In Case They Ever Wonder

Matt and I have celebrated our anniversary for about a week now, but on December 21 six years ago, we began the wild ride our marriage has been so far. It is one thing to talk about the kids on a blog, but I must admit I am a bit more private about our marriage, so there probably won't be any long, revealing posts about it. That being said, I can't imagine doing life with anyone else but Matt, and as a sort of anniversary card (did we forget those?), I thought I would mention six reasons why I'm glad he is my husband... 1. No one could ever make me laugh as much as he does. Even when I am ready to kill him, he can still make me laugh. Last night, he actually made me squirt water out of my nose! Very little of what he says and does can be written about in a public forum, but trust me when I say that life with him involves a lot of laughter! In fact, several people have asked me over the years, "Do you just laugh all the time?" Well, no in fact not all the time... B

Patti-Grams and Aunt Hope came in town for a whirlwind of Christmas activities including Sophie's dance performance at a local retirement center, an all-day shopping excursion at Perimeter, a trip to ride the Pink Pig and see Santa at Lenox, and then keeping Soph and Will while Matt and I enjoyed an early-anniversary date at Atlantic Station! Then Sophie got to go to Patti-Grams' house early and spend a few days getting spoiled and enjoying more Christmas activities in Franklin, and Will became the only child in the Roden household for a few days. We have so enjoyed getting to focus on Will and notice all the ways he has changed since the last time we had a few days alone with him. Now, it isn't that Will doesn't get any attention when Sophie is here - I try to carve out alone time with him each day, and we spend Mondays just the two of us,  but his sister is quite the dynamic personality, and I do notice different things about him when I spend several days with just hi

Try not to jump up and scream with excitement. Indeed, it's true. This is Carrie's husband, Matt, writing up a guest post about Christmas music. You've probably noticed that Carrie's posts are written eloquently, seem so meaningful, and leave a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. This will do none of that. Unless you like Christmas music! That's what I'm supposed to be writing about, so let's get started. I'm in charge of the Christmas music at our house. So I try to keep our Christmas playlist full of fun songs that keep the spirit and meaning of Christmas alive all season. Here's 7 highlights from our playlist all leading to our special favorite. Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay I have always enjoyed Jars of Clay but their Christmas album is one of their best. Pick up the songs "Wonderful Christmastime", "Love Came Down at Christmas" and "Christmastime is Here" and thank me later. Few albums capture the essence of Christmas lik

Where to begin? My biggest concern about Christmas books is having enough time to read them all! We have had gross weather this week, with too many home days in a row, but the upside has been plenty of time to read. In order to read all the books we want to read each December, we use Christmas books for tea time and bed time. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and just today I've read and heard about several books I want to add to our collection, but we do consider the following books to be must-haves... Dream Snow by Eric Carle   - Patti-Grams bought this book for us several years ago, and t his is one of my favorite picture books to read to young children. I love the simple illustrations and the opportunity to review basic counting and animal names. I love that the farmer looks so much like Santa, and I adore the tinkling sound that "tree"makes at the end. This has definitely been Will's favorite this year. Baby's Christmas  by Eloise Wilkin - This was on

As I mentioned, our family loves celebrating Christmas, but we don't want to run ragged the entire month of December. Some of my favorite Christmas traditions don't require leaving the house... Reading Christmas books - There is way  to much to say about this, so Christmas books will have their own post... Celebrating Advent - This is actually an area I want to do a better job with, but each year we've celebrated the coming of Christ using an advent wreath and devotion book or an advent calendar. This year, we are going the calendar route, but I hope to return to the wreath and devotions n ext year. (I would love suggestions on a good book for celebrating advent with children! ) Reading  What God Wants for Christmas  and Playing with Nativity Scenes  -  This will be our third year to use  What God Wants for Christmas  as part of our family devotion time, and I am enjoying watching Will's first introduction to the story of Jesus' birth. We have several nativity sce

Our family loves Christmas! I'm not sure who loves it more - Matt or me! Either way, it is one of our favorite times of year, and we have many family traditions that help us celebrate. So many, that I'm going to break up writing about this holiday into different sections: Christmas Activities, Christmas Books, Christmas Music and Christmas Movies. I may forget something and have to go back and add it in later, but I want to share things our family loves about this time of year. Christmas Activities - Out and About There are so many amazing activities available to families at Christmastime. It can be hard to strike a balance between making memories and running the family ragged. We are trying to find that balance. That means not participating in every fun opportunity that comes our way. For us, it may mean following an "every other day" approach. I'm not sure if it's my personality, my kids personalities or a combination of both, but we seem to like a day of hu

My children are tired. I am tired. (Matt is probably tired, but he must work so the rest of us can eat - which we all enjoy tremendously...) Today we will hibernate. Sophie's last day of school was yesterday, and she actually began hibernating on the drive home. As much as I would enjoy a hibernation day with Matt, for today I will enjoy the one I am sharing with my favorite little people.  Things We Won't Do: Get dressed (lounge-y type clothes and robes are cozier!) Worry about accomplishing school activities (learning will take place, but lesson plans won't be followed) Stress about the house (it will be great if some straightening happens, but the house is not the priority) Things We Will Do: Snuggle on the couch (bed and cushy chairs are options too) Read Christmas books ( You Are My Miracle,   Clown of God, The Mitten , and Dream Snow  so far...) Watch Christmas movies ( Cranberry Christmas  and Twas the Night Before Christmas  so far...)  Listen to our favorite Christ

Sometimes when Matt is home for extended periods of time, as he was during the week of Thanksgiving, he has the opportunity to notice new things about our children. Not that he isn't connected to them - he is an amazing, hands-on, intentional dad, but the fact that he spends much of his time at work means that there are little "joys" his misses out on.  One of the little "joys" he misses most of the time is the opportunity to spend long periods of time in the car with our kids. (I attribute Matt's perpetual cheerfulness to this fact, but that is another story...) Over Thanksgiving, however, Matt spent all kinds of time in the car with our offspring, and he was stunned by the number of times Sophie said "Mama..." Now, she said it no more and no less than she normally does, but the fact that Matt was in the car and I was talking, or trying to talk, with him seemed to highlight how often the word that has become my name was uttered. Sophie has always

Thanksgiving is one our favorite holidays, but the one that seems to vary the most from year to year, especially with regard to where we spend the holiday. Sophie's first Thanksgiving was spent at Whitestone Country Inn (where Matt and I married) with my parents, sisters, Matt and me. Since then, we've either been in Birmingham at my grandparents' home or in Franklin at my parents'. Of course, we celebrate with the typical Thanksgiving feast and family gathering, but we've tried to incorporate a few other special traditions over the years... Special books - I feel like Thanksgiving could easily get lost in between the Halloween candy and the Christmas presents, so we spend time each year trying to be sure we are communicating the story of Thanksgiving. The Story of the Pilgrims , Squanto , 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving , and Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember are some of our favorites. This year, we've added a new favorite, Cranberry Thanksgiving , (from the