Bedroom Renovations

Before Jonathan left I already had tons of ideas of projects around the house I wanted to work on while he was away to surprise him when he returned. I literally could not wait for him to leave so that I could begin...now after completing just a few of those projects I would like for him to come home now. I'm so anxious to show him! For now I'll find some satisfaction in showing you, my bloggy audience.

Jonathan always tells me that I build things up way too much. I frequently say things like "that was the BEST food I ever tasted!" or "that was the most fun night ever!", etc, etc. He is a very reserved person and not one to show much emotion. If I were to get a "oh wow, that's nice hon" out of him that means he is VERY, VERY thrilled. I'm shooting for a "wow. Oh wow. How very nice, hon" when he returns and sees the changes in our home.

I say that so that you won't feel too shocked when I tell you that our bedroom has been transformed! Absolutely and totally transformed (no exaggeration.) Of course it will not make it onto any home interior design blogs and perhaps once you see pictures it may trigger feelings of disappointment from those of you who are especially gifted in interior design. BUT...if there were a blog titled "horrendous, absolutely awful bedrooms turned decent" mine would for sure qualify for some attention! The problem is that I didn't take any before pictures. Perhaps that has something to do with a bit impatience on my part.

Since I didn't take before pictures I'll start with Karis' bedroom that I just painted a few days ago. Take a look at these walls before the paint job...

I decided to go with a boring color for her room since she has so much color in her bedding and the curtains. I felt like it would be too busy if I were to paint it yellow or pink. So even though the color was only a tad different from the previous color it is absolutely amazing how much better it feels to walk past her room and look inside. It is the BEST transformation ever :-) Check it out...

I have also discovered that it is a good thing to keep beds away from walls, when it comes to children. Yucky, yucky marks are left on the wall which bring much frustration into my life. She is taking her first nap on her bed that is not scooted up against the wall. So far so good...


Back to my room. The absolutely transformed and BEST bedroom ever. Scroll back up and take a look of the yucky walls in the before pictures of Karis' room. Now picture walls just as horrendous but throw in a computer desk covered in stuff, a file cabinet and piles and piles of folded winter clothes everywhere that hadn't found a home yet. Even then you probably still couldn't fathom how un-bedroom-like our bedroom was before this incredible transformation (no exaggeration) took place.

Ok, here goes...take a look at the horrendous bedroom turned decent....

I can't tell you how many "oooohs" and "aaahs" I would for sure be getting if I had taken some before pictures! Oh well, what's done is done. I'll have to show you all of the small things I did to spruce things up a bit...

Okay wait, before I show more pictures. Do you see that fancy black room divider thingy? Can you guess who made that? Yours truly. I found a big piece of plywood in the shed and hauled it down to a woodworker in town. I paid him $5 to cut it up into three pieces and then painted it black. I even went to the hardware store and bought henges, then scoured Jonathan's tool shed for screws the appropriate size. Do you sense a hint of pride as I tell you this? I am the most unhandy woman in the world, I think. Having such a handy man as a husband makes me very lazy in that area. So the fact that I accomplished as much is really quite amazing! And even though the divider isn't the prettiest thing in the world it sure beats the computer desk hiding behind it.

Next. Not only did I make a room divider without any (ok, not much) help but I hung up curtains. That may sound like a rediculous thing to brag about but when the walls are cement hanging up curtain rods involved drilling into that cement! Yes, I thought you'd be proud.

And one thing that I think really adds to the feel of the room is the lamps. Lamps are not cheap here but I managed to find some very atrocious looking ones at a misc store down the road. Bright orange lamp shades and gold bases! Thankfully if a lamp is atrocious looking they won't charge you an arm and a leg for it (they were around $9 each.) I brought them home, painted the bases black and put on shades that I had brought down from my new favorite store Ikea. Oh how I love Ikea.


While I'm at it let me just brag a bit more on how cheap it was to make this transformation. Besides the cost of paint I think I spent around $25 total for everything as I already had most of it. The bedding set I brought down from the States in December and that was a goodwill special ($12). The trunk sitting in front of the bed was almost tossed because it is rather old and yucky but after a fresh coat of black paint it was transformed. Transformed, I tell you! The curtains were another goodwill special ($5.50) that were brought down in December. Hmmm...what else? Oh, I did buy that vase, rocks and fake orchid above the bed (is it a P.O.O.P.I.E? Please feel free to be honest, I'm trying to decide myself.) The two pictures are decopauged canvasses that I thought were orchids when I bought the fake orchid. Oops...they are the same color. I would like to do a bigger canvas with the same flowers on the right side wall but need to find more napkins. Yes, every room in my house, I'm afraid, will have napkins glued to something.

I need your help now. Here is a picture of the other side of the room. I need some ideas!

I think I'll find a place to put the file cabinet. But what about the desk? I could get rid of it but it is handy and we don't really have another place to put it. Then that would leave the dresser all by itself (which looks much better in this picture than it does in real life!) What can I do with this side of the room? More room dividers? :-) I really do want some suggestions from you decorating pros! Suggestions that require little to no money to implement, that is.

Moving onto other things...

Look how big my birdy friends are getting!

They're growing up so fast (sniff sniff). I don't know how but they do manage to stay in the nest! And now when I peak out the window or walk in front to see them they see me and try to hide by hunching down in the nest (sorry birdies, there's no hiding in that puny nest!)

We'll finish things off with some girly-girl pictures...


Besides a house I also acquired another huge blessing when we moved here! Her name is Karis Joy. Yeah, now I have two Karis Joy's in my life! She's the mommy of those other two little girls. Now that Karis Joy #2 is a part of my life I don't know how I lived without her! She is such a blessing. Even though our personalities are quite different in some ways we see eye-to-eye on almost everything. And since her husband is on this trip with Jonathan we've been spending TONS of time together since our men left. Karis (my Karis) gets along pretty well with her little girls too. Well, they do act like sisters I guess...fighting off and on everytime they get together. ha!

I'm heading off to eat some popcorn before I begin another project. Please send in any decorating suggestions you may have!!

Of Chicken Feet and Grandmas...

Only 15 days, 22 hours, 45 minutes and 36 seconds (more or less) 'til Jonathan returns. But really, who's counting?

We're doing ok without our man/dad but sure do look forward to reuniting in 15 days, 22 hours, 43 minutes and 15 seconds. Karis especially has shown more than ever how much she misses having him around! She asked to watch a YouTube video this morning that Jonathan showed her a few weeks ago. After it was over she burst into tears and came running to me. I thought she was hurt or something but when I picked her up she said "I want my daddy to come home!" It really broke my heart. But he will be thrilled to hear that he was missed so much.

Speaking of this particular YouTube video. Have any of you heard of Nick Vujicic? He is a European (not exactly sure where he's from) who was born without any arms or legs. The video Karis loves to watch of him on YouTube is a short 2 1/2 minute segment of Nick speaking to younger-than-me people. He really is an amazing guy who has been used by the Lord in incredible ways! I think you could watch the video by clicking here. If not then go to www.youtube.com and search his name...there are some other cool videos of him on there!

So I'm mentioning this because in this video he shows what he calls his "chicken drum stick" (a deformed foot that he was born with) Karis calls it his "chicken foot" and has honestly become quite obsessed with Nick and his chicken foot. Usually at least once a day she'll ask something like "remember that guy who has no arms and no legs?" "yep" is usually my reply and by the time I am finishing that short response she is ready with "but he has a chicken foot!" All of her doodles that she does on her doodle pad are no longer drawings of hippos, roaches and beetles but they are of the man who has no arms and no legs but has a chicken foot. It's amazing how similar all of the drawings are (please don't tell Nick that if you ever meet him.)

One of the activities that is occupying my time is Portuguese class twice a week. You'd probably assume that after living in a country 5 years one would be fluent in that language. There are lots and lots of reasons and excuses I could give as to why I am not, however it would make for a boring post. So I won't. I still have quite a ways to go but these classes are definitely helping! I come home feeling challenged and realizing how much I have to learn in this language. And thankfully it isn't a difficult language. Fairly easy one, to be completely honest. One thing that does hold me back is my perfectionist attitude as well as my overwhelming fear to make one of the mistakes that other missionaries have made. Like, going to the gas station to buy a bottle of propane but instead of asking for a gas bottle ask the attendant for a big kiss. Or going to the post office and asking for breasts instead of stamps. I haven't had any incredibly embarrassing moments like these but you will know the day that I do! I think blogging about it will be therapeutic.

So the reason I'm mentioning all of this is because on Wednesday mornings (during my class) Karis gets to go spend the morning with her adopted Grandma Tammy. Without either of her grandmas living on the same continent it makes me feel good that she has this relationship with Tammy. Karis surely doesn't mind either as she gets JUST as spoiled with Tammy as she does with her other 2 grandmas! This week she came home with a bag of potato chips AND a green coconut (which mommy got to enjoy with her!)

She looks like she has spent the morning suffering, doesn't she?

The only bad thing about this whole situation is Karis would now, I'm sure, prefer to go live with Tammy. For several days after a Wednesday she asks as I put her into bed at night "can we go to Aunt Tammy's in the morning?" (instead of calling everybody Mr. and Mrs. here it is "Uncle" and "Aunt".) Which is a huge blessing to me to know that she has a godly adult investing in her life and that she is enjoying it. And Tammy makes me feel like she enjoys it too...as a mom I have to tell you that this brings me much joy!

We have some new friends resting right outside our window these days. It's very interesting because this same pair of birds already had one attempt at having babies. I don't know if she had more than one egg but only one hatched. Unfortunately the nest was poorly made and when the first storm came I think the baby got chilled from the rain and died the same day (I really wanted to save the birdy but my dear husband who didn't want to see his wife commit her life to a bird for several weeks accused me of being baby bird protective services.) I let nature take it's course and had one of the toughest days of my life. Ok, forgetting the past here is a picture of the newest clutch from the same parents (who started building a new nest the following day).

I enjoy getting to watch these little guys grow (there are two of them) but they are quickly filling up the new poorly made nest and come close to falling out when the parents come to feed them. Rest assured, I will follow through with my baby bird protective services instincts should one or both of them fall out of the nest. But I am praying...PRAYING that doesn't happen as I do not want to spend the next 2 weeks of my life feeding them every thirty minutes. Been there, done that. Unfortunately it happened to be the 2 days before my mom arrived in Brazil for Karis' birth. Not a good time to be saving baby birds.

Blues Clues is almost over so I'm guessing I should bring this post to an end. It took me longer than expected to write it but the good news is that now I only have 15 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 11 seconds to go...

...and then there were two.

5 days down and only 25 more to go. Yep, 25 more days of temporary widowhood. We are actually quite accustomed to spending 2-3 three weeks apart from each other as our lives have consisted of many trips since we moved to Brazil. However this time just knowing that it would be 4 made me a little less excited about the whole idea. I mean, usually the first week is just fine. I enjoy being lazy in the kitchen and living a bit more selfishly in general. However by week two the whole thing of not being in a consistent schedule (directly related to not cooking, I'm sure) and crawling into bed alone gets old. Although I'm not a basket case by then I really do start to look forward to having him home again. By week three I could definitely be labeled as an almost-basket-case. Come. Home. Now. Babe. And the fourth week? Well, let's not go there for right now. I still have 2 1/2 weeks 'til I know for sure what kind of a ticking time bomb I will be after living without my man for 30 days.

Even though I'll enjoy feeling sorry for myself over the next several weeks (which will be reflected in my posts, I'm sure) I am really, really excited for this opportunity that Jonathan has. He just got to spend 5 days of traveling by plane and boat to arrive in the village (they arrived yesterday). He gets to spend the next 3-3 1/2 weeks working in the heat of the day and building houses for two new missionary families moving into a village. Oh sure they'll have swarms of bugs to deal with and who-knows-what to eat during the day. But when it's all said and done he gets to crawl into a jungle hammock at night and sleep. Yes, these are the kind of things that make my man tick. He will come home physically exhausted but totally rejuvenated in spirit! And I will be so very jealous of the 25 lbs he lost after eating grubs and rice for a month.

And before he left I knew I had one of two choices. I could either 1, do lots of baking and partying while he's gone to help fill the void of his absence and gain a lb or two (or 15). Or 2 I could torture myself even more by trying to eat healthy, exercise more and lose a bit of weight to surprise him (and not feel too discouraged when he comes home with a sleeker bod). I thought I was totally committed to option #2 but up until today I've been teetering between the two. Time to get serious. Tomorrow will be the day. Promise.

Weeks before Jonathan left (and up to the day he left) it was a construction zone around here. We really wanted to get our wall built before he traveled which also entailed getting a car gate put into our right side wall and a walk-through gate installed into our left side wall. Our main concern was safety since without the one wall out front and the short wall to the left anybody from the highway in front of us could look straight into our dining room/kitchen at night and see whatever it is I'm doing. I realize that probably sounds strange to those of you who live in the States but down here one can feel quite vulnerable without a wall.

Here is a picture of our right side wall before construction (if you're standing on our porch it is the wall to the right.)

And here is how it progressed 5 days into it. Well, it was supposed to have been 5 days but the guys Jonathan hired still hadn't shown up. He grabbed the nearest helper and started working himself:-)

That big tree you saw in the first picture had to be taken down. That in itself is a looooong story. Just know that Jonathan did grab a different helper for that specific project regardless of how this next picture looks.

Here is the after picture.

This is the new wall out front (and we don't own two trucks! Jonathan is taking care of two extra vehicles for friends who are temporarily in the States!)

Our wall to the left before.

And now after.

Besides security, another reason we needed to get these walls up is because we got a puppy.


Now, if you have followed our lives for the past 5 years then no doubt your reaction is "WHAT?!!! Another dog??!!!" Yes, another dog. I guess I need to go ahead and admit that we go through dogs like we do hot cakes (is a hot cake a pancake? perhaps I shouldn't use expressions I don't understand.) Hum, anyway. Yeah, another dog. Let's just say our previous not-so-mentally-stable dog did us a huge favor by running away. Bless her little heart. We had to get up a wall quick so that we could keep this new dog in (we both felt we needed an outside dog for security, especially while Jonathan is traveling) and also to keep the previous not-so-mentally-stable dog out, should she decide to return. I still can't stop thinking that perhaps she'll show up in a few weeks, jump the new high wall (she jumped the old) and have 12 puppies on my front porch. If this happens then you can be assured you will see the owner of that mentally unstable dog become unstable herself. Ok, let's stop right now and officially introduce Chief.

We have had him for about three weeks now (he has quadrupled in size) and from all that I can tell he's going to be a good dog (but I'm sure Jonathan would discredit anything I say about this subject since I'm the one who drug the mentally unstable dog all the way over here last summer.) The worst part of having a puppy right now is the constant screams coming from a three year old who doesn't want her ankles used as chew toys. I think I'm pretty sympathetic when that happens because, oh my goodness, those teeth are sharp. I sure wish Cesar Millan could come live with us for the next 6 months. That would make my life a lot easier.


I finished my decoupage! I don't really know how I feel about it. When I finished it I was pretty pleased but was hoping that after having it framed then the little things about it that bothered me wouldn't be too noticeable. Well, they still are. Oh well, gluing napkins on a canvas is more of an art than one might think.


I have tons of projects I'm working on while the man of the house is away. Right now I'm really focusing on our bedroom. It is already feeling so much more inviting! It has always been the most neglected room in the house. I'll probably have some pictures to post in the next few days. I'm just hoping that Jonathan doesn't decide to get onto a computer and catch up on my blog on his return trip home! I really want to surprise him...

Saying goodbye to Shaun...for now.

A childhood friend of mine passed away last weekend. He had cystic fibrosis so it wasn't an incredible shock yet I guess I never thought that it would happen before either of us turned 30. We haven't kept in touch much for several years (I guess that is what happens when you marry and move to a different continent!) but he was so much a part of my childhood, teenage years and after. I even lived with Shaun and his mom Mary for a summer after I completed a year at Bryan college! So many memories, I can't even describe what I'm feeling now. It's like the "good ol' days" are officially over. Really so much of what I'm feeling is all about me because the truth is, Shaun is sitting at the feet of our Savior! His pain has ended (and his 28 years contained a lot of suffering) and if there was a chance he could feel sadness at this moment it would be pity for us wishing that he were still here! What silly, silly people we are is what I'm guessing he would say.

Missing his funeral is absolutely killing me (it was Thursday). I've never wanted to be back home so badly! Which kind of surprises me. I guess I'd really like to grieve with others who knew Shaun and had him as a part of their life as well. To be with people who know what he contributed to this world and what earth is missing now that he's gone. Perhaps that's normal, I'm not sure. Truth is, I've been spared so much suffering that I've never had to deal with a death of someone close to me before.

Honestly I didn't want to write a sad post about how miserable I'm feeling knowing that I'll have to live the rest of my earthly life without a good friend! But more about some of the great memories that I do have of Shaun (and there are a lot of them!)

All of my childhood pictures are stored away in TN so the only picture I have of us is one that my mom sent me last week (I think she included it on a slideshow or something at the funeral....lucky me:-)

This was taken right before our "Nerd Night" at youth group (which was led by my parents). Shaun is the one pictured on the far right. I realize that this is a pretty scary picture of myself but for lack of a different option...

And really that picture symbolizes so much of who Shaun was. I haven't met many people who seemed so unconcered by what other people thought of him and he definitely wasn't afraid to be himself.

Many of my memories are of times when Shaun was in the hospital and I was able to go visit for a morning or afternoon. Of course I was only allowed to go when he wasn't in a lot of pain so growing up I know I didn't comprehend how much he suffered. To be completely honest I was sometimes jealous of the amount of attention he received (perhaps being the oldest of 9 had something to do with that:-) and even prayed a time or two for some illness that would stick me in the hospital. Then Shaun could come see ME, I could introduce HIM to the nurses and we could play whatever Nintendo game I wanted to play in the rec room (on the pediatrics floor.) As I grew older it became more apparent to me how much he and Mary experienced on a daily basis. Now that I'm a mom I truly can't comprehend what it would be like to watch my child be in almost constant pain and not be able to do much to relieve that pain. Nobody could have been a better mom than Mary was to him!

So, one of my memories that took place in a hospital was when Shaun had this great idea to have some fun with the medical tape (the clear stuff.) We cut tiny strips and then made wrinkles in our faces and stuck the tape over them. We did this to our entire face creating wrinkles and indentions. I cannot tell you how hilarious it looked! I really wish I had a picture of it. We decided to walk through the pediatric ward showing off our new faces to the hospital staff but not before blowing up rubber gloves (not tying them off) and then stretching them over the end of our shoes (so that it looked like we had webbed feet.) I think I laughed too hard to notice if the nurses laughed or not!

Then one time we went to the rec room, probably to play Nintendo. Well, I sat down in a big plastic chair. You know, the kind that dip down in the middle? Unfortunately some child had decided to relieve himself/herself in that exact chair (with 15 or more in the room) so I stood up with somebody else's pee running down my legs. I know, it was so gross. And even though I didn't think it was too funny at the time seeing Shaun laugh at me as we walked back to his room made it a memory I'll never forget. He was kind enough to lend me a pair of his jean shorts though, so perhaps that made up for his uncontrolled laughter.

This post would end up being way too long if I wrote down half of the memories I have of Shaun so I'll limit to just a few more from when we were older.

When I lived with Shaun and Mary for a summer he spent a lot of time showing me different things related to technology. Lots of stuff on the computer that I totally didn't understand (he was amazing with computers!) He was the first one to show me what a "DVD" was...I was so impressed. I don't remember how long he spent explaining and showing me on the tv how it worked with the menu, etc but I do remember asking tons of a questions! I was in awe. I think he enjoyed teaching somebody as naive as myself:-) And a lot of the times we hung out took place late at night when he couldn't sleep. Now that I'm older and have experienced mild sleep deprivation I can only now begin to understand what he experienced night after night! And on many of those nights we spent a lot of time watching the QVC shopping network. I had always wondered who watched those things. Shaun got a kick out of them and now I think I'm doomed to enjoy them myself for the rest of my life.

Another thing I'll never forget is how much of a big brother (big brother by a whole 3 months) he was towards me the summer I lived with them. A guy that I had been head over heals for unknowlingly did something hurtful to me and Shaun was ready to go beat him up! I loved that. I had always wanted an older brother that would protect me and there was a need within me that was filled by Shaun's protectiveness.

After so many years and memories it is such a blessing to know that I'll get to join Shaun in eternity one day. And it'll be a Shaun that I didn't know since he will be free (is free) to live without physical pain. Now I really do have something to be jealous of!

Speaking the truth, as a matter of habit.

After getting married and having a home to care for I immediately felt motivated and challenged to create a home environment that was inviting for people (specifically my family) as well as a place where the Holy Spirit would reside. Seven (and a half) years later I almost feel overwhelmed at the amount I have to learn in this area...I better eat really healthy and live to be 150 if I'm ever going to attain as much!

One of the Scripture portions that has been specifically challenging/encouraging to me is in Deuteronomy 9 (you can read it right here). What an enormous challenge as a wife and a mom! I could get pretty discouraged if I thought of all the ways I haven't done so well. But as I grow and learn I'm getting better about not focusing on my failures, which is probably one of my biggest downfalls (dwelling on my failure and then throwing an enormous pity party!) So this week the Lord has been challenging me in one way to fulfill this portion of Scripture in our home and that is to speak truths in our home out loud throughout the day. Whether it be a short verse or just a statement of truth where the principle can be found in the Bible. For instance, this week I've been making an effort to every morning when Karis gets up and crawls in my lap to say "This is the day the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!" It is pretty amazing to me how much this helps me focus my heart for the day's activities. Another verse that comes to my mind almost on a daily basis is Psalm 19:14 (I think) where David (I think) prays "may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." It came to mind just a little while ago so even though usually I would spend a few seconds meditating on it silently I looked at Karis and quoted it for her. I'm so excited about how much the Holy Spirit could work in our lives if I continue to make a special effort to do this! and what a challenge to spend more time meditating and memorizing Scripture. And I'm sure my child is the first to go through this (that's supposed to be funny. Like haha funny.) but she is in a stage where she seems to want to push the limits all day long. Every limit. Honestly, I've had to deal with my attitude quite a bit as I feel like I spend most of the day saying "no, don't do that" (and almost every time it is for something different!) So now I'm thinking that even if I spend a good portion of the day telling her what NOT to do perhaps I could balance out that nagging voice by speaking words of encouragement and truth. Truth. I love truth and how I can live my life in truth, serving a God of truth.

Now onto some random photos and happenings around the Kroeker home!

After Christmas we had a week long conference with our mission. It was a great week catching up with other missionaries we don't see very often and having some free time to play. We had so much fun in fact, I didn't really take any pictures. One of the guys here did and will give us a cd of them but for now I'll just skip over that week...

We had Cristy, Erik (whom we cal Evo, pronounced "eee-voe") and Benjamin stay with us for a few more days.

The Happy Family

This was picture #84 that I took of the three of them. I finally had the idea to have Evo kiss Cristy for the picture since he closes his eyes EVERY TIME the camera flashes. This way his eyes were supposed to be closed! Ingenius of me, huh? And if you don't believe me when I say he closes his eyes every time here are a few examples...


All of these pictures were taken shortly before the first one you saw. The bottom right corner picture was another failed idea when I told him "ok, don't look directly at the camera so you don't see the flash." Didn't work. I don't think Evo reads my blog and I am really hoping he doesn't read this post if he does! (don't tell him, Cristy!) Actually, I don't think he would mind. I give him a hard time about it because I find it HILARIOUS. He's a great brother in law.

Ok, more pictures...

The happy cousins.

Us girls.

This is a random picture Jonathan took earlier this week. Isn't it amazing?! I think this is one of my alltime favorite pictures. That's a bee looking up out of the flower!

My flower girl

In a few weeks Jonathan will be going on a trip and will be gone for a month! We have a lot we have to get done before he goes. Our house is gated in with a house that was owned by the same couple we bought ours from. The other house just sold so before Jonathan leaves we have to put in a big garage type door in our wall facing the street (we're currently using the one connected to the front house), build a wall separating the two houses, build higher up on our wall connected to the school property and then put in a walk-through door on that side. I really, really hope we get it all done before he goes!

Here is a picture of the wall that we'll add onto and then put in a walk-through door. The door will go behind Karis where all the bricks are exposed (trying to save as many of the flowers as possible).

Karis doesn't always want to but when she prays before a meal we really enjoy it. Every prayer is different but usually turns into a conversation between her and the Lord (her prayers are usually quite long!) I'm sure it brings Him just as much joy as it does us! Here is one of her shorter ones I caught on camera from last week...

(for some reason the video won't upload so I'm going to go ahead and publish this post and try again later! Come back to see the prayer:-)


Grace and peace to all of you this weekend!

Tis the season to be jolly.

Christmas has passed, yes, I know. But really, who says we can't be jolly in January? I'm all for being a jolly wife, having a jolly home, etc. I love being around jolly people! Don't you? Anywho, (that's for you, Meg!) even if you don't feel all so jolly then perhaps after seeing lots of pictures from our jolly Christmas you may go away feeling like you want to come join us for Christmas next year!

A bit of a rabbit trail. I think I can finally appreciate Christmas season south of the equator. The first three Christmases we spent in Brasil I felt like we just skipped Christmas 3 years in a row. I mean, how could it really be Christmas when it wouldn't drop below 95 degrees? When you look out the window and see nothing but green? When you go to make the traditional tea ring Christmas morning to find 7 frogs by your kitchen sink? There were a few Christmas decorations in town at the mall but aside from that it looked and felt like summer. Our first Christmas back in the States since moving to Brasil ('07) was glorious. It was cold! I got to go to bed in warm pj's, wake up to feel carpet underneath my feet (before I put my slippers on...oh, what an amazing thing to wear slippers!) go turn on the gas fire and drink egg nog and hot chocolate all morning. What better way to celebrate our Savior's birth? Ok, so all those things have nothing to do with the meaning of Christmas but when you grow up having cold, carpety, hot chocoloatey Christmases it just becomes a part of you. That's just how it is, folks.

So back to our Christmas this year. Karis and I returned the 23rd from the States...Oh, and in case I haven't already mentioned it she (on this return trip) more than made up for the horrific trip from Brasil to the States. She was truly amazing! Thank you, my child. Many blessings on that precious, not-so-little head of yours.

Besides having a hubby (and a dad) to come home to (who we really missed even though there is no convincing him that we did think about him inbetween trips to the Good Cents store!) we were blessed to have J's sister Cristy, her hubby Erik (aka Evo) and their baby boy Benjamin awaiting us at our house. We hadn't seen them since June so it was fun to catch up and see how much Benjo had grown. He's a cutie-patootie...see for yourself...

It was a blast watching the two of them play together! They really did enjoy eachother 92% of the time...

I love, absolutely LOVE having Cristy around to cook with! We are both lovers of food and some of the most non-picky eaters in the world so when we're together there's quite a bit of activity going on in the kitchen. And it's so nice to have another woman to help...it's like I'd turn around to do something (like dishes) and half the time it had already been done or Cristy was doing it. She's a fabulous sister in law! I think Jonathan appreciates it when she's around too since he gets cooked for a lot more often:-)

Our Christmas morning tea ring.

And now enjoying the tea ring.

Now that the kiddos are older they seem to enjoy opening presents and actually become semi excited about the present itself instead of enjoying just the paper!

And yes, those awesome pink sun glasses were a 10 cent treasure from GC, just in case you're wondering! (Note: If you don't know what GC stands for then I guess you've skipped over quite a bit from my last 4 posts. Shame on you. Go back, read it all and leave a comment. Thank you.)

Karis' dad (aka my husband) made her an awesome doll house for Christmas! It is so nice. We haven't had time to fix it up (with paint, carpet, etc) but I am so proud of it. Karis loves it and all her little girly friends enjoy it when they come over! (and yes, all the great furniture was supplied by GC as well, just in case you were wondering.)

I was hoping to post some pictures and videos from this past week but it appears I've overwritten my self-inflicted quota for bloggy posts. It is also 20 'til 10pm so perhaps I should put the munchkin to bed...

Nighty night, good people.

The Wedding

Preparing for a wedding in the Wesolowski home is quite an event. I mean, once you add in dumpster diving, making mints and trips to the Good Cents store (once a day instead of twice) it's a bit challenging to keep things from getting chaotic. I'm not sure we accomplished as much, but it sure was a fun week!

Here are just a few pictures taken that week...

Making mints

Did I already have the mint picture in another post? I remember commenting on the amount of mint dough I consumed but don't know if this picture made it in or not. If this is the 2nd time I've posted it, my apologies. My almost sister in law is pictured to the right of me...isn't she cute?

Hair cuts

David finally gave the elves the hair cuts they so desperately needed! I was so thankful, though I couldn't believe he decided to go for it on the day of the wedding!

Rehearsing Flower Girl

Ok, I'm a proud mom. When it comes to letting your little girl be a flower girl it is risky business. Even though most people are only interested in seeing the bride walk down the aisle things can get kinda tense if the flower girl makes a scene. I really didn't want my flower girl to cause a scene and thank goodness, she was the best flower girl ever! Really, she was. She rehearsed great except that she kept wanting to walk back up the aisle to pick up the flowers she had just dropped (which also made me proud but in a ocd kind of a way:-) No matter, all we had to do was bribe my candy deprived child with a lolly pop only if she didn't pick the flowers back up and...wala! After she came down the aisle and sat on my lap up front the first thing she said was "mom, I didn't pick up the flowers. Where's my wolly-bop?" Good girl.

This was taken after the ceremony while waiting to have pictures taken with the kiddos. The photographer pretty much ignored us and the kiddos the whole time and didn't even take their picture! (nah, I'm not bitter:-) Then Benby was quite disturbed that because we waited so long to have a picture taken that wasn't taken we ended up missing out on the shrimp at the reception. Ah well, such is life!

Grandma with her grandbabies (I love this picture!)

Ok, the next pictures are totally out of order but for some reason blogger wont' let me cut and paste them without erasing the pictures above them. So here they are in totally random order...

One last visit with my grandparents. I really miss them!

The happy couple out on the dance floor.

Jon Jon and Karis on the dance floor. He looked so handsome in his tux that he didn't pick out:-)

Karis with her cousin Jagger. Oh, do I miss that boy!

Visiting with the relatives the day after the wedding. The video to the left is Jon Jon doing the worm and the one to the right is of Uncle Jimmy doing the worm. I'll let you decide who did a better job.