Year 2, Week 22: Nativity

Another week has passed, my friends, and we are here to update you on ours! It feels like forever ago that all of this happened, but here we go! It was a good week!

Monday I went grocery shopping, which is what happens on my Mondays off. This Monday I also got to finish my Christmas shopping! I stopped at the orchard too...which will be closing here soon, sadly. Our new Enso rings came in the mail, so we were really excited about that. I got Christmas tree decorating stuff while I was shopping too, so we finally got our tree decorated in the evening, I posted a few pictures of our Christmas decorations for your enjoyment. After Jonathan was done working we went to the chiropractor, stopped at Drugmart, then came home and had stuffed shells before we Christmas-ed our tree. 

Tuesday I worked, so Jonathan worked, cleaned the house and talked to Tim on the phone. It was a great day for both of us! Wednesday I was off, so I got milk, visited my mom at work, then came home and did laundry and a few things around the house. In the evening we went to an auction down the road with Mom and Dad then went back to their house for pizza. When we came home, I made cajun pork chops so we could have some food to eat while I was at work the next day.

Thursday was a pretty normal day. We both worked, Jonathan went to Horizon to get a remote for our car, nothing very life changing to report! But it was my weekend off, so that was exciting. Jonathan worked on Friday while I finished my online CPR training. When he was done, we went to Canton to finish our shopping. We had Olive Garden for dinner, then made our way through Canton stopping at different stores and enjoying our little trip.

Saturday was a pretty relaxing day. We were home for most of the day, so I painted, Jonathan worked out, we caught up on some TV shows and just relaxed for most of the day. In the evening, we had calling hours to go to, then we went home for burritos and to watch some Star Wars. 

Sunday we went to church together, which is always something we look forward to. Grandma and Grandpa were there, which was a super fun surprise! Afterwards we went to Classic for lunch as a family, which was delicious, and kept me from having to make lunch! I did come home and make Chicken Cordon Bleu so that we would have food to eat this week, though. I finished painting when we got home and Jonathan worked on his family tree project. We had a live nativity through the church in the evening, so we were Mary and Joseph for a short period of time! It was a ton of fun. So many people came to see us! We were absolutely blown away to see everyone and were so blessed by the turnout. It was a lot of fun and we hope to do it again next year!

This week is not too bad, we are just wrapping up a few things for Christmas...pun intended. Hopefully we will be seeing more of you all throughout the holidays! It is going to be a whirlwind...so bear with the blogging. 

Love you all!

- Alli and Jonathan

Year 2, Week 21: O' Christmas Tree

Well, hello there! It is quite blustery around here - but we are enjoying the lack of rain. Last week was a lot of rain and cold and yuck...neither of us were sad to be working in those conditions. It was a long week last week, but hopefully our last super long one for awhile.

Monday and Tuesday I was at work, so Jonathan kept busy around the house...and running errands for me. They were both really rough days at the pharmacy. Monday we started to run out of one of our fast moving liquid antibiotics, so Jonathan ran to the Carrollton store to pick some up for me after he came and did some grocery shopping for me in my store. It was his first time getting paged back..."Jonathan, to the pharmacy, Jonathan"...just to be asked to run to the next town over for some medications. Thankfully he was more than willing and it lasted us until our truck came in town! After he did that running for me he came back, hung out at home and watched a movie. Tuesday night he went to basketball and my rough work stretch came to an end.

Selftree!

Wednesday I was off, as usual, so I did laundry, meal planned and made a grocery list. I also slept until 11...which is very uncommon. That should tell you how absolutely crazy my two days at work were. I was completely exhausted! After Jonathan finished work we went to get a Christmas tree! It was our first live one and there is a place on the next road east of us. I went there as a little kid, but hadn't been there in awhile. So we went and picked a tree, even through the ice/rain/snow that was happening. We also had to stop at Mom and Dad's for milk and to get some weights for my truck. When we got home I made some John Wayne Casserole while Jonathan got the tree set up and brought inside. Of course, we realized that my tree lights weren't at our house, but thankfully Mom and Dad found them at their house and brought them over for us. We ended up not getting the tree decorated after realizing that we didn't have any tinsel or colored anything to wrap around the tree, we didn't have a tree topper and we only had about 30 small ornaments....so more on the tree decorating next week, for right now, we were just happy to HAVE a tree!

Thursday Jonathan left for Celina, so I spent the day Christmas shopping for him, getting shots and cleaning up the house. In the evening, I went to Mom and Dad's for dinner, then took a trip up the the farm with Dad and we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa for awhile! It was nice to get to spend time with family, especially since Jonathan was gone for the evening!

It was my weekend to work, so Jonathan got home Friday to an empty house. He went on a run and watched the Cavs until I got home. Saturday he went to see the Landis grandparents to talk about his heritage. He is trying to put together a family tree for his side of the family and they have a ton of information about it! It was such a good time. He really enjoyed learning about their history and hearing the fun stories that went along with some of the family heirlooms they have. There are some pictures included below with the stories that go with a few of the things he saw! I ordered pizza and a sub for us and picked it up on my way home. So we got to sit, watch Ralph Breaks the Internet and catch up on life over pizza/sub, Coke and chips and dip. 

Sunday was crazy as usual. I was at work, Jonathan went to church, watched the Browns, cleaned the car and then met me at youth group. The Subway app is changing my Sunday life for sure. I just order my sub, swing in there and pick it up after I change for youth group and then head to the church, eat and hang out with the kids! It is perfect! After youth group we came home, did navigators and sat up talking until about 11, which is super late for us, but we were just enjoying catching up with each other! It had been awhile!

We always love the weeks after the crazy weeks because we get to hang out with each other a lot on these weeks. Now we are just relaxing and getting ready for Christmas! Get ready for Christmas cookies, Christmas presents and Christmas trees here in the next few weeks! I hope everyone is enjoying the cold and being safe in it. We love you all!

Talk to you next week!

- Alli and Jonathan

 Peter Landis' shoes (Civil War time period)

 Civil War uniform buttons (assumed)

 Old money from England

 Old US money

 Great Grandpa Harry Landis' pocket watch in pristine condition!

Indian Head Penny - in circulation from 1859 - 1909 before the Lincoln Head penny. Jonathan's ancestor James Barton Longenecker designed the Indian Head penny.

Year 2, Week 19 and 20: The Last Half of November

Our cute little neighbors!

The last half of November has been crazy! Holidays, work, food, it has been great...but didn't have a lot of time to write, so here we are to catch you guys up with our lives around here!

Two weeks ago (17th-23rd) was a long work week for me and a Celina week for Jonathan. He has had to go on Thursdays recently for a project, so that really cuts into our time together, but it wasn't too bad!

I worked Monday and Tuesday, so my life wasn't very exciting. Jonathan did some shopping on Monday, but he worked late since they were getting ready to finish a project. Once he came and shopped he went on a run and did some dishes to keep the house in a semblance of order. Tuesday he had to go to Dublin for a meeting about his project, then he went to basketball that evening.

Wednesday I was off, so I did laundry, went to the library, orchard, bank and got to do a little bit of relaxing with Jonathan before I went to Vicki's for facials with Mom, Maddie and Vicki. We had Hungarian Goulash before I left, which was really good, and we got to watch some of our shows.

Thursday, Jonathan left for Celina. So he got to hang out with Dillon and catch up with him that evening, but it was a long day of work. I spent the day relaxing, then went and visited a friend with Mom and Dad. It was a fun evening! The next day we both worked, then Jonathan stopped at his parents to see Emily and came back just in time for me to get home!

I worked the weekend, so Jonathan packed his with a bunch of fun stuff! He helped set up the community Christmas tree with the guys at church. Check out the pictures below - it was huge! 9200 pounds, 47 feet, and it was beautiful once they got it decorated. He had a great time getting to know some of the guys who helped too, which is even more important. I took pizza home for dinner, we watched some TV and listened to some music. Sunday Jonathan went to church, did some shooting at Mom and Dad's, then we met at youth group in the evening. I actually got Subway for dinner, which was great, because you can order it online! So I just ordered it, walked in and got to youth group on time!

Game night!

Last Monday I had to work for a few hours in the morning. It was a little bit of a stretch...but we made it. Afterward I went to get groceries, came home, unpacked them and took a nap. Jonathan work, read and then we went to game night since Shem was home! It was a ton of fun, Ashton and Caleb were there also!

Tuesday I worked while Jonathan did some meal prep, went to basketball and did some cleaning. Wednesday was our Haas day. We went over in the morning, I dropped Jonathan and breakfast off and went to my doctor's appointment. When I got back, they had the breakfast burritos and baked oatmeal ready! They were delicious! We played games, hung out, watched a movie and had a great day. For dinner we got Yoder's, which Jonathan and I hadn't had yet, but it was all great!

Thanksgiving work crew!

Thursday I worked in the morning, then met up with Jonathan at Thanksgiving with the Haas fam. We played Bunco, watched football, then got the Christmas stuff out when everyone left!

Landis family!

Friday we hosted our first Landis family gathering. It was a good time! We spent the morning getting ready, making soup and setting the house up. It went really well! We had 13 people here, which is a lot of people for our little apartment! 

Saturday we went shopping, ate Moe's, then went to church and Grinder's in the evening! Sunday we slept in, ate omelettes, watched some TV, wrapped gifts, watched the Browns, decorated the house and relaxed at home! In the evening we had the tree lighting. It was a little different than expected...it was so windy Wednesday that the tree was blown down and damaged beyond repair, so they cut it up and made it into a cross instead. We still lit it, people still came and we handed out over 10 gallons of hot chocolate!!! It was so fun to see the community come out and celebrate Christ.

This week is already off and running, so we can't wait to update you guys on all that we have going on! Enjoy the snow, get excited about the holidays and I hope your Thanksgivings were awesome! We are so thankful for how God has moved in our lives this year. It has been crazy to see all that He has provided for us and we are excited to see what happens next!

Love you all!

- Alli and Jonathan