Less than perfect

As I opened Christmas cards received from others this year, I was so thankful for the precious families that had taken the time to think of us during the season. I enjoyed all the notes and updates from those we hadn't seen in quite some time, as well as those who live nearby. I was amazed at many of the photos, showing children who had grown by leaps and bounds from years before. I was also very impressed by how beautiful many of the photos were-some from the portrait studio, others with all in matching outfits. How sweet everyone looked! I cringed, too, as I thought of our Christmas card we sent out the week earlier. No, there wasn't anything terribly wrong with it, it just looked sort of haphazardly thrown together, compared to years before. Well....that's probably because it was. Really, Christmas cards were almost an afterthought this year, I hate to say. As December 25th grew closer, we knew it was now or never. So with everyone in one place, before our oldest went to work, and before little ones napped, we gathered everyone in front of the fireplace and tried to force out some smiles! If you've ever tried to do this with 10 people, it's not easy. We must have taken 25 pictures, most of them with a child looking the wrong way, smiling goofy, or putting their hands in front of their face. In all, I think we got 2 that were semi-presentable. We picked the best one and off they went to the printer! No, no one was in matching outfits-I was just happy they had on clean clothes. No, they weren't even in nice clothes either! Not everyone had a perfect smile-truly, many of them just wanted to get it over with. Geez...the picture was just so....what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yes-it was just so US! That's it! Even though I loved the thought of a perfect looking picture with a beautiful backdrop-really, that's not who we are. We're a kind of chaotic bunch, with dirty shirts, runny noses, and goofy expressions! So really the card we sent out was a little snapshot of who we really are as a family! After we looked at the picture, hubby and I even joked that we really should have taken a picture with the baby crying, one of our kids chewing with his mouth open, another poking his brother, while another was in the corner causing mischief. Now that really would have been reality! Truly, we are a less than perfect family. That's a very humbling thing. But I am thankful that we serve a Lord who loves us anyway in spite of those shortcomings. By the way, that Christmas picture? Well, here it is. To tell you the truth, I kind of like it!

Girls and dolls

There's certain things almost all girls love-flowers, pretty clothes, babies, and dolls. There's more, I'm sure, but those are just a few, in my experience. Well, today we found a printable paper doll set in the back of one of our magazines-and my 10 yo daughter was just delighted to cut it out and dress the dolls up. I thought there outfits were beautiful-much more beautiful than most paper dolls. It's a nice change to see such modestly dressed girls, too, which is not the norm nowadays. Here are the dolls after she got them all prettied up!

I decided to do a search for free printable dolls on the internet and came across quite a few, though there were a lot I wouldn't even bother with. Did you know there's even a Hillary Clinton paper doll? I fully expected to find some printable pantsuits to go with her, but it was actually her inaugural outfit instead. Kind of funny, though. There's also a Miley Cyrus paper doll. Goodness, don't we see enough of her at Walmart? Well, I did find some promising ones here, here, here, and here. That should keep us busy for a while!

Singing fun

One of the more enjoyable items around our home this holiday was one that wasn't even a gift! It was purchased by my 16 yo son with some of his extra work $$$$. He bought Guitar Praise from CBD. If you've never heard of it, think Guitar Hero minus the wordly music, but instead putting Christian praise music in it's place. Essentially, you follow along with the song, playing it on guitar and earning points when you get the chords right. Here's my 14yo playing one nite...


The kids and I had great fun dancing around and singing the songs. Wow, we're goofy! Check out these moves!


And little sister doing her twirls!

But here is the ultimate chunky pants dancer! Really, he loooooves to dance! It's almost as if he can't help moving his body when music comes on.

We had such a fun time..and I love that my kiddos are listening to music that praises the Lord!

Healing

I wrote a while back about my 4 yo daughter's injury back in November. She had her skin graft over a month ago and is healing nicely. She has been going to physical therapy for the past month also, to help her finger heal straight, as her tendency is to keep it bent. She has exercises we do together 3 times a day and also wears a splint several times a day. She just finished up her last session yesterday at the physical therapist, a wonderful woman who has helped my shy little girl feel at ease. Interestingly enough, while we were at her last session, Dad was taking 8 yo daughter to the doctor for a significant staph infection in her finger. (Never a dull moment around here, right?) Happily, she is on 2 antibiotics which should take care of it this week-poor thing. Anyway, that's a different story! Here's 4 yo with her splint on her finger.

And doing one of her exercises. This one involves picking up beans with her injured hand and putting them in a bowl.

She has another visit back to the plastic surgeon this next week. Hopefully he will give the thumbs-up to the healing process and we'll only need another visit or two back just to check up on it. It's amazing how an injury that happens in just a split second can require so much work to rehabilitate. She is such a good patient, though, and given time, I'm sure her finger will be back to its old self!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

It's Christmas! What a wonderful celebration of our Savior's birth! We began our celebration last nite with our annual "Happy Birthday Jesus" party. The kids sang happy birthday and then enjoyed some yummy cake that they helped make! Always a fun time, and a good reminder of the true meaning of the holiday.


This morning, the kids were all up bright and early for some present opening. They each received several gifts from mom and dad and family members. The girls loved their new dolls...


Here's little 2 yo with her new baby buggy!

Big brother with his Cowboys football jersey and hat. He loves watching all the games!

One of the best gifts? My 8 yo daughter's gift to her 5 yo brother. What a nice looking hat! Despite the expression in the picture, he really did love it.

We are preparing for a lovely meal later this afternoon-it's cooking right now. I am so thankful this Christmas for my family and dear friends, but most of all, for God sending his son, Jesus, to earth so many years ago, to save us. His gift is free and available to every one of us-we just have to be willing to accept it. Without Him, none of us would have the promise of eternal life in Heaven with God, but would be spending an eternity of separation from Him because of our sin. Amazingly, He came to the earth not as a powerful king, but a helpless baby, yet he is the almighty, all powerful God. Thank you Jesus for everything you have done and for loving us so dearly! And most of all, Happy Birthday!!

Look who's walking now!

My little guy is now 13 months old (sniff!). Just after he turned a year old, he started walking and went from walking a few steps to walking across the room within days. Now we can't stop him! He's a pretty happy guy, now that he can get where he wants to go. Sometimes it is more of a drunken swagger than a walk, but hey, he's still learning! This picture was quite difficult to get, as he never stands still!


Hard to believe that last year, he was born a little peanut....Okay, a big peanut-almost a 9 pound peanut! But here he is, content as can be. Scroll down and you can see how he's grown over the year, with month by month pictures!

Newborn.....

One month.....

Two months...

3 months....

4 months...

5 months..

6 months...Don't you love the crazy 'do?

7 months....

8 months...A new haircut, too!

9 months....somebody's mobile!

10 months....same somebody climbing stairs now!

11 months...

And the big 1 year! He loves cake, can you tell?

What a fun year it's been!

Gingerbread fun

Even though we still had one or two sick ones, we decided to do something fun today with the well ones. We took out our gingerbread house and got decorating! Last week, while shopping in Target, I came across one of those gingerbread house kits that was pre-built, as in-all put together for you! The only thing you do is decorate it with the candies (the fun part). I remember from years past that it was always very frustrating trying to "glue" the pieces together, and then you had to wait for it to dry before decorating-not easy with little ones! So this was a perfect fit for us. Here they are putting the frosting on...

And more frosting!

Who's this goofball?

Here's the end result. Quite cute-and they did it entirely themselves! I think a few of the candies didn't quite make it to the house, but that's okay. It was a fun time!