Thankful Thursday - 203

First and foremost, I am thankful for an early Christmas miracle! My Oma DJ (BoBo Moma) injured (broke) her neck on Thanksgiving and was told she would have to wear a neck brace indefinitely. It was a major hit to her incredible independence, but she's been adjusting very well and we're always in awe of her positive attitude. Well yesterday Aunty Sonya took her to another doctor (a spinal surgeon) for a second opinion; he gave them the incredible news that this fracture in her vertebrae was actually a stable fracture, and she shouldn't be in the neck brace for more than 10 weeks. WHAT?! All of a sudden she went from her life changing dramatically forever, to likely going back to normal (or mostly normal) next month. I feel like it's even greater news given how she's taken to her new reality; it really is the most amazing gift. Dom will be wondering where her "necklace" went though :). 

This week, I am also thankful for...

1. Girls Night/Sign Painting. Last year our church's women's ministry hosted a sign-painting night. It was a major hit, and they decided to do it again this year with over 100 women in attendance (more than double last year). Crazy! I painted this "there's always something to be thankful for" sign, and we're hoping to make a gallery wall somewhere. After the sign painting, the Chickalettas who were there went to Browns for a drink and appetizer. I am so thankful for this village. They definitely kept me out late, and I may have slept through my alarm the next morning. Thank you David for letting me sleep in a bit!!

Didn't take any pictures at the event, but this is the sign I made! I thought it was very fitting, especially because of these weekly Thankful Thursday posts.

2. One-on-one time. Gramma invited Dominic over last Saturday to help her and Aunty Allana make some Christmas cookies. He was SO excited all week, and it sounds/looks/tastes like he had a really good time. There were two best parts of my day that day. One was the fact that I got to have one-on-one time with Emilia; a much too rare occurence. She played so nicely and happily and independently. It made my heart feel happy to see her be natural and not have to worry about the big one coming in to boss her around or wreck her play. I think we need to arrange time apart for those two more often. The other best part of my day was how proud Dom was to serve his cookies in the evening for dessert. He brought over the tray with the sweetest smile on his face and told us all about how he helped Gramma and Aunty Allana decorate them. 

I tried, but why is it so hard to wrangle a toddler and keep them still long enough for my mediocre phone camera to take a clear picture?! (Kidding). Here we are after making Dom's bed.

She pushed this baby and her puppy around in the buggy for a long time. Ugh. Adorable!

Yes, her onesie is unbuttoned and hanging out of the bottom of her sweater. She has opinions about things, and one of her odd needs is to have access to her belly-button at all times...

Off to Gramma's house!

Look at him watching those cookies like they're the most important thin in the world <3

3. The start of the Christmas season! Gift Giving is not my love language, so December is not significant to me for that reason, but Quality Time is my #2 love language, and December is ALL about that, so other than the weather being gross, it is one of my favorite months. My birthday is on the 11th, then there's all the cozy Christmas family and friend gatherings, and then Dom's birthday, and then the celebration of the new year! 

4. A visit with BoBo Moma. Last Friday morning I took the kids for a visit with Oma DJ. This visit was before the above-mentioned news, and I was so impressed with her attitude towards everything. Her nurse and aide came to change her neck brace while we were there and at first Dom was overly concerned with the new people; then he changed his tune to "BoBo Moma's friends fixing her necklace and her neck!" We had sandwiches, tea and cookies while we were there! The kids both behaved themselves, and Dom now pretended to load groceries into his toy buggy at home, and delivered them to BoBo Moma. Oma, although he plays coy when we're over, he clearly loves you and talks about you all the time! 

While we were there she also started trying to say BoBo Moma whlie she was in her room with the nurse. She peeked into the room and said, "Mooomma.... Momoa." Cuteness

5. Being out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone is one of being in control of a situation. Part of taking care of myself is learning to let this go sometimes. Between letting the kids play with Christmas decorations and the tree, to letting them play in these rice buckets, to trying my best not to pester/nag David about HIS work stuff (what's that even about?), to allowing Emilia to climb on furniture in precarious ways, to letting them run free around the neighborhood on our walk even though they're slow as a slug and erratic as a fruit fly, etc. etc. You get the idea. Every one of these things goes against my natural instincts, but I think it's better for them (and for me) in the long run for me to be able to just relax and let life happen. 

This really did go well for about 10-15 minutes. In the end, the yellow and blue rice were mixed. I dyed them like 9 months ago, and have been keeping them all separate because I couldn't bring myself to do it. Well... giving up control! 

This doesn't have much to do with control, but it's cute. At Gramma and Grandpa's the kids went to watch the end of the football game after dinner. Dom was on the couch and Emilia ran in, so Dom hopped off the couch, boosted her up on to the chair and went back to sit down. Little sweet moments like this warm a mother's heart.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!

This weekend we went to get our Christmas tree! I think this is the earliest we've ever done this, but Dave and I are hosting our Small Group Christmas party this coming Friday, so it was a must!

We had made plans to go with my parents, Scott and Ashleigh. My Mom and Dad are having their house renovated, so they aren't doing a tree this year, and it's Scott and Ashleigh's first Christmas as a married couple, so that's fun. Such a special time. Jeff and Adam decided to tag along as well, and then came over for some games afterwards while the kids napped. 

We went to "Oh Christmas Tree Farm" in Langley, where we'd been a couple times quite a few years ago. The farm just opened the day before we went, so the selection was amazing. There were so many perfect trees! Dave and I decided on a 6(ish) foot tall Noble Fir. $$$ ugh. Every year I feel guilt for the fact that we spend so many dollars on a tree that's such a temporary investment. It would probably be better for the environment and for our pocketbooks to just buy a fake tree, but the Christmas tree hunt is something I so look forward to doing every year. I guess if I think of it as investing in an experience then I can justify it easier... yes, let's go with that! Also, it just smells so good, and how else would I bring those little spiders into my house? (Yuck. I always forget about the fact that I'm bringing in a real tree from real nature with real critters). 

Also yay! I asked Dave to bring his camera, and he got some awesome actual nice photos of our adventure.

Such a classic Dom face

This random resident lab followed us around and begged us to throw stumps for it most of the time.

And on to the less beautiful and crisp, but still meaningful photos (for me, the photo hoarder).

Our tree in its natural habitat. Man, I need a new phone so badly. This camera is crap

Dom decided the free ride outweighted the concern about doing something new in a new place

We sort of slowly decorated the tree the next couple days. We put some lights on it while the kids were napping so that they could see the tree all set up in our house and get used to it. I was also excited to see their reactions. For some reason I'm all sentimental about this Christmas and Dom turning three. I'm not typically a super sentimental person, but I find myself with a lump in my throat and some dust in my eye more than I care to admit haha.

Tired children not really caring about the new addition to the house

I was brave and took out some kid friendly ornaments to let them play with and attempt to hang on the tree. Control freak relinquishing some control over here! 

I spent yesterday evening listening to Christmas music and decorating the tree. Every year I think it would be fun to do it together with Dave as a couple, but this year we naturally didn't share the responsibility. He sat close by and was there if I needed him, but mostly I went into my own little world, humming along, placing the ornaments wherever I pleased. He always comes at the end to tell me which spots are bare or need a pop of red or something. What you may not be able to see in this photo, is that the top half and bottom half look very different haha. Top half is glass, sparkly, pretty ornaments. Bottom half is... not! #toddlers

Thankful Thursday - 202

Been a few weeks! This week I am thankful for...

1. Wednesdays. Wednesdays are always crazy busy, but I have a lot of variety in them. I usually work from 7-12 or 1, and then come home, have 1-2 hours of "free" time while the kids are still napping. Then after the kids get up I prep dinner, walk the dog, and/or play with them. We eat dinner as a family, and then hang out until the kids go to bed. Most Wednesdays, after the kids go to be we have Small Groups, which is really just an excuse to get together and eat and drink with our friends. 

2. Walks with the kids. I was forced to be adventurous the other day when I packed everyone (dog and kids) up to go for a walk at night, only to realize the stroller had a flat. All three of them were excited to be out, so I had to take them all out walking in the dark. I was nervous about wrangling the toddlers in particular, but we ended up having a great time, and I've taken Dom & Emilia for a couple walks since then, and I sort of feel like a super-human with all this responsibility. 

He has this funny new habit of covering his ears every time a big truck goes by. This picture sums up their personalities. Dom: cautious and nervous about the loud noises. Emilia: YAAA!! MORE!!

3. Free plastic surgery. Not actually. I woke up with an allergic reaction to something the other day and my lips got all swollen! It was so weird. Thank goodness it only lasted a couple hours, but now I know what it would look like to have lip injections... Unnatural! 

4. Snuggle-puss. The kids have been acting out (for me in particular) lately. I think this is because I was almost completely unavailable to them last week. I was working either at the office or at home every day for hours. Yesterday I hit a point where I just shut everything out and sat down with them for an hour and was present. Man is Emilia ever snuggly. All she wants is to just lay on/beside me. I'll look back on these days fondly.

One of those busy days where Netflix parented them for a little while. No Mommy to snuggle? She settled for the next best thing <3

Even when she was just sitting beside him, always had one hand on Dom

We're not potty training, but she loves to sit on the potty and pretend. I know this isn't her snuggling, but she's cute :)

Put up some lights the other day. She is standing there saying, "OH WOW!" repeatedly.

5. A sunny zoo day! Katrina, Natalia and I took the kids to the zoo today and it was such a beautiful day. Lots of the animals were hiding, but a few of the ones we don't get to see often were out and along the fence. The lynx was even pacing where we could get a good view of it. The alligator scared the beep out of me. We went up to its new enclosure and I stuck my head over to see if we could see one. Right below me was it's nose poking out of the water and its GIANT head just under the water. The rest of its body was in the darkness of the murky water and it gave me all the creebles. After a minute or two it slowly slunk into the murk and we didn't see it again. Gross. 

A rare photo of all the kids. Where mine aren't throwing tantrums. What you don't see, is me running over and plopping Emilia down and running back out of the frame. I could let you see that as there's a hilarious picture of me running, but I'll spare myself the embarrassment. 

Lunch break by the big cats

Henry & Dom checking out the gator

Spontaneous toddler dance party in the Badger viewing area

And of course a trip to the playground

Dom had lots of fun going down this slide over and over. Check out that huge grin!