Fighting Over Prayer

As the 10 of us gathered around a table spilling over with food, Chloe decided it was her night to pray....

Chloe: Thank you, Jesus. A-MEN!!

Zade: She didn't pray for anything. I'm gunna pray. Dear Jesus, thank you for this food. And thank you for my...

Chloe: A-MEN.

Zade: No Quo-ee, I'm not done. And thank you for Christmas and presents and my sisters.

Chloe: A-MEN!

Zade: And please help me be a good boy. Amen.

What a beautiful thing to fight about!!

Nebraska-style Christmas

The house is quiet. Pandora is quietly lulling me with songs about Frosty, Baby Jesus, Santa's sleigh, and the holy night of Jesus birth. Every once in a while I hear Sage squeak in protest for more lunch from my pre-married-Crystal bedroom. But otherwise, I hear the creaks of my childhood home as the wind whips outside. The noise machine is feeding static through the monitor signifying that Chloe Jane is still fasssssst asleep. Mimi and Papa have stolen into their room for a quick nap after a morning of juggling babies. And here I sit, reflecting on the last few days in Nebraska....

After a crazy, crazy short Tuesday-night-but-technically-Wednesday-morning, we loaded up at 2am and headed to San Francisco. We'd been driving for about 90 minutes with a quiet car. All the sudden, from the silent back seat, Chloe yells "KISS-MAS!!". I knew the sand-paper scratchy, dry-to-the-bone eyes and dull roar of a headache were worth it alllll.

Thursday morning we got to pick up our "Auntie Header & Baby Zage" in Grand Island. A trip to WalMart & Starbucks before coming home to see Zade, Brynn-ie, Norah & Auntie Sarah. Grammy Ross came over to play for a few minutes before naptime so it was a baby-swap from one adult to the next. Chloe has been more territorial than I expected so anytime that naptimes gets close, she will whine until I put down the baby and pick her up. I can't say I've minded the extra snuggles too much  :)

Baby Sage & Baby Norah

Friday was chill. Too much food, lots of passing the babies around, kisses, and fighting over Mimi's attention.

 

Saturday was spent with just Mimi, Papa, Chloe and I in Grand Island, playing games, filling stockings, then we all went over to Tyson & Sarah's house for yummy chicken noodle and buster bar dessert. The kiddos had a change of pace and new toys which added a new level of fun -- and fighting.

Sunday we went to see Zade sing at church. Uh-dorable. Chloe went to nursery with Brynn then we all came home for taco salad and naps for the kids + Mimi. The boys scratched their armpits and shot their guns while Sarah & I chatted about kids, being a grownup now, and how messy but beautiful life is.

After naps and tears and last minute wrapping, we gathered around the tree to open gifts. We only bought and exchanged among the littles this year in hopes of keeping things small, saving money, and enjoying their delight. And boooooy were they delighted...

 

{Justin was unable to get off work at his new job so he joined by Skype to see the gift exchange. Wasn't nearly enough of him but still fun to see how technology can bring him one step closer...}

Today is Monday. My week is over half over and my heart is getting sad. What a wonderful time with family and friends. What a beautiful sight to see cousins play and laugh together.What a cool thing to see how God took Sarah & Heather, orchestrated them into my brothers' lives, and gave me sister-in-laws who love to come and sit for hours with us. What a blessing to get to spend this year with my family after, at least, 6 years of missing the celebration. What an adventure it has been. What an amazing Nebraska-style Christmas.

turning the corner to Christmas....

 The piano music is playing a festive jingle from my speakers. My tree lights are casting shadows across the dark living room. The holiday ads are stacked up next to me on the table. Folks, the Christmas season is officially in full swing.

As a child, my birthday always signified a big turn of seasons. Nov 30th usually seemed like the magical day to cut down our tree. This year, my birthday has come and is almost gone but I wanted to spend the last couple hours sharing our life over the past 6 weeks. 

My mom has spent a good portion of the last few weeks in California with us. Chloe loves having Mimi here to "play all day" and I love the extra set of hands to help with laundry, dinner, and projects that aren't too fun to do alone. We managed to host a garage sale on the rainiest weekend that she was here but our efforts paid off as our final $$ count was $525! What a blessing during the holiday season. 

A few fun snippets: 

*During nap times, my mom spent some time making little muffin tin meals for Chloe to take to school. As the meatloaf patties were cooling one day, Chloe came out from her nap and sat down for her snack. She proceeded to smash and scoot the patty into the sink while saying "dog poop, Mimi". I guess I have 11 more patties to consume myself  :)

*Our park play structure has been taken down across the street due to it breaking multiple times. Each time we go by the park, she puts out her bottom lip and says "Park sad, Mama".

*She loves time-out. It usually only takes about 15 seconds before she yells, "I'm ready" and comes out happily with a smile. Often, the crazy girl will even put herself in time-out when she hasn't done anything wrong.

*My daughter is one of the most outgoing girls that I know. We were playing in some rocks on a walk one day. A girl gets out of a vehicle 3 houses down and Chloe starts yelling to her "Girl play. Rocks! Come play, girl." The girl couldn't even hear her.... Tonight, we went to pick up pizza and Chloe marches over to the fountain soda machine where an elderly guy is filling his soda. He leans over and asks her something. Pretty soon I hear her shouting, "Good. Name? Name?" He provided his name in response to the curious girl and asked her name, as well. Sure enough, she exclaimed "Toe-ee!" before scampering off.

*Her sass and bossiness is starting to blossom. She will tell me "Sit dare, mom. NO! Right dare. Riiiiight dare."

*Told me today her favorite food is pizza and her best friend is Toe-ee. Once I said she can't be her own BFF, she said it was Liam  :)

*On the way home from church today, she kept telling me to shut the music off. I told her that I didn't want to because I looooooove Christmas music. She said "Mimi house Miss-mas". We chatted about who we were going to see at our Nebraska Christmas then I kissed her and said, "Only 18 days until our airplane to Nebraska, baby". As I listened over the monitor for the next few minutes, she continued to chant "A-teen days".

She continues to excel in school. She knows her alphabet, shapes, many colors, and speaks well. I've captured a few videos over the past couple weeks that will help those afar see her personality and knowledge. Hope you enjoy....

{yes, she is saying "LOVE YOU, DIDI"}

Let me preface this video with saying, I've never claimed to have a beautiful voice. But, this I can promise you, is worth enduring my shaky voice. I've sang this song nearly every night for 6 months or more and she's never whispered even one word of the song with me. Tonight, I was truly moved to tears. After I was able to collect myself, this is the video I took while rocking.

xoxo,
Crystal

Potty Chair

I'm making Vegetable Lover's  Soup with sausage tonight for dinner… or at least that was the plan. But then we got this:

{looking for juuuuuuust the right one}

In all honesty, I wasn't ready for potty training and I didn't think Chloe was either but we decided to go ahead and buy a potty chair and see how it went in the house. She talks about potty chair, wipe, flush, wash, etc from being at daycare but I'm not home enough to start the "official"process.

So far in the last 20 minutes, we've been in the bathroom 4 times. The first time produced about 10 drops of potty. We did a dance, grabbed the phone for a quick picture, dumped the potty, put on our diaper and headed to the kitchen for a treat -- mini M&Ms. Once the treat was securely in the hand, she yelled "diaper off! potty chair"! I un-stuck the diaper tabs and sent her on her way back to the bathroom. I came behind a few seconds later to hear the tinkles!!! A full potty in the chair on the second use! The dance resumed, more photos, dumped the liquid and back for more treats.

Since our second hand of mini size colored treats, we've been hovering the {fake} porcelain throne -- just hoping and wishing and waiting for more drops to come.

 

{singing the A,B,C, K's -- video of her alphabet here}

{playing with our bath toys}

{reading "Life's Little Instruction Book"}

 {trying a new angle}

and finally, making our animals go poo-poo:

It's adorable. I'm now hanging out on the "mommy potty", waiting for the newness to wear off and hoping the veggies don't go to waste in the kitchen…. but I don't mind  :)

Don't Forget to Remember

Let me never forget:

*the sweet "shh" noise that her mouth whispers on words like bubbles and boys
*the innocence of her prayers that usually start with folded hands and then she says "Jesus AMEN"
*the love of including her daddy in everything, even when he's 20 miles away
*her squeal of delight when she sees me at the end of her day at school
*the not-so-subtle "HI  DER" she yells across the grocery store at others -- I'm realizing it's because of how often I say "Hi there" to people
*the mothering instinct that she's grasped at such a young age
*the "hoed oat" that Chloe yells, regardless of what we are holding (for "hold it")
*her delight as she sticks her fingers in each spice, every seasoning, and dips in the bowl to taste what I'm baking
*the sincerity of asking "Mommy, hear it? Daddy, hear it? Water, hear it?" when a train passes or she drops her spoon
*her hair being blown straight up as she tries to help me cool her oatmeal in the mornings
*the independence that I already see blooming as she wants to put on her own shoes, hold her own milk cup, and "sir sir" (stir!) her own breakfast
*the recognition of "Kaiya" in every baby that is slightly darker than her that often results in us kissing the diaper boxes at Target

Thank you Jesus, for this beautiful girl that I already see in-the-making and I can't wait for the years ahead as we shape, mold, and discover who she is.

Here are a couple videos to show her personality & sass at 21 months:

Thanks for reading!

Crystal

Mom's Night Out

Mom's have a tough job. 

(I'm not downplaying a father's role but, I'm speaking as a mama here!)

We relentlessly compare ourselves, clean and cook, spend nights feeding & burping, kiss boo-boos, read the Clifford book just one more time this hour, whip up a batch of ooey oatmeal, and wipe another snotty nose on our pants at the grocery store when the boogie wipes aren't packed....

So, when my co-worker Aubrey mentioned that she'd watched "Mom's Night Out" over the weekend, I kicked into planning-mode. I texted about 8 of my mommy friends to come over for a mom's night out to watch "Mom's Night Out". There were 5 of us that ended up spending the evening chatting together with mugs of spiced cider, pumpkin goodies, and other yummy snacks! We shared stories of naked buns, struggles in life, and future babies... that was all before the movie started! As we laughed at the reality of the movie, our hearts filled to the brim -- with encouragement, love, and ready-to-do-it-all-over-ness  :)

As I crawled into bed that evening, I smiled.
God created a beautiful thing when he made girlfriends... especially my girlfriends :)

Fall is "officially" Here

I see blogs, photos, and pins that show me that fall is here. My calendar shows "first day of autumn" was today. The infamous PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE IS BACK signs are up. But, despite all of this, I'm still wearing shorts & a tank top, Chloe devoured a popsicle on the patio yesterday, and tomorrow shows high of 90.

Am I complaining about the weather? Not a bit. Do I miss the crisp, fall days in the Midwest? Yes, yes, yes.  Yet, I made the most of my weekend ushering in the new season and took on some fall crafting!

Friday night was CRAFT-izza night with Michelle… completed by crafting after filling our bellies with a super supreme pizza with white sauce…. and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Then… BAM!

I hope when the weather starts to turn, we can take a stroll through an apple orchard and spend an afternoon at a pumpkin patch. But for now, I will enjoy my fall decorations + summer-like days!

-Crystal