The Golden Rule: Selectively Applied

The other day, Joe was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He was constantly tucking his arms away out of the sleeves and slapping his sister with the empty flaps. Kaity had enough and administered her own brand of justice in the situation. When he came to Jeff and me to tattle, we both laughed and told him he got what he deserved. Then I grabbed the camera:

The rest of the story is that the next day, Kaity had on a long-sleeved shirt and began slapping her brother with the sleeves! Joe immediately turned on her and announced, "Hey! Do unto others as you would have them do to you!"

Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On

Arrest These Merry Gentlemen!

Kaity and Joe participated in our church's children's choir Christmas pageant on Sunday night. Joe was a part of the choir and Kaity had a speaking role - Cub, the reporter. It was a cute little presentation and both kids did a great job. Joe's behavior was exceptional and Kaity delivered her lines perfectly! We're so proud of them both.

Homemade Cleaners

Just FYI, I've updated the Homemade Cleaners page on the blog, under the dishwasher detergent.

Fashion Shoot

I bought Selah a pair of shoes a few months ago, thinking she'd grow into them, but here we are three months later and I just gave up and exchanged them for a smaller size. They are the most adorable shoes I ever seen! The brand is Robeez. Here are some example of the sweetness:

 



But here are Selah's, plus her little fashion shoot:

Apparently being a high-fashion model is exhausting!

**I am so naturally cheap that I feel the need to add a disclaimer ... due to a wonderfully odd set of circumstances, I paid $7.50 for these shoes, and not the full $21 or more retail price! Just had to share. :)

A Beautiful Day

Saturday was such a great day I just had to post about it! It started out with Selah sleeping most of the night, and when she did cry Jeff was on duty, thankfully. First thing in the morning, Jeff ran the kids up to the church to practice for their Christmas play. Then he and I spent the morning getting things done around the house, with him out working on his car, too. I even got my exercise in, and Selah took a good nap. At noon, we met Jeff's parents at Chick-Fil-A: they had gone to the church to watch the dress rehearsal. After a nice long lunch, we stopped by the shoe store to exchange a pair of shoes, then home for more cleaning. The kids and I worked on the house for a while. I made cookies and dinner. Daddy took a nap; Selah took a nap on Daddy ...

Kaity and I had turns playing with her earlier in the afternoon ...

Don't you just wanna blow a raspberry right on that cinnamon roll belly button??

After breakfast for supper, we ran to Wal-Mart for some Christmas stuff and to deliver some sympathy cookies to a friend who was at work. Then we watched a Christmas movie while munching cookies and popcorn.

These are the days that memories are made of!

Here Comes Santa Claus

We made the decision when Kaity was a baby not to tell our children that Santa would bring them presents. We have a lot of reasons for doing that, the main one being that it helps keep the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, at the center of our celebrations and excitement. Of course, they look forward to presents, but they know that Mommy and Daddy are the ones providing them. Anyway, I tell you that to give you context for the funny situation the kids were in last night. Jeff took them walking downtown and one of the banks had a Santa Claus there for pictures. A friend of ours who works at the bank saw our family passing by and waved them in. Jeff declined until she uttered the magic word, "free". And our friend was persistent. So, Joe was up first and he backed up like, "There is NO way." Then Kaity stepped up to the plate. She politely sat down next to Santa. He laughed and told her she was supposed to sit on his lap. Looking at daddy for confirmation, she sat down on Santa's lap and smiled for the camera. Then she got up. Which made Santa laugh again. "Get back here!" he told her. And he explained that she was supposed to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Anyway, once their big sister had shown the way, Joe and Selah took their turns, too.

A Christmas Miracle

We planned all week to decorate for Christmas tonight, only to have to cancel at the last minute. After only sleeping about 8 hours in nearly three days, I came down with a migraine by dinnertime today. We were all very disappointed to say the least. Jeff decided to make the best of things and took the bundled-up kids to a Christmas open house of all the downtown businesses. I went to bed. After sleeping about an hour, I woke up astonished to find my headache gone! I have NEVER had that happen. Ever. In twenty years of migraines. Thrilled, I got up, cleaned up from dinner, and prepared the advent stockings. When the family arrived home, I was telling them about it and Kaity interrupted, eyes shining. "Mommy, Mommy! I prayed! I prayed that we would be able to still decorate the tree tonight!" What a wonderful blessing!

Anybody? ... Anybody? ... Bueller?

Want a kitten? She's adorable and snuggly and quiet, not to mention litter-trained! The children carry her around and treat her like a baby. Kaity has unofficially named her Jinglebell, but the kitten has to go to a shelter tomorrow if we don't find a family for her.

Wouldn't she make a great Christmas present?

Playing in the Cabinet

One of the joys of Kaity's babyhood was playing in a kitchen cabinet. I designated one small one to plastics and whatever else that wouldn't harm her. If I was in the kitchen, she was in the cabinet! Joe was the very same way. He would hide in the cabinet and Kaity would play peekaboo with him over and over and over. Selah is following in her siblings' footsteps! (Crawl-marks? Knee prints? Hm.) I took these pictures just a few days ago.