The little ones

This is what we are up to today. Daddy is working hard on finishing up the first semester of his doctorate classes. He has been gone….. A LOT. I am trying to keep things interesting and low-stress here at home. Don’t worry that Abigail and Elijah are still in their pajamas. Micali is full of style and always quite proud of the combinations she comes up with.

--This morning when Eli was telling daddy goodbye he held on tight and said Don’t go daddy, Don’t go! Micali thought it was funny and joined it. They sure do love their Daddy.

--I snuggled with Micali in my bed and read stories to her while Abigail and Eli were sleeping. She hugged me and told me I was the best momma---EVER!! We fell asleep together for a few short minutes. Abigail and Eli had other ideas. Micali is enjoying some sleep all to her own right now.

--TV time hasn’t been too limited today. Eli couldn’t be more excited to get to watch Blue’s Clues and Signing Time on the SAME day.

--The house is quite messy. I am hoping to take care of that a little more today. For some reason it seems like I am not keeping up with it.  But as Luke always says— ”Are the kids still happy? –Then you are doing your job right!”

We are so happy that Daddy will be done with his class on Thursday and we will have him more often until his classes start up again in January.

Enjoying this season

Micali and I put a few decorations up last week. I am still trying to figure out what I want to do for stockings. The two red ones are Luke’s and we just found the baby one and hung it up for Abigail.

 

 

Last night for Family night we enjoyed watching the parade of lights(although it only lasted about 5 minutes) It is great to see the joy on the kids faces and the excitement a few lights can bring.

The Blue Dragon

We recently brought in the winter clothes and found this great snow suit Eli used to wear. I don’t even know who gave it too us but, we have gotten a lot of use out of it. Since he and Abigail were born in the same season this fits her pretty good too. Eli likes to wear this as his dragon costume and tries to be really scary in it. It is funny. He also likes calling Abigail the blue dragon when she is wearing it. It is so convenient to just zip her all up in it and have everything covered!

Elijah 14 months

Abigail 10 months

Micali’s little mishap

Micali went to a friend’s house to play and had a little run in with the treadmill. Still haven’t figured out exactly how it happened but I do know she put an exercise step on the treadmill and somehow managed to get it turned on. She has never been around a treadmill and didn’t have any idea they could be dangerous. She does know now though so hopefully she will learn from it and this will be the worst of her accidents with a treadmill. My little sister just hurt her legs pretty bad----treadmills aren’t too forgiving.

The funny part about this is that she is very dramatic about any injuries. She was sure for quite awhile that she couldn’t walk because her bones were broken. I told her she didn’t break any bones and it was her wrists she hurt not her ankles. It was a great excuse to sit on the couch and watch movies and spoil her though.

She was trying so hard to look like she was sad so she kept closing her eyes and covering her mouth. She really is feeling a lot better now and back to playing as always.

Christmas Cookies

We made a gingerbread version of our family with Christmas trees and hearts. Micali got to the pan before I could get a picture. She was so happy to eat the little girl she made for her.

Micali eating “herself”

These gingerbread cookies were a big hit. This pan is now all gone even before we got to the frosting and decorating of them. Luckily it was a big batch and we have a lot more dough roll out and  to enjoy the decorating part.

My Angel sister Karissa

Today is my little angel sister Karissa’s birthday. She lived three glorious days with our family. We didn’t know anything was wrong until the 3rd day and then found out only half of her heart was developed. She was the 12th baby and brought our numbers to a tie with 6 boys and 6 girls.

I was telling Micali about her today and she said who is my Aunt Karissa. I don’t know who she is. I decided this morning that I am going to make a book in tribute to her and get memories and thoughts from as many people involved so that my kids and my parents and siblings can have it to remember our little angel sister and see how she touched our lives for good.

I found the words to the song my aunt wrote and sang at her funeral:

“Oh Hush Thee, My Baby, Karissa”

1. Oh, Hush thee my Baby; a story we’ll tell,

How little Karissa on earth came to dwell;

How she became one with her new family

Was born a wee baby, my dear one like Thee.

2. The story was told by the Spirit so bright,

As round her was shining a heavenly light.

The eternities beckoned, She could stay three nights.

But then return to her Celestial delight.

3. The angels have taken her as Jesus had said,

This sweet little angel, no crib for her bed.

Up high in the heavens she sweetly looks down

Whispering to her family that she’s still around

--Chorus--

Lullaby baby, lullaby dear. Know dear family, there’s no tragedy here.

Lullaby baby, lullaby dear. Jesus will care for your little one there.

Natural Bridges National Monument

We decided to get out of the house our last day of Thanksgiving Break. We our surrounded by several national parks/monuments so we decided to go check out the Natural Bridges that are just over and hour away.

The kids did SOOO good in the car. After some rough HOURS in the car from our summer trip they hadn’t been anywhere besides running errands around town. We are even thinking of taking them further away(2 and 1/2 hours) to Sam’s Club to stock up on groceries and finish up some Christmas shopping.

There are hiking trails down to the bridges but it was a little chilly and weren’t geared up for hiking so we just went to the look outs which were pretty impressive by themselves.

Micali got a little workbook to complete while we were going throughout the park. If she completed 4 tasks she got to talk to the Ranger and was able to be officially sworn in as a Junior Ranger and get a special badge.

I was impressed that she wasn’t shy and told her all about out our adventures.

We have a crawler

Abigail has figured out how to REALLY crawl now and stays up on her hands and knees to get to where she thinks she needs to be.

Here she is determined to make to me.

Can you believe….

This was in our backyard?? Okay, probably not as impressive as the moose in Alaska but still a pretty big deer.

A Thanksgiving feast

Yesterday we enjoyed a quiet day with just our little family. I of course was sad we weren’t sharing it with other friends or family but having just us for the first time was also very special. We enjoyed the day being in the kitchen together, watching the turkeys and deer enjoy their feast out our back window, and then FINALLY by the end of the day eating our Thanksgiving feast.

We have so much to be grateful and top on the list would have to be each other. We have also been blessed to sell both of our homes in Alaska. We have enjoyed time with lots of friends and family over the last year. We are all healthy and happy, and we have a home that is warm and protective for us. Luke is enjoying his students and is also working hard starting out on his journey towards getting his doctorate.

It was cute to hear Micali and Eli talk about what they were grateful for. Eli with out coaching said “I grateful mom and dad" Micali said she was grateful for her cousins she had talked to earlier in the day on the webcam. And just looking at Abigail’s sweet face makes us grateful she is part of our family.