The Beginning of Christmas

  

     It is the beginning of Christmas. It’s chilly morning and evenings. Here my babies are bundled up on the bean bag with stories, waiting for breakfast. Jube meant to smile but sneezed instead. We thought it was a funny picture. Here is another one, it just wasn’t his morning for pictures

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    The Christmas music is out. I’m enjoying it a lot this year. Anuna, Julie Andrews, and even a little Duck Dynasty. Oh dear, I didn’t just tell you that.

    Delighted babies, watching Dad work.

    I’d thought maybe we wouldn’t be putting this greenery up. It’s kind of a pain come clean up time…but here is Dru, putting it up.

    Havilah was very happy to be allowed to play with the leftover pie dough.

    This baked while we decorated. In the end we had to run off to the store and buy more lights. We had apple pie and ice cream when we got home. We put babies to bed and then I finished up while Dru did some studying.

 

   Mom, I wish you could see the blue better, but the pictures don’t do well after dark with the lights on. It is very beautiful and makes my heart happy.

    And this is the Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey being read to my children by me. Right next to the Christmas tree and an orange in a bowl. Oranges, Christmas stories, and a cozy place to sit next to the tree…yeah, it’s Christmas time!
And a last picture. Merry Christmas!

 

Thanksgiving and Before

First we start with before. This is snack mix on the lawn.

And then up the mountain to the coffee plantation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the car, drinking bubble tea, out in seek of adventure.

Coffee, quiet time, and cards for the grandmas. Did you get them yet?

Packing cookies for Mom.

Frogs like cookies too, Mom.

Dru washing dishes, the dear man.

Hydrangea for thanksgiving from my own yard.

The children’s table, Thanksgiving meal.

The big people, Thanksgiving meal.

Lanus and Aggie, becoming dear friends.

Morning after Thanksgiving Day breakfast is pie.

 

 

It was a lovely thanksgiving. And I know that I’m not giving a lot of details but I want to get this up or won’t happen ever. Next post will be Christmasy.

Not Broken

I'm out of the shower and sit down with my lotion bottle. Havilah climbs up beside me. "Too," she says. So I put a tiny dab of lotion on her hands. 

"Like this," I say. Rubbing the lotion on my hands together. "Now the cheeks." She rubs her little cheeks vigorously. "Neck." I say. She follows. We continue the routine until she remembers that Daddy and Jube are in the next room playing a game on Daddy's cell phone. As she runs out the door I ask her, "Did you get your feet?" 

"Yeah," she says. 

It's our girl time. I didn't realize that the fun would start so soon.

Havilah's down for her nap. Jube gets Mom to himself. He likes this. "Jube, we need to do some school work." He sits down with me at the table and we learn about the soft and hard g and c. Refresher for the mom. It's matching, it's easy, it's fun. From there we practice knowing the difference between a d and a b. It's fun until we get the the last three letters to write. Then it's suddenly hard. We finish the page and then sit down on the rocking chair to practice some simple reading. 

When that's done he says,"Now I want write my own words," So he writes three words and then lapses into drawing a picture of a fisherman on a boat catching a squid. 

We hang a load of laundry together. 

"Would you like a pbj for lunch?" I ask. "Yes, I love pbjs," he says. He also loves cookies with frosting and sprinkles. 

"You can go outside now and play with water. It's warm enough." He brings me a piece of paper. I'm to make a boat for him to float in water. "It won't last long you know. But you can try it." I tell him. 

"Okay Mom, I'll get out of your hair now," he says as he goes out the door. "You weren't in my hair," I tell him, "You're mine, and I love you." 

I am very deeply happy. Happy that, as far as I know, I will be able to have more children. More blue eyes and golden hair. I'm happy that I'm not broken. Something felt very twisted and ugly about being broken that way. I'm so thankful that that is cleared up. 

Just Random.

BOTH of my children went down for a nap at the SAME time. They are still sleeping. 

Jube got up at six this morning because something in his room disturbed him. He was wet so we put him in a pull-up and put him back in bed. "It's almost morning," I told him. "Stay in bed until I tell you to get up." He promptly peeked out of the window to see that the sky was getting light. "Oh, yes it is!" He said, clearly delighted by this discovery. He promptly laid down and stayed there, but didn't go back to sleep. I decided right then and there that this child was definitely going to have a nap today. 

Havilah is grouchy in the mornings these days. I think maybe she's still fighting that flu thing. She's had diarrhea for a very long time now. Time to push the yogurt and such-like. But she should wake up happy. Afternoons are usually more happy than mornings for her. 

Today the sunshine is very shiney today and I'm doing laundry. Five loads of it and most of them large. The last one is waiting to be hung out even as I sit here. However, the racks are full so I'll wait just a bit. Just a bit might actually be long enough. Laundry dries very fast these days. Especially since I took my whole laundry dry operation outside again. It was in here over rainy season because I do not like the dance in and out of the rain to try to get it dry. I have the room and a fan--drying it inside is much easier. But my laundry needed the sunshine and breeze so out it went. My dish towels are sunning themselves on the picnic table and benches in an attempt to rid themselves of mildew stains. Those that don't get clean enough are going into the trash. Casualties of wet season. Thankful for sunshine.

This is my favorite part of the year. Rain has rained itself out and the cold season is coming on. Lovely and delicious weather. 

And now they’re awake and here are some pictures and then I must run. These are random and miscellaneous off of Dru’s cell phone.

Bubble tea at the new mall. Or drawing pictures while we wait for it, that is.

Me and my goofy Jube.

 

Dru got me out of the house and up the mountain the day after I started with my second miscarriage. 

We just drove and drove and stopped a little. He asked about getting a babysitter that day, but I told him I needed my children. I love my babies tighter these days…

Havilah poking Jube mischievously.

 

They were so happy to get out of the car for a while.

 

And these two pictures were taken at the hot springs on a different outing.

A Day to be Thankful

   

Flannel graphs, Blankets, and Toy Kitchens

The other day I let the children play with the flannel graph.

   

Frank, I finally finished this blanket. It turned out pretty good for an amateur blanket maker.

 

Arlins gave Jube this toy kitchen for his birthday. It was Isaiah and Emma's but they can't take it back to the states.

However, I think Havilah is enjoying it as least as much as Jube. After having Isaiah here all day and running around like wild people, both of them are playing with the kitchen happily now.

 

Oh, and Kayla, Isaiah left his hat here. Havilah very much likes it. I think I'll have to get her a few of her own.

Jonah and the Flowers