These Little Wonders

December and other such ramblings...


Wow! The year is wrapping up and I'm wondering where it has gone? It has been a great year full of exciting and not so exciting events.

A brief recap of the last month:
Most importantly, my sweet Noah turned one on December 2nd. We had fun celebrating his birthday. I made the same birthday cake for him using the same teddy bear shaped pan that MY first birthday cake was made with. I made a Winnie the Pooh cake for Aidan, a pink bear for Izzie, and had and epic fail with Noah's cake. His bear imploded. I'm not really sure where things went wrong, but they did somewhere along the way. There will be no pictures of the giant chocolate blob. Noah loved it and I guess that's what really matters. Aidan and Iz had a great time picking out their own gift for him this year. Aidan thinks big and wanted to get him 4,023 things, but we were able to whittle his purchases down to one thing. They chose a ball. Such a simple gift, but by far his favorite gift. Noah squeals with happiness when he throws it and watches it bounce. It was a quiet celebration of his first year. He is a firecracker who has the sweetest grin. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our littlest man.

Aidan has been hard at work rehearsing and preparing for his part as a Wise Man in our church musical. He was the cutest little wise man who was singing his heart out. He LOVES to sing and despite James and I not having any musical talents worth mentioning, Aidan actually has a good voice. He can generally be caught belting out a favorite song or a Christmas carol. That kid. I think I'll go ahead and keep him.

Both older kids are taking gymnastics and love it for completely different reasons. For Aidan, it's a license to go crazy, jump on things, around things, and hurl himself into a giant pit of foam. Izzie prefers to explore the less spastic side of the sport. She is so adorable to watch in all her tiny-ness. She loves the trampoline and fancies herself quite the gymnast. She is ready to try tap dancing and is really excited about the possibility of becoming and Irish dancer. We Texans refer to it as clogging, but she is more intrigued by the more refined version. She loves to watch the Irish dancers on TV and tries her hand at it in the kitchen with her jellies on. Izzie is God's special gift to me in the midst of all these crazy, gross, weird boys that surround me. Even the stinkin' dogs are boys.

We took about 2 weeks off school before Christmas so that we could take the time to enjoy the season. Not to mention the fact that we just needed a breather. An academic Aidan is not. He would much prefer to skip school his entire life. Except recess. That part he likes. Hmmm, I see a problem with that. Playground time does not equal a successful career. Oh well, he says that he is going to be a police officer and live with me forever. That's cool with me. For now. Anyways, back to what I was actually writing about. I have blog ADD - please forgive me. Oh, and it's the middle of the night. We really enjoyed this holiday season! We made sugar cookies, explored the Polar Express book in depth, read lots of Christmas books that we hadn't read, and did a fair amount of chillin' like villains. That's how we roll.

We celebrated Christmas with James's family at Six Flags. I am not a lover of the Six Flags experience. I find the place trashy and teeming with people. Add to that motion sickness and it's just not my thing. I did ride a roller coaster for the first time since high school. Big. Mistake. I was reminded of how I hated it. We let Aidan ride it too. I will never forget the terror I felt about him being on there as we were upside down on that horrid contraption. I vividly remember thinking about climbing over the car in front of me to get to him for fear that his little body would fall out or be crushed. This feeling is not one that I recommend. James was with him and while I completely trust him, Aidan is my baby. Enough said.Did I mention that I loathed that experience? Yep, think I did. Aidan wanted to do it again! He loved it! Mommy can accept that when he is larger. Maybe like 200 lbs. larger. Who am I kidding? He could be a linebacker and I would still be terrified.

We followed Six Flags with a three day Christmas extravaganza. First, Christmas Eve at Spaghetti Warehouse. Garlic Shrimp, angel hair pasta with a lemony sauce. What else is there to say? Ok, well, I will mention that my kids looked so cute all dressed in there Christmas outfits. Particularly Izzie. She looked positively angelic in her red layered tulle dress. Oh how I wish I could bottle her at this age and keep her small forever.We went to Christmas Eve service after dinner and really just had a great evening. James read to us about the birth of Jesus - the reason for all of this - and then we had a very special treat. We were given a book by my parents that contains a recording of my dad reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas". What a special gift for me and for the kids! My dad read that to me as a child every Christmas Eve and I cherish that my children will have that same legacy.

I am stopping here because I just realized that my "brief" summary of the month rivals the most lengthy of dissertations. Oh my.