December Daily--Dec. 14

Birthday: Part 2
We celebrated with Mike's side of the family on Sunday. We have four birthdays in December. (We missed John.)

Jessie loved the monkey blankie Aunt Karen made her, her crying baby (thanks a lot Julie and family,) her Dora dress and her giraffe.

Mike is so happy celebrating his birthday.

Birthday tradition in our family is that the person gets breakfast in bed. The kids don't ever let us forget.

I can't believe that she is four. Maybe it's hard to believe because we have only had her for 1.5 of those years. She is such a blessing to have in our family. She has such a sweet and spunky personality. On Sunday when I was making another cake. She said, "Mom, why you make another birthday cake." I told her it was because so many people love her we get to celebrate it twice. She then said, "Thanks for making me two cakes--you a nice mommy." Well, sometimes anyway.

December Daily--Dec. 13

My mom and dad have made it a tradition to take the kids shopping for Christmas. Mom took them to Target to pick out their gift. Andrew especially looks forward to this. He does a lot of planning and preparing for what he will pick out. Even with the planning, a last-minute change was made at the cash register.
Jessica's birthday: Part 1

We celebrated Jessica's birthday with my family on Saturday. They each got her something relating to Fancy Nancy. I had not read the book until she got it. It is so cute--and so Jessica. It is about a little girl who likes to dress up and be fancy.

Jessie sure got into character.

December Daily--Dec. 12

Jessica's birthday is on Sunday. She got to go to Build-a-Bear. The other kids brought their bears along.
She chose Hello Kitty and the Hello Kitty outfits.

She got to pick where we went for dinner. She chose Chinese food. Everyone had fun using their chop sticks.

We also went to Wheeler Farm for a hay ride to see lights and a visit with Santa.

Bev asked for the Puppy that Grows and a Bedazzler.

Christian asked for Go Diego Go Submarine (that was a request we hadn't heard before.)

Andrew asked for Bakugan stuff and Spy Gear.

Jessie asked for a pink horsey that you can ride. (Very hard to find by the way.)

After a busy night, the kids all watched a movie and had a sleepout in the family room.

December Daily--Dec 8, 9, 10, 11

I fell off the blogging wagon last week--we had lots of vomiting and other gross stuff going on, and my computer wouldn't let me upload pictures. I am techologically challenged, so I get frustrated when things don't work. We have modem issues, so hopefully they will get fixed soon.

Andrew and then Christian got sick. It was not fun--not fun at all. Poor Christian didn't make it to the toilet and when he came in my room to tell me, he kept saying, "I'm so sorry Mom, I'm so sorry Mom." I was up from 1-3 a.m. cleaning the bathroom and the carpet. Mike, who sleeps with earplugs, came out all confused at why I was feeling the need to clean the carpet in the middle of the night. I do love taking care of my babies when they are sick. I just love being able to be home with them and, I guess, baby them.

Jessica had a birthday, so she was the VIP (Christian insists that it is BIP) for the day. We made a poster of her and I got to go in and tell her class about her. I took a globe and we showed them where Liberia is. She told them about Mama Patience and about getting sealed in the temple to us. She took Whoppers for her birthday treat. She was very proud of her poster and really liked the attention at preschool.

December Daily--Dec. 7

This weekend Bev wrote this poem.

THE DAY BEFOR CHRISTMAS

The day befor Christmas is called Christmas eve.
Everyone lovs Christmas eve and Christmas day becus they get toys!
But that is not the true meening of Christmas.
The true meening of Christmas is the day that Jesus was born.

I bought the Little People Nativity a few years ago. All of the kids love playing with it. Every year we end up with pieces missing, so this year I put it in a tray.

"Mommy's tree."

A few years ago a neighbor gave us this 1000 piece puzzle for Christmas. Every year I get it out and the OCD takes over. This weekend Bev got it out and started it. This puzzle will be a permanent fixture at the dinner table until it is finished. I'm not too worried about it--the OCD is kicking in and I'm sure it will be done by tonight.

We have had Mickey and Minnie for 7 years. The kids just love putting them out. They are starting to show some wear and tear--I don't have it in me to get rid of them. We will probably have them forever.

We got them when Andrew was 2. We were at K-Mart shopping. He came walking around the corner of the isle carrying Mickey. Mickey was bigger than he was. Andrew kept saying that he wanted Mickey for Christmas. He got him.

December Daily--Dec. 6

Today, while I got some errands done, Mike took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's house to help with yard work. They helped Sean, Katie and Courtney rake leaves.
We are so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa be such an important part of our lives and of our kid's lives.

I am also enjoying having kids old enough to really help around the house. Friday afternoon was cleaning time. I had them all working--Christian and Jess actually do a pretty decent job on washing walls and baseboards. Mike kept calling me Miss Hannigan as I was giving everyone chores. (Annie plays daily at our house--it's Jessica's favorite movie lately.)

December Daily--Dec. 5

We didn't have a fireplace in our last house, so the kids are obsessed with having fires. Christian and Bev played in the field and got really cold, so they begged for a fire.
I put this above the front door. Christian asked what it said. Bev told him. He then said, "Peace out."

Friday night I went to dinner with my girlfriends from High School. We try to get together a few times a year. Even though we don't see each other often, they are really important people to me. They are kindred spirits--we just pick up where we left off the last time. The waitress kept asking us about our relationships. She commented how neat it is that we still get together. It was then that I realized it--it has been a long time. We graduated in 1991, so we have remained "buddies" for 17 years after high school. Time sure does fly.