Annual Southern State Tour

We just got back from a trip through the southern states.  It was a 10 day trip and we had 2 2 year olds telling us "I go to ours house" for the drive home.  We saw a LOT of family and had a LOT of fun.  These are just a few of the pictures that we took the last few weeks of December.

We find ourselves looking at a new year with new hopes.  We hope/pray that Carolyn can walk easily and pain free.  We hope/pray that A can get by without medication and control herself enough to stay in the gifted program.  We hope/pray that GMan stops telling his teacher how she is wrong every time she turns around even if he knows he is right with the information he is giving her.  The twins we just hope/pray continue to grow like they have been.  We hope/pray that Chris gets the basement done as it will make finding childcare significantly easier with an extra bedroom as it looks like we need an au pair.

We also have a van that decidedly does not like to take the Southern State Tour.  Last Christmas we drove to Florida (well Carolyn did with Alexis and twins) and half way down the transmission started acting up.  We got back to STL by the grace of God.  It ended up being a blessing as the warranty we bought for the van paid for it since it hadn't even met mileage for needing service to the transmission and the warranty company couldn't argue with us on that.  This year during some massive rain in Dallas it started making a weird grinding noise when turning left.  Then as we drove home we noticed that the front drivers panel was dented pretty good.  We believe that it got hit sometime overnight while it was parked on the street the last night we were in Dallas.  We've got a cool red scar on it now and Chris managed to get the dents out enough that it runs and won't destroy the driver side door or the tire.  :) 

That basically sums up our new resolutions/prayers for 2020.  Well I need to go to bed to go back to work tomorrow for the first half day of 2020. 

Wait what?

I didn't realize it had been a bit since I posted anything here.  Since I have nothing better to do atm I'll say a bit.

Currently Big E has a Toddler Tibia Fracture.  He got it going down the slide during spring break.  He's slowly getting back on it but he says his leg hurts and he looks great in his cast. A took to drawing on the bright red canvas as soon as he came home with his new accessory.  It is supposed to last 4 weeks with no water...  But we are finding he's already destroying the cotton padding by insisting on playing in the dirt and trying to walk.  We will see if he lasts the 4 weeks.

A is almost out of 2nd grade.  It has been a whirlwind.  We've had a difficult teacher who didn't want to work with us really.  We've also been doing OT for her this year since October.  She goes once a week and it has helped with some of her issues.  It is just nice knowing that she does in fact have a medical condition that we aren't entirely crazy about her needing help.  Now to get the school on board.

GMan has decided he's going to give A and Big E a run for their money on trying to get attention from mom and dad.  His favorite way is through is five finger discount he seems to attempt at friends houses and by climbing our pantry and storage shelves. 

M is a Lightning McQueen addict.  He can spot Cars from a mile away and then become ADAMANT that he gets said Car.  It doesn't even have to be "queen" it can be "mater" or "cruz".  He also is fixated on "eyes" (sunglasses) and will wear them regardless.  And yes they must be upside down.  His hands also MUST be clean.  He can have mud from head to toe and not able to put anything but mud in his face but will need clean hands.

Neither of the twins are talking well and they continue to fail at getting help because they understand so much.  For example they are supposed to be saying three and four word sentences and we randomly get a word here and there that is distinguishable.  The best sentence we've gotten though was at twin gymnastics when M said "Me help E". 

Other than that there hasn't been anything new.  We went to FL for Christmas and had a blast.  Picture below of all of us on Christmas day (I think) and we were at the pool.  I got to run on the beach.

Running season is coming up for me.  I've got a race next weekend.  I'm doing my first marathon!  It will be as part of a relay but I'll cross the marathon finish line and get a medal that has "marathon" in it.  Maybe that means I'm prepping myself to run an actual marathon. 

TaeKwonDo is going well for both GMan and A. GMan is a green first and A is a red first.  She has black in her belt and is soooo close.  GMan is getting there. 

Photo Dump

As always May has been busy.  We've done a lot and here are the pictures to prove it.

Observant Girl

We have read "A Wrinkle in Time" to the kids and started the second book in the series. Last night the teacher was telling Meg to "not be afraid." Naturally, A pipes up and says, "That must be an angel. In the Bible angels are always telling people to "not be afraid."" Go A on reading her Bible and getting some cross references.

Sweet Boy

Gman desperately needed a nap today. He is way too big for naps though at 4. We told him that Mommy wanted a nap and could he please go be a heater for her? Okay sure. At the end of the nap he wakes up and says, "Mommy I don't have any more heat to share. Can I get up now?"

Butter Cookie Recipe

At church we are having a cookie sale next weekend. In talking with another baker she told me she was making butter cookies. Since it has been a while since I made cookies I asked if she would share the recipe so I could bake it. The recipe is simple and is for a fairly traditional Dutch butter cookie.

1 C Sugar
1 C Butter
2 C Flour
1 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar. Add in flour then baking soda. Bake @ 325°F 12-15 min. Will be light in color but don't overbake.

While warm they literally melt in your mouth and fall apart. While cool they are yummy as well. Chris says they are too good for the kids to try. Though since the recipe only made 2 dozen he may also eat all of them before tomorrow.

Church Nativity

On the side tables at church they replaced the normal bouquet with a white porcelain nativity scene. GMan realized this as we were singing and went running up to see it. He stopped and started patting the different pieces. He's also looking at them with huge wondering eyes that only kids can get at Christmas. They feel a bit different than ours since we have plastic little people ones and he probably didn't know porcelain existed until now. I'm watching from the sidelines wondering how I'm going to get to the falling one before it smashes into 100s of pieces. He runs back to me nearly knocking me over and tells me that Jesus is in the manger so it must be Christmas! (He keeps asking if everyday is Christmas as we go through Advent this year. We have all the Jesus pieces from our nativities held back until Christmas Eve. They are able to play with them and move the pieces around as much as they want. Then the full nativity is out for play until Jan 6.) He then gives me a super long sweet hug. He asks to go back and see some more. I tell him he can go but he has to not touch. He then places his hand over each piece but doesn't touch as if he's counting each one and making sure that it is there.

Yay for Advent. I'm also super excited about him being more concerned with Jesus being in the manger and that meaning Christmas. We may not really understand everything yet, but at least that seems like a good first step in the whole, "Christmas is when Jesus was born" conversation.