Art

Growth Spurt

Gravitating flexibility

Dented Dome

Gut laugh

Our future mall Santa

First Snow!

It snowed today. The kids were thrilled and I had to scavenge to find clothes to bundle with. Our friend Anne Louise was over and she came up with the brilliant idea of putting little plastic zip-locks over the mittens- great tip for dry hands! A couple high lights. #1 Highlight: seeing what Lucy would look like if she weighed 100 lbs. She could barely move and kept begging Nate to take Layers off her. I still laugh when I look at the picture. #2 Highlight: sledding on cookie sheets. #3 highlight: hot cocoa after. There will probably be more pictures to come as it is currently dumping- I think we're already to 4 or 5 inches- quite the adventure!

Joy to the World

The Door

Saw this door, liked it, took a few pics.

Pink and Purple

Lucy was obsessed with this sunset, as it had the two colors she obsesses over in it, pink and purple. Me, not obsessed, but I did think it was beautiful.

Cooking vs. Baking

In a fight between cooking and baking in our house, cooking will win every time. Never been much of a baker- maybe it's because I don't like recipes. In my cooking I rarely use a recipe- mainly just because I'm not patient enough. I'd way rather throw a bunch of ingredients together and hope they turn out, this is difficult to do with baking. I think that's why I don't like it. Despite my feelings, I still participate in the art, in hope that I might enjoy it, but mainly because I love all food, including food that needs to be baked! Oh yes, and the uncooked cookie dough is a perk also! Lucy and I made some chocolate peppermint cookies, I haven't tried them yet, but am hoping they'll be a larger version of Peppermint Jo Jo's from Trader Joes. If you're in my KG, you'll get to find out tonight. If they're a bust, well, I tried... and like I said, I'm not a baker. However, with the ridiculous amount of butter I used, I imagine they'll at least be edible.

A Rainy Day

And Counting....

I was changing Will's diaper yesterday and gagged because I was so grossed out. I started thinking, shouldn't I be over the grossness of this yet? That made me think even harder. How many diapers have I changed in the last 3 years. After a little number crunching I figured that I've changed somewhere around 25,000 (yes, thousand) diapers. Maybe I'll reach the 6 digits by the end of all this- yikes!

Tradition!

Ever sense I saw my sister in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" I can't help but sing the word "tradition!", thus the explanation point. Tradition is a huge consideration during the Christmas season. Nate and I are often saying, "what is our Christmas tradition going to look like?" This year I am very excited about our latest addition to our tradition. We have decided to really look at Christmas as a season, with the climax on Christmas day. One way that we have tried to do this is by spreading presents out over the advent season rather than one big ambush on Christmas. Lucy and Will got their first presents last Sunday before church, and will continue to get presents (growing in size, or value), until they get their main present on Christmas. This might seem like "one more thing to do" in the season. But to avoid this I have tried to keep it simple. Their first presents were free, next they will get a few things from the dollar section, then a gingerbread house (which I was hoping to get anyway), and so on. Of course the main present is on Christmas, as Christmas day is for sure the climax of the season.

To keep a special aura in our house during the Christmas season we have some other "specials". For one, we try to have more "treats". Now I don't only mean sweets, though Peppermint jo jos and hot cocoa have been more regular, but more family game time, specials outings, and Christmas toys under the tree. Just the other night Nate and Lucy brought out all the blankets into the living room, put on our favorite Christmas music and played Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders while sipping on some cocoas. We have also grown a little collection of special Christmas toys. Papa and Maz got us a little fabric manger and Christmas stacking dolls and Grandma and Grandpa have gotten us 2 new books that the kids love. Christmas music is almost a constant and Lucy is already becoming quite familiar with many of the tunes. Will and Lucy are especially familiar with the first verse of "Joy to the World" as we are singing it every night before dinner.

At any rate, there are some of our traditions we have started to prepare ourselves for Christ's birth. This is such a marvelous time of the year and our hope that these things will help us keep our minds on, as cliche as it is, "the reason for the season". As for Christmas Eve and day, well, that's a whole nuther post....

Coping

Fingers in the ears having proved to be the most efficient coping mechanism for Will with the constant chatter from older sis in the back seat.

Ah Ha

Here is some newly acquired information, thought I'd share. Please feel free to add...

1. Traffic rules are different in MO. In MO you should not yield in the intersection when turning left at a stop light. In WA you do this, in MO if you do this you get hurt. I was complaining to Nate about people's driving here and about how I almost got in an accident because someone ran a red light so I got stuck in the middle of the intersection when yielding left. He then told me that in MO the lights aren't set up for that. This would have been good to know- where were the locals to tell me this information? I've only been nearly causing accidents for a year and a half here now.

2. There are diapers made specifically for night time. Am I totally ridiculous for not knowing this? Really, be honest- did you know this? You know the feeling, the kids wake up early and you notice the leaking diaper. A mom can't help but think, "if they didn't pee so much they would probably still be sleeping." Well, my friend enlightened me and well the kids nearly slept until 8 this morning with no leaks.

3. Multi-grain Mac 'n Cheese. Well, I just found out that Kraft mac 'n cheese comes with multi-grain noodles too and it's really good. Throw some peas in at the end and it a semi-healthy lunch for the kids.

4. Spinach tastes good in brownies. For those moms who have a hard time getting their kids to eat veggies throw some spinach in those brownies, Jerry Seinfeld swears by it.

4. You don't need to listen to kids music that drives you crazy. If you need to refresh your kid's music selection you need to check out Elizabeth Mitchell's kid albums. I just got one from the library and it is great!

New Inspiration

We made trip over the weekend out to Eureka. In a little boutique, owned by our friend Abby, called Dragonfly Design, I got this fabulous apron. Just like new workout gear makes you want to work out (at least for a time), this is inspiring new cooking creations and motivations in the kitchen (at least for a time).

They're Up!

The Game

We went with our friends Josh and Sarah to a hockey game. Actually, the first hockey game Nate and I have ever been to. After the game Nate was practically signing Will up for hockey. It was really fun and a great game!

Our Tree

Turkey Bowl

Nate was very excited for Turkey Bowl. I thought it would be fun to take the kids and play around. Right when we stepped on the field I realized that was not a good idea- it was freezing. Our pastor Andrew suggested we go to his house and hang out there- I gladly took him up on it and had a great time with his wife and sister-in-law. Lucy loved playing with the kids too. Here are a few pictures from the 120 second we were there

A Day of Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving. Of course, we missed our family and thought of them much. We even put pictures of our family and those we are thankful for as the center piece. However, we are also thankful for good friends. We had a wonderful time with our friends Doug and Lori. We ate some grub and just enjoyed chatting and relaxing- it was great!

I Confess

I did it again, I made another Christmas purchase, but I couldn't pass it by. I walked by this dress and knew it was the perfect dress for Lucy this Christmas. I haven't bought her a special dress like this for a couple years so I was really excited. She did lots of twirling at the "ball"and had to be coaxed into taking it off.

Forest Park

A great place to spend an afternoon!

Leaves and more Leaves

Our yard is blanketed in leaves and the trees are shouting with brilliant colors. The leaves will be gone soon as the daunting task of raking them is approaching, and the colors- well they will be gone too. This morning we took advantage of both. With our friend Peter we piled up leaves and used various methods to toss the kids in. We began by putting Lucy on Nate's back while he was on all fours, then went to a stool, and finally just began throwing them in. Lucy loved it, and Will liked watching more. Aren't the colors amazing? They will be missed.