****NEWSFLASH****

I SUCK at this whole blogging thing.  I read blogs where the blogger has a new post every single day.  Mommy-bloggers.  BUSY Mommy-bloggers.  BUSY Mommies-of-five or six-bloggers. 

I mean, seriously, why can't I get my act together and post something every now and then?  I enjoy doing it...writing my thoughts out.  Talking about my kids...even if no one is listening. 

That's the great thing about blogging.  You can talk about your kids all day....and not worry if someone is going to die of boredom while you are sitting there face-to-face telling them how cute it is when Jacob tries to say his "r's" or his "l's" and they come out like "w's".  Or how Benjamin was having a conversation with Louis the other day and, out of the blue, he asked Louis if what he had just said was an idiom.  I mean to tell you...I didn't even know my second grader knew what the word idiom was.  I don't...I mean, I did...at some point in time.  But when all you talk about is how poop is suppose to go in the potty or fingers that just came out of our nose should not be placed in our mouth or how it's not appropriate to leave the bathroom buck-naked and walk through the kitchen to ask for a towel, it's hard to remember what components it takes to form a correct grammatical sentence (like a subject and a verb), much less these other grammatical terms that I swear I don't remember learning until jr. high or high school.

I mean, my kids say and do the darndest things.  And I'll think, "That was so stinkin' funny....I need to write that down."  But do I?  Nope.  And so exactly 24 minutes later, when I am asking them for the 53rd time since they have been home from school if they will please stop bothering each other, I have completely forgotten the cute, funny thing they said or did.  And, therefore, I have no blogging material.

But I'm determined to do better.  I mean, afterall, the whole reason I started this blog was so I could remember all their Benjamin-isms, Madilyn-isms, Jacob-isms, and Noah-isms.  So, let the blogging begin....

I Have Survived...

...Christmas festivities, parties, celebrations, travels, shopping, baking, wrapping, rehearsals, performances, and fun with four kids.

...The stress that my husband places on himself and feels from about the 1st of November to the end of Christmas.

...The first of four birthdays, four months in a row.

...A husband who's so sick he spends six days in bed and loses 20 lb. in one week.

...A couple of sick kids who decided the week we were travelling would be the perfect time to get sick.

....A week with all our cousins...My grandparents (my dad's mom and dad) have 20 great grandkids (with #21 on the way) and the oldest one just turned 8 in November.

...Two weeks with the kids bickering, playing, inquiring, helping, arguing, tattling, crafting, laughing, writing, reading, fighting, and being in my hair....and loved it!

...The first week-and-a-half of 2011!

Christmas with a Two-Year Old

My Favorite Time of Year

I just LOVE this time of year...from the beginning of November through the middle of January.  I love fall and winter weather.  I love fall and winter clothes.  I love the atmosphere.  I love the extra time with family.  I love the excitement of my kids.  And I really love doing extra special things with and for my kids during this time.

While at church on Sunday, someone told me about this website called "Portable North Pole".  You can customize messages for your kids from Santa.  You can include pictures, special info about your child, etc.  And then Santa will put together a video and send an email to your child so they can watch his video to them.  It is absolutely the coolest thing. 

So I put together one for each of my oldest three kids and they got to watch them on Sunday evening...and yesterday evening...and they've already asked if they can watch them again tonight.  They were absolutely amazed that Santa would take time out of his busy schedule to make and send them a video.  It was too cute.  The look on Jacob's face when Santa told him that he knew that Jacob was trying to stop sucking his thumb (one of the personalizations I got to make), but he knew that Jacob could try even harder...well, it was priceless. 

How fun it is to be able to do things like this and see the look on your kids' faces!  While we teach our kids that Christmas is NOT about Santa, it's NOT about getting, and it's NOT about toys, we still savor these moments as much as possible....for I know that these moments are fleeting. 

The two older ones do understand that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus.  In fact, Madilyn's teacher told me that there was a little boy in their class the other day that was telling the class that Christmas is about Santa and Madilyn's "older sister" personality came out and told him "Uh-uh.  Christmas is about Jesus!".  By George....They're getting it!!!!!!!  And it makes this Momma's heart swell with pride. 

Like I said...I LOVE this time of year.  I pray that we can all slow down and enjoy each and every moment we have....to enjoy our kids, to enjoy family and friends, but, even more importantly, to prepare for the celebration of our Savior's birth. 

Two!!

Noah turned two last week.  And I am currently working on some sort of contraption I can put my kids in so time slows down.  I'll let you know how that goes...

We celebrated after dinner with a little party.  Just Mommy, Daddy, "B" (Noah's name for Benjamin), "Waliwyn" (Madilyn in 'Noah-speak'), Jacob (the only sibling's name he can pronounce clearly), and, of course, the Birthday Boy. 

It was fun to watch the older kids get so excited about Noah getting excited.  They just think he is hysterical...and enjoy his two year old antics.

When we go to Lubbock for Christmas, we will have a bigger celebration with grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles.  But it was so nice to have just a relaxing and fun celebration....just the 6 of us.

After taking Noah to the doctor yesterday for his two year check-up, I have discovered why none of the other boys' hand-me-downs fit Noah as well as they did Benjamin and Jacob when they were two.  Noah only weighs a pound less than his 4 1/2 year old brother does.  YIKES!  You can tell by looking at Noah that he is a big two year old.  Jacob was a big two year old.  But Noah is in the 80th percentile for his height and his weight.  None of our other three have ever been even in the 50th percentile.  I think Jacob might have hit right around the 50th percentile for his weight when he was around two, but it was after he turned two that he really started to get taller and slim up a bit.  We'll see if Noah does the same. 

We are so thankful for our not-so-little two year old.  He is such a fun-loving, pretty easy-going (if you can call a two year old easy-going), sibling-admiring, cuddly, always-on-the go kid.  I am so blessed to be his mommy.

In the Thick of It

And so, we are in the middle of it....

Middle of school.  Middle of soccer season.  Middle of dance classes.  Middle of softball season.  Middle of Bible studies.  Middle of Kid's Club (our weekly kid's after-school program).  Middle of Life. 

And while Life is not slowing down for us anytime soon...I am enjoying watching my kids do the things they enjoy.

All three older kids are doing great in school...at least I think they are.  We have parent/teacher conferences next week, so I guess we'll find out for sure...

Benjamin gets better and better at soccer every season and seem to enjoy it more and more.  I love that him and Lou get that time together as Lou helps coach his team. 

Madilyn absolutely loves dance classes.  And this year we have allowed her to add another class to her repertoire.  Not only is she taking ballet, she is taking tap, as well.  Now when we get to her 3 1/2 hour dance recital in May, we'll actually care about 2 of the 45 dances instead of just one.

And Jacob has started his first season of soccer.  I had forgotten in the three short years since Benjamin's first season, how uncoordinated and uninterested four year olds are in soccer.  Sometimes you just hope a butterfly doesn't fly in front of your child during a game, because chasing that butterfly becomes way more important than dribbling the ball down the field.  But, overall, he's doing pretty good.  Suprisingly, his first game has been his best game yet.  The rest of his team spent the entire game refusing to go out on the field or crying while on the field...but not our Jacob.  He got out there and played hard in 100 degree heat.  He even scored a goal that very first game!  He's way more agressive than Benjamin ever was...so if we can get him to the point where he actually cares to kick the ball, we might have a soccer player on our hands.

And then there's Noah.  Who is obviously not involved in any activities, unless you count Moppets while Mommy goes to MOPS.  But he sure does make a cute cheerleader for his older siblings.  And this kid is a pro at sitting in his stroller.  There's not many 2 year olds who are content to sit for hours at a time while watching older brothers and an older sister participate in all the fun stuff.  But Noah is excellent at it.  Makes life much easier, too!

Lou is teaching two Bible studies this fall and playing on our church's softball team.  He helps coach Benjamin's soccer team, as well.  On top of his "everyday normals", these keep him pretty busy. 

As for me, I'm doing MOPS again this year (but not on leadership), enjoying a Bible study that Benjamin's former first grade teacher is leading, involved in EVERYTHING my kids are doing, enjoying having only Noah at home but missing my other kids while they're at school, can't seem to catch up on laundry to save my life, looking forward to having Noah potty-trained sometime before this school year is over (that's my goal anyway...we'll see if it actually happens), and am excited it's finally Fall...my favorite time of year!

School started and we hit the ground running.  We are definitely in the thick of it. 

"Labor" Day

Noah and Daddy actually "labored" on Labor Day.  While Benjamin and Madilyn enjoyed a weekend with Aunt Rachel and Jacob enjoyed a weekend with Nana and Papa, we decided to get some yardwork done.  Well, I say "we".  I pretty much told Lou it needed to be done, and he, being the kind husband that he is, agreed and took it upon himself to get it done while I was trying to get some stuff done around the house.

While mowing the yard, Lou decided he needed help from a 21 month old.  So he picked the cutest one EVER...

and they finished up the yard together.

And, of course, they had to stop and pose for pictures for Mommy.

And cheer on Daddy on as he works hard.

And help Daddy pick up sticks in the yard so they won't run over them with the lawn mower.

And my very favorite picture of the day was this one with Noah getting his Guns Up.  The picture turned out blurry, but I couldn't resist the cuteness of Noah showing us what he learned the previous day during the Tech/SMU game.