Today was a Designated Lazy Day

After a really busy week leading up to Christmas full of errands, baking, phone calls, visiting and cleaning, the Christmas weekend itself which was full of rich foods, traveling, very little sleep, the stomach flu for Emily and the few days after Christmas which were full of people, more food and even less sleep, I designated today as a Lazy Day. Where we did this:

We all slept in. Nathalie and I, until 9. Emily, who has had the stomach flu on and off for a week, until NOON! And then we played. We went for a walk. I tried to get caught up on laundry (not there yet) and we read lots of books. Played some more. Waffles for dinner, cereal for snack. Early bedtimes. Wore comfy clothes or jammies all day. And you know?

It was exactly what we needed.

The house is clean.
The laundry is going.
The bread is baking.

The presents are wrapped.

The van is loaded.

The children are sleeping.

I am eating chocolate.

It is starting to snow.

Santa has come.

Christ is born.

Merry Christmas!

The time has come...

I should get an award for making it through bedtime. Seriously. I've been trying to get the girls to go to sleep together in their room, but they usually talk or sing for a long time. Like an hour. Except tonight Nathalie was yelling and a few nights ago they were shouting "Boom!" at each other. But that's not why I'm writing..........................

TAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bought a van. I'm sure you're not interested in the tiny details of our buying it or my emotions, so I'll spare you. 2009, 50k miles. It's got Stow-n-Go (AWESOME!!!!!) and now the girls aren't poking each other or kicking my seat. Although, to be honest, I've been driving our Jetta more still because it gets better gas mileage. I know, I'm a tightwad. Oh well. And it's quite possible that I've been driving the Jetta still because I may or may not be feeling too young to own a minivan. Pretty spiffy, huh?

Helen Keller

Emily watched a short video on Helen Keller at a friend's house. We've been talking about her a lot ever since and Emily thinks it's really interesting that Helen couldn't hear or see. So the other day I was trying to get Emily to do something (I think it was finish her lunch or put her dish in the sink) and I asked, "Emily, did you hear me?" She replied, "No, Mommy. I can't hear."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

So proud of my husband

This is just a quick note, seeing as how it's after midnight here. (Yes, I routinely stay up past midnight.) We had a crazy week with our family, mostly because of a special event that took place on Tuesday (more on that in a day or two). We also were able to attend a funeral of a family member of some friends. Matt conducted that funeral today. He worked last night.
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My husband routinely works nights and then stays up to do things during the day. One time it was hunting. Another weekend it was a family event, where he worked Friday night before, came home, got in the car and I drove 4 hours to a family thing. He got 2 hours of sleep, slept Saturday night and then the Sunday we drove home where he took a 2 hour nap before going to work again. All for his family. Every other Sunday, he comes to church without going to sleep after his shift.
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Matt is amazing. He is incredibly dedicated to our family. He takes very seriously the need to provide for us. When he's not working or sleeping, he's with us or doing church stuff. The girls adore him. I adore him. And every time he pulls one of these crazy shifts + some day event, I am amazed at his dedication. He's one great guy.

Definitely one of those days.

You know what I'm talking about. One of those days. The days where your children fight all day long and you try to be patient, but finally you lose it and yell at them while you're making dinner. The days where they get pen on their shirt and draw with markers on your bedspread. The days where no clothes fit right and you have to fight them to get into coats and boots even though it's 25 degrees outside with a strong breeze.
The days where you have a kajillion billion things to do, but you only get 2 of them done. The days where your back is hurting, the nerves down your legs are cramping and hurting and you're exhausted just from standing. The days when the phone rings too many times and your bed is really inviting. The days when your downstairs neighbors invite a friend over who smokes IN THE HOUSE and then your apartment smells like smoke for the rest of the night even after you go down there and he puts out his cigarette. (And what do I do about that anyway....since one of the guys renting the downstairs is the landlord's son...do I call the landlord and tell him? I would definitely if it weren't his son)

The days where you get to curl up on the couch with your 3 yr old and hold her for 45 minutes while she naps. The days where your 20 month old nurtures her babydoll and wants you to eat felt cookies. The days where you're grateful that your fridge is full, your family is healthy and you have enough money. The days where your bed means so much more, because by the time you get in it, it's like falling into a cloud. The days where little girls kiss you goodnight.

I'm ready for school!

This little girl desperately wants to go to school. I will send her to preschool in the fall, but as much as people around me have said, " Well, maybe she should go to preschool because she really wants to", I think they forget she's only 3. She's still so young! I only have a few precious years with her before we start school and she's gone from me. So right now, we do "school" during Nathalie's naptimes. Lately, she's been learning to write. Here's proof: These words-- horse, roo, pooh, emily, cow, cat, owl-- she usually doesn't ask for my help spelling, except for horse.

She knows how to spell her own name and only asks for a little on Nathalie's. She knows how to spell my name, but I LOVE how she wrote "Mommmmy". Like she says, "Mommy, your name has lots of m's." Yes, it definitely does.

Also, this is what she wants to wear to school. Underneath the robe? Nathalie's swimsuit. I don't think I can let her go to school in that!!! Perhaps I'm wrong and should send her to school next month. Admittedly, it will be a little crazy with 3 at home between April and September. But I simply can't justify sending her to school when she's so little. And also, I'm not ready.

Catching Up

I have been a little absent from our blog lately, so here's a review of what's going on. It took a long time, but we finally finished putting in the kitchen cabinets, backsplash, sink, countertop and trim. Matt put up the trim last week, even though everything else has been done since May or June. He's had a bunch of other things going, and since the kitchen was functional, this was kind of on our back burner for a while. But it's been so cold lately that he's been able to get some things done inside the house. Doesn't it look nice? Matt has been busy with church and even busier with work. He is working 5 shifts this week because people are taking time off for the holidays. It's absolutely crazy. Remember that he works nights? So he will be gone from tonight at 7pm until Monday around 3pm. Only he won't be gone, he'll be sleeping. I feel bad for him--he's going to have a rough weekend. The girls and I will be getting out of the house a lot so he gets some really great sleep.

I have been busy with Christmas. I'm making some felt food for Emily, which I hand sew. It's been pretty busy around here with Christmas cooking, parties and getting gifts ready. I still have a few projects to finish before Christmas. Christmas is not quite as relaxing when you're an adult, but it is fun to see your children's joy around Christmas! I'm 22 weeks now. Still wearing my normal jeans (with a rubberband) and shirts, but starting to outgrow them. I (sadly) got out some of my smaller maternity clothes. We already love this little girl.

This little girl is growing up too fast. She is 20 months old, this month. She now says, "Stop it!" whenever someone does something she doesn't like (wipe her nose, take her toys, put on her coat, etc). She loves listening to "Apples and Bananas" and she and Emily just CRACK UP whenever they hear that song. Whenever she cries I ask, "Nathalie, what's wrong?" and she replies, "Emmy sad." That means "Emily made me sad", even if Emily didn't make her sad. She's a smart cookie and has very definite opinions to boot! She's starting to talk in senteces too. I definitely have talkers.

Emily is beautiful and wonderful. She still has her tantrums of course, but after dealing with them for a 18 months, I'm more patient. She can write a lot of words now: owl, cow, Mom, Dad, horse, Pooh, Roo......she goes around the house talking and singing pretty much all day. I love hearing her sing. She says funny things too. Yesterday I told her we were having turkey for dinner (yes, still working on that turkey, but now we're done!!!) and she looked at me seriously, then said, "Potatoes go perfectly with turkey." She's been begging me to make mashed potatoes. Hilarious.

I am looking...

for a simple and fun Family Home Evening to do with my girls. Or maybe just a family activity. I read all sorts of things that families do to teach their children about Christmas in our church magazine (the Friend) but they're a little too advanced for girlies 3 yrs and 19 months.

What is your family doing?

Christmas

Emily wrote her first word on Tuesday. Now that she has almost outgrown naps, we sometimes use her quiet time to practice "school" as she calls it. Tuesday she asked me to write "owl", so I did. She and talked about the letters, then she pulled out a separate piece of paper and wrote it! All by herself! Isn't that amazing? We're working on her name, but she doesn't like writing "m"s, which is weird, I know, since she happily writes "owl" all the time. I'm so proud of her.

We set up our Christmas tree for Family Home Evening tonight. I was debating what to put under the tree since I'm not putting presents under there until Christmas Eve. (There are two people in my household that will play with or open the presents. And actually, Emily isn't one of them.) So I put our nativity under there. They love playing with it and since Emily understands that it is baby Jesus, she tells Nathalie about it too. Let Christmas begin.