Merry 7th Day of Christmas!

Here are a few pictures from the night before Christmas

Our little tree decorators

And a few from after Christmas mass.

Reindeer Ears!

Ellis Christmas

We were able to celebrate with the Ellis side of our family two weekends ago, in anticipation of Christmas. Although the weekend was cut short by yet another repair to our van's transmission, the kids had a great time playing with cousins and grandparents, so much so, that mommy even enjoyed a day with all four kids napping when we got home!

Daniel helping "Reee-a" make good use of here new play mat.

The best (and only) picture of the family, waiting to open gifts.

Daniel, enthusiastically waiting...


Izzie Rue enjoying some time on the trampoline.

A West Texas Sleigh Ride

This past weekend we went to my parent's house in Colorado City, which is truly West Texas, not the Panhandle! They live on 9 acres outside the town, and have all kinds of fun things to do on the land, including tractors, frac-tanks, road graders, semis, and lots of other ways to get dirty and have a good time. One of their favorites, at least for Peter, Isabelle, and of course me, are the 2 go-karts. They could spend hours on them if we let them. Here is a fun video of Peter and I taking a quick(35 mph) stroll through the country side.

Knives Cut...

Recently Daniel was helping me unload the dishwasher, a morning chore he insists upon assisting me with, rapidly increasing the dish removal process, if only to a higher place on the counter, when his tiny hands laid hold of a knife before the foresight of mommy and siblings had caught up. The ensuing uproar from everyone so impressed upon his little mind the severity of knife grabbing that it could only be eased by a litany of all those who could also be injured by such actions.

"Knive cut Daniel." "Yes, Daniel." "Knive cut A-belle." "Yes Daniel, knives cut Isabelle." "Knive cut Peeee!" "Yes Daniel!" And so the morning went, through one side of the family and the other, friends, neighbors and priests, they could all be cut by knives. "Even Uncle Matty!" declared Isabelle with a note of finality.

Occasionally now the litany must be revived, I assume to squash any temptations developing in the back of Daniel's little mind. These revivals seem to have caused Peter to need to distinguish himself from the crowds of defenseless knife victims, which resulted in the following conversation.

Daniel: (with grave intensity) "Knive cut Pee"
Mommy: (with mirrored grave intensity) "Yes, Daniel, knives can cut Peter."
Peter: (matter-of-factually) "No, Daniel, a knife would not cut me because I wouldn't touch it."
Mommy: (trying to maintain the original point) "Yes, Peter, BUT if you did touch it..." (with returned gravity) "a knife would cut Peter."
Peter: (indifferent to our gravity) "No, a knife wouldn't cut me because I would only touch the handle."
Mommy: "Yes, Peter, BUT..." (turning to Daniel) "A knife could cut Peter."
Peter: (now frustrated by my obvious ignorance) "But it wouldn't cut me because I would only touch the blade very gently."

Perhaps I should have reacted more intensely when Peter touched his first knife.

Nana Spotting

Daniel has grown very fond of his "Neh-na," delighting in pointing out her picture on the refrigerator, calling to her during mass, and grinning sheepishly at her when we are at the grocery store. "Neh-na" lives in St. Louis, 626 miles away, and although the real Nana is seldomly involved in her spottings, the gray hair or the broad smile usually makes the misunderstanding, well, understandable.

But this is a picture of the most recent "Neh-na" spotting.





What, did you miss her?





Well, here is a closer look.


I think she is the yellow one.

The Sweetest Sister

This is why Isabelle is Daniel's favorite.



(In case you can not hear their sweet voices)

Isabelle: (in her motherly tone) "Sit over there."
Peter: (using his big brother voice) "Sit over there, where 'A-belle' is pointing."
Daniel: (unaffected by their commands) "No... "
Isabelle: (with her great negotiating skills, adjusts the situation) "Then you sit right there."

Hooray for Luci!

In the last week, Luci has become a "big girl" to her siblings (I am still withholding the title though).

Now she can not only hold her head up off the ground, but also raise her chest up, and has pulled herself onto her knees three times, even if only for a few seconds. She can also roll over, although she reserves this talent primarily for resisting "tummy time" and the split second flip when put to bed so she can stare down her retreating parent.

Hey, What's your name?

Daniel has a flair that is all his own. We became convinced of this when he was only 8 months old, as he refused to crawl, preferring a more Doodle appropriate method of traversing our home, that of "Skittering." This involved a good deal of rolling, bottom bouncing, hip swinging and practically no hair on the back of his head. This method persisted until 14 months when a walk, that still consists of more bounce up than forward, took the place of "skittering."

Now that Daniel has become highly verbal, he has not ceased asserting his imaginative independence, if, at times, for nothing else than to infuriate his older brother, a lover of truth and all corrections pertaining to it.

Daniel, in all his toddler tenacity, has taken to renaming the majority of things in his life. Sometimes these are simple modifications of pronunciation, easily mistaken for verbal infancy, like insisting "Nana" is "Neh-na" or "Poppy" is "Pop-pop." Or another mistake typical of the linguistic rookie, that of generalizing a particular, "joe-joe" (our cat), for a much, much larger genre of all things capable of motion on legs, any number of legs. This naming taboo was particularly painful for the older brother, as a "joe-joe" could be spotted virtually anywhere.

But all of these could still be passed off as normal development, sustained by the need for sibling individuality and destruction of big brother's sanity, if it were not for one of his most recent declarations. His Aunt Mer-mer's new cat, "Cheeto," has always been "Chip," and judging by the devious grin that follows it, he always will be.

Weather?!

Today was a high of 79 degrees.
Tomorrow they expect a high of 35 degrees.

Tonight I forced three young children into pajamas that actually cover their legs and arms.
Tomorrow I expect to be woken by two icy sets of feet (and a third wishing they could get out of bed to warm up by mommy).

Trees

Last weekend we drove to the store and purchased our Christmas tree. After the tenth squeal of, "OOOHHHHH, there's another one!!!" followed by astonished giggling, we realized the thought of a living tree in the middle of our house was completely reasonable to our children, but putting that tree on top of your car, is perfectly insane.


Daniel, pondering the magic of Christmas lights strung all over the house.

Back Seat Conversations

While driving in the car recently, we overheard this conversation.


Isabelle: "Let's do speed, Peter."
Peter (with grave concern in his tone): "No, Isabelle, doing speed can hurt us."
Isabelle (realizing her error): "Oh... yeah, well, we could just do preee-tennnnd speed!"
Peter: "Oh, yeah! Yeah, pretend speed won't hurt us! We could do lots of pretend speed!" (with returned gravity) "Yeah, but we have to be careful, um, maybe we could do speed at a playground!"
Isabelle (with alarm): "Pretend Speed, Peter!"
Peter: "Oh, yeah! Just pretend speed!" (thinking for a moment) "Hey, maybe other kids at the playground will do speed with us!"
Isabelle: "Yeah, we could all do speed together! We could do speed all over the playground! That would be fun!"


Perhaps we have been traveling too much recently, or Daddy's having "done speed" a few weeks ago, resulting in a ticket spurred this conversation.













(and yes, Paul Thomas is eating a rosary in this picture)

Turkey Table Talk

While enjoying our Thanksgiving feast, we overheard this question from the kids' table,

"Are turkeys made of chicken or cats?"

I am not sure for what I am more concerned, Isabelle's understanding of our "cooking lessons" or Joe-joe our cat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Please join us, for a moment or two,
for a Thanksgiving tale we would share with you.



Twas the night before Turkey, and all through the house,

the wine flowed freely and the cooks were all soused.

Four pies in the oven, handmade, each with care.

Fifteen pounds of potatoes should get us all there.

The Turkey and stuffing all snug in their ovenly bed,

While visions of gluttonous indulgence danced in our heads,


When in the Kitchen Aid there arose such a clatter,

that all were in fear of splatter from batter.

To the bottom drawer, we flew like a flash,

to find aprons, towels and napkins delicately stashed.



The effects of our wine, now beginning to show,

made the lining of a basket seem simply not so.

When what to our wondering eyes should appear,

but three fashionable pieces of ladies' head gear.


With reason still fleeting, but sobriety coming quick,

The shock of our festive attire played a comical trick.

Soon all of the family had apparel to join in the game,

With not as much wine, but style quite the same.

Come vermin and rodents, a few coon skins will do.


On aprons and bonnets, and proud grandparents, too.


Sorry Paul Thomas, for what you have seen,

But the glasses won't help how funny we seem.


With the feast all but ready, and the comedy quite clear,

The best thing to do is, "Smile for the camera, my dear!"


To the table we sprang, at the sound of Mom's whistle,

And away went our food like the shot of a pistol.

For the wine and the fashion had made things just right,

And so, to the Turkeys remaining, "Have an excellent flight!"



We hope you've enjoyed our Thanksgiving tale!

Congratulations Meredith and Ash

We have been remiss in our posting recently, please accept our apologies! There were a few events taking up our time.

Congratulations Meredith & Ash!
Married November 21, 2008

The cutest little ring bearers and flower girl!

And one of the most beautiful brides ever!

The boys finally got their mommies' flowers

The Hoelscher-Ellis-Blaxton-Idais Family

More Kid Pics

Peter, Isabelle and Daniel spent the week in Amarillo, and the transition between temperatures seems to have really confused their bed time attire...

By ten o'clock we were pulling clothes off of two kids, and put more on the other...

Silly faces

Our sweet kids actually jumped on the bed, hoisted little sis into a lap and asked for a picture to be taken. Here is the only one of the thirty snapped that all four are looking pleasantly at the camera!

A kiss from big brother is always a bit concerning...