November 30

Sally, Grace, and Adam came over for breakfast this morning. Caleb and Daisy were thrilled to get more playtime with their beloved aunts and uncle. After a while, though, I realized I hadn't heard from the children in a bit too long. I searched around and eventually found this in Daisy's room:

Caleb and Daisy had talked Sally into reading to them. Too sweet!

They were really happy.

Then Grace joined them, and they were even happier!

At lunchtime, the family left and we put kids down for naps. My mom came over and Chris took me out to a movie! Hooray! We were gone for 3.5 hours, and Mom reported that Lily was great the whole time. Yay!

Here's Lily at dinner time. I fixed the lighting of this photo - twice - in photoshop, but for some reason my corrections didn't save and I'm too lazy to investigate. But I wasn't sure if I had mentioned that this is how we've been doing dinner for at least the past month or two. Lily sits in her high chair and watches us eat, occasionally  joining in the conversation. On Thanksgiving she surprised me by showing me that she knew exactly what to do with a glass of water; while I held it, she pulled it to her mouth and slurped. Apparently she's paying attention at dinner time!

And just for fun, here's a little dinner time video:

Since December begins tomorrow I took down our Thankful Tree. Here it is, in all its glory:

This year, Caleb was thankful for our friends Caleb and Hannah, that Darth Vader turned to the light side, church, Tate, Jesus, Thanksgiving, Tigerlily, St. Nicholas, Maxie, Mommy, our house, our back yard, Daisy, Lily the baby, God watching over us, our Christmas tree and stuff, Star Wars, Grandma and Grandpa, Daddy, Grandmother and Grandad, the birdies outside, Elmo, Ms. Amy, playing outside, our neighbors, the deer in our back yard, and Hannah.
Daisy was thankful for Chewbacca, Luke, Tate, Baby Trixie, Jace, Mommy's coffee (I drink Mommy's coffee!), apples, Daddy, butterflies, our house, water, Grandad, Carter, Caleb, Mimi, Mommy, Tigerlily, Max, Ryan, Billy, reindeer, trees, mango, Grandmother, Lily, and Darth Vader.

November 29

Whew! Two late nights in a row, and I'm feeling it. The big kids didn't get to bed until 10 last night, and Lily kept me up well past midnight. And here I am again tonight - big kids went down around 9:30, and I'm just starting to write this post at 11:15. Late nights, disrupted routines, and the behavior issues that accompany them are my least favorite part of the holidays. Every once in a while is fine, but when they start stacking on top of each other, things get rough!

Tonight was a late night because we headed out to our zoo's Christmas light display with Chris' sisters. Grace and Sally braved the cold with us last year, too, so perhaps this is a tradition in the making? It wasn't quite so cold this year, and we came amply provisioned with grain-free gingerbread cookies and honey-sweetened hot cocoa.

Lily and I stayed on the sidelines and watched while everyone else rode the carousel. Daisy chose to ride the okapi!

Sally rode the ostrich,

And Grace wanted to ride an animal, but gamely accompanied Caleb on the bench instead. What a good auntie!

I love this shot of Chris and his sisters and the kiddos!

Daisy refused to be in this shot of our family.

But once I agreed to snuggle her, she got in the picture. Funny girl. I love the hot cocoa smeared all around her mouth. She must have inherited her father's messy chocolate eating skills.

Caleb was beyond happy tonight: Christmas lights, yummy sweets, and two doting aunties to follow him around and play whatever games he wanted? It was little boy heaven.

Lily was a trooper the whole evening. She stayed warm and cozy in her bear suit, and was happy to be snuggled by her aunties at the end of the night.

She definitely got her share of squeezes and kisses tonight!

We all had an impromptu dance party in the plaza before we headed home. 

(Yes, Daisy is still smeared in chocolate. I suppose I should have pulled the old mom trick and spit-cleaned her, but I just couldn't do it.)

We are thankful for family!

November 28

There are so many things for which I am thankful this Thanksgiving.

However, one of my darling blessings has been crying for the past hour and I just don't have time to write a thoughtful post about how much I appreciate all that God has given us this past year. But trust me: I'm thankful.

Work schedules prevented us from sharing a meal with my family this year, but my mom joined us on a trip to the garden to visit my dad at work. It was cold and it was early, but it was fun.

The Garden is all set up for a nighttime lights display. Things weren't glowing, but they were still fun!

It was probably 34 degrees out, but Lily kept me warm.

Caleb was really worried that we weren't supposed to be near the snowmen since they were fenced off. 

Aren't they cute?

Dad had the idea to bring a Santa hat for Daddy Ram, and we brought halos and antlers for the other sheep. The kids were delighted! 

(This may have been Lily's first time riding one of the sheep. She was not so delighted.)

These kids love the Garden. But the Garden with their grandparents may be one of the best things ever.

Gosh, these sheep never get old. I think I could take a million photos of us with the sheep!

Oh, wait.

Maybe I did take a million photos of us with the sheep. I'll stop now.

After we were tired of the cold (and just plain tired, in sleeping Lily's case!), we headed inside to see the train show.

Fun! 

(I'm being brief so I can get to that screaming child of mine. Chris is a patient and loving father, but even he needs a break!)

After a delicious brunch and much-too-short naps for the kids, we headed over to see Chris' family and share a meal with them. We had so much fun - so much, in fact, that I forgot to take pictures. Whoops!

But I did manage to capture this moment, when Grace decided to wear Lily in the Ergo. 

They both loved it!

Now, off to tend to that baby of mine...

November 27

Chris was able to take today and Friday off work, so we are one happy family with a five-day weekend stretched out in front of us! Even happier is that Chris' sister Grace and her husband are in town, so our Thanksgiving will find us extra thankful for her. We told Caleb and Daisy that Grace was coming to town, and all morning they asked if she was here yet. Finally, we called Grace to see where she was. They were driving through Joplin, so we looked it up on Google Maps and charted her course.

I'm not sure if the kiddos actually understood or not, but they were really interested in seeing where she was and where she would be.

Since Chris was home, I managed to go to our local Hallmark store and pick up a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament for Lily. You'd think that since it's still November I'd have a good chance of getting exactly the ornament I wanted, but that's not so. A lot of the ornaments were already sold out. Luckily, I discovered a darling little ornament with a girl owl, a boy owl, and a baby owl that says, "Over the moon for little you..." I thought it was perfect, and mentioned it to the Hallmark employee who was trying to help me. She looked at it and said, "No. That's for new parents. It's not a Baby's First Christmas ornament."

Um. Isn't that the same thing? Aren't new parents necessarily celebrating their baby's first Christmas?

So I got it. At first I felt bad that it was a mommy and daddy owl with their baby, but no brother or sister owl. But then I realized something even better: It WAS a brother and sister owl, with their new baby! And then it was perfect for us. So Caleb and Daisy know that there's a Caleb owl, a Daisy owl, and a Lily owl. Just right! 

Lily thought it was just right, too.

And then she tried to eat it. I am 90% sure that she has a little tooth bud developing. But I could totally be wrong.

Her ornament on the tree. Love it!

And though it's completely unrelated, I have to share this photo of Caleb. 

He built a "Y-Wing Fighter" out of his Legos, and was so proud of himself! First he built one for himself, and then one for Daisy. Really, it looks nothing like a Y-wing fighter, but he was adamant that it was, and he was very happy with it. Love that boy's creativity!

November 26

While Caleb was at preschool this morning, we had a playdate with Emily and her little boys. We had so much fun! Normally when we get together, one of the babies is sleeping. (Remember that Jace and Lily were born three days apart?) Not today!

They were holding hands at one point, but I missed the moment.

Hi, smiley girl! She totally doesn't mind that Jace has her by the collar and is demanding her attention.

Jace: Pay attention to me!

Lily: Just a minute, dude! Mom has the camera out and if I don't smile now, she'll just keep taking pictures!

Jace: PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!

Ha!

Then Max and Daisy got to watch the "What Does the Fox Say?" video. 

I confess: it's not just the children who like that video. I've downloaded the song to my iPhone, my iPod, and the computer. It never fails to make me laugh, especially when Daisy chimes in to sing, "And the seal goes OW OW OW!" If you haven't seen the video or heard the song yet, you really should. It's good for a few chuckles.

Also good for a few chuckles? Daisy's tutu while watching the video.

Emily and the boys ended up staying at our house while my girls and I went to get Caleb from preschool, and we all had lunch together. 

Emily entertained the children by pretending to eat non-food items. They were all laughing the hardest I've ever seen them laugh, and it was so good for my heart.

The only people not laughing? 

Jace and Lily, who were totally annoyed at their insane family. They're both clearly wondering what on earth is wrong with their people.

After dinner, we decided to pay a visit to the double-decker carousel at a nearby mall. 

In what has become their typical carousel behavior, Daisy chose to ride an animal...

and Caleb chose to sit on a bench. So it goes.

But once the carousel started moving, I appreciated Caleb's choice. Double-decker carousels, with their smaller circumferences, mess with your senses and make you much dizzier than normal carousels! Next time we visit, we will definitely stay on the lower level.

I also realized that it has been a long, long time since Caleb last visited a mall. He was totally overwhelmed and wanted *everything*. He definitely had a case of the galloping gimmes. Note to self: Don't take Caleb to a mall again, ever. It's not worth it. Except for the carousel rides, which really are pretty fun.

November 25

It appears that we have come back to our tradition of Do-Nothing Monday. Today, like the past few Mondays, was a stay-at-home day. I loved it. I also needed it; last night was Lily's worst night ever as far as sleeping goes.

I was feeling so smug, thinking that I had this whole newborn thing down. All those other parents complain about the sleeplessness that accompanies newborns, but we hardly experienced any of that. I chalked it up to our excellent parenting choices and skills. Then Lily turned 4 months old and forgot how to sleep and Chris and I are finding ourselves pacing the halls in the middle of the night, rocking, jiggling, hushing, singing, nursing  nursing nursing nursing the nursing never stops!

So I take back all those smug thoughts. They may come sooner or they may come later, but the sleepless nights? They eventually come.

Thankfully, sleepless nights bring a tired baby the next day, so Lily slept a lot and I didn't have to be on my A game today. Just B+,  for Caleb and Daisy's sakes.

We made salt dough ornaments this morning; I had no real flour in the house, so we used gluten-free flour. I also had no table salt, so we used sea salt. Like I said - B+ game, definitely not A game. But such are the hazards of being a crunchy mama! Caleb and Daisy didn't mind their gluten free dough, though. They were happy that I taught them how to knead it with the heels of their hands and use the rolling pin. When I let them use real knives to cut it (don't worry, Mom. They were butter knives.) they almost exploded with joy.

This is Daisy's "I know you told me that it tastes yucky and I'm not supposed to eat it, but I totally ate it and you can't stop me" face. The flour all down her shirt and on her lip is another tell-tale sign.

She loved working with the dough!

We made hand print ornaments that didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but that's okay. Once they've dried, we'll paint them and they'll be a lovely reminder of this season in our lives when things don't often turn out as well as we hope.

Lily woke up while the big kids were still sleeping, so she and I got some quality time together. 

Right now, quality time is naked time or tummy time. Today, we did both!

She looks so excited in this picture because she's trying her hardest to grab that little yellow bug with green wings.

And she's smiling because she got it!

Now it's time for me to go relieve Chris, who has been shushing and bouncing and walking Lily for the past 40 minutes while I uploaded photos and edited and wrote this post. Dear Lord, please let her sleep tonight!