Love, Love, Love

We went to visit my family this week. 

We ate breakfast at the restaurant where Megan works.

 

 

Then we went back to Sandy's house for fun with Rachel and Grandma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday was not just Valentines Day, it was my 10th anniversary!!!

Unfortunately, Tom had to work until 8 p.m. because it was parent teacher conference day. 

So on the way home from Aunt Sandy's, we stopped and delivered a treat. 

 

Tommy and Ellie studied all the books on Papa's shelves, then carried around their favorites.

H-I-J Elmo

My babies are growing up so quickly, and this past month Ellie's language skills have just blossomed.  She has been obsessed for quite some time with her ABC's, although she is quite insistent that they are H-I-J's.  Last week she added another letter, and they became H-I-J-Elmos.  After much discussion, she now knows that K comes before Elmo.

A Trip to the Zoo

Aunt Sandy came for a visit this week and we took Tommy and Ellie to the Cleveland Zoo.  About halfway there, I realized that I forgot to take my camera, so thank you Sandy for the pictures to go with these fun memories.

The zoo has an awesome indoor rainforest, and we enjoyed up close and personal exhibits with the monkeys and birds.  Well maybe with the monkeys, the birds got a little too close when they flew overhead and pooped on Sandy's jacket.  Thank goodness she wasn't wearing it at the time.

Note to self: if you ever win a trip to the Amazon, don't bother packing sweatshirts. And when in doubt, dress in layers. I dressed myself and my kids for the OUTSIDE weather. Yes, even though I knew we were going to be indoors, and in a rainforest atmosphere. So it was probably in the upper 80's, at least, and very humid.  The only article of clothing I could remove without risking arrest was my socks, so they went.

At the gift shop we picked up two monkeys, two bamboo flutes, and one "educational" book.  The book was actually intended for my brother-in-law, but with recorded sounds to teach us about several species, "Farts in the Wild" was thoroughly enjoyed by the under 2 set.

 

Just a snuggle with Aunt Sandy...

Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Selvage.

 

The hit gift of the evening was a wagonload of blocks that Tommy received. 

Ellie quickly ditched her new doll in favor of the blocks.

 

 

The kiddos had fun exploring Grandma and Grandpa's house. 

They were totally taken by a few magnets on a kitchen cabinet. 

It made us realize how simple Christmas gifts could have been.

Both also enjoyed trying on one of Grandpa's hats.

 

Santa visited our house, leaving a large basket full of

MegaBlocks and a smaller bin of more wooden blocks.

 

They looked so tidy under the tree, but they quickly spread

to cover our entire livingroom floor to a depth of two inches.

 

Here, Tommy has a bit of chocolate from his Papa's stocking.

 

My great idea for this year's Christmas card photo was to dress Tommy and Ellie as shepherds and take them to a life sized nativity scene at the church down the street. 

The weather didn't cooperate with our schedule, so my backup plan was to get their picture with their nativity at home.

 

Getting them to cooperate with my plan was just not happening...

 

the blocks were a distraction...

 

eventually I finally caught Ellie in a brief fly-by...

 

These pictures were taken a few days earlier in my first attempt.  I wasn't able to get both of them together, or even facing in the right direction, but I still liked these shots...

 

Here Mama, you take Jesus...

 

This girl isn't a shepherd... she's the littlest angel. :)

Peace, Heavenly Peace

 

Today we celebrated Christmas with my family.

We traveled to Wilmington to Sandy's house.  She managed to remain hidden from the camera all day, so I will show her fireplace instead of her. My mom is there in the rocking chair.

Notice the detailed carving on the mantel. Sandy designed and carved it herself. It has leaves from the trees found on their property.

 

Sandy may have hidden, but her husband John went for the opposite effect.

 

My sister Melinda was there too, with three of her children.

 

 Ethan, who came on his way home from Alabama...

 

Phoebe (without John)...

 

and Emma.

 

Ellie and Tommy were in heaven today when their cousin Johnny let them play with the remote controls.  They carried them around for a few hours, I think.  I am not looking forward to finding out what the lingering effects of that fun will bring in our home, where those buttons are off limits. 

 

 

 Rachel came home from BYU-I...

 

and Megan was there with her boyfriend Cole... 

 

More cousin love, as Johnny demonstrates his phone for Ellie... 

 

We had our traditional white elephant gift exchange. 

Oddly, during the first round of gifts, nothing was stolen.  Ellie picked up a lovely wind-up pooping penguin toy in that round.  Kind of cute, plus it came with two giant chocolate bars.  On her second round, she chose to steal, horrifying me when she chose the lovely ceramic zebra which was a castoff from her cousin Wyatt that had landed in Grandma's gift pile.  She gave it a good number of kisses before we set it out of breaking range.  Tommy scored a Bunco game that has apparently done the rounds for several Christmases.  I think the senior center gift donation will score that one from us next year.  While I was out of the room, Tommy swiped my bag of homemade caramel corn and traded it to his Grandma for a cute toy. They actually got a good number of fun toys, and Rachel brought each of them a stuffed animal with a BYU-I shirt.

 

Tom and I got some lovely items as well.  Tom had better hide his chocolate covered pretzels (Sam's Club size) along with Ellie's giant bars so that I don't break my resolve on not eating chocolate.  Hard to believe, but I have been "dry" for 5 months now.  We'll see if I make it through the holidays.

As we traveled in the car today we listened to Christmas music.  On the way home, we were listening to Sally DeFord's music.  One of my favorite songs is "Peace, Peace, Peace", which I strongly encourage you to go listen to, and the third verse lyrics are:

Peace, heavenly peace
Rests on men at His birth
Peace beyond understanding
Gift of God to the earth
Peace shines in our hearts
Bright as the star that shines in the east
To guide us all as we seek
the Prince of Peace, peace, peace. 

I cried as I heard these words tonight, thinking of the tragic losses yesterday in Connecticut, and prayed for this peace beyond understanding to come to those families who lost their loved ones.  I know it will not come soon, nor easily, but I pray that it will come.
The CD ended and I restarted it, and we were almost home when it came around to this song again.  During the refrain of "peace, peace, peace" I heard a sweet voice from behind me sing the word "peace".  Just once, and rather quietly, and I checked with Tom to confirm that he had heard Ellie sing it too, but as she did, my heart filled with that heavenly peace.

Christmas Party

Tonight was our church Christmas social.  Ellie wore a cute little off the shoulder number that her grandma got for her.  I think I put the sweater back on her shoulders at least a dozen times, so she must have taken it off at least thirteen.

 

 

One of Santa's elves caught Ellie and twirled her around and around until they were both dizzy.  I'm pretty sure that was how she got all wound up for her evening.  She stayed on the move most of the evening.

 

 

Except when I tied them into chairs to eat.  At dinner the kiddos wore their Christmas bibs from last year.  Tommy just barely squeezed into his.  I cannot believe how big they are now!

I guess I didn't feed them quite enough, because after I let them down, Tommy found a refill somewhere.  I'm not sure whether he stole it from the serving table or from someone's plate, but he nibbled on this roll for the rest of the night.  He had a piece of it in his hand still when I changed him into his pajamas at home.