What's Goin' On? (in bullets)

-I'm done all my Christmas shopping! (well, I do have to buy the secret wrapping paper for the kid's gifts and some ribbon, but that doesn't count)

-Lily is very into imaginary play. She likes to take care of Ryan's Caillou doll. She rubs his back to put him to sleep, gives him drinks and "yummies" and carries him around. This is a fairly new development and it's so fun to watch.

-Ryan seems to have turned a corner. He is not disobeying and whining for no reason so much anymore.

-Lily is in her own room now and everyone seems to be sleeping better.

-I got twin sized sheets and a comforter to try to get Ryan to agree to a new bed. I think he is slowly coming around, but he has had a lot of change lately and he doesn't seem to like it very much.

-Ryan had early preschool the other day because the elementary school closed early. Lily and I had the best time. It was so fun to have one on one time with her. She is usually napping or cranky because she won't nap when Ryan is at school. Since he went in the morning that day she was bright and cheerful. We played ball, grocery store and cooked in the play kitchen. Then we sat down to a pretend meal with tea. She is so fun!

-Last weekend we had Cookie Day. Ryan decorated his trays all by himself this year. In typical little kid style he covered his multicolored, patchwork cookies with mounds of sprinkles and/or jimmies. Lily got her first taste of decorating. It didn't last too long because she spilled blue food coloring all over herself and me. It did all come out thankfully and she'll be a better decorator next year. That's how it works- you get better and better every year.

-It snowed in early December so I was able to get a picture for our Christmas card while the kids were sledding. I love it when I can get snowy pictures for our Christmas cards.

-I had the worst case of PMS this month. I rue the days I thought people were putting on about PMS using it as an excuse. I find it terribly annoying that it is a real thing and I can't stand that I don't have ANY control over it. What annoys me most about it though is the way guys throw that word around whenever a girl is in a bad mood. Anyway, I'm better now and I feel very silly about the whole deal.

-I am excited for Christmas and it seems so far away. That is until I start thinking of all the stuff I have to do first and then it seems much too close.

-We had a crazy lesson about fire and candles this weekend when our Advent wreath caught fire. We are still not sure what happened, but the whole side of one of the candles is gone and the greenery below it was ablaze until I blew it out. Now I have to go out and find a purple candle before Sunday. Do you know how hard it is to find purple candles?! And if you are luck enough to find purple candles they don't have the same kind in pink. I was so excited to find Advent Candle packs a few years ago I bought multiple packs. This was the last set I had. I should have known something was wrong when I realized one of the purples was not the same color as the others.

Christmas Came Early to Our House

The work is done! Our house will be back to normal soon! I'm so excited to be ale to do what I want when I want and not have to worry about working around the project(s) of the day. I am so happy we did this. It has been such a blessing to us to have the extra room. Now all 3 kids will have their own rooms which will mean much less running up and down the stairs at night to stop them from playing with each other. So without further ado, I give you pictures.

Here is our living room. We added 2 windows, painted and added hardwoods. I LOVE it!

The hardwoods extend over into the dining room. So now every night we thank God for our food and then after we eat when I'm cleaning up I thank Him for my hardwoods! It's so much better than carpet under the table where I feed my kids!

This is Lily's room. It's a very lovely shade of lavender.

The carpets finally went into Lily's room and the upstairs hallway today, so we can move her in now!!! I'm so excited!

Did I ever post pictures of the new parts of the house (our room and the family room) when they were finished?

Oh, That Boy

So Ryan has had some behavior issues lately. I think he is still adjusting to 5 day preschool. He has been cranky, clingy and defiant. It's been a hard couple months. Really hard. Just when I think I'm at the end of my proverbial rope he does or says something that give me hope that my sweet little boy still exists inside the over-tired crank pot that currently lives in our house. Like the other night when he had had a particularly hard bed time. I went in and said prayers with him. I got up to leave and as I turned the light off I heard his little voice, "Mommy?" I was still frustrated with him so I was probably a little too short with him when I replied, "Yeeees, Ryan." Imagine my guilt when he says to me, "I love you any way you feel." It's a line from one of the books we read. I love that book and I'm so glad the message is getting through to him. Of course I replied with another line from the same book, "I love you too, Ryan, no matter what you do." The next morning didn't seem as bad.

Sweet Song

I was singing Lily her normal bedtime songs tonight and she was singing along. Not too much unusual about that until I was singing "Jesus loves little Lily." She usually sings "Jesus loves Ryan" which makes sense because I usually do their songs together and sing "Jesus loves big Ryan" before or after. Tonight as I sang her part she sang "Jesus loves Mommy" all on her own. [melt] So even though it took an hour to put her down tonight I can't be too mad. What can I say... the girl knows how to work me.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Lily counted to 10 almost all by herself yesterday. She got stuck on 4, but when I said it for her she went on to 5 and finished up to 10. Just out of the blue she started counting and since she can't quite get the word four I helped her out. Today she did all the counting by herself except the four was pretty unintelligible. The only reason you'd know it was a 4 is that is came in between 3 and 5. Still pretty good for 19 months old!