Fun times at WalMart :-)

Reindeer headband on Ernest.  Whata face.

Super Ethan with his Reindeer headband.  The Christmas aisle is fun!

Even daddy gets to play in the toy area.  Who says guitar video games are just for kids?

I love catching him when he's being a silly guy.

And for my Texas family.  This is what it takes to get out the door.  Ernest is actually in 18-24 clothes but his winter coat is Ethan's old 3t coat.  A jumbo coat, mittens, hat, and layers later- we can go! 

Opps, now he has a poopy diaper.  Ok, 20 minute later we can leave...

Fish picnic

While going through our homeschool books and deciding what to put in storage for the winter, we had a fish picnic!  One of Ethan's games was a letter sorting game that the kids "fished" for. 

Mom, is it good?  Let's eat our fish!

Our picnic. Such sweet memories.

Little Ernest's first hair cut

Well the poor child doesn't have much hair to cut in the first place but what he does have needs a trimming. before.

 
 

After!  I now have a ziplock baggie of his sweet little locks.  I love you Ernest, drool and all!

Full of thanks all day every day

 Clean clothes- clean clothes = the money was available to make the clothes clean. And we have clothes to wear and when they are dirty, get this, there are more clothes to wear!  Wow, only in America.  Amen.

Chairs and a table- have you ever had to eat on the floor?  More importantly, my kids and I are all sitting at the table to eat with no distractions.  When this happens, they eat more food and always walk away happy.  Sitting as a family at the table is something I treasure.

LIGHT- had your electric cut off?  How about lived in an area with rolling blackouts?  LIGHT is HEAT too if you have electric heat.  And in Minnesota, heat is an absolute es-sent-ial. 

 CLEAN RUNNING WATER- I was a part of a missionary team in Africa and there was no clean (ie: drinkable) running water.  We hauled water up from a well, put the bucket in a wheel barrow (WITH A FLAT TIRE of course), hauled the water up to where we were staying and used it in the bathtub.  There was one bathtub so all the girls would go in and sponge off and try to get clean.  My hair was long at the time so I kept it rolled in a tight bun and wore a handkerchief most of the time for cleanliness.  The only water we drank came in a bottle.  To this day I still say "Thank you Lord" every single time I get into my shower.

Church- my church is amazing.  We show up, the Holy Spirit rocks and rolls, go home relieved and refreshed ever week, repeat. Love it.  My husband once looked over me on our way home and said "He just doesn't preach a bad sermon does he?"  The music is contemporary with a few hymns thrown in evvvvvery once in a while but by golly they are talented.  And wonderful prayer, emphasis are always made on praying.  I am a firm believer in the power of praying so this one is a key note to me.

 Godly friends- all I gotta say is "Birds of a feather flock together" so I better get my ducks in a row and figure out who I want to parrot.  HA!  My old Sunday school teacher once stated "If you lay down with dogs your gonna get up with fleas."  Watch out who you hang out with!  Gossip, slander, foulness, jealousy, all of it!  Women can dance with the devil and not even realize it till you are waltzing down a road not knowing how you eve left the path.

Wonderful family, good health (nothing more than a tylenol can't handle), and having Jesus Christ as my very own personal Savior.  Seriously, need I say more?

Give thanks every single day.

It's a Tylenol Gelcap kinda day

I have a headache.  Eleanor has gas.  Serious.  Major.  Clear the room.  Gas.  I have been giving her sips of boiled fennel all day that have made her feel better for about a half hour, then she wriggles and toots and the process is repeated.  She doesn't want to suck.  She doesn't want to pacify.  She doesn't need to be changed.   Or swaddled. Or bounced.  Or soothed.  Yes, my head hurts.  What she needs to do, in my opinion, is poop!  She has not been a regular kinda girl, which freaks me out.  But she did sleep seven hours the night she was born, so I believe she's just going to be a freak-er out-er. 

Also, something or someone stank today.  I was even thinking it was me, so I was sniffing my hair, my shirt, the couch, cushions, socks, carpet.  What is that stink?  I finally discovered it was Ernest, who had pooped, in the kitchen and it was so rank I smelled it in the living room.  Seriously, what the heck did we ALL eat!?!?  So while I'm changing him and wrangling him down while trying to not get kicked in the face, Eleanor is sitting in her seat screaming that way too sad newborn scream, and Ethan is asking for help with his zipper so he can go outside and play in the snow because although he's still wearing pj's he can CLEARLY get the green light to go outside and play in the snow because he's wearing a coat.  Smooth move exlax.  This was all at 10:30 in the morning.  I think I started to count down the hours to bedtime at about this moment.

I needed coffee and I tried my new Peppermint Mocha creamer and it turned out to be a dud.  Big. Fat. DUD.  You have to use SO MUCH of it to get a hint of mocha and almost nonexistent peppermint.  And the first ingredient is sugar, not the peppermint or mocha I wanted!  I also purchased the Cinnamon Bun but it was a big tease because there's no cinnamon flavor in the doggone thing!  It tastes like normal creamer but with a bonus of sugar and chemicals.  My coffee is instant Folgers (it's a southern thing, mmkay?), milk, cocoa, a teaspoon of sugar, mix and it's a yummy/normal drink filled with stuff you can, get this!, PRONOUNCE!  Why do they have to add a bunch of mumbo jumbo chemicals?

Ethan needs a Minnesota winter coat and snow pants.  His coat would work in Dallas, not here.  He went outside and played in the snow only to come back soaking WET and freeeeezing.  Poor guy.  Tomorrow I'm going to search for a thick winter coat and snow pants for the dude.  Last time we were here for a winter, he wore those little kid looking snowsuits.  Now I don't know what I'm doing or how to keep him warm.  Geez.

She's starting to look more "baby" and less "newborn"! 

Not just size but by gender!

I am so excited to be organizing baby clothes.  First of all, we have been so blessed with clothing and baby items for Eleanor that it is above and beyond what I could ever have wanted!  Needless to say, I have been able to 'pay it forward' to our local used clothing store.  She's only in newborn sizes but we have so much, I know there is no way we would ever need so many onesises and (oh so cute!) outfits.  As much as I want to keep every single outfit, there are others less fortunate who could use those clothes for their precious newborn.  Thank you Lord for Your provisions!

Now, as I'm putting Ernest's size 12 month clothes away (sniff*sniff*) I am able to write "12 month BOY" on the boxes.  Before I had decided to pack up his clothes I had spent some time in prayer over those little belongings.  "Lord, are we done?  Technically, we got our girl and according to some people we have spoken to our family is complete.  I'm under the impression most people assume we are done.  Are we done Lord?  Place it heavily on my heart that we are no longer going to have more children."  And you know what?  It's not on my heart.  Nope, not at all.  Now we just have our children's clothes divided not only by size, BUT by gender.  And I'm totally loving it. :-)

I took this picture at her 5 day check up. 

Now tell me, why on earth would anyone want to stop this moment from happening???

My wonderful tough-guy husband holding and talking to her.

Two days old.  Precious baby!  She looks just like her oldest brother at this age.

Conan

CONAN is back!  I'm so excited!!!  Conan is the one show that I always get a great laugh out of.  Kendall and I can sunggle on the couch and watch it after the kids are in bed, it's our 'married-person' time. 

We also had our pictures taken down by the park today by my friend Audra.  She is so good with camera PLUS she was even able to make Ernest smile!  I can't wait to see the pictures.  Then I can get my Christmas cards mailed out.  I can't believe I really need to be thinking of CHRISTMAS cards, but I have already been playing some Christmas music.  This year just FEELS more like Christmas. :-)

Feeling loved

Can I just dote on my friends and family?  I love them.  No, seriously, I love them.  I was just telling Kendall how much I love my friends and family.  I feel so much love from them.  I know that God has blessed us through them in ways they cannot even imagine.

I've had two people I don't even know stop by and drop off meals when Eleanor was born.  TWO.  One lady I have no idea where I know her from and she has no friend connection on Facebook or church... hmm...  angel?

I have a pretty small family and a pretty small extended family.  We send cards and emails and talk on the phone from time to time.  Very low key since everyone is busy or retired :-). But when we do come together is so nice to feel right at home, we pick up right where we left off.  We love on each other's kids like they are our own.   I want my kids to know my family, so we put up the prayer board with pictures of family so they'll know who in the world I'm talking about when I mention them.  Ethan still talks about Grandpa George and dad passed away October 2007.   My family is so special to me, every single one of them.

Kendall comes from a humungo family.  His parents divorced and then remarried so there are two families to keep up with.  And both of his parents came from large families to boot.  Christmas can be a bit tricky to handle to say the least.  I'm really blessed to have them all as my in-laws.  Eventhough I'm still trying to figure out who's kid belongs to whom because every time we all get together they've grown some more and I can't keep themy straight.  Plus they all look alike!