Christmas Morning 2009

While every one was sleeping. .. .

quiet as a mouse

St. Nicholas visited the Allen's house.

Stockings first:



Then on to the gifts. Although one little man was more interested in candy than anything else.

Rory got well stocked in baking supplies and baby accessories.


Ella got a big girl watch and stamps and all things cowgirl.



And Hudson got lots of boy stuff- trucks and trucks and tools and trucks. His favorite? Marbles.

Jared surprised me with this lovely dress form. Can't wait to try it out. It doesn't exactly conform to my figure at this point.


Next up? A trip to the cabin!

Calm and bright.

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart. . . .filled it, too, with melody that would last forever."

--Bess Streeter Aldrich




Bethlehem dinner: Isreali Couscous with feta, roasted vegetables, hummus, flatbread, and olives. Sparkling Cranberry soda.

Nativity play with Ella as Mary, Rory as angel, Daddy as Joseph/shepherd/wiseman/inkeeper. . .

Hudson as an ewok.

Traditional Jewish Passover cake. It is the best cake I've ever made.

New p.j.'s---

And officially 6 months.

Merry Christmas Eve

Today is my favorite day of the season- and it was made even better by the fact that Jared got released from his daily grind duties. So far it has been perfect. Relaxing, time spent with close friends, good food. I am looking forward to tonight's festivities. We are keeping up with tradition and having a middle eastern feastern.

I will write about that later. As for now, Jared has the girls at the store and Hudson is asleep, so I will be curling up with a good book. Happy Christmas!!

21st of December

Jared and I's secondary anniversary. . . and the beginning of winter.

(our street)

(our backyard)
Here is what the beginning of winter looks like here in the desert- FALL. I am loving it. It's like mother nature's Christmas gift.

Now we just need some of this.

Breathe

We had colds over the weekend. Sometimes, when Rory gets a cold, she gets the croup. Most of the time we can clear it up by taking her in bathroom with a hot shower running. When that doesn't work it gets really scary. She starts turning a little blue and panicking and the skin over her ribs sucks in like her body is trying to breathe through it. The worst is how she looks at me with her big blue eyes full of fear and confusion- she can't breathe. When she was one, she had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance (my one and hopefully only ambulance ride) to get a steroid shot. Friday night we caught it earlier and took her there ourselves.

Once she gets the steroid she is fine, it is like magic. I wish I could have a store of it at home just in case. But I am grateful to know it is available- I can't imagine what would happen if it were not. There is nothing like knowing your child is in serious danger. Being a parent is seriously hard sometimes.

But she is feeling better and back to her silly self. I am do glad. I love her so very much.

Ella's Christmas Concert

I was so excited to find out that Ella was going to be in a "winter concert" with her kindergarten class. We all enjoyed watching the kindergartners be cute up on the stage, and I was glad the little boy in front of Ella was not standing in his spot- other wise I probably wouldn't have been able to see her. If you can't tell, she is very proud of herself and is such a grown up little lady.

ps. sorry for the less then ideal video footage.

I love my husband

because he makes me ginger tea every night. and it makes my angry stomach feel better.

and he lets me sleep in on his days off, even though he doesn't get to sleep in.

and he makes delicious dinners. and lunches. and breakfasts.

he cleans up the dog poop in the backyard cause he knows I hate to do that.

he always gives the kids baths when he is home.

he reads scriptures to us every night, then reads from a children's classic book to the girls. right now it is "The Secret of Nimh."

he is handsome.



I love you babe.

Diaper free (for a few months, anyways)

Hudson has been potty trained for about a month now. I was worried that a boy would be harder- the girls were ridiculously easy. He was harder, but not that much harder. Mostly just longer. It took him about 2 weeks to realize what Ella and Rory learned in about 2 days. But that is to be expected, right? It is the average learning curve for men, er- boys.

Now I've just got to enjoy my diaper free regime for the next 3 1/2 months.

I love the late afternoon sun.

and nice cool weather,

and falling leaves in our backyard,

and that my girls have so many little girl neighbors.

oh, and him.

Gingerbread Extravaganza

Every year we make gingerbread. I love it- it brings back memories of my grandma Bowman who used to make huge gingerbread cookies each year at Christmas. I think I may have been the only grandchild who liked them, but that was okay, it left more for me. The past two days has been spent making, decorating and eating gingerbread. Reachel and Coco joined in the fun, we would still be up to our elbows in frosting if it were not for them. Obviously Coco was the most help.

Hudson eats- er puts sprinkles on his cookie.

Rory examines the sprinkles before making her decision of using all of them.

Ella makes an angel cookie.

Reachel and her bff's.

I've decided dresses are my favorite pregnancy attire. No plumbers crack problem with them. :)

My girls

This morning Ella and I went Christmas shopping and out to lunch. I love spending time with that little gal- her easy giggle and enchanting personality make me smile and feel so lucky to be able to be her mother. She picked out a little stuffed giraffe for Rory's Christmas present- she is so excited to give it to her. We'll see if she is able to keep a secret. With those girls, I never know what confidences they keep with each other.

After Ella goes to school and Hudson falls asleep Rory and I get to have "special time" as she calls it. Today we painted nails- I am not very good at that but she loves it and thinks they are beautiful. She calls them her candy cane nails. She is such a rare little gem of a girl, so bright. I remember when she born I just got this feeling that she was an extra special girl. I love her.

"I could never love anyone more than I love my sisters." -- from Little Women

Friends

I got to visit with my sweet friend Kelly today. It was so nice, she is very dear to me. We talked about family, kids, running, and art. I love it when you can not see a friend for months, or even years, and have it be just like it always was- like you saw her yesterday.

And we still look alike, too. I love you, Kel!

Spruced Up

I got the idea for this bulletin board from
this site. I really love her ideas, and how she makes beautiful things creatively and thriftily. (I doubt that is a word.)
It took about 1/2 an hour and cost about 8 dollars- my kind of project! It brightens up my little closet workspace so much.