Goodbye, 2010

Well, I guess this will be my last post for this year - and what a year it was. I became the stay-at-home mother of FOUR small children, and the homeschooling mother of two. Wow. I never thought I'd hear myself say THOSE words. It's all very unbelievable... if it wasn't happening to me at this moment (ie: crying from a crib, raspberries mushed into the couch, Dinosaur Train on the TV) I wouldn't have believed it. Jedidiah is such a joy... I love watching him look at the world with his big dark blue eyes; I love watching Sadie hold him and burp him, to hear her talk sweet baby talk to him; I love watching Josie gaze at him with such love and hearing her call him her "Boy"; I love watching Adelaide get in his little face to smooch him and say "Hey baby brudder!" It's such a blessing to have 3 little mommies/big sisters around. Even though he is NOT following my schedule, I still love him and his adorable baby sweetness. Hopefully my schedule will prevail in the new year!

All I can really say is thank you to God for the blessings we've had this year, and for the four little ones He has entrusted to me and Jesse. Please help us be the parents we need to be in the coming year.

Christmasy

We had a good, if hectic, Christmas here, although we really missed our family and friends in NC. It was nice to be in Ohio for once so we could do the Christmas Eve service at church (Jedidiah's first debut in public), Christmas Day at Beth and Roy's, and the day after Christmas party with all of Jesse's family at Aunt Cindy's. The kids had a good time with all their cousins, and there was LOTS of present opening to do, even though we all said we were going to cut back this year.


Josie helped Adelaide make a Nativity wreath that came from her Sunday School class. There was a girl angel and a boy angel on it. I asked Josie what their names were, and she replied, "Well, the boy one's name is Harold." I should've known.

Adelaide made up a new song to go along with her Christmas favorites. While she loves Rudolph, Jingle Bells (she loves to yell HEY! at the end), and Away in a Manger, she likes to sing her own little ditty called "Jingle Poop." Yes, it's just like it sounds. She also made up one called "I don't like Christmas lights," which she and her sisters sang when they were pretty much "Christmas-lighted out" by the end of the season.

Sadie wrote a note to Santa so he would know the water and carrots were for Rudolph and not for him... I guess she didn't want to insult him :) and he brought Sadie a Magic Crystal Growing Garden, Josie a "Cook it in a Cup" set, and Adelaide a WHOLE SET of Wizard of Oz dolls! The gifts were all a big hit.

Adelaide and Josie went over to our neighbors' house the other night to play. When I picked Adelaide up (Josie spent the night), Joy (the mom) told me that Adelaide had picked up a little book and sat down to read it, saying, "Dis is my Bible." Cute!

I was teasing Josie about marrying Jack someday, so I could have his mom and dad as in-laws. Josie said, "Well, that's when out-laws become in-laws." And that, my friends, is the last of the Christmas spirit in our house! :)

Ha ha!

Tonight we were studying the parts of a plant for Sadie's Science class. One of the questions regarding roots and how they hold trees in the ground was, "What do roots protect trees from?" Her answer, "Well, wind, mainly. Or sometimes Grandpa driving over them in his car."

Grammie Gail was saying the Lord's Prayer for Adelaide the other day when Josie overheard the beginning: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...." Josie, with a shocked look on her face, said, "You don't want the LORD???"

Sadie has had an ongoing "puppy love crush" on Ian, our friends' little boy (they live in Texas). When they came up to visit this past summer, he asked Sadie if she thought they might get married one day. Well, that did it for her! She thinks he's the greatest. They were here last week, and after sitting with him and his family at church on Sunday, Sadie and Josie both talked to him after Jesse and I talked with his mom. Josie, who lost her VERY FIRST TOOTH last week (lower right one) when she spent the night with Grammie and was eating a peppermint stick, told Ian about it. She was holding said tooth as she talked on the phone. Suddenly, she dropped it down between the couch cushions. She said to Ian, "Hey, I lost my tooth." He said, "I know, you already told me that." She said, "No... I mean I LOST it!" As they were hanging up, Sadie said to him, "Bye, CUTIEPANTS!"

Adelaide, who always likes to ask, "What you makin?" when I'm in the kitchen, always tells me when I answer (no matter what the answer is), "I no like that!" The other day, when she informed me that she 'no liked' her pancake, her chicken sausage, or her fruit, I said to her, "Well, you just don't like anything." She said, offended, "Uh-huh! I like Caroline and God!"