December was quite busy, and I managed for the most part to keep my head above water by taking our schedule day by day and focusing only on the very next thing. My priority list kept a walk a day in the number one slot, followed by as many home-cooked meals as possible and keeping school on schedule. After that, I let the rest fall where it may. Unfortunately for me, that resulted in no Christmas card this year, which is one of my favorite things to do. It wasn't more important though than the above mentioned priorities and so I have no regrets. Here we are below, enjoying the mild weather that we had in December, and in the right hand picture below, Charlie even managed to go on a walk with us one of the days. By the time we realized he was with us, it wasn't too late to turn back and lock him in the garage. He wants to go for walks with us, but he meows at us the entire time and refuses to walk at a steady pace. Instead, he chooses to dart from safe object, to safe object and at a certain point, I get concerned that we are too far from home and worry that he may get too tired and refuse to let me catch him. So, we walked (ran - see photo below of the girls running with Charlie keeping pace) him back home, locked him in the garage and continued on a different path, down a street we rarely walk. Interestingly enough, a woman came out of her house and asked if we were okay and if we needed help! When I said we were just out for a walk, she looked surprised and said that she was worried when she saw us with the baby on such a cold day and thought perhaps our car had broke down. While I appreciated the care (glad to know there are strangers that are willing to help another stranger out), I have since avoided that street. I guess a mom and four young kids taking a walk in the winter is a strange sight on that street!
Here we are doing school - some of it provided by my brother and sister in law as a Christmas present for the girls. In clockwise order from top left: the girls studying geodes from their Christmas present, Emma and Will cracking open a geode, Lucy mixing a crystal solution, the girls and I making homemade slime for a preschool science experiment, our crystals that we grew and geodes that we cracked open, and finally, Violet and I enjoying a game of Alphabet Go Fish, because yes, preschool really is that fun.
They danced to a song from The Nutcracker, and did an amazing job. Their hair had to be curled for the performances and dress rehearsals and it was the first time I have ever curled their hair. This was a big deal for me, and of course, I only began the day before they needed their hair curled for dress rehearsal. After several failed attempts and some texts to our cousin who is a hair stylist, we settled on these new-fangled curlers that ended up being a Godsend! The downside is you have to sleep on them, but the upside is there was no risk of damaging their hair (or Lucy's fear of me burning her ears or neck) and after several nights of having to use them, I figured out how to put them in their hair in such a way that their sleep disturbance from them was greatly minimized. Here they are below in clockwise order: another dance mom took this photo of Lucy and Emma backstage, watching the performance before theirs - my first thought was how sweet and it is quite easily my most favorite photo ever but don't worry, Emma told me later that Lucy had her in a choke hold because she thought Emma was getting too close to the curtain, Lucy with her beloved dance teacher of almost six years now, Lucy and Emma in the "new-fangled" curlers, and Emma with her beloved dance teacher of almost six years. I'm so grateful to have dance in their lives - for the confidence, for the work-ethic, for the exercise, and most importantly, for the girls to know what it's like to be a part of a team and the feeling of pride and accomplishment from working together towards a common goal.
Here are the girls biggest cheerleaders below. This was the first year they had friends in the audience, and I can't even begin to describe how loved it made them feel to know that their friends were out there watching and cheering them on.
We spent a lot of time indoors playing. In the top, left hand picture below my sister was over one day and played Duplos with the kids. She's a great sport, and the kids adore her. The bottom, right hand picture below shows the girth of our pantry one evening when I decided I was tired of things falling out on me and I needed to completely clean and organize it that moment as this was clearly the next "one thing".
The girls put on an adorable Christmas parade with their Legos this past month, and I just had to photograph their creativity. The best part is that they all three played happily together.
The very next day is Will's dad's birthday, so we had fun celebrating with him. Note the curlers in the kids hair - they had their first dress rehearsal in the morning. We also celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family at the same restaurant we've been renting out for over ten years now. It is always a good time to see family, and in the bottom, right hand picture below, one of my kids must have taken a photo of Opal and my niece playing peek-a-boo together.
We made ornaments this year for Luke's Grave Blanket from plastic pony beads that we filled in metal cookie cutters and then melted in our toaster oven that we put outside (so we wouldn't breathe in melting plastic fumes). Besides the fact that it took FOREVER for the beads to melt, they did turn out lovely.
This was Opal's first Christmas on the outside of me, and it was nice to have her with us at Luke's grave. If you would have told me ten years ago when I had empty arms and an aching heart that I would be standing there ten years later with Luke's four little sisters and Dad, I would have hardly believed it. Although I would love to be standing anywhere else with Will and all FIVE of my kids, I will take what I can get and I feel so grateful to have Will and my four girls with me on earth.
We celebrated Christmas at Will's parents house a few days before Christmas when his brother was in town. We decorated gingerbread cookies, opened presents, and had a lovely afternoon.
The bottom, right hand pictures above show my kids with black olives on their fingers as I taught them the rhyme, "Little Jack Horner". This was a favorite memory from my youth at my grandma's house.
We celebrated Christmas with my family on another day, and although we all missed seeing nieces/nephews/cousins, it was a lovely day too. Violet got a cable knit sweater for Christmas and insisted that my Dad had one too and asked that I text Grandpa to make sure they could be matching. When we got to their house, my mom was the one with the matching sweater, and Violet was proud to be matching (see center photo below). In the bottom, right hand photo below, we spent time over the holidays with friends of ours who are like family too.
Emma was the head angel in our church's Christmas Eve pageant, and proudly showed us the ornament on the church Christmas tree that she had made in one of her catechism classes as well.
Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year, and after church, we spent a sweet evening at home eating a special Christmas Eve dinner of sloppy Joe's, cheesy potatoes, green beans and sparkling cider and then sampled some of the chocolate chip cookie bars we had made to leave out for Santa.
Christmas morning dawned bright and early (but not too early, thank goodness) and it was a happy morning with Opal with us for her very first Christmas.
Having the joy and magic of Christmas through my kids eyes helps to fill up my energy for all of the hard moments of parenting the rest of the year.
I encouraged the kids to make homemade gifts or gently used items for each other this year. Violet found some of her sisters' favorite books at a library used book sale, Lucy made bracelets, and Emma made flower presses with Will's help. The girls and I made homemade garlic salt for Will as garlic is one of his favorite foods. I thought I had ruined the surprise when he found my not so careful hiding spot in the basement but he revealed on Christmas after he opened our gift to him that he thought it was foot powder when he found it!
Since Opal loves paper, she loved opening presents! And her sisters loved helping her open her presents too. I have to say that Opal is my favorite present this year, and to see the gift that she is to each member of our family.
Highlights of the girls gifts include: Lucy got the Polaroid camera she thought was too expensive to ask for, a doodle pad that magically erases with the touch of a button, a new backpack and of course Legos, Emma got the Shopkins and Lego set she was hoping for, and Violet got the bow maker and LOL's she wanted along with a surprise Lego watch which she was thrilled about. Opal got a push behind walker, some baby dolls (that I found on eBay to match the ones her sisters have and are no longer sold in stores), some Little People and furniture the girls bought her on eBay to go along with the hand me down Little People Doll House Opal has from her sisters, her very first Duplo set and my favorite, a balancing hen with eggs to stack on her back.
Will makes the kids a present from wood each year, and this year he made each of the girls a letter to represent the first letter of their name on a piece of repurposed barn wood. We had handmade our wedding invitations together 15 years ago, and had used a brass stencil that spelled LOVE to emboss the invitations. I found the brass stencil when we were pregnant with Opal and I couldn't believe that our wedding invitations were a precursor of the four beautiful girls we would have whose initials would spell out LOVE. Will was able to enlarge the letters and use them as a stencil to paint each girl's initial. I haven't decided where I will hang these letters yet, but am so excited to have them. Here we are below, playing with our Christmas presents.
Will's parents came over in the afternoon on Christmas and we had Christmas part two with them, and enjoyed a dinner of ham and more cheesy potatoes.
New Year's Eve we spent at home, and decorated gingerbread houses with the girls. Our neighbor had found two gingerbread kits on clearance after Halloween at Trader Joe's and thoughtfully bought them for our kids. So, all we had to finance was one more kit and the girls were each so happy to decorate their own adobe, and the Halloween candy of bats and ghosts blended right in with the Christmas candy!
The rest of our Christmas break was happily spent making crafts that family and given the girls for Christmas...
...and enjoying lots of walks and even some hikes. See below the piece of ice I found that was shaped like the beautiful state we live in - a mitten.
The weather was so mild that one morning we even ate a picnic breakfast outside of the natural food store by our house. We walked our towns main street and took in all of the Christmas sights, including a giant train made out of gingerbread, an abdominal snow man made out of cake, and lots of twinkly Christmas lights. Will figured out that Opal fits inside of his winter coat, and thus became the best and warmest place for Opal on our excursions.
Will and I are in such a special time of our life right now. It is going by so fast, and it is so much work, but spending our days with our favorite people on earth makes all of the hard work and sleepless nights worth it. I just want to savor every happy moment with my kids while they still think of Will and I and their sisters as their favorite people too. Slow down, time! Someday they will go out in the world and find their own favorite people, but I hope they will always remember our time together with smiles and laughter and love.
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