Our First Noel

Christmas this year marks a first for us Longmires.  It was the first Christmas that we spent just us 4....at our home.  We really felt like adults this year.  We truly missed all of our family and being with our parents, aka, Grandmas and Grandpas, but the Christmas season was blessed none the less.

Our little home was constantly being served with boxes for the week leading up to Christmas and Bob and I had a blast playing Santa' helpers at night after the girls went to bed. We made the BRILLIANT call and let our girls open 1 present every day for the 5 days leading up to Christmas.  This spread the wealth out and made Christmas morning much less overwhelming (#firstworldproblems).  

I have very few pictures of us Christmas morning with very good reason.  As much of a blessing my photography business has been, it has taken me away from the girls and our family time a lot this Fall.  On Christmas morning I made the choice to be fully present and fully in the moment and I don't regret it one bit.

This year we had the awesome chance to reconnect with all of this AMZING extended family.  Some of these folks I haven't seen in 5 years!  No kidding.  It is really fun to see how our families have grown and how big and beautiful everyone's life is.

Our First Noel was a special one filled with presents, love, tickles, caramel turtles, home projects (yes more of those), parties (there may have been a dance associated with this)..................

running, biking, swimming, wrapping, decorating, and celebrating the King.  

What Matters Most......

It's Christmas Eve and I find myself so beyond behind in my personal blogging expectations.  Oh how I have longed to just find time in my schedule to blog more.  I feel like I have so much to say, to write down and remember about this season of life.

Tonight as I sit here listening to the excited giggles of my children calling for me to "Come play the slopey couch game, Mom,"  I am hit once again with the changes happening in our lives and how the seasons are most certainly changing.

I simply don't have that down time anymore.  Over the past month, out of necessity, we have taken away Evie Bee's nap time during the day.  We got to the point where it was either cranky baby at 5:30 but sound asleep at 7pm or happy napping baby awake until 10PM.  We erred on the first one and its been quite the change.  With Lily I was always able to keep "rest time" in the middle of the day.  I could always eek out 2 hours of down time in which to blog, reconnect with friends, make phone calls and catch up on life's chores.  It should have been that same way with Evie, but now we are wrestling with a 5 year old who has sat in school all morning who needs to run WILD all afternoon.  Down time?  I think not.  We are now in this new and interesting phase of no longer having children that need naps.  Its just new and kind of disruptive :)

My girls are intense creatures and from 6AM when their light turns green until 7PM it is constant, non stop, constant referring, finding games to play, making forts, cleaning up messes, getting dressed, brushing hair, eating, getting juice......the list goes on.......and that is only everything before 8:45AM when we have to leave for school.  They need me, want me, all the time and I wrestle daily with potential regret.  Will my kids miss out on me? How do I do it all?  How do I play all day, but get things done?  How do I do me and our family when all your kids want is for you to be with them playing pirate ship?  How do you stretch time?

These past few months have been unbelievably rich in blessings.  When not being Mom I have been out training hard for IMAZ, meeting new people and taking pictures.......a lot of pictures.  I love, love LOVE what I do.  Taking pictures is so satisfying to me.  The only downside has been the hours of editing my time with all of these amazing friends has produced.  I have been less than completely present with my girls and have traded time editing for time blogging....and time playing.  I am learning about balance and with the change in my general daily routine I have found myself smacked in the face with the reality that there are truly not enough hours in the day.

I have also found myself awash with trying to figure out what we want our holiday traditions to look like this year.  Amidst all that we are doing on the house and our professional, personal and parenting lives I have just not stopped long enough to really think about it.  I now am here on December 24th wondering should we have done "Elf on the Shelf," or purchased an advent calendar, or had an advent devotional.  Did we talk about the real Reason for the season enough or did we miss the boat wrestling with Lily's questions about Santa.  Speaking of the SC, where do we sit on that?  How do we talk honestly without robbing our kids of the fun.  We didn't go caroling or get an Operation Christmas Child Box done.  We didn't adopt a family this year or even attend Christmas Eve Service. Should it matter?  No....all families are different, but its now the day before Christmas and I have been hit with all this stuff that might have deserved some of my intentional thought a month ago.  It's been a busy holiday season.......

But........Thankfully I know a Jesus who is more than enough for all of my short comings.  I may not blog as much as I would like and my house is most definitely not going in a magazine.  I DONT have time to do it all........but I am living and loving and finding my way.

Prince of Peace you are welcome here.

Little Packages

"Good things come in little packages...little packages wait and see...

Good things come in little packages....just like ME!"

Our holiday season has been busy...too too too busy.  I haven't blogged.  Oh how I have wanted too, but life has been so busy!  Goodness.  Lily has been  singing bits and snipits of her Christmas program for the last 3 weeks and I must say I could not wait for the night her program arrived!  I was so excited to hear each of the songs.  I thought I knew what she was singing, but Lily had her own rendition of each one.  Joy to the World was Joy to the Lord and so on.  I just couldn't wait to hear all the kids together.

As we were headed out the door for the program I pulled everyone aside for some family pictures.  Its usually kind of a circus getting all of us in a picture with our faces smiling in the same direction.  As shown above we usually have fun just being silly.

We arrived early and got front row seats.  Evie was so excited to see Lily and we were all antsy to hear these songs all the way through!

There is NOTHING more satisfying as a parent then watching your child do something that brings her joy.  It is so special.  Lily was completely into the motions and knew all of the songs.  I had such a fun time watching her.

The poor little dear was so tired and she spent much of her time attempting to sing and do motions through her yawns.  She is so cute.  

The program was a sweet 20 minutes, but I LOVED every single minute.  Evie was so excited and kept saying "Hi Lily!!!!" all throughout the evening.  I am a blessed Mommy.

I Swear I Lived

I'm in a really interesting and awesome space in my life right now.  It's a bold, brave and fierce space.  Exhibit A:  I "Pink" ed my hair last night.  Pink is a popular singer songwriter.  I love her because she sings empowering music and is herself a force to be reckoned with.  She is strong and fierce, not tied to the trendy whims, but confident in herself.  She has not catered to pressure and become the thin stick figure singer so many young women are and has instead become and even fitter, stronger woman who swings on silks over her audience.  She isn't a media hype and instead is just good at what she does.  She's bold......I have always been drawn to her.  Her look requires a mostly shaved head and I just didn't think I could do it.  Too big. Too Bold. Too Dramatic.

Until this year.......

One Republic has this amazing song out right now that is all about living life to the fullest:

I................I did it all

I owned every second that this world could give

I saw so many places the things that I did

With every broken bone, I swear I lived.

This could not be a more perfect song for the space of life I am in.  I want to live, I want to do things, BIG things.  I want to love and dream outlandish things.  I want to take risks and believe in the impossible.  I want to shave my head and get a tattoo.  I want to say YES to the things I would have so easily said no to 5 years ago.  I want to live.........without looking back and wishing I had.

I want to live abundantly.  I want to pull up to the pearly gates knowing without doubt.........I lived.

Saying YES to life is a powerful thing.  This is especially true when saying "no," "maybe tomorrow" or "when the kids get older" is so much easier and safer.  Doubt, uncertainty, fear and worry will ALWAYS linger.......they will always be there inviting you back into the safety of no. Saying YES takes balls and bravery.  Saying YES to new people and places is one of the most life giving things I have done, and I have had to do it much.  Want to really "live" your life?  Start saying yes to living......and no to the things that try to steal the living from you.

I am acutely aware of the things that steal my joy right now and am also acutely aware of the things that speak life and power into me.   I have surrounded myself with the latter and have all but removed the former.  Don't need it.......don't need the news, don't need the drama, don't need to consistently bear the what ifs and burdens of "this world."  I'm not of it anyways......I was given life in abundance.....and right now I am embracing it.....fully.

 I came that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.

-John 10:10