A City Life For Me

Last Sunday our children & teens at Bethel presented a Christmas program called Come as a Child .  I played the piano and Elaine & Nolan were to participate in two of the songs. We had issues with our kids.  I could tell from the moment they woke up that they were not going to perform well.  I should preface this with the fact that Elaine missed three Sundays because of illness and travel, and then she was promoted to a different class (and they were singing a different part of the song).  But as the piano player I had a book at home and we tried to practice.  Sort of.  I totally forgot that she was supposed to learn a second song.  So I already knew that one was going to be a flop. During the dress rehearsal Elaine didn’t particularly want to sing.  She wouldn’t stop holding hands with her friends.  She was picky about her seat and fussed with her friends when it didn’t work out right.  On Sunday after the initial song she ...

This is a long post.  So grab your cup of cocoa and let me tell you a Tale of Times Square. A couple of weeks ago we made a trip into Times Square.  It was one of those rare Saturdays when there wasn’t a million things on the schedule, the weather was not {quite} bitter cold, and we were all healthy.  This was the twins’ first trip to Times Square. Our neighbor runs one of those vendor carts in Times Square that sells t-shirts, hats, scarves, and NYC memorabilia.  I wanted a couple of NYC items to use on our display table on deputation.  It should have been a simple, easy trip into Times Square.  It ended up being a seven hour excursion. First, we were using a new stroller.  It’s a double-wide, which isn’t the greatest idea for the packed sidewalks of Times Square.  But it was our lighter stroller and the easiest to get down the train steps.  About halfway to the train stop I realized I had left the Ergo baby carrier at home (so that ...

Nehemiah got caught and tied up by the Lone Ranger! She is “getting married” Homemade Doughnuts.  And can’t a person have a craving without everyone assuming she’s expecting?!? Liberty was playing with the kiddos in their room, and came crawling out to me like this! Nehemiah is pulling up on things!

The twins are both sitting up now…making bath time even more fun! Liberty has some serious fat going on…

We got snow last week.  And it’s still on the ground!  Its been a cold week, but the kids have enjoyed the white stuff.  It was a nice wet snow, perfect for making snowmen and snow balls.  We scraped the yard pretty bare to make our snowman, but it didn’t take long before the ground was covered again! Our neighbor has a vending cart in Times Square where he sells these hats.  He gave one to each of the kids. Nolan wasn’t happy unless he had two snowballs.  He held onto them for so long that they froze to his mittens!  If he dropped one, he cried for “’nother ball, Mommy” until I made him another one! Elaine wanted to write her name in the snow.  The smile quickly faded when she realized that Nolan was standing on her “N”. I wrote Nolan’s name too, but he didn’t really care.     Catching snowflakes on their tongues!

Nehemiah and Liberty get kinda rough in play time.  Correction… Nehemiah gets rough in play time!  This is pretty “normal” around the house right now! He also loves to try and get Liberty’s bow… Liberty usually just sits there and screams, but she is starting to get up her nerve and push back.  It’s funny to watch, but is getting annoying to constantly separate them because Nehemiah is acting like a dominant younger sibling!

Both of my walking kiddos have inherited my klutz tendencies.  Elaine skidded across the sidewalk this week.  Her response?  “I never want to run again!” After crying to sleep, this how I found Liberty when it was time to get up from her nap – wedged between the mattress and the bottom of the pack n play! Nolan had a fun play time at the Bickel’s house – he fell asleep on the way home, stayed asleep sitting up while we unloaded the car, and slept through a clothing change and tuck-in for bed! The best things in life ARE free – like an empty spaghetti box while Mom puts away the groceries!

Last year I came across something called the Jesse Tree Project as a form of advent/Christmas devotions.  I think it is basically what my mom did with us several years, but it wasn’t called that.  I knew my kiddos weren’t ready for it last year, but Elaine has been understanding & retaining so much of her church & Bible Time {morning devotions} lessons that I wanted to try it this year. The idea behind this comes from Isaiah 11:1 – that Messiah will be a rod of the stem of Jesse.  We started with Creation and will explore the Fall, the major patriarchs, and some of the prophecies leading up to the Incarnation of Christ born in the manger in Bethlehem.  As I googled different Jesse Tree reading plans I found that many of them were Catholic.  Some go for more than 24 days.  The version I chose is simplified, and we read the stories from our children’s Bible in order to keep it understandable for Elaine & Nolan. I purchased my set of figures...

This month I took the pictures on time, but I never got them posted.  Here are the twins at {seven} months old! They are growing and developing and changing at break-neck speed now.  Each day seems to bring something new, and I am starting to be concerned about the fate of my Christmas tree.  It may not survive until Christmas Day!  Both babies are sitting up now (though Nehemiah just started doing it, so it doesn’t really count for the “seven months” post).  Both babies are mobile.  Nehemiah does a really fast army crawl, finding his way into the bathroom, under the bunk beds, and getting stuck under the dining table.  Liberty gets around too, but she went from flopping around on her tummy straight to a true crawl (two days after turning seven months).  She has great form, but not much speed. Apparently turning seven months old isn’t anything to smile about We are fully immersed into solid food now.  It’s funny because Liberty i...

I had to make cookies for the Ladies Cookie Exchange at church last week, so it was a good opportunity for the kids to help me.  They helped mix the dough, then we cut out cookies after bath time, and frosted them the next day.  I’m not a huge sugar cookie fan {they take so much work, and chocolate chip are better}, but I tried a new recipe, found here.   The cookies weren’t anything special, but the icing was great.  I despise frosting cookies {I’m a mess with frosting} but this frosting whipped up fast, glided on easily, and dried nice and shiny.  It was perfect! I turned from helping Elaine make some cut-outs to discover Nolan had been “stamping” his cutter all over the rest of the dough.  Roll it out and start over again… several times! When he was done “sprinkling”, his fingers were stained red from licking and dipping into the sprinkles.  Don’t worry – I did not take Nolan’s cookies to church, and I threw away the remaining sp...