City Kid

Big Sissy got Lincoln Logs for Christmas. It's a good thing, too, because she was starting to get resentful that both of her siblings got Legos and she didn't. She LOVES to build and create. So tonight she built a farm out of her wooden logs (which ironically comes with a plastic and paper stagecoach). She already told me she had built a sty for the horses. Assuming she meant stables, I asked her if one particular area were the stalls. "Yes," she informed me. "The farmer and his helper will probably need to go potty while they're working." I guess I should have asked if it was the horse sty. We can't even pretend to know about country life.

St. Louis Christmas

I just got back from Illinois. I'm exhausted, and my house is a wreck, but those are signs of a great Christmas. The kids were more excited than ever this year, and that just made the season so joyful. The celebrations started early in the month at church, with Breakfast in Bethlehem, and continued all month.

These are my darlings on Christmas Sunday morning. Notice the lack of big girly bows in the girls' hair? That's because I had to leave early for choir practice and Daddy got the kids dressed. I am proud of him for getting them there!

Sunday night was our Carols & Candlelight Service. The kids got to participate by dressing up in costumes and singing Away in a Manger. Even Little Buddy stood up there for a little while. He is the shiny one in the middle with the very large wise man hat. Adorable, if I do say so myself. Little Sissy was a sheep, which was very appropriate since she carried Brown Lamby with her the whole time. (This photo was stolen from Joseph's mommy. That would be Baby Jesus's grandma. Oh, please forgive me.)

Since I'm such a diligent mama who would never let an occasion go by without photo documentation, of course I packed my camera on our trip to Illinois. Somehow in the excitement, however, I let the batteries go dead and never get recharged THE ENTIRE TRIP. I don't know how that happened, but I am relying on family members to provide photos from our time there.

Go Wrestle a Lion

Look at me. I'm a blogging machine!!!

I know I've been posting a lot about Big Sissy lately, and as I analyze it I think it's because she's in a "good phase" right now. She's reasonable, sensitive, and wants to please usually. The other 2--well, they're in harder phases right now. Especially Little Buddy. Aye aye aye. To all those people who asked me if it was different having a boy and I said, "No. He's so sweet and cuddly," I stand corrected. It's totally different. Completely, undeniably, maddeningly different.

Little Buddy has a charming personality. He makes me laugh multiples times in a day. But the reality is that he has changed from a cuddly little baby boy into a testosterone-filled, energetic, sometimes just flat WILD toddler. He's in a phase of hitting, pinching, pulling hair. I'm 99% sure he has broken my nose twice in the last 2 months. It still sounds like I'm crumpling paper when I push on the side of my nose. I'll just be honest. I don't know what to do with him. I do believe in spanking (I know some of my readers don't), but I don't feel like spanking is an appropriate response to aggression (you hit me, I hit you back). So I've been sending him to his room or holding his arms still when he does it. If someone has some suggestions, I am open to them!!!

Tonight, while I was at the Princess and the Frog with the girls, Daddy had some one-on-one time with Destructo. They threw balls, they played on the toddler roller coaster, and they spent a lot of time wrestling our huge stuffed lion downstairs. He was wound up. He was aggressive. And the only repercussion was a lion turned upside down. I've decided that is going to be my new answer. I don't want him to be girly or weak. I just am tired of getting hurt (and comforting other children who are getting hurt). So when he's being wild, I'm going to send him down to wrestle the lion. I have an extra seat in my van. That may be Mr. Lion's seat. You never know when we might need to wrestle a lion at WalMart, at church, at the mall. You won't believe how sweet and gentle he was when I got home. Thank you, Mr. Lion!!!

Begging to be Caught

Tonight I decided to splurge and take the girls to see the Princess and the Frog. I've taken them to movies before, but this is the first time I actually paid for it. (I know, I'm cheap.) Hubby told me before we left--as I was packing up all our snacks (did I mention I'm cheap??) that they were cracking down on sneaking snacks in and checking everyone's bags. Assuming they wouldn't frisk preschoolers, I put fruit snacks in each girl's cargo jeans pocket. All I put in my purse was a water bottle. The worst that could happen is that they would make me throw it away, right?

When I got to the counter, I realized that my water bottle was on top of my wallet. My purse is compact, forcing me to get the water bottle out of my purse in order to pay for the tickets. Having nowhere else to put it, I set it on the counter in front of the window. Just a few feet away, the lady was waiting to take our tickets. That really didn't give me time to stuff the water bottle back inside of my purse. Thinking I needed to be sneaky, I shoved it inside of my coat while I handed her the tickets. Since there was no pocket there...yep, it landed with a thud onto the floor and rolled several feet in front of the ticket lady. I laughed out loud while I picked up the bottle and shoved it into my purse.

Apparently they're not too strict on the rules about sneaking stuff in. And apparently I should never try to be a spy.

Christmas Fun Night

I love the Christmas cookie tradition. Since we usually go to Illinois for several days during Christmas, we try to implement some of our own family traditions earlier in December. This week we had cookie night on Sunday night. Since my counter space is limited and everyone wants to help, they all bring their little chairs over and line up to wait for their turn to crack an egg, dump in some flour, etc. It takes a little longer than doing it myself, but it's more fun if they get to help.

The rolling and cutting is done. My little bakers are so proud.

Now for the fun part--the decorating. This year I bought small tubes that we could write with. It was nice to have some cookies not totally smothered in icing (my preference--not the children's, of course!)

My special cookie. Everyone in my family thinks it's just for him or her, so I guess I'll have to eat it myself.

Wrapping it up--Watching Rudolph in their new Christmas pajamas. Aaaahhh...I love Christmas with these little guys.

Maybe an Editor?

I am always trying to figure out what Big Sissy will do when she gets older. She has so many traits that remind me of myself. In the end I decided to mostly be a mommy, and so far that's what she wants to do too. But she may have a stint as an editor like I did. Here is her first proofing project.

First she circled all the food words she knew. If you click on the picture, you can see that she wrote at the top, "Words we ne." Words we knew??? Then at the very bottom she crossed the "es" off of tomato because that didn't look right to her. She processes things by writing them just like I do. I love watching the differences in my children and the unique ways God has made and gifted them. And I'm processing all of that through my blog. Thanks for joining me. :)

Fight For Your Rights

Big Sissy has been learning about trademark infringement (although we haven't called it that). So today she was pretending that she worked for My Little Pony and someone tried to copy her ponies. She jumped on the computer, and after asking me the spelling for a few words, typed up this:

You
Quit
We hav the rits to letol pones so so you should not copy our idea

You don't mess with this girl. Maybe she's going to be an attorney???