normal day december

I’m finding myself seeing things much more nostalgically since we’re leaving to London.  We have such beautiful common days around here.  They don’t always look beautiful in the moment, but I’ve been trying to take out my iPhone and snap quick pictures so that I don’t forget things.  And then, when I download them and look at them it hits me how perfect our life is.  Yes it’s crazy and over packed and we’re not always happy, and there is yelling and frustration and silliness and lots and lots of messes, but all of that is part of what makes it perfect.  We’re really going to miss this life.

Here are some of our December normal day happenings.  For the most part the pictures will tell the stories. I love how Peter looks at me from his car seat while I’m driving.   Just checks and smiles, makes sure I’m still there. 

Sweet Joyce (our dear neighbor) has been a life saver this season.  She comes and “mentors” Emmeline while Peter is napping and I get all my errands done.  It’s fabulous. Emmeline is having a great time in nursery.  I am too.  I’m going to miss this calling.  It is HARD, but I’ve grown to really love these kids.  Especially how they get all quiet when I tell stories about Jesus.  I’ll have to post more about this calling sometime.  I’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun and totally tired myself out with it.I tried to touch up our room for whoever is living here while we’re away.  I guess that wasn’t the right paint can.  Oops.  I guess we’re repainting the room sometime in all this craziness.  Peter is getting bigger and Emmeline is an amazing big sister to him.  Hazel and Charlie continue to come up with all kinds of things to do together.  I love love love it when they get into the zone and play for hours without asking me for a thing.  It totally makes those first 3 years of babies close together worth it. There has been a lot of little services around here.  The kids are busy filling up the manger bed with straw for baby Jesus.  More on this later. Hazel got her first Christmas wish.  “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth OUT!”  They both came out (after dangling all grey and gross like that for two long).  Hallelujah!  I need to take a picture of her gappy grin.  I love it.Emmeline takes an awesome quiet time most afternoons.  I love how she sets up and plays with her toys.  It makes me sad that I always am scrambling to get stuff done while she’s playing.  I’d be so happy to secretly watch her.  I need to do that soon.  She’s growing up each time I blink. Peter is army crawling everywhere (my only army crawler yet!).  He’s the worlds greatest detective….there’s not one small piece of plastic or paper that he doesn’t find.  Charlie is really into drawing lately.  Oh how I love seeing how things make it into his brain and then back out onto a paper.  Peter will not drink water or juice from anything but my cup.  I keep trying to give him a sippy or a bottle, but no luck.  He’s always more interested in playing which is a problem in the BM department.  We had a gloriously warm day and went to this awesome park.  The only problem was that Peter’s pants got all wet.  Thankfully in the car I had a bag of hand-me-downs with this bunny suit in it.  Everyone asked what her name was, but at least ‘she’ was warm!We went to a youth production of the nutcracker (iPhone out of battery so no picture) which really got the kids into it.  Since then, all three big kids have spent hours and hours dancing to the nutcracker and acting it out.  I love it, much better to fill the house with that music than Michael Jackson this time of year.   Emmeline makes me call her Clara most days as she prances around the house in her princess dresses. I made some awesome stir fry with Tofu.  Yes, tofu.  My friend taught me how to make “golden tofu” which was a hit with everyone (but mostly me).  Maybe I’ll get around to  posting the recipe one of these days!

Emmeline has been accompanying me on my errands with her baby girl doll “Henry.”  She insists that she is my “mother friend” when we’re out together.  I have my baby, Peter and she has hers.  “You know,” she says, “like your friend Heidi.”  I am your mother friend!  This mother friend idea makes her act much more mature than is usual for her so I’m going with it.

Here’s Em all dressed up for church on Sunday in an outfit that belonged to her aunt Chi Chi.  She’s still pretty obsessed with the idea that all these adults around her were once little like she is.  She loved knowing that she was dressed just like little 3 year old Charity.  Here’s the only picture we got of our outing to Trinity Church’s Candlelight Carols.  We had to do it in shifts this year, I went with some good friends to the earlier performance and then stayed and saved seats for Jeff and the kids for the later performance (which was the free one).  It was so awesome that I was hoping to stay and watch it a second time, but resigned to leave as soon as Peter or Emmeline lost it.  Well, they lost it before it really started so I whisked them away and Charlie, Jeff and Hazel stayed to bask in the softly lit church and powerfully congregation carols.  Charlie slept for a lot of it, but Hazel, true to form, totally enjoyed every ounce of it.  She lives for things like that.  I love it. Emmeline had her preschool Holiday Pageant.  It’s a CRAZY event and even crazier now that they’ve expanded the school but she loved it.  She even got to see Santa afterwards and he gave her some awesome clip on ear rings.  Lucky girl. And these are my two favorite pictures of the season.  The soft glow of the Christmas tree, Jeff surrounded by kids while I scramble to get dinner on the table (and snap a picture).  The quiet, not trying to get anything done moments are really where the magic happens.