Christmasy Things

As I mentioned, Jeff gave me a new camera for my birthday.  I still find it a bit intimidating.  It was supposed to be a gift for Christmas, but my birthday gift didn't come in time, and he had the camera on hand, so he gave me my Christmas gift for my birthday.  (This is one rarely mentioned benefit of having a December birthday!)  I'm so glad it happened that way so that we could take pictures of our Christmas celebrations with the new camera. And someday I'll post pictures of Thanksgiving and birthdays, but for now, enjoy Christmas!

As has become our Christmas Eve tradition, we opened our family gift of "new" pajamas on Christmas Eve night after we had read the story of Jesus' arrival in the Jesus Storybook Bible.   Then we drove around and looked at the Christmas lights in our new town.  Here are some family self-portraits before our drive.  (I loved hearing Benjamin telling us which houses were "very beautiful!")

Attractive, right?

Here's our tree...

overflowing with gifts from faraway family…and us, of course!

Grace asked to help fill Jonathan's stocking this year, so I let her.  Also, when we were out looking at Christmas lights, she told us we should go home because she thought Santa Claus was at our house right NOW.  Funny girl!

Here's the groggy-eyed crew on Christmas morning.  They didn't get us out of bed.  It's our tradition to get up a little late, open stockings, and then have breakfast before we open our gifts.  The kids requested the overnight French toast like I made last year, and since I pretty much never get breakfast requests from them, that may become our traditional Christmas breakfast.  It's yummy.

Stockings!

Here are my favorite people reading the book that my mom and Don gave us for Christmas.  Great story, love the message, and if the kids all sat down to hear it, you can be sure that they love it, too.

And here are just a few pics from Christmas Day.

We gave each of the kids a boxed set of books.  Here are Jonathan's.  He's read a few of them already…and so have I!

"My first Lego Friends set!" says Grace.

A good gift for the boy who is out to disassemble the world.

Truth.  Me in a ponytail and no shower.  I think I miss my shower before the kids are up about twice a year.  It's worth in on Christmas!  Jeff and the kids gave me three charms for my bracelet, which will now be recognized as a charm bracelet because it will have charms on it.  :)  I love the ones they chose.

Working on new Legos.

Benjamin and his beloved scooter.  He got it for his birthday from Doreen, but we saved the riding of it for Christmas because we knew that Grace would be getting a scooter at Christmas.

Our "big" gift to the younger kids was a set of paints to go with the easel.  Here they are, out on the patio, trying them out.

I took this one from inside the window.  They were a hit.

And here are the "youngers" trying out their new scooters while Jonathan zoomed around, going too fast for me to catch him in the picture.

Christmas Pics for Friends and Family

As you may have noticed, I've been neglecting the blog and living life with our little family.  We made it through the December birthdays with lots of special memories and treasured gifts, thanks to the care of lots of people!  And I don't know how soon I'll catch up on sharing birthday pictures, so I at least thought I'd share some Christmas ones.  We took these last night before a Christmas party.  I got a new camera for my birthday, and even though I'm a little scared of it, I'm enjoying using it.

Taking pictures of the kids in front of the tree did not go so well.

Putting the kids on the stairs and having them take turns being in the middle of the sandwich worked a lot better.  Out of 16 pictures, I got two that I really liked.

The sister sandwich, and...

the big brother sandwich.

We took two family pictures with the timer on the new camera.  I really like this one - we're all snuggled together and the lighting is good.  However, Jeff's chin is missing, and it might look a bit like he is biting Benjamin's head.

 This one is better.  Worse lighting, but we can see all of Jeff.  :)

I am so thankful this year to spend Christmas with the people I treasure most in the world.  I am so thankful for them.  I hope and pray that you have a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love, and that you experience Jesus' love for you as we celebrate his birth.

Interview with the Three-Year-Old

Our baby is a baby no more…He's three!  We had a little family gathering for him on Saturday, or, as he called it, a Train Party.  I have a lot of pictures to share from this party, too…soon!  Lots of people who love Benjamin have been making his birthday special, and we'll continue celebrating.  Our animated, talkative little boy can tell you all about it.  We love you so much, Benjamin!

Here are some glimpses into Benjamin's world, and his first interview:

Favorite color: Blue
Favorite food: Cuties and candy canes
Favorite book: Corduroy's Christmas
Favorite movie: Christmas Boz
Favorite song: Jesus Loves Me, the verse that begins, "Jesus loves me still today..."
Favorite thing to play: Duplo (but he answered that question before he got his new take-apart airplane)
When he grows up, he wants to be: A lightbulb fixer.  (Truly, at least a couple of times a day, he asks me, "When I grow up, can I be a yightbulb fixer?)  Burnt-out bulbs really attract his attention.)
His perfect day would be: Play-Doh

How Benjamin is doing

I've been thinking a lot about how Benjamin's been doing, in view of how he was doing a year ago.  Last December, he got his orthotics on his feet to increase his core strength and help him develop arches, among other things.  I believe they helped, but he only needed to wear them for about six months.  Our main concern a year ago was his speech delay.  His therapist wanted him to put together two words to form a "sentence," which is a typical two-year-old milestone, and he just couldn't do it.

As you probably know, shortly after he turned two, his speech abilities began to grow by leaps and bounds…and there was much rejoicing!  For the past several months, he has been getting comments from strangers or from people who are getting to know him that he speaks so well for his age.  He can say pretty much anything now.  He doesn't have all his consonant blends, but they are coming.  He is an unstoppable conversationalist.  It's so much fun.  Oh, and he's very loud.  We're working on the loud part.  He could hold that part back a bit and we wouldn't mind!

His therapists also wanted him to be able to draw vertical and horizontal lines as well as in a circular motion.  I hadn't worked on that with him since his therapy sessions ended in May, but on November 21, he started drawing little people on his own.  This is the first one he drew.  He says it is an astronaut with stickers all over its arms.  He pointed out the eyes, nose, cheeks, and chin.  The little people he draws now also have eyeballs.  Lots of kids in other families draw people when they are this young, but he's the first kid in our family to draw a person at the age of two, so I'm pretty proud…and so thankful that he is continuing to develop by leaps and bounds.

The Butterfly Blanket

I mentioned awhile back that there was sickness in the house.  The kids and I all ended up sharing it.  I sure am thankful that we don't often pass something around like that, and that we don't get sick often, or for that long, in general.  Here's Jonathan taking his turn being sick on the butterfly blanket, which we traditionally pull out when somebody is sick.  The blanket was my comforter on my bed when I was a very little girl, and then it became the getting-sick blanket when I got a little older.  It's still doing its job of comforting!

Drawing

Here are some people Grace was working on.  She told me that for a couple of them, she started the body and then didn't have room for the head.

Here's a popup card that Jonathan made for a friend's birthday.  He doesn't often draw for fun, but he enjoys making birthday cards, diagrams, and little reference books.  I am not joking.

Mr. Morning Hair

(This is from more than a month ago…but still funny.)

Interview with the Nine-Year-Old

Our boy is nine today!  We had a little party for him on Saturday with a few friends from our new and old towns.  Hopefully I'll share some pictures soon…it was super fun!  The party had a Lego Chima theme (but mostly Lego) as you can see here.  We are wearing our Lego name tags that we, and all the kids, made at the party.  Big thanks to everyone who has made, and still is making, his birthday special.  We love you so much, Jonathan!

Here are some little glimpses into his world at nine - and not too many surprises, if any:

Favorite color:  Red
Favorite food:  Macaroni & Cheese, or Lego pizza that we made at his party
Favorite book:  Redwall #1
Favorite movie:  Planes
Favorite song:  Chima theme song
Favorite thing to play:  Legos
When he grows up, he wants to be:  Lego model designer or master builder or an engineer
His perfect day would be:  Going to Legofest and playing there all day

Shout Out to Ben and Christin

This one's for Christin, since I know she reads my blog.  :)  Christin, I meant to take and post this weeks ago, but obviously I'm behind!

Christin and her husband Ben had a new baby this fall - their first - and boy, were we excited!  When I was getting ready to mail the card to them, Grace had to get in on the action and draw a picture for Baby Ellie.  If you haven't spoken four-year-old lately, I'll translate for you.  The picture is full of hearts and kittens, as well as a butterfly and a ladybug, and it says, "Baby Ellie, meow meow, lady bug."  She thought the baby would like it.  Big hugs to your family, Ben and Christin!

Nine years ago

I get really sappy at this time of year, partly because of the Christmas season, but partly because it's when we became parents and had both of our boys.  Instead of being productive and getting ready for Jonathan's party this afternoon, I got distracted and started looking through some pictures from December 2004.  These are the last ones we took before Jonathan was born.  The pictures are from December 3, right before Jeff's Christmas party for work, and Jonathan was born December 10.  I miss his little nursery with the animals I painted to match his bumper pads.  It seems like a long time ago.

That's My Boy

Rereading my Chronicles of Narnia treasury…again.  I hope he never gets tired of it.  I never have!

And This Gem's from Jonathan

Jonathan's most recent visit to the orthodontist included one of those stretchy rubber chain things across his top brackets.  It's there, of course, to bring his top teeth together and close the gap between them.  Tonight I noticed that the significant gap between his teeth was closed!  He looks very handsome.  When I told him the good news, he went to look in the mirror, and exclaimed in a disappointed voice, "Awwww!  No more Mater teeth!"

Another Gem from Benjamin

B:  Mama, will you read to me?
Me:  First, you need a fresh diaper.
B:  I suppose I'll take zat as a "no!"

Thankful

This is what Jeff and I are most thankful for.

Even though I have so many things to be thankful for…so many good things…I hope I can just be thankful in general, knowing that God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11 is true - that he has plans not to harm me, but to give me a hope and a future.  I can be thankful for that.  Because if God is planning something, I can know that it's a sure thing.  My thoughts are all running together as I'm writing this while very tired.  But, I am thankful as we approach Thanksgiving Day…and I hope it's a very special day for you and yours.

Backyard Pictures

I think I promised, a long time ago, to share pictures of where we live now.  The pictures have been a long time coming.  The other day, we got a little rain, and while the rain brought leaves down and made the yard a little messy, they brought the colors out, too, so I decided to share pictures.

Our backyard is small, but our kids love the fact that we have the pool.  (The pool scares me and I am super uptight about keeping the fence latched.  We fenced the pool right before we moved in.)

It gives us something fun to offer friends, and I'm thankful for that.

There's just a bit of grass next to the pool.

The footprint of our house has a little cut-out place that we use for an outdoor dining spot.  We use it a lot in the summer.

Here's a little garden spot that we haven't made into a garden yet.

We can see our outdoor table from our indoor table.

 Jeff spent a ton of time yesterday cleaning the front and backyard, raking and collecting leaves, etc.  It looked (and looks) great!  Today, though, lots more leaves had fallen and he was irritated that his work hadn't lasted long.  I told him that's how my hard work in the house was rewarded every single day.  I might possibly have used more words than that to explain myself.  He did a great job, though, and I appreciated him taking care of those details.  Now I need to go work on the inside of our house.

Gems from Benjamin

Benjamin is at that wonderful stage when funny things come out of his mouth all the time.  Here are just a few of the things he has said lately that have brought a smile to my face.

"Mama, wook at the beauuuutiful sunset God is painting!"

I pointed out to him that he and I were wearing stripes, and he told me that "Gwacie" was wearing
"poke-it dots."

"Don't touch my belly button, it's 'pivate.'"

He made a pretend telescope out of a tube and called it an "eye looker-outer."

And, he doesn't have braces like Jonathan, but he said, "Mama, I have peanut butter in my wires!"

Manifesto

We were listening to the radio in our superfast minivan, and Benjamin asked, as he always does, "What's that song called?"  I told him that it was called Manifesto.  Grace said, "Mama, instead of 'Manifesto,' I like 'Princess Presto' better."

Tissue Paper Art on Canvas

When Grace got this tissue paper in a gift from Doreen for her 4th birthday, I loved the bright, random dots, and knew that it needed to become something.  The question was...what???

(You can buy the tissue paper here.  I love it!)

When I ran across this idea on Pinterest, I had the answer to my question.  This is a cute piece of art, right?  And it's made of tissue paper on canvas.  The tutorial is here at in my own style.

The tutorial above explains almost everything, so I won't go through all the details again, but I'll share what I did.  Here's the almost-finished product.

I decided that I wanted to make three canvases for a big, blank wall in Grace's room.  I chose canvases that were 12" x 24" and 18" x 24". They were too big to be covered by a single sheet of tissue paper, so I trimmed around the circles in order to piece the different sheets together invisibly...or almost invisibly.  I could have overlapped them or just put them next to each other with the partial circles showing, but I'm uptight about that kind of thing and wanted the patterns to match.  Here's what it looked like with the first sheet laid down on the Mod Podge and canvas.

And here's how it looks pieced together with wet Mod Podge on top.  A little crinkly, but that's part of the charm of DIY, I guess!

The original tutorial includes directions for putting ribbon around the edges of the canvas, and I originally planned to do that, but I'm happy with how they look without ribbon, so I decided not to.

I'm not quite done yet, but here's how the canvases look now.  They go along with the polka dotty theme I have going in her room...and the paper lanterns that I never can get to hang quite right.

I think I'm going to put some kind of monogram on the canvases...maybe a big, pink, first initial on the center one...I'm not sure.  I need to find just the right font first.  I had a lot of fun making them, and they look pretty cute in her room while I figure out how to put on some sort of finishing touch.  Thanks again to in my own style for the idea!