It seems like forever since I blogged. I'm sure it was not missed, but maybe I've missed it a little bit. In October I was called to be the Primary President and I'm not sure I have had a coherent thought ever since. I know somewhere in there we had Thanksgiving and Christmas. For sure I remember having Christmas. In between, I've had meeting after meeting, stress, planning, and praying. It has been an eye opening experience for me and also a very good one.
Meanwhile, my little family is growing and changing and before I miss it all I'll like to record some of it. A few days ago I looked at my kitchen table and realized that I don't have a high chair any more. A high chair sat in my kitchen for 7 years and now it is just gone. Six lonely chairs sit around my table. There's no stroller in my trunk. Claire hasn't sat in one for quite sometime. Claire is starting to ask for a bed and so I know the crib is next. Thankfully she still loves for me to rock her before bed so I'll try and hang onto that for as long as I can because when it is time to put it away I know that all traces of the babies I had will be gone forever. It fills me with profound sadness and yet it feels like a new beginning. Claire's personality delights me and it is so nice to have this built in little girlfriend. Who loves PINK and dresses and nail polish. She is a little mom to the boys, complete with a bossy voice and a hand on her hip. I love it when I hear her say, "Gage! Knock it off." I wonder who she heard that from?
Claire got sparkly shoes and a sparkly wand at the cousin's gift exchange. Can you say perfect gift?
Claire loves the girl cousins.
There comes a time in every boy's life when they discover that, while Mom is great and all, their Dad does some pretty cool stuff. I think that happened for Luke over the Christmas Break. So many times I thought, "Wait! Luke is my buddy. Come back." Of course, I have to let him go but I find that I savor those moments when he asks to sit on my lap or tells me that he wants to be with me forever all the more. In the past, Luke didn't really care, all that much, when his Dad was coming home, but since Tim went back to work, after Christmas, Luke was asking at about noon when his Dad was going to be home. After my mom's death, Luke was so fragile and clung to me with a kung foo grip. We grieved together....a lot. Around Halloween Luke started to break free from his consuming grief and in a lot of ways it set me free as well. I'll never forget the day I brought out the Halloween decorations, because it was the first time in 7 months that I saw Luke as an excited little boy again who was excited about something. Christmas was even better. On Christmas eve, he was totally captivated by the sounds of bells (possibly found on his aunt's ring) and searched high and low for the source and was finally convinced that Santa was on his way and that he better get into bed ASAP!
I don't think Luke meant to flip us off.
Luke said, "It's Nerf or Nothin!" For the entire month leading up to Christmas
Somebody has an attitude.
I don't know where to begin with the changes in Gage. He is more prone to mischief than he was even 3 months ago. He hates changing his underwear and he is sure I'm trying to ruin his life by suggesting it. He's trying out how sass feels on his tongue and he is sure he knows EVERYTHING. I say often, "I've been spelling for 32 years so maybe I know how to spell something better than you?" He wants to be taken seriously and he loves it when I let him do something that he perceives as grown up. Staying up late on New Year's while the little ones were already in bed and taking the dog we were tending on a walk at 11pm with his Dad had his chest out five inches at least. His Christmas list was certainly an expensive one this year and it was the first year that I didn't buy him what I would call a toy. He does still like Lego's so maybe I can count that as a toy?
Yes, I gave Gage tape for Christmas. An inside joke.
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