The BEST Christmas Cards Ever

We have already received well over 50 Christmas cards this year. They are all beautiful and I cherish them all. However, this year, I’ll admit that there is one that blew them all out of the water. It will be hard to top it. EVER.

Thomas came home from school the other day and was looking glum. I asked him how he was. “Mom, I made you a Christmas card, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. I wanted you to think it was from Heaven, not from me. I’ll just show you.” He pulled the following card out of his backpack.

 

That was just the cover. I opened it to read the inside:

He said there was a coat he had drawn and stuck in the card but it fell out.

Just look at all the thought he put into that. Look at all the FAITH. Look at all the COMPASSION. Can’t you just feel it? It is  from Heaven.

Today I was cleaning off the table and I found this little gem Veronica had written:

Look at the sentiment. Look at all the LOVE. Look at all the UNITY.

Every week for school Mass, they have to fill out their offering envelopes. If they don’t give money, they are supposed to offer a good deed. I guess they forgot to take theirs this week. I was tickled to find them today:

Life isn’t always flowers and butterflies, but when you take a moment to have faith like a child – to at least listen to what faith is for a child – then even amidst the struggles, life is full of beauty. I don’t bring up Julianne and David very often. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t need to. On their own, these two make the thread between this life and the next, between earth and Heaven, between every member of our family strong, tangible and comfortable.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Well, inside our house it is, anyway. Today it was in the 60s! Tomorrow is supposed to hit 71.
At church this morning, Thomas went out of his way – leaving our pew to go to a different section of the church – to give the sign of peace to a lady in a wheelchair. After the service, he went to tell the cantor (who has sung with him twice at church now) that she did a good job. He even left on his own after the service to ask the priest a question.
Veronica was EXTRA snuggly at church this morning. She found her preschool teacher from last year after the service and went in an all-out sprint to hug her after the service. She followed along with the words to some of the songs with me today too!
Later in the afternoon, Pa came by for a visit while Uncle Danny had a meeting in town. We got the tree up!
Thomas collected several ornaments he made and those he felt were special to him. He put them all very close to each other in the same space on the tree.

Danny snuck in after a meeting he had in town to visit as well. Veronica was so excited about having visitors for dinner that she took the initiative to set the table. She found a decoration for the middle – and even put a special towel under it. She worked very hard make place cards for everyone as well!

Cells, Circulations, and the Circle

What a beautiful day in the mid 60’s… in DECEMBER!

We went to a program at the Central Library about the body. Thomas got to dress as a surgeon. (See the middle guy in the shorts!) After the program, they asked the kids to fill out an evaluation form. Veronica took hers very seriously. She filled in every blank on her own. The last question was, “What did you learn that was new?” I named several things, like how many feet of nerves were in a square inch of skin, bones are alive, etc. She insisted she already knew all of that. Finally, something I said was new to her today: “Bacteria stinks.” And that is what she wrote.

After the program, Thomas  and Daddy spent an hour searching through books. Veronica and I snuggled up in a cozy chair.

Then, we shared a plate of noodles and hiked around the Circle, taking in the Christmas lights and people. (Oh, and of course getting a treat at the chocolate shop!) It was a beautiful day, spent with the most beautiful people I know!

Pining for Easter

Every morning for the last couple weeks, one of the kids wakes up to ask, “Is today Easter? Tomorrow?”
Today we made some Easter Bunnies to prepare.

Bunnies by Kasey, Thomas, and Veronica (L to R)

Kasey’s has the most colorful whiskers.

Thomas’s has the only colorful body (sprinkled with red hearts).

Veronica has the only multi-colored ears.

Talking to Strangers

Today I watched my children walk up to a complete stranger, sit on his lap, and take candy from him!

That's right - we visited Santa Claus, and it's the first year the kids have been into it.

It's a really nice set-up. Breakfast with quiet Santa in the corner. Not overwhelming for our kids last year - wanted to look but not touch. Veronica watched one friend walk up to him and immediately walked over to wait for her turn.

She let Santa take the lead, he guessed right - she wants dolls. Baby dolls and Barbie dolls.

Thomas was working hard on gathering the nerve. Santa eventually inticed him with the job of jingling the bells.

Thomas then shared that he wanted three costumes: 1) Black Spiderman; 2) Bumblebee Transformer; and 3) Superman.

Veronica didn't want to leave and plopped down for a front row seat to listen to the other kids talk to Santa. She was quiet entertained by it.

We then joined our friends for crafts, including cooking decorating.

Later in the day we were talking about their visit with Santa. Thomas felt like he'd made a real connection apparently, "Some people call him Santa, but I call him Saint Nicholas." Santa's not such a stranger anymore!

Halloween, The Finale

As you've seen, we've been to many a Halloween celebration. In fact, Thomas can now even do an imitation of Charlie Brown's dancing skills in "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

We've been Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat; Jessie and Buzz Lightyear; Spiderman and a Princess; and Jessie and Spiderman. However, when it came time to decide what to be for Trick-or-Treating, answer came to us at church. No, it was not Divine intervention. It was the Boy Wonder, himself. As soon as she found out he was going to be Robin for Halloween - Veronica had to be "Robin-girl!"



Thomas was agreeable to be Batman, but insisted (as usual) that Judson and I be the bad guys. So, Batman, Robin, the Penguin, and Catwoman ascended on Gotham city to rob it of all it's candy.

At the church celebration, we happened upon some other pre-3 classmates as their super-hero alter-egos.

Halloween: Irvington Festival Edition

We made it for our second trip to the Irvington Halloween Festival.



We got to pet a python...

a hedgehog, and a bunny...
(Veronica went through the petting line twice - and even gave the python a hug!)

We bee-friended our twin friends...

... and bee keeper and Queen Bee, Flesworthy

Lil' Jessie saddled up to march in the parade.

Spidey was caught waving to his public in the parade, and made it in the Indy Star.


When all was said and done, we had to hunt down Darth Vader for a handshake.

Halloween: College Edition

Tonight we gathered for an impromptu Trick-or-Treating escapade with my friend, Kandra's family. We took Marian University, our alma mater, by storm! Spiderman, 2 princesses, Mickey Mouse and Dracula were ready to party with the co-eds!

Halloween: Zoo Boo Edition

The Zoo was where the wild things are! Tonight all the animals were in rare form. Zebras & giraffes galloping, lemurs jumping...


The sharks were swimming almost upright, just waiting for us to pet them...



Some of the sharks were grinning!

And then there was this wild threesome, eating their candy.

Halloween: Twins' Club Edition

This first Halloween even crept up on me. Had it not been for 321 Family playing at our house and changing for the party there, we may have forgotten!

Fortunately, Thomas had been playing in the monkey costume all day, so his outfit was simple - just don't change! Veronica was willing to be his companion, the Girl in the Yellow Hat.

We were able to play with more of our costumed twin friends and make crafts. They were quite proud of their Halloween bracelets.

Fabulous Fathers, Fabulous Day

I am so thankful we have so many fathers in our lives who have shown us, given us, and taught us about love.

We started the morning by making cards for the grandfathers. Veronica specifically wanted Calliou cards for her grandfathers. She colored them beautifully. I folded them up and asked her to sign them. "I already did," she answered, and turned the card over to show me this...

Now, we've worked on 'V' and a few other capital letters, but never her whole name. Is it just me, or do you see this too?

We traveled south and started the day visiting Pa and Veronica's Godfather, Uncle Danny, showed up too. This was wonderful! Thomas was so thrilled to show Danny his Spiderman and Superman figures - he even found an old Batman figure of Danny's to borrow. Veronica had to fill everyone in on her big girl bed.

All this diversion for the kids was wonderful because I got to go to Mass with the father of my children. I got to sit close to him and hold his hand and just feel his presence while we participated in the service. He's such a good, loving, hands-on dad, that we don't get to sit that close that often. It was lovely.

Next we headed to Mama and Daddy Gayle's, where we had, in Thomas's words, "So much fun!"

On the way home, this wonderful Daddy did something that reminded me of my Daddy. He made up an amazing, detailed, fun story to entertain the kids. Just because they asked. It started with Thomas requesting all sorts of crazy stories and I was doing my best, but I was tiring, as was my voice. Judson took over and told an elaborate library caper involving Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, Spiderman, Batman, Thomas the Train, and Doctor Doom. Thomas did not want it to end. His expressions during the story were priceless. Veronica was very interested in it... for the first 20 minutes, but then was ready for it to be over. At that point, she talked Daddy in to reaching back to hold her hand.

Decorating at Debi's

We were invited to Debi's today for a Halloween celebration. Deanna was there also to share the fun and fill the kids with suckers.

We decorated cookies....
...and were quite proud of the finished products...

...and found them to be delicious!

Pumpkin Patch

Daddy took a day off today to go to the pumpkin patch! This year was different than last year in that it was more crowded and our kids were less scared. It was also visibly different:

2008

2009

They were more interested in the activities that Waterman's had to offer: Bouncy houses, bike "tractors", haystacks to climb on, going inside a big "pumpkin" (below).

They were excited to see and feed the animals.

I'm not sure about the toupe this duck is wearing...

They were also interested (and not scared of) the pumpkin-eating dinosaur!

We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch where we searched and searched...

...to find the perfect pumpkins.

After a long morning of pumpkin-fun, we refueled at Edward's drive in with some good ol' fashioned burgers and shakes - and some tunes from the juke box.