Good Bye Bobby

We had to put our cat Bobby down this week. While Dan & I are sad about our loss, we are trying to focus on the good memories we have of Bobby. He used to sit on the window sill at the old house & "bark" at the birds. There was also the time he fell off the top of the refrigerator. Dan had startled him and he flipped right off. He hissed a blue streak (almost as if he were cursing at Dan for startling him!) He was my constant companion while I was pregnant with Caroline & couldn't sleep at night. And he would always snuggle with Dan & me as we watched tv after the kids were in bed. We will truly miss him.

Copy Cat

I was brushing my teeth the other morning. Caroline came in with her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. She kept her eyes on me the entire time & brushed her teeth exactly as I did mine. If I was brushing my back bottom right teeth, she was brushing her back bottom right teeth. When I did my front teeth, she did hers. She turned on her water when I turned on mine. I faked leaning forward, to see what she'd do. She leaned forward, then back. I chuckled to myself about the whole thing. But I keep thinking about it. She was watching so closely. It made me wonder how closely I'm watching God. Am I putting every move He makes under a microscope - as Caroline was doing to me? And, who or what am I putting under a microscope? What am I keeping such a close eye on? Does that thing - whatever it is - deserve it?

Pajama Dinner with the Vaughns

We are so blessed to have good friends close by! The Vaughn family came over for dinner a few weeks ago, and the kids wore pajamas! Miss Erica knows Caroline well - she brought a snowman craft for after dinner. We love the Vaughns!

Like a Kid Again

Dan & I did it again. We coordinated our Christmas gifts without knowing it. Our first Christmas together, we got each other small framed Thomas Kincaid pictures. We each didn't know that the other had gotten almost the same thing, so we were very surprised when we exchanged gifts. We had only been dating for a few months, and already we were on the same page! This year it happened again. I got Dan a two-seater trailer for his bike, so that he can take all the kids on a bike ride once in awhile. He and the big kids have been going on rides every weekend since we moved into the new house. I thought the babies might like to go, too. I was so excited for Dan to open his present, because I thought I had done a good job thinking of it & because I knew he had no clue what I had gotten him. I was speechless when I came downstairs Christmas morning to find a beautiful metallic blue Schwinn bike waiting for me. This morning Dan built the trailer, adjusted the seat on my bike, and we have all ridden bikes this morning, except the babies, who were already napping by the time Dan finished the trailer. We plan to take everyone out this afternoon, before dinner. Beautiful bike

Ducks in a row

I think you could see Nathan's grin from space. He was so proud to be riding bikes with Mommy

Exciting Nights

This is a picture free post :( But it is still exciting. Tuesday night we took the kids to McAlister's for dinner and then went to see the gingerbread houses at the Ballantyne Hotel. We make gingerbread houses every year, so I love to see the "real" ones at the hotel. Someday I hope the kids & I can enter the amateur competition. We still need a few years of practice, though. At the time, I thought that would be the highlight of my week. Wednesday afternoon I had a teenage homeschooler over to help with the kids so that I could get some things done around here! At 5:45 we loaded everyone into the car to take her home. Dan drove up as we were leaving & we all said hi and bye to him. As I turned out of our neighborhood, I noticed that one of the lights shining on the brick at the front was ON FIRE! I turned around and went back home to tell Dan. He called the fire department and then went to put out the fire! He took a shovel and stamped it out with that. It was out by the time the fire department arrived, but they still hosed down the area & generally took over the scene. We are sooooo proud of our Daddy Hero!

Messes

So, I've been looking back at recent posts, and I can't help but notice that several of them include messes. Gloop, finger paint and cookies all made messes at my house recently. We have lots of messes at my house. The fun kind - that I can post cute pictures with, and the yucky diaper kind, and the Ava put peanut butter in her hair kind. Kids make messes. Add to that a new baby and two moves in six months, and you won't be surprised when I say that my life is one big mess. I was never a super organized person, even before I had kids. But things have never been this bad before. We are routinely going to the clothes dryer for clean clothes & the dish washer for clean dishes. I can not keep up. The garage is filled with unpacked boxes, and the house is overrun with stuff that doesn't have a home yet. My back is starting to hurt as I write all this! And it is all pulling me down. But... As I have had time to think about all this, I've realized that God has been in the housekeeping business for a very long time. He has been cleaning up messes since Adam & Eve moved into the Garden of Eden. Not only is He cleaning up my messes, He is allowing me to be the kind of mother that allows her children to make messes. And that's the kind of mother that my children need. And it is even more comforting to know that the spiritual mess that we are all in - "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 - God handled that mess before any of us knew that it was a mess.

Christmas Cookies

After lots of begging, Caroline finally convinced me to make the year's first batch of Christmas cookies. It was a big mess. More on messes later. But we had a lot of fun & the cookies were delicious.

Rolling the dough

Messy hands

Into the oven

Waiting

And waiting...

Finished cookies!

And pics of the babies