Overheard at Christmas

Tonight was the night the kids have been waiting for all week.  (John didn't even know he was excited about it until tonight.) We put up the Christmas tree!!! As daddy brought the Christmas tree upstairs, mommy put some Christmas music on for atmosphere.  When "Joy to the World" came on Libby started blaring, "Heavenly angels sing," and I smiled to myself.  Then, I heard daddy correct her, "No, it's heaven AND angels sing."  I was doubled over laughing at that point.

 

It was so fun to watch Johnny get in the Christmas spirit this year!  As soon as daddy had the Christmas tree set up he kept exclaiming, "Yay!  Best Christmas tree ever!!!"  Then, as the kids started hanging the ornaments Libby and Grace were picking out the ornaments that they had made to put on the tree first.  Johnny couldn't resist joining in the fun and every ornament he hung he would pick it up and call out, "I made this!" and then hang it on the tree.

He got to hang quite a few of them up and I had to snap a few pictures of the ornaments all bunched up at the bottom of the Christmas tree.  I treasure the small hands that are close to the ground to make our tree beautiful!

 

 

Last story of the night.  Libby and Grace set up our Little People Nativity Set.  The three kids were over playing with it when I heard Grace repeating over and over, "There's no dragon, right Libby?"  I looked over to see what she was talking about and John was trying very hard to add his rubber dragon to the scene. 

I love Christmas and I love my family.  I enjoy this evening of putting up the tree probably even more than Christmas day.  For me, I love the excitement of my children as we begin to set our minds on Jesus birth.

Tribute

Just had to share!

My Three Beauty Queens

 

 

 

 

Black Friday

This was our Black Friday purchase this year.  Our extended warranty ran out on the 2004 Expedition and it was time to stop driving a tank...(9-12 MPG City, 15 MPG Hwy).  Thankfully, my husband KNOWS how to shop for vehicles.  He is patient and obsessive vigilant, and waits for the right price.  We pretty much stole this vehicle in a "right time, right place" kind of deal.  Now, when I am just putzing around town, I am getting about 20 MPG!  I can't wait to get 'er on the open road to see what she'll do! 

 

 

The Aftermask

Get it, aftermath?  Boo!  Terrible joke!  Sorry, couldn't resist.  :)

Anyway, Libby might have been frustrated making her mask, but I think she kind of likes it.  She named it Angry Pepper, and the first thing the kids did this morning was to grab their masks and begin to play.  This was my favorite pose...especially with little Johnny trying to peek over the counter top with his sisters.  :)


Then, Johnny colored a picture of a train, mommy worked with Grace on her letter of the week, L, and daddy worked with pounds and ounces with Libby.  All three kids did a GREAT job!!!  I am so proud of them, and how they are learning.  I can't wait until next week when Grace and I study letter A so that she can start putting words together.  And, Libby...we touched on the fact that 16 ounces equals 1 pound twice, VERY briefly...today when I went to tell her again (before I requested daddy's help) she interupted me and said, "I know, I know, 16 ounces equals a pound!"  Amazing!  John is doing so well with his colors and counting to 5.  Oh, I could just go on and on about how proud I am!!!

 

Not a Project for a Perfectionist!

We really are still alive!  We have been quite busy!  This past Tuesday our neighbor gave us a call at 6:30 asking if we would like to go to the "Sesame Street Live" program that was starting in an hour.  Her sister was supposed to come, but we had a nasty fog that kept her from being able to make it.  The kids LOVED the show...even Libby!  John was completely mesmerized the first half.  The second half he was antsy and kept calling out "More!  More!" after each song. 

Then, on Saturday, we went to our local grocery store (Hy-vee) for a kid's cooking class.  The age range is 3-8 so all three of my kiddos got to participate.  They made some chicken noodle soup, corn bread (from scratch), and mulled cider.  Libby loved it all!  Grace and John at least enjoyed the mulled cider.  I was very impressed with the program and I think we will sign up for the cookie baking and decorating class in December.  :)

Now...on to the actual post for tonight.  It has been awhile since we have done some all our art, so tonight was the night!  I learned quite quickly that this project...was NOT enjoyable to my art lover!  John and Grace enjoyed their mask making and were done.  Libby, on the other hand, really struggled with this project as a perfectionist.  She was almost ready to cry a few times.  Her mask turned out just marvelous despite her frustrations.  I will have to do another art project soon, though, for her sake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Midnight Walk

This past Friday evening the girls rushed out to greet daddy as he came home from helping at a friend's house.  Daddy was cleaning up outside and it was fairly warm, so Libby slipped back in and asked if I would take her and Grace on a midnight walk through the woods.  I told her that she and Grace may go, but I needed to finish folding the laundry.  She kind of looked at me, and finally said, "Grace is scared...and, well, so am I."  I smiled, shut the dryer door and told her the laundry could wait.

Grace carried her glow stick on the end of a yard stick, which was quite cute as it doesn't give off light, but you could always see where she was!  Libby carried daddy's LED light through the woods, which was just as amusing.  It is a directional light so it shines a LOT of light...in one direction.  Sometimes I could see the path, sometimes I couldn't see anything save the bright light in my eyes, and sometimes I could see absolutely nothing except darkness and hope I wasn't going to walk into a tree branch.

It was a daring adventure and I am glad that I carved out the time to take it with my little girls!

Halloween Fun

For Halloween this year, we were blessed that costumes were provided by grandparents.  We weren't completely sure what we were going to do for trick-or-treating since Chris is on seconds, but God worked it all out for us and my dear friend asked if we would like to head out with them in town.

Of course, I forgot my camera, so here is the picture my friend took of all five kiddos ready to get out and go!  I don't think things could have gone more wonderfully.  Libby, Grace and their oldest son took off like a shot and covered lots of ground with my friend's husband keeping track of them.  It was so sweet, at one point I looked up ahead to see where they were and I saw Grace take hold of my friend's husband's hand and they walked hand in hand for the next minute or so.  So sweet!  

My friend and I got the chance to just enjoy each other and have some good conversation while we went at John and their youngest son's pace.  John was kind of at that middle ground that is hard for a little boy where he really wanted to be up with the big kids, but couldn't quite keep up.  Next year he'll be right up there with them!  

At the beginning of the night John would stop at every house and say, "Stop here?"  I would tell him that we had to find the houses with lights on and we would move on.  After about 20 minutes of that, though, he wanted me to hold him and didn't care that we saw house after house with their light on.  

We retired to some happy (but tired) kids.  We had some chili and cornbread, conversed some more and just enjoyed the kids playing.  As their weariness caught up with them, we knew it was time to go so that five exhausted kids could get to bed.  I am thankful for good times with good friends!

Experiences

One thing Chris and I desire in raising our children is that they know who their grandparents are and what they love to do.  This is a bit hard as we live so far away, but we still try to be intentional about creating experiences for them to learn these aspects.

One of the things that I remember doing in Indiana when Libby was a baby was making red hot applesauce with Janet.  It was fun and yummy!

So, while Tom and Janet visited we rounded up the ingredients and went to town.  We weren't sure if we were going to be successful at first as the chinois (the cone that the apples are being pushed through) was $50!!!!  Thankfully, one of our dear neighbors had one that we could borrow.

Libby helped cut the apples up, and then we cooked them, and then all three kids had a blast pushing them through the chamois.  We stirred in some red hots and had a great product by the time we were done.  The kids loved the experience and we all enjoyed the applesauce.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

Baby London

The kids were thrilled when grandma, Hannah, and baby London came for a visit.  Grace and John hadn't seen her yet, and Grace was so excited to meet this cute little peanut.  John wasn't sure what to think of her at first, but learned to like her.  Every time I would hold her, though, he would come running over and say, "I want hold!"  We are looking forward to our next visit!

 

 

Practical Princess

 

My practical princess!  I love my Libby so much!  She has such a different personality than her brother and sister.  In fact, we are studying Anatomy this year and as part of the introduction we went over the personality traits (sanguine, melancholy, choleric and phlegmatic).  I asked her what she thought she was and she immediately stated that she was melancholy because she loved art (she forgot to mention the emotional part...lol).  Then she quickly added that both John and Grace were sanguine because they had so much energy.  As far as can be told...she is very astute and her accuracy is amazing!

That being said, last night as I gave the kids their vitamins, their personalities decided to show through brightly.  Libby gobbled hers up and moved on to the next thing.  A few moments later she looked over to her brother and sister and exclaimed, "Why are you PLAYING with your vitamins?  They are for eating.  Mom, you shouldn't have bought dinosaur vitamins because the kids think they are toys."  The entire time, John and Grace kind of looked at her like she was a kill joy and continued to play.  Yep, my practical princess.

Then, this morning another showing was made.  We are studying the digestive system in science right now, and a friend told us we should try drinking ice water on our heads so we can see how our esophagus pushes the food down rather than our food falling down our throats.  So, we tried it this morning.  First of all, I expected to pour a little water in Libby's mouth and be done with the experiment.  Not true!  All three kids wanted to try it and thought that it was absolutely amazing.  So, they took turns standing on their head on the couch drinking water from a water bottle for half an hour.  Libby would get in position and stay there and wait for her turn.  The other two would get in position, take their turn, flip off the couch, run around and come back from their next turn.  Libby finally called out, "What is the point of that?  Just stay put!"  Yep, my practical princess. 

She figures out what the purpose of an activity is...and nails it down.  End of story.  No playing...just get to the point!  That's my practical princess whom I love so very much!