Donut Drive

Last night we made our annual Donut Drive. This year Stephen was home to go with us, and Grandma is visiting so she joined us too.  This was Caroline's inaugural Donut Drive, but she didn't get a donut this year. Maybe that's why she fussed and cried so much.

The Christmas lights weren't as impressive as in the past, though we did see some pretty ones in the neighborhood. My favorite was a box snowman (so technically it wasn't a light display). The least favorite was Mr. Grinch. Apparently, the boys are a little freaked out by Mr. Grinch...haha.

We also decided that the donuts from Dunkin' Donuts are not as tasty (or large) as the donuts from Shoppers, so back to Shoppers we will go next year...that is, unless they bring Krispy Kreme to the neighborhood!!

Here are the kids in their jammies, ready to go...

 

Elsa Turns 4

Elsa turned four just a week ago. She has been counting down the days until her birthday for months, it seems.  Grammie and Grandpa came from Pennsylvania to celebrate with her as well as to celebrate Christmas since we won't be making the trip up this year.

Caroline dressed for the occasion...the Christmas one, anyway...

And Elsa had a grand time opening presents and playing with Grammie and Grandpa and eating her Hello Kitty cake...

             

December

It doesn't seem possible that it's already more than halfway through December and Christmas is nearly here. And it's almost the first official day of winter-though I'm wondering if winter is ever going to arrive. It has been so warm here just like last year. We were really hoping for some snow this year. We bought sleds last year with hopes of some serious snow and good sledding, but we only had a half inch the entire winter. Maybe we'll get to use the sleds this year.

This month has passed quickly-and yet dragged on-since we've been dealing with colds and illnesses for what seems like forever.  Well, since Thanksgiving really. It made the rounds, and this year Stephen caught it too and had nearly a whole week off work. Thankfully, we haven't had to miss school for it much.

We are looking forward to a week and a half off very soon. Just two more days to get through, and then...Christmas vacation! I think everyone needs the break.  We have been blessed to have a neighbor lady come over a few mornings this week to play with Elsa while we do school.  It has been so helpful to have Elsa occupied and not constantly asking what she can do or getting into trouble (not that she EVER does that!).  I am thinking of asking our neighbor if she might be interested in working through a phonics primer with Elsa to get her reading. Elsa has been sounding out CVC words on her own for a while now, and I just haven't had much time to teach her anything beyond that.  But she is eager to learn reading and writing. Maybe with a little help we can get her reading soon.

Miss Caroline is working hard on two more teeth, still waking during the night most of the time (except for once when she slept through the whole night...very encouraging), and eating lots of solid food now. I predict that she will be on the move soon as she is starting to pull up and is scooting backwards on her tummy now...she can't quite get that forward motion going yet, though. 

Grandma is coming for a visit later this week and will stay through New Year's Eve. Uncles and an aunt and cousins will be here for Christmas as well. Lots of present-wrapping to be done; lots of cooking, too. Tonight I need to sit down and work out the timing of my menu. I have decided what we're having though.

Dinner:

Roast Beef w/ gravy

Sweet Potato Crunch

Mashed Potatoes

Baked Corn (Grandma is making this - yay!)

Steamed Asparagus

Cranberry Relish

Rolls

And for dessert:

Cookies (my sister-in-law is bringing some)

Cranberry Fudge Pie with whipped cream

Now, off to work out the timing of the menu! I hope I can manage to get everything onto the table at the same time.

Six Months!

Reposting:  Let's try this again!  Apparently I upload too many pictures and my Google account was full, so the pictures I tried to upload didn't come through.  But here they are again...Google account is updated/upgraded, and now the pictures work!  After all, I'm sure the reason you're looking at this blog is for the pictures of the little Strauberries, so we've gotta keep the Google account working!

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This little doll turned six months earlier this week!  It's hard to believe, especially considering all my other babies were sleeping through the night well before this point.  But she's a one-of-a-kind, and we wouldn't trade her.  She's a sweet pie, for sure!

Speaking of pie, we hosted our second annual Thanks-Singing Pie Social the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving.  Lots of yummy pies!  The Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Pie was the biggest hit, I believe.  It was definitely a full house here with between 50 and  60 people; I'm not sure we could have fit too many more.  But lots of mouths to feed also meant lots of voices to sing.

I don't have any pictures to share, however, because most of the evening I was wearing Miss Cutie Pie in the Ergo.  She even helped me dump my plate upside down on the floor once, so there wasn't much time for picture-snapping.  Maybe next year...

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  Time to get ready for Christmas...

Big Girl!

Now that Caroline is sitting a bit better, she and Elsa get to have baths together.  This doesn't always suit Elsa as she likes to lie down and play with the toys by herself.  But she sure does like it when she can make Caroline laugh.

And while Caroline has never hated her bath time, she has recently begun to enjoy it a lot more.  She loves watching the water and tries to "get" it.

She is now sitting by herself a bit, and she just got two teeth in the last week. Poor baby has been kind of miserable with both teeth coming in at once, but thankfully, it hasn't affected her sleep much.

Actually, her sleep has improved a bit. She has even taken a few long naps this week! That has been quite welcome, especially since we were working like madmen to get the basement bedroom finished before today (refinance appraisal going on this afternoon). 

And we did! It looks SO different from what it was when we moved into this house. What used to be shiny insulation paper walls and concrete floor is now painted walls, carpet, lights, etc. And the kids love playing in there...or at least they will love it until we get some furniture for the room.  And that will have to happen sooner rather than later since I hear that Grandma is coming for a Christmas visit!  She'll be just in time to see Caroline crawl...if she follows in her siblings' footsteps or continues to be an over-achiever and crawls early too.  She's been our earliest teether and sitter.  I'm hoping she kind of slows down because our earliest walker started at exactly 9 months and they were all walking by 10 months.  I'm not sure I'm up for her to be walking sooner than that!!

My Choice

The choice that will face us at the polls tomorrow is not a palatable one for me.  I will be with great disappointment that I cast my vote.

There is much that could be said about why I don't want to vote for Mitt Romney and how I wish that we had a different candidate on the Republican ticket, but I am trying to focus instead on why I do intend to vote for him tomorrow.

It all comes down to choice...or rather, life.  Budgets, foreign policy, and healthcare take a backseat to what is the most important issue of this - or any - election.  President Obama is solidly in favor of a woman's "right to choose."  To choose what?  To choose whether a child that she has conceived should live or die.

Mitt Romney's position on abortion isn't perfect.  I don't agree with his exceptions in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother.  Killing a baby is killing a baby no matter how that baby is conceived.  But he obviously values life.  

And I will cast my vote on the side of life every time.  There really is no other choice.

Edited to clarify:  For me this isn't a choice of whether to vote for Obama or Romney.  It's a choice of whether to vote for Romney or a third party candidate who values life as well as liberty and more limited (much more limited!) government.  If this election weren't so close, I would almost certainly cast my vote for a third party candidate whose views more closely resemble my own.  But when there is a close race like this one (especially when it's a close race in my own state), I'll choose the major party candidate who values life. Having re-read my post, I think maybe I didn't make that clear.  

A Day Off School

Sorta...because I'm a mean mom and I made them do their math and phonics before we left for a field trip.

We hadn't been to Cox Farm since two years ago, and I wasn't sure that I could manage it this year with four of them, one being an infant.  But we decided to give it a shot, and it worked out ok after all.

Caroline slept a good bit in her seat on the stroller, and the big kids had fun sliding down big slides and swinging on rope swings.  And I got some sunshine.

Baby Laura came along in her Ergo and got to slide too.

Big brother Cade came to the rescue
when Elsa was scared to go through
the pyramid with walls closing in.

Elsa enjoying the hayride

October in Pictures

Cade is our builder.  He loves Legos.  Luke loves Legos too, but Cade's interest is more of a creative one.  He is always building new forts and devices and even animals.  Just today he came downstairs toting a saber-tooth tiger, an antelope, and a lion that he had created out of Legos.  The tiger was especially cool.  I'll have to remember to get a picture of it before it's taken apart.

Below he is showing us his aged castle.  This is my math and science kid, folks.

 On Sunday it was a lovely fall day, so we made a late afternoon/early evening jaunt to the local Civil War battlefield.  We've been there plenty of times before, but every time we suggest it, the kids all shout, "Yeah!!"  Caroline now enjoys being in the Ergo carrier which made it much easier to bring her along.

Speaking of Caroline...she is growing so fast!  She will be five months later this week.  She can roll now, though she doesn't much like to be on the floor.  She much prefers to be upright where she can see what is going on.  So she spends lots of time in the exerciser, some time in the Bumbo seat, and some time in her bouncy seat (though she looks as though she might fling herself right out of there sometimes!).

She has a big smile that melts my heart...

...and beautiful eyes which may be brown or may be hazel...we're not sure yet.

She is loving her thumb more and more...

...and she happens to be a big fan of our kitty Sabrina, too.

I can't say that her sleeping is much improved except that yesterday she took her first nap that was longer than 45 minutes in about three weeks.  I'm hoping and praying that she will make progress in this area soon for the sake of everyone in our house!

School is certainly a challenge with this baby who doesn't nap too well.  But we're pounding away at the basics and leaving the extras for another year.  All in good time, I keep telling myself.

Hope you're enjoying this wonderful weather!  I have to admit that fall is my favorite time of year - love the leaves and the crisp air!  And the yummy, comfort foods are pretty sweet, too.  I can't wait to get my ovens back in working order so we can indulge in some more sweet treats...hopefully this week!

Quiet

That's quiet, as in, lack of activity.  As in, I haven't had time to blog recently.  It certainly doesn't mean that our house is quiet.  

In all actuality, our house isn't quiet often enough...as in, the baby is a really poor napper.  Therefore, I have little time for blogging because there is a little person hanging out with us all.day.long. Ok, most of the day.  She does take about three forty-five minute naps.  But forty-five minutes isn't long to get much done, and it certainly doesn't leave much time for blogging.   It also means that, in desperation, I have resorted to holding her in order to accomplish a longer nap most afternoons - just so she can get the sleep she really needs.  The big kids have even learned that opening the door to her room while I'm holding her for a nap will lead to dire consequences, and they now steer clear.  As I've told them, there had better be blood to show if they disturb the baby's precious sleep.  (The reason used to be blood or a lack of breathing until my precocious three year old daughter one day opened the door widely and loudly to inform me that she was having trouble breathing.  Hmmm.  She wasn't.  And she now understands that her brother is the only one permitted to open the door, unless he is the one not breathing. Ha.)    

I guess I had never really thought much about a baby's sleep cycle in comparison to an adult's because I never had a baby where it much mattered.  The others took long enough naps that it didn't occur to me that some babies might not.  But now I've read a-plenty, and we've figured out that she sleeps for just one sleep cycle and then is unable to get herself back to sleep during that brief waking between cycles.  Boo.  (Thankfully, this doesn't seem to affect her nighttime sleep!)  So we're just waiting now...waiting for her little body to grow and for her sleep cycles to lengthen.  I understand this happens somewhere between 6 and 9 months.  We're at 4.5 now.  So I guess we have a ways to go yet.  

In the meantime, she's still as cute as a button!  And her eyes certainly aren't going blue like the others.  I'm still not sure if they're brown or just a dark hazel, but it's fun to look into darker eyes this time around.

Snuggles with Daddy after a rough
day; she never made it out of her
jammies that day!

She enjoys the exersaucer now - big girl!

The girls wearing their new, matching cupcake
jammies...Elsa loves being "twins" with Caroline.

Let me count the ways...

I woke up feeling sorry for myself - that I won't be spending my birthday being pampered.  Instead, there will be diapers to change, messy mouths to wipe, school to do, fights to arbitrate, a fussy baby to comfort, dinner to make - a normal day.  

Then God reminded me that today isn't about me; it's about giving Him glory for the many ways in which He has blessed my life over the last 35 (yes, 35!) years. And there will be pampering today - it will just be the kind that comes at the hands of little boys and a girl, because they love me.

So let me count the ways.  Don't worry, I won't list all of them.  You don't have time to read them, and I don't have time to list them.  But here's the short list:

He's given me Jesus!

He's given me a gentle, loving, faithful, forgiving, and kind husband in Stephen.

He's given me a Luke, a Cade, an Elsa, and a Caroline.

He's given me parents who love me and raised me to love Him.

He's placed us in a wonderful, gospel-centered church where we are growing in love for Jesus and love for His people.

He's given me His Word.  We've been studying Martin Luther and the Reformation this week, and I'm struck by how we take the Scriptures for granted.  Thank God we can read His Word for ourselves.

Well, those certainly aren't all of the ways in which the Lord has blessed my life, but they are most of the important ones.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't mention the wonderful friends God has placed in my life at various times and in various places.  I won't name names, but I am very thankful for encouraging friendships through the years!

Then and Now

Here's the old (and very blurry) picture of my family (and the Cleland family) at the National Zoo sitting on the eagle statue.  Yes, that's me, front and center - wearing jellies!  Yeah, it was 1983.  

I was tickled to find the eagle statue there last year.  When we first moved here nearly six years ago and made a trip to the zoo for Cade's 1st birthday, I asked a zoo employee where the eagle statue was located.  He or she had no idea that there was an eagle statue.  I assumed that it had been removed.  But it was still there; it just took us a while to find it again because the bird exhibit wasn't at the top of our list of animals to visit.

Just Pictures

Just because she's cute!

...and because today I'm particularly happy that she slept well last night and is currently taking a long nap.  I have been praying for this (would you join me?) and God answered those prayers today.  This poor girl has struggled to take naps longer than 45-50 minutes (or more than an hour) since she was born, and it only happens occasionally.  Lately it has been harder because she was sick a week or so ago, and she has just been so tired since then...but not sleeping well.  Poor baby!  But in these pictures, she looks pretty happy.

She sure loves those fingers!

And she just discovered her toes!

Sweetie pie