this 'n that

well, i thought we were through being sick, but it turns out we weren't. oh well! hopefully now the last of it is over! i pray it is.

we've been crazy around here lately: sickness, work, party-ing, cleaning, decorating . . . yikes! i'm hoping things will slow down just a tad soon. i just finished (yesterday) an order for 1,040 greeting cards. it's a corporate order that i do every year. i'm so glad to be finished with it. what i love about making cards is the uniqueness and thought i put into the design of each one, but when you make hundreds of the exact same card it gets a little old . . . but the check that comes along with it is quite nice so i put up with it! now for the next 11 months i can be creative again!

ok, so i couldn't help myself when i bought this shirt (onesie, actually, if we're being technical) for anna. she doesn't need any clothes, and normally i'm pretty good with the self-control in that area but #1 she is completely unBEETable and #2 beets are the only food on earth that i know of that kirbs won't eat. (actually he probably would eat them, but he doesn't like them!) so, when i saw it i couldn't just leave it at the store. as a side note: normally i'm quite bugged by clothes with words on them ("princess", "i'm naughty", "i love my mommy", "cutie", "my brother did it" . . . it all just irritates me). if other people like them, that's fine, but i don't like to put them on my kids, generally. but i digressed from my usual "rule" to get this sweet little shirt for my sweet babe! isn't it cute? and her daddy thought it was quite funny too.

here are a couple of pics of her taking a bath tonight. she is sporting the chapped cheeks look of winter (and the little cold she has isn't helpin' either!). i think she might be on her way to a head full of curls though, like her oldest sister! whattaya think? only time will tell, i guess.

joe has turned a little corner recently. i failed to notice exactly when it happened, but the other day i said to kirbs, "he is so fun and pleasant lately. i just love him!" that's not to say that i didn't love him before, but he has been quite the handfull for the past few months and i didn't always like him a whole bunch. i'm so glad to have turned this corner! what is it they say? 6-month cycles? i'm gonna try and enjoy all 182 days of this one!!! he is funny, polite, hilarious, a great helper, comedic, cute, (relatively) cooperative and, did i mention, quite funny! i'm just trying to enjoy every minute of it. he even cooperated and willingly let me cut his hair (usually i have to literally pin him down while he is contorting his body like mad to try and get away and kicking and screaming. and -- for some reason -- the haircuts never quite come out as nice as i would hope! hmmm, surprising! i wanted to trim him up because he's going to be in heather & roberts wedding in a few weeks and we don't want him to look shaggy when he has that fancy little tux on, now do we? also, he loves "helping" these days. he unloaded the dishwasher for me today and is always "picking up" the living room lately too (which means piling everything from the floor onto the top of the coffee table). also, his manners astound me. we're not rude people, but he is, by far, the most polite member of our family right now. it's pretty endearing . . . alright, i know, enough about him . . . but isn't he cute? oh and just one more sweet thing: his new favorite thing to do is to play with the (many) nativity sets we have out right now. the dialouge he comes up with is great. today the camel and the angel (who he would be sure to tell you is named gabriel) were flying through the kitchen on their way to talk to "go-sef" (joseph) (yup, he calls himself "go-ey" or "go" if you ask him his name. he is very consistent in his mispronunciations) alright, that's it. i promise! picture explainations: so, his outfit for most of last week (whever we were at home) was underwear and this tutu (with the arms NOT in the sleeves, becuase "they itch me!"). then there's one of him playing with the nativity pop-up book with the little carboard characters. he loves it. then there's him trying to escape from kirbs' clutches when we're trying to take a family picture!

yesterday marked the first day evelyn was back at school all day! she had not quite been able to make it all day up until now and either went in late or got picked up early. we are thrilled with this next step of progress. rebekah was excited that she even got to go outside at recess AND go with the class to gym. way to go, ev!

jacob was home sick today and we had such a fun time together. i gave him his spelling test so that he wouldn't have to make it up when he got back to school tomorrow. then he was feeling just fine by lunch time so we went to the y and played basketball together (while joe & anna were in kidstuff). i loved the one-on-one time with him. rebekah was home sick one day last week and that was a great day too. she asked me if she could have a tea party and i said sure so she got joe dressed up (in a button down and khakis . . . she changed him out of the clothes he was wearing which, i guess, were not suited for going to tea!) and she got dressed up and she dressed up elizabeth (her american girl doll) and put a blanket over an upsidedown laundry basket and served tea and mandarin oranges to the 3 of them. it was so sweet and cute. now there is a girl i should have around more often. she basically puts me out of a job. now, if only they were as sweet when they were all together as they are one-(or two, or even three) on-one. but, unfortunatly the minute you put them all together in the same building it becomes a fighting, screaming, hitting mass of angry, moody, crabby chaos. crazy, since they are all such sweet kids? oh, well. enjoy what you can!

ok, i realize this was a way longer-than-average post. thanks for putting up with it! i'm almost done. our family is trying to enjoy each moment of this advent season and reflect on what our God did for us thousands of years ago when he sent a sweet little baby to earth to live and die for me and you. it never ceases to amaze me. thank you Lord for your sacrifice of your precious, precious son for me. and my sons. and my daughters. and my friends and family and each of us here on this earth. your love is amazing!

happy advent, all! enjoy it.