Moon and Back

Two years ago tonight I went to bed as I do on most nights....thanking God for the blessings in my life...my daughter, my husband, my buddy Willie, my family and my friends. Two years ago tonight... I had no idea of how my life was about the change the very next day. Two years ago tonight God was busy with miraculous plans for our family.



Dear Joseph-
You came into our life so unexpectedly, and you have warmed our hearts ever since. I can't imagine our life without you in it. Happy Birthday Eve my Beautiful Boy!

"Moon and Back!"
I Love you-
Mama

THIS MUCH!

Does it have to be true? Does my baby have to turn TWO? If I could stop it.... I can promise I would! Unfortunately, I think this one is out of my hands, though. Only a few more days and my little baby will be a big boy two year old. With poor Sophia being sick most of Christmas break, we've had lots of time to stay inside and read and play. At night lately, Little J has been choosing to read the story "Guess How Much I Love You?" He is really getting into his books these days! My heart about melted when a few nights ago, his daddy tucked him in bed and said I love you....and Joseph responded "This Much." (just like the book). He has gotten so good at saying this that he will even say it when he poses for a picture!!



Sophia was due back at school yesterday....and she is feeling better, but I kept her home yesterday and today just to make sure she had her energies back! We had some fun digging through my January box (from when I taught kindergarten) and pulling out some fun winter projects. We read lots of snowman books (we can't read Junie B all the time!!!) and made snowmen and decorated our magnet board.....it looks pretty wintery....as if the inches of snow outside our window and the sub arctic temps aren't enough evidence of the winter we are experiencing! Anyway... I was pretty impressed with their cute snowmen. Joseph loves to say hi and night night to his snowman and I even caught him climbing on Willie's bed so he could reach his snowman and shake his hand. Climbing....is that a shock???





I am sad that Sophia didn't get to enjoy much of her break, but selfishly....I loved having her home. She is beginning to act so grown up. She knows exactly how I do everything and can repeat it verbatim to anyone who may do things slightly differently. She is very "motherly" and though she can be bossy at times....really does look out for her little brother. And have I mentioned how much he adores her????? Okay...so life isn't always perfect in our household....and sometimes little Missy just doesn't get her way (like when I tell her she has to share....) so this week her new thing when she gets upset????? Marches right upstairs, packs her little pink suitcase and leaves it outside her bedroom door and informs me... I'm going to live with Miley! HA!!!! What a KICK this girl is...but she is mighty cute.....and looking so much healthier I must say...




January used to be one of my least favorite months.... I don't look forward to the cold weather or being cooped up inside. But a few years ago.... this little guy changed my attitude toward the month just a bit..



This little guy is WILD and CRAZY and can't sit still for the life of him. Some days he makes me feel like I'm gonna pull my hair out...BUT I can't imagine my life without him. I LOVE HIM SOOOO MUCH! I LOVE to hug and kiss him, I love that he still lets me rock him.... I love how he says "YES!!!" so emphatically.... I LOVE how he LOVES everyone he meets. He has the sweetest heart....he has a love for everyone that is exceptionally rare....he fears nothing... he smiles from ear to ear....his giggles are contagious! I thank God for him everyday... I thank God for the miracle that brought him to our family.... I thank God for the woman who so lovingly placed him in my arms two years ago. She humbled me. And for her incredible, indescribable gift... I will forever be grateful.




Happy Birthday week my baby sweet!

Wrapping up 2009

I have been wanting to post pictures from the rest of our Christmas celebrations, but I have been busy playing nurse instead this week. My poor little girl has been so sick....she has lost so much weight her little pants barely sit on her hips. Okay Mr. Stomach Bug....she's had enough...time to move on...and preferably to no one else in our family. Sophia did ask for a donut today....and even though she had only about 2 bites... I'm hoping this is a good sign.

I can't believe a brand new year begins tomorrow. Oh how time flies. I can't believe my hubby and I will have been married 10 years this summer. I can't believe I've known him for almost 20 years. Can't wait to see what 2010 has in store. But rather than resolutions I like to have projects in mind for the new year... I have some stirring in my head already. But for now, before I can begin a clean slate....I'll post some pictures of how our year ended.

Here are some of Santa's surprises!




Our excited little munchkins bright and early on Christmas morning...




Here are some pictures from our Santa openings!

Joseph, at times was a little more enthralled with some of Sophia's presents including this "Princess Castle," which by the way.... almost gave Santa panic attacks. Santa did NOT like purchasing this gift.....nor did he like how poorly it was made. I think Santa probably envisioned a nice old-fashioned wooden looking princess castle instead (you know...one that was more fitting in Sophia's shabby-chic room), but when you are Santa and a sweet little girl asks ever so politely for this specific castle, well I guess you just have to oblige. As for the fighting that has already begun when little J touches all the delicate pieces....well....there just is no solution.....If anyone has suggestions....I would love to hear them!




How funny that Santa likes John Deer hats just as much as Daddy.




Here is Sophia with her "Ethiopian Baby." She has already named her Sarah.



We made it to Omi and Papa's later in the day for even more presents and a yummy dinner followed by some s'mores making! Whew what a day! Sophia had so much fun making s'mores and roasting her own marshmallows....poor Joe didn't understand why he couldn't have a poker! Oh my...can you imagine the damage he would do with a poker. I won't go into detail about the crayon mark on my nice kitchen wall after he threw one of his new star-shaped crayons at the wall (when I wasn't looking, of course) and I guess I don't need to share all about how he dumped out a bottle of make-up all over my nice fabric covered bench in my bathroom....you kinda get the picture, huh?

Anyway...here are some fun pictures from our afternoon at Omi and Papa's.







Whew....so there you go....one year over and a new one about to begin. I saw this quote today and thought it had a lot to say....

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day!"

Wishes for Health and Happiness in 2010!

Merry Merry

Well....we have had a poor little sick girl in our house since Christmas night. I guess the excitement of the last week just took it out of her, literally. I feel so horrible for her especially because she is aching to play in all the snow. I am praying that she gets well soon, and that by some miracle from God, the little man doesn't catch it. Anyway...I still have lots of pictures to look through from all of the Christmas festivities....but I think I will be able to post a few from our Christmas Eve celebration. Installments of Christmas pictures...that sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?

Here are my two angels opening their first presents. I always let them open one or two on Christmas Eve afternoon.
Sophia opened a book called "Just in Case You Ever Wonder," ( a great book, by the way!) and a Princess Belle. Little J opened up the tiniest truck (which he loved) and a John Deer Tractor book...courtesy of his Daddy, of course.





Later in the day we spent some time arranging our cookie plate for Santa...and let's not forget Rudolph!



All dressed and ready to go to Yiayia's for Christmas Eve. Aren't they cute?






It was a struggle...but I think we got a few pictures of the kids with us.




Once we made it to Yiayia's we dug into the presents right away! Sophia went straight for her biggest box ( I think she was a bit disappointed to find out it was not the princess castle she thought it was....that didn't come till Santa's arrival). Instead it was a HUGE craft box. I don't know where I'm going to put it....but after opening it, I decided it doesn't matter...because it has soooo many FUN things in it. Can't wait till Sophia feels better so we can dig right in.



Other hits of the night included Sophia's new Snow White costume, snow white set and doll house pieces. Joseph loved all of his...can you guess.....TRUCKS! He spent most of the night playing with his shake-it cars from Thea and his fire truck from Yiayia.






I still have Christmas morning and evening pictures to share. But for now.... a new exciting purchase I made at Michael's over the weekend with my handy 40% off coupon.... I've wanted one of these forever...




It's an organizer for all of my frosting tips, frosting colors, frosting bags, etc. I had all of the contents...but wanted one ORGANIZED place to keep them in....and this box pretty much seemed PERFECT!

Okay off to check on my sick little girl and hoping I can make it to bed at a somewhat decent hour tonight.

JOY

Amidst all of the presents and hustle and bustle... I caught a glimpse of the real reason that we celebrate today.




To the best gifts in my life.... I love you all!
Merry Christmas!

Holiday Fun

Hard to believe Christmas is only a few days away. Hard to believe 2010 will be here before I know it. Hard to believe my baby girl is halfway through kindergarten. Friday was her last day before her Christmas break. I am sooo glad she will be home for the next few weeks! We had a fun afternoon after I picked her up from school. My crafty girl was thrilled to have a Santa project on her table when she came home. Even the little guy got to participate this time! Joseph couldn't quite figure out why that white stuff was so sticky...but the bottle sure was fun to play with. And that cotton sticking to his fingers..hmmm... he wasn't too sure about that stuff...but he was pretty proud of his final product!






Here's my halfway to first grader!



Ta-Da! Our magnet board looks really ready for Santa now!



We had a pretty fun afternoon crafting and of course decorating more cookies... I was hoping it would take Sophia's mind off of her "Grinch" scare at school that morning. Apparently...the Grinch came on tv in her classroom.... I have never seen this movie in its entirety, but I don't think it is horribly scary. But my Sophia....oh my....even the littlest of things scare her...even some of the animals on Joe's Noah's ark still make her a bit uneasy. When I picked her up from school Friday....everything seemed fine...at first. But as we were waiting to leave the parking lot (it was an all school early dismissal day...so strict parking lot rules and regulations were in place for the "parking quadrants" (this explanation requires another blog post)...she just broke down into tears. Was she sick? Had she been worried she would not find my car in the sea of cars that were not normally there on her daily dismissals? Was she sad she was on vacation??? I could not figure out what happened..... She finally was able to mutter the words "The Grinch came on the tv today in my classroom and my teacher had to turn it off." Her teacher turned it off, I think, because Sophia cried....POOR THING. For some reason she is TERRIFIED of this Grinch... I guess he IS kind of scary looking. I still do not know if the show just came on while the teacher was looking for another movie or if they were intending to show this movie to the class (if so...I'm wondering if it is the best choice for kindergarteners). Hmmmm...,my poor little girl has not stopped talking about the Grinch all weekend!

The Grinch was forgotten at least for a while Friday evening when we got to go sit on Santa's lap again this season. Our friends were sweet enough to invite us for a night of fun at their house because they were having a special visitor...SANTA. Sophia and Joseph sat on his lap together and got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Sophia told him she wanted a baby and a princess castle. I think Joseph may have even muttered the word "car" when it was his turn. I am so surprised that he is not afraid of Santa....but having Big sister right there, I think, makes it a lot easier!






Santa even entertained us with some Christmas music and guitar playing! I love how Sophia has her arm around Joseph as they were watching Santa.





The rest of the night Joe spent running around like his crazy self, eating candy canes, pushing all the toy cars he could find and going up to everyone and saying "hi" over and over. We love his friendly little self!!!! He's already flirting with the girls... oh my!



We ended the weekend with a trip to Union Station for the Christmas Train exhibit. I've been wanting to do this for a while...and Sunday was the last day. Despite our incredibly long wait (well...Brett's long wait in line.... I got to excursion around Union Station with the kids :)), the kids were excellent and enjoyed the fun things they got to see on the REAL train. And we even got to see Santa again! Joe was pretty squirmy by the end of the night...but he had been such a trooper all day!





I think I frosted my last "holiday" batch of cookies today.....kinda sad.... I always love making Christmas cookies. These were supposed to be a surprise for Christmas dinner at my mother's...but I can't wait....




So good-bye cookies...for a short while and hello cakes. I'm so excited to spend the next few days just having some fun with the kids...and of course I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning!!! Oh and I am praying for a white Christmas too... if that is not to much to ask! :)