Home for the Holidays

And here is our lovely home all decked out in the daytime. I LOVE Christmas!

Christmas Catch-up

Okay... Christmas was wonderful in our house. Brody officially *got it* this year. Seth, not so much, but he still had fun being excited because Brody was excited.

After Christmas Eve service at our church, we put out cookies and milk.... NO WAIT... scratch that. Brody couldn't IMAGINE leaving milk for Santa, I mean *COME ON*, so at our home, he was warmed up with Hot Chocolate, and not just ANY Hot Chocolate, but hot chocolate with almost an entire bottle of red sprinkles in it. Mmmmmmm. I am sure he REALLY enjoyed it. Nothing like a little grit on top of your cocoa.





Seth was really into the cookies and had a hard time understanding that they weren't for him.



This is the look we got when we told him that he couldn't eat them. :)



We put out a tin of reindeer food in the driveway (which Kurt backed over with the car the next day #tee hee# )



and then Kurt tried to read "The Night Before Christmas" to the boys, but they weren't having any of that. So, they went to bed.

After Santa came and put all the loot out, I snapped a couple of shots to capture the madness of presents that were under our tree (and around and beside and scattered throughout the room).



Christmas morning came... and kept coming... and kept coming... so we figured we should go wake up the boys (I know... I'm getting angry thoughts from a lot of you parents out there with kids that get up at 5 and jump on your bed until you get up). We all went downstairs and had a WONDERFUL time opening up our presents!

What do you mean Christmas is over?

In all other parts of the country, you are right, Christmas is over. Not in the Akers household.

Yes, I have taken down one of the Christmas trees (just one, though).
The stockings are put away.
The tins full of cookies and stuff are *almost* gone.

But Christmas lives on in our home because...


MY KIDS WONT STOP WATCHING THE POLAR EXPRESS.

at least two times a day
listening to the cd in the car

Don't get me wrong. I like the Polar Express. I have it memorized. It is a nice CHRISTMAS movie.

Anybody else still riding the Polar Express this season?

Happy Birthday Seth!

I know, I know. I need to post stuff from Christmas and New Years, but I wanted to take a quick moment to mention that today is Seth's 2nd birthday! I will have to get a picture of him showing how old he is. Too cute. Kurt's parents will be coming into town today for our Christmas celebration tonight and then Seth's family party tomorrow. Then, tomorrow evening, we will celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. Crazy Crazy busy!

Critical Cookies

Finish this sentence:

"It just wouldn't be Christmas without..."

Kurt: Peanut Butter Blossoms with Hershey Kisses!
Jen: Christmas Holly Cookies!



What is YOUR favorite cookie, that you just couldn't live without at Christmas time?

Our Home for the Holidays

I have been meaning to take photos of the house this year. I will try to get a daytime photo tomorrow. Next year we are doing LIGHTS to outline the house (I say We meaning *Kurt*)



Merry Christmas everyone!

Kitchen Remodel Stage 2 complete

Oh JOY JOY JOY!!!

I started this project way back in August and now the worst part of my kitchen makeover is complete. Tonight, at 11:14, I completed stage 2 of the kitchen remodeling project.

Phase 1: New overhead lights and under-the-cabinet lights. CHECK!

Phase 2: Refacing the kitchen cabinets. CHECK!
My old, dingy, yellowish wood color cabinets are completely redone with hardware!

Here is a photo of the old cabinets...


Here is how they look now (night photo... I need to take one in the morning)



Phase 3:

Crown molding on the top of the cabinets and 1/2 inch round along the walls.

Phase 4:
New paint on walls

Phase 5:
New tile backsplash

Phase 6:
Countertops?

Phase 7:
ALL new Stainless Steel appliances (coming in the year 2020) :)

Nothing captures the spirit of Christmas like...

an enormous 20,000 watt Monster Truck!



Yeah, Kurt and I struggle with being caught up in the commercial aspect of Christmas. We constantly have to refocus, read our bibles, focus on the Nativity and Jesus related stories for the kids to keep ourselves in check.

---------
We live in a society where on the Saturday before Christmas you can find yourself getting into a line of cars at 8:14 pm and inching your way to the start of a holiday light display, whereupon you get angry with about 20 people along the way for cutting into said line. You watch as one lane becomes 2, then merges back into 1, then becomes 2 again, then merges back into one, all the while everyone wanting to get at least one car length further up in the line during all this merging.

At 9:14, you look down at the clock and realize you are passing the cop that said it would only be 20 minutes to reach this point. Uh-huh. His 20 minutes is your hour, but who was watching the clock, really. I mean, what would be the reason for watching the clock? Maybe because it was already past bedtime when you got IN the line, and you had 2 kids in the back seat gung-ho for some lights?

After you wait for the cars of people who ordered water for 2 bucks, or maybe they got hot chocolate for 4. Or maybe (and I am serious here) a candy cane for 2. Whatever they ordered, you need to wait for them to get it.

Then, there you are... at the START of the display. You are handed a cd to listen to that *goes* with the lights -- commercials and all-- and you proceed to the entrance, when what do your wondering eyes shall appear, but RAIN. Yep. Rain.

-----------

Okay... cynicism aside... the sheer joy of watching the kids faces as we told them they can get out of their carseats made it all worth it. They LOVED the lights. We drove right along the boardwalk at the beach.



Sure, it was completely cheesy and commercialized (they did have a lit nativity, which cracked me up. Nothing like Jesus glowing on the beach!) but it really was a joy... even if we had waited about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive for about 20 minutes through the lights. I don't even know if they kids even saw the whole display. They were too busy just being out of their carseats.

Maybe next year, we can save the 3.5 hours, the $10.00 (oh, did I mention that part?) and just let the kids out of their carseats and drive around the cul-de-sac. I think we will get the same reaction.

You wanna know annoying?

This is driving me crazy.

Fruit flies...

with NO FRUIT in the house.

*sigh*


Any advice? Where are these things coming from!?

A Shirt for Seth

So, I am getting really excited. Not only do I have Christmas to look forward to, but 10 days after that is Seth's birthday!

He LOVES Blues Clues, so I made him a shirt today for him to wear at his party...

This is the host of Blues Clues, Joe. His shirt color changes, Blue, Red, Yellow, Orange, Purple.


This is what I made for Seth.


Tell me he isn't gonna look CUTE!

Profound Thought

Brody asked me today if Jesus is ticklish.

:)

I imagine he probably is.

Mary Candle

Brody has a girlfriend. Her name is Mary Candle (actually, Mary Kendall). Brody talks about her quite a bit and when he went to have his picture taken with her today, she kissed him on the cheek. I caught the tail end of the kiss with my camera.



It truly is cute to see him start to notice the difference with boys and girls. Today in the car, he was talking about what girls like, and he has realized that when you try to make your girlfriend laugh, funny faces don't cut it, but if you give her a necklace you made, that makes her happy. I told him to learn that lesson early on. :)



Too cute.

And here they are with their teacher, Ms. Sally.

Our Akers Angel

Brody sang in his Christmas program at his preschool today. SO CUTE. We could hear him singing above all the other kids voices (really. no kidding) and he was actually a real angel, staying in his place and doing all the songs with moves! :) Maybe when he is a famous tenor one day, I can get big bucks for these videos!






Away In a Manger



We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Go (In-state tuition!) Dukes!

Susan bought these shirts for the boys when they visited Harrisonburg earlier this year. Kurt and I plan to go next year for his TEN YEAR anniversary. It freaks me out that I have been out for 13 years. Sheesh. We are so old. Pretty soon, Brody and Seth will actually be wearing their school shirts, whatever they may be!

BEST LUNCH EVER

Okay, so you are going to think I am whacked... but I had a meal the other day that was SO good, that I vowed to put it on my blog. Seriously.

Kurt and I were right outside of Charlottesville and went to lunch at a new Brewery/restaurant called Blue Mountain Brewery.

I ordered something that I normally would never order, but it had been recommended to us, so I went for it.

I ordered the Roasted Vegetable Pizza. It was the best pizza I have ever had. EVER. I don't even know if you can call it pizza, although technically it is. It was pesto and olive oil on a very thin toasted crust with marinated veggies and goat cheese.

I told Kurt that whenever we are passing through Charlottesville, we have GOT to stop there to eat! He ended up eating some of his meal and then eating mine too, we both loved it so much...

So, for all my friends out there looking for a good vegetarian meal near Charlottesville (one specific friend comes to mind!)... go to Blue Mountain Brewery and get the veggie pizza.

I mean, c'mon, how many meals have you had that you loved so much that you took a photo of it and put it on your blog?!

Our Visit to Bethlehem

No, we didn't take a quick jaunt over to the middle east this past weekend, but we got as close as we may get for quite a while, until we actually do go visit the Holy Land someday.

While we were driving to our B&B for our anniversary celebration, we saw this huge light in the sky. As we got closer and closer to our own destination, we realized we were really close to the origin of that light, so we *followed the star*.

The star was coming from a *tiny* little church in Afton, Virginia, Hebron Baptist. Behind the church, and I kid you not, was an INCREDIBLE display. The entire town of Bethlehem was set up in a huge field behind their church. And, I dont mean little shacks made of leftover wood, this place was incredible. I don't even think I can describe it.





We happened to arrive just as the angels were singing and proclaiming to the shepherds in the field (many shepherds, and many real sheep) that Jesus was born in the stable. We followed the drama throughout Bethlehem, past all of the town artisans and homes, and people in the streets (including kids running around, soldiers and beggars, one who even asked Kurt for some food) until we found ourselves at the stable... with real ENORMOUS camels, and donkeys, and mules, and goats, and sheep.





We enjoyed looking around and speaking to the 1st century inhabitants, all of whom stayed in character and were very knowledgeable about their trade. We learned how papyrus paper was made, and even got to hold some. They had a restaurant and you could sample food from the 1st century (at least what they would have cooked, not ACTUAL 1st century food!)

When the soldier declared loudly that the streets of Bethlehem were closed, we signed the census on the way out and left a small donation.

This church puts on this drama every 45 minutes of every evening of the last 10 days before Christmas, every year.

We were so impressed with the level of detail and quality of the place. We plan on taking the kids back next year so they can get an understanding of what Bethlehem may have been like when Jesus was born.

Here is their website. I borrowed the photos from their website to include in my blog. Truly, it was an incredible production!

Bethlehem Village