the joy of the christmas season

christmas is so special this year. we have been having a blast with the kids doing christmas crafts, looking at christmas lights, going shopping at the mall, watching christmas movies, decorating the house, going to see santa, lighting advent candles and putting felt figures on the advent calendar every day... i just love how the kids are so enthralled with the christmas story. we have a little wooden play nativity set with chunky little figures that the kids love playing with. it's so neat to watch how emma sets it all up, not like you would traditionally see a nativity scene with everyone in their proper place all spaced out facing forward where you can see them all, but she puts baby jesus lying in the manger in the center with all the other figures surrounding him in a circle and looking at him. isn't that so cool to see a child's perspective? i was recently reflecting on how chaotic our lives can be at times with the kids all being so small and so many days i just feel like i'm surviving another day and it seems like i've been living my life in survival mode for awhile now. i have the serenity prayer long version printed by my kitchen sink and i was reflecting on it the other day while i was doing dishes and cooper and milo were both crying and greg was working late and things felt overwhelming, and i got to the "living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time" part and it just hit me like a ton of bricks that these are such precious times with the kids being so small, yes hectic and chaotic and overwhelming, but so precious and filled with moments i should not be taking for granted. i felt sad as i thought about how someday all too soon i will no longer have 3 babies in the house and i will long for these times when all i did so often was try to survive. so i thank god for giving me a renewed perspective and am so grateful that i have been able to enjoy many moments with our family recently that i will cherish for a lifetime. we have so much to be thankful for. for profound joy in the midst of chaos and most of all for precious jesus whose birth we celebrate during this season. i thank god for an amazing husband and 3 beautiful children to celebrate with.

Emma's prayer

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for coffee and orange juice, and thank you for Santa, and thank you for the baby named baby Jesus, and thank you for merry Christmas. Amen."

Thank you God for these precious children who bring so much joy to our lives.

Emmaisms and Cooperisms

"Whatcha doin' Mommy? Oh, I don't think that's a good idea, Mommy!" said Emma, as she watched mommy stand on the banisters to clean the toxic bugspray off of the ledge above the staircase. (long story...)

"We need to cooperate. We can all work together and get it done. We can do it together!" said Emma from the backseat of the car.

"That's my Mommy! That's my Mommy!" said Emma as she listed to the lady's voice on the phone stating "if you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again..."

"Mommy, Mommy, I pet the goat's bottom!" said Emma, with a big smile on her face, when Mommy picked her up from school. (A baby goat had visited the school that day). "Ooo, Emma, that's gross!" Mommy replied. "I know, but it was funny though!" responded Emma. "What did your teacher say when you pet the goat's bottom, Emma?" Mommy asked. "Miss Pam say, 'No Emma, don't touch the goat's bottom. It's dirty.'"

"Whatcha got in the sack there Daddy?" asked Emma as Daddy walked through the door with a sack of groceries.

"Mommy, you go take a baby shower at Miss Ann's house? Milo go take a baby shower at Miss Ann's house too?" asked Emma when Mommy and Milo got home from Desiree's baby shower at Beth Anne's house.

"Who are you going to vote for for president, Emma?" Mommy asked. "Duck!" replied Emma.


Bedtime prayers:

"Dear Jesus, thank you for this cupcake day. Amen." -Emma

"Dear Jeju, Daddy. Amen. Dear Jeju, Amma. Amen. Dear Jeju, Nino. Amen. Dear Jeju, Mama. Amen." -Cooper

Milo's first haircut!?!

Yes, I did say Milo. I never dreamed we would have to cut our baby's hair at 3 1/2 months! His hair was getting so scraggly and was all over the place and I did not know what in the world to do with it. So I looked back at pictures of Emma and Cooper to see what I had done with their hair at that age since this had not been an issue with them, and apparently their hair was about 1/2 inch long all over. I guess Milo didn't lose his baby hair and it was just growing longer and longer. And on top of that he had developed a rather large bald spot on the back of his head which has been creeping around to the sides, so he was sort of sporting the comb-over look with his long scraggly hair on the top of his head coming over the bald spot. Yeah, not cute. So we decided it was time for a little trimmy-trim. Greg tried to convince me that he could do a great job cutting Milo's hair himself, but I was a little skeptical. I figured with our squirmy baby that this was definitely a job for a professional. So we took him to Cool Cuts 4 Kids but the wait was way too long so Greg and Milo both ended up getting their hair cut at SportsClips. And now he looks so grown up! I wasn't really ready for the big boy haircut yet, but what can you do when your 3 1/2 month old needs a haircut? :o) Here are the before and afters...

Halloween fun!

We had our first pumpkin painting/jack-o-lantern carving party with the kids. Holidays are so much fun when you have children to enjoy them with. I think more paint ended up on the kids and the patio than on the pumpkins, but I guess that's half the fun of it with toddlers! Thank goodness for washable paint! :o)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

So Daddy turned the big 3-1 on October 9! The kids and I had so much fun getting ready for the party. They were talking about it all week and really excited. I decided to attempt a red velvet cake from scratch with homemade buttercream icing since that's Greg's favorite. I'd never attempted this before so I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I had a feeling there would be a learning curve involved and it might not be the greatest cake. However, it actually turned out really good for my first time, thanks to my sweet friend Jen for sharing her family recipe and being available for several phone calls throughout the day for troubleshooting! :o) Emma and I went to pick out balloons and then went to Pappa Murphy's to get the pizza. She had a blast watching the guy make our pizza and then watching it in the oven when we were cooking it later. Our neighbors Jay & Sherry came over and we had a small informal little party but it was so much fun! And Sherry brought Emma some homemade pink cupcakes which she had requested earlier in the week. So sweet! We are blessed to have such great neighbors. We have really been enjoying our new community. So Daddy's birthday party was a big hit. We are so thankful for Greg. He is such a wonderful husband and father, we couldn't ask for a better Daddy!

Fall Planting

I really had a hard time on Emma's last day of school last year. It was such a unique environment at the montessori school she attended and I was so sad for her to have to leave it. The school building is a remodeled 2 story home on camp bowie. It is on a large lot with several outdoor areas for the children to do "work" such as sweeping the porch, watering the plants, and feeding the pet rabbit Bean. They also had some great traditions to celebrate the seasons including fall planting, Thanksgiving bulb planting festival, and spring planting where we got to come in and help our kids with the planting. It was so much fun and I was sad to lose this tradition, and it just dawned on me today that I would love to continue these and make them a part of our family traditions! So today we decided to do our fall planting. We planted a beautiful yellow mum in the front flower bed. Emma and Daddy did most of the work and Cooper helped some but he still has a pretty short attention span. Milo helped too by supervising from the bouncy seat.

Lately we have been amazed by how fast our kids are growing up. I know everyone always talks about how kids grow up too fast and it's pretty cliche but it's really true and we just want to savor every moment while they're so little. Sometimes we get so busy that it's hard to enjoy them like we should so we're going to try to find help when we need it and try to get more sleep and slow things down a little so life doesn't just pass us by. OK so I have to admit, I was recently moved to make some changes in my life after watching an episode of Oprah where she interviewed the mom who accidentally left her 2 year old daughter in the car all day while she was at work and her daughter passed away from a heat stroke. Such a tragic situation, I cannot even fathom how you would pick up the pieces and go on with your life after something like that happened. But her message was to slow down and live in the moment instead of always having a list in your head of what you're going to do next and living in the next moment. That really struck a chord with me because I have a hard time focusing on the moment I'm in and am constantly thinking about all the things I need to do and how in the world I'm going to get them done. And I just feel overwhelmed and seem to always be in a hurry. I can see that this is causing me to miss out on enjoying my husband and precious children like I should be and keeping me in a constant frenzy where I don't know if I'm coming or going. It's really scary to think about how easily a tragic accident like that could happen to me so I'm trying to make some real changes in my life and start living in the moment and enjoying God's precious blessings on this earth while I'm here.

Fun with family and friends

We had a really fun weekend. On Friday night, we had dinner with our friends Tyler and Sarah who now live about 2 minutes away from us. They have 3 kids also and it was so much fun to spend time with sweet friends and watch all the kids play together. Praise Jesus for community! Marmee and Poppy also came to visit us this weekend and we were so happy to see them! The kids always have a blast with Marmee and Poppy and had been looking forward to their visit all week. On Saturday evening we went to Bryson's birthday party at a park in Weatherford and got to see lots of Greg's family members who we don't see very often. It was great and we were so glad to introduce Milo to everyone. Cousin Brooke who is about the same age as Cooper had lots of hugs and kisses for Milo--so sweet!

Cooper's First Haircut

Well, it was a little overdue but it's hard for mommies to let go of the sweet baby curls. I finally got up the courage to take Cooper to get his first haircut. Greg and I took him to Cool Cuts 4 Kids and it was the coolest place! When we first got there Cooper went straight to the train playset. Then when they called us back he got to sit in this little red car to get his haircut while Elmo's World played on the TV next to the station. While he was waiting for the stylist to get started, he had a blast "driving" his little car and sang every word to the intro of Elmo's World (we had no idea he knew all the words). However, as soon as the spray bottle came out pre-haircut, he decided maybe this was not going to be so much fun after all. And, yes, as you may have guessed, he did cry during the haircut. But the lady did a great job and it was over so quickly. As soon as we pulled out the lollypop after the haircut was finished he forgot all about the scary part. Now he has the cutest big boy haircut! A little bittersweet as my baby boy is growing up but such a fun big milestone moment!

We're back!

So we haven't made a post in awhile...in the meantime we got pregnant again and had a beautiful baby boy, Milo McKinley, and moved to Keller. Nothing really eventful... Anyway, we have so much to share and catch you up on! Greg is working crazy hours at his job again and he now has a pretty long commute to downtown Fort Worth, so it's been me and the kids most of the time and they keep me busy and thoroughly entertained. Emma loves her new baby brother and I have recently been finding her holding him by herself when I walk in the room. Yikes! She is so proud of herself and doesn't seem to have any reservations about it even though Mommy is constantly reminding her to ask for help when she wants to pick him up. It's so sweet though. She loves him to death and he is pretty fond of her as well. She talks to him, sings to him, covers him up with a blankie, and brings him lots of toys (which she usually puts on his face but he doesn't usually seem to mind). He seems to love all the attention and is full of smiles and coos for big sister lately. "He smile at me Mommy! He smile BIG one!" is a common phrase from Emma while riding in the car. So we're having lots of fun with little Milo. Cooper loves him too and has plenty of kisses for him but is not as consumed with him as Emma is.

Emma has also started going to a new school in Keller and she loves it. She doesn't even look back to say goodbye to Mommy when we drop her off. She pushes the other parents out of her way to get through the classroom door. She's making new friends and learning about letters and numbers and having a great time. She goes 3 days a week for 3 hours.

At our new house the ice cream truck comes by several times a day, so Emma and Cooper got aquainted with it recently. You could see the joy in their eyes as they sat down and pulled the ice cream bars out of the wrappers. Emma said "Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you for the ice cream, Amen!" So sweet! We have also been enjoying the spray park in our neighborhood which happens to be right down our street. We are loving our new house and neighbors and being close to church and friends. Such a blessing to be near our community now. So much to be thankful for in the midst of chaos with toy-filled floors and boxes full of who knows what all over the house. We are so glad to be here finally. So that's where we are in a nutshell. More to come soon.