Sugar and spice

Yep, that's a pink sparkly bow in his hair, he had just been given a princess makeover. Yep, that's a pink fluffy bed, he had just finished tickling a little six year old until she begged for mercy. Yep, that's wee baby Nora asleep in his arms, he had been holding her because she was fussy.

Halfway through a tea party, or was it hotel service? I heard snoring...when I peeked in Isabella was quietly reading books to herself, and these two were down for the count. 

I couldn't resist taking a picture for bribery  posterity ;-)

I feel like I get lost in my days, caught up in my to-do lists and find myself brushing important stuff to the side. 

I know I'm not the only mom who does this, it's a common plight of motherhood, we are so busy doing all of the things that makes life comfortable and and easier for our family that we forget to enjoy...our family. 

As I sit here tonight, at nearly midnight, I have 2 out of 3 kids asleep. This is pretty huge right now in this current phase of our household. It is, as it turns out, a miracle when all of your children sleep  

at the same time. 

 But I digress...Ahem! Focus, man, focus. As I sit here tonight, I'm chastising myself for the moments I missed this week because I was too busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off. (And it's only Monday) True, I have twins with RSV, one freshly healed but still within the 2 week period, and one right in the feverish throngs...but here I am, Miss Chatisey Chastiser Chasttisenstien.

 

 My son is wide awake playing with the tag on his exersaucer and grunting. Always grunting. So I've really got nothing but time, here. 

 A few of my favorite moments from this weekend:

 1. 

I was vindicated about something that has plagued me for a couple of years now. 

It left me feeling powerful, like if I had been a cartoon, I would have been standing on a tall building, perfect eyebrows and busty, with my hair flowing and my toned (but not muscular) arms on my hips whilst gazing into the horizon.

Are you ready?

 I woke my husband up with my snoring. 

Yep, you heard me. ALL these (2) years he has startled me awake with his snortling and chortling...it's a huge problem.

So waking up the other morning, to have him announce with only a mild hint of annoyance "You were snoring a lot last night. Really cutting 'em. It woke me up"

MY, HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED!!

 It kinda felt like this...

2.

Isabella sang in her little church choir yesterday morning. It's always a joy. They are innocence incarnate, up there singing their little hearts out and whew! Gets me every time. 

They put a tall boy right in front of her, though. 

All I could see was her giant Christmas bow bobbing voraciously on top of that precious little head of hers. But watching that big ole bow was enough. 

It was enough.

It won't be long now until she fights the good fight and those hairbows are put asunder.

3.

I overheard my husband singing a very out of tune version of You Are My Sunshine to our sick little baby, because it's what I sing to them every night. He sang her to sleep.

I'm sorry, but until you've heard your man sing a lullaby to your baby...you just don't know true love.

My heart feels like this:

The end.

 

room and gloom

 

Dear Diary,

Last night we had a cozy night in, we had plans to venture out and do some Christmas shopping, but with one sick twin acting a little sicker, we decided 'twas best to stay put.

I opted to whip up some White Trash (Also known to most as Muddy Buddies) because they're Hubby's and Bella's fave. We munched on it all night...

I hate the word munch. 

...we nibbled on it all night,

Ugh! Nibble *gag* that's even worse.

We stuffed our gobs with it all night, and I read to Isabella out of our overdue library book, Little House On The Prairie, until she pretended to fall asleep on the couch. So, David carried her to bed by her feet.

Later as I was putting laundry away, trying to tidy up after my small fries were in bed...I attempted to sneak into Isabella's room to put away the three pairs of shoes that were scattered in the living room and I was greeted at the door by THIS:

 

My knee-jerk reaction was annoyance. Just three weeks ago I spent 2 1/2hours cleaning this room and throwing away junk...I turned my back for five minutes and WHAM it looked just like this...but tonight it was a whole new level of scary.

Fire codes are surely being broken somewhere. There's clearly a path carved out from her door to her bed, reminiscent of an episode of Hoarders Buried Alive!

 Tell me, does anyone else's kid's room look like this? Don't lie, nobody likes a fibber!

 I sat and thought about all of the things this room has been today.

At one point it was a spaceship

a school

a house

"a fancy free hotel with service"

a kitchen

a restaurant

Santa's sleigh

That's a lot of costume changes for one room to undergo. I guess I should be grateful it doesn't look worse...and that I have a child who likes to use imaginative play.

But as soon as she's not looking...I'm going in welding my toy rotation bag!

 

The trappings

Ahh Christmas! 

It's really sneaking up on me this year. I'm not sure if going from 1 kid to 3 in one fell swoop is a factor (just a minor detail, right?), or if it's the late Thanksgiving...but this holiday season has literally flown by.

(Right now all three of my angels are happy and content to let me quick, fast! Roll out a blog post)

It's so easy for me to get distracted by the gift giving, the elf hiding, the merry making, the party hosting and all that jazz, that I forget all about the important stuff...

The important stuff like, sitting with Isabella and making messes together.

My childhood Christmas memories involve making ornaments at the kitchen table with my mom and sisters, shaking my presents, circling items in the American Girl catalog (then it was Pleasant Company) listening to classic Christmas music in the home with candles lit, and baking!

Oh, the baking we did.

My mom always involved us in the holiday baking in some way, shape, or form, I DON'T know how she did it and kept her sanity intact...actually, I do. She never worried about messes, she just let us help, help, help to our heart's content. I never realized until now what a great quality that was she possessed. Her ability to realize nothing else mattered, just letting us be involved, and it worked, because those memories are ingrained in my head like my favorite old Christmas song. 

 Our house was seldom ever perfect and tidy...but we were such happy, creative kids.

So today when Isabella woke up for school, and I drug out the books and materials, ready to slog through the morning in a decaffeinated stupor...one little thing she said made it very obviously clear to me, that she needed some time with just me, to sit, make a mess and just...be. 

Back went the books and materials. Out came the cookie icing, paint, glue, glitter, paintbrushes and other craft sundries...on came the Bing Crosby. 

The twins napped at the same time. It's a Christmas miracle!

And we mess made. We merry maked. We laughed. We spilled lots of glue. And Isabella lost a tooth in her sandwich.

I feel like *today* this was all far more important and necessary than telling time, learning verbs and spelling words.

This girl decorates a mean gingerbread cookie!

Proud.

Pretending like she doesn't see the giant black eye of my lens in her face ;-)

I had to make one too!

Someone woke up to wallow in sweet potatoes! If only it was socially acceptable for me to enjoy my food like this.

I found these two cuddled up in Bella's bed watching a Christmas movie together. Oh my heart!

What's a guy gotta do around here to get a bite of a cookie?!

Love these messy masterpieces.

Mess, glorious mess! It's still there. At nearly 4:00 pm. What?

Christmas angel, needs a halo, yes? And painted pine cones. She lost interest before the pom poms got glued on, guess that means I can glue them on any way I want ;-)