Christmas Gifts for 2015

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Now that Christmas is officially over, I can reveal some of the gifts we gave!!  😀  I am so excited!  I love giving gifts and trying to personalize each one so that people will truly enjoy what they receive.

Christmas gift ideas 2015

We did several couples gifts this year.  For all the couples on my husband’s side of the family, we did movie night date nights!  I am so excited about these!

There are a lot of ideas floating around on the internet, but these are the items we ended up putting in their gift bags…

Another theme of the year was games.  I enjoy giving experiences, not just things.  Games are a lot of fun but also build relationships and memories!

Two couples got this Farkle Classic Dice Game.  And two couples/families got this Melissa & Doug Suspend game.  That is a good one for couples to do together for an at-home date night, or for the family to play together. 🙂 ThinkFun Zingo is a FUN game as well!!  The Wingman and I had a lot of fun playing it with his grandparents.  This game was also sent to some cousins for a Christmas present this year. 🙂

Another great game for kids and families to play together is HedBanz Game – Edition may vary!  My nieces and nephew got this game a couple years ago and had a lot of fun with it.  So this year I gifted it to my other nieces and nephews. 🙂  Again, a great game that families can play together and the children can play on their own (depending on the age of the children).

The Wingman’s favorite gift this year was this Fisher-Price Thomas the Train Wooden Railway Coal Hopper Figure 8 Set.  He had been asking for a Thomas train for Christmas and he was thrilled with this one.  I don’t know how many hours he spent driving his trains around the track on Christmas day!

Other fun children’s gifts this year included

As I was browsing on Amazon, I came across this great line of books from Knock Knock.  They are fill in the blank “journals.”  I got this one for one of my best friends.  Knock Knock Why You’re So Awesome Fill-In-The-Blank Journal  It was so fun filling it out.  I loved being able to let her know how much she means to me. Some of the fill-ins were more heartfelt, others were more lighthearted and fun.  But whoever came up with the idea to make these books was a great person! 😉

I found these earrings for my other bestie. Stainless Steel Post with Batman Cut Stud Earrings
She and I are pretty much the biggest Batman fans ever.  Not even an exaggeration.  So when I saw these earrings I had to get them for her. 😀

So there is a glimpse at some of the fun things we found this year.  What were your favorite gifts to give?  Share in the comments!!  I always love hearing new gift ideas! 🙂

-Bonnie

Note: Life With You is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

A Year of Heartbreak

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2015 was in honesty a terrible year.  Probably the worst year of my life.  Or at least a different kind of terrible than any other terrible.  This year was on a whole different level.

On Christmas Eve, we visited a church where the pastor gave a great sermon.  He talked about how a long time ago people would bring evergreen trees into their homes during the winter as a reminder that spring was coming.  Eventually the Christians adopted that tradition as a reminder of the promise of new life and resurrection in Jesus.  It was a reminder of hope.  Of life.

That was so incredibly beautiful to me.

As I think about the year 2016, I feel a variety of things.  Numbness.  Hesitation.  Wondering if it will be filled with even more heartbreak.  But I also feel hope.  It’s a brand new start in a way.  I am a completely different person than I was before.  The past couple years have defined me, and the past few months have even more so.

There is hope.  There is goodness.  No matter the heartache of this year, there is hope.  There is hope because Jesus came into the world.  Because He died on a cross and rose again.  There is hope because God is good and He is always at work for His good purposes.

There is hope.  There is beauty.

As we close out this incredibly difficult year, I look forward to hope.  With hope.

hope in 2016

-Bonnie

Blogger Men Tell All – December Edition

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And now for one of my favorite link-ups.  😀  Joining again with Becca Dorr for Blogger Men Tell All.  This one is all about Christmas and the end of the year!

Blogger Men Tell All
  1. Did you accomplish your goal for 2015?
    The Pilot:  What was the goal?
    Me: Did you set yourself goals?
    The Pilot: No.
  2. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
    The Pilot: Christmas morning presents.  And the tree.  And the smells.  And the mistletoe.
  3. What did you gift your blogger for the holidays?
    The Pilot: You know.  Shirts and some books.
    (Note from me: He always gives the awesomest gifts!!  He got me a 9 3/4 shirt [Harry Potter super fan!!], a beautiful lace black shirt, and a book that was on my wish list.)
  4. What is your favorite holiday movie?
    The Pilot: White Christmas.
    Me: Why?
    The Pilot: Because it brings back good memories.
    Me: Of?
    The Pilot: Childhood.

I love his straight to the point answers. 😉

-Bonnie

Oldie But Goodie Link-Up December Edition

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Welcome!  Thank you for stopping by Life With You to visit our link-up.

2015 is rapidly drawing to a close!  Only a few days left.
How time flies.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas
and enjoy your New Year’s festivities!  Do you have
any fun New Year’s Eve traditions? I’d love to hear below (even if
you don’t enter the link-up 😉 ).

Oldie But Goodie link up

Do you have an old post that still gets a lot of traffic?  Or do you have a post you loved that got buried in the archives?  Link up here!  Share your oldie but goodie!

A few rules –

1.  Link up as many old posts as you would like.  Make sure you share the link of your actual post, not just your blog.

2. Visit at least one other post in the link up and leave a relevant comment.

3. It is not required, but it would be great if you would grab my button to include on your post or link back to my blog.

4. Make sure you come back next month to link up and check out other posts!  The link-up will go live on the last day of each month.

Oldie But Goodie link up

Geography Brush-Up

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Two of the tasks on my 101 in 1001 Days list were to brush up on my geography.  The other day I finally decided to sit down and work on that.  I was tired of people talking about places and me sitting there blankly. 😉

I started with US geography.  Seterra Online has a very helpful quizzing tool..  It was very simple to click around and I liked that when I made a mistake it told me what the state actually was.  That helped me learn it more quickly.  Thankfully, it only took about 10 minutes for me to feel comfortable with all the States again.

Moving on to world geography, I found World Geography Games.  I started the Countries quiz.  Even the Pilot got in on the quizzing!  We had a lot of fun studying the maps, doing the quizzes, and eventually racing on separate computers to complete the quiz.  We have both made it through all the countries, but a couple of them need some brushing up.

It’s a simple thing but I’m actually quite proud of us.  When we opened a new country map (like Africa!) we were both convinced we would never get it…..but we did!  It’s very satisfying to learn something new and commit it to memory.

And now I have two more items checked off my list! 😀

-Bonnie

 

 

 

From Around Blog Land

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Be You Well: The Freedom in Forsaking Comparison – Not everyone is gifted in all the same ways.  But you are still fearfully and wonderfully made!

Little Voice – A powerful post about the lives of the unborn killed by abortion.

5 Ways to Pray for Couples Struggling to Conceive – Awesome prayer targets.

I Have the Perfect Body – It is so common for moms to feel terrible about their bodies.  I love this woman’s perspective on the issue!

Just Two Kids. And That’s Okay. – Very refreshing perspective on the fact that God doesn’t have a cookie-cutter size for families.  “Can we stop counting our kids and comparing our lives?  Can we embrace families of all sizes as ordained by the God we serve?  Can we extend grace to all?”

Your Child is Your Neighbor – “Children are people….If children are people, they are also our neighbors.”

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

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In the midst of the hardest year of my life, I am reminded of my blessings.

I am so incredibly thankful for my family.  My wonderful husband, who has been there with me on my bad days and my really bad days.  For our Wingman, who is such a miracle and who brings joy to our lives every day.  And for our two precious babies, who I miss every day and who are giving thanks at the feet of Jesus today.  I can’t wait to praise Him together as a family one day in heaven.

Take a moment today to thank Him for some of your blessings!

-Bonnie

Noise or Silence

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I go through spells.

For a while now, my spell has been of listening to music almost constantly.  Usually Christian songs, both old and new alike.

It is so very helpful to listen to the words and have our house filled with worship.  My heart is encouraged as I listened to God’s Word and God’s truth being proclaimed.  It draws me closer to the Lord and allows me to pour out my heart to Him.

And then every now and then I realize that suddenly the music can seem oppressive.  Annoying.  With one quick click, I turned off the music coming from the computer.  Silence.  That silence was like a breath of fresh air.

Sometimes I surround myself with so much noise that I can’t function well anymore.  It’s amazing how one day something can be so healing to my soul and the next day that very same thing can feel almost damaging.

I have realized that there is a place for both.  Music can definitely be exactly what I need.  But after a while of a lot of noise, sometimes what I need is the silence.  Golden silence in which I can pray, meditate, think….or even not think if I just need a break from the chaos inside me.  I feel like I constantly have about 2,000 thoughts going through my brain at once.  Taking a step back can really be refreshing.

Right now I am actually in an in-between spot.  I’ve really been enjoying music with no lyrics, like my George Winston or David Nevue stations on Pandora.  I’ve also been enjoying more mindless music that I don’t need to quite concentrate on as much.  But I’ve also been enjoying silence.  Even loading the dishwasher or cleaning up can be so peaceful when I’m just reveling in the quiet.

And I assume soon the cycle will start over and once again I will be needing music with amazing lyrics to cling to. 🙂

What about you?  Do you go through these spells?  Or do you tend to just prefer one or the other – music or silence?

-Bonnie

Write 31 Days

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So many bloggers linked up this year with the Write 31 Days challenge!  It was so much fun scrolling through the categories and finding some new blogs to check out.

Here are a few of my favorites from this year’s challenge!

31 Days of Praying For Your Family

31 Days of Breaking Religious Chains

31 Days of Celebrating Who You Are

31 Days of Sorry, Not Sorry

31 Days of Overcoming the Comparison Trap

31 Days to Putting Down Your Phone

31 Days of Scripture During Infertility

31 Days of Natural Beauty

31 Days to Annihilate Sugar

31 Days of Useful Kid Crafts

Definitely check the full list at Write 31 Days though if you would like to look for more!  Have fun browsing! 🙂

-Bonnie

Book Review: Instant Happy Journal

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I am all about journaling.  And writing with an actual pen and actual paper.  And I have been trying to work on fostering a grateful and joyful spirit.

Enter Instant Happy Journal by Karen Salmansohn.

Instant Happy Journal

This book contains 365 prompts.  Sometimes it’s an inspirational quote and sometimes it’s a thought-provoking question sometimes.

For example, one of the days says, “What blessings can you find in the lesson that a challenge taught you?”  Another day’s prompt is, “If today had a soundtrack, what song would be playing?  What song would you want to be playing tomorrow?”

It is a fun book designed to give you a few minutes each day to focus on the positives of your life.  Sometimes changing your outlook comes down to a choice to revel in the good.  Even a few minutes a day of choosing to be positive can make a big difference.  I look forward to going through more questions and filling them out!

Note: I received this book from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for this review.

-Bonnie