St Lucia Day Dec. 13th

We've started a new tradition celebrating St. Lucia Day each year as a family. We first celebrated it on our trip to Gothenburg, Sweden when we picked up our new Volvo a few years ago. I have Swedish ancestry, and what better way to teach the kids about their heritage than with their Christmas celebration? Ava had a wonderful time dressing up as St. Lucia and serving up saffron buns. Traditionally the oldest girl in the family dresses as St. Lucia, wearing a crown of candles on her head, a white dress with a red sash, and while singing traditional songs she serves the family saffron buns and coffee (hot chocolate for us). In Sweden, a girl from the town is chosen to be St. Lucia, similar to a beauty pageant.

There are many legends as to who St Lucia was, but basically she was a good Christian from Italy that devoted her life to God and saved many people from hunger. It is believed that she fed the hungry, persecuted Christians in hiding, the candles on her crown lighting the darkness. The Scandinavians may have heard about St. Lucia from Catholic missionaries, but the legend there says during a famine a woman with candles on her head, dressed in white, brought food to the starving. St. Lucia is a symbol of hope and light during the darkest day of the year in Sweden. St. Lucia starts out the Christmas festivities in Sweden in preparation for Dec 25th.

The kids colored pages of St. Lucia, and we read a book about St. Lucia Day in Sweden. The kids helped me make saffron buns (wow- the spice costs $10 a bottle!) and we made chocolate chunk cookies too. I sewed Ava's St. Lucia dress quickly the day before. She was so cute, walking into the room surprising Jason, Ethan, and Billy. We had the St. Lucia song playing, we're still learning the songs. She didn't want to take off her crown the rest of the night.

Halloween

The kids got their costumes in the mail the same day we moved into our house (about a week before Halloween). It was perfect timing since we only have suitcases of clothes and backpacks filled with toys. I don't know how we're going to survive the next month or so without anything! We were able to borrow a card table with chairs, one air mattress, and sleeping mats for the kids. Overseas moves are not fun, but we'll survive. I can't wait for all our stuff to arrive!

We carved pumpkins on Sunday evening

Ethan couldn't wait to carve his pumpkin, he started before the other kids woke up from their naps. Don't you love Ethan trying really hard to smile for the camera? ;)

Ava finally helped clean out her pumpkin this year. She was so disgusted. It didn't help that Ethan told her it was gross pumpkin brains and guts.

William almost started to cry when we tried to get him to touch the pumpkin guts. Maybe next year he'll clean his own pumpkin out.

We all did pretty well don't you think? Jason did most of the carving

Ava's pumpkin, Ethan's pumpkin, and Billy's pumpkin

It's been awhile since we dressed up for Halloween...

Lady Gaga (from Born this Way) and her Monster!

Ready for a night of Trick-or-Treating!

Quite the Hiatus, huh?

I haven't given up blogging, I promise. I kind of let Facebook take the place of my blog since it is much less time consuming. I should have the time again once we move to Illinois and get settled. In less than 2 weeks we'll be in a hotel for a week before leaving Germany. I know I'm going to cry when we leave. I have basically LOVED everything about our life we've had here for the last 3 years.

The movers have come and gone, and we've been down to one car for almost 3 weeks. I don't like this part of an overseas move, being without our stuff for months, along with having to get rid of food, 22ov appliances, etc. It's weird being in this 6 bedroom house with very little furniture loaned from the base. At least I have a lot of time to clean the house, instead of trying to do it all in a day.

I'm excited we'll be spending almost 2 weeks with family in Utah before we go to Illinois. My sister's due with her first baby while we're there, so I'm hoping I get to see my new little niece. We're soon off for another adventure!

Spring cleaning

I may be missing for awhile, but I'm busy spring cleaning and planning some future Europe trips among all the everyday things that are taking up my time. I am determined to get rid of "stuff" over the next month. I feel like we have way too many things to get rid of. I want to get a head start before our next move. I'm tired of holding onto things that I might use in the future. If there's any doubt I'm tossing it or donating it- I'd rather re-buy than look at my cluttered attic and the kids toy room bursting with toys which never seem to make it back to the cubby it should go in. Now that the weather is getting better, even more reason to get rid of things IN the house so we will have more reason to enjoy time OUT of the house. :) I can't wait for Spring!

Thinking about quitting

I can't seem to find the time to keep up with blogging, I might have to quit! I really don't want to though. Ugh