Happy Holidays

to say that the christmas spirit has been flowing around here would be a grave understatement.

the holidays have taken our home by storm.

it all started on december first with a package from....the north pole!!

included in the package were all sorts of christmas goodness, but lo and behold, sitting atop all the sweet surprises, Santa had sent us ANOTHER ELF!

her name was sparkle and the note said that twinkle had reported having a hard time keeping up with all three girls.

so, the reinforcement was sent in and we removed her carefully from the box with salad tongs so as not to disturb her magic.

 she did a great job keeping twinkle company...for about two days.

our elves were having a blast and then we happened upon a family who didn't have an elf and wouldn't you know, Peach sneaks me into the other room and whispers "momma, can we give one of our elves away?"

in that little moment, all the hard days of parenting were worth every difficult second and i gladly helped her get sparkle into a cup (without touching her, of course!) and into the coat pocket of the momma who had just told me that Christmas was going to be tight this year.

twinkle must have known it was important to send her friend packing because she re-doubled her efforts and kept up nicely with the pranks around this joint

on a much, much sadder note....we're DREAMING of a white Christmas, but not seeing one.

all our fluff melted away and we're left with nothing but brown, muddy lawns to look at.

but we did get out on the very last day of snow and found enough in the parking lot next door to make some pretty sweet snow folk

our church rocked a live nativity this year which i want to BE IN next year after how amazingly cool it was!  shoot!  i could have been mary this year if i would have known it was going to be 44 degrees out there!  

i don't have any pics to share of that beautiful night, but there are these gems from the christmas program at King's Kids ;)

by december 19th, i was really, downright exhausted, to tell you the truth.

i mean, i can't tell you how many nights i walked around the house in circles with that elf until i just handed her to J and said, "i can't...i just can't"

but Peach asked at least twenty seven dozen times if we were going to have the annual north pole party and i was like....um, well, i'm kinda busy growing a baby here and we've already done the christmas lights and the crafts and the decorating and the cookies and the singing.....

but bless her Christmas lovin' heart, she likes tradition.

so, i somehow held my breath and squeezed my giant self ALL the way underneath the steps to dig out the stuff for our north pole party.

it must have re-ignited the Christmas passion in my own heart because i've been all jingle bells ever since

we had so much fun with a dance party put on by daddy and reindeer food, letters to santa, cookies, and milk that in the end, the extra work was really totally worth it

ooooh, almost forgot, princess kindergarten sweet talked her daddy into spending the morning of her christmas party at school with her....too cute!

gingerbread houses were also on the list of "must-happen"s for Peach (this girl does not give me a break!) so i stayed up past my bedtime putting together these little gems and just yesterday we had friends over for a giant adventure in creating and mess-making

this one easily ate twice what she put on the house and said at one point, "hang on, guys!  i'm getting my underwear intact!"

well, okay...first things first.

let us NOT forget the biggest kid in the house....who actually asked me this morning if i was going to "get somebody over here to judge these things"....right, J....like we need to set up a competition between a 3 year old, a 6 year old and a 32 year old

speaking of the man of my dreams...

tonight I popped some popcorn, filled water bottles, packed a diaper bag, threw hats and mittens into the car, organized supper and got directions to this place, which was synchronized to Christmas music on a radio station you can only pick up right outside the house.

(yes, that's Santa in the upstairs window looking alive as can be!)

while we're sitting there enjoying the show Peach sighs and says, "i'm so glad I have a daddy who does special things for us."  i almost cried real tears.  

he just looked at me, smiled and took the credit like he had actually earned it.

for the love.

i'm pretty sure he was on espn.com checking scores while i was getting this all organized.

i mean.  i love the man....but let's get serious.

let the record show that he chopped down a tree and put it in the living room.

that's all folks.

i did the rest.

not that i'm keeping score ;)

all right.

now that i'm done with that little rant, good bye grinch and hello christmas cheer

in all the fun, with every gift, as we enjoy all the food and friendship and family we are rejoicing in the most important of all births

which is something to get very, very cheery about.

merriest of christmases from our crew:  elsa, olaf, princess belle and super piggie cowgirl

Wild About Turning Six

HOLLA!  Someone just turned six.

as in....2,190 days alive on this spinning globe.

oh, Lord.....what fun it has been!

planning her party this year was fun because she got into the idea after we saw some hot pink and zebra plates at Target one day.

as always, my mom got busy with her craft skillz and helped out with the decor

i got a little carried away with the pictures of the set up and basically forgot to take more than a few pics at the party.

but i think the smile on her face says it all.

she felt the birthday love.

j and i went to bed exhausted, but blessed to be able to show our growing petunia just how grateful we are to have her in our home.

cheers to six years, peachy girl!

November...hello and goodbye

i wrote "december 3rd" on the board at school this morning and it nearly took my breath away.

yikes!  did November actually happen??

i guess so....the proof is in the pictures

here goes:

we started it off with Tulip's first visit to the dentist.

she rocked it. the hygenist was impressed with her lovely set of chompers.  we'll just keep it our little secret that a few weeks later, while decorating the christmas tree, she grabbed a glass icicle off the tree and bit it in half.  

"mmmm, crunchy, momma!"

picking small shards of glass from a 3 year old's tongue and lips is really fun.  if you've never done it, you should try.

let's just hope her teeth look as good at our next visit. ;)

and wouldn't you know...she picked these sweet shades as her prize for being brave.

J and I scored a fun date night packing Thanksgiving bags at the Union Gospel Mission in St. Paul

we seriously love this place.  

if you want to do something beautiful...go here.

you won't be disappointed.

some friends from church gifted us with a tub full of barbies and horses, which has kept these little hands, busy, busy, busy on some cold, cold days.

there's been creating, of course.

and letters.

words.

spelling.

sister sunshine got a rainbow loom for her birthday and everyone in the neighborhood has received a bracelet to prove it.

Sparkle is starting to read books instead of ripping them....bless.

only one morning this month did the hubster get their jackets mixed up. ;)

but i cannot tell you how grateful i am to have someone i can trust to get three littles ready and out the door safely each and every morning.

it is a JOB.

and he does it well.

obviously, well enough to keep his wits about him and even remember to take a picture of the memory.

sadly, we ended the month with sick kids over the holidays.

(for the love!  kudos AGAIN to the man that sat with this one in a steamy bathroom at 2 am to help with her barky cough, writing words on the wet mirror and singing silly songs.)

but everyone is on the mend now and it's back to school we go!

the tree is up and we sing Christmas music while eating breakfast so all is well again in the world.

more on Peach's birthday love coming soon!