Christmas Season is Here!!!

 I pray I am raising children to have joy all year round and not to hate Christmas because Mommy started to early every year! :) I LOVE Christmas season, celebrating for as long as we can!! And getting my checklist completed so we can really reveal in the relief that is the birth of our savior!

BIRTH.....OF.....OUR.....SAVIOR!!!

People, listen, he became man! For us! On this day he came into the world to change it! To rescue us all! WOW!!!! God entered the world as man! I just don't think I can get my point across as full as it is in my heart so I will move on.

With no further adue, 2014 Christmas pictures!!

Greatest gifts the Lord has ever blessed me with.  I wonder how He determined I was worthy.

Cupcake's hair took about half an hour of curling and spraying and blow drying as she yelled at me, "Momma it hurts so much." Then the moment she realized she looked pretty and everyone around her started to tell her so, she was sold and determined herself to be "queen of the day." After the photographer told her to put her hands on her hips she walked around like that constantly. It was hard to get her to stop.  Standing in the mirror in the bathroom with both hands on her hips shaking them around she chanted "hips hips hips."

Monkey boy lost his first tooth last month and excitedly shows everyone he meets, the new tooth is already starting to show up and we will all miss this glorious gap in his teeth.  But lucky the other teeth around are starting to wiggle :) Now Monkey knows he is hansom, but he just does not care very much. What he does care about is being a good little Monkey.  He jumps up there smiles and gets away.  Always has taken great pictures!

Now this is the big thing! Never have I gotten a good Santa picture, essential of the mommy and child agreement.  Cupcake does not like strangers, Monkey will talk to anyone and will do so for as long as no one drags him away. Cupcake has refused to sit with Santa for 3 years running, usually making me sit with her and ruining the picture.  But this year as we walked around the mall, still fancy from our pictures, Santa was suddenly there with no line, since it is still mid November, and Monkey could not be held back! Earlier when we walked into the mall we had our budding reader read a sign, as he sounded out the words he got more and more excited.."Ssssaaaaannnnttttaaaa IS HERE! AHHHHHHHH"

Cupcake asked for "twim babies"

Monkey asked for "steel drums" Santa and Mommy had a short talk then Santa told Monkey gently he would probably be disappointed and should think of something else. :) Like a microscope!

But I am not done yet....

 I present my other favorite blessings! I am an Aunt second in life and my brothers and their wives have been very generous to share there children with me on a daily basis! Letting me into daily and special occasions, making Halloween costumes, throwing birthday parties, and even holding babies during their first night with us! I could not be more lucky to have these 4 nieces and 1 nephew, unless there were more of them to love...wink wink :)

So sweet and perfect, just for one second.

We have

Super Why, Monkey, Rodent

Princess P, Cupcake, Silly Sweetie

and then

Baby Bee

Each nickname is not just to protect them and have fun here, but a very special bond between them and myself, with each name having special meaning for our relationship.

I swear they are more like siblings then a set of cousins! Isn't that just wonderful? 

Here is a prayer from the deepest parts of my heart, the love of siblings to be shared among 7 cousins and more, for friendships so deep and true and joy that never ends being shared with each other.

Merry Christmas, and may the Lord bless you and yours at the Christmas and all year long.

Cupcake Becomes a Kitty

Love getting some special items that lead to an unexpected hour of meowing and purring at our feet. 

I got this set of zip up jammies from Children's Place because without feet they will last years and I like to cuddle with my kiddos and this is soft and cuddle ready! But Cupcake was so excited to become a kitty cat. With out zip she transformed!!!

Meow!

She is too pretty and sweet for her own good :) 

Super Smart Monkey

Last year was monkey's kindergarten year and we lived in Texas. In Texas kindergarten and PreK are not required so in the school he started in his ADHD diagnosis was not taken seriously and we watched his knowledge base decline. So we removed him and homeschooled him for all of kinder. I loved it!!!! It will always be a special time in my heart. Watching him grasp a concept or read his first entire book filled me pride and joy I cannot explain. 

When we moved home and monkey had the chance to go to the school his uncle teaches at and his cousins attend I could not reason keeping him home anymore. 

Although I miss him so so much an wish I could still spend those best hours of the day with him, he is truly thriving! He loves school and refuses to miss. He shows excitement and pride in his school and everything about it. His teacher communicates great with us about his ADHD and how they manage it in the classroom.

 Today he came home with a 100% on his math test, the only one in the class!!! I am bursting with pride!!! I squeezed him and hugged him and celebrated him and it was just as joyful as if he was still home with me. This is a day I hope he treasures and always strives or it again but we know he can! And we are here in the school and at home if gets stuck. 

Fandom Friday

The kids Elementry school does sprit Fridays spread out through the year. This Friday was fandom Friday. They were supposed to dress in something they are fans of. We talked a lot about dinosaurs, my little pony, Dr Who and when it came down to it they decided they were fans of their school. So they both dressed in camo and their house color to show where their loyalty and excitement lays. 

The theme for the school year is "mission possible." Giving the school year a focused mission and making nothing out of reach. The camo is part of the solider theme. 

At the beginning of the year each student was randomly assigned a house (themed off Harry Potter) and the learn loyalty to that house as they support each other through the school year. Monkey is in the orange house and Cupcake is in yellow. They really love having this loyalty and doing things to get their houses points trying to earn the trophy at the end of the year. They love school!!! 

Spooky PreK Field Trip

PreK is not so much about learning facts, it is not even required in our state, it is about learning how to go to school, how to be a student. Cupcake is learning like crazy, picking up letters, counting, writing her own name and even how to observe and analyze science experiments! 

This week the PreK classes got to go on their first field trip, it was a lot of fun and a great experience of how future field trips will go and how to behave on those field trips. 

We went to a local farm and pumpkin patch, we took our own pumpkins 

Momma made these hats a while back, never imagining I would wear one myself. It was fun!

Big girl on the bus. It was a really cold October day after it had rained for days! So we dressed appropriately, tutu and all. 

As soon as we arrived the kids just got so excited!  And went right to playing, the fact that they were on a field trip was so exciting to start with, then there where things to play on! 

Hay ride to the pumpkin patch with her friends. 

It did not take long for Cupcake to pick a pumpkin, like she had been thinking about it for a while.

But we found some fun ones too while momma made her look around some more.

In the end she wanted one she could carry and cuddle with. We were told we could have a small pumpkin, the size was labeled as "spooky." The kids thought that was hilarious!

This is one of Cupcake's good friends, he and his mom go to our church and I have been having a great time getting to know them. Cupcake just loves him and they are always so excited to see each other!

Cupcake loves all the little boys in her class. I noticed she ran in a pack where she was the only little girl with a bunch of little boys! They all love her too! What are we in for?

After picking pumpkins it was back to the train for some recess!

After recess it was lunch! Cupcake was so excited to use her lunch box and eat with her friends. She was too excited to eat and she did not really eat much :)

She is getting so big I am crying right now remembering when she was only at the 2 and one day when she is 5 feet I will look back on this picture and wish to have this day back, so I treasure this moment right now and forever when my baby is still little enough to cuddle on my lap in the bus on the way to her first school field trip. 

After lunch they all got released into the maze where they all cheated, but got through it excitedly. 

Crazy amount of 4 year olds! PreK is only half day so our school has an AM class and PM class, almost 40 kids in all! And the amazing teacher trying to keep them from cheating and crawling over the hay. 

All of the preK students! 

Cupcake's PreK PM class with the teacher and para educator all worn out and excited from their first field trip! What a great day and wonderful memories made!!

Very first Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Last night at 9:30 Monkey came into our bedroom complaining that his loose tooth really hurt. It was barely hanging on and the next thing we knew it was out an he was giggling like a mad man. 

So cute, my big boy!!! At his last dentist appointment we began talking about when to start having his baby teeth pulled, since it seemed like they were never going to fall out on their own and Monkey's daddy had to have some of his pulled. We were so excited when he got this loose tooth!!!

When he started to tell everyone about his lost tooth he was bouncing on his toes so much Papa couldn't see it. 

The tooth fairy was very excited to finally visit our house for the very first time, but she did not expect it and only had a 20. Thank fully Grand tooth fairy had some ones. The tooth fairy was so giggly she was lucky Monkey did not wake up. 

All set for school showing off his fresh new gap. 

Momma creates

I learned how on knit 8 years ago when my grandfather was very sick. I sat by his bed side with my mother and aunts and uncles just trying to spend as much time with my grandfather as we could. While sitting there my Aunt Kim was knitting blankets for her grand kids, while doing that she taught me how to knit.  I started a large dress for Rodent, since she was the only kid I had in my life at the time. After my grandfather passed I soon became pregnant with Monkey and the dress easily morphed into his baby blanket. I taught myself from there off of books and the Internet and knitting groups. I have loved doing it so much!!! It is my go to for any baby born or special occasion. I do it as much for myself as I do for the recipient. 

These fingerless gloves are for my best friend and sister in law since she works in a cold office but needs to use her computer. Since wearing these at work 8 people have ordered gloves from her for me to make! 

This I am pretty proud of, this mermaid tale is for Miss Bee's three month pictures. They are gonna be awesome! More of that to come.

I made this for Cupcake's third birthday, loved the yarn and the way it turned out, it is just a blanket with sleeves added! It is still pretty big 18 months later :) but eventually it will fit right, until then she still loves wearing it. 

I have so many projects in progress and am happy as can be just like that. 

Big Cousin = Little Mommy

Miss Bee will be three months old next week and spends her days with Grams and Papa while her parents work. By virtue of living with Grams and Pops we get to spends lots of time with Miss Bee. I try to help with her when I can but often I think Grams let's me help because of how much I enjoy taking care Miss Bee. She was a big part of why we moved back to Maryland and came home so early from Texas.  Her mom, while being my sister-in-law, is also the very best friend God has ever blessed me with. Celebrating and supporting her during Miss Bee's arrival and new life has been such a joy and gift! 

 

Isn't she just so cute? She is starting to show us smiles and coos and happy personality. So far she is an enjoyable baby to care for. 

Cupcake has been so taken with Miss Bee sometimes I think she imagines she is her Mommy. :) Cupcake drops everything she is doing to sooth Miss Bee and loves giving her her bottle and bath, the best part of her day!! I hope Miss Bee grows up knowing how much she is loved and how far that love goes. I hope she has a grand friendship with Cupcake and they can always have these precious memories. 

Silly Crazy Kids

Awww look how sweet, right?

Nope! Cupcake has been on a bit of a crazy rampage lately. She has been very playful in very strange ways.

Oh and she is never alone.

Just another day in our lives, no big deal 

Mid Week Break

Thanks to the Jewish New Year we have a mid week break from normal life. Kids are home from school and all activities are off for today. Love it! The day was spent cleaning rooms, building with Legos, tablet time, watching Frozen (for the bizilith time), and cuddling with my newest niece "Ms. Bee," who is 11 weeks old and spends her days with Grams and Pops while her mommy and daddy work. 

Cupcake is a little Mommy! She loves Ms. Bee and never a loses interest in taking care of her. She is her favorite toy ever.

Even her Uncle loves to get involved, and she thinks he is the most entertaining and funny looking person. 

Happy girl whom we are incredibly honored to be caring for and happy to be back in her state so we can watch her and all my nieces and nephew grow up. I can't wait to see who they all grow to become and yet I am loving these days together. 

I love it when they have time to play together. Listening to Cupcake and Monkey chatter about what looks good on the magnetic mermaid is a memory I will hold onto forever.