New Year's Eve

I know it's already the new year for some of you, but we still have a couple of hours to go here. We decided to let the kids stay up until 9 p.m. to watch the ball drop in Times Square. 

Well. 

We tuned into the proper television station around 8:30 p.m., and it took us twenty minutes to realize they weren't making a big deal about "only 10 minutes until the ball drops!" When there were about two minutes to go, I realized, because we're on the west coast, the network was showing us what had happened at nearly 9 p.m. on the east coast, not what was CURRENTLY happening on the east coast. 

I sprinted to the computer and pulled up a live feed of Times Square, JUST IN TIME for the 10-second countdown. Whew. 

The kids are in bed now, and I'm finishing the last twenty pages of my book. I doubt we'll make it to midnight.

I hope your New Year's Eve was enjoyable, spent exactly the way you wanted to spend it!

(P.S. Why why WHY is "Auld Lang Syne" SO depressing?! Every year it makes me want to cry!)

This and That

As this year draws to a close, I'm desperately trying to finish my reading goal (I've been doing Modern Mrs. Darcy's 2018 Reading Challenge, and I still have to finish a book for the last category -- yikes!). And by "desperately" I mean that instead of reading much today I took Lorelei shoe shopping and did WHO KNOWS WHAT around the house all afternoon.

Chet has been off work since Christmas Eve, and it's been VERY enjoyable. I've used this time to take down our Christmas decorations (I still have a few things to put away, but I'm almost there), and to create the sterile home environment I always crave post-Christmas. We've also done fun things: bowling, a post-dinner trip to Michael's last night, a movie at the base theater with Sydney and Lorelei. There have been brief touches of cabin fever here and there, but nothing major.

With that said, I'm going to put my feet up and read. Pray I don't fall asleep before I turn the page...

One of Sydney's lunches this week. She claimed she couldn't find an "N."

A Special Birthday

Happy birthday to my dad/Papa John!

He visited us in California earlier this month, and we had a great time. We THOROUGHLY enjoyed having him around, cooking us delicious meals, making the kids laugh, and watching NCIS with ice cream in the evenings.

We also celebrated an early Christmas and birthday while he was here:

He's been back in TX nearly two weeks, and Ruthie is still asking where he is. I know, Ruthie, I miss him too.

We love you, PJ!

Ruthie

Ruthie, Ruthie, Ruthie. So pale. Such dark hair (not really, just compared to your siblings). Such CURLY hair. We couldn't love you more.

She wore these pajamas last night and nearly all day today (she got them for Christmas). This past fall I bought her a light blue shirt, and decided it's HER color. But after seeing her in these pajamas, I decided she looks fantastic in ALL light spring colors. I never would have guessed (which is why I'm not in the fashion industry).

Full disclosure: Ruthie does NOT look good in yellow. She was all set to wear a yellow and black dress for our family pictures (a dress Sydney wore for family pictures at the same age), but when I tried it on her...no. Just no. Teenaged Ruthie would have been mad at me had I made her wear such a color in a photograph. I mean, who looks good in yellow anyway? (Actually, Sydney does...nevermind.)

Merry Christmas!

I thought since I'm (always) the first one awake, I'd go ahead and snap some pictures before the excitement starts this morning.

Two nights ago we visited a nearby living nativity:

Last night we finished our Advent activity (including the poster on the wall behind them):

Full disclosure: This was the Advent activity I bought to complete Christmas 2017. We only finished a few nights last year, then it fell off our plate. This year we did much better, but weren't even close to perfectly executing it. It's okay though. (Also, notice our version of matching Christmas jammies [from left to right]: Power Rangers, handed-down-from-our-neighbor Elf on a Shelf, pants-less elf, and a nice spring color palette combination.)

Santa gifts on the piano bench:

 Santa doesn't bring big/expensive/exciting gifts at our house. He also doesn't stuff our stockings.

I don't have a future as a Christmas tree photographer:

Ruthie's gifts/stocking are next to the nutcracker, Lorelei's are next to Ruthie's, and Sydney's are next to Lorelei's.

Here are Ford's:

I would also like to disclose that when I was growing up I would BEG my mom to please NOT use brown craft paper (combined with raffia ribbon) to wrap our gifts. I thought it was VERY lame. Well, well, well. Look who's talking now. (Sorry, Mama! Now I get it!)

Merry Christmas, everyone! May the hope of Jesus fill your hearts and homes this day, and every day!

Sydney

Firstborns are special. They have to be tough, because their parents have absolutely no idea how to raise children and are just winging it each and every minute of the day.

According to the website "How Does She," here are typical characteristics of firstborn children:

• Reliable
• Conscientious
• Structured
• Cautious
• Controlling (sometimes seen as bossy)
• Achievers
• Want to excel at everything
• Bask in parent's attention

Well. It's as though the author studied my life before writing this article. Which makes me EXTREMELY reliable (and boring), because I am a textbook firstborn.

Before I go on, let me say that I LOVE things like studies of birth order, personality types, the Enneagram...anything that examines and categorizes human nature in a way that (hopefully) helps us to better understand one another (and ourselves). I believe God created us as unique individuals, but also as individuals who are similar to and can identify with many other people during our time earth.

That being said, the Lord knew I needed a different kind of firstborn. One that doesn't fit perfectly into the typical firstborn "box," and who is not even close to my carbon copy (hallelujah). He gave me one who's SUPER fun (I am not), VERY creative (I am not), and who isn't concerned about life's minutiae (I am). Funny how that works out.

Sydney's a daily reminder that we are created a certain way on purpose (not according to a blueprint), and that there is always, ALWAYS room to improve and grow. Because of her I plan fun activities, buy things like pipe cleaners and glitter and craft glue on the regular, and try not to get bogged down in details such as beds that aren't perfectly made (actually, I still do that sometimes). She's my favorite, and best, firstborn.

A Luxurious Friday Morning

Good Friday morning!

Ruthie woke up coughing around 4:30 a.m., and I had trouble going back to sleep. Instead of lying there awake, mind racing, I got up, made coffee, and finished the library book that's due today. Here's the scene:

By nature I'm a morning person, but waking up even earlier than usual is one of my favorite things. I love the "extra" time, the quiet, the freedom to do something I definitely won't have time to do during the course of our normal waking hours. It's a gift.

These last few days before Christmas have been slow, which isn't a bad thing. I'm VERY glad they're not packed full, but we also have to be on guard not to drive each other crazy. A lot of our neighbors are out of town, which means most of the kids' usual playmates are gone. Tonight we are planning on driving up to Fresno to visit Christmas Tree Lane, a neighborhood that has a spectacular outdoor light display, so that will be fun and different.

Happy Friday!

The MOST Belated Happy Thanksgiving

Pro tip: It's been a little too long since your last post if you have to change your blog background from Halloween to Christmas (and only SIX DAYS before Christmas).

That being said, is it too late to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving? (Happy Thanksgiving!)

I really enjoyed these homemade turkey hands on top of our piano this year:

We were hosted this Thanksgiving by our across-the-street neighbors. (I always try to get us invited somewhere so I don't have to do a turkey.) Our friends hosted not only us, but TWENTY-SIX people total. She made three turkeys, and the only thing we contributed was a fruit and olive appetizer. I can say with certainty it was the easiest Thanksgiving (for me) to date.

I've been wanting (WANTING, not necessarily PLANNING) to get back into a regular blogging routine this year (you know, 2018...the year that's almost over). I posted the fewest amount of times in 2017 (only 21 posts! yikes!). In fact, I've been on a downward trend since 2013, and I want to change that. I like having this blog to record our small, daily memories, and I also like the writing exercise it provides for me.

SO. Even though there are only 12 days left in 2018, my plan is to post seven more times (not including this one!). That would make 58 blogs posts in 2018, more than 2015, 2016, and 2017. This is me, sprinting (or perhaps crawling?) to the finish line.

Happy Wednesday, friends! Thanks for sticking with me!