December 19

Once a month, our small group volunteers with a really awesome ministry, and today was that day. Remarkably, our schedule was open! It's a kid-friendly situation, and I was optimistic that Chris and I could both go and bring all the kids. But people, the runny noses around here have been epic lately. I felt more than a little guilt at the idea of bringing our snotty children to infect the people we were supposed to be blessing. Plus, Daisy was still a mess from lack of sleep, and Eli's naptime... In the end, Chris went alone and I stayed home with all four kids. I planned to do the grocery shopping with the kids while Chris was gone, but naps and Daisy's insanity meant that it didn't happen. 

This happened, though. The FedEx man brought a package that was stuffed with this brown paper. We flattened it out, grabbed some crayons, and went to town. I was shocked at how well the kids collaborated on a relatively small piece of paper!

(Yes, Caleb is wearing the snow boots that Chris bought ten years ago for his Napoleon Dynamite Halloween costume. No, I have no idea why he is wearing them. Yes, they are nearly as big as the rest of his body.)

After I got Eli down for his morning nap, we made cookies. First we made the dough for traditional sugar cookies.  

We are a raw dough-eating family. We laugh in the face of food safety! HA!

(Also, Lily's braided pigtails. They melt my heart.)

While that chilled, we made some grain-free, honey-sweetened gingerbread men. The kids helped cut them out, then decorated the unbaked cookies with dried blueberries, dried cherries, raisins, and chocolate chips.

(Yes, Lily is wearing a different shirt. She had an unfortunate incident with a sippy cup lid, and all by herself she stripped her wet clothes off, delivered them to her laundry basket, chose a new short-sleeved shirt, long-sleeved shirt, skirt, and leggings. Then she put them all on herself. She may have put the short-sleeved shirt on first, and put it on backwards, and then put the long-sleeved shirt on top, but whatever. She's learning, and I am so impressed by her independence!)

All of the cookie-making took a remarkably long time, and soon Eli was awake. At first I let him crawl around on the floor, but then I realized that he was really annoyed that all the action was happening on the table and he couldn't see.

Happy boy! Next year, he'll be "helping" the way Lily is this year: by eating all of the chocolate chips, instead of decorating with them.

(Daisy got really upset about that, but we talked through it and decided it wasn't that big of a deal. Crisis averted.)

Just as the cookies went into the oven, Chris came home and it was lunch time. I glanced up and saw this sweet moment, and knew I had to photograph it: 

Lily wrapped herself up in the blanket she calls "Daisy's Pinky" and climbed into her Daddy's lap. She snuggled into him while he ate his lunch, and my heart melted. Chris is such a good daddy, and I love how much our children love him.

I know there is a lot of melting happening today, but I spent all morning with all four of my children, and so it can't be helped. Here is another moment that melted my heart:

I was in the back of the house when I heard some singing. As I walked into our living room, I saw Lily, rocking her baby in a cradle and singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her baby. By the time I got my camera ready, she was done rocking the baby in the cradle, but she agreed to sing for me. You can tell she's sick, but I still think it's the sweetest thing ever.

Once the little ones were down or naps, I went to Target, where I finished my Christmas shopping, and the grocery stores.  I got home just in time to get everything put away and wrap my sister's birthday present before it was time to load the kids in the van and drive to Billy and Emily's house to celebrate Emily's *gulp* 36th birthday. 

(If Emily is turning 36, that means that I am nearly 35, which is really close to 40, which is close to being old. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.)

Emily and Billy had the whole family over for tacos, burritos, and margaritas, and it was lovely. My kids love playing with their cousins!

(Also, there may have been a movie on.)

And then, Eli met Willie. I am not even exaggerating when I say that Willie is possibly the best dog ever. I am not a dog person, and I don't trust my children around any many dogs. Willie is the one dog I know I don't have to worry about, because he is so gentle and loving. Eli was a bit nervous at first, but he finally conquered his fears and crawled up to Willie, where this happened:

He reached up to pet him.

Out came the tongue, and Eli got a giant "kiss" on the face.

And Eli loved it! It was the sweetest thing ever.

Also, I am going to take this moment to officially declare that Eli has words.

He says:

Mama

Hi

Bye

Ball

Bird

and now, Dog

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the birthday girl, but I did get this picture of her husband lighting the candles of the birthday cake.

While Billy is always blog-worthy, I am choosing to post this one because of Lily in the background, covering her ears with her hands.

It wasn't even noisy. 

The ear-covering is her new thing, and she seems to do it when she's feeling nervous or uncomfortable, in addition to during noisy times. My children are so strange. Thank goodness they're cute, too.