Special Christmas

Well, before the ball drops I'd better get my Christmas post out there.  I think it's been over two weeks since my last post, can you tell I've been on vacation?! 

Our Christmas vacation was full of fun moments that were definitely not captured on camera (at least not mine, whoops!) but were captured in the hearts of me and Hubby T and all the family members we shared our holiday with.  I hope that as my kids grow they will always know the joy of sharing Christmas with as many family members as possible.  I am exhausted just thinking about that (or maybe I'm just still recovering from this year's whirlwind) but that's the way Hubby T's family always did it and since marrying into their family I've come to love and appreciate it as well.  We are very blessed to have so much family within driving distance (and to have a great little passenger!) 

This holiday season Little B mastered the art of opening presents, watching but not touching the train that runs around the Christmas tree, singing "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and the knowledge that Santa "comes down Mom-Mom's chimney!"  Hopefully he'll forget that knowledge between now and next Christmas when we may or may not be at Mom-Mom's house!  I'll be a little sad to take down the tree tomorrow, but thankfully I always have the hope and joy of anticipation of next year's Christmas.  Here are just a couple of the best pictures from our camera, hopefully the grandparents can share some better ones with me for our scrapbook! 

Almost 2 year old discovers the wonders of the trampoline!

Snow on Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my wonderful family to yours!

Book club and hearing God

Last weekend my book club met to discuss two books, The Voluntourist by Ken Budd and Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis.  Although the stories are very different, they are essentially about two people who choose to participate in overseas service projects/mission work while trying to figure out who they are and what their calling is in life.  These books led to a discussion among my book club about our callings.  "Do you know what your calling is?  How do you know?  What are we supposed to do when we don't know?"  Most of us didn't have good answers to these questions, which we all agreed is a frustrating place to be.  As women of faith, we are all confident in our calling as mothers and the calling we have to raise children of faith, but what about the other work in our lives that we could accomplish?  What are those of us who do not hear God speak to us supposed to do?

Then I read my Advent devotional yesterday morning.  The topic was prayer, and how prayer is an opportunity for us to hear God's voice.  I will freely admit that although it sounds lovely, I do not expect this to happen to me.  I have never heard God speak to me as if he was sitting next to me on the couch having a conversation.  I don't doubt that God could communicate with me that way, but it hasn't happened yet.  So this excerpt from Henri Nouwen's A Spirituality of Living was striking -

"The trouble is that as soon as we sit and become quiet, we think, Oh I forgot this.  I should call my friend.  Later on I'm going to see him.  Our inner life is like a banana tree filled with monkeys jumping up and down.  It is not easy to sit and trust that in solitude God will speak to us - not as a magical voice but as knowledge that grows gradually over the years.  And in that word from God we will find the inner place from which to live our lives."

I hope the point I got from that jumps off the screen for my book club friends as well.  The idea I pull from the passage is this: maybe we are expecting the wrong thing.  Rather than expecting a magical voice to speak to us, and constantly being disappointed, maybe we should be expecting to receive knowledge from God.  This is much more subtle and mysterious, but it resonates with me.  It's why I believe the hours and hours that I have spent over the course of my lifetime attending worship services, participating in Bible studies, reading, talking, thinking, praying aren't meaningless.  Maybe the collective experiences of my Christian walk create in my heart a knowledge of God and what He calls me to do.  Maybe I should stop fretting so much about not hearing God and just see what happens as I attempt to live a life devoted to God...

Perhaps instead of magic we should be expecting the miraculous.  Isn't that what the Advent and Christmas season are all about anyway?

Christmasy Update

So it's probably about time for me to circle back to two posts ago where I left you hanging with the news that Baby B is going to be a big brother!  We are very excited about this new addition to our family, especially now that I am pulling out of first trimester yuckiness.  If you are interested in hearing my thoughts on these past couple months, read on; if not, skip to the following paragraph.

If you have seen the movie Love Actually, do you remember the scene where the adorable, blue-eyed little drummer boy asks Liam Neeson's character what could be worse than the "total agony of being in love?"  Well I'll tell you little man - it's the total agony of first trimester pregnancy.  I didn't even have it all that bad relatively speaking.  I didn't get sick that often, although my appetite disappeared completely and we all ate terribly for a few weeks because I didn't feel like food shopping or cooking (even though I was hungry all the time).  It certainly didn't help that my fridge and oven broke too.  And I was exhausted, of course.  Although I can't complain about that too much because I did get to nap everyday while the boys napped.  I got very tired of wanting to tell people the exciting news but not wanting to, and of experiencing pregnancy symptoms that can be totally normal but can also be totally not normal.  I remember thinking last time I was pregnant, or maybe somebody said this to me, that pregnancy is fantastic practice for parenthood because you care so deeply for your child and want to understand what's going on, but you have absolutely no clue and no control.  Ah well.  Here we are at 13 weeks along and so far everything is fine.  Except for my normal clothes are starting to not fit, but I don't quite fit into maternity clothes yet...like I said - agony.

Aside from the fourth heartbeat now blessing our house, we are also all wonderfully excited for Christmas!  Hubby T and I scored big time with our tree this year.  We were planning to drive the 30 minutes down to Costco to buy a $28 tree (the best deal we've found) but decided to pull into the church 5 minutes from our house and see how much their trees were.  Only $10 more!  Totally worth it to avoid the hour drive plus the proceeds the church makes from Christmas tree sales support their local missions programs.  Talk about tidings of comfort and joy:) 

Baby B has done a great job of not touching the tree, too much.  I put "his" ornaments down low, so he'll still finger them a little bit.  For the most part he's good about leaving the tree alone, which I really appreciate.  We have a surprisingly large number of Christmas books for Baby B's enjoyment, not quite sure how that happened, but he's devouring them nonetheless.  His favorites, so far, are the Berenstein Bears Meet Santa Bear, Clifford's First Christmas, and Little Critter's Merry Christmas Mom & Dad.  We need to work a story that tells the actual Christmas story in there somehow.  He loves the lights that we put up around the house.  As soon as I plug in the Christmas tree lights in the morning he runs over to the fire place and tells me I need to plug in the "uder (other) lights."  I've been able to do Christmas shopping and wrapping in front of him this year, so I'm enjoying that while it lasts.  We haven't baked any Christmas cookies yet, maybe this weekend.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from our walk through Christmasy CW this morning.  Plans to go with a friend fell through (my fault, stupid Facebook) so I decided to entertain myself by posing the boys in front of the CW decorations, or at least trying to.  Taking pictures of CW Christmas decorations is a "thing," there were a lot of photographers around, and although I generally don't have a clue what I'm doing when I snap a picture, I'm pretty sure my pictures turned out better than everyone else's:)

 

 

Amazing Friends

Amazing friends drive seven plus hours into the night after a long work week to visit friends

Amazing friends laugh and welcome you with hugs when you (and fifteen other people) show up at their house at midnight with no warning

Amazing friends give up their beds, bedrooms, and bathrooms for you (again, with no warning)

Amazing friends give you so much energy that you forget how tired you are

Amazing friends bring their kids and their friends kids into a candy store right before lunchtime (and make sure no one leaves empty handed)

Amazing friends miraculously stretch a gingerbread making project intended for four children to include ten children

Amazing friends play with, clean up after, and love your children as if they were their own

Amazing friends tell you to come back anytime

Amazing friends may not always be close to your home but they are always close to your heart

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”  C. S. Lewis

Thanks for a great weekend small group!  Let's start planning Road Trip 2013 soon!!

Our Thanksgiving

I know, I'm a week late.  Who's talking about Thanksgiving anymore?  It's Christmastime!  But I couldn't let this year's go by because we had a great trip to Mom-Mom and Papou's house.  So, by way of quick photo summary, what do you think Baby B is most thankful for this year?

A. Walks in the woods

B. Laugh out loud playtime with his grandmothers

C. Visiting the Christmas trains with Daddy and Papou

D.  Learning that he is going to be a big brother (!)

The Park

In the last year and change, I have found that finding things to do each day is one of the more difficult things about being a stay at home mom.  I've been feeling that way a lot the last couple weeks, so today it was a relief to lean on that good old-fashioned stand-by: the park.

Wait for me!

This gate may be my favorite part of the park.  Containment has become quite the challenge with these two!

They may look like they're following each other but they're about to go two separate ways and stay that way for most of our visit...

Why is the bee wet?!

Yay for me!

Couldn't be happier!

No really, couldn't be happier:)

Growing Pleasures

Baby B is going to be 22 months old this week, almost two years old!  Although he has passed many of his "first" milestones, he continues to do and say new things that characterize the lively and independent little boy he is becoming...

Like many kids, Baby B loves to hear his favorite stories read to him over and over and over (and over and over!) again.  While this gets pretty old for Hubby T and I, what doesn't get old is hearing him settle down next to us to read and say, "I like dis book" or "I like dis one."  He says it softly, almost like he's talking to himself, but it's so precious to hear this expression of what's going on in his head.  Plus, what parent's heart isn't warmed to witness their child loving reading?

Another funny habit Baby B has developed recently is answering his own questions with the answer he wants us to give.  Frequently when he makes a request we will repeat it back to him, mostly to make sure we understood it correctly.  Instead of confirming his question, he answers it!  For example:

Baby B: I want mo' cheerios.

Me: (In mock disbelief) You want more cheerios?!

Baby B: Okay!

 

He is starting to sleep with a blanket!  Most new parents these days adhere to the philosophy that you can't put your baby to sleep with anything that could smother them or cause breathing problems.  This includes crib bumpers, stuffed animals, blankets, etc.  So until recently when it's been cold we've dressed Baby B in layers and left him to his own devices in his very sparse crib.  (This may sound mean but he's honestly been completely fine.)  In the last couple weeks as it's gotten cold we decided that maybe he was ready for a blanket, because hopefully in the next year he'll learn to sleep in an actual bed!   The first couple times we put a blanket over him he giggled at us, as if the blanket was tickling him.  Most of the time he just accepts it now, although I've yet to see him embrace the warmth of a blanket the way I do on a cold night.  I'm sure he kicks it off pretty quickly but occasionally I'll walk in to check on him before I go to bed and he's still laying there, fast asleep with the blanket over his body, occasionally with his teddy bear tucked tightly under his arm.  At what age will my child not be completely adorable while fast asleep?  (Sorry, no picture for this one.  No picture is worth taking with a flash in the dark and awakening my sleeping child!)

What else is there to report on my little bundle of energy?  He's moved up to size 4 diapers (I think they only make them up to size 5...we're getting closer!), he talks enough to carry on a conversation with Hubby T over the phone during lunchtime, he wants to walk everywhere by himself (i.e. don't you dare try to strap me into a stroller!), he picks out his own Curious George book from the library every week, and every time I sit down at the piano he runs over and demands that I play "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", or in his words, "E-i-e-i" and we always sing about the chicken first.  I am so looking forward to the holidays in the coming weeks so that some of our family can see him again and share our joy in how much he's grown this year...

Election Day

The year after I graduated from college I lived with two other young women outside Washington, DC.  Every morning I carpooled with one of them to the Metro station.  This young woman was the same age as me, a Harvard graduate, and a citizen of the country of Zimbabwe. 

On Election Day that year, I got up early, went over to my polling station to vote, then came back to pick her up and head to work.  Once we were settled in the car she asked me, "What was it like?"  At first I was confused by her question.  "Well, it was like normal.  I went in, showed my ID, got my ballot and voted.  The line wasn't that long, that was nice."  As I went through this routine description, it occurred to me that my experience was anything but routine for her.  In her country, if and when they have elections, they are not free and not fair.  I suspect that while voting was a completely ordinary thing for me, it was a completely extraordinary thing for her, who could still not participate but only ask what the experience was like.

While I do have strong opinions on who I am voting for tomorrow and why (and who I am not voting for and why) I will spare you a political tirade.  We're all tired of that at this point.  What I do hope this post reminds you of is that voting is a privilege.  Please don't take it for granted.  Make time to exercise your right to vote tomorrow and be grateful that we live in the country we live in.  Even if your candidate of choice doesn't win tomorrow, this will still be the home of the free on Wednesday and I thank God for that.

Halloween

I just spent ten minutes scrolling through my Facebook feed, looking at all the pictures of my friend's kids from Halloween, and feel woefully behind.  Apparently not having a smart phone that allows me to take pictures and post them to the web instantly is leaving my poor kid in the dirt!  So, for those of you wondering what Baby B was up to for Halloween this year, I present...the cutest (and shortest) Harry Potter ever!  Thanks again to all our family members who helped me put this costume together:)

What is this?

The back of our car at our church's Trunk or Treat event last weekend

Happy Halloween from a happy boy

P.S.  A word to the wise.  If you think it's a cute idea to buy a small pumpkin to make a small jack-o-lantern because you have a small kid, be warned that the distance between your candle and the top of the pumpkin is not very much.  And if you're not careful, you will burn the top of your pumpkin, like me.  Yikes!

The beauty of nature

I have been a part of several conversations with church friends in the past few years talking about times when we have felt closest to God.  It is amazing (or perhaps not so amazing) how many people's answers involved nature - a sunset or sunrise on a beach, the breathtaking scenery from the top of a mountain, the view of the sky from an airplane window, the beauty of a single flower.  Most people I know have stories about the beauty of nature.  (And I don't take it for granted that I am one of those people.  Can you imagine growing up in an inner-city and never seeing what's outside it?  It happens...)

So as I was cuddled by the warm fire last night, reveling in the sounds of my laughing baby, the satisfaction of a delicious dinner in my stomach, and the anticipation of a day at home with both my boys, I was horrified to see that the storm that was fairly innocently passing over my home is on a path to decimate so many others.  It's one thing for me to enjoy a windy, rainy day from the comfort of my electricity-powered, weather-proof home.  It's another for me to know that that wind and rain is going to make this week pretty atrocious for millions of others.  There is really no really no big takeaway from this post.  I guess I, like so many of my other friends on Facebook, felt like expressing my horror and awe at the power and (yes) beauty of creation...

"You alone are the Lord.  You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, and earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.  You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."  Nehemiah 9:6

Birthday fun

Last Friday was my birthday.  And although I'm now one year closer to the big 3-0, I like to adopt my grandmother's attitude, which is that if you're not growing older, it means you're dead.  So yay birthdays!!  The only way I can think to talk about my wonderful day is to share with you all the people who made it special for me...

Hubby T...bought me a pumpkin spice latte on his way home from work on Thursday, stashed it in the fridge overnight, then heated it up and brought it to me in bed on Friday morning, along with the first clue of the birthday scavenger hunt he made me!  I went to the pantry first, where I found a coupon for a date night out at Sweet Frog in my sugar container,

Then I went to the piano where I found a coupon for iTunes money,

Then I went to the bookshelf where I found a coupon for two dinners out at Panera Bread where my book club meets.

Don't I have a thoughtful husband?!  He's not normally this creative, so he gets a lot of credit for starting my birthday off with a bang this year:)

Gramma P...who spent Thursday night with us, rolling out my birthday "cake" of pumpkin cinnamon rolls at 9:30 that night so that they could rise overnight and then be enjoyed by us all for breakfast.  (Totally worth the effort, by the way.)  She took us birthday shopping on Friday morning and out to lunch.  It just seems appropriate to spend your birthday with your mom, the woman who gave birth to you.  Thanks for everything mama:)

Grampa....who couldn't spend the day with us but sent me some awesome spices from Penzy's.  Chinese cinnamon anyone?  Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet but it'll be great!

My friend...who stopped by in the afternoon with a gorgeous flower arrangement for me.  She even knew not to ring my doorbell because the boys were sleeping.  I don't think the power of surprise flowers can be underestimated.  Thank you again for your thoughtfulness friend:)

My small group...who braved traffic on Friday night to come up to our house for a game night, along with candles and dessert to sing me happy birthday.  You all know who you are, and how much I love you.  Thanks for ending my day on a happy note:)

Here's to another wonderful year filled with amazing family and friends.  Thanks for making my birthday so great everyone:)

Fall Fun

We sang a song at story time last week, to the tune of Frere Jacques, that goes, "Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down.  Autumn leaves are falling down, we love autumn."  Each child has a colored piece of fabric that they can throw in the air and watch fall to the ground like leaves while we sing.  It's fun.  But mostly I like the song because I, too, love autumn!

It's my favorite season.  I love pulling out my coats and hoodies.  I love cuddling under my comforter.  I love the smell of the cinnamon broom that accosts you as you walk into the grocery store.  I love baking things with pumpkin and cinnamon and nutmeg and allspice.  And I love doing fall things.  Like apple picking!  Except the farm near us doesn't have an apple crop this year, sad.  So we bought apples instead and still made an apple pie (which, incidentally, is a million times better with vanilla ice cream, which I really need to not forget to buy next time I make apple pie!) 

We had an extended visit with Hubby T's parents last weekend, who came down to celebrate my birthday and Mom-Mom's birthday and Baby B's overall every day of the year awesomeness.  Being the rock star preschool teacher that she is, Mom-Mom brought all kinds of treats for the boys, including play-dough, animal shaped magnets for the doodle pad, and her apple peeler/slicer tool.  The boys have never been as helpful in helping me cook anything as they were by peeling and cutting up apples for the pie:)

On Saturday morning, after a stop at Starbucks for Mama P's birthday pumpkin spice latte (something else to love about fall), we explored a fall festival!  I walked Baby B through the hay maze, which he wasn't so sure about...

But then we let him sit on a tractor, which he was a bit more enthusiastic about...

He was also very enthusiastic about the two mini-pumpkins that Mom-Mom bought him (one for each hand, thanks for that little bit of spoiling Mom-Mom:)

 I'm loving this fall thing so much that I kept the fun rolling today, when we had even more pumpkin excitement at Pumpkinville!!

I love how this hay ride brought out both of their personalities.  Baby D sat perfectly still next to me almost the whole time, quietly taking in the unfamiliar but not unwelcome experience.  Baby B, on the other hand, wanted off as soon as we got on, and wouldn't stop wiggling until I pointed out the tractor that was pulling us.  From that point forward, he kept excitedly exclaiming, "I on tractor!!" and constantly moving around as far as my arm would let him go.  After the hay ride we ventured into the corn maze, and if you're wondering if having two little boys with four legs and only one of me with two legs in a maze was slightly nervewracking, you would be right.

I love fall.  I love activities that you can only do in the fall.  And I love sharing them with these two wonderful boys.  So keep bringing on the fun autumn!!   

Rainy day

Rain rain don't go away...we love playing inside all day!!

This was their idea to play in a waterless bathtub...leave it to little boys to think outside the box:)

Such strong, determined, helpful boys!!

"Ga-bage tuck!!"

My little Elmo watching his little Elmo

Nice hat Baby D!

"No no!" as in "No no, don't you dare take this from me!"  Baby B is trying very hard to "discipline" Baby D the same way I do these days...

"Hide in the corner!"

Thank goodness this rainy day was enjoyed with smiles:)

Butterfly garden

Swings and slides are all very well and good, but every once in awhile it's good to shake things up a bit.  So today we went to a different kind of park.  A park that inspires little boys to act as elusive and energetically as the park's inhabitants.  We visited a butterfly garden:)

Ready, set...

You can't catch me!

 Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...

Bridge was a new concept today...when we came home the boys unrolled my yoga mat and ran back and forth on their own "bridge"!

 The boys didn't pay any attention to the beautiful plants around them, but I loved this purple berry bush:)

 Baby D chase!!!

My little explorers

We will definitely be bringing some friends back here to play.  Hooray for public parks, beautiful nature, and two fantastic little boys to enjoy it all with!