The Cumbersome Halo

This past Sunday morning was the boys' Christmas program at church. My parents arrived early to save us a seat toward the front. I was a little nervous about sitting in the front as our crew can be kind of like a three-ring circus at times. This is why we usually sit in the very back, quick exit with a smaller audience behind us. Anyway, I figured with one in nursery and two up front, we were good with four adults to one precious little girl. As it turns out, she really enjoyed watching the program and was very well behaved. Not the case with the two IN the program. Let me set the scene for you; The beautiful Christmas music is playing and the angelic children begin to file down the center aisle to the front of the church. The audience is craning and waving to their precious performers and the kids are all smiles and beaming with pride. Each child is dressed in his or her costume. Some are shepherds, some are wisemen, there's a Mary, a Joseph, several animals and of course the angels. Derek was chosen to be an angel and Lukas was a donkey (I know, hilarious). The kids all make it up to the front and all eyes are on them. I was video taping the moment. Suddenly, (you know how it goes with the "great company of heavenly hosts" and all that) our little "heavenly host" (that would be Derek) rips the halo off his head and drops it on the floor. I was slightly embarrassed until the rest of the boys in his grade, who were all angels too, followed suit and tossed their halos as well! At this point I was horrified! Not only did my kid just demonstrate that he thinks he is far too cool for a halo, he brought 4 other boys down with him. Oh how prickly I felt for the remainder of the service. During the finale I was also very excited (read with much sarcasm)to notice that Lukas, the donkey, was the only animal without his ears on; another one bites the dust. I would say that the leadership skills are down pat, now we just need to work on making it positive leadership!

Just an FYI

This Wednesday night is the annual Home for the Holidays special put on by the Dave Thomas foundation. Thought you might like to check it out. You can read more about it HERE.

Happy #7 Lukas!

Lukas got his best birthday gift this morning: a snow day! The unexpected gifts are always so great! He did have to reschedule bringing his birthday treat and having a special play date after school but maybe it will feel like his birthday just keeps going on and on. That can't be all bad!
Lukas has chosen to have pizza with Coca Cola (mom's fav. too!) for his birthday supper and then chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert. We made cupcakes for school and for another party on Sunday. I'll post later with pictures of his present. He's going to be so geeked!
Seven words to describe Lukas are:
HILARIOUS
LOYAL
FUN
COMPASSIONATE
HARD-WORKING
HUNGRY :)
SMART

Happy birthday Lukas Jay! I can't believe you are seven today. You are still our Woogie Boy though. You're such a sweet boy and you always keep us laughing. We love you VERY much!

The December Shuffle

I absolutely love Christmas, always have. I love decorating. I love making the goodies. I love family gatherings. I love giving gifts. I love receiving gifts. I really do look forward to this time of year. In the recent years I've noticed that this time of year is much more hectic than it used to be for us. I think you take the usual baking, buying and gathering, and then add all the kids' programs, parties and "other stuff" and you get a bit more chaos. I think it must take some very intentional planning and some very graceful "no"-saying to keep this time of year from getting out of control. I want to feel reflective, peaceful and joyful as all those beautiful Christmas cards are telling me. I want that. I need that. I've got a new game plan for next year: slow down, take in the wonder of Christmas because it truly is amazing! I'm going to say "no" more often and be intentional about enjoying loved ones!

I hope that you've managed to keep the chaos at bay. If you have, would you please share your secrets?

Here are some pictures of our brood that reflect the general atmosphere around here. Enjoy!

What in Tarnation?

Every so often I attempt a group photo of the kids. I don't know what it is about the moment I run to get the camera! Will you look at this picture?!? It's just classic! Derek is trying to fulfill his oldest child duty by holding the same pose for as long as necessary while trying to manage the baby. I'm not sure what Lukas' deal is with pictures but it's always something with him, here he doesn't want to sit too close to Hanna...must be cooties. Hanna won't smile for pictures and usually won't even look at the camera. And Drew has just started putting his finger up his nose anytime I ask him to do something. They are ALL getting a copy of this picture in their picture books, mabye an 8X10! Frustration.

Diva in Training

D'ya think she could be a Diva!?! You wouldn't want to remove the shades for any reason! Partly she just loves things like sunglasses, jewelry, purses, shoes and phones. But she also knows if she puts anything down...the "stuff monster" is going to snatch it, slobber it and potentially break it! As seen in the photos. What's a girl to do?







Oh, he looks all sweet and innocent in the photo but he's a sneaky little guy! Mmmm...cute too. (couldn't you just smooch those cheekers?!?!?)

The Baby Bird

I believe I've been given the "Baby Bird" from our youngest little monster. I had been frustrated about never being able to make it to laundry day before he was running out of socks. He has several so it shouldn't be a problem to go the better part of a week without needing to wash them.

The other day, I was annoyed that he was out of socks and it had only been a couple of days since I had done laundry so I went on the hunt for the missing socks. When I pulled his crib away from the wall, this is what I found:



Chris says he was telling me off. I'm always putting socks on him, especially before bed because his room is a little cool (and I have a thing about needing to wear socks, especially at bedtime). He's always pulling the socks off and I just put them back on assuming he's only taking them off because it's a new trick or simply because he can. Chris has pointed out that the poor kid's feet are always warm and he's probably P.O.ed that his mom keeps trying to jam the socks back on his feet. Thus, the "Baby Bird". Point taken youngling.