Matching outfits

I had some questions about the matching outfits. The red "set" was from Land's end, and I bought those for the family pictures. The Christmas "set" was a gift from Grandma to all her Grandkids, and they were from LL Bean.

Christmas Wrap-up

I'm sitting here, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I have oodles and oodles of pictures to share - pictures not only from Christmas, but from our entire Advent season.
But how WAS Nina's fist Christmas? Well, she LOVED it! She loved the lights, the presents and the candy canes. It was so special to see her become familiar with the baby Jesus. She really does like baby Jesus, but she is not too keen on the idea that Jesus loves Nina BoBo ;-). Kind of hard for any three year old to understand, I guess. And she really wants it to be HER birthday now, and not baby Jesus' anyway....
Here is a video from Christmas Eve and our Christmas celebration. Nina is telling her "version" of the Christmas story. The only thing you will probably be able to pick out is an occasional "Baby Jesus". But I guess that's the most important part of it anyway ;-)

And now I will go back to events earlier in December...

Advent at our house

In early December, we decorated our Christmas tree. We always have a live tree, as I love the smell of the pine needles. The kids were excited to get their ornaments out and to put them up, which ends up being a chaotic undertaking. We get them an ornament every year, and I usually try to pick one that somehow pertains to something they like, or to something that they have been interested in. We have ornaments representing Veggie Tales, Bob the Builder, Barbies, Pooh and his friends, American Girls, firetrucks, football, cats and LOTS of construction equipment. I love looking back and remembering how the kids and their interests have changed over the years. SOMEDAY I will write down all the memories that go with each ornament.
Nina was a little sad that she didn't have as many ornaments as everyone else, but I'm sure she will catch up soon!






The reason the tree is a bit bare on the bottom is because we had to kitty-proof it ;-)) Little midnight thought the tree was a GREAT hideout!

St. Nikolaus Day

Celebrating St. Nikolaus, or "Samichlaus" (what he is called in Swiss German) on December 6th is one of my favorite Advent traditions. He doesn't bring gifts, but "Samichlaus" usually brings treats (peanuts, chocolate, clementines and gingerbread are the traditional ones), along with a letter to the kids that talks about their "good" and "bad" deeds throughout the year. This year we did a "basic" version of it, as I did not get the preparations done in time.
What I really like about it, is that you can focus on "Santa" separate from Christmas, and then focus on Christ at Christmas time.
Baking gingerbread boy looking "creatures" out of bread dough is another tradition on December 6th (= Grittibaenz). The kids really like this part, as they are so proud of their accomplishment.
(And they had to make them anatomically correct, too, but I will spare you from those pictures *LOL*)

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve came around. This is the day when we celebrate Christmas in our little family, and it's pretty much an all-day event.

After breakfast we opened presents, and then spent the rest of the day playing, decorating gingerbread cookies, and eating our traditional meat fondue for dinner (Yummmm!)

Three years ago, we started to do a "go find Baby Jesus" time with the kids, where we go outside (one time to a park, the next two years we stayed closer to the house because I was too chicken sneaking around a dark and quiet park at night setting it all up), find a lighted nativity scene where we read the Christmas story together. It's really a neat thing, but this year it snowed, so we stayed inside. I hid all 27 pieces of a miniature nativity set I have, and the kids had to go find them. They LOVED it! Then we read the Christmas story, and that was our more quiet ending to a very nice celebration.

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This is how the "opening presents" scenario got started. Do you think they were excited?? The chair in the background is a present from my parents. It is our new "quiet corner", where we can read, or just sit and relax.

Here is Nina's present - she loves to cook, and I found this really cute play kitchen. She was so excited!

Elia was just as excited about his legos

And Alex about the Rokenbok Police car he wanted for a long time (we "inherited" a huge Rokenbok set from our friends and neighbors about a year ago)

Nico was quite pleased to with his loot

Anya is trying out the new chair

We didn't really hear much from Nina for the rest of the morning. She cooked and cooked and was perfectly content.

Reading the Christmas story together

Fashion Queen at Christmas

On Christmas day, we had Christmas with Mike's immediate family, and the following day with his extended family. I have a few cute pictures to add, and then I'm done with overloading you with pictures :-))

Nina was quite a fashion statement on Christmas day. First she just wore her dress that you have seen on more pictures than you probably care for (I'm even tired of looking at it *ha*), but insisted on wearing her Swiss T-Shirt she got from Big'e Anja over the top of it. 

Like this wasn't bad enough.

She got a fairy skirt from her aunt and uncle, and HAD to wear it too. She is a hot potato anyway, but she was close to dripping wet by the time the day was over. She is so funny!

Last but not least, the proud Grandparents and their grandkids (one is missing)

And then.... drumroll please, one more time, my very favorite five kiddos! They are the best present, no doubt!

A new picture and leg update

I added this picture as Nina's "picture of the month" to the sidebar, but I also wanted to put it in a post. This is one of the pictures that will go to China as part of our first post-placement report. We also used it in our Christmas card, but by itself it's even better.
People often ask me how Nina is doing.
She is a joy.
Yes, she can be whiny and defiant, she can put on this "I could care less" attitude, but overall, she is happy, funny, and basks in our love and our praise.
This picture is like a dream come true. It blows me away to see HOW happy she is, and I'm so, so, so thankful.

On Thursday, 6 weeks were up, and Nina's cast came off. Wohoo! The X-Ray looked good, and we were advised to give her another couple of weeks to take it easy, which means no jumping off the bed or jumping on a trampoline for example. I think we don't have to worry about that (we have no trampoline anyway, and in 20 degree weather it would not be much fun even if we did), as Nina is very, very careful. She was so scared to walk at first, she literally cried big crocodile tears. But then she tried, and everyone cheered her on. That helped. A lot. She is slowly beginning to hobble around on her own, but prefers to scoot still. It's like having a new girl! Again, I really think that a lot of good came out of this, as it was very good for our bonding with her.
I took them to the swimming pool yesterday, and that paired with the renewed walking wore her out. I thought she was going to fall asleep at the dinner table, and by 7pm she was sound asleep in bed, sleeping until 8am this morning!

Creative Jello eating

While I'm battling Blogger to upload all my Christmas pictures (I have no idea why it's just not working), I'll show you a funny video I took a couple of weeks ago.
This is how my boys prefer to eat their Jello... *LOL*

Christmas Greeting

I just wanted to post this year's Christmas card.
I love the way it turned out (thank you, Kami!), and we finally have a nice picture as a family of 7.
Also, if you are new to our blog, I will be posting a summary of this year within the next couple of days. So check back often!

Merry Christmas!

...from our family to yours!
Thank you for being there throughout this year that has brought so many changes to our family.
We wish you that the ONE and ONLY who came to save us will continue to pull you towards him, to guide you, and to be the one he wanted to be all along: Your SAVIOR!
With much love from all of us out West!
Barb, Mike, Nico, Anya, Alex, Elia, Nina (and big'e Anja, too!)

PS: No, I'm not off by one day. At our house, we celebrate Christmas on the 24th. Yep, it's kind of a "Swiss thing", and it works well with all the extended family festivities.

(No, I did not put this video together, I shamelessly stole it from YouTube....)

Someone is FIVE!

I can hardly believe that it has been five years since these events happened in our family.
First there was a belly. A five year old. A three year old. And paint... (and a two year old who looked on in total disgust...)
Two days later there was a little boy. A new little blessing. Healthy as can be.

Then the family was complete (or so we thought *LOL*...)

Five years later, the blessings and troubles are both present. Elia is a funny, passionate, creative, competitive and sensitive little boy. But oh, man, has he gotten hurt more than anyone else in this family.... fractured foot, fractured skull, bruised and beat up everything else. He almost knocked out his teeth a couple of weeks ago (it's truly a miracle they are still in place), but by the increasing discoloring of at least one of them, we know that there is damage nontheless *sigh*.
The spark he adds to our family is one-of-a-kind, and we love him so much!
Happy Birthday, Elia!
He has been waiting for his birthday for a long, long time, and he had the happiest grin on his face when I kissed him Good morning. One of the first things he said was "Can I call Grandma and tell her that it's my birthday?".
Sure he could!
I fixed him a special breakfast place setting, and he was just sooo happy.

Later on, his friend Kyler came over to play (Mom and sisters too), and they played hard and had a little "birthday brunch"

In the evening, we had dinner for the extended family and a couple of friends. Elia picked the menu: Bread and eggs.
I added some soup, meats and salad to it, and it was wonderful ;-))
And then it was FINALLY time to open presents. Quite a while ago, Elia came across this wooden marble run building system that he really wanted. And that's what he got from his Grandparents and us. We had a happy, happy boy!

The living room turned into a construction site within minutes. Not sure who had the most fun, though :-))

The cake put a nice finish on a very special day. Elia wanted a "Candy Cane Cake", and since his Scooby Doo cake last year was totally lame, we went all out this time around ;-) We turned his Candy cane cake into a Winter wonderland that turned out really cute.

And then the traditional family-birthday picture :-) Elia's look is priceless *LOL*

I doesn't get much better than this!

Wow, Mike and I just got back from a little mini-vacation. JUST THE TWO OF US! Woohoo.
On our way home tonight, we came by Devil's tower, and it was gorgeous!!!!!!!!
I know it will make you want to move to Wyoming, doesn't it?
And now we're back home, the kids were so happy to see us, they managed to break the computer while we were gone, and my "FAVORITES" list is gone for now *sigh*.
Back to the life that is exhausting to the max, and that I would not trade for anything!

**** update****
Well, Mike delivered again, and got everything back on track with this computer!

A parable about the King

I mentioned this book in an earlier post, and I'm finally getting around to elaborating about it a bit more. If you are looking for a last minute christmas gift for a girl, I can HIGHLY recommend this book.
It is a girly, princess-y version of the prodigal son, and it's beautifully written.

Here is an excerpt from it - it's actually the end of the story, and I'm starting at the point where the princess returns to the palace.

"Gently, the King knelt down beside her and pulled her into his strong, comforting arms. 'Come here, my child, my princess,' he said.
"But I'm not a princess anymore.... I'm just like them,' she sobbed. 'Ah, my child, you may have acted like them, but you are not one of them. You are mine, and you will never be happy until you accept both the privilege and responsibility that goes with belonging to me.'
.....
As the King walked out of the room, the dim light softly illuminated his royal robe, which was now smudged with dirt. Tears filled the princess' eyes, 'Look what I have done to the King's robe. Never again,' she whispered, apologizing to the King. Sensing her broken heart, the King turned and spoke softly, 'Yes, my child, there will be other times, but I will open the door every time you knock and I will always love you.... ever, again.'
And this story has no end."

Answering questions about the Advent Calendar

My friend LINDA asked me how I did it with the little surprises for all the kids in our beautiful Advent trees.
That's how we do it: Each of the kids has their own little tree. It just started out that way, because we only had 2 the first year we did it (actually, Alex was born, but he was a baby and could have cared less at that point ;-)) ), and so we added more as our family grew. You could also split it up between kids, so if you have three kids, you could make one little tree with the bags divided into three colors, and the kids take turns. Honestly, I would probably opt for that route NOW, but I did not know we were going to have five kids THEN :-)). The nice thing about having one for each child though, is, that some day, they can take it with them and keep it as one of their very own childhood memories.
We only do 24 bags, because "our" little family Christmas is always on the 24th of December. That's the tradition I grew up with, and it works well with our other family get-togethers during the holidays.
The big question is, what in all the world to I put in all those 120 bags?????
Let me tell you - not THAT much! If I would have to put a Dollar amount on it, I would say, I spend maybe $10 - $15 at the most per Child. It takes the place of Christmas stockings, as we don't do that. About half the bags have a piece of Candy or Gum in it, the other other little trinkets, like a balloon, themed bandaids,a hairclip for the girls, stickers, beads, the small playdoh containers, matchbox cars etc. This year I bought one of those block puzzles (I wanted to get Nina one anyway), and I split it up between the kids. Same goes for small little Lego sets. I LOVE the dollar section at Target, where I picked up a pair of socks for Nina, bracelets, Lip gloss and little games. Really, it's nothing huge, and I definitely don't go broke over it. I pick up things throughout the year, and the biggest thing is wrapping them up *sigh*. This year, my live-in angel aka "Big Anja" did it all for me. The "fanciest" item this year was the personalized stamps we got for all the kids while we were in China.
As with everything else, I believe it's the suprise factor and most of all the anticipation that they like the best.
The tradition.
The predictability.
The spirit of Christmas.

Nothing is stopping her...

I just wanted to update everyone on Nina's leg. On Thursday, we had our three week appointment, and after I talked the nurse out of cutting off Nina's cast (or I should say, she went and checked with the Doc, because it just didn't sound right to me...), they did XRays through her cast, and it looks like it is healing nicely. The doctor showed me where new bone was starting to form, which is amazing to see how our bodies work so perfectly and try so hard to make things right again. Yeah right, we started as a primitive little creature millions of years ago. Seriously, how can anyone believe that????
But that's totally off topic here...
We have another three weeks of "purple leg", which confirmed that Nina will have a purple Christmas after all. In a way I'm glad, because I don't think she will walk right away, at least not very well, and this way she can have a comfortable Christmas. We talk quite a bit about her leg getting better and her being able to walk again, but her reaction is always like this: "I don't want to walk again". I'm not sure where that comes from, and the funny thing is, I don't really remember her walking either. I know that sounds totally weird, but I have gotten so used to her crawling and scooting and being carried, it seems like it has always been this way.
The cast is definitely NOT stopping her though, as you can see from the little video below ;-))).

Thanks to my Bloggin' Buddy Sonya...

...I came across this beautiful Ornament.
Thank you to the South, Sonya!
Although Nina had already gotten "hers" for this year, I HAD to go back and buy this for her too. She was a little disgusted anyway that she only had two ornaments, and everyone else had oodles. Last year I bought her one, even though we didn't even know yet who our daughter was going to be.
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Oops, now the link is not working anymore... I will just have to take a picture of it and post it here instead!

We are ready for December!

Advent and Christmas at our house is a true mix of traditions from 2 countries.
I have fully embraced the American style of Christmas lights and tons of decorations, the Christmas tree that's up for all of December, candy canes and hot cider.
I love to relive my childhood memories of St. Nikolaus (whom we celebrate on December 6), baking the traditional Swiss Christmas cookies, and we LOVE our countdown to Christmas calendars. Well, I should say, the kids really like them, and I love doing it for them.
Several years ago I had this picture in my head on how I wanted them to look like. So I sketched one for Mike's Grandpa, who built me the tree-looking stands for the three older kids. I sewed the little bags that hold a little surprise for every day in December, up to Christmas. Well, Elia was born, and my parents came to visit. My Dad made the stand for Elia, and my Mom made the little bags. Now we added Nina to the clan, and Mike's Dad and Nico made the stand this time around, while Big-Anja sewed the bags. There is such a mix of people who love our kids, and their Advent Calendars are a beautiful reflection of that. Mike's Grandpa is no longer with us, but every Advent Season he is here in a special way, and the same goes for my parents who live thousands of miles, and continents away.
The kids were so excited this morning to open their first surprise, and Nina caught on VERY quickly :-))) (AND got into a huge fight with Nico when he prevented her from opening a second sack right away)

Quite a cook!

Look at our busy little girl! She has discovered pretend cooking.
She can cook the same little egg for a L O N G time, and she always finds someone who will eat her creations.

Anya has a lot of playfood, most of it is made out of wood, and the fruit and veggies were very special presents from our Swiss family. Nina really enjoys them now. I know she will LOVE her Christmas presents *hint hint*.
In the video, you can hear Elia giggling in the background - him and Midnight were playing. Also, at the end of the video, Nina is calling for Nico - he was helping her earlier, and she wanted him to help her again.

Also, to update you on her broken leg situation.... she is doing very well with her cast. It took her a while to snap out her "carry me everywhere" mode from the first few days after the fracture happened, and now she scoots and crawls pretty much everywhere she wants to go. She can climb up in her chair, and go up and down the stairs. Of course she is still being carried a lot, but my back gets at least a little bit of a break.


I think this is actually a great time for our bonding, as tiring it often gets. We do a lot more snuggling, and she is so dependent on us, and hopefully learning that we ARE there for her, and she can count on us. Not that I think she particularly struggled with this, but it's great reinforcement.
God always manages to bring the good out of a situation, doesn't he...
He is good, all the time.
Have a great weekend, friends!