Tiny Talk Tuesday

I'm noticing a shift in my tiny talk. Used to be all David... now Elizabeth is talking constantly, too, and it's just too funny!

Today, she just started out of the blue: Mom, I missed you when you were on the plane.
Mom: Aw, I missed you, too, babe.
Elizabeth: I just lived with Grandma and Aunt Jana. And Aunt Jana played her Farmville.
hahahaha! Aunt Jana, you've been ratted out!

Elizabeth: But Mom, my leg hurts! (she's always hurting something)
Mom: Why does your leg hurt?
Elizabeth: Because I need to watch a movie. (long pause) That's ok. I'm just a bear.

I was in the bathroom, where Elizabeth had just run from when I heard
David: Hey! Elizabeth is naked!!!
Elizabeth: No I'm not! I have on my dancing shoes!

We've switched David to an all natural diet with positive results in his behavior. We went to Whole Foods Market yesterday in search of natural candy for upcoming Christmas stuff. He was excited to see so many all natural products & kept picking up stuff, asking "Is this all natural?" and "Can we get it???"

So tonight, I was eating my leftovers with a diet Coke when he asked: Mom, is your drink all natural?
Mom: Um, no, it's not.
David: You know, you should only drink all natural stuff, Mom!
In my defense, I did have water with lunch! : )

Rebekah is 8-months old!

She's growing faster than I can keep up with her! She still only has 1 tooth but shows signs that the second isn't too far away. She is a happy baby most of the time.

So cute!!!

Playing with sister

She's also making her rounds around the room now!
Watch out Christmas tree!!

taken 12/3/09
Trying to get up on all 4's!

Playing with brother

Christmas Tea

This morning was the annual Ladies' Christmas Tea at Grandma's church. Aunt Wee did a great job making the table look beautiful this year!

We shared our table with some life-long friends.

My other family was at another table.

Rebekah and her cousin Mason played in the nursery while us Moms had a good time.

I'll have to keep trying this Christmas to get some good pictures of them together.

Homeschooling Through Christmas

Elizabeth, now 2 11/12, has been wanting to have school right along beside us since Thanksgiving. Above you'll see her Christmas tree drawing. Very colorful. I've been giving her a wipe-off ABC handwriting book & she's been coloring in it for 30 minutes or more. She very carefully traces the letters, then scribbles over the entire page. Need to get a picture of that...

Little did I know that by taking the week off for Thanksgiving, David would seem to forget everything he's learned in kindergarten! It was crazy. By Friday, he's finally doing things on his own again.

We've been taking advantage of the Christmas Countdown activities to get some good number practice in. (Also a Brachiosarus on the board.) The chain goes all the way to the floor right now.

That was a couple of days ago.


For the past few years, David has memorized and recited part of the Christmas story at our family Christmas gathering. We're working on it again this year and he's also writing it out this year. We're adding a phrase every day.

I think in light of our Thanksgiving experience, we may keep doing school right through Christmas! I don't want to have to keep taking an extra week just to repeat everything!

Ode to Joy

Time to deck the halls!

HAPPY
DECEMBER
&
MERRY
CHRISTMAS!

I usually deck my halls the day after Thanksgiving, but I wasn't home this year, so I ran a little behind. For the first time ever, I had help putting up the tree! David & Elizabeth both helped & it was wonderful... even the clump of ornaments practically stacked on top of each other down about Elizabeth height. Better pictures to come...

The dark shadows on each side are David & Elizabeth admiring the tree.

I can't stop being thankful now!

Well, I had my blog set to continue being thankful last week. Those people who watched my kids all week will never understand how thankful I am for what they allowed me to experience. There's a whole other world under water that I would not have seen if I'd had kids with me!

The one thing that I really wanted to see was a starfish and we saw several! They were huge & fat! I had no idea! I was hoping to see a sea turtle also... AND I SWAM WITH A STINKING STING RAY!!! The fish and the coral were amazing. St. John has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

I'm still working on organizing photos, remembering which beach was which and getting some captions written. When I get them up on Flickr, I'll post a link if you want to see more photos with captions. It was a truly amazing week. It was worth saving for 4 years to get there.

...for Grandpa on Black Friday

I am thankful for a number of people who are helping take care of my kids this week. Today, I say thank you, Grandpa, for taking care of my goat kids!!! And the guineas and being our shuttle to & from the airport!

When I was little, I remember going to Walmart with Daddy when they opened at 6am the day after Thanksgiving. It was different then. There were probably 20 cars, or less, in the lot when we arrived. Then we'd go to McDonald's afterwards. It was fun. After last year, today I am thankful that I am not shopping on Black Friday!

...for MawMaw

I am thankful for a number of people who are helping take care of my kids this week. Today, I say thank you, MawMaw, for spending your Thanksgiving vacation with the kids!


"Happy Thanksgiving" written by David, age 5. The only letter I helped with was the s.

...for Aunt Jana

I am thankful for a number of people who are helping take care of my kids this week. Today, I say thank you, Aunt Jana, for taking time off work to help with the kids!


Note to self: Take some good pictures of Aunt Jana with the kids this season! (That's Baby Elizabeth with Aunt Jana!!!)