The Puddles

Ainsley was a cow with her BFF.  Ben was the innkeeper and Madie was the Arc Angel.  Again it was adorable.

We had a wonderful Girl Scout field trip to the Nutcracker.  It ended up being a Mother/Daughter event.  All of the girls look so pretty with their dresses.  We had so much fun.  Ainsley loved the ballet and Madie loves anything at a theatre.  I started planning this field trip in August.  Since the tickets are expensive for most of my troop we opened the field trip to all three troops that meet on Thursday at TOL. Doing that allowed us to get a really good group rate and about the only way we could do it (and get really good seats)!  But it was so worth it!  I loved all of it!!  I really enjoyed taking my girls. It was a very special Saturday!

Madie played beautifully this year.  She is having a harder time connecting personally with her new teacher, but her teacher is doing a good job of making her a better player.  She played a duet with her teacher and she did great!  I love seeing her getting better each recital!  She loves the violin!

Look at that bow tie on Ben! Snazzy! I recorded his concert.  I need to work on posted some of it to YouTube.  Bad mommy!

Santa came to the neighborhood to hear all of our wishes for Christmas.  Ainsley wanted an American Girl Doll, Madie wanted an iPad, and Ben wanted a Razor 360 and a gun.  All of the kids love getting to tell Santa what they want.  Ainsley was worried that she wasn’t good enough to get a Santa present.  She told Santa that she was working on being good!

I always love this time of year. Decorating the tree is a magical, majestic, and scary (especially when they climb the really tall ladder) event. The christmons are laid out on the altar and the children have the freedom to pick up and hang where the ornaments any where on the tree.  A couple of the men “man” the ladders to help the kids get to the higher points, but the moment is lead by the kids.  Each child picking out the ornament that the think is the prettiest or means something to them or is easy (has a hook on it already) or like their best friend’s etc.  The parents hang out in the pews talking amongst themselves while the kids work.  This tree is really for the children anyways.   When I took Ben’s picture with his friend Cason, I so wanted to know what they are whispering to each other!  I am also grateful for the strong hands holding the ladders making sure that the children are safe.  I am grateful for Ms. Mary who lays out all of the ornaments and doesn’t bat an eye when one gets dropped and breaks (she is very patient).  I am thankful for a church who lets the children decorate the Christmas tree that sits front and center.  What a wonderful and beautiful tradition!

Background story: Chris and the kids bought me a surprise Christmas present. He told the kids that if I ask about the present that they had to tell me it was a Llama named Larry.

“Mommy, you know that the Llama is dead, right?” says Ainsley with all seriousness.

“No, why is it dead?”

“Because there are no holes in the box. And Ben and I talked and decided that the Llama named Larry couldn’t have survived inside the box without air for this long. So the Llama is dead. I hope that’s ok.”

“I’m sure that it is all going to be alright and that I will love whatever is inside that box.”

“Ok. But I just thought you should know.”

1. Wake up at 6:00am to get to the grocery store and back before Chris leaves for work at 8:30am. √
2. Have Chris comment about the amount of groceries by asking me if I left anything in the store for other people. √
3. Feed everyone breakfast and then start to unpack all of the groceries.  √
4. Put away all of the groceries, clean kitchen, finish laundry, and other household chores.√
5. Allow Madie to go on a walk with Hank around the neighborhood.  √
6. Implement  the neighborhood watch (a.k.a. The Finkes) to make sure they were home in case something bad happened to Madie she had a safe place to go. (They are at the half way point of her walk).√
7. Worry for an hour while Madie is out walking with the dog. √√√ √√√ √√√ √√√ √√√ √√√ √√√
8. Watch Santa’s elves feed the reindeer on Live Cam from the North Pole.  √
9. Let Ben build a Santa alarm (you should read the plans).
10. Convince Ben that stringing wire throughout the house in order to alert Ben that Santa has arrived is NOT a good idea.√
11. Practice reading Bible readings with Madie for tonight’s church service.  √
12. Take baths in the middle of the afternoon and get dressed for church.  √
13. Get myself ready. √
14. Make it to church on time. (That one didn’t happen.)
15. Get to church only to realize that the first and second lesson isn’t included in the service, so Madie is not reading that night.  √
16. Rush Ainsley to the bathroom in the middle of worship after the glow stick that they gave the children exploded all over her.  √
17. Convince Ainsley that I can wash the glow stick out of her dress after we get home.  √
18. Daddy tells Madie that she can read the gospel during the 7:00pm service to make up for the miscommunication at the 4:00pm service.√
19. Take the annual Christmas picture of the kids all dressed up. √
20. Run to the store on the way home to buy one last present from the kids to “someone” in the family.√
21. Go and see Christmas lights on the way home.  √
22. Bake cookies for Santa.  √
23. Prepare plate for Santa and reindeer.  √
24. Write letters to Santa.  √
25. Print a picture of the family for Santa to take back to the North Pole  with him (This was Ben’s idea. He wanted to give Santa a present too).  √
26. Clean up the glass jar that Ainsley broke on the fire place when she tried to climb up the cabinets to get the book.  √
27. Read “Twas the Night before Christmas.”  √
28. Have wishes to harm sister for texting me that she was completely finish wrapping presents and was ready for bed at 9:00pm.  √
29. Call NORAD. √
30. Send the kids to bed delighted with life especially Ben and Ainsley (who kept shouting after we got off the phone with NORAD, “Mom. Go to bed!!!  Call Dad!!! Tell him to come in quietly in case Santa is already in the living room.”).√
31. Make coffee. √
32. Give Madie more medicine to help her feel better so that she will sleep (she has a cold.).√
33. Wait for kids to go to sleep. √
34. Wrap ALL of the presents.√
35. Hope Chris gets home quickly from the 11:00pm service.  √
36. Go to bed at a decent hour.

This is a good list and I think we accomplished most of it!  My bed is calling my name . . . so until tomorrow!   I hope the kids remember how to make mommy coffee.  I think I am going to need it!!

It seems if we don’t have Sunday school to get us up and moving, we have a really hard time making it to church on time.  Shame on us.  This mortifying act is especially embarrassing since we traditionally sit in the front row at church.  So you know when we are missing . . . or late.

Today we got up on time. We were ready to go, but we stopped and had a tea party.  Yes. A tea party.  Ainsley had set up this wonderful tea party in her room last night.  She expected us to attend the party last night, but we just didn’t get all of our chores done in time.  So I had promised that we could do it Sunday morning since we didn’t have Sunday school due to the Christmas break.  I had promptly forgot my promise until this morning when Miss A bonds up to me and says, “I can’t wait for our tea party this morning!!  I am going to go get ready quick so we can get started.”  Ugh. I had forgotten.  But with that sweet smile and the skipping down the hall to get dressed, how could I turn her down?  You can’t.

So Madie, Ainsley, and I had a cup of tea with Ainsley’s daughter.  Complete with a recorder recital from Ainsley, crowns, and pleasant conversation.  It was magical as always.  So I know that most of the people at church who saw us slink in the back door thought we were just being lazy and not able to get up on time (or they didn’t notice at all which is probably closer to the truth.)  We were late because we were having a magical and glorious and fabulous tea party.  The Puddles are growing up so fast and I know that there won’t be many more years of this and that makes me sad. These moments are the best part of getting to be a mom, and I am truly grateful for that.

“Mom, do you know how cold it is outside?”

“No, how cold?”

“It’s so cold when I went to pick my nose all I got were icicles.”

That is just  lovely (sarcasm). So Gross and so boy.