The Rest of the Story.....

Dec 18th: Jesus is Lord. Dec. 16th: John the Baptist
Dec. 17th: Jesus is Wisdom. Dec 19th: Jesus is the Flower of Jesse.
Dec 20th: Jesus is the Key of David.

Dec 21st: Jesus is the Radiant Dawn.

Dec 22nd: Jesus is King of the Gentiles.

Dec. 23rd: Jesus is Emmanuel.

Dec. 24th: Jesus is the Light of the World!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Dressed up as the Holy Family

Take one (I don't think Mary held Jesus that way........but I'm sure she was that joyful!)
Take two : (I think Joseph didn't make Mary sit in the chair by pressing on her head!/!)

Take three (I'm sure Jesus was a wonderful baby but I don't think Mary and Joseph fought over him!)
Take forty! (this one is cute....look at Connor's Holy pose! and Olivia was about to take off!)


Sorry, that we're a few days late....it's been a blur since last Thursday! So far, we've enjoyed six Christmas' and one more to come this weekend....so once life settles down a little bit and the toys are all out of their nicely packaged packages (arrrr...) and the laundry is caught up and we've caught up on our sleep.....I'll blog the Christmas' .....................................................................so stay tuned........................Here's a few pictures of my Mary and Joseph.......the good and the funnies.....

It's not an Abscess!

A week ago, Olivia had some what of a skin tag looking thing on her left bottom gum. I called it a floppy tooth because it did have some hard consistency to it.....called the Dentist and they thought it was an abscess.......well, this morning I decided to see how her "abscess" was doing.......It's not an Abscess! She has four new teeth! All in the same spot.....Paul and I are debating whether they are molars or the incisors......I think they are molars......(the 2 year one's) but she hasn't grown her 9th, 1oth, 11th, 12th teeth yet (aren't their 13,14,15,16 yet to come before the 2 years????) I'm confused.........I guess I need to dive into my Pediatric Text Book and check out which teeth these are. Amazing that she sprouted these four teeth without any trouble! She's one strong chick!

We went to the Dr.'s today for her 15th month check up. She's in 25% for weight, 90% for height, and 50% for head......she's going to be my string bean! She may have to be looked at by Dr. Shaw a Developmental Specialist for her Imperforate Hymen.........this however won't affect her until she hits puberty......I won't go into big details about this, if you have questions you can google it or ask me personally and I'll explain.

Then while we were there, we found out she has an ear infection. She always gets these mystery ear infections at her well-checks....never would know she was sick.....lo-grade fever, cried out once last night and went back to sleep, didn't eat much last night for supper..........that was all the vague symptoms she gave us.............but we've decided to treat it with antibiotics before it flares up majorly on Christmas in Moline!

Well, I'm off to do some more baking and cleaning! My sister brought to my attention that I've been cleaning a lot. I guess I'm either nesting for her sake or for the coming of the Lord! ...............and No, I'm not pregnant or "pregnick" as Connor says it.

Shopping.....check....Baking..........check!!!

Monday, I finished my shopping with the exception of a few more gift cards. I've decided to delegate that to Paul this week. Now, I just have some wrapping to do! Thank goodness Connor likes to help with this task.
Today, Paul made copies of the "Christmas Letter" and stuffed the envelopes and I mailed a bundle of them today, two more bundles to mail. (I love sending out Christmas cards!)
This afternoon Connor, Olivia and I made some goodies. We made Pumpkin Oatmeal Cranberry cookies and chocolate dipped snow balls.




Here's Connor dumping in the pumpkin and Olivia makes sure he's putting it in the bowl!



Olivia was delighted to watch the mixer in action. Connor, on the other hand, had to go into the other room while it was running....it was just too noisy for him.

More Ornaments!!!

Missed a bunch of ornaments, so it's time to update.......(if you're at all interested!)

Dec. 10th was a lamp and represents Samuel, he heard God's voice and listened and was one of God's helpers.

The staff represents Jesse, David's father. Jesse was told that one of his sons would be the next king. David was a shepherd at this time and was told he would be king and he felt the Lord's love wash over him.
The sling-shot for Dec. 12th Represents David; with God's help, David won the battle against Goliath. (If God is on our side we can do great things!)

The Heart represents Solomon; he was a wise man and applied God's word in his life, "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge." Proverbs 23:13

It is wise to put God's Word into practice.

Dec. 14th, We start to focus in on the New Testament: Joseph...the hammer represents Joseph's occupation as a carpenter. He was a very faithful man and accepted the fact that the Holy Spirit allowed Mary to be pregnant with the Messiah. He took care of Mary while she carried the Lord Jesus Christ in her womb.

The crown of stars represents Mary and of her being conceived without sin. She was also a very faithful girl; full of joy and love and a virgin. She then accepts carrying Jesus in her womb (Jesus' Tabernacle) until she gave birth to him.

There's the update, I need to take more pictures because we're still a few days behind......

Uneventful Week.....

Despite the crazy icy, snowy, and freezing cold weather that we've had this week, it's been unusually uneventful in our household.....

• With the exception of Connor's issue. (that's been an ongoing event for the last three weeks) Monday, Connor again cried that he didn't want to go to preschool, but once he was there he was fine. He cried Wednesday at home but not at preschool and we made sure to reward him with a sticker that day! Today, he awoke me at 0500 am stating that he didn't want to go to preschool. We cuddled and talked and went back to sleep. He never even cried on his way to preschool today. So, we're making progress with that issue.

Thanks to you all who have helped us out in this phase of his life...we decided to go to a reward system. He always does well with that. We catch him in the act of 24 good things and then he gets a new spider man costume.......

I'm already planning his next reward system to be not as materialistic as this one.......it's going to involve spending some time with Dad, whatever he wants to do......we'll see what he picks!!

I'm really hopeful that this "phase" will end soon; my older sister says that sometimes kids regress right before they take a big leap in development....so we'll be on the look out!

• I guess I can't forget Olivia's issue this week either: Thursday, Paul found a strange thing in her mouth....(thought it was wall paper; she likes to pull off the wall paper while she's in her crib and usually throws it on the ground) However; this strange thing didn't move from her mouth...it was actually attached to her mouth. It looked like a "floppy tooth!" I called the dentist and explained its disposition. He thought it sounded like an abscess at the left molar area and that it is too early to have her molars erupt. I agreed since she just has 8 teeth right now. Last night I searched the Internet and found info on natal/neonatal/& premature tooth eruption and thought I had her diagnosed. Until tonight, Paul and I checked it out again and took pictures....now it doesn't look so much like a floppy tooth but a hard white pimple on her gum.....she didn't really care for us feeling around in her mouth........poor girl.....her gum is a bit swollen, so now I'm thinking it looks more like an abscess.......hope it can wait out until next Thursday for a scheduled Dr.'s apt. She doesn't seemed bothered by it, she still eats like a horse....we'll see........

This is when "Mommy Faith" comes into play....I just have to have faith that everything will work out for the kids.

• I only worked Monday evening, was going to have clinical on Wednesday but cancelled due to the weather and my students who were making up clinical lived out of town. (I was kinda excited to have a four week break from them! hee-hee! Now I know the truth of what my instructors were thinking of us! ....uuuhhh.....Maybe not, because our class was a good class, we actually DID our work, had GOOD ATTITUDES and competed for good grades. I'm proud to say that 100% of our class passed boards!!!!!!!! First time in Allen History!?!?!)

I was feeling a bit guilty last night because I thought, I haven't been very productive this week.....but yet I have been a productive mother.

1. I did 6 sessions of cleaning up toys per day.
2. One load of laundry per day (I know it wasn't much)
3. Put away three heaping laundry baskets of clothes (that's where all the laundry was!)
4. Washed hands and faces approx. five times per day.
5. Swiffered the floors.
6. Wrapped some presents.
7. Wiped away icky boogies and watery eyes this week from Olivia's face.
8. Wiped a bottom and/or changed numerous diapers.
9. Scrapped almost 12 pages during nap time/preschool time in the AM.
10. Watched some movies by myself.
11. Played hide and go seek, Lego's, star wars, Little People and Dollies.
12. Repeatedly said, "Be nice to your sister." "there's no jumping on the furniture." "I want to hear a splash!" "Don't forget to wash your hands after going potty." "don't forget to flush." "Don't forget to put back on your underwear and pants before coming out of the bathroom." (I wish our toilet would automatically remind Connor this!)
13. Last but not least, I cleaned the back of the toilet and the bottom of the toilet from someone who's got an uncontrollable fire hose!

Tonight, out of guilt, I scrubbed the rest of my kitchen walls and wiped down the unknown substance that was splattered on my dining room walls......and planned my VERY eventful week next week..................To justify it all, I'm calling this week the calm before the storm!!!!!

Well, enough jabbering much about nothing......no pictures tonight just good ol' fashion journaling........stay warm!