Want to know how? I leave them in empty diaper boxes in my bedroom and explicitly tell my family not to look in the box or they'll ruin Christmas.
I said "ruin Christmas" quite innocently, but Katie seems to have taken it to heart. A box arrived at our house (probably because someone to whom we are related ordered it online and had it shipped directly here) and Mike told me not to open it. I jokingly picked up the scissors to tease Katie, who burst into near-hysterics because I was going to "ruin Christmas" by opening my present. Geez, little Drama Queen. I don't know where she got that.
In other news, I need to go get some fudge that I made yesterday. Hold on a second.
Aaah, that's better. What was I saying? Oh yeah. Christmas angst is really accelerating around here. Even with Katie's serious "ruining Christmas" panic issues, it's obvious that her curiosity is nearly getting the best of her. More than once have I come into the living room to find Katie holding one of her presents close to one of her brothers, saying, "Here Joshy, want to see my present?" And you can see on her face the little, "If Mom catches us, you'll be the one in trouble." Little stinker.
Lucky for you, I have a notepad full of ridiculous Katie quotes I can try to relate. But my brain is only slightly functional tonight on account of I just COULD NOT sleep last night, until 3 am when Katie decided she wanted to get in bed with me and "snuggle." So if it seems kinda ramble-y, forgive me. And come back later when I've written a moderately more coherent post. For now, this is what you're going to get.
So, the last couple of family home evenings, we've been trying to talk to Katie about different parts of the Christmas story. Last week, I did a little lesson about the wise men, and how they followed the star and brought gifts to Jesus because they loved him. She totally got it, by the way. I caught her telling the story to her brothers with her little Fisher Price nativity. In puppet show format.
Wise Men: Here, we brought you some sanks and myrrh.
Baby Jesus: Oh, thanks. That's great.
On a (sort of) related note, we've also been trying to help Katie expand her prayer abilities. She's been saying her own prayers for a while now, but it's gotten to where she says the same things every time, and speaks almost unintelligibly quickly and quietly. So Mike and I have tried to explain to her that you don't have to say the same thing every time. You can say whatever you're thankful for. So now, every single prayer of Katie's, she is thankful for Daddy, Mommy, Katie, Josh, Peter, a bed, and shampoo. But you know what? So am I.
She has also been expanding her exercise repertoire. Now she does ballet. Watching it, I thought to myself, ninja-gorillas doing parkour. But she performed multiple shows for me the other day, and announced their names as she did them. I got lucky front-row seats to "France and Nancy," "Super Doo," and "Frankenboobie." You know you're jealous.
Two more short quotes:
Looking back at her hard work: "Look, Mom! Those are handsome, good-looking poopies."
After cuddling on the couch, when I had to get up because the boys woke up: "Oh! My body hurts! Your body was making me nice and warm, but now your body got away from me! Oh my heart!"
See what I mean? Drama queen.
As for the boys, I think they're starting to get this mischief thing down. They totally double team me all the time. And if I notice and say their names, they turn and look at me with the rascal face. The rascal face! At their age! Geez, I'm in for it.
The other day, Peter found the tube of Desitin. Rather than smack it on the floor, like he does with pretty much everything else, he started hollering at his brother, and they both army-crawled to the middle of the room (from opposite ends) to work on opening it together.
If I'm ever holding both at once, it automatically becomes a wrestling match, with each boy trying to both push his brother off my lap while simultaneously stealing his binky. Luckily they're still pretty evenly matched.
Oh! And Joshy is finally gaining weight, but I'm fairly sure he's never going to be chunky. Want to know why? He's got a whole inch on his brother. Peter still has the weight advantage, but Joshy's getting super tall! Also, he has the metabolism of a hummingbird that runs hurdles. He is a bottomless pit. I can only say that it's a good thing Mike's going to be a doctor because any salary smaller and we'd go bankrupt just trying to feed these guys when they're teenagers.
Merry Christmas, you guys. Next time you'll probably get to see a bunch of pictures or hear ridiculous stories about our Christmas shenanigans and tomfoolery.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Merry Christmas Card 2013!
Merry Christmas!
It snowed ALL DAY yesterday here in Chicagoland, and now it officially feels like Christmastime. (Sing it, Bing.) Luckily, I spent Saturday afternoon trying to bribe the heck out of my kids so they'd be cute for some Christmas Card photos. Since I don't think I'm going to be sending out physical Christmas cards to everyone, this is what you're getting. Here ya go!
Summary 2013:
Mike is now in full swing as a medical student at Midwestern. He LOVES it. He comes home ragged and exhausted and stressed but still all excited about all the gross things he's seen and learned. He's even got a best friend/racquetball buddy. Because he's all stressed and we have way too many babies for real jobs, he's now been called as a sacrament meeting greeter. It's only difficult because they've discovered that I play the organ.
Katie is almost totally potty-trained. (YAY!!!) She is now 3' 2", but still pretty skinny (except for after dinner). She had her first haircut about a week ago, loves to wear her puffy coat (always with the hood up), and really just wants me to get off the computer and go let her play in the snow on our porch. Maybe after lunch. Her favorite food is definitely still noodles and clementine oranges (they're like candy!) and her favorite Christmas movie is Frosty the Snowman. Oh, and Curious George: a Very Monkey Christmas. But sometimes Mommy needs a break from that one. Her favorite Christmas song is "Jingle Bells," but she only sings the first half of the chorus and it turns into the song that never ends. Oh well.
Josh is the cookie monster. Whenever I put crackers or puffy snacks on his tray, he goes at it two-fisted. He's still the skinny twin, but he's gaining weight like crazy and now has a little bit of neck-fat that gets all wrinkly when he's giggling. Oh, and he definitely has more than an inch on his brother (not to mention the most stylish hair in the family). He's got sitting up and doing the inchworm DOWN. He's got two teeth (the bottom front ones) and he LOVES bananas and graham crackers. Also, he ate two of the ginger snaps from relief society all by himself.
Peter is SUPER mobile. He army crawls like a boss and can almost really crawl. He's also super vocal, and while both boys said "mama" first, Peter's favorite sound to make is "dadadadadadadadadadada." (grrrr.) He loves food but still would rather that I pop them in his mouth for him. It's okay, he's got the weight advantage. I'm not going to say he's chubby (heaven's sake, he's one of my babies!) but he definitely looks it next to his brother and sister.
One thing they all have in common, though, is the gorgeous sparkly blue eyes with long lashes that just make you want to die. (See above pictures.)
As for me and my black-sheep-brown eyes, I'm sticking it out. I managed Thanksgiving all by myself, and I'm planning Christmas like a real live grown-up Mom. (It's weird.) It still makes me all sad that we're not going to go see family over the holidays, but at the same time it's kind of exciting to do Christmas all by ourselves like a real family. Katie's certainly excited. I'm fairly sure one of those before-the-sunrise things is going to start happening just like my siblings still do. Geez.
Besides that, the ward has figured out that I'm musical, so I've been playing the organ once a month, I'm participating a lot in the Christmas program, and I'm still on the Relief Society fellowshipping committee. I've made some pretty awesome best friends who have everything in common with me and who make my life a lot brighter and happier. And somehow I'm managing to stay alive with these ridiculous kids all over me (quite literally--Katie sees me with both brothers and decides to join the pile, saying "Mom, now we're a big pile of people!")
One thing that I've been thinking about recently is that even though this is probably one of the hardest times of my life so far, I have way more to be grateful for than I ever have. I'm grateful for three beautiful, healthy children, even when they wake me up at 4:30 every night. I'm grateful for an amazing, handsome, ambitious husband who is only not around because he's studying hard so he can be a good doctor and take care of our family. And I'm super grateful to be here with such good friends and neighbors who have welcomed us, even though we're so far away from family. Even with the trials, I've got a pretty good life. And as always, I have the Savior, who came to this earth to save all of us, which is the whole reason we have Christmas. I just need to keep remembering that.
Merry Christmas everyone. Be happy. We love you.
It snowed ALL DAY yesterday here in Chicagoland, and now it officially feels like Christmastime. (Sing it, Bing.) Luckily, I spent Saturday afternoon trying to bribe the heck out of my kids so they'd be cute for some Christmas Card photos. Since I don't think I'm going to be sending out physical Christmas cards to everyone, this is what you're getting. Here ya go!
Summary 2013:
Mike is now in full swing as a medical student at Midwestern. He LOVES it. He comes home ragged and exhausted and stressed but still all excited about all the gross things he's seen and learned. He's even got a best friend/racquetball buddy. Because he's all stressed and we have way too many babies for real jobs, he's now been called as a sacrament meeting greeter. It's only difficult because they've discovered that I play the organ.
Katie is almost totally potty-trained. (YAY!!!) She is now 3' 2", but still pretty skinny (except for after dinner). She had her first haircut about a week ago, loves to wear her puffy coat (always with the hood up), and really just wants me to get off the computer and go let her play in the snow on our porch. Maybe after lunch. Her favorite food is definitely still noodles and clementine oranges (they're like candy!) and her favorite Christmas movie is Frosty the Snowman. Oh, and Curious George: a Very Monkey Christmas. But sometimes Mommy needs a break from that one. Her favorite Christmas song is "Jingle Bells," but she only sings the first half of the chorus and it turns into the song that never ends. Oh well.
Josh is the cookie monster. Whenever I put crackers or puffy snacks on his tray, he goes at it two-fisted. He's still the skinny twin, but he's gaining weight like crazy and now has a little bit of neck-fat that gets all wrinkly when he's giggling. Oh, and he definitely has more than an inch on his brother (not to mention the most stylish hair in the family). He's got sitting up and doing the inchworm DOWN. He's got two teeth (the bottom front ones) and he LOVES bananas and graham crackers. Also, he ate two of the ginger snaps from relief society all by himself.
Peter is SUPER mobile. He army crawls like a boss and can almost really crawl. He's also super vocal, and while both boys said "mama" first, Peter's favorite sound to make is "dadadadadadadadadadada." (grrrr.) He loves food but still would rather that I pop them in his mouth for him. It's okay, he's got the weight advantage. I'm not going to say he's chubby (heaven's sake, he's one of my babies!) but he definitely looks it next to his brother and sister.
One thing they all have in common, though, is the gorgeous sparkly blue eyes with long lashes that just make you want to die. (See above pictures.)
As for me and my black-sheep-brown eyes, I'm sticking it out. I managed Thanksgiving all by myself, and I'm planning Christmas like a real live grown-up Mom. (It's weird.) It still makes me all sad that we're not going to go see family over the holidays, but at the same time it's kind of exciting to do Christmas all by ourselves like a real family. Katie's certainly excited. I'm fairly sure one of those before-the-sunrise things is going to start happening just like my siblings still do. Geez.
Besides that, the ward has figured out that I'm musical, so I've been playing the organ once a month, I'm participating a lot in the Christmas program, and I'm still on the Relief Society fellowshipping committee. I've made some pretty awesome best friends who have everything in common with me and who make my life a lot brighter and happier. And somehow I'm managing to stay alive with these ridiculous kids all over me (quite literally--Katie sees me with both brothers and decides to join the pile, saying "Mom, now we're a big pile of people!")
One thing that I've been thinking about recently is that even though this is probably one of the hardest times of my life so far, I have way more to be grateful for than I ever have. I'm grateful for three beautiful, healthy children, even when they wake me up at 4:30 every night. I'm grateful for an amazing, handsome, ambitious husband who is only not around because he's studying hard so he can be a good doctor and take care of our family. And I'm super grateful to be here with such good friends and neighbors who have welcomed us, even though we're so far away from family. Even with the trials, I've got a pretty good life. And as always, I have the Savior, who came to this earth to save all of us, which is the whole reason we have Christmas. I just need to keep remembering that.
Merry Christmas everyone. Be happy. We love you.
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