Small Successes

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.

1. Knowing that we should really have already recovered from the disorder the holidays inevitably bring, I successfully rewrote our daily schedule with a little less down time and little more domestic recovery time.

2. After rescheduling my life, I successfully ignored the little voice whispering in my ear about the toilet that could really use some attention, and faced the fact that a mound of ironing could make any other chore seem more important. Ironing was on the schedule, not toilets.

3. I successfully held my ground for one more week in the battle over the breakfast spoon. It means sitting by a hungry, stubborn, insistently self reliant one year old, and starting my day ten minutes later than I would like. But anything is better than chiseling crusty Malt-O-Meal off the floors and walls and cabinets and chairs...

In 2010...

Over the past couple years we have found ourselves amused and often perplexed at the pictures we have pulled from the camera, always with the suspicion that a miniature set of hands must have found it before we did. After pondering the motivation for twenty eight pictures of a pair of shoes, I began to wonder what it would be like to capture the perspective of our children through the eyes of the camera. So...

When asked, "Where is your favorite place to be?"

Peter ran to the schoolroom, where, as you can see from the stuff still piled in the middle, we had not been able to work for quite of while.

Isabelle loves to be in her bed, cuddling with her animals, cuddling being the operative word here. Sleep is not one of her favorite things to do.





Daniel loves to be outside, which, oddly, is not the response I get when I tell him to go there.

When asked, "What is your favorite thing to eat?"

Peter, as anyone who has endured a moment's hunger with him could tell you, immediately captured a shot of Peanut Butter and Graham Crackers.

Isabelle seems to have either developed a deep love for vegetable oil, or is indicating she loves to consume absolutely everything. Which is not surprising.

What was surprising was when Daniel asked for my help taking the picture of his favorite thing to eat. He needed me to open "dat cabnit up dere, da high one,... no, no move da tuff, yeah, no, over dere, on dat dide, yeah, YEAH! D-oes!!"
He knew exactly where my chocolate covered nuts were stashed, and due to this little project they are now sitting, exposed on the pantry shelf, dwindling...


When asked, "What is your favorite thing to play with?"


Isabelle selected her "Special Stuff" being her favorite because in theory none of the other kids are allowed to touch, but in reality she seldomly enjoys playing with them alone.




The brothers settled on the same spot to covet, which I had not expected but, upon further examination, realized with in the prized tent was almost every toy they have ever fought over, thus eliminating the need to decide or give up a favorite to the other.



When asked, "What is your favorite thing to wear?"


Peter's favorite, a result of our recent freeze spell, is his stack of sweaters. And true to his picture, he has worn a sweater almost every day since our week of freezing temperature.



Isabelle selected a velvety, shiny dress which fits her personality perfectly.

And finally, after two years of Halloween jestering, Daniel has solidified his identity with the costume.

Creation

Isabelle: (filled with childlike wonder, her head tilted to the side), "Did God make everything in the world?"

Mommy: (intrigued by the transparency of childhood while simultaneously taken aback by the profound implications of such a simple statement, her head tilted to the other side), "Yes, Isabelle, everything."

Isabelle: (eyes wide as she contemplates 'everything'), "WOW."

Until, grinning with the knowledge of a loop hole,...

Isabelle: "Wait!" (delivered with such confidence there was no backward glance for affirmation as she skipped out the door), "Not houses, TRACTORS made houses!"

It was then that I realized the dramatic elevation tractors have recently enjoyed in our home and the Catechistical struggle that still lay before me.

Loving Cousin Maher

"I just love little babies, and they're so cute with their squishy little hands!"
~Isabelle

Milk Chocolate...

Never tasted so good than when combined with warm milk and frosty noses, or so the kids decided after romping in their first Dallas blizzard. I am not referring to the one that came over Christmas and actually left two or three inches. That one we missed. No, they were delighted to have driven through a wintery wonderland in which "the snow covered all the grass in that yard!"

(Not so much in our yard)

Upon arriving home from our morning escape, they bolted from the car, yelling, "there is enough of it to eat!!!" I was forced to close the all-you-can-eat buffet when I realized some of the participants were consuming more grass than the sought after ice crystals.




Thankfully a cup of hot coco is as good at warming the nose as it is at washing down the yard clippings.

Luci, enjoying her first hot chocolate and her first bottle. After having stumbled upon this combination we also discovered this is the only way she will enjoy either.

Christmas Morning

This year we celebrated Christmas Day at Gia and Pop pop's house, dividing four bedrooms and three bathrooms between two nursers, two fit throwers, three bed wetters, six mommies and daddies, one uncle and two grandparents.

Oh, and one giant horse.

Whether it is more appropriate to say "no one slept more than necessary" or "no one necessarily slept" depends, I suppose, on the lot into which you were divided, but it is certainly necessary to say that sleep did not interfere with any of the fun.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning.


Luci's new push cart and thrift store baby doll suitcase, accompanied by her two favorite baby dolls from home.



Isabelle's baby doll bed and matching thrift store suitcase with "Baby Ruth" from home. The matching suitcases thrilled Isabelle until we both realized they gave a less discerning one year old excuse to nab them both and reason to be indignant when reproached.


Of the multiple possibilities for Peter's new Kinex, these are the two creations settled upon by his uncles, primarily because the Wii was turned on in the back room, not because their imaginations were satisfied.

The kids are still amazed that the airplane was hanging from the ceiling.


Isabelle, processing with baby Jesus to lay him in his manger on Christmas morning.


The rest of His procession.


Peter has built at least two things with his Kinex every day since Christmas.



PT enjoying a ride on a couch,... oh, I mean a horse.


Isn't he cute in his new jacket!



Baby Maher's first Christmas.


The Queen
She enjoyed the day.



In the end, we all found a way to catch some rest.