A Tradition

I love this time of year. My mom came down after Thanksgiving and helped get my house all festive for Christmas. And she painted a bathroom while she was here too. When my mom visits, it is project time. She always helps me do things that are impossible to do with little ones running around.( Like painting a bathroom vanity) I'll have to post pictures of the bathroom later. It looks so great though. Anyway...on to traditions.

When I married Joey we inherited this adorable little advent calendar from his mom. I love it because 1) I am setimental about "family" items 2) Jackie lovingly made it by hand...even more sentimental and 3) It goes right along with my vintage taste.

In each little stocking is tucked a scripture. Every night we sit around the table by the light of a candle and read the scripture and have a little treat. It feels cozy. Like hot chocolate cozy...and then the little ones go off to bed. They don't always stay there. Actually putting them to bed is always hard. But this little part of our evening helps me to remember why we celebrate Christmas and though they may not always be completely listening to the scripture, I know they get the idea that Christmas is about something greater and they can feel it.

After Dinner

The kitchen was busy, but quiet after dinner. Joey was doing dishes, Olivia was working on her homework, Sammie was drying dishes, and Abby was trying to do what everyone else was doing. I love my little family. I love these moments when everyone is busy in their own way, but we're together. We talk and laugh and get on one another's nerves a bit (like Abby trying to sit in Sammie's chair). But it is peaceful overall. A nice end to a good day.

Abby, where are you?

Sometimes Abby gets lost in the house. Sometimes it takes me a little while to find her because she is so sneaky and quiet and she is hiding in places like this:

An Eye for Beauty

Sammie is always collecting things from outside and she cherishes them. One day she came in with a bunch of leaves and just began gluing them to paper. She did this all on her own. I just looked over at the table and there she was gluing and then she taped them all up onto the wall. Quietly...very proud of herself.

I will often open the dryer and bits of leaves will fall out all over the place because she has so lovingly put them in her pockets. When we go places I find little bits of nature in my bag later on. She has left her little treasures there as well. She carefully finds the most unique thing. On the way home from Olivia's bus stop, Sammie stops in the neighbors yard and grabs a white rock. She thinks they are gorgeous. We have rocks everywhere. There is even one sitting in the powder room downstairs. I left it there. It blends in with the porcelain sink.

A visit

Disclaimer: My brothers can never take a serious picture.

Tyler and Brittany came to stay for a few days last month. Can I just say that I love having visitors? I love seeing friends and family. So, if you ever want to visit I will be glad to accomodate you. We just hung out and they watched the girls a little for me. Tyler hung out with Joey at school to see what "A Day in the Life of a High School Teacher" was like. He even got to change his first diaper. An explosive one too. He was stressed. Brittany and I were at dance with Olivia and he was watching Abby and Sammie. Let's just say the diaper wasn't the only place where there was a mess. He cleaned it all up and avoided having to phone me in a panic. I'm proud of my little brother. I always feel a little sad when company leaves. Things are quieter and they are missed.

18 Months

You know what this means? It means Abby gets to go to nursey tomorrow and Joey and I can attend our meetings at church.

Abby is such a fun little girl. She loves to play and try to be a big girl. She just goes along with what the other girls are doing and thinks she is just like them. She still loves to talk and babble and have conversations with everyone. Her words are starting to become more understandable. She loves dogs. Not real dogs though. She is scared of those. She likes dogs in pictures and of the stuffed animal variety. She does a very good "woof" sound. She also loves babies and loves to say baby again and again. She says it with the sweetest look on her face and nodding of the head and her shoulders scrunch up. She already thinks they are special. This makes me a bit sad, because she has just grown too fast. I'm glad she still lets me cuddle her and rock her. I just really want to hang on to every last bit of baby that is left in her. I gave her her very first haircut yesterday. Just a bit of a trim.

I can't believe she is already 18 months old...this means she will be all over the Christmas tree, huh?

I love to Bake

and so do my girls. I don't know if they love baking as much as licking the bowl and eating the treats when we're done. They get that from me. Sammie helped me make pumpkin cookies. She's really good at cracking eggs. No shells in the dough even. I was glad that I felt like doing this and that I felt well enough. A little sign that somehow I am gradually getting better. I'm still not all the way there yet. Sure is taking a long time, but this day put a smile on my face and reminded me of how much I love my life. It's the little things.

Mischief

Abby is mischievous and curious. The other day I found her sitting on top of my violin case with a pencil and paper. She was very quiet. Whenever I hear silence I know that Abby is up to something because if she is around anyone she never stops babbling--so silence means she is somewhere by herself getting into something that she shouldn't be in. She is so silent and quiet that if you find her and call her name she will actually jump because she knows that she is doing a "no-no." And if I am near she will look at me to see if I'm watching her and then if she sees me she stops what she's doing, smiles at me, and then waves and says "hi." She then pretends like she had no intention of doing anything wrong. Um...this is a smart one. And yes, I have my hands full, but all of her cuddles and kisses make up for it :)