highlights...

all of my babies classify as the sweetest but my little anna sure does win a sweetie award at nap time. each time i lay her down she grabs her boschie (i.e. blanket) sticks her hand to her mouth and blows me a kiss with a big ole smile. she sure is a cutie!

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monday i was in the kitchen cleaning dishes and i hear daphne and anna giggling. i go to see what it was about and this is what i found...anna being pushed around in the doll stroller.
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anna is a big fan of helping around the kitchen. on the top of her list would be unloading the dishwasher. this would be quite comical i am sure if the fly on the wall could hear the thoughts in my head. "oh no here she comes. don't stifle her desire to help. let her do it. get all the breakables and the silverware before she does." now once i have gotten all the "no touch" items out she begins her work. we have the unloading down now we just need to work on the put away. (note where the plates are being put.)

once the work is done it's a good time to put her feet up and have a drink. it's 5 o'clock somewhere...

what not to wear...

for those of you who know me well you know that i rarely buy clothes for myself. in fact i would guess that my good friends take bets on which of my 3 long sleeved shirts i will wear to any given function. i only guess this because when i buy a new outfit they seem to notice. i know it is sad that i never buy clothes for myself but it is really and truly my least favorite activity on the planet. i have often thought that maybe i should recommend myself for that show, "what not to wear".

i say all this actually to point out a nice perk thus far into this pregnancy(almost 16 weeks)...i am still able to wear my normal jeans and the three t-shirts. this is great news being that my maternity clothes are, how do i put it...dated!! well i guess it is great news...it could just mean that my jeans were fitting ridiculously. no, that wasn't the case. they aren't the most flattering or hip looking jeans but they weren't peg legged, acid washed, or total muffin top tight. all in all oprah would have torn them to shreds and found me a great pair but they worked for me.

on the subject of pregnancy- i realized that i have been pregnant at some point or another since 2000 excluding 2005. that is just nuts! this one is the last one for us so i am trying to enjoy it and savor the moments. i always wondered if i would "feel done" and i must say that i do even at this point. i am so very thankful for each little life God has graciously allowed me to mommy to no matter our short or long they have been or will be and so i am cherishing these days and look forward to the adventures ahead.

have a great day!

a phrase my daughter picked up while with her cousin...

let me go on record, though my title totally points to a cousin i will make the disclaimer that henry once pointed the finger at his uncle tod for something he had heard me say. that being said, i must share this funny occurrence from this evening.

after the kids had their baths daphne and i were in her room getting her pjs on. she was trying to put her panties on and her little legs were still slightly wet. this can cause some frustration on the part of a 3 yr old. as she fumbles around trying to accomplish her goal i hear her say, "for crying out loud". trying hard not to laugh i asked her where she heard that. she says to me, "thompson".
i thought this was rather funny and had to share!

if this phrase was not learned from her cousin then i actually do not know where it came from.

birthday, christmas, excitement- oh my....

we are home now from a great trip to texas to spend some much needed time with my family. i will get to that adventure shortly but i must revisit some of the exciting things that happened during december.

henry did officially turn 6! he awoke on his birthday morning to the singing of "happy birthday to you" and some special gifts from his family.
on henry's birthday we decided to go to swenson's for a special dinner and ice cream before heading over to school for the carol program. grandma and papa joined us for a fun time of celebrating henry's 6th year. they sure do love our boy!

all the kindergartners at school dressed as angels or shepherds and sang away in a manger for their christmas program. it sure was sweet.


in our preparations for christmas we decorated a couple of gingerbread houses. this year i didn't get nearly as worked up about perfection as i did last year. in fact i thought, "God you must be changing me." i tend to want the perfect little hansel and gretel gingerbread house but this year we had far better! we had masterpieces! though we had already done one house we had the memory making opportunity to have daph's best friend, ellie over to do one more. i am with my friend jennifer- if you want a great gingerbread house then buy the kit at costco. it is the same price as all the other places but you get so much more candy to decorate with. we actually threw away a ton of candy that was left after we finished.

another tradition that has been going on in our little family the last couple of years is inviting grandma and papa over to make christmas candy. this year we decided that our family would take candies to our neighbors and carol on their doorsteps. this was one of the highlights of our celebrations this year. the kids sang away in a manger and we wish you a merry christmas and then handed our neighbors a tin full of homemade candy.

the candy making is such a treasure for me. i love watching the kids helping grandma cover the cherries with chocolate or lick a beater. this year henry was at school when we made the candy and i sure missed him. next year we will be sure to wait and make candy when he is home. daphne had a great time though.

another fun thing we did this year was to get the kids matching pjs. when we came home from the christmas eve service they each opened a gift ( of course we chose which one). they loved their new penguin pajamas. in fact last night they each put them on without the other knowing. they thought that was so cool!

christmas morning proved to be great fun for the kids. i remember the anticipation i had as a child as we would go over to get our grandparents and then return home to our stockings. i am seeing that the same excitement i had is there in the faces of my babies.
other exciting things that have been going on in our family...
anna has finally started walking!! the week before christmas anna decided it was time to take off. she hasn't stopped since. in fact she refuses to crawl anymore. if she falls she just pops right up and then she goes again. fun times in our house!

we are also expecting baby #4, the final edition to our family. i am 14 weeks and baby seems to be doing well thus far. we will have an ultrasound in mid february but do not plan to find out what baby is this time around.

i have much to share about the trip to texas but this post has been long enough. i will save the texas post for another day.

belated merry christmas and happy new year!!

update coming...

we just got back from a great trip home to God's country, a.k.a. Texas. after i get some work done today i promise to post a really long informative post. hang in there!