Pond Hockey

I touched on this a little yesterday, but it has been really cold lately and our pond has frozen really nicely. The ice is thick and very smooth! I think Scott was chopping at the bit to get out there. I think he secretly has big dreams for our little pond and really wants to invite his hockey buddies out for a game sometime...he even has the goals and everything. I would love to have an ice skating party sometime with a fire and hot chocolate. I will make it happen sometime so friends...you better track down some skates! :o) 

Michael did such a good job and was very adventurous this year. We are so proud of him! Hopefully he will gain a little confidence each time we get out. 

A documentation of our deck decor and also our tree in the sunroom. If you look closely you can see our christmas cat, Scampy, in the window. 

My little boy who is getting so big! 

Instafriday

Happy Friday!!

I love looking back at my week through the little moments I capture on my phone. It is amazing how all these little moments add up to the big picture of our life. 

We have had lots of snow but very cold temps the past week so it was hard to make it outside. However, last weekend it warmed up and Michael got to go outside to play for a bit. He had been begging to play in his sandbox and he had a blast. He loved how some parts were like a little ice rink for his cars and trucks. Also double bonus that all our outdoor toys work just as well in snow as they do in sand!

(and yes we wore our Cyclone hat all day to celebrate ISU defeating the evil empire known as the Iowa Hawkeyes in bball!! We even wore it the grocery store where it never fails that a sweet old lady will comment on it)

I have been plugging away in the kitchen making treats for Christmas. I made about 4 big batches of this sweet chex mix to share with friends and also for treat day at school. I think it makes a good school snack because you can keep munching on it all day....a teacher's favorite thing to do! 

I also made chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies for Christmas. My first round of peanut butter cookies were not good as I forgot a pan in the oven and they spread way out and were hard as a brick! I probably should have taken that as an omen to just quit my holiday baking then and there but I kept plugging away. Interesting enough, I made my first batch using a cookie mix from the store to save time. They were not very good so I made my second batch using a recipe from the classic red cover Betty Crocker cookbook and they came out fantastic! Actually I used all my cookie recipes from there and they were all so good- why mess with Betty? 

Michael had his church Christmas program debut on Sunday (he is in the red in the back row). He did such a good job and I appreciated that the 3 and 4 year old team kept it simple with singing "Away in the Manger" and then ringing some bells to a recorded song. We were just beaming with pride! I tried to talk Michael through what would happen before the service to calm his nerves but he had no problem at all, running right up there when they were called and standing still with a big smile on his face. 

We also had a fiesta get together with our friends last weekend- thank you for having us over! I love seeing people's homes at the holidays and need to make it a point next year to invite people over more often even if just for dinner. 

And finally, one of my favorite photos of my two guys! Scott and Michael shoveled off part of our pond to do a little ice skating. We got Michael new (and sharp!) skates this year and he is already doing way better than last year. I think Scott is so excited to share something important to him with Michael so I hope Michael continues to find joy in it. I am so terrible and nervous about doing anything sports related but being married to Scott has forced me to lace on a pair of skates once in a while. It paid off big time when we took a field trip to the ice arena last month for school and our P.E. (yes...P.E.!!) teacher asked ME (the very dorky and uncoordinated band director) if I had "grown up skating" because I was that good on the ice. I think Scott was happy to rub off on me a little bit....a testament that enthusiasm is contagious- something we need to remember every day!

Have a great weekend!!

Christmas Newsletter

Merry Christmas!

I hope this e-Christmas newsletter finds you in good health and happy spirits. If you are a regular reader on my blog you know exactly what we have been up to but I still think it is good to get it all down in one summary of exactly what our 2013 looked like.... like a little Kundel family time capsule. 

2013 started out with a fun road trip to Memphis to cheer on our ISU Cyclones in the Liberty Bowl. We visited the zoo, ate lots of BBQ, experienced the famous Beale Street, visited Graceland, had a great time spending time with friends, and got to see Scott's extended family. Unfortunately, we did not get to experience a Cyclone win but we were troopers during the wet and drizzly game (and also got to see the Temptations perform!). I am glad we took the trip because the 2013 season was a long one for Cyclone fans as we ended up with a 3-7 record. However, we are looking forward to basketball season! Go Cyclones!

In March we took our big Walt Disney World trip with Scott's family. We had a blast and made some great family memories! Highlights included watching Michael meet Buzz and Woody, meeting the princesses, and watching Michael when he was selected to be in the Festival of Lion King Parade. We are very excited as my sister Denise is going to spending the spring semester in Orlando on a Disney Internship so we are already planning our next trip back! This trip will be a short one, probably over a long weekend and we will hopefully get to spend some good quality time with my sister and also check some things off our list that we didn't get to last time. We haven't finalized a date yet but I can't wait!

Spring led to summer and Michael and I had fun checking off things on my big summer fun list. Our favorites included trips to Woodbury County Fair, the State Fair, Adventureland Amusement and Water Park, and camping. We also spent lots of time at the pool with Michael learning how to go down the bigger water slide by himself and learning to cruise around the water in his lifejacket by himself. As usual, Scott did a few days of RAGBRAI as well as the TOMRV ride and we also got in a little bit of boating. I also played in the Boone Municipal band and went up to Boone once a week to teach a full 10 hour day of lessons to some of my students. We also kept busy playing in the sandbox and puttering around the yard- all good summer things! 

This fall, big changes happened in our family as I accepted a full time position teaching 5th-8th grade band. Things have been busy as I have ventured into uncharted territory with teaching things like 8th grade marching band and jazz band as well as wrangling beginners just getting started on their musical journey. Despite the hectic schedule, the rewards have been great. I get to go to work every day at a job I love and I am feeling very professionally fulfilled. Michael continues to go to an awesome preschool/daycare and he is learning lots of new things every day. Work continues to go well for Scott and he is writing lots of new business! It is hard to believe that we have both been plugging away in our respective fields for almost a decade-when did we get so old!?!

Since school has started it seems like things have been extra busy but we still try and do fun things like get together with friends, tailgate for ISU football games and spent time with family. We are so thankful for my mom's health after her accident in November and we say lots of prayers of thanks daily for her recovery. She is recovering at home now and has a very busy schedule of therapy and hopes to go back to work sometime in 2014. In other family news, my family is gaining a new member as my brother Sam is getting married in February. We really like his fiancé and are excited to welcome her to the family. 

Scott and I are very thankful for our little family of three although we still miss Trace every day. He is constantly in our thoughts and prayers and we wish he had more time with us on here on earth. We try to find the blessings in each day and although we have our trials we still try to make each day a good one. I try to keep my eyes to the future and remember God's promise to us: 

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

Have a very merry Christmas! 


2012 letter
2011 letter

Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to my Christmas Home Tour! 

I am linking up today with the Nester home tour so if you are visiting, welcome! If you are a regular reader please go over and see everyone's beautiful homes! Wow! 

My vision this year was white paper stars, brown paper accents, and burlap with a rustic feel. I spent a large part of Thanksgiving break cutting out about 200 paper stars and hung them in my windows. They are so beautiful and when Michael saw them he said, "it looks like it is snowing in our house". I hope it feels so magical to him. 

I wanted to sew the snowflakes into a garland on my sewing machine but they kept getting caught so I reverted to twine and scotch tape. I also could have just taped them to each other to make a long string. I sewed the brown paper circle garland on my machine and that on worked well. Everything is just hanging up by tape...I am such a good diy-er, huh? 

I put my glittered letter garland (made from hobby lobby cardboard letters, twine and hot glue) front and center with a very important reminder to myself this holiday season: peace. 

Peace for my home, myself and for others. 

The tree with burlap, gold lettered accents, bulbs and lots of ornaments. I was hoping to have extra brown paper garland for it also but I ran out of it decorating with my windows. 

Front entry table with another glittered letter garland, Michael's advent calendar and nativity. 

Front door wreath from the nursery- Trace has a matching one at the cemetery. 

I was looking through old holiday photos and found a photo from one year when I had a gorgeous real garland on my railing that I had totally forgot about doing. Isn't that crazy? So why it might seem ridiculous to take photos of all of this, at least it is a good record of the years and to get ideas for the next year. I just had this little lighted garland in storage but I like the extra touch. 

My new nativity from my Grandma (got last year at Christmas). I love all the pieces and the detail. 

I've been trying to bind up my cards the past couple of years to put out at holiday time. They are actually really fun to flip through! One year I made a little photo book of the season and that is out also. It fun just to look at these little snapshots of life. 

My jazzed up tree topper- picks from Hobby Lobby. I like the way it turned out!

I also made these mini garlands with glittered letters from my tree with the words Hope, Faith, Love, Joy and Kundel. They were fun to make and I like seeing them on my tree. 

My helper boy! 

Thanks for visiting!! 

Have a very merry Christmas! 

Instafriday!

Howdy, friends! Happy Friday! 

I've been trying to take lots of photos with my real camera for Christmas so I have a pretty small insta-feed this week. However, I have been trying to capture lots of our Christmas traditions as we experience them. 

For some reason I felt the need to get all crafty this year. I bought some chipboard letters and glittered them up all fancy and made a garland out of them. In the process I created a big mess and there is glitter everywhere! It is a good thing Martha Stewart Glitter is so pretty. You shall see it in my holiday home tour post coming Monday! 

I got my Christmas cards out on Monday and I am surprised at how smooth it went this year. I've given up on trying to print address labels and just hand write the addresses so I apologize for my messy writing if you get one in the mail! I also need to get my annual newsletter up on this blog so stay tuned for that also. 

Scampy: the one animal missing at the nativity. 

We also spent some time as a family watching a holiday movie (Home Alone) last weekend in the theater. We had our jammies on and popcorn- it was great! 

We've also been reading through our stack of Christmas books that we only bring out in December. Michael's favorite is The Night Before Christmas and mine is Frosty the Snowman (since I am trying to learn all the words and it is hard!). 

I also want to thank everyone for their supportive comments about my Christmas meltdown. I have since been feeling very good about Christmas and have been enjoying our little family and not stressing about everything that needs to be done. It is a special time of year and added stress does not add to the special feeling. 

Have a great weekend! 

So this happened...

Michael lost his first tooth. 

Can you believe it? 

Well, I guess he technically didn't lose it-he had to have it extracted. Right before Michael was two years olds, he fell on the sidewalk at daycare and chipped his little baby tooth. It had been doing great for about two years until just recently when they found a cyst on his dental xray followed by an abscess erupting right above the tooth. It was getting infected and dying and it was best to have it pulled before it affected his permanent tooth. 

Scott took him to his appointment and reports that Michael did great. They spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating ice cream and then the tooth fairy visited later that night. We really talked up the tooth fairy visiting as a positive to having a tooth pulled. I've had eight (!!) teeth pulled in my life and it has always been a traumatic experience for me. I hate that Michael has to experience it so young but we tried to give him as much information as we could ahead of time and then give him lots of special treatment afterwards. He is just doing great! I am so proud of him!

p.s., I made the dollar with hairspray and glitter a la Pinterest. The first try was a disaster- the whole dollar was 100% coated in glitter and you couldn't even tell it was a dollar! I threw it in the garbage momentarily before I realized that was literally throwing money away so I wiped off most of the glitter with a wet paper towel and voila! One perfect fairy dollar. I'm sure the U.S. treasury would not approve and hopefully it all wipes off before we try to spend it.  

Happy December!

 

Happy December! 

I have felt a little behind getting ready for Christmas this year...mostly I think it is a combination of feeling the time crunch between Christmas and Thanksgiving, working more hours at school basically more than I ever have in my career, and just feeling overwhelmed with how to make a holiday feel extra special for my little guy even though it is a hard season for me. I also had a stomach bug at the beginning of this week (which I worked through) that probably led to the energy drainage while ultimately led to a big Christmas related meltdown on Friday night. I was really embarrassed for myself and finally had a change of heart that Christmas doesn't have to be perfect...that I don't have to do every little thing like elf on a shelf or some complicated Advent calendar complete with daily activities and special treats....that I don't have to go overboard on Christmas presents or do a million service projects. Christmas isn't tomorrow...it is still weeks away....and it will be special no matter what. Michael sees the magic in it all no matter what---and he knows when his mommy is happy and is worried when she is not.

Soo...that is where I am at. After my meltdown/change of heart Friday night, we have had an absolutely fantastic weekend. I got the tree and decorating finished, I volunteered my time to play my flute at a festival that benefits needy kids and families in our school district, and we did lots of special things with Michael. Everything I was worried about getting done, I actually got done once I stopped being all up in my own head about it. Does anyone else struggle with this? 

This morning we took some photos in front of the Christmas tree and went to see Santa after church. It has been snowing all day and it is absolutely beautiful out.

 

"yes santa, I've been reeeaaal good!"

 

That silly face, I will never get tired of it! 

 

We went back to Valley West Mall for their Santa after having such a good time last year. We were not the first ones in line like we were last year but it moved quickly and gave Scott and I time to enjoy our Caribou Coffees from the new (yes!!) store in the mall. The rule at the Santa Place this year is that you can only take one photo, after the photographer has taken theirs. What a racket, huh? I'm happy mine turned out pretty good because that is pretty high pressure. Here's mine: 

 

We thought the ones they took were pretty good so we bought all of them and got them on a USB key so we could print them ourselves. The photographer actually said Michael needed an agent because he was that good...I'm sure he tells everyone that. :o) I thought they were cute and since I could only take the one, I didn't get any of Michael talking to Santa. I'm pretty sure he told Santa he wanted a giant cookie cake like the one I had for my birthday. Or maybe Michael said that is what he is leaving out for Santa when he comes? The mysteries of a four year old's brain.

One thing is for sure is that we are so thankful Michael has been a very good boy this year! 

p.s., how cool is it that it is the same Santa as last year?