One day Hannah was showing her daddy her “bumpies”  (which is any scratch, scab, or bruise, no matter how slight).  She said, “Here’s a bumpy, here’s a bumpy (pointing to each one)…here’s a pretty bumpy!”  She really likes her bumpies.  We declare she’ll be a dermatologist.  She is happy to look for bumpies on the rest of us.

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Recently Paul was putting a little car in a can with a lid and telling us it was a surprise and we couldn’t see it until tomorrow.  Hannah caught on and started talking about a “Pa-size” (her word for surprise).

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Yesterday (Monday) Hannah ventured downstairs to visit her daddy in his office.  He said his work came to a complete halt as Hannah was playing hairdresser with him.  She was trying to put a barrette in his hair and would say things like “Back up” and grab a handful of his hair and pull his head back; she said “Whoopsie!” a lot; and she said “Hold still!”  All of those are things I say when I’m working on her hair.

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Today we were on our way to Wal-Mart, which is on the way to our church.  Paul was sure we weren’t going to the supermarket but to “Pastor Dale’s church” and was talking about that.  Soon,  Hannah said, “Pastor Dale is happy.  Pastor Dale was born in a sta-ble.”  Right now, Hannah thinks everyone was born in a stable because that’s where baby Jesus was born.  I guess Pastor Dale is no exception.

We took the kids out puddle-jumping for a brief period
on Sunday afternoon.  There was a pret-ty cold wind
blowing so we didn’t stay out long.

On the way back to our house, Andrew put Paul
and Hannah up on our neighbor’s stump.

“The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,”  — from “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns

That pretty much sums up this past week for me, and pretty much our household.  We did celebrate Christmas, but let me show you the comparison of what I planned, versus what, I guess, God had in mind for us.

My plan:

We would get together with Andrew’s family on the 24th, have a great time, exchange gifts, and enjoy seeing those from far and near.  Then, on the 25th, Christmas day, we would spend a nice, relaxing, quiet day at home celebrating Jesus’ birthday, complete with a birthday cake that Paul had requested.  On Saturday, we would go to PA and spend some of the day with my mom’s family, seeing some great Aunts that I haven’t seen in a few years.  I had everything lined up just so, all I had to do was execute the plans, and it would all work out just great.

How it all unfolded:

Monday
I was cranking through the tasks I had set for Monday.  Andrew left for the airport to pick up his brother who was flying in from CA.  I was tearing around the house vacuuming down cobwebs from Paul’s room and the bathroom, and dusting Paul’s room (which was where our guests would be staying).  I wasn’t quite finished with that, when Paul, who was supposed to be napping on my bed, started complaining that his ear was hurting.  I called the pediatrician and got us an appointment for an hour later.  I got a few things put away, woke up Hannah, and loaded everyone in the van.  I couldn’t get out the driveway.  I tried and tried and tried, but the packed snow and ice was too slippery.  Some of the guys that were here working on our new room shoveled gravels on the driveway.  I still couldn’t make it.  Then I let Todd drive the van, and he tried many times, and finally got it out of the driveway.  We got to the doctor’s office 15 min. late, but they still saw us.  It ended up Paul had an ear infection in both ears.  We had them call the Rx to the pharmacy.  We crept through the packed ice in Wal-Mart’s parking lot to get some milk and a few other necessities while we were waiting for the prescription to be filled.  We made it home safely, but I did not go down the driveway.  I parked on the road at the top, unloaded the groceries and the kids, and then I parked in one of our neighbor’s big flat parking spot and walked back to our house.  So, that ate up my evening, and I didn’t get everything for Monday accomplished.  To top things off, I had diarrhea and vomiting all night long Monday night.  That pulled me back a few gears.

Tuesday
Well, Tuesday started off even with me being sluggish.  I thought I could still get back on track after losing time on Monday evening.  In the afternoon, even though I really wanted to nap while the kids were napping, as soon as I put them down, I headed into town to get a few last gifts for Thursday.  Weak from all the GI upset, but full of will-power, I got where I needed to go and got the items successfully.  As soon as I opened the door at home, Andrew said, “Thank goodness you’re home!  I just about called Lowe’s and Wal-Mart to have them page you and ask you to call home.”  I found out that Hannah had vomited twice (from coughing too much) and Andrew didn’t know what to do and wanted me to call so he could ask.  Anyway, she had managed to vomit all over her bed, lots of covers and blankies, her clothes and Andrew’s clothes and it was in her hair.  Great.  That nixed my plans for that evening.  I was doing laundry, bathing Hannah, and making her bed.  And, she hadn’t had a nap, which made for lots of crying.  My sister Lucy had come in from Wyoming, and she called and wondered if it would suit for her to come over to hang out and help that evening after work.  Did it ever suit!  She came and entertained the kids while I worked at making pizza to restock our freezers, and after the kids went to bed, she wrapped pretty much all my gifts for Thursday.  Andrew wrapped some too, and he helped get the last of the pizzas made.  I talked to my sister Gail that evening and found out that Katie, Luke & Glen (my siblings) were staying with her while my mom was in PA.  She very graciously offered Katie and Luke to come help me on Wednesday.

Wednesday
I got an early start on Wednesday.  I skipped exercising and started bread dough instead.  Katie and Luke showed up around 9:30, I believe, and I got them started right away on making all my food for Thursday.  Earlier in the week, I had given up my ideal of baking the pies Thursday morning so they would be good and fresh and the best for our noon meal.  It was even more humbling to have my sister Katie make the crusts.  I am very particular about my pie crusts, and I think this was her second time ever of making pie crusts.  But, I felt like I had no choice, and she was positively beaming with happiness that she was getting to make pie crusts for me.  How could I say anything?  I did give her a few pointers.  Luke made the pumpkin and apple pie fillings, and we had pecan pie filling in the freezer that Andrew had made earlier.  Luke also made the stuffed eggs and Katie made the 7-layer salad.  They also made 4 lbs. of hamburger into meatballs for another event that’s coming up.  I wouldn’t have done that on Wednesday, but the meat was thawed in the refrigerator, and it had to be done.  I think we ended up running the dishwasher 3 times that day.  And, I still had a lot of items to wash by hand before going to bed that night.  Speaking of bedtime, while I was bathing the kids, I was cleaning Hannah’s ears.  I usually clean their ears with a Q-tip (does nobody else do that anymore?).  Hannah cried out extremely loudly when I cleaned her right ear.  I pulled her out of the tub and hollered for Andrew to bring the otoscope.  I looked in there, and I saw blood.  Oh, I wanted to die.  I was sure I had punctured her eardrum and she would be deaf in that ear for the rest of her life.  I cried.  I called the doctor on call, and she assured me it would most likely heal on its own and be just fine, but that I needed to bring Hannah into the office in the morning.  That made me feel a little better, but I was still crying.  Andrew and I managed to get the kids to bed, and then I got the kitchen cleaned up and we got things lined up to leave early in the morning.

Thursday
We had Hannah at the pediatrician’s office at 8:00 (instead of being at the family gathering at 7:30 to help get the breakfast ready like we had planned).  We found out that she did not have a punctured eardrum, I had just scratched her ear canal.  However, the reason she hollered so loudly was she had an ear infection.  And the doctor thought she was getting pinkeye. So, we got prescriptions and headed to the breakfast with Andrew’s family.  The breakfast started about the time the pharmacy opened, so I loaded up a plate of food and went to the pharmacy.  While they were filling the prescriptions, I went to Wal-Mart and got 9 (yes nine as in nine) boxes of tissues because Paul’s, Hannah’s, and my noses were running so much we were emptying tissue boxes at our house at an alarming rate.  When I got back, everyone was waiting for me so we could open gifts.  Hannah was pretty miserable all day, even though I gave her Tylenol and Ibuprofen pretty regularly.  Only Andrew went to our church’s Christmas Eve service.

Friday
I had determined this day would be a success if nobody needed to go to the doctor and nobody threw up.  There was a finger foods lunch get-together at Andrew’s parent’s house.  I wasn’t planning on us going anywhere that day, but since one of Andrew’s brothers couldn’t make it to the main gathering on Thursday but would be there on Friday, and since all the siblings hadn’t been together at one time for a couple years, and since some of the siblings come from the other side of the U.S., I thought we could at least inconvenience ourselves a little and go for a short time.  We started out, and Heidi & Glenn (who were spending the nights at our house) followed us.  It was raining and cold out, but our roads were pretty good.  It never occurred to me that the roads for the last several miles to this house were dirt roads, some of which have grass growing up in the middle.  They were packed snow and ice, and the rain was making them as slippery as wet jello.  Before we knew it, Heidi & Glenn had turned side-ways in the road and were stuck in a snow bank.  Andrew got out to help them, and after a while, I decided to slowly travel the rest of the way to the house and get Andrew’s dad to bring a shovel up.  I had only gone a short distance when I saw our other car (which Ben is using while he’s here from CA) down in the ditch with the rest of Andrew’s siblings working at getting it out.  So, we sat there.  For about an hour, they all worked and finally we moved on.  They let our other car stay in the ditch (it wasn’t blocking the road), but they did get Heidi & Glenn’s car out.  So, we finally got there and ate the good food, took family pictures, and then headed out.  Andrew’s dad told us to go out another way that was less treacherous.  We did that, and we thought Heidi & Glenn were going to follow us.  Somebody took them to their car, which they had left at the top of a really bad hill rather than coming down it, and we waited at a safe place on the alternate route.  After about a half an hour, we found out they had gone home by the first route.  So, in the end, we all made it home safely.  And we stayed home!  Wendy and Joe came to visit in the evening, and my sister Miriam & Daniel came by to pick up my gifts for the PA relatives (I had already canceled out of that function).  I had been coughing my head off all day, and unfortunately, that continued through the night.  I hardly got any sleep, and I’m sure Heidi & Glenn didn’t either.

Saturday
We stayed home.  I felt more dead than alive, but we were home.  I did get a 2-hour nap in the afternoon which really helped me.  Prior to noon on Saturday, Hannah started acting like she didn’t feel good.  And, she didn’t want to eat at lunch.  Then, she threw up.  Sigh.  And she had diarrhea.  We were going to have our four nieces and nephews over from Sunday evening to Monday evening, but after that, I called and asked if we could reschedule.  I spent nearly all Saturday night coughing and got very little sleep.

Sunday
Hannah and I stayed home from church.  And we’ve stayed home all day.  I am hoping for more sleep tonight and a better, healthier week next week.

So, that has been our week of Christmas for 2009.  I’ve been tempted to think this is the worst Christmas I’ve ever had.  I’ve been tempted to think everything has gone wrong.  I’ve gotten irritated and in a bad mood at times and wanted to blame other people for this, that, or the other.  But, then I realized something.   Christmas is not about family get-togethers.  Christmas is not about a peaceful, rich Christmas Eve service.  Christmas is not about presents.  Christmas isn’t even about having a good time.  Christmas is about Christ coming to save us from our sins.  When I remembered that, I realized I could be thankful about that, and rejoice in that even though we were sick, people were stuck in the ditch, and I didn’t get to make a birthday cake for Jesus.  So, this Christmas has been a success, and a good Christmas because Christ came to save us from our sins, and is still saving me from my sins.  And, I look forward to the day when the results of sin–this sickness, the cars in the ditches, the frustrations of plans falling through–will all be over.

Merry Christmas!

Miss Beautiful.

Miss Beautiful.

Miss Beautiful.

How else can I describe Hannah?  I never, in all my wildest dreams, imagined God would give me a daughter as beautiful as Hannah.  I always thought I would have ugly kids.  No way!  This Hannah is too beautiful for words.  And she is happy most of the time, which makes her even more beautiful.  She’s our huggable Hannah.

Our project is moving right along.  These pictures tell more than words will, so I’ll just give a few comments.

Putting up a truss.

Putting up the last truss, which is more
elaborate than the others and heavier.

Particle board over the trusses.

Today they put this blue stuff over the particle
board.

Today they also got a lot of shingles on the roof!

We have been hearing a lot of hammering and nail-gun popping for a while here.  It is music to our ears because it means progress!  We are really pleased with the project and are looking forward to when we can occupy that part of our house.

On Thursday, Gail, Bobby, Paul, Hannah & I went to PA to visit our grandmother on my mom’s side.  On the way home, Hannah asked for some noodles.  We told her we didn’t have any noodles in the car.  After a bit, she started singing, “No noodles in the car.”  A while later, she asked for lollipops, and we told her the same thing.  Then, she started singing, “No lollipops in the car.”  At least she didn’t cry about it!

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Tonight, Paul and Hannah were wonderfully happy and energetic.  Hannah was walking around in the kitchen singing, “When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be here.”  Hmmmmm….I don’t think she understands all this very well!

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This evening, I talked to my sister Rachel on the phone briefly.  After I got off, I explained to Paul that I was talking to Aunt Rachel and that she had a dog named Atlas.  Paul said, “Atlas licked me like an ice cream cone.”  He kept telling me that over and over.  He was remembering how we went to their house on Thanksgiving day while they were gone to let Atlas out to use the bathroom.  To Paul’s bone-shivering horror, Atlas came up to him and licked him on the face.  The horror was so intense because before we got out of the car at their house, Andrew had jokingly said to Paul and Hannah that Atlas might eat them.  Ohhhhhhh….what a mistake!  Especially since Atlas is about 2-3 times their size.  Andrew realized then it had been a bad idea to say that.

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Paul has a term for each state of dress.  When I let him take off his shoes, he says he is “going sock”.  When he gets to go barefoot, he calls that “going tootsie-toe”.  Then, if he gets to take off his long pants a little before getting in the tub and run around, he calls that “going leg.”  Friday evening I was getting them undressed to get in the tub.  After I pulled off Paul’s shirts (and he was entirely naked), he said, “Look!  I’m going tummy!”

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While I was tucking Paul in bed on Saturday night, he said,  “Tomorrow I’ll scratch.  If something hurts, it will keep hurting.  I can sleep.”  Don’t ask me what all that’s about!

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Paul has been singing nearly non-stop for the last two days (Friday & Saturday).  I kept hearing him sing, “I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiar camels play…”.  I asked him if it was camels or carols.  He said, “Camels.  Camels don’t play the piano.”  I’ll be he’s still trying to figure out what camels play.

Photo courtesy of my sister Julia.
Thanks, Julia!

When Paul and Hannah were younger and just starting to eat solids, they often ate different foods that we did–cereal, mashed up this and that.  If we were eating hamburgers and potato wedges, they might get some ground up chicken corn chowder left from another meal, or stashed in the freezer from when we did have it.  And, there were things I couldn’t get them to open their mouths for at times, so I just couldn’t feed it to them.  (How do you make a 5-mo.-old eat something?)  Well, I guess I at least to some degree let that spill over into older ages.  If at a meal Paul wanted to eat mostly green beans, and nothing else, that’s what I let him eat.  The next meal, he might fill up on bread, and another meal eat lots of fish, and so on.  Hannah ate more than Paul by a long shot, and she usually ate a wider variety of things at one meal.  Hannah’s appetite is slowing down and she’s not eating as much now.  And, I was getting tired of fixing food, and then nobody but me eating it.  And, then I would have to eat it several days in a row while I fixed something else for the others to eat that they would eat.  It wasn’t that it was bad food, or that they didn’t like it, it was just not exactly what they preferred.  No more.

Can you believe that my husband and Paul do not
like this gorgeous, scrumptious ribbon salad?  I
found that out after I made it recently.  I absolutely
love it!

I have changed the food program on my family.  My children are old enough that we can all eat the same thing.  That’s not the same as saying we all prefer the same foods.  So, I fix a meal, and that is what we eat.  Some meals, certain ones eat smaller amounts.  Also, I put about 1 Tbsp. of each food on Paul’s and Hannah’s plates and they are required to eat it.  (If you need to know how to accomplish that, you can ask me some time.  I assure you it can be done.  My children are completely normal.)  No if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.  And, they are no longer allowed to drink a quart of milk instead of eating food at a meal.  After they have drunk a reasonable amount of milk, I take their cups away until they have finished that required amount of food, and then they can have them back again.  It has been wonderful!  Paul and Hannah have gotten used to the required eating of foods program, and they balk at it very little, and they don’t argue (because it doesn’t change anything).  After they have eaten the required amount, they can have more of whatever they want that is on the table.  If at that point they want dessert, they can have a specific amount of dessert, but after that if they still want more food, they have to choose something from the main meal.  Let me tell you, this is one of the best programs I have implemented yet.  Now, I still wouldn’t make them eat something really spicy, or tough meat they can’t chew, or something that is gaggingly distasteful to them (which I don’t know of anything in that category yet), but I don’t fix those things most of the time anyway.

I also have this idea that eating foods you don’t like builds character.  On top of that, I don’t want my children to grow up to be one of these people who will only eat macaroni and cheese, or never eats anything green, or some other crazily narrow-range-of-food eaters.  So, I hope this is a step in the right direction.  I’m sure I waited way too long to begin this program, but at least I did get it implemented.  We’ll soon have been on it a whole month.  I have no intention of reverting back.

On the addition to our house that is.  I’m not sure about other areas of my life.  The last two weeks have been really exciting around here, with visible changes pretty much every day.  There for a while, the builders were gone on a hunting trip, then we had a bunch of rain that stalled things, and I just got in the mode of thinking probably we were at a stand-still until the hot and dry of next summer.  Then, boom, the thing took off.  The ground froze so they could get heavy equipment in here early in the morning (I figured they would keep bankers hours and wouldn’t get here early enough to take advantage of a night-freeze!  These guys have risen in my estimation!), and they come and work in the freezing temperatures we’ve been having.

Let me show you some pictures.

They poured the cement for the footers in the rain,
right before we got the snow.

Here are the footers, if you can see them.

One morning before 7:30, we heard commotion, and
they were delivering the blocks while the ground was
still frozen solid.  So smart!  We don’t have to wait until
a dry August to get across the ground!

The block crew laying the foundation.  I made sure to
tell Mr. Miller I didn’t want any crooked door holes
like I have had such grief with in this house.

The foundation is laid!

Work on the project.

Putting down the floor joists!  This thing is taking shape!

The floor joists from the back yard.  As you can tell,
there is still enough mud around!

Going vertical!  They build these walls and got them
up with record speed.

That’s the end of my photo album for now.  They have all the walls up, and the trusses were delivered early Friday morning (we happen to live 1 mile from the lumber yard where they are getting all the wood, so they just run down in their pick-up trucks and get a load of boards, etc., as they need them, and the trusses didn’t have to come very far) while the ground was frozen hard.  I think they are going to start putting up the trusses next.

Yeah, this is all starting to sink in.  I am looking forward to the additional space and the convenience of a sound-proof office for Andrew.  It’s beginning to feel like a real building project, not just something that might materialize some day.  It’s also beginning to feel like real money is being spent.  The gravity of it all is settling in, such as the commitment to pay for all this.  I feel really helpless is most ways, since I don’t earn a single penny.  So, I am working on making lifestyle changes (o.k., maybe they can’t be classified as that, maybe “minute changes” would be more accurate) to help shave off some expenses around here.  That amounts to hanging up my clothes in the basement instead of using the dryer except on dire occasions (which I did all the time before Paul was born, and I feel like I once again can take the time to do that most of the time), and eating the foods we have on hand.   (I have started another post expanding that last one.)  I can’t pick up any double-pay shifts, or volunteer to work the holidays like I did in the past, but I am doing what I think is within my realm of do-able changes.

It is also sinking in that I need to be purging my piles and stacks around here so when the time comes to move things over into the new part I’m not dragging along things we never use and stuff we don’t want anyway.  So, as soon as I can find the time and get in the right gear, I hope to reduce the junkiness of our house.

That would be a Paul and a Hannah.  They have filled my life with so much excitement lately, it’s almost indescribable.  Since they are finally well from their colds, they are remarkably happy and much more fun to have around.  Our house is nearly constantly filled with singing from Paul, and Hannah is starting to sing a lot.  She is learning new songs very quickly!

Yesterday, Hannah managed to drop a hot mat in my canner full of water.  At supper, we had finished the main course and were eating brownies for dessert.  I happened to look over at Hannah, and she had pulled off one of her socks and was stuffing her brownie in her sock!  Andrew says wait until she’s 2 years old and has even more energy and can go even faster.  Yikes!

Here are some pictures of the excitement we’ve been having around here.  I hope you like pictures, because there are lots of ‘em!

Hannah up high and touching the lights.

Paul and Hannah playing on the pile of rocks in our
driveway that were for the building project.  The workers
were gone to lunch so Paul and Hannah played on the
rocks.  Paul wanted to come inside, but Hannah didn’t.  So
I let her out there until they returned.  I thought she might
get scared, so I went out there as they were backing in the
driveway.  She wasn’t scared at all and just stood up there
talking to them.  I helped her down and in the house so they
could haul the rocks around.

Pretty much every day that is sunny we try to get
outside at least a little bit.  This is on unusually warm
afternoon when we didn’t need heavy coats.

This is Hannah Precious on the ride to PA to visit
my maternal grandmother on Thursday.   Gail, Bobby
Paul & Hannah and I went.  You can see they traveled
in their pajamas on the way up.

Bobby & Paul–this is before they both got carsick
and vomited.

Hannah’s hair was static and getting in her eyes.
Aunt Gail took out her pony tail and put it in
Hannah’s hair.

Hannah at Cracker Barrel, where we took my
grandmother for lunch.

Bobby & Paul figured out how to “play drums” with the
golf tees while we were waiting for our food.

Outside with my grandmother after lunch.  It was very
windy and bitter cold, but the kids loved running back
and forth and back and forth on that long porch.  It helped
them burn off some energy after the long ride.

Last evening as I was working in the kitchen, Paul
and Hannah came and “counted letters” at the island.
I pretty much never have to wonder where they are
or what they are doing–they are right there with me.

The letter counting turned into gnawing on apples that
were sitting on the counter.  They also started moving
off the stools and onto the countertop.

Sitting on the counter changed to standing on the
counter to ring the chimes hanging in the kitchen.
Note that Paul is holding a pipe and Hannah is holding
the wooden “ringer”.  I’m sure I suffered some
degree of permanent hearing loss.  That musical
activity lasted only a few minutes before I helped
them do something else.

This morning, perhaps for the first time ever, I let
Paul & Hannah stay in there pajamas until noon time.
Somebody dropped off a bunch of clothes and a few
toys they had purged from their kids’ collection.
Among them was a baby doll.  I went downstairs and
dug out some of the baby dolls I had as a kid.  I
couldn’t find my doll bottle, so I gave Paul and
Hannah baby spoons and bowls to feed their babies with.

Hannah gave up on spooning it in and is feeding this
baby right straight from the bowl!

After lunch while I was washing dishes, Paul and
Hannah were begging for an apple.  So, I cut up and
peeled one for them.  They sat on the island and ate
the whole thing and asked for more.  Since it was
already 2:00 p.m., I denied their request and explained
we would be eating supper later. (Didn’t I say they
follow me around everywhere?)

So….don’t you want two little energy balls like these?  I am really enjoying Paul and Hannah being well and not fussy and clingy all the time like they tend to be when they are sick.  However,  as I blog, I have been hearing Hannah cough this awful-sounding cough while she sleeps.  Hmmm….I wonder if another round of colds is starting up.  Sigh.  I have really enjoyed these last two days.  I guess even if we get right back into sick mode, we will get into well mode again sometime.

On Friday evening, Paul said, “This is a very nice day.  We’re staying home.”  Hmmm….and he’s been home all week, hasn’t gone anywhere since Sunday morning.  Is he like his mom or what?

Saturday at 5:30, I decided it was time to awaken Paul & Hannah from their naps.  I opened Hannah’s door, and she slowly started moving and opening her eyes.  The first words out of her mouth were, “A vitamin.”  I think that’s the second time she has said that first thing upon waking up.  That kid is nuts about vitamins, asking for one several times a day.  We usually give them each a vitamin at breakfast, and Andrew figures she thinks she is waking up, it’s a new day, she can get a vitamin!  Sorry, Hannah, have to wait until you wake up the next time!

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Here’s a conversation from Sunday morning while Andrew was dressing Hannah.
Hannah:  Zaccheaus climbed up the tree.

Andrew:  Why did Zaccheaus climb up the tree?

Hannah:  To get Altoids.

Oh really!  I wonder if it was an Altoid tree he was climbing, and if the fruit was ripe just then.  Altoids are second to vitamins in Hannah’s world, I think.  She happens to know there is a can of them on top the microwave, and some in the van.  Whenever we go somewhere, she and Paul ask for Altoids, and often we give them one once they are buckled in and we’re ready to go.  The ones on top the microwave are strictly forbidden, by the way.

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Paul was eating supper on Monday evening.  He said, “I’m eating accidentally”.  I asked him what that meant, and he said it was because he was getting some on his shirt!  I thought that was a good way to describe the “accident” of spilled food.

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When the snowman falls over, it’s time to “ride the snowman” (as Paul calls it)!

Hannah is talented, she rides standing up!

Eating the icicles.

Today, when we woke up in the morning for the last time (Hannah woke up at 5:00 and thought it was time to get up.  Sorry, lady, but not you, that’s for sure!  After being awake for more than an hour, she went back to sleep until 9:00.  I, however, was sleeping soundly when she woke up at 5:00, and when I got up to help her back to bed, my eyes were swollen, particularly the left one that had been burning.  I considered going ahead and exercising, but I crawled back in bed.  And, I laid there awake until about 8:00 with my nose pouring out mucus like a spigot, and intermittently having sneezing fits.  One of them was so long, I must have sneezed 12-15 times.  Anyway, I got another hour of sleep in from 8:00 to 9:00, and I skipped exercising (gasp!  Pachydermal proportions creeping up over the horizon!) today.) I saw it was snowing outside!  No wonder Paul slept so late!

After some cereal for breakfast, I packaged up the kids and sent them outside while I got myself dressed up to go out.

You know what comes next.  While I was still getting dressed, Hannah started crying.  Andrew checked on her and she was crying because she had to use the bathroom!  I could have predicted it would be one of them.  Anyway, we brought her in and she met her needs and went back out with me.

Of course, eating snow was one of the main attractions.  Even I ate some!  Hannah wanted to sit down, so Andrew brought out some plastic chairs for them to sit in.

It was good snowman-making snow, so we made a snowman.  I made the big bottom ball!

Paul helped with the snowman.

Andrew made him a waving snowman.  Lucy, he’s wearing the hat you made.

By the time we were finished the snowman, Paul had been outside at least an hour, and they were both cold and crying.  So, we came inside for–oh my, don’t ask me about this–hot chocolate and marshmallows!  Hannah and hot chocolate are a worse combination than Hannah and ice cream cones.  In my perfect world, she would never have either, but alas, my perfect world doesn’t exist, so I do a lot of clean up.  This morning was no exeception.

After we ended that function, we snuggled under a blanket on the couch and read stories.

In the afternoon, Hannah started her nap before Paul.  Paul helped me sew.  Notice how he opened up the hatch on the top of my machine in his explorations.

And, then he put pins in a hole up there (they came back out fairly easily).  He loved doing that.

Eventually, he moved on to pinning fabric, just like Mom.

He does a really good job, as you can see from this finished product (and he did another piece too).

Later, when Hannah woke up from her nap, she was very interested in this new project of playing pins.  I set her up with a stuffed boat that she could transfer the pins from the pin cushion into the boat.  She did very well, but she’s much more adventuresome than Paul.  Thus, she was putting pins in her hair–until I caught her–and I’m sure that’s because she sees me use straight pins to pin on my covering.  Then, later when she was playing pins after her bath, she tried putting on in her pajamas–straight in, that is–but she stopped very soon.

Hannah was experiencing supreme happiness, let me tell you.  That pin cushion has been a coveted possession ever since I started sewing a few weeks ago, but I haven’t let her play with it until this evening.

After his nap, Paul then put pins into a sheep.  It is easiest if they are both doing about the same thing, and I didn’t think Hannah was quite up to pinning fabric yet.

If you look closely you can see that the sheep is very full of pins.

I did get a reasonable amount of sewing done while all this was going on.  There are pins on the floor under my sewing machine, but we’ll get them picked up.  And, I do supervise them closely while they’re “playing pins”, and don’t let them walk around doing it.  They have to be still.  And, I don’t know that this activity will be an on-going one.  I’ll soon be finished sewing for now, and we’ll put it all away.

So, that’s the tale of snowing and sewing!