scenes from a saturday

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looking through the photos our saturday seems a wee bit exhausting, but it truly wasn't. rather it was a lovely december saturday...much of it spent wearing our PJs and relaxing at home...and then 'tis the season for Christmas lights. we bundled up, hit the local Chinese buffet for dinner, went downtown to gaze at the lights on the circle (...oh how refreshing to see it all anew through the wide-eyed wonder of a three year old--and oh how enchanting she found the horses that kept clomping past pulling carriages!), popped in a bakery to split some shortbread, and then back to our house...aglow with the Christmas lights daddy hung that morning. (elizabeth wanted mugho to come downtown with us, and mike jokingly told her he had to stay home to turn on our Christmas lights....so upon turning the corner and seeing the lights she exclaimed, "mugho remember to turn on our lights!"--PRECIOUS!) once the girls were snuggly tucked away in bed mike and i watched "elf" and wrapped the girls' Christmas presents...just what a december Saturday should be made of!


daddy hangs the icicle lights with care...


...while kate naps, and mommy and her little libber elf bake up some cookies...
(can you tell which elf has been eating chocolate chips!)


...then out came the train...

...and some precious moments of happy togetherness and playing...


...1 empty parsley jar+1 pooh figurine+hot glue+TONS of glitter=her very own snow globe...

or perhaps the equation should be...
1 empty parsley jar+1 pooh figure+hot glue+TONS of glitter=enchantment!


our family...


...daddy and his girls...


...mommy and her girls...


kater gator was so bundled up she looked like she belonged in the movie "a Christmas story"

elizabeth had a blast...they even let her ring the bell after she dropped a little something in the salvation army bucket...bells and horses and shimmery lights...OH MY!


mike's favorite part of the evening was popping in a bakery for hot chocolate and shortbread





...and home again, home again...i know this isn't the best shot, but you get the idea...right! :)

one more smile

i forgot to mention that my little monkeys were at hit at the craft show. my sister sold 1o or so, and the rest are headed back my way...ready to be listed in my etsy shop as soon as they arrive. if you are looking for a fun stocking stuffer (or just can't resist a little monkey) check my shop in the next few days. (or let me know now and i'll set one aside). the little Christmas-y guys with the knitted cap are just $12 a piece...and the normal sized monkeys are $18....with free shipping on any order. (i stole the picture from my sister's blog...if you just LOVE the gorgeous pottery you see in the background you should pop by her etsy shop, LazyDogPottery.

ten smile tuesday

i must admit...it is a gray and rainy day here...and quite frankly, my mood is quite gray and rainy as well. gone is the dusting of sparkly white snow, washed away by the puddles. although, perhaps i will simply put on the girls shoes and take them to splash in those puddles while the air is a bit warmer outside. but really...i was planning to be folding laundry right now but just can't shake the "blahs"...so i thought perhaps my ten smile sharing would move me in that direction! :)

1. the results of my MOPS craft night last week. not only did i have a fabulous time chatting with friends and catching up, but i think the crafts turned out quite nicely as well. tile coasters and post-it note holders!

2. the fact that daddy and the girls had a fabulous time together while i was enjoying said craft night. apparently kate climbed right into the legos and played, happy as a lark, until mike grabbed the camera (knowing blogger mommy would want photo) and she started screaming!

3. gingerbread cookie making. libs and i whipped up the dough in the afternoon, and then daddy took charge of helping libs with the rolling and cutting. since it was Q week we had to cut out a few Q cookies to go with our gingerbread men and women. as for kate...well, she really wanted to help..mostly by crawling under elizabeth's chair and getting stuck.

4. sharing those tasty gingerbread cookies.

5. the simple delight of an empty box....HOURS of entertainment. i didn't catch a picture of it, but my favorite "box" moment had to be watching kate push elizabeth around!

6. decorating for Christmas...i love the sparkling white lights of the tree...our felted stocking (handknit by my mom) hanging along the stairway...the nativity...the advent calendar. what fun we had sharing in the decorating together.

7. finishing up some black apple dolls for the girls...and a couple friends as well! i still need to give them faces, but you get the idea. i was pleased that these were so quick and easy...just a couple of hours total to finish all four! (shh...don't tell the girls i posted pictures!)

elizabeth's kate's

the whole crew!

8. kate's new fascination with the potty...not that she has actually done anything, just that she LOVES sitting on the potty seat. every evening after she stands on the stool at the sink to brush her little teeth, she gets down, grabs the potty seat and wants to sit there for a second. too cute!

9. the incredible cool advent calendars we made as a creative activity at MOPS last week. (i put all the ornaments on for effect...of course, we are really only adding one a day). the neatest part is that it has a devotional to go along with each day...complete with hymns and Christmas carols. we are loving it!

10. an early Christmas present from my hubby....he surprised me with a new microwave today! this is a great surprise since the old one was making strange sounds and taking three times as long as normal to heat anything. bonus that it will eventually be mounted above the stove...giving me a huge amount of counter space that has been hidden for the past 3 years!

11. capturing the silliest of daddy faces while he and kate were playing....love it!

12. a milestone. elizabeth FINALLY realized she could get out of bed on her own to use the potty (rather than sitting and shouting, "MOMMY! DADDY! I HAVE TO GO POTTY!"--which has disastrous results when mommy is in the shower and doesn't hear her!). this morning she got up, went potty, and then came into my room to tell me of her accomplishment. she has been clean and dry and diaperless for some time now, but the actual willingness to get out of bed and go by herself is a big milestone in my book. hooray libbers! after her potty success she climbed into our bed while i was showering and watching some PBS kids....this is what i found when i came out of the bathroom....one little libber-bean who had tucked and snuggled herself all down in the covers...so like any good mom, i decided to snuggle right in next to her to watch a bit too!

13. and one more smile for good measure...but i can't share a picture until the recipient actually sees them in person first! i finished knitting and felting Christmas stockings for my dearest friend jill (and her little family). i'm so happy with the way they turned out...and the reality that i finished them. i was so afraid they wouldn't be finished on time...but they are! i can hardly wait to give them to her on thursday morning when i see her.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

okay...silly me...i shot these with my camera and had it flipped vertically. oops! you'll just have to cock your head sideways! but you get the idea, right!? mike came home from work yesterday and decided getting our tree up was a lovely idea...we did the setting up and stringing lights last night. i was also quite excited to set up my willow tree nativity...and this year it found a home on two shelves...a wee bit higher than kate's curious little hands (not to mention i went a bit organizing crazy yesterday and turned the game chest (where i used to set up my nativity) into a toy box--the toys without homes were driving me CRAZY! considering the chest will get much more opening and closing these days i don't think it is the best place for fragiles. then, once the girls were in bed mike and i had a tender moment as we hung the willow tree ornament we picked up in remembrance of the baby we lost in october...and then tonight the girls helped us deck it out with the rest of the ornaments and garland. how precious to go through each and every ornament, sharing memories of each of the past four Christmases...hard to believe that on our first Christmas five years ago we had just the few ornaments we bought together to adorn the trees limbs. and now here we are...two precious daughters....a pile of memories and togetherness....and a relationship that has grown so much deeper through the trials and joys of life. i promise more pictures soon, but for now i wanted to share these videos and a pic of our special remembrance ornament. praying you all are enjoying these first few days of december...drawing to our Savior and enjoying some precious moments with your families.

our willow tree nativity...mike's parents gave me the wise men for our early Christmas...completing the set! :)

a precious reminder of our sweet baby...what precious joy and comfort to know that this Christmas our baby is safely in the arms of Jesus...

ten smile tuesday

i suppose i am smiling today simply because i actually have the chance to sit down for a moment and post these smiles. seriously, the past week has been a whirlwind...between packing everything up, heading out of town, keeping up with the girls while not at home for 4 days, unpacking and being buried in the piles of laundry and "stuff", and, of course...sock monkeys...some serious monkeying around....as in 21 monkeys, stuffed, sewn, packed in a box and on their way to north carolina. and here i am...breaking to blog now that the downstairs is vacuumed and the kitchen counters cleared...nevermind the mounds of laundry waiting to be folded! :) anyway...here are our smiles!

1. some time to hang out and catch up with family!

the girls with uncle dennis and kaitlyn...this picture cracks me up! though they LOVE their uncle dennis, the girls were clearly NOT in the mood for a picture...which definitely makes it one for the albums!

uncle dave and aunt kim with the girls...again, while the girls love their aunt and uncle, they just weren't feeling particularly cooperative!

kate had lots of love for aunt kim!

2. elizabeth all suited up to take a walk with grandma....mike's parents live out in the country...and in november in indiana, that means deer hunting season...and that means lots of orange. you've gotta love elizabeth decked out in grandpa's old shirt with an orange scarf tied on; the idea of the orange hat freaked her out for some reason.

3. reindeer fun. (they're all pretty darned cute...but daddy is definitely one hot reindeer!)

4. crafty goodness for elizabeth. grandma had TONS of crafty miscellany laying around, so elizabeth quite the ball creating masterpieces! and grandma even sent home two boxes of crafting and learning supplies...which made mommy quite excited. we've been doing lots of singing and dancing to the hap palmer and ella jenkins...marching around the alphabet and on and on...fun times! aunt kim bought the girls crayola art toys for Christmas, and they have already had TONS of fun with those!

5. bubble wrap. what does elizabeth want for Christmas?! bubble wrap. this was leftover from present opening friday morning, but then at wal-mart yesterday i picked some up for a package i needed to ship, and elizabeth exclaimed (loudly and excitedly), "MOMMY! is that for ME for Christmas!?"

6. mugho, the present opening wonder dog. seriously, he had his package open in 2 seconds flat...

7. matching girls. grandma and grandpa bought the girls these adorable dresses for Christmas (by now you have surely realized we had an early Christmas with Mike's family)....they didn't feel like sitting still for the picture, but you get the idea! (okay...i couldn't resist libs facial expression in the second picture....PRICELESS!)

8. game time. i love games. love them. and we don't get a chance to play nearly enough...so, of course, i was thrilled by the chance to not only play some fun games this weekend but also receive some new ones for Christmas. mike's brother introduced us to Run For Your Life, Candyman-a funny twist on Candyland where you "take out" the other candymen. then dennis and kaitlyn bought Ticket to Ride and Memoir 44 for us for Christmas. i'm looking quite forward to planning a game night soon!

9. q-tip painting with elizabeth and miranda. elizabeth was SO into this. in fact, today she has been begging to do more...so perhaps we'll be busting out the paint after nap time. i love the way she laid right down and the floor, getting oh-so-close, and concentrating to get her picture "just right". by the way, in case you are curious...her picture is of a purple rhinoceros, some red roses, and some water...

10. conversations in the car. saturday evening after arriving back home elizabeth and i ran to cvs and to pick up pizza. she was thrilled to see all the Christmas decor that had popped up while we were up of town. she says to me, "look mommy. all those people are having Christmas. they are having Christmas at that house. those people aren't having Christmas....." and on and on. so i reminded her that Christmas wasn't about having lights in front of your house or even a Christmas tree...and it wasn't even about having a big inflatable cartoon character dressed like santa either...but that Christmas was about Jesus's birthday. she said, "oh!"....i wasn't really sure she really "got" it. but then today as we were driving down the street she said to me, "mama...look at those snowmen in their yard. those snowmen are saying 'happy birthday Jesus!'" be still my heart...she listened and remembered!

11. snow...i have to remember to smile about this one. i really don't love the idea of mike driving to work on the icy roads....but oh it just takes seeing it through the eyes of a 15 month old and a three year old to relive the wonder of the fluffy white flakes. mind you, there was just enough to dust the yard...but exciting nonetheless!

12. 21 monkeys packed in a box. while i did enjoy putting these monkeys together...i must say i am smiling a massive grin to know they are done and safely on their way to my sister....hopefully to find new homes and bring smiles to little ones this Christmas. maybe i will get michelle to take a picture before selling them at the show, as in our haste to get them shipped i didn't take even one picture of the bunch. the Christmas ones turned out so cute...with little knitted stocking caps atop their heads...

13. looking forward to my MOPS craft night tonight. we'll be making coasters and post-it holders...easy projects, but fun to hang out and chat with other moms.