Seriously So Strong

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Christmas at Bear Lake!

This is pretty much just a ton of pictures. There's too much to write. We had a BLAST. 5 days of non stop cousins. And Santa Claus. Life just doesn't get better than that.

All buckled up, ready for the 3.5 hour trip up!

And 3 minutes later:

Table Sliding

The two year olds getting pulled around by Sweet Jase.

Climbing on Dad/Uncle Ryan.

He's probably the best Uncle/Dad in the history of the world. And Husband. Probably He is.

He actually got up and walked with all those little ones on his back. But I never timed the camera right to get that shot. It's unfortunate. I believe this picture was taken as Ryan cried out, "Atticus! Are you poopy?!" Tic right on his head. Poor Ry.

Grandpa telling a story about the Grunch (different from the Grinch).

They were on pins and needles!

Decorating the tree with Grandma

Christmas Eve Jammies! (Looks like Mags and Addy are having a real bonding moment... or not.)

Singing a carol... probably one of the last times with his Dad since he's really loosing his ability to sing. So sad.

Cousin Nativity: Jo was Mary, Atticus a Shepherd, Maggie a sheep

Fast asleep dreaming of sugar plums... and Santa Claus. Actually, Atticus was probably dreaming about a lion ripping flesh off a hippo. That's my guess. (One night- months ago - we woke up to him singing his theme song in his sleep, the one he does while he's attacking. So awesome!)

Christmas Morning!

The 3 got a ton of littlest pet shop. Santa definitely nailed it this year!

Ryan has a hard time turning his stocking over to the Christmas boxes after the holiday is over. The rest of us just pile our goods all together... it all becomes communal. But Ryan insists on keeping his treats separate. It's very special. And then he insists on looking for his treats like this. Maybe so I can't see the goods.

Just have to add- I think my favorite moment of the entire Christmas season this year was one day with Atticus. I was playing our Christmas music list on the computer and Atticus looks up, "Mom, why are we listening to a song about Jesus?" I respond, "Well, because it's Christmas time."

"Christmas isn't about Jesus! It's about presents!"

That represents some seriously good parenting right there.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Decorating the tree

Jo picked the tree out with Ryan. And we all decorated it. Well... Abby hadn't quite figured out how to use her hands yet... and Mags fell asleep before we got started. But everyone else helped!

I don't know why, but I love this last picture. It's a perfect representation of the moment I guess.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Kids are Weird

Our kids are anyway.

Our garden was abandoned completely when Abigail was born the end of September. It was unfortunate we quit the garden so early as there were still many tomatoes reddening each day. Alas, the garden was one of those things that just had to give when the babe arrived. About a week before Thanksgiving Jo was playing in the backyard and found the old garden. Being the farmer that she is, Jo picked a whole bucket full of vegetables for our family and hauled them all the way back to the house. I watched from the window- wondering what was in the heavy bucket. She would take a couple steps and then need to set the bucket down so she could rest. Such endurance- I knew the contents of that bucket must be important. Once inside Jo washed them at the kitchen table for our family.

It was gross. They were all super mushy, half frozen. Jo kept talking about how great this was because now our family could eat them. Sick.

How could I get away with not eating the nastiness but still praise her for being so thoughtful? I carefully planted a good cucumber from the fridge in with the rest when she wasn't looking. Look how smart Mom is! Ha ha! Then I pointed out that while many of the tomatoes were probably rotten... the cucumber she'd picked looked perfect! "I don't remember that one, Mom..." So confused. But she bought it.

The best part of this story is the end. I had mentioned something about my Dad's birthday coming up while talking to Ryan on the phone. Jo heard this and remembered that Grandpa really likes tomatoes. So... without discussing her actions before hand, she found a container, stuffed it full of rotten tomatoes, and wrapped it up to give to Grandpa. Should have seen the look on his face when he opened THAT package 1 week later!

Also, Jo led me to her room one day to show me this. She made Jesus.

"Look Mom! He's adorable!" I just didn't know what to say. How do you explain that when representing Jesus we should never use that shirt? "I even put marks on His feet!" I... have no words...

ABIGAIL

Mostly she's just TUTE (By this point we've all succumbed to Maggie's accent).

But she's kinda weird too. It's her neck. It's stuck to the left. Her muscles are too short or tight on that side. "I can't turn left."

See what I mean? We're seeing a specialist on Wednesday. The problem is called Torticollis.

I wasn't very worried about the problem... but by now it's started to misshape her head as it develops. See. Weird. We're gonna work on that.

MAGGIE

Need I say more?

Here's a time when she attacked herself with marker. She's seriously a scary little two year old. A day with her would make anyone understand the label "Terrible Twos." Mag-a-dale has her sweet moments too. But, if we're being honest here on el blogo, her two year old efforts put everything Jo and Tic ever did to shame. Last night she was screaming at the top of her lungs in time out. Yelling that she didn't love me and trying to rip her own teeth out.

ATTICUS

Surprisingly I don't have anything to say about Tic this morning. But he did dress himself like this one day. He needed to go out back for an adventure.