playing in the snow

The girls ventured out to play in the snow yesterday...
(it took forever to bundle them, and once bundled moving was certainly interesting)
They were out for over an hour, Rosie thought it was great that the snow was up to her waist and she could simply stand and play in it.
Since snow hills do not exist in our yard, they had to go up and down the slide to experience sledding :)

Yahaira's preschool program

Today was the last day of preschool before the Christmas break.
Today she performed the songs and finger plays she has been learning
during the month of December. She was so excited that we were going to be there to watch.
She was so proud to show us what she had learned. Today as I watched her,
I was reminded of how simply blessed we are. Sometimes the words of the doctors will drift thru my mind, ("we don't know if she will walk, we don't know what her level of function will be, we just know that the brain damage is extensive" those words.) today was one of those times, as I watched her sing, and dance, laugh, and be 4, I found myself smiling back at her and saying a "thank you" to God for simply letting those be words and not her reality. Normal is such a beautiful thing.

the view out my window

time for an updated view out my window photo...
yes there is a lot of the white stuff...a lot!
with a promise of more later today and tomorrow.
sigh, I won't say it, again.
I am often quite clear what I think of winter.
even the beautiful, serene photos above can't quite sway that opinion.

for Kelly

this is adorable.

and today this is not adorable.
this is causing me to pull my hair out and speak in different languages.

so there you go an update on your adorable little munchkins Who if they bother to tell me one more time today that Johnny is watching me and is going to report back to Santa I may just eliminate Santa and the whole jolly holiday simply because I can!

Sunday School Christmas Program

Today was the the day! The one they have been practicing for. For weeks during music they have been learning their songs.
I wondered if Rosie would stand with the group or sing. She did, that would be so her keeping us all on her toes. This was her very first program...she was adorable. Loved watching her sing, loved seeing her expressions. Yahaira is a pro, having got the first time out of the way last year. She sang and waved at me :) pulled her dress up a few times to scratch her leg....sigh. Of course this would be the year no one was standing in front of her...of course. Anthony was one of the three kings this year...loved how he casually leaned against the railing, as tho to say this acting thing is a piece of cake. My niece Grace was Mary, how cool is that? and up in the right corner that would be my neighbor Jay who did an awesome job of reading at the beginning of the program.

Christmas program

Tonight was the elementary Christmas program.
Joy of the Season
Love watching these little ones perform, they have such a special energy and excitement.
Love that I had seats in the first row, which made taking pictures a breeze. (Love the District 840 auction that allows me to purchase those front row seats) Betty was my date for the night, her comments make every event interesting. :)

4 days?

has it really been 4 days since I last posted? why what on earth is that?
(ok that could be called life, and the fact that the month of December is just simply insane, despite my quest to simplify)
time to play catch up...just in case you had missed your daily dose of my fascinating life. (I think I may have rolled my eyes as I typed that) so here is post number three for today, this is Goldie in her new bed, purchased for her by Beckie. It took Goldie days to decide whether she wanted to use this bed, and in that lapsed time the little wonder pictured to the right of the picture decided she most certainly liked having this wonderful cushion to curl up in and watch the Disney Channel. Ummmm thus the dilemma, dog curls up in warm, soft cushion, youngest child is standing on the perimeter looking sad and dejected. Dog evacuates and child jumps in at warp speed only to have the dog looking sad and dejected when she returns to reclaim her spot. This has been the scene day in and day out between the furry member of the house and the three year old wonder...sometimes they even share (I have attempted to get a picture of that it truly is heartwarming but for now you will just have to take my word on it.)

matching pj's

I know the time will come when the picture above is simply not going to happen, that in no uncertain terms will they even agree to wear matching pj's but, until that time I will continue to buy them and of course take pictures of the little wonders in their matching outfits.
and for some reason I am completely loving the blurry pics above, I didn't use the flash and even tho it's not clear I do love how the lights from the tree look surrounding them. I think sitting in the living room with nothing but the lights from the tree on, is perhaps my favorite spot to be during this Christmas season.

snowflakes

creating snowflakes to hang in our windows...
I noticed at one point that one snowflake was smudged a bit, when I asked "who touched it" Rosie quickly put her fingers behind her back, "not me" she said. So I asked if I could look at her fingers, which she quickly held out for me to inspect...her face was priceless as she realized the paint was all over her fingers...

a year in review....8 on the 8th style

in no particular order January thru December

(ok so I tried to put them in order but apparently it's not suppose to happen today, some days computers are just a royal pain in the butt.

8 on the 8th

December and final edition.
Can it be, 12 months of 8 photos on the 8th day of the month has come to an end?
It truly does feel like I just started this project...gives new meaning to the phrase "time flies"
So the next thing I should say is that by the first week of January I will be posting pictures from the album that I'm going to create for this special project. I should say that, but I'm afraid I won't, since I honestly can't see that happening, maybe by January of 2010 I may pull that off. So perhaps I will do 9 on the 9th in 2009, ummmm perhaps I will.

meeting santa

The first time we arrived Santa was feeding his reindeer...sigh.
Thankfully Santa was available on our second visit.
Rosie was quite excited to talk to Santa, until it was her turn then it was simply a no go.
(notice she is the furthest possible point from Santa while still being in the picture)
all three asked Santa for a DS (a Nintendo DS for those of you uninformed (that would be me I had to call Josh and ask him what on earth Anthony was talking about) you may want to stay clueless I almost hyperventilated when I checked them out at Target later in the day) oh and Rosie didn't actually speak to Santa, Anthony was quite happy to speak for her.

the first time

I hear this song each December I am instantly reminded of the fist time I heard the song on the radio. I simply stopped what I was doing and listened. In a time when Internet searches were unheard of and replay required rewinding a cassette tape my information about the song came thru the radio...as the popularity of the song increased and the story behind it's release was told and retold I found myself fascinated by what it represented.
To say it inspired me would be an understatement... at the time of it's release in November 1984 I was still firmly planted in the all about me mentality, for whatever reason this song touched me and connected me to something outside my realm. It was the first time I donated to a charity and every year after it has been a reminder to myself of the importance to give.
Today I heard the song for the first time this holiday season, and yes I paused and listened and remembered, once again reminded of the importance of giving, beyond ourselves and to a much bigger picture.
so here is a link to the video on YouTube, (my how far we have come since 1984) may it put a smile on your face...and Bono at any age is simply worth a pause in your day, his voice is simply amazing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jEnTSQStGE

and if you care to read the history of the unprecedented song here is a link where you can read all about it...(no need to wait for the radio to report it or the evening news to cover it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_They_Know_It

This is Johnny...

our Christmas elf.
He made his first appearance yesterday in our home.
We began by reading his story...an answer to how Santa knows if every child in the world has been naught or nice...
why he has elves for that of course. Each night he returns to Santa to report in on how the children of the house are behaving. When he returns he finds a new place in the house from which to watch the children for the day. The first thing Yahaira asked this morning was "where's Johnny?" followed by a 30 minute search to find him...finally her and Anthony found him perched on the computer desk. I noticed a few glances from Yahaira last night in Johnny's direction when she knew that what she had just done wasn't perhaps going to fall into the nice category..(sticking her tongue out at her brother, hitting Rosie) thinking I might just enjoy this little self check helper hanging out this month. Last night when Rosie decided to have a melt down, Anthony quickly pointed out that Johnny was watching and would certainly be telling Santa...which did cause the child to pause her melt down and stare first at the elf and then at Anthony and then to calmly say... "I don't care, I don't like Johnny." sigh, for a brief moment I wondered if meltdown avoidance would come in the form of an elf watching over...apparently not.

this is.......

pure craziness...
yes that would another advent calendar.
sigh.
This would be the calendar Anthony made at school, the one he excitedly pulled out of his school bag to show me, with the biggest grin on his face, "I made this" he proudly proclaimed.
So for those of you keeping track this brings us to 4 advent calendars. Someone suggested soon we will need to start early in the morning just to get all those little doors and links removed before the next day arrives. I fear they may have a point.
I'm sure there is a lesson to be learned, (most likely it will take me a while to figure it out) apparently simple just does not extend to advent calendars at our house.