Happy Holidays!

Maggie grows

Maggie is getting so big, so quickly. Okay, I'll be honest, it's really too quick for me. With your first child, generally speaking, you're so anxious for them to move to the next step, and you're so anxious to watch them grow. By the second, and especially for me, the third (and I'm sure even more so with subsequent children), you realize how quickly the time goes by, and you just want them to slow down! Where has 7 months gone? She is crawling all over the place, saying "dadadada", and her favorite food is sweet potatoes (but she'll eat anything you put in front of her - including beads, thank you Livie.) Even more than being a "Mama's girl" she is her sisters' girl. She is crazy about those two! The other day I had her in the office with me and the girls were in their room playing. I turned around and she was gone! I found her right in the middle of the girl's room, just taking in all the action. They love and adore her just as much. Kathryn is constantly asking to hold her - even though she is almost as big as Kathryn :-O, and Olivia's favorite way to "help" is to feed her. She is so blessed to be so loved, and we are so blessed to have her to love.

In case you were wondering

I ended up with a decent picture for our holiday cards this year (which will not be revealed at this time), but just so you will appreciate it more when you do see it, this is what I was working with...



(The most wonderful time of the year also happens to be the busiest, so there may not be as many posts over the next few weeks.)

Get the camera, Mom!

About an hour after I posted this post about the girls not playing well together, someone sprinkled some magic "get-along" dust over them, and they played great, for a couple of hours actually, without a single peep. I knew they were playing in their room, so I wasn't worried that anything was being "harmed", and I just took advantage of the free sewing time. Olivia ran into the office with a huge smile on her face and said, "Mom, we're putting ev-y-thing in the pat-n-pay (pack-n-play)". (me)"That sounds like fun!" (no worries). Kate comes in a few minutes later with the same grin on her face and says, "Mom, you've got to come see. We put everything in the pack-n-play." (I start to follow) "Wait, Mom. You're going to want to get your camera, then come and see." Ha! She was right! I got my camera and went in to see. They had completely unloaded their bookcase, taken all the blankets off their beds, and were started in on the toy chest by the time I made it in. The pack-n-play was literally bulging from all four sides. At least the "room was clean" =)

I'm pretty sure no one family should own this many clothes. Guess what I'm doing today?

The expected after Thanksgiving post

Thanksgiving ended up being a really fun time. Heidi and I surprised ourselves by fixing a really, really good meal (she fixed most of it =) - in spite of Mom not being there. We ate several meals at Josh & Heidi's, and scored some really great deals on Black Friday. Since Heidi and I didn't have babysitters, we didn't get to go out early this year, so the guys split up the list and trekked out around 3:45am. I ended up hitting JoAnn's and Old Navy, but waited until 10am, which I thought would help with crowd lines, but boy was I wrong...

That evening Brad and I hosted the annual "hometeached" gathering. I guess this makes about the 8th or something like that. I seriously can't remember not getting together the day after Thanksgiving with this crew. Kathryn met her match. She and Meredith (or Mary, as she likes to call her) hit it off. So well, in fact, that Amy and I decided to let the girls just stay up and play instead of trying to get them to sleep through all the excitement. We hardly even saw them. I had to pull Kathryn out of her room to get her to eat her supper. When everyone left at 12:30am, they were still going strong. Every single day since Kathryn has said, "Mom, it would be a really fun day if Mary could come and play again" =)

This was the room after they were done playing. They pretended and pretended and pretended. Too much fun...

Our crew was having lots of fun too playing Trivial Pursuit. Seriously, guys, next year - we're voting NO Trivial Pursuit. Who cares if it's tradition?!?!? I didn't have one thing to add, and we even put one of our newest members to sleep (she said she had a headache, but I'm not believing that ;)

We got to meet some newbies that will be forced to get to join us year after year, Jason's fiance Courtney, and Jon's girlfriend Janna. They were so sweet, and great matches for those guys. I finally got to meet sweet little Ty for the first time. He was so good, and just snoozed in his Mommy and Daddy's arms all night. Brad made Starbuck's Espressos while the night was still young, and I'm thinking that will be a new tradition. We missed some of the old folks who had to go to the in-laws this year, but it was a great time, and we're looking forward to next year.

All in all, the girls did exceptionally well this weekend. They had lots of really late nights and several days with no naps, and still trucked right along, and were congenial and sweet. Unfortunately, today is a different story. They have been at each other all morning. Breakfast went like this:

Livie (singing Little Bunny Foo Foo): Little bunny poo poo I'll turn you into a boon!
Kate: No, Livie, it's supposed to be a goon not a boon!!!
Livie: I know, but I say boon!! (singing louder) I'll turn you into a boon!!!
Kate: NO, Livie, that's not RIGHT!!! MOM, can you help her, she's singing it all wrong!!!

This may not seem like that big of a deal, but it's scenarios like this constantly, one right after the other. I haven't heard them agree on one thing this morning. And the tattling, oh the tattling...

Yesterday afternoon, I was laying on the couch (sick with a cold), and Maggie was on the floor in front of me. She spotted a toy she was determined to have, and took off crawling to get to it! She had "started" crawling a couple of weeks ago, but it was just once every now and then. Now I'd say it's official. She's slow, but steady. Quickness will come (I fear =)

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. Now it's officially time to decorate for Christmas!! Did I mention that it has been snowing off and on for the past two days? Not much accumulation, but a little ground covering, and enough to get me in the Christmas spirit =)

Cheerio from the Cherrypop gals!

These little ladies have been in waiting for quite a while now. Finally, I got the spark I needed to get them off my desk. They are each doing some of my very favorite things. From eating birthday cake, to shopping, to baking, to getting ready for the Holidays, each little Cherrypop Doll is as busy as she can be.

Haircuts...

While we were in Tennessee Gramma and I ventured out to get the girl's hair cut. I couldn't believe what big girls they were. They weren't the least bit apprehensive, just jumped up in the chair and sat as still as an adult. Livie had a hard time figuring out which way to tilt her head =)

An attempt at getting a good "after haircuts" picture:

A so-bad-it's-funny attempt at getting an "after haircuts" picture:

Since I'm posting...

I know I said I wasn't going to, but since I did, I'm kinda on a roll now =). Here are some shots from our visit to Tennessee last week. The girls and I had a blast getting away for a little while. The only thing missing was Daddy =(. The girls got to spend some good time with Gramma and Grampa, and Claire and Michael, and I got to spend some good time with my girlfriends, Rosie and Jessica. Here are three really sweet girls. Just wish Shelby could have been in the mix...

This is one precious little boy right here!!!



Gramma took the girls for a ride in the "Doodle-Bug"

Happy Thanksgiving to all! (and Happy Birthday to my favorite fatherin-law =)

Black Friday on Wednesday =)

My sister and I decided to beat the CVS crowd and hit the Black Friday deals a little early. We got there around 11 pm on Wednesday night and shopped around until midnight, when all the deals were loaded on the computers. Yes, of course we're crazy, but neither one of us has to get up early in the morning, and there were other "normal" people there doing exactly the same thing - that made us feel a little less dorky. All in all, I made $29 - as in, they paid me $29 in CVS bucks to take all this stuff out of their store - so I'd say the trip was worth it. Probably the best I'll do in all of Black Friday =)

In case you're not interested in my great CVS deals, here's a picture of my great baby. Isn't she sweet?

Three kids asleep...

...busy weekend... better clean house. Update with pictures to come, but maybe not until after the holidays. Try to survive =)

Kathryn on Getting Big

I wish you could be at our house sometime at lunch when it's just me and the girls, but then it wouldn't just be "me and the girls" and so the conversation would not be the same. Most days I sit down, we start talking, and I think "where is the video camera so I could record this?!?" This was one of those days. We sat down to eat, and the conversation went like this:

K: "Mom, I'm getting SO big, that I'm almost bigger than Daddy, right?"
M: "Well, Daddy is pretty big, and he's a boy, so you probably won't ever be that big, but you are getting bigger every day."
K: "Yeah, and soon I'll be so much bigger that I can driiiiive (pretend stearing a car with her hands and arms flailing), and go to the grocery, and get all the food, then come in and make lunch, and do the dishes. Then you and Dad will be the little girls and YOU can take a nap!"
(me thinking "Boy, does that sound like a good plan!")
K: "No, that's not right is it, Mom?"
M: "What?"
K: "That you'll get little again? You'll just always be big, and we'll get big, and then we'll all be big, right?"
M: "Right."
K: "And then, Maggie will not be the baby anymore, but that's okay because I'll be big and I'll get a baby in my belly! Then I'll have to go the hospital and they'll take the baby out for me. Mom, does that hurt?"
M: "Yes, it hurts very, very much."
K: "Did it hurt when you had Maggie?"
M: "Yes, very much!"K: "Oh, did you cry?"
M: "No, because I was big and strong and brave, and you will be too."
K: "Well, maybe I just won't have a baby, because I'll just have Titus." (a 5 month old at church, who apparently isn't going to get bigger as everyone else does.)

Give Cookies...

...in pottery bowls, wrapped in a kitchen towel and tied with a bow. The bowls came from the Wal-Mart clearance rack after Christmas last year. This one cost me just over $1. I found a new dishtowel stashed away, and embroidered a little something special on it, then dug around in my ribbon and bow box for something to tie around it! This makes a nice, inexpensive hostess gift, or a thank you for someone watching your kiddos free of charge (can you guess what this one is for? ;)

Cookies also taste just as good in a brown paper bag tied with Christmas ribbon and a cute hang tag.

Thanks to Alaina for hosting Keeping Creative Kitchens every Thursday. Now it's your turn - join in!!!

Funnies from the day

Kathryn and Olivia were playing church, and Kathryn was standing up facing the audience (aka: Olivia) "After the sermon we'll stand and sing #68, If You're Happy and You Know It"
That must be one of the most recently added songs to our hymn books.

We were eating lunch and I asked Livie if she wanted something to eat that I knew she didn't care for. She answered in a laughing voice: "Nooooo!!! I can't eat that, Mom! I'm too little!!"

Mom and Dad just got back from vacation this afternoon. They have been gone all week, and we've been checking their mail. That's pretty much torture for two and three year olds. (driving to Nana's) "Mom!!!!! We're going to NANA and PAWPAW's!!!" "No, honey, we're just getting the mail. Nana and Pawpaw are on vacation." You get the picture. When we drove by last night we told them "Nana and Pawpaw will be home TOMORROW!" so all day today they've been driving me crazy about when they will get to see them. Here is a snippet of Kate's prayer at lunch: "...and Lord, help Nana and Pawpaw to come home today and never do vacation again."

In Kate's prayer she had also thanked God that her friends got to come over and eat with us. Not to be outdone, Livie wanted to pray for the same thing. Here's what came out instead: "Thank you, God, for all our friends we have to eat." Careful when we invite you over for supper!

Super Savings Saturday

All this for just $10, folks! Thank you, Meijer, for your great online coupons that allow me to make money on my groceries. I'm not sure we could afford to live otherwise. (I did use $15 worth of Meijer coupons that I had earned free from a previous purchase, so my actual total was $25, out of pocket $10...)

Little Nashville

Brad picked up his Mom in Louisville last night and she'll be with us for the week. We decided to take the day and head to Brown County, since the weather was supposed to be nice. It was beyond nice. It was absolutely perfect, and the trees were gorgeous. All around, it was just a wonderful day.

We made it there around lunch time and ate at the Hob Nob cafe, then walked around the little shops until we were hungry again - then we got ice cream =)

Maggie's impression of a french fry - That's a pediatric approved first food, right?

The girls (especially Livie) were obsessed with this big dog. If the thing had been real, they would have been completely freaked out.

Then off to the park for a little play time. This might be my new favorite picture.

The country side was breathtaking. We took the "scenic route" through the park and this was one of the pullover spots.

Maggie is so in love with her sisters, and she loves that she sits between them in the car. She was well entertained the whole way home...

"And the Grand Prize winner is..."

Well, it's Stephanie, of course, for coming over to watch all of our kids while we went out on the town with Hannah and Brad. I would have been extremely thankful, no matter what, but as it turned out, I actually feel extremely indebted to her since half-way through their meal of pizza my middle child threw up all over the table. Yeah. Stomach flu. I felt so horrible, and it was pretty hard to put that behind me and have an enjoyable, lighthearted evening. But it was still pretty fun.

Here we are after supper having caramel macchiatos at a little coffee shop on the square. We pulled out the 'ol Scrabble game, but soon decided to relieve Stephanie and headed home. There we started up a game of Cranium with Trent that ended up in a very heated debate over how to pronounce "larynx". Fun times.

Starla was so sweet to come over to watch the kiddos - all 7 of them - while I took Hannah out to show her the ropes of CVS shopping. We decided 7 kids, 7 and under, in the CVS store while looking for ECB deals might be a little much.

More sweet kitten pictures (and sweet kitten holders)

Trick or Treat!!!

We had such a fun Halloween this year with the girls. I grew up in a house where you threw a sheet over your head and went as a ghost, if at all, so getting the girls "ready" for such a big night was a little bit of a challenge for me (thanks to Heidi for the costumes!). We had some crazy events earlier in the day, so by the time we were supposed to leave, I was completely stressed out. BUT, we made it, and had a super fun time. Some good friends of ours from church invited several families over for a little cookout, then to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. Our first stop was to Nana and PawPaws, then on to the party...

Kate went as Belle, Livie as a ladybug (although she bucked the black face paint that I drove like a madwoman to get from Wal-Mart at the last minute), and Maggie was a kitty cat. She was the cutest little critter I've ever seen.

They brought home way more loot than any two and three year olds should have, and stuffed their faces on chocolate, of all things, right before bedtime. Fun times. Glad this holiday is only once a year.

(click on the photo collage to see it big)

The Wedding

Well, I told you Kate wanted to marry Corbin. Dreams really do come true. Here are pictures of the wedding...

Livie was the flower girl. She carried a baby down the aisle in her basket (???). We didn't ask.

Saying their vows with Cozy officiating (is she legal?!?) The happy couple