christmas: my gifts--four beautiful children

-the one who made me a momma-

-my first son-

-the one who brought us such joy after dark days-

-my 'ephraim' (Gen.41:52)-

* Merry Christmas!! *

reading like the big people

maisie's new word

Okiedokie...or as she says it, "ohgey-gogey." (Or as it's sometimes turned into, "ohgey-daddy.")

And speaking of Maisie.  That girl is a smart little thing.  We've been spelling "passy" and "bottle" (her favorite things) when we need to mention them.  Well, she's figured it out.  You say, "p-a-s-s-y", "p-a-s-s" or "p-a-" and she says, "baba!"  Say "b-o-t-t" or "b-o-t-t-l-e-" and she pipes up, "bohble!" I told Braden we will just have to invent a random code word like "green bean" and see if that works for a while.

nutcracker ballet

For Maddie's birthday present this year, we gave her a trip to see the Nutcracker Ballet with Daddy.  She was SO excited to go, and the time finally came for the show!  It was a late night, but Braden said Maddie enjoyed every moment.

 

all i want for christmas

Now, let me think...there was one more thing I wanted for Christmas.

christmas wrapping

My annual wrapping.  This year, just simple red (and a few cream) felt bows.  Super easy, but a unique touch.  :)

2011
2010 (and here too) 
2009
2008

I already have a few ideas tucked away for next year's wrapping!

toddlers

I find the toddler age, especially from one year to two years old, quite trying in many ways.  But that difficulty is fortunately balanced with extreme cuteness. 

I don't know what's cuter than little Maisie fresh out of her crib in the morning off and running, hollering greetings to everyone..."Mohnee, Mommy!  Mohnee, Daddy! ...Hayup! Hayup! Mohnee, Hayup! Mohnee! ...."

how we found Caleb sleeping the other night

Good grief!  How many of these do I post?  It feels like every couple months I've got another one.  This time Caleb fell asleep while reading on the couch. 

* newsflash *

Little Duke rolled over for the first time--back to tummy!  I left him like this playing on his mat. 
I heard him fussing from the other room and came back in to find him on his tummy and "stuck." 

santa baby

Maisie's favorite words

I wanted to write down Maisie's favorite words right now because they are so a part of who she is.

Hi-ho
Maisie's favorite song is 'Heigh-ho' from Snow White.  When she sees ipods, she says, "Hi-ho."  But somehow it's gone beyond just the song.  She'll be walking along and blurt out "Hi-ho!" or she'll be in her highchair babbling or getting her diaper changed, and "Hi-ho!" Or she will greet you randomly during the day with, "Hi!" and you'll say, "Hi, Maisie!" and she'll add, "Hi. Hi-ho!" 

Moh-nee
Maisie LOVES to greet!  When she gets up in the morning and is let out of her crib, she greets everyone by name--even walks around finding everyone so she can say "Moh-nee!"  But we all get greeted at all times of the day, too.  When she wakes up from her nap, "Moh-nee, Mommy." When Daddy comes home from work sometimes, "Moh-nee, Daddy. Moh nee."  And sometimes, just randomly as she pitter-pats by, "Mommy? Moh-nee!"

Nee
Please. Maisie is getting better about saying please instead of just yelling for what she wants.  When she yells, I tell her, "Maisie, say 'please.'"  And when she's compliant, she will glance down, tuck her chin toward her chest, look back up at me and say, "Nee."

Dee-dee
Videos on the ipad or iphone.  She loves the song and video "Moon Moon Moon" by Laurie Berkner. Every since I showed her the moon one night (when we were coming home late and it was big, round and glowy), she's been talking about the moon.   

Moo, moo
Moon.  Maisie loves the song and dee-dee "Moon Moon Moon" by Laurie Berkner. Every since I showed her the moon one night (when we were coming home late and it was big, round and glowy), she's been talking about the moon. She finds the moon in her books.  And sometimes she will just say, "Moo, moo." And so I'll sing it to her, and she sings along with a few of the words.  The other day, she was eating her lunch and pointing at the lights, and added, "moo, moo."  I said, "Moo moo?  what do you mean?" (Forgetting.)  Maisie pointed up at the ceiling and looked at me like Mommy what do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about and said, "Moo, moo ina guy."  (Moon moon in the sky.)  Quite a sentence for a 19 month old! 

Ligh ah, ligh ov
Maisie is always commenting on lights.  She points to a light that's on, "Ligh ah?" Yes, Maisie the light is on. "Ligh ah." Or she's telling you, "Ligh ov.  Mommy, ligh ov."

Ohwee
Oranges. I ordered some fabulous satsuma mandarins from this farm in CA that I like to order each November/December.  To say Maisie loves them is an understatement. I think she would eat them all day long.  She asks for them...a lot.  "Ohwee?" And when I say yes, it's "Ohwee! Ohwee!"

decorating the tree

Like I wrote before, we got our tree Thanksgiving weekend.

Maddie and Caleb pretty much decorated the whole tree. 

 

There were a few special ornaments we didn't let them touch, and Braden and I had to hang on the high sections.  But they did a great job with the bulk of the decorating, spacing the ornaments out nicely and keeping everything fragile out of Maisie's reach. 

our christmas tree

We've cut our tree down since Caleb was 2.  But this year the thought of a 40 minute drive each way, plus a long walk to the tree fields with a nursing babe and a fussy-when-in-the-carseat-for-a-long-time toddler just didn't seem to fall under the "fun" category for us.  So during Thanksgiving weekend, we opted for the quick, easy, close by Home Depot tree this year.  Sure I missed the fun of trekking out to the tree farm, but hey, we're not going to keep a tradition for tradition's sake if it means we'll go crazy attempting it!

Ironically, we ran into Rob & Mary and Steve & Hemi getting their trees. Ironic, because the last time we went to HD for a tree 5 years ago we ran into them! It was a lot easier back then because I think between the 3 of us couples, we only had 3 kids.  This year? Nine. Amazing what 5 years can bring.

But anyway, we got a beautiful NARROW tree, a 9-footer.  Much more under control than last year's beast!  It's a gorgeous tree, really, and we're enjoying it lit up every day.  Christmas tree lights are so beautiful and calming, aren't they?

potty time!

Little Mae-Mae is a smart little cookie!  She is starting to tell us when she needs to go potty and then she goes in her little potty.  Both #1 and #2.  She's doing a great job so far.  She is going in the potty about once a day on her own initiative.  Here's to hoping she keeps up the good work!

look alikes

Most people say Duke looks a lot like Maddie.  Braden and I really didn't see it for a while.  To us he just looked different.  I think a lot of that was because when he was first born, he just came out looking different!  I'm not sure what exactly we were expecting, but he came out really red and fat and weighed about a pound more than we were expecting.  And he was born nearly bald with blonde peach fuzz. I guess maybe we were thinking brown hair, since both Maddie and Caleb were born with brown hair?  I don't know.

But when I took this picture recently (right just before Duke's 4 month birthday), I looked at the picture, and all of sudden I saw the resemblance.  Wow!  He looks so much like Maddie here!  And isn't his laughing grin just so cute?!

bad hair day

That poof of hair between Maisie's and Maddie's heads is Maisie's hair.  She woke up the other morning with some CAARAZY hair!  I tried taking several pics, but they just couldn't capture it in all its glory.  You'll just have to trust me on it.  We were all laughing!

reading buddies

All last year Caleb was "reading."  He read through his school readers, but he never crossed that point where he realized he could really read, you know, pick up a book and read it.  At the end of August, one day he did.  He picked up a book and started to read it, and click, the light bulb went off!  His reading has since skyrocketed.  He's reading so well now! 

One of his favorites things to do is to read to Duke.  It's really cute, because Duke watches him and the book and stays very happy. 

fancy schmancy

I got dressed the other day, like so, and Caleb said to me, "Mommy, why do you have such fancy clothes on today?"  Yikes!!!  I guess really have been wearing a lot of sweats lately.  Mothers of newborns! 

ooops!

Well, this was hilarious! Maisie has the tiniest little hips, and well, it's hard to keep her pants up sometimes.  I forgot to fasten her diaper cover on the tightest waist snap, and well, she was walking along and oooops! down slid her diaper and her pants! 

 

(Check out that stream of stuff behind her.  That's what Maisie spends her days doing now...rearranging and scattering.)

heirloom cornmeal

We're in our third year of Story of the World, which is a four year world history program that begins with the beginnings of known man and carries on up to the present.  I absolutely love it!  It think it is a phenomenal program--Maddie and Caleb have learned so much.  I have even learned a lot, and it's filled in gaps for me that I had, having learned "random" portions of history throughout all my school years. 

 But anyway, around October, we were studying the first settlers at Jamestown, the pilgrims, Native Americans, and so on, so we slowed down since it was nearly Thanksgiving.  We spent half of October and all of November reading extra books about that time period. We read a book on Squanto, on the founding of Maryland, a fictional pilgrim boy, a real pilgrim girl, and on Louis Joliet who was an early Canadian explorer. 

It's been lots of fun studying all of this during the Thanksgiving season!  And, as a teacher, I love it when we can make those real life connections.  Kids learn so much better. 

Since corn was so integral to the first pilgrim's survival, to the Indians, and Squanto taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, I wanted to do a cooking project with corn.  I love bringing food into school--so fun! I happened upon this heirloom cornmeal, grown for well over 150 years on VA's eastern shore. It's stoneground using historical equipment.  I bought some because it was far more authentic both in color and texture to what people were consuming back in the 1600's. 

And so we made cornbread for dinner one night.  Kids loved the project, it was easy to do while the babies were napping (a must these days), and we all enjoyed the cornbread with our dinner.   

(pic by Caleb)

maisie's indoor ride

We borrowed this push toy from Maisie's physical therapist.  It was just the right height for her to push as she was learning to walk.  Well, Maisie quickly (that afternoon, I think!) discovered that it doubled as the perfect stroller for herself.  Because she's so tiny, she fit right in perfectly.  Maddie and Caleb would push her around the house...and boy did she love that!  She'd beg them for rides quite often. 

We had to watch Caleb because he would push her so fast (like really fast) that going around corners she'd nearly fall out!  It was always such a funny picture watching her fly by, arms out, trying to balance...right before I'd tell Caleb to SLOW DOWN. 

Did I mention that Maisie graduated from PT?  I can't remember!  But at the end of October, she did.  She's walking like a champ now and on target for her age.  So grateful we were able to do that PT with her to get her up to speed! (Literally, hah!)

wee miss maisie

Well, she had a mild diaper disaster while we were at my parents the day after Thanksgiving.  I hadn't brought an extra change of clothes, but I did have extra for Duke.  So, into Duke's overalls she went.  Matched her sweater and everything!  Just a bit short.  ;)

toddler snacktime entertainment

a.k.a. Mommy got 25 minutes to work on dinner! 

 Maisie watched Maddie and Caleb play outside with our neighbor kids Peter & Phillip.

the many faces of duke

 

"hay-yup" and maisie

Maisie's got a silly side to her, and there are certain things Caleb does that really speak to her...like taking her baby and throwing it up in the air so it slams to the floor with a bump.  She thinks it's hilarious.  Here she is with "Hay-yup." I think he was just making her baby talk and do silly things, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  

 

when the duke's away the maisie will play!

happy thanksgiving!

Braden the fisherman, Christy the "wearer of many hats", Caleb the baseball player, Maddie the graduate, Maisie the peanut, Duke the spit-up champ.

being a good big sister

the cave

Caleb "made" a cave for him and Maisie.  Under the desk in the kitchen.  Maisie just loved going into her cave.  They listened to a lot of music while sitting in their cave.  (The ipod dock is on top of the desk.)  The only problem was Caleb taped up bats that he drew, and Maisie kept delighting in taking them down. Caused a wee bit of trouble.  But all in all, they had a lot of fun and spent a lot of time that day in their cave.

bumbo

 Duke also loves the bumbo.

(Though these pictures are already a month old! Yikes!)

"mine!"

Duke now belongs to Maisie.  "Dookgwee...mine!" 

halloween

Maddie and Caleb went around our neighborhood with our neighbors to get candy.  We had kinda forgotten about Halloween and costumes and all, so that afternoon we pulled out a new bin of dress up clothes and let the kids at it.  Here's what they came up with:

Madeleine, the graduate.

Caleb, one of the Three Muskateers

And yes, he has his handy-dandy swashbuckling belt on.

 

And yes, my photos are pathetic.  I totally forgot to take pictures until they were ready to leave (thus Maddie putting on her shoe), and I rapidly snapped a couple just for memory's sake.

silly maisie

Laying on the kitchen floor, snuggling her jammies and gargling water.  Toddlers crack me up!

 Now, a little snuggle. 

duke's 4 months stats

Duke surprised us by dropping on the charts.  He's not the hefty fella Caleb was.  I didn't think he was as big as Caleb was, but I felt like he was still chubby and on the bigger side.  But I think I'm just used to our little skinny minnie Maisie!

Duke came in even across the board...just under 50th% for height, weight and head.
Height: 24.5 in.
Weight: 14 lbs 3 oz (Caleb was almost 15 lbs 11 oz)
Head: 42 cm

Now isn't that the sweetest, little smushy-cheeked face?  I think so!  (Even with that spit-up on the corner of his mouth.  ;)