Little memories

It's hard to imagine the future.  I often wonder what things will be like, but it's hard since we never really know what will happen.  Sometimes I think that McKenna will just be 4 forever because I can't imagine anything else.  The real challenge, I guess, is in the remembering.  Remembering the little things.  Like how the kids imitate the noise of the coffee grinder...perfectly.  Like how Anna doesn't like to have her hair brushed.  Like how McKenna much prefers a barette over a ponytail of any sort.  Like how Samuel says "twains".  Like how sad it is when dress up clothes go from too big to too small.  Like how McKenna agrees with me mid meal every night, "You're right!  It is good!"  Like how Anna sleepwalks into our bedroom every night.  Like how fun it is to watch Samuel identify letters and the girls to identify words they know as we read.  Like how amazing their memories are.  Really, I don't want to forget any of it.  The kids' scrapbooks are evidence of my not wanting to forget.

E.C.G.

Tonight I was so honored to be a part of something special.  My friend, my sister in Christ, asked me to come be with her for the birth of her beautiful baby girl.  It was so simple, so painfully beautiful.  I walked in having the experiences of birthing three children, but never having witnessed a birth without being the laborer.  What a joy...  

Reality

McKenna now knows that The Disney Store is not the same as DisneyWorld.  We kept it going as long as we could!  Now she wants to go to the DisneyWorld that's outside...with REAL princesses.  We had a good run...

What we need...

Tonight was "sugar cookie night" at our house.  The dough was ready and the kids were chomping at the bit to get going.  The first order of business was to choose the cutters.  We have a set that is used every year and some years we throw in a few extras.  This year McKenna insisted that we use the cat.  "We (she says with a sadly sincere face) need a Christmas cat."  Huh.  If only she knew how hard I'm working to keep the secret of the Christmas cat that is waiting to come home to us this week!  We've been getting daily updates on how our little no-name feline is doing at our cousin's house across town.  At any rate, doubling the recipe sounded like a great idea...until midway through the icing.  We'll be finishing that tomorrow.  

Wha'da ya know...

Someone other than my family reads this!

Thanks, Erin!  I hope our paths cross sometime soon!  (That's nothing like neuro pathways, by the way...)  :)

Recently...

McKenna turned four yesterday.  In the spirit of celebration we allowed her to choose the birthday dinner of her choice.  After attempting to influence her decision, we were left to eat chicken nuggets, mac and cheese (from a box), and carrots.  Real carrots.  She's my girl, for sure.  We like "real carrots" much better than the bagged baby carrots. 

Samuel has been a handful lately.  His latest antics include telling the workers at church that he's "not allowed" to go to the bathroom at church.  This may stem from the fact that a couple weeks ago while in the bathroom at church he unscrewed the soap from underneath the counters.  I heard it was a real mess.  

Anna is loving finding new words to read wherever we go.  She was trying to read the hymnal today but got confused by the hyphens.  She struggled with McKenna's birthday yesterday.  It was hard for her to not be the center of attention.  It's the first time we've ever had to deal with that as parents.  

We got about half our our Christmas decorations up tonight.  Samuel calls them invitations.  We put up lots of invitations.  Oh, and his birthday is in the sanctuary.  Read, January.

Date with Anna

Today was a special day for Anna and I.  We went with her preschool class to a matinee of Snow White at a local dinner theater.  They did a great job of catering to the preschool crowd--juice boxes and rice krispie treats during the show.  It was such a joy to watch Anna's expressions as Snow White sang, the dwarfs paraded right by her table, and then Snow White asked her if she was going the right way ("Am I headed east?").  She was just happy to be there.  And I was just as happy.  We got chinese for lunch.  Anna, of course, out cultured me and used chop sticks.  I also had to run down to school to drop some things off since I missed class this morning.  It was great to run into some people I knew and introduce them to my shy one.   Shy until they pulled out the extra Halloween candy, that is...