Marley's First Big Girl Bath

Tonight was the first night I put Marley in the bathtub and not the baby tub in the bathtub. I tried this once before, but she was sick when I tried it, and she freaked out. That's why I waited a while. She had seen Logan in the bath earlier, and all his toys were still in there. She loved playing with all of them. It went well. I was trying to wash her hair and she looked down and it went all over her face. I braced for the cry, but she laughed. Could I have produced another water baby after all? Logan screamed his head off when we got water on his face...he still sometimes does. It was definitely one of the more easier bathes that we've had.

Speaking of firsts, we had our first snow last Saturday. Marley has been out in the snow before, but since she couldn't walk, she couldn't play. That changed this time. I didn't put her in her snow suit because I only wanted Kevin to hold her for a couple minutes and then bring her in. Instead, he let her down and she played for a half hour...wearing only pants, socks, and shoes on her lower half. Poor kid was freezing when she came in. She seemed like she had fun. Enjoy the pics of these events! Don't mind the other two weaseling their way in.

I love her hair in this picture. It looks like a bunch of curls. Really it's just her straight hair refusing to be rinsed back.

On her way inside...look at that nose!


I love this picture for some reason. It's the look in his eyes or something.

Christmas School

We did Christmas school again today. I was panicking because I didn't know what to do. I remembered seeing an article about popsicle stick Christmas trees, so I winged it. I also saw stars somewhere, so I tried to do them too....I mean, the kids tried to do them too. I think it went well. Rory's doing a lot do Christmas crafts at school too, so I don't want to overload her with it. So today at the library, we got movies that have nothing to do with Christmas, and books that had nothing to do with Christmas. Tomorrow Rory has school and her Christmas party. Monday is her last day before Christmas break and then it's all Christmas, all the time. Here's our popsicle stick art.

I don't know why this is coming out sideways...it's saved correctly, so whatever.

Not Blogging Because...

I'm saying the Rosary. What could it hurt, right? I'll be praying for all of you. Good night and sweet dreams!

My Deepest Apologies

Wednesday, December 2, was Papa's birthday, and I didn't blog it. I'm so ashamed. I'm sorry, Papa...please forgive me. Thank you for always being there for us and providing dinners and entertainment. Here are five things you may not know about Papa...

1. He is very much like me...in the sense that we are both impatient and let it be known when we are not happy (please refer to Pizza Hut or Bethesda Naval Hospital). In the same respect, we make sure others know when we are happy too.

2. He hardly ever says, "bye" on the phone. If he's done talking, he hangs up...sometimes with warning, but mostly without. When Kevin and I got together, I used to complain to Kevin about it...."Your dad just hung up on me again!"

3. He has to have PLAIN, WHITE SNEAKERS! Kevin and I used to attempt to get him size 10, wide, sneakers. If they had any other color on them except for white, he would take them back...seriously. One year they had navy blue stitching outlining the "N" (did I forget to mention they have to be New Balance?) and he took them back. One year they had a silver stitching, and he took them back. This year Nana got ones with silver stitching, but it's ok coming from her apparently. ;)

4. He only drives Jeeps. Well, he drives other vehicles if he has to, but if he has to buy it, it's going to be a Jeep. Thanks to him, all our kids identify Jeep vehicles before any others.

5. He may seem stern, but if you get him around his family, he melts...especially around his grandchildren. He gives them whatever they want as long as it is within his power...chocolate chip cookies are always within his power...so are jelly beans and the occasional Batman movie.

Happy Birthday Papa...sorry this is so late!

Teenagers

I regret to inform you that I couldn't blog because I HAVE A TEENAGER! If you don't understand then you must not have/have had one. That's all I have to say about that!

No Christmas School

Well, I forgot to factor in that Rory has school twice a week, so doing Christmas school with just Logan wouldn't be fair. Although, Rory came home from school early because her stomach hurt. You wouldn't be able to tell it by the way she was playing and eating when she got home.

In other news, stay tuned to tomorrow when we start up Christmas school again. We have a chain that has bible readings on it and you take a loop off each day for 25 days. And we have advent calendars that the kids open after we've taken our loop off and read our bible passage. It's a good tradition to have. That's what this is all about anyway...giving the kids memories.

Just for kicks...

Christmas School!

So on the homeschooling forum that I belong to, a lot of people started talking about Christmas school. For 25 days, they stop "normal" school and do everything Christmas. Some people are very educational about it...learning about where Jesus was born, where Mary and Joseph had to travel to, the science behind a white Christmas, and a bunch of other things. Some people are more loose about it and watch movies, read books, make crafts, bake cookies and other holiday treats, etc....it's all Christmas theme. This is more up my alley.

Today we started by learning about St. Nicholas. Even though his feast day is on December 6th, I didn't know what we would be doing that day and thought today was as good a day as any. I found wondering resources on the web and printed out children version stories, coloring pages, puzzles, poems, and games for the kids. They liked this a lot. They learned about the saint and why kids call him Santa Claus now. It was nice.

We also went to the library and got out all Christmas books and movies. It might be a little much for 25 days, but I'm determined to do it. Plus, Christmas school also includes cleaning the house for Jesus' arrival. I think that's a clever way to get my slave labor done. While I normally fly by the seat of my pants in school for the kids, I think I might actually have to plan the night before for the next couple of weeks. I plan to keep you up to date during the week of festivities. Hopefully I won't be Christmased out by the time it comes.

I didn't get any pictures of Christmas school today, but here's one that I just think is too cute.