Cousin visit!

For the last few days, I have had little Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles at MY house! We are loving being knee deep in little girls. They have been so funny and cute. On Friday morning, I took the cuties to my scrapbook group where one of the moms shared her stickers. Two of the girls came up to me with stickers all over their faces and asked, "Do you know us, Aunt Maren??" I pretended to think about it while they giggled, supposedly incognito behind Christmas stickers. Finally I identified them and they ran off laughing at the good joke. On Saturday, after their baths, we were dressing them when the littlest started yelling, "I know a dance!" So I said, "What dance?" She and her sisters yelled in unison, "THE BUM-BUM DANCE!" Then they proceeded to dance all over the living room doing the funniest dance moves. We were all laughing hysterically. The next night, we were trying to talk them into jammies when the middle girl escaped. It was so hilarious watching my girls trying to wrestle this little 4 year old into footed jammies. These people are better than television:) And thank you to my dear sister for trusting me with her little chicks while she is off galavanting....(actually at a wedding, but if you don't have 3 of your little kids with you, can't it be a little like galavanting?)

Update

It has been a while since I've written, and I'm hopefully turning over a new leaf. Although I will confess that the garbage is full of them! Since I last wrote, Timothy finally has his leg braces. It was a huge sigh of relief for me and I'm so happy to finally have them. How satisfying it was to velcro those straps to his little legs and how glad I was to be shopping for shoes to fit them. It was  a proud moment putting him on the bus to school with DAFOs (Dynamic Ankle Foot Orthosis) on his floppy little feet. He seems happy too, and was cheerfully licking the new plastic contraption.

I have a long list of big jobs to do...projects I don't want to start, and people I don't want to call, but it sure was nice to cross this big one off of my list. And, it made me feel like a good mom. The kind of mom who makes sure her babies are loved and well taken care of. The kind of mom who can get things done, and make things happen. Do I dare say...a MOTY (Mother Of The Year) mom?? Maybe not this year, but in my heart, I felt it, and my eyes welled when I saw the little boy staggering up to the front door wearing his DAFOs and smiling at me.  I felt like a good mom.

I have always believed that it is good for kids to believe in Santa. It plants the seeds of faith, it's like a little practice for later, deeper, real faith. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what I think.
Anyway, the other day Buttercup and I were talking about what she wants Santa to bring her for Christmas. I was saying, tell mommy what you want Santa to bring you. She thought about it for awhile and she said, Do I have to tell you so you can pray to Santa to bring it?
(ummm, long pause.)
Then I just blew the whole thing and said, We pray to Heavenly Father honey, Santa is just for fun. Oh well.

Okay, apparently the real price of friendship was never blogging again. That advent calendar, while beautiful and fun, is a time sucker! In my spare time when I used to blog I am sewing little pockets like crazy. That is if little Gem is asleep and not crying to be held. ahem. Yes, I do know that December has already begun and I have also realized that we are going to be out of town for bro-in-law's wedding for about a week, so an advent calendar might not be the greatest project for this year. But at this point, I just want to finish it before Christmas Day, so I can hang it on the wall and admire my handiwork. We'll get to it's actual function another year. :)

Speaking of bro-in-law's wedding, I can't believe how crazy it feels to plan a trip right before Christmas. We won't get back until Christmas Eve, so we have to have everything done by next week. The Professor is swamped and panicked at work, and I am swamped and panicked at home! That is not to say that I am not enjoying the Christmas Season. I love it. I'm bleeding money, I'm speeding recklessly toward Christmas without brakes or steering, a kid under each arm and strapped to each leg, but by golly I've got my Santa hat on and a smile on my face!