A Different Spelling - A Teachable Moment (For Mom)

Depending on what I'm doing with Sarah's hair, our routine for fixing it is often with her sitting in one of our bar stools in front of the tv.  She watches a show on Disney Junior or something while I do two braids or a braid across the front with a pigtail or whatever.  It just makes it more fun for her and hopefully less painful if she's distracted when I'm pulling her hair!

This morning she saw a commercial for a show that is particularlly cute.  You may have seen it, too.

Making conversation with me, she said, "I have a girl with that name in my class, but she doesn't spell it the same."

I replied, "Oh, I'm sure she does, Sarah.  That's how you spell it."

"No, Mom.  Really.  Her's is longer." she continued.

Not wanting to argue but feeling sure she must have just not realized how the girl spelled it, I said, "I'm pretty sure it's the same, Sarah."

Josh was in the kitchen, and he heard this exchange.  I guess he looked over at the tv, and then looked at me and said, "Chrissy, maybe the girl in the class uses a PH in her name..."

And then I realized...Sarah was right.

I didn't even know that the show used an F in Sofia.  I thought Sophia was always with a PH!

I told Sarah I was sorry and that she was very good at observing the difference!

She thought nothing of it, I could tell.  But it did make me feel bad.

I hope I'm better at listening/observing in these circumstances in the future.  If I had just looked at the title a little closer, I may have realized the difference.

Misc. Monday - Sister's Engagement, Our Dog, Fortune Cookie

Well, hello first Monday of 2013.







1.  This is the 735th post on my blog.  It was January of 2009 when I began this writing journey, and I've had blogging blitzes and blogging droughts, that's for sure.  Every year I usually tell myself to be consistent with it, and last year I did pretty good through May.  The times I want to give it up, I remind myself that it's often a blog entry that reminds me of something that happened in our lives.  When I'm good at documenting what we do, this basically becomes a family journal.  I sure miss writing more opinionated things, but I haven't had the gumption to do it lately! :)


2.  My sister sent me a text message on December 31st...

My mouth dropped open, and before I had a chance to yell at Josh to come look, she called me.  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it...MY LITTLE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED!

Chris and Sonja on Christmas Day.

My kids love him to pieces...

Gabriel and Caleb with Chris on 12/23

And I do, too...

Me and Chris before the Rams vs. Chiefs game :)

3.  This weekend, I got the wild and crazy idea to bring our sweet dog, Abby, into the house and let her be an inside dog.  She is 10-years-old, and when we first had her, she was inside.  For three years she was in our apartment(s), but when we bought our home in 2005, I just didn't feel like she should be inside anymore.  I guess just seeing the massive amounts of hair we had to clean up each time we moved was just enough for me to send her out.  But I had a change of heart for some reason, and she has been the absolute best.

She loves to sit next to Leah in her jumpy thingy or in the swing.

It's funny how much I remember her puppy years.  She is part lab, but that's the part that she is the most!  They are puppies for a very long time it seems.  She has been so sweet, though.  Never barks, never goes where she's  not supposed to, and only once or twice has motioned like the wanted to go up on the couch.  We told her no, and she just backed down and layed down on the floor.


4.  When it snowed last week, the kids just had to go outside of course!  I stayed inside with Leah, but that didn't keep them from throwing snow balls at me...

5.  Oh...did I mentioned my little sister is getting married? :) Do you know that means I must take losing weight much more seriously?  Must look good for the big event you know.


6.  I went to see Les Miserables with Josh...we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant afterwards, and I had this in my fortune cookie...

Those fortune cookie writers are pretty smart.

A Farewell to 2012

Happy 100th post of the year for me.  Guess I somehow managed to do this blog thing after all. :)

We have had a big year, and obviously adding child #4 to our family was the most notable event!  It's hard to not view this year as The Year of Leah...I think it's because she was born towards the beginning, in the spring, and we had most of the year to get to know her!

Before she arrived, though, we had Upward Basketball that started in January...

We all always cheer him on!

Playing hard!

My bestie, Kassie, had her 4th baby in February...remember that we have been pregnant all four times together? :)

This was a few months later obviously!  But this was the day Anna met Leah.

 

 And Josh took Sarah to a Daddy Daughter dance for Valentine's Day...

All dressed up for the dance.

Sadly, we lost Josh's Grandma in February...we miss her bunches, and I wish she could have met Leah...

My favorite picture with her, taken in 2007.

In March we spent lots of time decluttering kids' rooms and getting the house ready for Leah.  We painted and reorganized and did all kinds of things to make our house ready for the new addition.  Josh and I also went on a "last date" knowing that time alone would be hard to come by after the baby arrived.  We had fun in St. Louis with an overnight getaway.

I remember celebrating Easter as a VERY PREGNANT girl...she arrived just days later...

Easter Sunday.

And it was the day I felt our family was complete...

The day we met Leah.

A few weeks later in May, I had my gallbladder removed (after months and months of massive attacks and horrible pain).  I was in the hospital for five. long. days.  I missed Sarah's preschool graduation, and that was hard.  She looked so pretty.  I'm thankful my dad was able to take her.

Shaking hands with Ms. Diane (date is not right obviously!)

So proud!

The summer seemed to be the months that blended together, mostly because of our putting our house on the market, having a contract on it, finding a house, and then IT ALL FALLING THROUGH.  I know I will look back and realize how it all worked out the way it was supposed to, but I think I'm still not quite there yet.

Besides the house drama, Caleb learned to ride his bike  without training wheels this summer, and that was a big deal around here!


Leah was dedicated at church.

Our family on a special day.

Caleb and Sarah had their birthdays in August.

Caleb started 2nd grade, Sarah started kindergarten, and Gabriel started preschool...

Gabriel's first day of pre-k.

Spending time with the worship team at church was also a big part of my year.  Meeting this girl has been a huge blessing.

Amy and me at practice.

In September Sarah had the honor of being the St. James Homecoming MiniQueen.  She was the cutest little thing that night.

Presenting the crowns :)

Caleb won a Lego Building contest for this entry...

His cool car thingy.

In October I got to go to a Cardinals playoff game!  That was sersiously the most awesome game ever!

Leah had fun, too!

October was also fun with trips to the pumpkin patch, the zoo, and Halloween.

Hayride at the pumpkin patch.

I guess I had four kids for this? :)

My four...all dressed up!

For my birthday weekend in November, I had a girls getaway with one of my besties!  We met the former lead singer of NewSong.  I didn't stumble over my words when I met him (mostly). :)

Me, Michael O'Brien, and Sarah.

Gabriel turned 4 in November.  We had a little, "just family" get-together.

A Spiderman party :)

In December I seemed to get the wild idea to do all kinds of "make my home homey" projects, so I did a family picture wall and a wedding picture wall in our house.  We also added new curtains to the kids rooms.

We had a very nice Christmas.

Christmas morning.

The last day of the year was perfect.  With snow on the ground and time with my kiddos.

It was a full year, and I am looking forward to 2013!

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, the kids woke up and opened gifts.  We somehow have established an orderly way of things, first thing is a picture! :)

Leah enjoyed her first Christmas morning.

Then we made some fun, reindeer pancakes.  I saw a picture a friend posted earlier and she found this from Pinterest.

Then around noon we traveled to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate with  my dad's side of the family.

Leah was cuddly with Aunt Kathy.

And I love this picture of her with my grandma.

I truly enjoyed the season this year.  I'm always sad to see it come to an end but even more so this time.

I will keep playing my Christmas CD's this week...I need a few extra days of Christmas I think! :)

"What I Am Thankful For"

The kids had their last day of school on Tuesday and are now on Christmas break.  Caleb brought home a few projects he had worked on over the last month or so, and one of them was an "I am thankful" type thing.  When I saw it, it really made my heart smile.

Because even though we try to teach our children what truly matters in life, you never know what a small child will say they are thankful for!  He could have said his Wii or Legos or Super Heros.  But he said something that sounds like what I would write.

Friends
Family
God
Home

And after the tragedies both nationally and locally, I'm certain all of us have a better grasp on what really matters. 

These four.

Hope Into the Dark

I have tried to sit down and write this post a few times.

The truth is...words are hard to come by for me.

I have not watched the news since about noon on Friday.

After word of the shootings in Conneticut, I felt overwhelming saddness.  When I heard that 27 were dead, including an entire kindergarten class, it was almost too much to take.

My Sarah is in kindergarten.

Then on Saturday morning at 7:00 am, my husband received a phone call that two high school seniors were killed in a car accident.  He took it hard.  He had just had Nikki in class Friday, he played Phase 10 with her and a few others.

He still has the score sheet...they were going to continue on Monday.

Lexi was a homecoming queen candidate...she stood behind Sarah in all the pictures.

Last night he told me that one of his co-workers lost her husband over the weekend to a heart attack.

Too. much. to. take.

And while I do not know any of these people personally, it has been a very, very sobering few days.

I can hardly bring myself to post anything on facebook.  Normally, I will post something cute my kid has said or something funny I saw on someone else's page, or some recipe I found on Pinterest.  Nothing seems right to post.  I saw a picture countdown to a movie my husband and I want to see, and I "shared" it on his wall yesterday.  I actually had second thoughts on whether to do it...

Nothing seems right.

I'm not sure how long I will feel this way.  It is a character flaw of sorts for me.  Even when people are affected who I do not know directly, I hurt with them and for them.

Prayers...lots of prayers...I've been praying more the last few days than I have in a while.

Even more prayers when two of my friends had children in the hospital yesterday. 

Perhaps the thing that has hit me the most with all of this is how many people are hurting this time of year.  A time of year I've always loved is a time of year many people can hardly bear.

That's one way I believe my heart is changing with all that has been going on...having a heart that is more compassionate for those who will maybe never again have a "Holly, Jolly Christmas".

Make me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred let me...show...love
Where there is darkness let me shine light

May Your love cause us to open up
Cause us to open up our hearts
May Your light cause us shine so bright
That we bring hope into the dark

Fun With The Kiddos - Nutter Butter Snowmen

The other day I was looking through some blogs that I used to always visit, and somehow I stumbled upon the cutest idea.  So we bought the ingredients and made some Nutter Butter Snowmen last night! :)

 We needed:

Nutter Butters
White Candy Melts (or almond bark or white chocolate chips)
Mini M&M's
Airheads

 They were really excited about this activity!

They turned out pretty cute!  It was very simple and didn't take long at all.  I'm really glad I found it and hope to find other simple, yummy activities for Christmas break!

Wordless Wednesday - Reading to Leah

She is loved.