what was going in my head lately. :) Maybe I'll have to start a segment on this blog called, "What Amber thinks" since these things really have nothing to do with "what Caroline says. " I'll be back with plenty more of that, to be sure!

More Little Faces

Update: You can see pictures here.

******

Well, I'm having a hard time deciding which pictures will make the final cut and blogger is having a hard time uploading the ones I was going to share . . . so here is a picture of pictures--a fridge full of Caroline faces--my "proofs," if you will. :) If you click on the image, you should be able to get a pretty good view of most of the pictures.


I like the fridge proofing because having all of the pictures up there at once allows me to see pretty easily which ones are better than others.

We had a lot of fun taking these today--it was a beautiful day (but just a little bit windy). And the place we discovered--the Texas Sculpture Garden--is really pretty (and the art is cool, too). When trying to think of a place to take her picture here in Frisco, I started to miss Greenville and all of its natural beauty. A few years ago, I took my sister Stefani's senior pictures at Falls Park on the Reedy River in downtown Greenville and you couldn't ask for a more accessible or picturesque setting. Well, the sculpture garden here (located in a sprawling office complex, of all places) is so beautifully landscaped with weeping willows and big stones and little ponds and green grass--it made for a great backdrop. And it makes me glad to know there's a pretty place with a good walking path where Caroline and I can come and enjoy nature. The path flows really well, keeps you interested and wondering what's coming up next. Caroline loved spotting something in the distance (usually big rocks) and wondering how to get to it. Basically, I just followed her around as she ran and explored, and we stopped here and there for a few (well, a few at a time) shots.

I really enjoy taking my own pictures--it's fun to be outside on a pretty day and see what I can capture, I only have to pay for printing, and I can play around with the pictures on my computer and have more control over the outcome. Caroline likes it this way too. Except for a few complaints, she was all smiles and pretty much just thought we were playing the whole time. She got to pick flowers, climb on rocks, jump, run in the grass, and see two turtles.


Up until this point, she has only had her picture "formally" done once a year, but I think we'll start doing it four times a year--once every season, as a little tradition. We'll get more pictures and have a chance to wear more outfits this way. :)

Be looking for a little Caroline face to show up in your mailbox soon!