Merry Christmas....Family Favorites and Highlights

Merry Christmas is soon to be here....so....I thought I'd share some of the kids favorites this holiday season!

1- Favorite Song: All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
2-Favorite Present so far: Gideon-How to be a Super Hero starter kit
Lucy-Larger than life Barbie Doll (Bigger than her)
Ella-Lucy's Larger than life Barbie Doll :): and it begins already!
3- Favorite Movie: The Year Without a Santa Clause....or as Gideon says "Miser Brothers Movie'
4 Mommy's Favorite Kids Quotes of the Season:
Gideon: "Mom why can't I watch the "Valicals" of Narnia?
"What?" I say
" I want to watch the Crayonicles of Narnia"
Lucy: "GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO(forever)
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEEIA
IN ECSELLYDEEEEEEEOOOOOOO"
Ella: "HI"
5.Favorite Food: Hershey's Chocolate Sticks
6-Favorite Event of the Season- Being in an Ice Storm and Having no electricity for almost 18 hours....BRRRRRR!!!! Candle-light vigil!!Oh....yah...it was 4 below too! YIPEE!!
7- Favorite Gideon Moment: When told me that he was not going to go to live with Satan because he asked Jesus into his heart a lot of times :)
8- Favorite Lucy Moment: When my mom asked if she could fix Lucy's hair and Lucy obstinantly replied...NO!! I BUTISULL! (beautiful) (Her hair was a rats nest but she wouldn't let mom fix it for anything...she just kept saying again and again NO I BUTISULL!!
9-Favorite Ella Moment: Her hearing "I want a Hippopotimus for Christmas" and dancing and giggling...bobbing her head and scrunching her nose!
10- Favorite Thing About Christmas This Year: Gideon beginning to really grasp Jesus coming and why and starting to understand the true "reason for the season"

See ya later! Merry Christmas!

8 days til Christmas Eve...

Can you guys believe it! Christmas is not very far away! I have a lot of wrapping to do! This weekend is the Myers Family (immediate) Christmas so I gotta get moving! Well...the kids are all resting right now and the house is quiet...a perfect time to write!
I am so glad that last week is over! It was incredibly filled up with business of schedule! I like to have things to do but now and then I need a day to just stay home and catch up! Hopefully tomorrow and Thursday will be those days this week!
As you guys can see from the video on the last post Lucy did great at her "performance" on Friday night! We were so pleased! We shelled out 100 bucks for 30 seconds of it but it was worth it to see Lucy smile and feel like a princess! She's still talking about it and insisted upon wearing her outfit all day Sat as well!
Friday night we ate supper with Keith's boss and co-workers...it was good food and good conversation. Not quite as fun as years past (there has been some department rearranging) but still it was a good time and a break from the kids!
Sat we worked around the house and Keith worked from home on some stuff for his upcoming trip to Arkansas(tomorrow and Thursday). Then we headed over to Grammy's to see Kelli and the kids (Keith's cousin) and Aunt Jean and Uncle Doug. It's always great to spend time with them all and this time was fun as always...plus I got an awesome candied nut recipe thanks to Aunt Jean that I plan on using at Christmas YUMMY!! (Thanks Jean)
Sunday night we got to go meet Chad's girlfriend at a Christmas worship/concert up town. It was great and I really liked Greta (Chad--she's a keeper)! Although it was hard to hear I also got to catch up with Todd and Steph who we haven't seen forever so it was a fun-no kid evening!
We just got back today from Lucy's paper signing and seeing her classroom. We decided to go ahead and have her go to Preschool 2 days a week starting Jan 6. She'll be bused to the school around 11 in the morning and then bused home around 230 on Tues and Fri. She'll get occupational/speech/physical therapy while she's there so I am excited to see her progress. I am a bit nervous about her already being in school and being so young but I'm sure she'll be fine. She's going to have more of a kindergarten experience than her brother even because her preschool is in an actual school where she will interact with the other grades at times. SCARY!! I haven't told Gid that...and I don't think I'm going to ...he's so excited about going to kindergarten I don't want him to know about all Lucy will get to do! He did get to meet his principal though! The principal of your school district elementary comes to these meetings for the developmentally delayed kids and he was there so Gideon met him and liked him a lot!
Anyway....I have laundry buzzing so I gotta go! Hope everyone is healthy and happy and not too stressed out about Christmas! Love to all!

Our Dancing Girl

An Unfortunete Turn of Events......

Poor little Silly Fish....he was just too good to be true....this morning I found him floating in the plant...either the new fish we put in last week contaminated him....or the water I added to the depleting tank was not chemically balanced....but yes....it is so.....he met the flusher this morning...how sad...how sad...he was a good little fish....and so here is Gideon and Mommy's epitaph for the loss of this poor fellow:

Little Fish....red and white
So sweet blowing bubbles through the night
How we'll miss your kisses and wiggles
always sure to give us the giggles
Down the flusher you must go
For your true smell will soon be shown
How sad the loss of our little friend
who met a peaceful quiet end
We love you little silly fish
we say goodbye with a flush and a swish

:) Have a good day!

And there were shepards watching their flocks.....

So, it's kinda hard to see most of these pictures because it was so dark in the auditorium but as you can see in the first picture with Nani....Gideon and Lucy were sheep in the Christmas play at church last night and it was a riot!! They had a dress rehersal on Sat morning and there was stuffing EVERYWHERE!!!! The kids were picking it off their costumes and throwing it on eachother! We had to do some repair work when it was all done. Lucy absolutely refused to cooperate on Sat and go on stage so I figured she wouldn't do it last night but....she surprised us and was a total ham! Gideon was a little upset because he did not have a bigger part. The whole evening he was sure to remind mom, dad and Nani that next year when he was six, he would be up with the big kids by Mary and Joseph. Lucy was really cute on the stage. There was a part where all the sheep were to go to sleep and lay on their pillows....well Lucy decided she was going to camp out on her pillow the whole time not just at that one part. The picture of her with the candle in front of her is at the end of the play when all the other sheep were to be standing up helping to sing Go Tell it on the Mountain. Lucy decided she'd rather sleep more...so she moved with the rest of the crowd....taking her pillow with her and her sheep hat off...she plopped her pillow down in the midst of everyone and went to sleep...peeking up every once in a while to check out the crowd...hilarious!! She is so funny! Anyway it was a cute play and the kids did well for as little of parts they had!

We got a lot done this weekend...almost all our Christmas shopping is done...in the bag...literally in our bedroom closet. Friday night we hit the local shops and picked out our annual ornament of the year at Candy Cane. Gideon chose a "bass" it's really a rainbow trout but that's alright! Saturday we finished up shopping in Toledo. Let me just say....the crowds were terrible! We decided to take the kids with us after their practice on Sat and Keith spent a lot of the afternoon in the car watching videos with kids while I ran in and out of stores, standing in massive lines to pay!! I thought if we went 3 weeks before Christmas we'd be good....NOT AT ALL!! I think everyone had the same idea. I spent 45 minutes in Kohls and only 20 was spent shopping. I had to stand in line for almost a 1/2 hour to pay!! AHHHHH!! That's enough to drive me to insanity! Toys R Us was actually the most efficient! Once I found what I wanted I had to only wait for one person to check out ahead of me!

Sat. night we relaxed and unwound with Keith's mom and dad. It was really a great weekend despite the rushing around and we got a lot done.
This week is going to be a big one! Today is our regular manic Monday and was added to by Lucy's eye appointment this morning which...HALLELUJAH her eye sight is back up to 2020 in both eyes so now we can stop the patch for awhile and don't have to go back until March. Then we took Gideon to Preschool and will pick him up at 330....come home and at 445 rush Lucy to Dance. Lucy has dance 4 outof the 5 nights this week because her recital is on Friday. Tomorrow Keith leaves for San Fran for another meeting and then Lucy has dance and then we may head to my moms because Wed. morning I work at the hospital. Thurs Keith comes back and Lucy has one more dance practice before Friday on which we go to the dance recital at 6:00 watch Lucy....leave the kids with my mom and rush to arrive late at Keith's work Christmas which I love because his boss is an exceptionally excellent cook. We usually have steak on his indoor grill...shrimp, scallops....a really good salad...potato and veggie....and a yummy dessert! We'll probably make it just for the dessert but it all depends on how Lucy's dance goes!! Anyway Sat is a free day but we may go over to Keith's parents to see cousins coming into town. On Sunday we have most of the day free after church but then we're going to Stella Blue's to watch some people sing and visit with Chad and his new girlfriend who will be in town....anyway...I feel a little frazzled! It doesn't help that Keith is gone the entire middle of this week and the next but I must not complain about his job in this economy! I hope everyone is having a less frantic holiday season! Love to all!

Gettin' Ready for Christmas

This weekend we all had a great time decorating the Christmas tree and putting up the ornaments...all of us...that is...except Ella.....last weekend when we were at the wedding Lucy came down with what appeared to be larangitis...Gideon started coming down with a croupy cough on Thanksgiving and poor little Ella started Saturday morning. Last night she was weezing so bad that at 4 am I had Keith get the card table out and set up a croup tent with the humidifier. She is doing ok today but obviously not feeling well....so goes our 3rd illness of the year....thank you preschool!!! Anyway other than that we are enjoying this snowy Monday morning tucked in here at home. Lucy's got dance class tonight which she is totally excited about and I'm sure Gideon will come home with homework to do. My dad left about 2 hours ago to get on a plane and fly to Israel. I am suppose to be his master of e-mails while he's gone. He'll e-mail me and then I have a list of individuals to e-mail with the information. It scares me that he going in such a dangerous time in the world. He will be able to spend Christmas in Bethlehem which will be really neat though....Gideon asked if he was going to see the stable and visit baby Jesus.....so sweet!!! He will spend a lot of his time in the city but some of the time he will be walking Palestinian children to school. I guess the kids have to walk by a Jewish settlement and a lot of times when they walk past kids get stoned and there have been occasions where the kids have gotten their arms broke....etc....sounds pretty scary!! Dad says that for this job he has to know some arabic and has to be able to run fast.....GREAT!!! That really helps my nerves....Please pray for him and his safety!! It will be hard for the whole family over the holidays because of his absence!! Anyway so that's what's new! Hope all are well!! Love ya!!

Weird Genetics

So, some things are obviously passed down from generation to generation. Such as: eye color, hair color, stature, even teeth alignment....other things are moderatly obvious like character and personality. The things that really weird me out though are the things that are seemingly not genetic but obviously have no other source. Take for instance what has weirded me out the last couple of days about Gideon and me. Ok so Keith and I have made it a point to try not to pass our aversions and fears onto our children. We want them to make there own decisions up about what they like or dislike in areas of food and fun. We give them a selection of options and try to "expose" them to as many as possible so that they can see what they like or don't like. We also try to not "fear" or in the matter of food say "I don't like that" in front of them so they can format their own opinions. That is why I find it strange that Gideon has an aversion to hair....it totally grosses him out...in the tub....on the floor....in the sink.....on food (who wouldn't) etc.... because I get incredibly grossed out by hair as well....it makes me gag sometimes but I have never really showed that to the kids and yet he somehow he has that same reflex....and even weirder (is that a word?) I have just found out in the last couple days that he absolutely hates oranges...in fact he had to sit at the table on Sunday for 30 minutes until he ate a half of a clementine orange slice and he gagged it all the way down...ironically it has only been in the last few years that I have begun to eat oranges...I hated them as a kid and would gag on them just like Gideon...I can sort of stand them now but every once in a whlie I still get that reaction to an orange....anyway...call it coincidence....call it paranoia....call it whatever....I just think it's really weird that somehow....what can only be described as genetics I guess are passed down from generation to generation....so the next time I judge another parent for pressing their own fears on their children I will think twice....it may just be weird genetics!!