The True Life of a Pastor's Wife/Stay at Home Mom: October 2012

I feel like I've had about 20 different projects half done, or just started. Finally this week I am getting to a few of them. In fact Jonas napped for over an hour today and I got so much accomplished!

I have been in a very premature Christmas-y mood lately while working on a couple of Christmas projects, and Luke has mentioned several times how "creepy" it is to be listening to Christmas music at the beginning of October. I say, "whatever it takes to get me in the mood to finish these Christmas gifts."

This is a "not quite finished" Christmas project that I have been chipping away at.

This year I've decided to give a few more handmade gifts than I usually do. I LOVE receiving homemade gifts and it's getting rare to get something so unique anymore. The problem with wanting to make gifts however, is the time it takes to do it, which is exactly why I have started so early :) A few of the projects are surprises for people who read this so those will of course remain secret, but I'm happy to share the rest!

I've thinking about making a pouch for the boys' characters and I finally put one together this week!

I still need to add the closure, but I think the boys are really going to LOVE these!

I finished Joshua's character set- it includes Super Why & Dino Dan on the left

Joshua is so happy to be back at school this week after missing 2 days for our getaway and then his school's fall break. Jonas has finally chosen his birthday party theme and much to my disappointment he did not choose a dino party. He seemed to really want a jungle themed party and since he's a much better talker than Joshua was at almost 2, Jonas has clearly spoken his choice.

This is the beginning of Joe's Birthday Banner

Joe has been loving the decor I made for his cake table

caught trying to get into it! Sweet Little Hands :)

I managed to get the Boys' names up on the wall in their play room (Special thanks to Toni, for making them for me, we love them). I also ordered a couple of poster pictures when Walgreens had a special on them. I only paid $2 a piece for the 2 you see and they are soooo cute and nice quality, I wish I had ordered more of them, but you never know what they are like until you try. Next time I'm for sure ordering more! The boys love the one of them with their South Dakota buddies!

More to come on my Christmas projects as well as a few thoughts on Numbness to the Word, something we have been talking about in Sunday School. Next week I will have more blogging time - Luke will be out of town for a few days :)

I am one of the least spontaneous people. I almost despise spontaneity with its unpredictability and unknown outcomes. I love it in others lives and almost live it vicariously through my best best friend who is quite the opposite of me, but in my own life I avoid it and plan, plan, plan. This past week however, I took the road less traveled and it made all the difference.

Last Thursday was my Grandfather's 92nd birthday! My mom decided to plan last minute road trip to see him in Mandan, ND. When I got off the phone with her I told Luke how I wished I could go too. Daydreaming about it I rifled through the possibilities of driving to Rapid City and picking up my mom, and then her, I and the kids (of course) would finish the trip together. The long drive with 2 little guys however, did not excite me. I took my daydreaming a step further and priced some airline tickets. After finding some that I could almost afford I ran the idea past my mom. She jumped at the idea and even offered to fund the trip (even better!) I didn't think I could make the trip alone with both kids since neither of them had even flown and I myself had never flown without my husband, so I checked to see if Luke could watch Joe if Joshua and I took off for the weekend. He said yes, and I booked the flight, pretty much the fastest I've ever moved on anything since it was Wednesday night and we flew out on Friday morning.

Joshua on the airplane for his first flight!

So thankful that my Uncle and Aunt (whom my grandfather lives with) are always happy to see me, we took off on an adventure, just Joshua & me.

A picture of the GIANT dragline Joshua got to ride in

Ready to head out on his tour!

The trip was PACKED full of exciting activities! We arrived Friday afternoon and that night we had a delicious dinner, cake, and Grandpa opened a few presents. Saturday was any little boys' dream come true as my Uncle had arranged for Joshua to get his own private tour of Falkirk Mine's Dragline. Joshua really enjoyed watching the giant shovel scoop up buckets of dirt. He got a little scared once or twice due to overwhelming size of everything, but I know it will be an experience he'll never forget. After our tour we took off for Minot to check out the Scandinavian Host Fest and meet up with My cousin Derek (and his wife Camilla) for dinner. Host Fest was filled with unique Scandinavian foods, gifts, and more. It was a lot of walking for 4 year old legs so we finally threw in the towel and sat down for a bit, but Joshua ended up with a super cute frog stocking hat for winter and of course a tiger one for Joe. Next we headed over to my cousins house and then out for dinner at a place called Space Aliens. I had never heard of it, but they seem popular in North Dakota. Decorated like space and filled with Arcade games, it was of course a hit with Joshua.

Playing in the corn at the Pumpkin Patch

Sunday we attended Church, a church that prayed and prayed for Joshua when he was sick and it was good for the heart to sit in the pew with Joshua next to me 4 years later and know that God faithfully answered their prayers to heal him. After church my mom left to head back home and Joshua and I rested for a bit after our action packed Saturday. Late afternoon however we headed to Papa's Pumpkin Patch and had an amazing time taking in all of the fall goodness. There were so many things for kids to do that you'd have to go 5 or 6 times to do everything they had to offer.

Monday we packed up our stuff and got ready to head back to Colorado. My cousin Scott made it home just in time to get in a little tag with Joshua before we had to leave. We ate a quick lunch and caught our flight back. Joshua was a little queasy on the return flight which made it a little more stressful, but we did make it back safe and sound.....and then the real excitement began.

Right after being reunited with Luke and Joe we got a flat tire. Just past the airport we had to pull over and try to figure out the tire situation. At first I was pretty relaxed having full confidence that Luke could change the tire and we'd quickly be on our way. What I didn't take into account was TONS of traffic whizzing by -not getting into the outside lane as they passed us- the van shaking on the jack as Luke slid underneath trying to reach the spare, visions of the van slipping off the jack and crushing Luke- whirled in my head. It was just too dangerous to attempt with as much traffic as there was. We flagged down a police car and he called a tow truck for us. Of course the very best part was that we all got to ride in the police car. The kids enjoyed it much more than Luke and I did, but we were thankful to get the kids and van to a safer place where the tire could be changed. I finally made it home about 5:15 pm after landing at 2:30. So happy to be back home, but also thankful for all the fun times we were able to enjoy with family.
I usually don't go too picture crazy on here but I'm including a few extra photos from the trip just to give everyone the full experience :) I'm so blessed to have such an amazing extended family!