Family Alive

Whew, being Santa is HARD WORK!  Brian and I just finished up putting out the exciting presents for the kids… Josiah’s got a cute LeapFrog shopping cart with little food items that it scans and counts.  Analise is getting a HUGE bookshelf-style dollhouse that I’ve had for months from a consignment sale.  I set up all her Dora figures and play pieces inside it.  It’s pretty exciting to walk into the living room and find all this! 

We also finished a couple presents we’ve been working on for other family members and stuffed the stockings.  I’m tired but excited to enjoy the morning with my little ones! 

But this Santa thing has been quite an ordeal for Analise.  She’s scared of Santa, and she cried when he visited a neighborhood near our church on a fire truck (which she’s also scared of).  So we have not played the Santa-card much.  She knew he was bringing presents at Christmas.  But today, she started asking if he was coming. 

This afternoon, our neighborhood firetruck drove down the street with Santa waving to all (and, um, a Fox News truck following behind with a cameraman right below Santa on the firetruck getting a close shot).  Josiah stared wide-eyed out the window, while Analise burst into tears.  And when she realized he was coming tonight, while she was sleeping, she got very upset.  She wanted Brian to call him and tell him to leave the presents on the porch.  So Brian called a very long-distance number with lots of digits, and talked to Santa.  He was ok with that, and Brian told her we’d bring the presents in before she woke up so they wouldn’t be too cold in the morning.  Then she wanted us to write him a note to remind him to leave them outside and not to come in.  So Brian wrote the note, and left it on the front door (got a picture of it, but we’re too tired from all the Santa-work to get it off the camera and upload it). 

As I was tucking her in, she started crying again, telling me she didn’t want Santa to come.  Imagine that!  So I told her that I had a secret… Santa had actually already come while we were at church and dropped the presents off, but I was supposed to keep them hidden until the morning.  She sat straight up and got really excited.  Of course, she wanted to see them, but I convinced her she needed to wait.  I think that consoled her enough so she could go to sleep, except that her overactive imagination kept hearing things, resulting in a couple more bouts of tears before she finally fell asleep.  Whew! 

We had a nice Christmas dinner this afternoon with Brian’s family on my treasured antique china.  Analise was so excited because we got to light all the Advent candles, including the pretty white Christ candle.  Josiah, of course, blew and blew all through dinner.  Then we enjoyed a candlelight service at our church, Clearwater.  Again, Josiah blew, even when he saw the big screen with a picture of a bunch of candles.  So funny!  We wrapped up the evening with a great Christmas book, Santa’s Favorite Story.  Santa falls asleep in the woods on Christmas eve morning, and the animals get worried that there will be no Christmas if he doesn’t get back to the North Pole soon.  Santa tells them not to worry, that even if he’s not there, Christmas will still happen, and he shared the story of the first Christmas with the animals.  So sweet. 

Tomorrow we’re opening gifts here, having lunch at Brian’s parents, napping and packing in the afternoon, and then heading for Wisconsin sometime around 7pm to drive all night.  Not sure when you’ll hear from us again, but hope you’re having as wonderful a Christmas as we are! 

Wish we could be giving you these Christmas wishes in person!  But here are a couple photos and a video of our Advent celebration last night. 

Eighteen months ago, I was 2 weeks into adjusting to the crazy juggling life of parenting 2 kids. Josiah was eating and sleeping and snuggling on our chests, tiny as can be. Where has the time gone?

Today he’s a busy boy, pushing trucks around the house, climbing on stools to see what he can get into on the counters, romping on the couch, dancing in circles, chattering with a growing vocabulary of recognizable words, charming me all the time with his strawberry blond curls, chubby cheeks and blue eyes. He seriously melts me.

Yes, he drives me crazy, too, making messes all the time, finding the bin of sprinkles no matter where I put them, splashing in my lukewarm coffee when I’m not looking. But his sweetest word is "Mama", which he says with such meaning, such desire, determination, because he knows that I’m the one to come to. He’ll come try to crawl in my lap while I’m at the computer, wanting to watch a little video, a photo card from Poppa Dale, or The Slurps. His little giggle every time the doggy slurps at him is so cute. He’ll bring me books, tugging me down to the floor to read with him. He loves his big books about vehicles and anything with animals.  When he wants something, he’ll come find me, with "Mama", and grab my hand and tug me to wherever he needs me… usually the kitchen 🙂

He loves noises, especially sneezes or blowing noses, and they make him break into a little belly laugh that is so contagious. He’s finally decided that English is worth diving into, and he’s starting to say most anything you ask him to, but his commonly used words – mostly food! – are "cake-cake" for cupcake, "chee" for cheese, "cookie", "boo" for book, "ca" for car, "ou-si" for outside, "go", "no" which is so cute – very short, and when he’s done with things or he doesn’t want them, he’ll hand them back to you, gently but firmly, pushing your hand away, saying "no". Much better than pushing them off his tray or tossing them, as he used to do! He also loves to say "Poppa" for Grandpa.

He’s still waking at night, most nights, and though I’m weary of it when morning comes too quickly, I know it won’t last forever. I snuggle him close in our bed for a few minutes, before taking him back to his bed. He snuggles into my shoulder when I carry him back, and I get extra nuzzles in his soft neck. I love my sleeping babies… In his bed, he’s so cute, sleeping all curled up on his belly, with his knees under him and his butt up in the air. Most of the time, he’s amazing about going to sleep on his own. He likes his bedtime routine, right about 7pm, and he’s happy to head into his quiet, dark room to curl up with his Glo-worm telling him a story and maybe the water sounds on his crib-side aquarium soothing him to sleep. He still uses his pacifier at night, preferably 2 of them, but he’ll toss them out in the morning and after his nap, the "clink" on the hardwood floor signaling us he’ll start making more noise soon if we don’t come quick! Just in the last couple weeks, we’ve dropped to one solid long afternoon nap, and though I thought it would be miserable to lose my quiet morning time with just Analise, we’ve settled into the new routine nicely. EVERYONE naps from 1:30 to 3:30 or 4, including Mommy for a short time 🙂

He has loved watching our evening Advent celebrations. As soon as we dim the lights in the dining room to light the candles, his eyes get all wide and he starts blowing for the candles. He’ll listen as Analise chimes in with Brian’s reading of the Christmas story, sing songs with us, and of course, he’ll blow when we blow the candles out together.

He likes to ride on his little push vehicles outside, and he’s pretty good about avoiding Analise’s crazy riding on her bike.  He’s quite good at entertaining himself when he’s home with just one of us, but when he and Analise are together, watch out! Territory wars! He wants to be in on anything she is doing.  He’s learning the dramatics of his sister, and though he’s mostly sweet, he’s definitely got a quick red-headed temper. When he wants something, he makes it known. Whew. We’ve got our hands full with these two!

But I love my little man. I love mothering a little boy, and I’m so very blessed.  I love seeing his personality develop more and more each day, and I’m praying that each day his heart grows more into the character of his namesake, the young king Josiah, who loved the Lord and turned the people’s hearts to God’s word.

My first attempt at homemade play-doh was a great success this week. I had picked up holiday cookie cutters to package with some dough for Analise’s classmates. Here’s the recipe I used:

Jello Playdough (Nonedible)

• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup salt
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil
• 1-3,1/2 oz. pkg unsweetened jello

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until consistency of mashed potatoes. Let cool and knead with floured hands until dry. Allow the dough to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container or plastic bag.

Additional tips: The consistency of "mashed potatoes" is REALLY THICK. The thicker the better, actually, as it requires less kneading later. But I was afraid of burning it, so I undercooked it at first, then returned it to heat. It took some serious kneading and probably an additional 1/2 c. of flour to get it really smooth. But this is a wonderfully soft, smooth dough, colored and scented from the jello. Very pleased!

Last night was the big Christmas party we’ve been planning.  It came together really nicely.  I, of course, had worried about whether or not we’d have enough food, as all I was making was 3 pans of pasta, salad and, after a last minute panic at Sam’s, fruit and yogurt.  A bunch of people had asked what they could bring, and told them appetizers.  Whew – we had a lot of appetizers!  I also made Caroling Wine, thanks to my sister’s recommendation.  We had 20 people, 11 kids and 2 babysitters!  I had a dessert table laid out with all the treats we’ve been making this month, and little take-out boxes for people to fill as our Christmas gift to them.  It was a big hit 🙂  It was a nice evening, and a real blessing to be able to enjoy a Christmas evening with our friends. 

Today, I’m battling a sinus infection, so I’m not feeling so good.  The kids and I had a birthday party at the Jump Zone, and then we came home and crashed for super long naps.  Brian took Analise shopping for me, and I wrapped presents while they were gone.  When they got back, Analise helped me wrap.  She *LOVES* wrapping!  Nothing like wrapping with a 3-year old to get you in the holiday spirit!  She cut lots of tiny scraps of paper and ribbon, taped  (though she often missed where I wanted the tape.  I used her ribbon scraps as bows.  They look pretty good.  And I pieced together her bigger paper scraps for some fun-looking wrappings.  And all the while, she was telling me what she and Brian had gotten me 🙂  Hehe.  I have no idea where she gets her lack-of-secret-keeping…  Oh, and if anyone in my family is reading this, remind me to tell y’all what she said about Kat’s gift.  So funny!

Off to bed.  Hope the Christmas spirit is surrounding you…  

I was just settled in bed, but my mind is still whirling so I thought I’d come share some more numbers with you from the past couple days.  

Number of times I had to restart my computer just now to write this post: Only 3 (we’ve been averaging 6 tries… i’m ignoring what this might mean)

Days until Christmas: 6
Minutes until Christmas, sometime in the 8 o’clock hour: 7368 (according to the Countdown Clock at Brian’s parents house)
Christmas cards mailed today: 18 (ok, in case you don’t get one soon… please don’t feel bad.  I’m writing them out as I receive them.  Everyone will get one eventually… just that some will be earlier than others!)

Batches of playdoh I made to package with with cookie cutters for Analise to give to her preschool classmates yesterday: 4
Time spent kneading playdoh: more than an hour (exhausting! but they turned out cute!  i’ll be back with pictures and recipe!)
Number of 3-year olds in Analise’s preschool Christmas program last night: approximately 50
Number of parents and grandparents in attendance: approximately 150
Songs each class did: 2
Time each class took: 2 minutes or less (pictures and video forthcoming!)

Times Josiah was up last night: Just once!
Time he slept until: 7:30!  What a treat!

Number of turtle pretzels made today: 56
Number of white chocolate dipped oreos with sprinkles: 16 (um, my white chocolate chips don’t melt very well, so it was more like slathered, rather than dipped!)
Batches of dark chocolate peppermint bark made: 1 (in addition to the one from the other day)
Sweets left to make: 3 (puppy chow, more dipped pretzels, and darn-good-chocolate cake)
Other things I made yesterday and today: 2 (Cheeze-it Chicken for dinner last night and Key Lime Pie for tonight… seriously – not much easier.  Pre-made graham crust, 1/2 c. lime, 3 egg yolks, can of sweetened condensed milk mixed.  Bake in crust at 350 for 15 min before refrigerating.  Top with whipped cream.)

Songs Brian’s brother, Matthew, played at his Christmas Organ concert tonight: 9 (wonderfully!)
Songs Analise listened to:  ALL 9!  Amazing!
Time we got home after having dessert at Brian’s parents: 9:30 (crazy late since J’s bedtime is 7!  He hung in there very very well, though.)

Years my parents have been married today: 37 (Happy anniversary!!!  We love you!  We’re so thankful to have such a heritage of long-lasting love to follow!)
Age of my baby boy: 18 months (well, as of the 9th… I’m a little late… I started a sentimental memory post for him, but never finished.  How did he get to be such a little boy so fast??? *sigh*  He melts me…)
Percent of my Christmas shopping done: 95  (woohoo!)

People coming to our house on Friday night: 22
Kids coming: 10
Babysitters hired: 2
Pans of pasta to make: 3
Bags of salad: 3
Loaves of asiago bread to pick up from Panera on Friday: 4

Hours of sleep I’d like tonight: 9 (HA!)

Times up during the night: 2
Number of waffles made: 8
Number of waffles Analise didn’t eat: .5
Bowls of cereal Josiah pulled off the table and splashed in: 1
Cups of lukewarm coffee Josiah climbed up to the counter and splashed in saying "Num-num!": 1
Number of times I fought Josiah to wash his hands or wipe his face: 5
Sticks of butter used in baking cookies: 3
Pans used in baking double batch of chocolate crinkle cookies: 6
Cookies baked: 85
Bowls of chocolate melted over double boiler: 3
Candy canes crushed with shards flying all over my counters: 6
Pans of holiday bark made (dark chocolate layered with white chocolate and crushed candy canes): 1
Pretzels dipped: 45
Bags of chocolate chips used in cookies, pretzels and holiday bark: 4
Time spent on dishes: Maybe only an hour, but it seemed like way more!
Number of times Josiah begged to play with bin of colored rice and measuring toys: 4
Number of times I let him: 2
Amount of rice scattered on floor: approximately 2/3 of what was originally in the bin
Number of times the kitchen floor got swept: 5
Little Einsteins episodes watched: 0 (amazingly!)
Number of Boz songs listened to: 13
Number of times Analise re-enacted the Christmas story: 4 (that I heard bits and pieces of)
Christmas cards opened: 7
Christmas cards addressed: 15 (!)
Loads of laundry on my couch waiting to be folded: 2
Burritos eaten at Moes: 3
Cost of dinner thanks to Monday’s kids-eat-free: $12.15
Number of lights at the ZooLight Safari: Thousands
Number of times I put Josiah’s mitten on before giving up: 5
Temperature at the Zoolight Safari: 35 degrees with fake snow 🙂
Cost for evening at the zoo: free thanks to our membership!
Pictures downloaded from the past couple days: 162
Another day of Christmas memories: priceless

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(cover image by Mary GrandPré © 2007 Warner Bros)

Ooops! I just finished all but the last chapter of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows — the last book in the Harry Potter series. I loved the whole series (or at least what I thought was the whole series). We had been checking out each book from our library and returning it before checking out the next one. We knew that my dad had bought a copy of the last book so we decided to borrow it when I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Little did I know that there was one book in between the Order of the Phoenix and the last one. So I completely missed reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. For those of you who have read the whole series, you probably know that there is a large jump from the Order of the Phoenix to the beginning of the Deathly Hallows! Imagine my surprise when I began reading the Deathly Hallows to find out some major things that seemed to have happened since the ending of the Order of the Phoenix. I thought it was an interesting writing style to be finding out so many important things through Harry Potter’s memory rather than to have them included in the story itself. Oh well! It’s interesting though, I wonder if I didn’t enjoy the last book even more because I had to keep guessing and piecing things together that must have happened between the end of the Order of the Phoenix and the beginning of the Deathly Hallows. And now I have a "bonus" book to read — the one that I missed. That too should be an interesting read now that I know all the things that are going to happen in the last book.

I am SO EXCITED!  Tonight Brian and I are going to this concert with Andrew Peterson, Bebo Norman and Jill Phillips.  I LOVE BEBO NORMAN!  I have listened to his music since college, and I’ve seen him in concert a couple times.  I’m sure it’s going to be lovely, and I just can’t wait to enjoy an evening of music with my sweetheart. 

As I was looking for an image to post, I came across Andrew Peterson’s blog, with a fun page that seems to have many of the songs that are part of the show.  Hope you can enjoy it too!

The kids are having a blast playing outside in our balmy 70 degree weather lately.  Sure doesn’t feel like December!  Quite different than the single-digits and below zero weather all my friends and family in the great North are enjoying!   

They’re really loving playing in the nativity set, though.  This one made me laugh… they look like they’re getting directions from the shepherd:) 

Yes, Josiah is a perfect size to fit in with the nativity people.  He decided to catch a ride on a sheep.  Before this, he was carrying the sheep all over the yard, and leaving them. 

We didn’t get any pictures of the kids, though, we’ll post the one the photographer took when we get it.  They looked so cute… Analise in a pretty velvet jumper and Josiah in a white collared shirt, with a wintery sweater and khakis.  Unfortunately, he found an M&M in his carseat on the way over, and when we arrived he was smeared chocolate and orange all over his shirt, collar and pants! 

After all the excitement, this was Josiah in the car about 10 minutes after we left Santa.