This Christmas

I feel like things have been so busy since Thanksgiving!

We put our tree up on Thanksgiving evening.  Maggie and Ellie helped decorate it and went to bed a little late.  I stayed up until 2am getting everything decorated and all of the glitter and tree needles cleaned up.

 Stairway

 Foyer

 Mantle (Ellie wanted "rainbow" lights somewhere, so we opted for the mantle)

 Living Room Tree

 Our Jesse Tree in the kitchen

 Rainbow comes in a couple of times a day and likes to sneak under the tree because the girls can't bother him there!

 Maggie's Tree

Ellie's Tree

The tree in the kitchen was my favorite!  My mom had an extra tree and I decided it would be nice in our kitchen.  I put brown balls, brown glittery snowflakes and chartreuse balls on it.  Then...I decided that we should do a Jesse Tree.  I went shopping for a little tree to use and couldn't find anything I liked, so the kitchen tree is now our Jesse Tree.  We really love it and it's fun to see the kids get excited over eating that little piece of chocolate from their Adven calendars while finding out what the Bible verse for that day is.  They color the symbol on their ornament and we discuss the story and how it leads up to the birth of Christ.   Maggie knows most of the stories so well because of our great love for The Jesus Storybook Bible.

We also decorated gingerbread houses this year.  Big Daddy and I each bought one on the same day, so we had an extra.  My mom, sister and Cousin Callie came over we listened to Christmas music, had coffee and decorated.

  We have had lots of holiday parties that we have skipped, just because I do not want to feel any busier than I have to be.  We did enjoy a fun party with our homeschool group and we have some special services that we will be attending at church.  The parties that we didn't/aren't attending- Preschool Birthday Party for Jesus at a children's museum, K-5 Birthday Party for Jesus at BounceU, a Homeschool Baby Shower for Jesus at a skating rink with all gifts going to a local pregnancy crisis center and the children's Christmas play at church.  We will be going to the choir and drama team's concert on Sunday and next Sunday we will have a candle light Lord's Supper.

I was able to go to Sanford to meet my best friends for a Christmas/birthday dinner celebration.  We went to an "adult" restaurant!  It was a little too quiet for us, so we may have to go to a different place for our next night out.  The food, service and fellowship was wonderful!  We had one of those waiters that just knew exactly what to do...and he was nice enough to take a picture of us (he warned us that the lighting would ve awful) with three different devices.  I also did a little shopping with K before our dinner.  I am taking Maggie and Ellie to Sanford next week so that they can see Gammy Gladys, so I'll get to visit A and her kids a little then too.

Happy New Year!

We have had such a happy New Year's Eve today! We had a somewhat lazy Saturday morning. I did Big Daddy's laundry and packed his bags for next week (he'll be gone again). I cooked mini burgers for lunch, we did some fun shopping and then ate Japanese food and went to red mango for frozen yogurt. We ended our day of family fun by watching Toy Story 3.

Maggie and Ellie had a hard time this week after having Big Daddy home for six whole days. They have soaked up every bit of time with him today. We had a very happy day and I can only hope that 2012 holds many more days like this.

Tomorrow will start another attempt at a better lifestyle for me. Eating better, moving more, trying to be more patient and present with the kids, being a better wife and trying to make a little more time for me. I'm going to try to take everything day by day and just try to make it through the day at hand knowing that it will make all of the tomorrows that are coming, a little bit sweeter.

For the past couple of years there has been lots of talk about choosing "one word" for the coming year. I couldn't even come up with one word last year, but it was so easy for me this year.
Patience.
I want to be more patient with Maggie, Ellie, Big Daddy and myself. Doing this will help a lot of other things fall into place.

Monday we will start a few new things in our home school and I'm really excited about that. We took a little Christmas break last week and I feel like I haven't had school in months! Of course, teachable moments are found each and every day.

Happy 2012!

Christmas Recap

The past few weeks have felt like a bit of a roller coaster with all sorts of "exciting" things going on, but I'm going to skip right over to our Christmas.

For the past several years we have visited Big Daddy's family on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas Day with my mom, dad and my sister and her family. My extended family (mom's side) gets together on Christmas Eve, so we miss that. I don't mind too much because we see them all on Thanksgiving and throughout the year as well. It's fair to say that I do not enjoy spending Christmas Eve at the in-laws house for a variety of reasons, but this works best for us. (It would no doubt blow your mind if I told you just a few of the things that she "attacked" us with this year, from homeschooling to church all the way to what I do and do not eat.)

Every single year, my mother-in-law waits until a day or two before Christmas and asks what the girls would like. She always waits until my mom, my sister and I have done all of our shopping and most of the Christmas lists have been checked off. This year, I ordered a present for each girl (Disney Princess baby dolls) and gave it to her so that she could give it to them. Therefore, our "Santa" gifts were scaled back by quite a bit.

My mom and dad bought both of the girls "horses on a stick". I had ordered boots for both girls and my mom needed one more gift to give them, so she took the boots. Maggie & Ellie both have new horses, new boots and a new cowgirl hat, as well as a few other things from Nana & Poppy.

After we had opened Christmas gifts on Christmas morning and were getting ready for church, Maggie asked if she had received everything on her (very long) list. I reminded her that we never get everything on our list and as if she wanted to prove my point, she said, "You're right. I really wanted a horse on a stick and I didn't get that." She was very happy to open that gift from my parents.

I wrapped the Santa gifts a day or two before Christmas Eve and realized how little we had purchased for the girls. Big Daddy and I both had the same reaction: go buy more gifts. We didn't and everyone was still happy. While we know and celebrate the true meaning of the Christmas holiday, it's hard not to go all out for the kids. On Christmas morning, Maggie & Ellie each had four gifts and a stocking full of fun things. They also received a (giant) easel to share. They have enjoyed the easel SO much already and we are looking forward to using it when school resumes on January 2!

Our church was only offering one worship service on Christmas morning and there are normally three. They were offering childcare for preschoolers, but the older children were not having children's church or Sunday school. We made it to church plenty early, but it was a full house! We chose to take Ellie into the service with us. She did okay and managed to make it an hour. We missed the last fifteen minutes, so we were pleased.

Now, the pictures!

Maggie & Ellie's stockings and gifts.

Maggie with her new Barbie and her Barbie "styling head", as she calls it.

Ellie loved her new "buggy" and was excited to push around the Snow White that Grandma & Grandpa gave her.

This is the extra large easel. I was reminded that objects inToysRUs appear smaller in that big store. When Ellie starts more homeschooling, we will be turning the bonus room (currently Big Daddy's man cave) into a school room and the easel will live there. Until then, it's happily residing between the living and dining area. Ellie is quite obsessed with Toy Story, so she likes to pretend to be Cowboy Woody or Cowgirl Jessie. The girls love that movie and received several (7) Toy Story books and a couple of Woody and Buzz Lightyear figures too.

Christmas Is Coming!

Today marked Maggie's last sign language class for the semester. As we were driving home she said that she felt like class had just started. She has enjoyed it SO much and she will probably take it next semester too. Today was my day clean the downstairs of the church where we meet. Each family signs up for a cleaning day. Two people are assigned for upstairs and two for downstairs. Of course, I was the only one that showed up to clean downstairs (an ongoing problem with the lazy homeschool moms), but Maggie helped. We took out lots of trash, swept and did a little "tidying" in the bathrooms. (Maggie loves the word tidy) My mom was kind enough to keep Ellie so that I wouldn't have two cleaning helpers. I enjoyed quiet time in the car and managed to get our Christmas cards addressed while Maggie practiced for her concert. It's next Tuesday and she's so excited!

I think it's safe to say that I'm finished with Christmas shopping! The attic is holding the presents that need to be wrapped and I'm sure I'll to get to that soon! I bought several things for myself this year, but they'll really be from Big Daddy and the girls. I think I'll probably get a surprise too. Big Daddy is hard to buy for because he buys what he wants/needs throughout the year. Since becoming a SAHM, I limit my "me" things.

I spent nearly all of Friday working on our decorations. Big Daddy was doing homework upstairs, so both of the girls "helped" me. Ellie wasn't all that interested, but Maggie was in the middle of everything! Therefore, it took about 8 hours. The longest it's ever taken. It was fun to go through all of the ornaments and Maggie wanted to know where every single one came from.The Foyer
(I decided to add a little garland to the table because I had some sort of light/garland mishap with the mantle. I used extra garland and lights on the mantle and didn't have enough for outside of our TALL front door, like I did last year.)

The Mantle
(Big Daddy sent me flowers a couple of weeks ago and they came in that vase! I bought a few red berry branches from Hobby Lobby and it worked out great as a little something different!)

Our Tree

Both girls have their own trees again this year. I love the way their rooms look when I tuck them in at night. They look so angelic under the glow of the Christmas tree.

Ellie's tree is white with silver balls and gingerbread men. Maggie's is a pink tinsel tree with multi-colored balls and a few of her small ornaments. I MADE her put her big ornaments on the big tree this year.)

Olivia (the hamster) has her own tree too!!
(White lights and red berries)

We have our first holiday party this week! We'll be going to our homeschool group Christmas party on Thursday afternoon. That evening will be our town's Christmas parade. If the weather cooperates, we'll be there!

Our church has something Christmas-related every weekend in the month of December. There are different musical performances, plays and a "Birthday Party for Jesus" for both preschoolers (at the Children Museum) and K-5 grades (at a bounce place). Lots of opportunities for celebration.

Maggie is counting down to Thursday! She loves the first day of any month, but is especially excited to start the season of Advent and get a chocolate treat from her Advent calendar too.
We will also be doing a daily devotional leading up to Christmas during our morning "Circle Time". It's a great way to share a little bit of the Christmas story everyday.

If you celebrate the season of Advent I'd love to know how!

Happy Labor Day!

Kristin over at We Are THAT Family does a Labor (the hardest work she's ever done) Day post every year and I love it!

Baby #1- In the hospital for a scheduled induction at 40 weeks and 4 days. After 4+ hours of PItocin my wonderful midwife broke my water. She left for lunch only to return with a frightened look on her face. She got in bed with me, did an internal exam and didn’t remove her hand/arm until my baby was removed during a crash c-section. I missed her birth because they had to knock me out. We had undiagnosed Vasa Previa, Velamentous Cord Insertion and a succentriate lobed placenta.

Baby #2- In the hospital for a scheduled induction (39 weeks, 6 days)because we moved an hour away exactly one week before. The same awesome midwife was in attendance. I was induced with Pitocin on day one and after 8 hours they stopped my labor. It was started again the next morning and after 15 hours of labor and over 3 HOURS of pushing I had a successful VBAC. Turns out baby wanted to be facing up instead of down and got a little stuck. I’m thankful for vacuums.

Turning Five

We saw almost all of the animals up close when we went to the zoo, but the day was really about Maggie turning five! I took lots of pictures of her, not just because it was her birthday, but because she actually asked me to. Very rare these days!This is a five year old walking backwards up a hill.

Maggie wanted to wear a shirt that I bought her last week, but she wanted to wear it with capris. The only capris that she has for this year are the orange pair that Aunt Lisa gave her for her birthday. Imagine that, she doesn't match.

I'm not sure how it happened, but we missed these beetles last time and Maggie LOVES beetles! They're right up there with caterpillars in her book!

She chose the bird nest-spinny-thing on the carousel. Of course, Ellie wanted to ride with her, but she didn't like so many different rotations. I think she would have enjoyed a normal animal a little more.

Ellie carried an umbrella 95% of the time. I put it in the stroller because it seemed extra cloudy when we arrived at the zoo. We had perfect weather, but Ellie liked the extra protection.

Of course, it's always fun until someone gets hurt. We were getting in the car (minivan) to go to the Library to deliver a birthday card to one of our special librarians when Ellie had an accident. She was following Maggie and they bumped (Maggie really smashed into her) in the driveway and Ellie's face smacked the concrete pretty hard with her face. I reminded Maggie that it wouldn't have happened if they had stayed in the garage like they were supposed to.

Ellie's face changed colors several times after the fall and before bed last night.


Maggie was in the floor and reached for a book just as Ellie was handing/throwing it to her and of course, it hit her in the eye. She had two little marks that bled and started to swell...and then bruise.

It turns out that five is just as dramatic as four!

And that is how we celebrated turning five and how both of my children ended a most perfect day with black eyes.

BIG Weekend!!

We sort of started our weekend on Thursday since Big Daddy had been out of town all week! We went out to dinner and then to buy a tree.

Maggie helped pick out a Weeping Cherry tree. Since it was April 21, I told her it was her due date present. :-) Both girls LOVE it! It is their job to water it every evening.Ellie's new favorite thing is to pick out her own clothes. I know that Maggie started doing this early, but not this early! Ellie's favorite thing is to wear two shirts at the same time. We call it "Ellie's layered look". I tried to ignore her when she wanted a second shirt, but she put it half of the way on by herself and I gave in.

Maggie came down with a fever (and puked on the couch) on Saturday. She was fine by mid-afternoon, but the fever came back before bed and was till there on Sunday morning. Ellie and I went to church alone.

Maggie stayed with Daddy and enjoyed wearing her jammies a bit longer.

Ellie's getting so big! Her teacher said that she'll probably move into the "big" class next week. I know she'll love it because it has centers and tables where the class that she's in know is just a nursery for "movers".

Maggie's first concern when she was ick was missing her little party on Sunday afternoon. She was fever-free and feeling good, so we had the party.

I could ask every single day, but how on earth did they get so big????

A Happy Heart Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day on Sunday just because it was a little easier. Big Daddy bought Ellie a train track (with Thomas & Mavis) and we picked out Pre-K/K level reading books for Maggie. Both girls received Cinderella Pez dispensers for their sweet treat. Ellie loves her train track and Maggie really enjoys having books where she can easily read nearly all of the words on a page. Big Daddy and the girls gave me new perfume (!!!) and a sweet card. We didn't get Big Daddy anything, which is just the way he likes it.

Sunday evening was "Spice Up Your Marriage Date Night" at Church. They provided free dinner and childcare for the children (so we were all over that) and the parents had finger foods and educational entertainment. The church Family Life Center was full and I think everyone had a great time. We had fun and found out that we're not as different from other couples as we may have thought.

For Valentine's Day, we went to a local burger place where our family of four had diner for $12. After that we went to Lowe's for hooks to help organize the garage. Maggie and Ellie looked at light fixtures, riding mowers, washer and dryers and the ever popular toilets. Big Daddy bought me a level and we picked up hooks for the garage. After we put the kids to bed, we had homemade angel food cake with fresh strawberries and Big Daddy said it was "the best Valentine's ever".

And it was a Merry Christmas

Ellie's impersonation of Mary before she gave birth to the Saviour of the world.

Big Daddy, Maggie & Ellie on Christmas morning. Matching outfits from Auntie Lisa.

Maggie, Ellie and Ellie's stroller from Nana & Pawpaw.

Maggie & Cousin Callie.

Maggie's guitar from Nana & Pawpaw.

It started snowing after dark on Christmas Day and this was the scene on December26.

My little snow angel.