Holiday Preppers: Theme Boxes

Have any of you started your holiday shopping? My goal every year is to finish by December 1st, and it is a goal that I just achieved for the very first time. In fact, if you've been following along on Instagram, my tree is up and decorated weeks earlier than normal! I am feeling the Christmas spirit early and not fighting it. 

I purchased gifts for 28 individuals, and had a lot of fun doing it, using the below framework for a number of the gift selections.

For any others that want to kick start their holiday shopping, I thought I would share some inspiration around my favourite way to create a gift (if you have asked us to take care of your children after your demise, or you're a blood relative of myself or Philip, maybe stop reading now!). 

The "Box"

I love a cohesive gift. I feel unsettled when gifting things that don't go together. That is why, my favourite type of gift to give is the "box". I love to make a homemade gift basket or box of items that go together and suit the person that I'm gifting to. Some examples of this:

My version of a FabFitFun box: I have given 4 or 5 of my FauxFitFun boxes now. A fall box for my sister-in-law filled with fall decor, snacks & makeup. A Christmas box for my sister including things like Christmas napkins, face masks, and small dishes for entertaining. A box for my brother-in-law with a mug for work, beard grooming gear, and turkish delights. I love to find items on a theme, and these are endlessly fun to put together. Just throw me in a Winners with $60 and I'm ready to go. Philip has pointed out to me the flaw in my ways. FabFitFun provides you with a $50 box worth $200, while my boxes are $60 box worth $60. However, it is extremely fun to think of items that the person will love and see their delight at each one. 

Homemade Subscriptions: One year, Philip gave me the most thoughtful gift that he called a "Book Box". He had purchased 24 books in advance of my birthday, and over the course of the following year I received 2 each month in a special box. They each came with a note from a fake company that was putting these book boxes on, and each month the books went along with a different theme. One month I'd get mystery, another Christian non-fiction, another classics or YA. It was the very best gift. This year we're doing this for a number of people on our list (stop reading now if you might be one of them), with some twists. First of all, it would be way over our budget to do 2 brand new books every month for all of these people. What we decided to do was be creative and we hunted the Children's Hospital Book Sale for previously loved books that we thought our loved ones would enjoy. We created 5 kids book boxes - one for each of our friends families - as well as 2 adult book boxes for Philip's parents. We bought a large roll of brown paper and wrapped each book, writing the month and some clues about the contents on the outside. Each month the kiddos in our lives (and our parents) can dig out their box and find the month, opening to find their next read. I really hope they enjoy it. We also did monthly boxes for Philip's brother & our sister-in-law. His brother will be opening an exciting pair of socks each month and my sister-in-law is going to open an item from "the religion". We call essential oils and other woo-woo things we're into the religion because it really bothers our husbands and makes us laugh. She's getting things like an acupuncture mat for her feet, an essential oils bracelet, eye mask, Himalayan salt ball, volcanic pumice stone, jade therapy stick, etc. Each month she'll open a new treat to enhance her wellness. Like I said, these are insanely fun for me to put together, and I love putting the thought and care into putting together a curated box for someone I love.

Finding a Theme

I am consistently helped with choosing any gift by having a theme in mind. I get annoyed when I pick out random things for a person and they don't go together. Maybe that makes me a little nuts. However, I've found this strategy works well for me. Some examples:

• A colour story. This isn't my top choice for theme, but if you're finding yourself unsure of what to get, it can be helpful to have your gifts look nice together. Not only for presentation, but to narrow your search field. Recently I bought one of our nieces a sequined mermaid cup for by her bed, a night gown, and a bath bomb. That had two themes, it was all in the blue/green under the sea type colour story, as well as having a bit of a bedtime/relaxing theme. When I'm trying to pick out a gift for someone and don't necessarily know what they need/love, it can be helpful to think of a theme and get gifts that fit within it. 
• A type of item. Books, beauty items, kitchen items, travel gear. 
• Homemade. This theme comes into play not when I think of a specific person, but if you're having trouble getting started with Christmas shopping, it can be helpful to think of a group of people and a type of gift that you can get for all of them. For example, one year we decided to make homemade gifts for everyone in my immediate family. It resulted in a wooden garage sign, a Christmas decoration made from a recycled mullion door, a paper mache rhino hanging, and a magnetic scrabble wall frame. It was super fun, narrowed our scope a bit, and gave us a focus to keep going.
• In my extended family, we choose names and there is always a guiding theme so that you know what to get. It can be hard to think of a gift for your uncle without a theme as you may not know what he wants or needs. We'll have a theme such as a gift that is plaid, a gift starting with the letter B, pajamas, or something used/homemade. That helps us to narrow our focus and pick out an item that meets the criteria that we think they'd like. They aren't annoyed they get another pair of pajamas, they already knew it was coming. 

I hope this helps with getting started with shopping this year. Are there other ideas you'd like for Christmas shopping? I'm not an expert, but would love to give book recommendations for gifts or other box recommendations if you're having trouble! Ask in Instagram DMs, Email, Facebook Messenger, or the Comments below and I can always put together another post on Christmas gifting to try to help you brainstorm! 

Welcome Fall 2016

I can't believe it's September! I don't know if I'm weird, but I'm a little excited. September brings with it for me the same fresh start as January. I'm a huge list maker and I have found that the start of Fall has really been a motivating push to keep going with projects, do things I'm excited about, and start Christmas shopping!

I think this drive came out of both September starting, and we're almost done the Whole 30 Challenge which I have always found "good habits beget good habits" a true statement. Also the word beget should be used more frequently. Since we're making good food habits, it makes me want to make other good routine decisions.

The first week of September I made a list of 24 things I wanted to do in September. It was on the 7th so it equalled to one thing per day for the month of September. Some of the tasks are more ambitious than others, it includes things like bake a loaf of bread (planning to do that this weekend since we're done Whole 30 on Monday and can enjoy fresh bread), purchase 3 Christmas gifts (done!), and finish painting interior doors. I started off so strong, did 4 things in the first 2 days...and now I haven't accomplished much in a few days but today I hope to get back on track!

A few things that I'm excited for this Fall:

- Being back to blogging! It's so good to have something outside of work that gives a creative outlet, fulfillment, etc. Also we did so many home renovations since the blog break - so we can all look forward to seeing the transformation to our bathroom, kitchen, and basically the whole main floor. We're about to start our basement as well so that will be exciting!

- Pumpkin Spice Lattes - even though it's cliche. So delish. Even more than that, Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino...

- Scarves. I basically always have a scarf on. I have an obsession. I try to follow a one item in one item out rule where if I get a new scarf I get rid of one I don't wear as frequently...but I do cheat on that rule occasionally. I got a new scarf my mom got me in Munich and it is my new favourite accessory for sure.

- Christmas Shopping. I know this is weirdly early! However, our list of people we buy gifts for is more than 20 and it gets insane and expensive. I have trouble thinking about more than one gift at a time when I'm at the store so if we start early we get a few done, spread out the costs a bit, and don't feel rushed. Every year I aim to be done by end of November and every year I fail - but I'm  hoping this year I'll do it. I've already bought gifts for 6 little kiddos that we have the privilege of hanging out with frequently, and have started some of the fall birthday's that are quickly approaching. We've also been working on a gift for Philip's dad that we started in March...still not done. He will be happy at Christmas to get his Birthday/Father's Day/Christmas gift all in one hopefully.

A few things I'm not excited about:

- Leaves falling on my lawn and in my eavestroughs #adulting. Although I am excited for my garden to be covered in the white stuff we all hate so that I don't have to be embarrassed about the lack of gardening I did this year.

- Wearing a jacket - one Winter as a teenager I didn't wear a coat for the whole year just to be stubborn. Dumb jackets covering my cute scarves.

- No Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor in Paradise until 2017...So excited about Nick as the new Bachelor. I crushed Philip in our competition this past season and look forward to doing much of the same next year.

Are you loving or dreading Fall?

4 Saturdays

It's official, there are 4 Saturday's until Christmas. That is exciting, but also makes me nervous about all of the shopping we have to do! 

Has anyone started shopping? I've completed 10 out of 19 gifts so far, plus whatever gift exchanges and parties come out of the woodwork. Ay caramba. 

Philip & I have already distributed our Christmas lists which are sometimes fun to put together. Since sending it I've seen a few other things in stores that I'd love, so I've been keeping notes for my July birthday. Not trying to be selfish, I think because we've been putting most money into our house it's just exciting to get to have some of the things that I wouldn't buy for myself right now with all that we have going on. 

I love Christmas! We have 2 gatherings already planned for the 14th & 15th (one at our house!) followed by countless more right around Christmas. 

My goal was to finish all Christmas prep before the end of November, so that in December we can take some time to relax as we both have 2 weeks off. We have less than one week to go so I'm going to be furiously shopping online, doing my Christmas baking, and organizing our plans for the holidays. This past weekend we put up our tree and decorations and we've been playing Christmas music non-stop so we're well on our way to the Christmas spirit! The other thing we've been trying to do in preparation is to finish as many of our house projects so that we can relax guilt free when Christmas break comes around.

What have you done to prepare for the holidays? I'm hoping that all of our preparation means a calm and jolly holiday season!

Christmas Projects

- Decorate
- Bake
- Shop
- Wrap
- Bathroom
- Guest Room
- Office
- Cleaning
- Basement
- Host
- Celebrate

Domestic Pride

When packing up my Christmas decorations, I had a "I'm as good at packing boxes as my mom is!" moment. It's similar to the feeling I get when Philip says, "Where are my sunglasses (that you've never touched)/screwdriver/extra deodorant?" and I know where it is somehow. I'm definitely growing up! Although not in every way, I'm still not the best cleaner.

Anyway, time to wrap up the Christmas posts, in talking about the packing up of Christmas decor around here. 

In preparation for take-down, Philip and I went to Superstore and purchased two Rubbermaid bins. I had hoped for red or green bins for easy identification, but they cost more and I figured I could just as easily make cute labels so I went for blue. Also we don't have as many decorations as we might some day - we only needed to buy two bins for now - and this makes it easier to buy more bins that match later on. I figure, if we want we can always buy green bins in the future if we see them on sale or something and use the blue bins for something else. You can never have too many Rubbermaid bins (that's what I tell myself anyways). 

So I got to work taking down decorations. I started with ornaments, putting them into some old ornament boxes that I had inherited, since the ornaments in them weren't as fragile and special to me, and then I put those ornaments just carefully in a box. Luckily there's nothing too heavy in my Christmas decor collection, so I feel like everything should be safe till next year (unless I get my hands on it - I definitely broke 2 ornaments in about 10 minutes while taking down my tree). I was pretty tempted to introduce the red solo cup/cardboard ornament holding contraption into my box, but I wasn't sure if all my ornaments would even fit in cups and then I'd have some odd men out, plus I just didn't get around to it - did anyone else do that? Would you recommend it? Anyone want to try it with me next year?

So genius. Okay, putting this picture into the post sold me on this idea for next year, definitely going to give it a go. (someone remind me next year?)

I put my recent 1 am purchase star in its original box, as well as the white Ikea trees. Some other things like homemade pine cones just got put in a big freezer sized ziploc. I also put my homemade-from-old-Christmas-cards gift tags in a ziplock and tucked them safely inside. Some other odds and ends got added too: Christmas lights, Philip's new pancake pan, some cookie tins, and our stocking hangers (except we don't have stockings at our house...so they just hang nothing). 

Once it was all packed in - and like I mentioned above - I did a better job packing these boxes than I ever have in my history (is anyone else a bad packer?) - you can see my history here if you don't believe me - I stowed it all in the basement in a place I thought was safe. Until we gutted our bathroom...it is now covered in bathroom plaster dust, but that's a story for another day.

All of our Christmas gear hanging out under the stairs. It says "do not stack" because I'm nervous about if another heavy box was put on top some ornaments might squish. 

When Philip got home we took down the tree after some struggle of figuring out if we could get it downstairs and keep it together so we wouldn't have to put lights on it again next year. We failed at that attempt, so the lights came off and down it went in three pieces. 

A Family Tradition & Quick, Easy DIY

This is a super easy project, and can even save you money if you are a gift tag person. It's a great thing to do as you clean up your Christmas decorations.

Philip's family has a long-standing tradition of reusing the gift tags on their gifts. There is always one gift under the tree with a gift tag on it from my father-in-law to my mother-in-law which has been around for all 35 years of their marriage. It's a neat and simple tradition, but my problem was that I didn't want to buy a bunch of gift tags as these gift tags are going to be around for years, you don't want them all to be the exact same or it would be kind of boring.

I decided to cut gift tags out of my Christmas cards to use next year. It made me feel less bad about recycling the beautiful and thoughtful cards we'd received from friends and family this year, and it saved me money on gift tags. Also there were some really lovely Christmas designs on them, so I have a ton of unique gift tags for next year now! I'd recommend cutting out the pretty snowflakes or ornament decorations, rather than a picture of your close friend smiling with their dog...but it's really up to you - you have all the creative license on this one.

Just realized that I already packed them up and they're at the very bottom of my Christmas box...so I don't have a picture for you, but I bet you can imagine it.

It was definitely one of the easier Christmas-clean-up projects I worked on...on Friday while cleaning up Christmas decorations I broke one ornament, and while washing dishes the same day smashed a glass in the sink. #getmeawayfrombreakables

When did you put away your Christmas decorations? My aunt had them all put away by the time her kids woke up on Dec 26, while I procrastinated a bit more and put them away on January 4. Maybe you still have them up and are enjoying the Christmas cheer a little longer.

DIY Gift: Vow Art

Yesterday you heard about my date jar gift to Philip, and so today we'll be talking about the homemade gift that I received from Philip. While it is Friday and Philip is the typical author of today's post, he's busy enough writing the drama for our church's dinner theater (at Eastview around Valentine's Day if you want to mark your calendars), so I'm taking this one for the team. I won't try to incorporate him in this post with a painting like I did my date jar yesterday (phone randomly fixed itself, so there is an actual photo over there today!)

When preparing to write this post he emailed me everything I'd need to know about how he came to make this beautiful craft, and so hopefully I can do it justice.

After seeing some great pieces of art that featured wedding vows or other wedding memorabilia, I had been hinting pretty heavily that I'd like something similar. Here are a few of the pieces that I had shown to Philip but didn't want to buy because I knew Philip could easily make something amazing and it would be more meaningful than buying it off Etsy.

I heart this personalized print from Silhouette Blue.

While I don't need Train lyrics on my wall,
 I like the graphic feel from Alexander Creative.

I really love the idea of personalized art (I think I've mentioned that before), and so it was really thoughtful of Philip to take that into consideration and make me an amazing Christmas gift.

Philip started with a completely different idea than what he ended up with. Beginning with an owl inspired (due to the owl trend that's invading the stores these days - and I might have allowed it to come into our house a bit) piece. 

While this is really cute,
I'm so much happier with what Philip ended up with!

The goal with the owl artwork was a layered and textured feel, looking custom and professional, but also really cute and fun. It didn't work out because pencil crayon on black construction paper didn't work as well as Philip had hoped, and the owls ended up looking a lot more juvenile (although I do still love the owls that he made and will definitely hang them somewhere) than what the content would call for. 

I'll still give a bit of a run through on how to make the artwork above, if it's your groove.

Philip started by printing the vows and adhering them to black construction paper with Post-Its (so that the construction paper wouldn't be damaged when it was removed). This way he could trace the letters onto the construction paper below to achieve the font and look he'd planned. 

An innovative use of Post-Its. 

Philip had designed the owls ahead of time on the computer so he had a plan when it came time to craft.

Cutie owls, I do still really like them!

After creating the owls virtually, cutting them out of construction paper in layers was a lot easier and well planned out. It turned out so adorable! I can't wait to hang them up. Have I mentioned how talented my husband is? I couldn't make that on the computer, and I'm definitely not a master of using scissors, can't even imagine how long it would take me to make that tree trunk out of the different papers, let alone the owls. 

The most beautiful construction paper craft I've seen to date.

These owls get their close up.

Anyway, this craft didn't work out for reasons mentioned above, and overall Philip just didn't like how it was looking. So he moved on to another plan, which took about the same amount of time as this failed attempt.

Philip changed to a simpler design, one that he found airy and knew would look great in the white matted white frame that he'd purchased, as well as on any of our wall colors. He went with the colors from our wedding invitations, yellow and grey, because it was definitely a reminder of our beautiful backyard wedding. 

He started similarly to the owl print, by getting the text onto the paper he wanted to use. That's one thing I really appreciate about the artwork he made, he could have easily printed it off the computer, but he hand wrote everything. 

Philip wrote our vows in a heart shape, the left side with my vows and the right side his.  (In the background you can see how he made a light table out of a reading lamp propped up under our glass desk.)

Philip wrote our vows in a heart shape (you can kind of see that above), the words were written in yellow, with the verbs in grey. The left hand side are my vows to him, and the right side are his. Then at the bottom he included our wedding date, August 6, 2011. I have wanted to have our vows framed somewhere in our house for a while, I like the idea of seeing our promises each day and using them as accountability and reminders of what we want for our marriage. 

Philip then cut them out, into two separate heart halves, and glued it on to yellow construction paper, in order to make it a little bit more 3D, similar to the effect that was meant with the owl art. 

All done, just needed to cut the mat.

After finishing up, Philip cut the mat to make room for the artwork inside. I love how it has a bit of a monochromatic and airy look, will definitely go with any kind of paint color or decor that we have in the room it hangs in. 

We opened our gifts first thing in the morning, which is why I'm looking a little sleepy and wearing an always flattering Seattle Mariners t-shirt.

I was so shocked to open it and love it like crazy. I can't wait to hang it up in our bedroom with some wedding photos. I still can't believe we've already been married for almost 2 years, it definitely doesn't seem that long! 

My favourite part of making crafts for each other was probably the fact that none of our rooms have doors right now, so we worked in opposite corners of the house with Christmas music blasting so we couldn't accidentally hear any hints. 

Anyone else make a creative Christmas gift or get surprised by their spouse? Almost done with Christmas posts a week into 2013, on Monday I'll share one other quick anyone-can-do craft that might help with cleaning up your Christmas decorations a bit, and then on to 2013! Make sure to vote in this weeks poll on the Facebook page and on Tuesday you'll hear about our resolutions! Have a great weekend!

DIY Gift: Date Jar

As hinted in yesterday's post, we added a little DIY flavor to our Christmas gifts to each other this year. My homemade gift for Philip was the Pinterest-famous Date Jar. The first place I saw them was here. 

Life in the Green House Date Jar Inspiration

This was a pretty elementary craft, finished in a couple of hours, minus the time I had spent thinking up date ideas throughout the week before which was more scattered and not really dedicated time. 

I started out getting a jar from my mom's house. I cut out a piece of paper for the top to cover the expiry date (popsicle sticks with words on them don't expire - fancy that). On the paper I wrote what the different colored sticks would mean. 

After shopping with the intention of buying popsicle sticks and paint, I could only find already colored popsicle sticks which actually saved a lot of time. I used blue for Winter dates, yellow for Summer, and green for anytime. Then I painted the tips of any dates that cost money with white. This way when we go to pick we can pick something more specific to what we're wanting to do that day. 

Date Night Examples:

• Movie Night: His Choice
• Go to a restaurant we've never been to
• Make a craft together
• Make dinner together
• Pick out a 5 dollar item each from Superstore to make a surprise date night
• Build a snowman

Philip appreciated the thought that went into it, and it was fun and easy to make. It will hopefully also save us some time every time we want to have a date night and don't have any ideas. 

I have some pictures of it, but for some reason my iPhone decided to crash today...not too sure what will happen with that. Hopefully we can get it up and running tonight and it doesn't cost a fortune. I will add some real pictures tomorrow hopefully, but until then, this I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-photograph illustration should tide you over.

Update: Phone randomly fixed itself, so here's some photos!

Finished date jar!

60 popsicle stick date ideas!

Also be sure to head to the Facebook page and answer our weekly poll! We want to hear all about your New Years Resolutions or plans for 2013, and we'll share ours as well next week. 

Christmas 2012: In Review

We had a great holiday, and now we're back Monday-Friday at Grandpa Joe's House. Before we get back into the swing of things with home renovation projects, we thought we'd give you a rundown of our Christmas break. 

Most ominous performance: Philip spent a large portion of his vacation working on the drama for our church which he directed and also performed in as the never-once-seen Director (it was a play-within-a-play) whose voice creepily booms throughout the sanctuary. He's now frantically working on the upcoming Valentine's dinner theater (mark your calendars!) and we'll see if we get to see him this time.

Jokes that live forever in our mammaries: The theme that quickly emerged as the gifts on Christmas eve were unwrapped was anatomy as I received some huge jugs (green in color) and some cute little hooters (white ceramic owls) for Christmas.

Our First Christmas Tree/Decorations: Although this was our second married Christmas, our house allowed us to bust out some more decorations than the condo did, so we improved from some ornaments hanging in our condo window to a real tree and even some additional decking of halls.

I love our versatile Ikea tree decor, and how it goes with my homemade pine cones along with a little  Russian ceramic rabbit from Philip's Oma and a classy polar bear ornament from my mom.

Thrifty Shopping: We set a budget of $30 for each other's gifts (in past years we've definitely spent well over $100 so this was tight), and were pleasantly surprised to see how creative we could get. Philip bought me a top to go with some leggings I got from my mom, a Wii game that simulates...wait for it...The Bachelor! (My avatar is already engaged to Jason Meznik, but I can still win those other Bachelors' hearts.) He also made me something that we'll share sometime soon! As for what I got him, I also made something, got him a shirt, some dominoes for playing Mexican Train (we're getting old, people!), an ornament for our tree, and a Christmas pancake pan. I think we did pretty well!

No words can describe how stupidly addicting this game is.

Most Epic Adventure While Sitting on a Couch: One activity that really lived up to the relaxation we hoped for over our break was watching all three Lord of the Rings movies with Philip's brother and his wife. I'm not sure if I'm a total fan of the franchise yet... but it was worth watching. Definitely long though.

One of three movies watched over the break.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back to IKEA: We hoped to get further on our bathroom reno than our break ultimately allowed, but we did make a trip to IKEA and ponied up for some bathroom cabinetry and fixtures that we'll talk more about soon!

I think that gives a pretty decent glimpse into how we spent the last week. There was a lot of couch potato behaviour, some crafting, a few shopping trips, and lots of family bonding. Now we're back on track and ready to share with you some of the renovations we've been working on. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and even though most people had to go back to work today, it can be nice to get back into routine and get productive again. 

What did you do over Christmas? Anyone else turn beautifully innocent gifts into something else with a gutter-visiting mind? Watch twelve hours of movies?

Also, just to be different, I just shared a question on the Grandpa Joe's House Facebook page in lieu of the typical blog poll. We'll try out that way of doing things for a week and decide what we like better. Head on over and vote in this week's resolution related poll.

Christmas Update

Merry Christmas everyone! Just wanted to stop in and leave a post so that no one thinks we've perished in some Christmas ice cream related accident - tears have been shed, but no blood so we're all good. I'm not sure if we will post every day this week as Philip is off work and it has been deemed family time, but we'll see what we can do! Definitely have a lot to share in relation to our homemade ice creams, some DIY Christmas gifts we made for each other, and some more bedroom updates! 

In case you missed it, you can also read the Christmas card that was shared in a belated Phriday Filip (still the best name for it) this Saturday.

Thanks again for taking the time to read our blog each day, we've been overwhelmed with how many reads we've been getting every day and are so thankful to you for making us a part of your day. God bless you as you remember the birth of his son, and take the time to enjoy your loved ones this holiday season, 

Merry Christmas! (I think I've said this a bunch of times in this post...but what can I say, it's festive).  

A sneak peek at our Christmas tree to keep you occupied:

Christmas Tree 2012

Here from us for Christmas time...

Our year-in-review, written in rhyme! 

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a veggie platter shaped like a Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas! It is that time of year

to think of the ones we hold most dear.
And since all of you we don't often see,
here's a warm letter from Cass and me!

Tho' some of you may or may not care,
our year in review we'd like to share.
We're simply here to inform and to bring mirth;
our rhymes are no challenge to Frost or Wordsworth.

A lot happened in 2012,
so without more ado, in we delve!

January found us tucked safe and neat
in our condo, with new kitchen complete!
Yet loved still more given winter's barrage,
was the heated underground parking garage.

In February we beat deep winter's blues
by casting off on our honeymoon cruise!
Seven Caribbean days can't be beat,
working out lots to offset "all-you-can-eat."

Cass, with a random other cruise ship in the background.

In March Cass finally got to retire

to pursue many a goal and desire;

As you'll see she's had plenty to do

besides trademarking the phrase "Freedom 22."

In May every year we get carried away

feting 5 family births and Mother's Day!

With all that cake I'd say it's like heaven

but I'm watchin' my weight, now that I'm 27!

July we decided that the time had come

to leave our comfy nest and grow up some.

A condo's a great carefree first home,

but we wanted a house to call our own.

Selling our condo was a hard step, but a step in the direction of growing up.

 We hunted through the homes MLS lists,

and bid on a house, by a lot we did miss!

So on this humble place we also bid low,

And behold, we're owners of this cute bungalow.

Our new baby which, if you read this blog, you're pretty familiar with already.

Before possession we took

We could not overlook

Cassy's twenty-third birthday;

they grow up so fast, don't they?

The newly-minted 23-year old (in a picture from when she was still 22)

And on July 30th we got the key

to our own little house on the prairie.

But before we could get settled down

My parents took us to a much bigger town.

We drove to Chicago, them and us,

to see the Summit live at the start of August.

As well as the few days we had to sightsee,

there we celebrated our first anniversary.

Philip at historic Wrigley Field in Chicago

Immediately upon our return

Our minds did dream and our stomachs churn

At the thought of all we had on our plate

For our house to properly renovate.

In September Cass was back teaching Sunday School,

and we were both learning each hammer and tool,

As we demolished our basement and broke the bank,

Installing a new HVAC system and hot water tank.

Another pricy job as every homeowner knows

Is replacing your old drafty windows.

We had that done too and now hope we will

save a little on our Hydro bill.

With the work was keeping us far from bored,

we wanted a better way our memories to record

from the tough jobs through which we had to slog

so in October we started our very own blog.

GrandpaJoesHouse.blogspot.com is where

you'll find all the words and photos we can share.

Cass updates it each and every day

so leave your thoughts in the comments or just say "hey!"

With November's arrival came another big move;

one of which I did not wholeheartedly approve.

My company moved to the whole other side

of our city, resulting in quite a bus ride!

But now that I'm used to it I hardly mind;

it's a great place to get writing done, I find.

In fact, as you reading this letter to you,

you've seen the benefits of the bus ride too.

But November's highlight by a fair sight

was the glorious afternoon and night

when my brother, Jonathan, filled with pride,

married Jennifer, his beautiful bride.

The Wiebe family at Jonathan & Jennifer's Wedding

December arrived with great fanfare,

Christmas events galore left us with little time to spare,

but with the painting and trimming in the past,

we moved into our master bedroom at last.

This time of year gives all a chance to reflect,

on the blessings we've been lucky to collect.

Like Federated Insurance and a biweekly paycheque

and the coworkers who make it fun in every respect.

Or the family and friends who in our lives share

whom we love and for whom we care.

We rely on you a lot, we hope we're not a pain,

thanks for keeping us from going insane.

And finally to God and the birth of a boy

who is the source of this season's joy;

who brings meaning to every single day,

and whose faithfulness never does sway.

So now that was our year, I hope you've been,

entertained by what you've read and seen.

Here's to the joys we hope to share with you between

now and the end of 2013!

Philip & Cassondra, a self-portrait, 2012