things i'm loving, lately...

The smell of Christmas. I've been simmering a pot on my stove and it's making the whole house smell delightful! 

All you need is:

1 orange, quartered

a handful of cranberries

a few cinnamon sticks

a tablespoon of whole cloves

Put all the ingredients in a pot, fill it with water so everything is submerged and then simmer and enjoy the glorious smells wafting through your house.

Songza Christmas music mixes. My current favourite is Lauren Conrad's Holiday Soiree. Check it.

White Christmas lights on our tree and around our big bay window. So magical.

Bath & Body Works Candy Cane Bliss hand soap. It's in our powder room and my boys can't get enough of it. They'll wash their hands {bonus!} and come out waving their hands in everyone's faces saying, "Anyone wanna smell mint!??!" But seriously. Next step is to buy a candle in the scent because it's amazing.

My new advent envelope artwork by Naptime Diaries. So gorgeous and now I don't have to decorate new envelopes each year. 

Now to figure out the activities I'll be doing. I still have a week, right?

Having people over in our house. Okay so I've loved that for a long time, but it's nice now that we're more settled to have the space to accommodate them all! We had both our families over after the Guelph Santa Claus parade last weekend and with 10 adults and 3 kiddos it was a full house and I loved every minute of it! 

Can you believe my boy are the only kids on both sides? So far! I'm loving the fact that I'm going to be an Auntie come May! My sister is pregnant and I am thrilled at the prospect of being an Aunt for the first time! 

I'm attempting to do an Advent devotional this December and I'm using this free one from Desiring God. 

So technically I haven't started yet, {although I have read the introduction} but I am looking forward to taking time each day to focus and still my heart in preparation for the celebration of Jesus' birth. I'm loving that I get this privilege of talking to and hearing from the Creator of the Universe who came to Earth as a humble, helpless baby for me and you. Amazing.

And I'm loving that my boys are so ecstatic about the snow. Noah proclaimed yesterday as the snow fell and stayed on the ground, "This is the best day ever!". They want to go outside and play every day and I am definitely loving the fact that we have a built in sledding hill in our backyard. Yet another reason God picked this house for us. 

I am loving spending time with friends and family. Being in their homes and having them in mine is such a lovely blessing and I am soaking it all up. 

What are you loving, lately?

a recounting of our weekend seasoned with sarcasm

I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. We made it through the long weekend. It was long. And full. And crazy. And fun. But I'm kinda glad it's done.

It was my sister-in-law's wedding on Saturday {rehearsal on Friday night} and our whole family was in the wedding party and Thanksgiving on Sunday and then we installed new floors on Monday. Ridonc.

I don't have any tips on doing stuff like this.
Jude drew on Blaise's face with blue marker on Friday. It eventually came off, but it wasn't a washable marker so I had a moment of panic. Then he {Jude} got stung by a bee on his pinky finger. Friday was pretty awesome.
We didn't do the rehearsal dinner on Friday night and opted to leave right after to get home and sleep in our own beds before the big wedding day. Jude threw up seconds after arriving home. Yeah, that happened.
Noah fell down the church steps moments before the processional and then refused to walk down the aisle.
I made little fun bags for the boys to open during the ceremony and promptly forgot them in the car. So that was useful.
Jamie and I had many moments where we just looked at each other with wild, harried looks in our eyes wondering what on earth we had gotten ourselves into.
But the wedding was beautiful, the weather was absolutely perfect and we definitely had fun and enjoyed ourselves. It was hilarious and adorable to watch our boys tear up the dance floor. They loved pulling out the dance moves, sneaking candy from the candy table and taking hilarious pictures in the photo booth.

Sunday was fun and family and food. Ain't nothin' wrong with that.

Sunday night my brother Curtis slept over so that on Monday he could help us install our new floors in our living/dining room. He's a freakin' superstar. And our floors look so good. They almost make me giddy.

This morning I realized Noah had no pants to wear that were clean and threw in the jeans I had forgotten to dry into the dryer this morning in hopes that they would dry before school. {They did. Whew.} Jamie walked Noah up to the bus stop and came back and said, "So today was picture day." Hashtag face palm.
I just hope he didn't have yogurt smeared all over his face.

those words

Three kids is totally pwning {I'm stuck in 2010 apparently} Jamie and I. Seriously. I don't feel depressed or unhappy, but I am tired. Kinda like I'm treading water. Trying to keep my head above water. The difference is, I'm treading water with my best friend.
I don't think I can say/type it enough; I am beyond thankful to have had Jamie on parental leave for December and January. BEYOND thankful.

Now I'm not much of a swearer. I've never really been one to use a curse word - except for that rebellious phase I went through in grade 3 when I felt the need to use every swear word I knew at recesses. But I digress...
Since Blaise has been born, a dark side of me has been revealed. I swear. I'm like Joe Pesci's character from Home Alone when he's muttering "frickin' frackin'" after getting knocked upside the head. Except I'm not saying "frickin' frackin'". I'm saying the real thing. Usually at night. Usually when Blaise won't sleep. Liiiiiike last night. Froooooooom 12:30-4:30am. Awesome, right? WRONG. It was not awesome. It sucked.
But I held my proverbial shit together and actually managed to lightly doze amid the fussing/complaining/crying/hollering done by my youngest instead of getting angry or frustrated. Jamie got up and surfed the internet for a bit. Eventually I fed him {again - do not be fooled. The child was not hungry. Just...anti-sleep.} and he finally settled.
I don't swear around my kids {not the ones who understand, that is. *cough*} and sometimes...it just adequately communicates how I'm feeling. And then I'm over it. And sometimes I laugh at myself. It relieves a bit of tension.
I have a bunch of friends who swear. And ones I know would never swear {and might be aghast to hear that I do...?}
I've been thinking about words and swear words and what will happen when our kids go to school next year in Canada and how they'll be exposed to many ideas and thoughts and ... words. And I remembered reading a blog post about how these parents sat down with their school-aged child and wrote out every swear word they could think of and then explained {generally} them to their child. So that they could hear it from their parents. So that the whole stigma of those words would be lessened. Perhaps so that their child could see that there's nothing magical about them, but that we have a responsibility with the words that come out of our mouths. I've thought about what we'll do when the time comes for Noah and Jude to go to school. Right now we have rules like "We don't say stupid or shut up in our family." And I've explained to them that not every family has those rules, so some kids might say them because they don't have that rule in their family. But that if they are being said in a hurtful way, they can tell that person that those words aren't nice and they shouldn't use them that way {instead of saying, "We don't say stupid in our family." since that child isn't in our family.} And we've talked about how we have the power to use our words to be kind and loving or to hurt people and make them feel bad and that once our words come out of our mouths, we can't take them back.

But I'm not perfect. And I mess up. And I've learned/learning to apologize quickly to my kids. It's been hard, though because that wasn't ever really modeled to me as a child. But I want to model humility to my kids. That if I can and need to ask for forgiveness, then maybe they can and need to as well.

So. Swearing. I don't want it to creep into my every day vernacular. But I do swear. Sometimes. And not in front of my kids {that they can hear}.

So I have to ask, do you swear? Does your family have rules about which words you can and can't use? What are those rules based on? Are you offended that I confessed my recent development in swearing? Do you make up alternate swear words? {If so, read this. HILARIOUS.}

brothers

every morning they argue over who will be first to hold blaise.

i suppose that's one argument i don't mind hearing. 

especially since it won't last long.

{how is my youngest baby already 7.5 weeks old!?!}

photo dump thursday

my parents got into town on sunday night.
it's been lovely for all of us.
i've been recovering from a brutal head cold that my older two boys passed onto me {thankyouverymuch} in between breastfeeding {a lot! my little chunker now weighs 11lbs 13oz!} and making thanksgiving dinner {and now i've making pumpkin everything with all my leftover pumpkin puree!} and enjoying the company of my parents, my kids and jamie.

blogging is not a high priority at this point, but i've been taking some pictures so i don't forget everything in approximately 59 days.
enjoy...

milk drunk smiles

playing outside in the sandbox

gramma holding her youngest grandson

everyone's got their own entertainment

a sneak peek at a quick photo shoot i did with blaise and a vintage suitcase {thanks, kelly for the suitcase!}

{three}

i have three boys! amazing.
we're still figuring out our routine but it's been nice to have jamie around and my parents arrive on sunday night.

noah is really into sonic the hedgehog racing on jamie's iPad and likes to make up stories about sonic. he also really enjoys listening to audiobooks during his quiet time. it's hilarious when he comes up to me and asks about different words or phrases that he's picked up on like, "mom? what does it mean to have a cheese that drags you around the house by your nose?" then it makes me wonder which story he got that from!

jude continues to make us laugh with his funny voices and hilarious antics. he insists on calling "Monopoly" "buh-mopowee" which i love. jamie wondered to me the other day, "i wonder what jude's voice really sounds like. he's either making up a funny voice or shouting Dora the Explorer style." it's so true.

and blaise is adorable. he's also started spitting up as the picture above shows. he spat up as i was walking him over to the blanket for this picture. oh well. c'est la vie. he's doing really well during the nighttime and last night he went almost 4 hours between feedings. pure bliss. he's conked out on my chest right now. he's a cuddler for sure. {and i love it.}

{and one more picture of blaise. cuz he's the new kid around here.}

linking up to steph who takes pictures of her 4  kids on the 4th of every month.

Blaise's birth story {part one}

16 days. 16 days had come and gone since my due date of september 1st.
i wasn't naive enough to hope think {as i had when i was pregnant with jude} that this baby would be coming  before my due date. i knew i would go overdue again.

i had a few days of achy, sore joints but for the most part i felt fine.
i went through a whole bunch of emotions {as you would know if you follow this blog} ranging from anger, to frustration to desperation to finally...acceptance. eventually this baby would come out of me, but i had no idea when and it didn't seem like it would happen any time soon.

at 41 weeks i went to the hospital with jamie to get a 41 week biophysical scan {ultrasound} to make sure everything was okay with the baby.
it turned out everything was fine. the baby was still moving quite a bit and the fluid levels were perfectly normal.

that night i started experiencing some regular contractions. so i timed them.
they were lasting a minute and coming every 5 minutes. exactly when they {you know, the medical professionals} tell you to head to the hospital. but they weren't increasing in intensity or frequency. this went on for over 4 hours. eventually i decided to go to bed and see what happened.

i woke up in the morning. no baby. no more contractions. so thankful i didn't head to the hospital.
we went back into the hospital that morning for my doctor's appointment and talked with the doctor about our next steps. he declined to give me a stretch and sweep {still!} but we went up to labour and delivery as he had detected that the ectopic heart beat was back and wanted to monitor the baby for a longer period of time. while i was there he checked me and found i was 5cm dilated. i was happy that there was some progression but not surprised. i was about 4-5 cm for weeks with jude before he came so i knew that this didn't mean that the birth was imminent.
they monitored the baby's heartbeat and found that while it was on the low side of "normal" {in the 120's}, there was nothing to be concerned about regarding the ectopic heartbeat.
we spoke about induction but didn't schedule anything.
then we went home with the plan to meet with the doctor on friday {this was on tuesday} if i hadn't already gone into labour.

friday arrived. no baby. i texted our doctor and he said to come in in the afternoon to assess.
we spoke and decided on tuesday as the induction date as my brother and his girlfriend would be spending the day with us on monday before they headed off on the rest of their whirlwind tour of uganda and tanzania.
i had random contractions off and on throughout the rest of the week.

sunday came and my brother and his girlfriend were arriving at 10:15pm that night. the airport is about an hour away from us. he would have to leave our house around 9:30pm and probably wouldn't be back until 11:30 or 12pm. it was decision making time. to send jamie or not to send jamie...
would i go into labour?

i decided to send jamie to pick them up. i was having no contractions and no signs labour was coming. so i told him to go.
another uneventful evening. {but i did get lots of crocheting done!}
and no baby.
they arrived shortly before midnight and i got up, said hello and then went back to bed.

the next day i woke up feeling achy but otherwise normal.
we spent the morning opening a few gifts that keven brought from home like legos! and cars! {and more bath and body works hand soap for me...yay!}.

my brother's girlfriend laura with noah & keven playing with legos.

then we all went out for lunch and did a bit of grocery shopping with them before heading back home for a relaxing afternoon together. i tried so hard not to waddle but my joints were feeling especially loose and it was a losing battle. 

that evening i made chili for dinner with a pineapple crumble for dessert. it was all so delicious {and both are apparently labour-inducing so that always helps} but i was now feeling achier than ever.

i was aware that i was experiencing some mild contractions but concentrated on dinner and getting the kids in bed. we reminded the boys {again} of what would happen if mommy & daddy had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and what they should do if they woke up and we weren't at home {lisa, our other team member who lives in our house, would be sleeping in our room and taking care of them}. 

then the adults hung out in the living room and chatted and laughed together by candle light as power went out around 8pm. i started timing my contractions {just to see} on jamie's iPad and no one really was aware of what i was doing until they saw the timer. they were lasting about the same as last time; 45 seconds - 1 minute long and about 5 minutes apart. except they started getting closer together. and a bit stronger. 4 minutes apart. then 3 minutes apart. 

jamie started asking me to call the doctor. i resisted. i just didn't want to be labouring for hours in a hospital when i could be in the comfort of my own home. but then i agreed to call him when the contractions started coming about 2-3 minutes apart. 

i went to the bathroom and gathered my belongings. then i came out and called the doctor and told him we'd be on our way to the hospital in a few minutes and that my contractions had been regularly coming for {at that point} 2 hours now and were now 2 minutes apart. 

he said he was headed in the opposite way from the hospital but that he'd turn around and meet me there.

we said our goodbyes to keven and laura and wished them well on their gorilla trekking and that we'd see them on thursday with the baby {as either way, i'd be induced the next day if blaise hadn't arrived by then}. we gave our last minute instructions to lisa and nick for watching the boys and then we got in the car and started driving to the hospital.

stay tuned for part two...

boy-mama

for some reason, this captured moment makes it seem so much more real. i'm a mama to 3 boys! amazing.

3

3 days in to this "mommy-of-three" gig and i'm s l o w l y getting the hang of it.
last night was our best night yet.
and my heart is bursting out of love from this little man who has so easily snuck his way into all our hearts.
there won't be too much action on this blog for a little while, but i do hope to post a couple pictures now and again while i eventually get to blaise's birth story.
so for now, here's a sampling of life these days:

on being chatty and brotherly bonding

today during noah's quiet time i lay down on the bed. he was in the living room playing with his legos.

eventually he came and joined me and jamie in our bedroom {where he usually has his quiet time}. 

he had lots to say.

usually i tell him it's a time to be on our own and not talking, but today i just listened and talked with him {while i played solitaire on jamie's iPad}. 

i don't even remember what we talked about anymore, but lots of it was observations and thoughts and comments about books and movies that he likes. 

he left the room at one point {to go to the bathroom} and i commented to jamie that one day he might not want to talk to me. actually, i think i said that one day he probably wouldn't want to talk to me. 

his comments and thoughts kept up throughout the day with the occasional sassy mouth {something we're working on}. i am loving the general openness of noah with me and jamie and his thoughts and creative ideas. he has a "drawing book" that he likes to draw things in during his quiet times and i'll need to post some more of his drawings on his blog because they really are adorable and funny.

after an early dinner {because i was going crazy from both him and jude complaining that they were hungry, hungry, hungry} we were all hanging out in the living room and baby B was kicking and moving up a storm! i called the boys over and lifted up my shirt to reveal my belly. noah was quite amazed at his movements;

he's punching you right there!

whoa! he's moving so much! 

and it was one of the first times the boys really saw and felt his movements. up until now they really haven't had the patience or interest {boldness, maybe} to feel my belly and wait for a movement, but tonight he was really active so it was a perfect moment for the boys to really understand that there's a person inside of me.

they both took turns trying to "listen" to what baby B was doing and saying hi to him and telling him their names. 

the other day noah and jude were with me and jude asked how baby B got inside me. i hesitated for a moment.

is this the beginning of "the talk"?

i explained that mommy & daddy decided we wanted to make a baby and then God is the one who makes baby B grow nice and big and strong inside of me.

noah looked confused.

so does how does God reach inside of you?

i told him that i didn't really know how exactly God makes human beings {or anything really!} but that He's able to make people and that He's the only one who can do that.

this set the boys off on talking about how big and strong God is. 

oh my boys. i love you so. i can't wait to add another little man to our fun and crazy family.

friday links!

jamie's family is visiting right now.
they got in late tuesday night and the boys have been loving the attention and each morning they ask to wake up "Nana & Popi & Auntie Erin". it's sweet.
the boys have also been enjoying and exploring daddy's new iPad. i think noah may be addicted. we may have to crack out the timer to regulate usage. but for the most part it's been fun to have a new "toy" around. it's amazing the amount of apps there are out there! if anyone has any recommendations {for mamas, kiddos or daddy's}, i'd love to hear about them!

friday links!


i have scoured the interwebs watching adorable pregnancy announcements and looking at cute photography ways to announce pregnancy, but this is probably the cutest video i have ever seen to announce a pregnancy.

and my friend, beth {the same awesome friend who came to visit me!}, sent me this video via twitter and i gotta say, she knows me well. i loved it. kids who tell stories + people who make them a reality = awesomeness.

last week i wrote about making life lists, and then this week i found this great free printable for making a visible life list - more like a bucket list, but you can use it however you choose!

i just can't get enough of reece's peanut butter cups. just....YUM.

i will be 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow. just started feeling like my feet were getting a bit tired and puffy, but not really noticeable by how they look, more just how they're starting to feel. anyway, i didn't bring any of my heels with me to uganda, but these? i love. and want. i'm slightly obsessed with wedges.

sunday is jude's birthday party and i'm excited! we'll have a bunch of kids and some friends {and family!} to celebrate with and the boys ask every day how many "sleeps" 'til the party. no doubt there will be many pictures taken, delicious food eaten and probably a blog post about it all.
enjoy your weekend, folks!

one blessed mama

i'm not sure if it's some sort of instinctual pregnancy thing {like nesting} that makes me want to scoop up my children and love on them in a way that seems to say,

life is going to change for our family. it won't just be the four of us anymore. someone else is coming into our lives and he's going to require a lot of my time and energy but that doesn't mean i'm going to love you any less.


noah's been more cuddly lately. or maybe i've just been more attuned to his needs. whatever the reason, tonight while we cuddled in the dark with no power he had some questions about the baby and i braced myself for questions like, will you stop loving me? or why weren't you happy with just us? but they never come. instead questions like, will you read to baby b, too?

yes, i answer. he'll listen to the same stories i read to you and jude.


and when you and daddy got married, was i not born yet?


i say, no. you weren't born yet. you and jude came a few years later.


i love how my sweet noah is so tender-hearted. so interested in babies and kids. so thoughtful in his questions. so accepting of this new life coming into our family.

at dinner time, jamie shows the boys his wedding ring and says that the ring means that he's married to me.
jude pipes up with, one day, i'm going to marry you all by myself!

i am one blessed mama.

lucky friday links

i'm not superstitious. at all, really. but it is friday the 13th. i think i like that it's friday the 13th mostly because it doesn't happen too often.

2 more sleeps until jamie gets home!

this morning we had some friends over and played and read books and danced to disney songs. i love that i have a couple really sweet friends here. i am so thankful for how God's shown His love to me in this way over the past year.

we all had a little lay-down after they left, then cleaned up and now the boys are sitting watching the lion king. i'm thinking about what to make tonight. i was planning on doing my usual friday night = pizza night but i have no cheese. so...it might be pb & j or whatever else i can scrounge up.

last saturday we went to mishmash but my bagel lady wasn't there. nor was the tortilla chip lady. sad times. so we'll try again tomorrow.

i posted this picture on facebook the other day and a friend commented that soon enough i'll have 3 little musketeers! crazy.

here are some fun friday links for ya!

i don't even remember how i found this link, but when i did, i almost died a sweet, sugary death as i imagined how delicious this dip would taste. yum. dessert. dip. make this. i made a tiny version of it for myself the other night. it was perfect. if you can't go camping, why not have some of the benefits? :)

and then there's the whole phenomenon of fruit & vegetable chips. here's a fantastic site that give tons of options {beet chips? kale?} with possible seasoning combinations.

and this? i am absolutely and completely in love with. every child's {and maybe a few adults, too} dream backyard hideaway. and they made it all. just...love. did you have a tree house in your backyard growing up? a fort? we had these oversized bushes on the corner of our townhouse property that had an empty space in the middle for us kids to have secret club meetings or create booby traps in. sweet memories, right there.

and this is a blog i'm crushing on right now. she's cute. and she sews. {just like how i will one day. right? right.} and it's a pretty blog. check it.

and these? genius. they're cheap and chemical free! i think they'd be perfect to give in a little "get-well" porch fairy gift. and also just to have for you and the kiddos when you've got the sniffles. if i can find the essential oils here, i might try and make them here. otherwise they're on the "to-do" list in about a year's time.

and for my Toronto friends and readers, you need to go here. please. just go. now. {donuts. chicken. need i say more?}

enjoy your weekend!

two {on the third}

so i have this friend here. she's awesome. her son is 11 months old. she recently gave me four huge plastic bags full of baby clothes ranging from newborn to twelve months. plus some blankets. amazing.
and then we bought a bumbo and a baby rocker off of her.
the boys think they are for them.

and today i found these canadian balloons left here by a visitor from canada. only two days too late. oh well. we had fun with them today.

and today jamie also left for the philippines until the 15th. i miss him already.

it's a...

...bit of a gong show, actually.

but i'll get to the part you've been waiting for.

boy!

i am thrilled. and thankful. at one point i wasn't sure if we'd get to find out today, actually.

so we {the whole family went} got to the clinic in great time. my appointment was at 9:30am and we got to the clinic {after crossing ridiculously crazy roads both ways} by 9:15. i paid for my ultrasound and then we went to the waiting area. shortly after we sat down, a cute couple sat down beside us. i wondered if there was another doctor who did ultrasounds in the building.

then alice {our fabulous ultrasound technician} nodded us in and we got all set up {the boys with their snacks, me on the table with the cold gel on my belly} and alice started taking her measurements via ultrasound. 

then jamie said, "hey, your name isn't eleanor." and alice said, "that's not you? what's your name?" and so we told her. my name wasn't on her list of appointments for the entire day. she was confused. so was i. and feeling a bit of dread. i knew without a doubt that today at 9:30am was my appointment. {trust me. a mama about to see her baby and find out the gender does not get that sort of thing messed up.}

so she finished up her measurements and then told me if we could just wait for the next appointment {it was supposed to be a short one, she said} she'd do their ultrasound and then i could come back in and she'd show us the baby.
i breathed a sigh of relief. we'd get to find out after all.
so we finished up {the baby was a-MOVING!} and then we waited in the hall for about 30 minutes before she was finished and nodded us back into the room.
we got to see and hear the heart beat, she showed us the face and head and hands and spine and everything. then she asked if we wanted to know the gender. when we said we did, she moved the ultrasound wand around for a bit and then there it was. boy parts. he was being very proud of his manhood and we laughed at how un-shy he seemed.

we are thrilled, although noah did say he had wanted a sister. i think i always imagined our family as a whole troop of boys. does three count as a troop? i think it will definitely feel like one. welcome to the strickland boys, my little one!

three

you didn't think i forgot about two on the second, did you? good. i didn't.

someone was not very cooperative. and it wasn't the unborn child in my womb.

it's three kids on the third! {for this month. we'll go back to two on the second until baby is born}.

our third is due this september and we'll find out next week if we'll be adding a third boy to our troop or a girl.

linking to Steph who takes pictures of her 4 kids on the fourth

spain.

so we went to spain. it was glorious.

see?
it's been so long since i last blogged that i almost didn't know where to start. i hadn't meant to take this long, but the day before we left to come back to uganda i got slammed with a brutal head cold/flu thing that was going around. and i was pretty much bed-ridden until yesterday. absolutely brutal.
but i'm on the mend.
so...
spain. our flight route was uganda to kenya to amsterdam to spain. and then a bus ride to our destination in nerja. but it.was.so.worth.it.
our schedule was light and we spent afternoons walking around through the cobblestone streets and the mornings and evenings in soul-lifting sessions. {more posts to come as i process through the things i learned.}
lunch on the beach? awesome.

and while we had a rough go at the beginning with the boys in their classes/childcare, they had fabulous teachers and enjoyed playing with new friends.
after the conference was over our family took a train to madrid for a few days before flying home.

it was ridiculously cold in madrid. in nerja it would sometimes get up to 16 degrees in the afternoons reminding me of a warm, autumn day. but madrid? *shiver* it was -2 degrees. we had to buy scarves and hats and mitts for the boys it was so cold {and we certainly didn't bring those things with us to uganda!}. we did a bit of sight seeing and ate at mcdonalds and our last night there we bought a baguette, a huge hunk of delicious cheese and hunkered down in the warmth of our hotel room and demolished the entire thing. so. stinkin. good.
speaking our hotel, it was amazing. the staff were wonderful, the rate was cheap and the boys even got a little gift on our arrival. i highly recommend the novotel hotel in madrid, spain. and i know that the next time i go somewhere and need a hotel, i'll be checking to see if there's a novotel hotel in the area. we were also on the bus line and it only took us one bus to get into the heart of the city.

we're home now and i'm on the mend so i promise not to be a stranger and neglect this blog for so long again {if i can help it!}.

beauty for ashes

my brother went home last night. it was a really good visit. surreal and yet normal. he really fit in with the culture and our team. he said it was the best two weeks of his life. that gave me warm fuzzies.
for the last 3 days of his visit we went on safari. there were plenty of things that did not go as planned.
things like having a vehicle that was too small for our 6 adults and 2 kids.
like our family sleeping in one bed.
all you co-sleepers out there? props, man. i don't know how you do it but i do know that it's not the strickland family's first choice. but i am slightly proud that we did it.
like neither jamie nor i bringing jude's bunny on our afternoon boat tour {after having woken up early that morning for a safari} and a very sleep-deprived jude screaming for 1 hr and 45 minutes of the 2 hour tour. another lesson learned. {don't do too much in one day. and always bring bunny.}
but there were things that made is completely awesome and worth it.
like this view when we pulled up to our hotel {even though i was suffering yet another migraine}:

and the fact that i went on a safari in africa with my brother:

there were times i had a bad attitude. when i wasn't embracing both good and bad. when i didn't take the time and ask Him to help me find things for which to be thankful. to open my eyes to the splashes of glory.
but
He does promise that if i seek i will find.

so Jesus? i'm seeking. help me to find the beauty in the every day, no matter if things are going the way i thought they would or not.

{also, a pedicure and a massage also work wonders.}

a very merry ugandan christmas

christmas was lovely. low-key. laid back. i loved it all.
i did remark to curtis at one point that it felt like we were just pretending it was christmas. he agreed. but i think we all still enjoyed ourselves.
i woke up thinking of all the things i needed to still do so i quietly slipped out and started prepping some breakfast stuff. curtis was already awake {still recovering from jetlag}. the boys and jamie came out shortly after.
we turned on skype and chatted with my sister and brother-in-law {their late christmas eve} and the boys opened their presents from them while on skype.
then it was time for stockings!

i love stockings. growing up my dad would usually do stockings for us and individually wrap each item in our stocking. my sister and i would close our eyes, reach inside and pull something out. then we'd quickly unwrap it, open our eyes and shout for joy at some random item we'd just received. our stockings often held practical things like socks and underwear and then as i got older sometimes i'd have note paper or kitchen items. then there'd be some gold-chocolate coins and a clementine in the toe of the stocking. and some of my favourite things would be the random doo-dads my dad would find at Lee Valley or the dollar store or these days it seems Pier 1 is the choice store for random {but usually handy} little things. 

i had saved up these little battery-powered fan-thingies the boys got from jamie's mom and i put them in the top of their stockings. well, the boys were completely enamored with them and played with them for a good 15-20 minutes when we convinced them to open up some of the other things inside their stockings.

then we read the last of our advent ornament stories {from this book} which told the story of the manger and Jesus' birth.
then we opened presents and our living room soon filled with wrapping paper and toy pieces. and lots of car noises.

we ate our breakfast and the guys {nick & trevor} went to church. i had to get the turkey ready as i really had no idea what i was doing. i recruited curtis to help me cut off the turkey neck {thank you, curt!} and then we stuffed the turkey and put 'er in the oven. and hoped for the best.
the afternoon was chill, playing with toys and games {and snacks} and relaxing in front of the tv.

i remember christmas day as a kid. checking out what everyone else got, trying out new games, toys or sitting around the table munching on leftover brunch foods. or eating my clementine from my stocking. and babybel cheese! i missed that this year. i remember one christmas one of my brothers got some sort of star wars computer game and all of us huddled around the computer, howling with laughter at some sort of storm trooper video. 
sometimes we'd walk down the street to the ice rink and hop the fence if it wasn't open to go skating for a bit while we waited for dinner to be ready.

we spoke with jamie's family at around 5pm in between me chopping up potatoes and checking on the turkey.
then our friends james and ronald came by in their finest clothes {james wore a really cool traditional ugandan dress/suit thing and ronald was looking very "smart" in a sweater vest} and the turkey was finally ready.
i was terrified it was either going to be underdone and we'd all end up with samonella poisoning or overdone a la National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.

while the skin was a bit crispy, the turkey meat was tender and delicious. i was so proud of myself. my very first turkey - and then jamie carved it for his very first time too! i think we are officially parents.

i didn't take any pictures during the meal or after as i was so exhausted i could bring myself to sit at the table and soak in the good and funny conversation, but i do remember sitting there, smiling. quite pleased with the day and how it had all turned out.
while we have missed our families and some of the more "wintery" things about christmas time in canada {not that it was really wintery in toronto this year...} i've thoroughly enjoyed spending christmas with just my husband and kids {and brother and nick and trevor...but you know what i mean.} it's been so good to just be us. to not have to rush around and do this, go there, get that, and be rushing, rushing, rushing. it's been chill and it's given us a chance to figure out how we as a family are going to celebrate christmas and to solidify those traditions as uniquely ours. 
i know that these traditions won't always be able to be kept and especially as my kids get older and one day will form their own family units, i'll be given another opportunity to start new traditions that fit with my stage in life. but for now? i'm loving where we're at.

hope you had a wonderful christmas, no matter who you were with or where you spent it.

blue christmas

...actually, more like a green christmas. and i don't mean in a "save the world" kinda way.

i mean with palm trees and sunshine, shorts and t-shirts, flip flops and bathing suits.

it does feel a bit surreal, but i am so happy to be here. so thankful. 

and

my brother flies in tonight {Lord willing he catches his 3rd connecting flight!}and i'm so super excited to see him and have him experience our little ugandan life and christmas and get a great big bear-hug from him!

noah is watching a christmas cartoon and jude is wearing his bunny as a cape shouting "merry christmas!", the stereo is playing folk angel and sufjan stevens and sarah mclaughlin and michael buble and jamie just left on a boda boda to pick up some last minute food items {it's just not worth the insanity to drive our car this close to christmas!} and i'm off to shower and then make lunch and then do some christmas baking with noah.

so a very merry christmas to you from us in uganda!

the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
isaiah 9:2

good news of great joy!