Gran's German Chocolate Cake.

All the years I have known Jerome, even our dating years, every year at Christmas his Gran would make a cake that he loves....German chocolate cake.

It is a holiday tradition that he looks forward to every year.

I can't say I blame him, this cake is delicious!



The past two years I have made this cake for our family dinner. Even though it is a good bit more complicated than making a Betty Crocker cake,it is worth it when you take that first bite of yummy goodness.

The recipe can be found here and here

104. family Christmas dinners
105. my girls in the kitchen learning how to bake
106. smell of chocolate cake baking in the oven
107. excitement Christmas morning
108. going to the movies
109. no more holiday shopping!
110. watching Spencer with his three year old and two year old cousins, Bradley and Caleb at our family dinner

Christmas Breakfast.

Today is the first day of Christmas break for our kids. We stayed up late last night and all slept in this morning.

Jerome started the coffee while I started making the reindeer pancakes I promised the girls I'd make.

We didn't have bacon (for the antlers) so I improvised and used Hershey's chocolate syrup, a maraschino cherry for the red nose, whip cream and chocolate chips for the eyes. I found the idea for it here

Buddy the elf would be loving the sweet sugary breakfast we had this morning....but he was in Katie's room on her little Christmas tree.....he covered her tree with toilet paper last night.

Katie was excited to see Buddy somewhere else besides the freezer this morning. He was in the freezer when she woke up yesterday morning. She kept getting upset because she was afraid he would freeze and lose his magic powers. I had to remind her that he lives at the North Pole and the freezer reminds him of home.

Natalie took the next picture with my camera.....



98. making reindeer pancakes with our kids
99. sleeping in on the first day of Christmas break
100. baking for the family get togethers
101. kids helping in the kitchen
102. wrapping presents
103. watching favorite Christmas movies with my family

Buddy the Elf.

Several weeks ago Katie was so happy to find an Elf On The Shelf waiting for her.

She came home from school telling me how her friend Emma has an elf, how you read the book and then his magic starts and the next morning you wake up and get to find him hiding in the house somewhere.

We carefully unpacked him, making sure not to touch him....because if you touch the elf he loses his magic.

Katie named him Buddy....Buddy the Elf.

She went to sleep that night anxious to wake up in the morning to find out where Buddy had found to stay for the night.

Since then Buddy has been a lot of places in our home, hanging from the clock, playing with marshmallows, eating cereal, hanging out with Barbie and her friends and many more places.

Katie loves Buddy and loves that he is "magic".



This past weekend all three of our kids had friends over or went to a friends house to stay. We had a house full. Natalie had Hailey and Casey over, Spencer had Adam over and Katie went to the movies with Emma and stayed the night with Sydney.

I had just gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed when I heard Katie banging on our door and crying.

I opened our door to a little girl crying her heart out.

Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: "Katie! Why are you crying? Whats wrong?" (thinking she was physically hurt)

Katie: "Mom!! (sniff, sniff) Mom!!"

Me: "WHAT?"

Katie: "Adam touched Buddy and now Buddy has lost his magic!!"

(Adam standing shocked and surprised and unknowing of Buddy's magic powers, which Spencer let him know of when Katie freaked out on him)

Adam: "I didn't know! I just picked him up, spun him around Katie! I didn't know!"

(I was trying to hold a laugh in, Spencer and Adam were too)

Katie: "Mom, can we get another elf...PLEASE?? Buddy isn't magic anymore!"

Me: (thinking fast what to say because I did not want to buy another elf)"Katie, Buddy is still magic. Adam doesn't believe in Santa or Buddy the Elf so it doesn't count if he picked him up, he didn't make Buddy lose his magic. Only the little kids that believe in Buddy the Elf and Santa make Buddy lose his magic if they touch him."

Katie: (calmed down a little, sniffing and wiping her tears) "You promise Buddy didn't lose his magic?"

Me: "I promise, you will still be able to find him in new places tomorrow morning"

The next morning Katie was excited to see Buddy the Elf holding on to her Daddy's coffee pot......Jerome told her that Buddy was needing some caffeine.

And now for one of our favorite parts of the movie....it makes Katie laugh hysterically every time.....



Looks fun doesn't it?

Katie's Buddy the Elf is named after that crazy elf.

91. how a little "magic" brings laughter in our home
92. seeing the excitement and anticipation of Christmas in our kids
93. date night with my husband
94. running into old friends at dinner
95. warmth of a new winter coat
96. a kiss from my husband in the cold night air
97. knowing that even though it will be our last date for a long time, we enjoyed every second of it

Our Advent Calendar.

For years now I have been wanting to make an advent calendar for our kids to enjoy counting down the days to Christmas. This year I decided to make one and I was right, our kids love it.

Each morning they pull the card out of the little brown bag, read it and know that that evening we will be doing something fun together as a family.

This evening we are watching The Christmas Story.



I put the calendar in our entry so it is one of the first things that is seen. I love it and am glad I finally took time out of our busy schedule to make a Christmas craft (especially one we will be able to use every year from now on).

I even managed to get a date night for Jerome and I tucked inside one of these little brown bags.



If you would like to use this idea you can find the numbers and daily cards here , here
here
and here .

I found the little brown bags at Michael's craft store. I printed the sheet of numbers out and used a Martha Stewart scalloped punch that I already had and then glued the numbers onto the bags (I need to buy another set of bags still). Then I pinned the little brown bags to the ribbon with tiny clothespins. I cut out the daily cards and tucked them inside each little brown bag. I like that I can change this out every year, add new cards to the bags as our kids grow older.

Iceskating.

We woke up early Sunday morning to travel to my parent's church. They were having their Christmas musical program. Our girls had spent the weekend at my parents and enjoyed getting to spend time with their cousins.

The music started and the program began. They had a man in a military uniform, performing, questioning God why his friend was killed in action. He was in the desert, deployed, looking up at the same night sky that the three wise men would have years ago. At first I wanted to leave, so did Spencer who was sitting beside me. But something told me to stay right there in my seat.

Through the music performance there were a few things that were said that really hit home.

Keep having faith, because God knows what your future holds....even if you don't. Trust in Him that everything will be alright.

After the program was over we all went to IHOP for breakfast. Then I took the kids to the ice rink to meet my sister Jolena, and go ice skating. Jerome had drill this weekend so I had plenty of time with just me and our kids.

The girls love to skate. If I hadn't already finished up Christmas shopping I think I would have bought them some ice skates and lessons this year for Christmas.











Spencer was on the ice just a few minutes and his foot started hurting again. He has a pulled Achilles tendon that he did last week. So while the girls skated Spencer and I went and played a few games in the arcade. I still think it's pretty funny that I beat him at the shooting game we played four times.

Letters To Santa.

We decorated the Christmas tree last night.

Each year the tree fills with ornaments hung a little bit higher.

This particular ornament, the letters to Santa ornament, we have had for years now.

Every year the letters are different.

One Christmas a letter was tucked inside asking Santa if he was real, and to sign on the line because he will really know if it is Santa's signature or not.

That letter was written by Spencer years and years ago.

Another Christmas there were letters asking for a new baby doll, or a barbie car.



This year, after tucking our kids in bed, I took a peek at the letters to Santa.

They didn't ask for a new baby doll.

This year the letters were different.





I think Katie is still at the point of hoping that her Daddy doesn't have to go.

I think Natalie is at the same place I am. She knows that he has to go, and there is no amount of wishing or hoping that can change it. She has accepted it.

I did get a good laugh out of Natalie's "a non crappy phone", it is her year to get a cell phone for Christmas (the Christmas before starting middle school). Spencer has insisted that she has to start out with a crappy cell phone like he had to. Natalie insists that she is more responsible than Spencer and she has been asking us for a "non crappy cell phone".

Jerome and I have had this little sailor in his cracker jacks ornament since our third year of marriage.

It has always been a favorite ornament.

This year Spencer handed it to Jerome to hang up on the tree, Jerome turned with the ornament, looked at me and said, "You know, we need to find a new ornament like this now....one in a Chief's uniform".



Dear Santa,
Please keep my husband safe while he is deployed. Please let the time apart go by quickly. Please help him return home soon.
Love,
a proud wife of a wonderful husband who is getting ready to serve his country, again

81. the Christmas tree ornaments being hung only on the top half of the tree by our kids.
82. looking at our Christmas album full of pictures from years past with my family
83. hearing the stories our kids remember from each Christmas
84. watching Jerome and our kids give Molly an early Christmas present, a bone that is almost as big as she is
85. watching Spencer put the star on our tree, standing flat footed and reaching the top just fine
86. Katie reminding me that we need to put the snow on our tree still
87. our girls asking to sleep in the floor near the Christmas tree
88. putting pictures with Santa in frames on our mantel
89. reading our girls letters to Santa
90. tucking our kids in bed

Preparing.

I wanted to make this Christmas special since Jerome won't be here next Christmas. But I am having a hard time with knowing the closer Christmas gets the closer his deployment day is as well.

I've been playing Christmas music, trying to enjoy the holiday but I am finding it hard to keep the holiday joy when inside I feel sad and anxious about him having to leave. I am excited about Christmas but I am trying to avoid thinking about the deployment.

I bought two books for myself that so far I am finding encouragement in reading them.



I need to for now find a different time to read these books though. I like to read at night before going to bed, it has always helped me sleep better. But reading this and having the deployment on my mind before drifting off to sleep doesn't work for me.

I went to the post office last week to ship some pictures from a few last orders I received. While I was there I picked up some flat rate shipping boxes and customs forms so that I will have them on hand at the house when I need them. They take a while to fill out so I plan on filling out a few whenever I can so that I will be able to put a package in the mail every week without the hassle of filling these forms out at the post office and holding up the line there.



Yesterday evening we went to Spencer's school to order JROTC pictures. Jerome met me there because he was just getting finished at the NOSC. There was a few parents in front of us and we were all instructed to just have a seat and wait until our name was called. We met Spencer's teacher, the Colonel, and Jerome talked with him a good while. He told him why Spencer wasn't at school (pulled Achilles tendon), they talked about how Spencer was in class, and then of course they talked a lot about military. After they finished talking and the Colonel went to greet some other parents who had just walked in the room, Jerome turned to me with this look on his face. A look that told me he had something to tell me that couldn't wait.

He said, "You know how I told you Noah is leaving earlier than me?", I shook my head yes and then he finished saying, "well, as it turns out we are both leaving at the same time." If he hadn't had that " haIve something to tell you that you aren't going to like" look on his face I would have thought that maybe Noah was leaving when Jerome was to leave. But instead Jerome will be leaving when Noah does.

I held my breath for a second because I didn't want to draw attention to our conversation. There were other parents and kids in the room and I had to hold my reaction inside. I know he wanted to tell me, but somewhere else would have been better. I looked over at Natalie as he told us and she dropped her chin down in disappointment, Katie crossed her arms across her chest and looked angry.

All of this counting down and getting ready, now we have less time than we had counted on. But, at least we have him for Christmas.

We have all been dealing with this deployment in different ways. Spencer struggles with it. I try to avoid thinking or talking about it. Natalie only seems to be upset when it comes up in conversation. But Katie, she comes home every day after school and watches soldiers returning home videos over and over. It really makes it hard to not think about it when I am standing in the kitchen fixing dinner and Katie is on the computer with the volume turned up watching the returning home videos. So many of them will make you smile and cry at the same time. This is one she watches ever, single, day.



Katie has asked me several times when her Daddy will be coming home and if they will be in school. She told me she wants him to surprise her at school (just like the kids in the videos she watches over and over).

76. sitting at the table together having dinner as a family
77. encouraging words written in a book
78. our kids being quiet while Jerome was on a military conference call
79. Katie's excitement about wanting Jerome to surprise her at school when he returns home
80. watching my family enjoy a new recipe I tried

Our Christmas Chalkboard.

Sunday we went to the farmer's market from our hometown.

We looked at all the Christmas trees but ended up going home with a sprig of mistletoe and some fresh pine garland.

Jerome hung the mistletoe for me and the kids laugh when we stand under it because we always kiss. Unfortunately it being a fresh mistletoe and our house being warm and cozy, it is already wilting away. I still love having it there anyway.

I knew when I painted the chalkboard on the wall that I wanted to do something like this at Christmas. I had planned to put the "Twas the night before Christmas" story on there but I chose this scripture instead.

Each year we go over this scripture with our kids, they have all almost memorized it.



I love how the fresh pine makes our home smell like Christmas. I just hope the pine garland will last until Christmas!

68. hearing our girls read the chalkboard as they sit and eat their bowl of cereal in the morning
69. the wonderful smell of Christmas in our home
70. the way Christmas feels
71. listening to Christmas music
72. sipping a cup of coffee my husband made for me just right
73. kissing under the mistletoe
74. having Jerome home for Christmas this year
75. planning with our kids to send a Christmas package to someone deployed

Thanksgiving.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our home this year. My mom wanted to have it at her house and I told her how much it meant to me to have it at ours this year.

Jerome won't be here for Thanksgiving next year, he will be in a foreign country celebrating with his unit rather than sitting at our table, holding my hand and saying grace.

He won't be eating the turkey he helped me stuff, he won't be having a slice of my apple pie that he loves so much. He won't be able to sit and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with our kids, all of them snuggled in their pajamas while I'm in the kitchen cooking. He simply won't be here ......I don't know what he will be having or how he will be celebrating but it was very important that this year.... this year he sit at our table, hold my hand and say grace.

Because next year, he won't be here.



The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I took our kids to the library to return some books that I had forgotten about and were overdue. It was fine free week so it was important that I cram a library trip in with the grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, cleaning and everything else I had on my list to prepare for it.

As I was standing there going through the books with the librarian figuring out which books were on which of my kids cards I looked up to look at the time on the clock but my eyes saw this picture of soldiers at Thanksgiving in a calendar hanging on the wall instead.....



It took all I had in me to not break down in tears. I know he is here now and that I am very thankful for, but these past several months we've had this countdown hanging over our heads, a constant reminder as each holiday approaches that next year we will be celebrating it apart, from thousands of miles away.

My eyes filled with tears and I felt shaky seeing that picture. I took a deep breath,opened my eyes a little wider so that the tears wouldn't fall and looked away hoping that the librarian wasn't noticing what was going on inside my head, that she wouldn't see how hard I was fighting the tears.

She repeated a question to me about one of the kids names and I could see that she saw that I was distracted. She smiled a smile of comfort, I smiled back and we finished checking in my kids library books. I pushed away those feelings and came back to where I needed to be, not thinking about the deployment and being in the moment right where I was standing....telling Katie she was absolutely not checking out a handful of books right now and then when she asked me why I smiled and pointed to the stack of books on the counter that were turned in late.

We finished up all of our errands we had to run. We went home and the kids helped me tear up all five loaves of french bread for the stuffing we had to make. Jerome and I staid up until about 2:30am Wednesday night cooking and baking. He helped me with the turkey, actually he did everything with the turkey, it was to heavy for me to lift. I made a tripled recipe of stuffing, two pans and enough for stuffing the turkey. I also made his favorite apple pie. The apple pie that I usually dread making because of the time involved.....it is completely made from scratch. But this year was different. I wanted to make this year special.





We slept in a little Thursday morning and then we all watched some of the parade. Natalie and Katie helped me fold the napkins (after using google to find out how to fold them) for the table. I bought them after Christmas last year and loved them. I couldn't wait to put them on the table this year.



All of my family arrived and we sat down to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We all sat around the table talking and enjoying being together long after our plates were cleared and our bellies full.

Caleb enjoyed playing with his cup.



We all finished the evening up with dessert. Laci's German chocolate cake made it almost here in her beautiful cake stand, but as the brakes were hit the cake she made tipped over. It was delicious anyway....



Mom made two pumpkin pies....



Bradley and Caleb enjoyed playing with cool whip while the rest of us ate our pie or cake and a few of us will never forget the taste of the coffee Jolena made, haha. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed it very much.



Apple Pie Recipe

Apple Filling:
Mix 1/3 c honey, 2 Tbs. sugar and cornstarch, 1 tsp. cinnamon and a dash of salt in a large bowl. Stir in 2 Tbsp. melted butter. Then add apples (about 6 large, peeled, cored, and sliced).

Crust:
Mix 2c all-purpose flour, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. baking powder in another large bowl. Cut in 3/4 cu shortening until pieces are the size of peas. In a glass measure combine 1 beaten egg, 1 tsp. vinegar and enough water to make 1/3 c liquid. Add liquid to mixed flour mixture and mix until the right consistency. Divide in half and form each half into a ball. Cool in refrigerator for about 1 hr. before working with dough.

Place dough in pie plate and pour apple mixture inside. Place the other rolled out dough over pie. Poke holes in top or make decorative cuttings and pieces and place on pie. Finish edges.

In glass measure combine 1 beaten egg and 1 Tbsp. water. Brush over top of pie. Sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes with foil around edges. Bake an additional 30 minutes without foil until pastry is golden and filling is bubbly.

Peach Lemon Jam.

Natalie loves being in the kitchen with me.

She helped me make some peach lemon jam.

It was my first time canning anything, hers too.



The jam was delicious and we both loved making it. We are planning on making some more jam soon, maybe some to give for Christmas.

Earlier this summer I went to the farmer's market and bought A LOT of blackberries.

Jerome LOVES blackberries.

I brought them home, washed them all and put them in the refrigerator. I had planned to make blackberry jam.....but Jerome ate half the blackberries.

I froze the rest of the blackberries so that I could make blackberry jam.

I think Natalie and I will be making some blackberry jam soon.

59. cooking in the kitchen with Natalie
60. learning to step back to let her learn how to work in the kitchen
61. watching her cut the peaches with a knife
62. the peach lemon jam filling the kitchen with a wonderful smell
63. pouring jam into canning jars
64. looking at the jars of jam with Natalie and smiling because we were able to can
65. the sound of the lids popping letting us know the jam was sealed
66. sharing a piece of toast with Natalie, piled high with our fresh jam
67. listening to her tell me all the different kinds of jam we could make

Paintball Trip.

Jerome and Spencer love taking these paint ball trips together. All of Spencer's friends stay here the night before, then they all get up early, put on the extra uniforms Jerome has, get their paintball guns ready to go, load the truck up and leave here to go paintballing for the day with breakfast on the way.

This year it was drizzly and raining from the time they woke up to the time they came home. They always come home showing their "battle scars" (bruises from the paintball shots). They laugh and tell us who shot them on each bruise and do a little comparing as to who has more "battle scars".







This was suppose to be the last trip before Jerome leaves for deployment, but I think they are planning another trip over Christmas break. Spencer's friend Adam usually goes too, but he was unable to make this last trip. Maybe the "Full House" will all be at the next trip....I can only imagine how cold it will be though.

I know this is one thing Spencer will miss while Jerome is gone. He was talking about it the other day. Jerome told him just because he is gone doesn't mean he won't be able to go, it just means one of the other dads can take all the boys for a paintball trip. Spencer replied with, "I know dad, but it just won't be the same without you there".

54. the sight of all the paintball guns laid out on our dining room table
55. seeing Spencer spending quality time with his dad
56. the boys proudly showing their "battle scars"
57. laughing at them telling us to go next time, as they show us deep purple bruises
58. a day with just our girls

Career Day At School.

October 20th was the day Natalie had marked on her calendar for her Daddy to come to her school for career day.

She was so excited to show her Daddy off to all of her classmates.

We went early to have lunch with her. We had planned on bringing a good lunch in for all of us to share, he request was McDonalds, but we were running behind because I was putting the finishing touches on the video and pictures Jerome was going to show the class. So we improvised, ran to the small local grocery and gas store, paid an arm and leg for chips, corn dogs and drinks, but we made it on time for her lunch break at school.

She didn't mind the awful lunch we brought, she was just happy her Daddy was there to show off.



Then we lined up with the class, went to her classroom and Jerome introduced himself as Natalie's Daddy to the class.



Then he showed the video that I had put together for him...



He talked a lot to the kids about his job in the Navy.

The kids asked A LOT of questions....hands held high waiting to be answered.



In this particular picture a boy had asked what all the ribbons on his uniform stood for. It took him a while to tell everyone what they were and how the ribbon was earned, but all the kids were very attentive and listening to everything he was telling them.



So many of the kids asked questions. Several asked what it was like over in Afghanistan for kids. Then that is when he started to tell the kids that most children over there don't wear shoes, some don't get to go to school and that the place he was at he was part of a team that built the first girls school in the area and that they were very excited just to get to go to school. They don't have grocery stores like we do here, some don't have enough food to eat. He told them how several of the kids would ask for a pen and paper and to them that was like Christmas getting to have a pen and paper to scribble on.

Natalie's teacher liked everything he was telling the class and asked him to talk more about this. Between the both of them they talked to the kids about being grateful for what you have....because in other places of the world others don't have hardly anything.

There were a few more questions and then the class thanked him for visiting them.

Natalie was very proud to have her Daddy there that day. You could see it in her smile.



46. freedom
47. our home we live in
48. grocery stores
49. food to put on the table
50. a roof over our heads
51. wonderful children
52. a school my children can go to
53. living in America

Passing Football.

Passing football is one of Jerome and Spencer's favorite thing to do together. The trick is keeping the football away from Molly. She has put a hole in many of our footballs. She just thinks she is one of the boys....they go down to hike the ball and she is right beside them barking up a storm. As soon as the ball is thrown....she is running as fast as she can, in hopes that Spencer will not catch it. When he doesn't catch the football she gets it and takes off running, making us all chase her to get the football back before she puts another hole through it.



Molly is a great dog to have around. She loves our kids, thinks she is their big protector. She loves to run and play with them. She waits on them at the bus stop every single day. As soon as she sees them step off the bus she starts wagging her tail in excitement to see them.



41. watching Jerome and Spencer pass football in the yard
42. soaking these moments up, knowing soon he won't be here to pass a football
43. laughter
44. passing the football with them, and hearing Spencer explain to me how to throw the football correctly for the tenth time
45. hearing the girls cheering for us from the front porch

Art.

There is no guessing on what to get Katie for Christmas. She has been fascinated with drawing lately. She will sit at the computer and search "how to draw" tutorials. She will follow it step by step and then come and proudly show me her drawing when she has finished it.


39. watching Katie create
40. the smile on her face as she proudly shows me her drawing

Homecoming.

Spencer's first homecoming was scheduled the same night as our Navy ball. Several weeks before we were planning and figuring out how we were going to do both homecoming and our Navy ball in the same night. I had a beautiful red dress to wear and I was looking forward to seeing Jerome in his dress uniform.

Then Katie became sick with meningitis, was hospitalized and it changed EVERYTHING. By Saturday she was doing better and was having to stay in the hospital until all of her test results came back. I had spent most of the week in the hospital with her so Jerome insisted that I take Spencer and his girlfriend to homecoming. He told me, "besides he wants you to go so that you can take some good pictures of them".

Spencer and his girlfriend, Danielle, make such a cute couple. He really loves this girl, I can tell. They are funny together, always goofing off and laughing. I haven't seen him this happy in a while. She is a blessing even if she doesn't know it.....she has been a wonderful distratraction from Jerome's deployment for Spencer.

We started out at the park taking pictures then I dropped them both off at Chili's to have dinner before the dance and I went and did a little shopping while they ate. Then I dropped them off at the homecoming dance.

I'm really happy that Spencer loves this girl so much. She is a sweet and beautiful girl.



The picture on the right below.....that smile....I can tell from that smile that he is in love...