Thursday, January 11, 2018

Her Mama's Daughter

No doubt about it, she's her mama's girl. She received some baking "tools" for Christmas and the other day found a kitchen moved into our family room. Now she's always baking...especially cupcakes. Wonder where she got that from.... I've heard she does the same thing at church.  She is, by far, the one who has imitated me the most.  It's really quite something to watch sometimes.

She insists on taking many of her baking supplies to and from her bed at nap time and can be heard mixing away while she rests.  She rarely sleeps during her afternoon nap.  More typically she talks and sings as she resets her attitude. :)  Now she can bake, too.  She bakes and creates downstairs, too, of course, and one day not long after Christmas as she was working away she declared, "It's baking day!"  We think she got this from one of the Little House books that she loves to read so much (young child versions of the Little House in the Big Woods, etc with beautiful pictures).  In one of them, Ma has a "baking day."  I also have "baking days", but we think it's more likely she pulled this idea from the book.

One thing that cracks us all up on a daily basis is that she refers to her collection of things that travel to her bed as her "thing stuff."  Not her "things," not her "stuff," but always her "thing stuff."  We can't help but laugh.

P.S. Her hair is not usually quite so curly.  She woke up in dire need of a bath today and that hair is what happened!

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Cookies and Gingerbread

We have several Christmas traditions revolving around cookies and gingerbread.  This year December 18 was baking day.  The boys got right in there with me rolling and cutting pieces for their gingerbread houses and cookies to decorate.  Maybe next year I'll turn them loose to do it by themselves!



 Next on the agenda was our annual trip to the Reston Town Center Hyatt to see the Gingerbread Display.  Eliana wasn't too impressed, but she did really enjoy her after-viewing Panera pastries!


I also hosted my annual girls Cookie Exchange this same week.  The flu and other mishaps reduced our numbers to 7, but we had a great time anyway!  And I love my new "team captain" shirt!
 Wednesday we took on the houses.  The boys had a blast.  And so did Eliana when she showed up after nap time and discovered the tasty scraps. :)

 The last cookie activity waited until family arrived - the decorating.  This was the first time in my life I ever saw my dad decorate a cookie!
 Works of art.  So fun and sooooo yummy!!

The 24th I spent most of the day (after church) in the kitchen. So much cooking to do, but so much more fun when wearing a Santa apron. :)  Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Our Little Lemon

I'm updating because I know many of you want to know...as of this morning we still have a heartbeat! 14 weeks yesterday. Thank you for your continued prayers and messages. I have been so on-edge for the last few weeks and as a result have been checking on baby every week. I am trying to stay hopeful and at this point have good reason to be, but I have just had the hardest time relaxing. My latest loss (which happened in 2007) was at about 15 weeks, so I don't feel all the way out of the woods just yet. And I'm really thankful for a practice that lets me call them up and say "I need a heartbeat check today!!"  

And yes, I am still exhausted all the time and terribly nauseated, although my food aversions seem to be lifting a bit.



Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Geography Nuts

Yesterday Caleb and Joshua competed in the LoCo Homeschooler National Geographic Bee and finished 1st and 2nd. We celebrate with a cookie cake since yesterday was National Cookie Day. Congrats boys! Caleb will take the State Bee qualifying exam in January.  The top 100 finishers for the state will go on to participate in the State level of the Geo Bee in early April in Farmville, VA!





Monday, December 4, 2017

Really Joshua?

Yes, folks, this is twice in 8 months... Broken elbow this time. Well, at least I can't fault him for the way he's handling it.  Cheerfully! 2017 shall be known as "The Year of the Broken Bones" since I broke a bone this year as well. ðŸ˜•I have

Monday, November 27, 2017

13 Weeks!

I can hardly believe it...but I'm almost 13 weeks. I still don't feel relaxed and confident about this baby making it because I lost two after this point, but I continue to trust that no matter how it goes, God's got it. But of course it was certainly a huge relief to hear and see Pumpkin again today!  #stillbeating


Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Birthday Boys

We don't usually have actual birthday parties. I think Philip's last party was 10 years ago when we did a joint party with Caleb. We had over 50 people there! I just wasn't up for that this year, so we had a smaller group, but we celebrated nonetheless. Philip actually requested a rather specific cake to reflect his favorite active hobby. It wasn't perfect, but it made him happy. And Eliana liked it. "Wow! Man!" she said. 


Caleb also had a birthday this month.  Can you believe he's 14?!  I can't!  His love for the Seattle Seahawks continues, so his cake was on theme.  His growth spurt hasn't hit yet, so I've still got him beat by about 1.5"....I don't expect to be able to say that next year!!