A Very Sweet St. Valentine's Day

It's official! Yay! I am blessed with another precious little baby, due October 18, 2012. :)

Gifts from Aunt Jan

My dear sister wasn't feeling well during the month of December (and for a very good reason!) and I'm sure a trip to the Post Office seemed like a very big task. I completely understood and decided I just wouldn't say anything to the kids. Well, kids are smart. And they notice things. :)

When I was a child, my Nana started a tradition of giving her grand kids an ornament every Christmas. I have a wonderful collection of ornaments and each one remind me of my Nana and of my childhood. It's lovely. My sis decided to carry on this tradition with my own kids and they look forward to it every year. Last Christmas, I had the crazy idea of getting our tree on St. Nicholas Day. That day is busy enough without adding "Get and Decorate Tree" on the list. But what WAS cool about that idea was that the kids put their shoes outside and after decorating the tree, they checked their shoes and Aunt Jan's ornaments were there! So, of course this year on St. Nick's Feast Day, Chatterbox asked if we were getting our tree. I told her, "No". Then she asked if they could at least put their shoes outside and see if St. Nicholas would deliver Aunt Jan's ornaments for her. Kids have great memories, don't they?
Christmas came and went and the kids did not mention Aunt Jan's ornaments or ask why Aunt Jan didn't send any presents. But they did tell me they wished Aunt Jan could have came for a visit on Christmas. This of course made me very happy. I love that they love their Aunt Jan even though they only see her about once a year. She does a great job of keeping in touch. I was so proud that my kids were more concerned of seeing Aunt Jan than of getting gifts from Aunt Jan.
But then came the day of taking down our tree. "We can't take down our tree! We haven't gotten our ornaments from Aunt Jan yet!" protested Little Miss Chatterbox. I was glad that the ornaments mean a lot to them. I assured her it would be okay.
Then came February 2. The day of Candlemas. Candlemas ends the Christmas season. During our morning prayers, I read to the children about Candlemas and Mr. Funny shouted, "What?! It can't be the end of Christmas! We haven't gotten any gifts from Aunt Jan!" Hahaha. There went my lovely ideal of how my kids were not concerned with getting gifts from Aunt Jan! But, as luck would have it (providence, maybe?) Jan's packages were to arrive that very day! What a great way to end the Christmas season. And as far as the kids know, they think Aunt Jan planned it this way. ;)


Here are the Fab Four, waiting to open their gifts. Mr. Funny went outside to get the packages which is why he has his jacket on. They decided to open their ornaments first because they couldn't wait to see what they would be this year!


We always go youngest to oldest so Little Miss Sunshine went first. Chatterbox helped her get the box open. My sister made all the ornaments this year and Sunshine got the sweetest, cutest little felt bird. Sunshine immediately starting making the sign for bird and saying, "Bird! Bird, Momma! Bird!"

She studied it and smiled at it.

She made chirping noises.
She showed it off to her big sis. She loved it.

Next up, Mr. Tickles. A cute little snowman with a green hat. Tickles favorite color. :)

Then Mr. Funny. He got a cute little snowman with a blue hat! His favorite color!

Here he is, explaining to us that Aunt Jan knew their favorite colors! he thought that was really cool.

"Show me your new ornaments and say cheese!"

Last but not least, Little Miss Chatterbox opened her ornament and found a gorgeous, crocheted fan with roses and a jewel. Absolutely perfect for Chatterbox.

She was in awe.

She is very pleased with her 2011 ornament!

Then came the gifts. I love this shot of Sunshine! Can you tell she liked her gift? She seems to be following in her sister's footsteps as far as loving books go. This little set of books are just perfect for her. She loves to take the books in and out of the case and of course loves to look at them even more.

Mr. Tickle got a set of Hot Wheels!

After seeing Tickle open it up, Funny immediately grabbed his package of the same size.

"Yes! I got Hot Wheels too!"

In the meantime, Sunshine sat looking at her books. In fact, Chatterbox was looking at them too. :)

Then the boys opened their second gift. Dallas Cowboy aprons, handmade by Aunt Jan!! They're even personalized! (Hmm.. it appears I didn't get a picture of Funny opening his)

Here they are, showing off their awesome new aprons. Aren't they cuties?

Chatterbox was so excited with her art bag! She especially loved that it had her name on it. And she thought the fabric was "sooooo beautiful"!

She also got two new books! The Christmas Carol & Beauty and the Beast.

Here she is, posing with her new bag after putting some art supplies in it.

Hmm... and what is Sunshine doing? Still looking at her new books, of course!

I got a Knitting Journal!! I think this is such a neat idea and it's got me itching to start a knitting project!

Here's Tickles explaining that this car has wings like a dragonfly. Sure enough, the name on the bottom is Dragin' Fly.

Chatterbox got right into one of her new books. (She finished that book that day and finished the second book the next day)

And Sunshine starting organizing her books.

The boys lined up their cars and gave them all names.

And for the next hour or so, the living room looked like this:

The girls with their books and the boys with their cars. It definitely felt like Christmas! When mike got home he opened his gift: a Dallas Cowboy pillow! He loves it! (forgot to get a picture though...)

Jan, thank you so, so much!!

Daybook #7

Outside my window... cold this morning. But hoping for another beautiful, sunny, winter day like yesterday.
I am thinking... about how to embellish the new curtains I bought. I painted my living room pale yellow and bought brick red curtains. The curtains are too.... well, red.

I am thankful for... Mike's new business and how well it is doing! Also thankful for his partner who keeps this business going.

From the learning room... our co-op has had to cancel the past two weeks because too many families were sick. I'm working on a new Math system that will include more games and hands-on activities. Little Miss Chatterbox is a very visual person and needs that.

From the kitchen... This was the third week of trying new "kid friendly" recipes in hopes that my kids would actually EAT their dinner. But I'm still getting complaints. Every.single.night. I don't know what I did to these kids but they are the pickiest kids I've ever met in my entire life. I'm starting to think it's all some kind of sick joke they've got going between themselves. Last night we had Mexican Lasagna. Taco meat between layers of tortillas and cheese. Chatterbox said she doesn't like tortillas. Funny said he didn't like the meat. Tickle said it smelt bad and wouldn't even try it. Sunshine pointed to it and said, "Yucky". Oy.

I am creating...

-decorating plans for a few rooms in the house
-Funny's birthday plans
-new school routine
-chore list for the kids

I am reading... The Letters of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

I am hoping... that I will have the heart to wean Sunshine and get her to sleep in her big girl bed. (sigh) I don't want to. She definitely doesn't want to. But the longer I wait, the harder it will be.

I am praying...
-for something my sister's been creating.
-for my friend who still hasn't been able to bring her premature baby home from the hospital
-for James Brogan. A friend's teenaged son who was in a car accident and is still in critical condition
- for Jonathan Turner. A teenager of a family from Church who has cancer and will be starting 9 weeks of chemo.

I am hearing... Pandora radio. Veggie Tales songs. The kids love to dance to this.

Around the house... the smell of fresh paint. I have always loved dark, bold colors. All of a sudden I'm loving pastels. Not sure what developed this change but I'm loving our new pale yellow walls. It makes the room look bigger, brighter and cleaner. Love, love, love it.

One of my favorite things.... the quiet, peacefulness of snow days. It's the end of January and besides the snowstorm we got in October, we haven't had any significant snow. The kids and I are wondering, "Where's the snow???"

Living the Liturgical Year... Candlemas is just around the corner. I need to gather some candles together.
Little Miss Sunshine this week... is copying everything we say. She doesn't pronounce words too well but I'm glad to see her trying. I understand her and that's all that really matters, right? ;) The best thing of all is when she says thank you. She communicates to me. I'll understand and help her with what she needs and then she gives me a big smile and says in the littlest, sweetest voice, "Thank you, Mama!" Which sounds more like, "Toot do, Mama!" It melts my heart every time. You gotta love a toddler with manners. ;)

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

It was so nice to see my brother and his family at Christmas. It had been way too long!

Christmas Morning

First a picture with mom and dad.

The boys put baby Jesus in His manger.

Then we gathered around our big baby Jesus who resides under our tree to remind us of the greatest gift of all. Little Miss Sunshine LOVED that baby Jesus.
She was continually kissing his head and rocking him. It was so precious. We knew there was a chance that she might drop him, but it was just too sweet. So we let her love that baby. And then she dropped it and his arm broke....


Being the youngest sometimes has its perks. Sunshine got to open presents first. But her older siblings didn't mind. They all enjoyed watching her open her gift, ever so carefully. They were happy to revel in her joy.


Just as Mike and I revel in ALL their joy! It is so fun watching the kids open their gifts.

It's amazing how the fighting and arguing amongst siblings always ceases on Christmas morning.

After that we enjoyed a quiet Christmas breakfast together before time would come to get ready for the beautiful Christmas Mass.


The kids (and mom and dad) favorite item on the menu: Monkey Bread

It was a very merry CHRISTmas!! We are so blessed.