We made it…barely

We’re here.  After driving 4.5 hours across the state to get home, unpack and reload, then swing by the pharmacy and pick up meds to treat my new case of shingles, we made it to the airport only to find out our flight was delayed 40 minutes.  We only had a 1 hour layover in Detroit.  When we got off the plane in Detroit, they told us we had to RUN.  I swear it was 17 miles!  We all ran.  I carried Ayla.  Brigg was wearing his new Heeley’s.  And we all ran as fast as we could.  They held the plane and we made it.  Mom was in tears.  We were all gasping for breath…obviously not the most in shape family on the plane!  But we are here.  Brigg is golfing, Lani is swimming, and guess what Ayla is doing!  SLEEPING!  I’m uploading pics from Christmas and will post some soon!  Merry Belated Christmas to all!!

Mr. and Mrs. Grinch

We took down our tree…and all our Christmas decorations last night.  Well actually, we left the sad-looking, completely bare tree up, but removed all the ornaments and lights.  We leave today and are not getting back until after Christmas and I just couldn’t bear to deal with it when we returned in January.  We come home briefly on Tuesday…garbage night…and we’ll be able to place it outside.  And I can’t wait.  I hated this tree.  I hated it so much, that I got a clearanced-out, pre-lit, ARTIFICIAL tree from amazon.  And I love love love it!  I will be so excited to put it up next year.  And I won’t miss this year’s tree one bit.  Call me a grinch.  I don’t care.

Keeping myself in check

The next few days have the potential of being complete madness if I let them.  Well I refuse to let them.  This is Ayla’s first Christmas and the only Christmas that Brigg will be 6 and Nalani will be 4.  We have 3 trips to pack for and they are all in a row without a day to spare in between.  So I need to be organized…not my forte!  In the midst of all the shopping, wrapping, laundry, packing, picking up, doing dishes and preparing, I need to enjoy these precious babies.  I need to make a conscious effort to enjoy these days leading up to Christmas.  So this morning Nalani and I played with play doh and gave eachother pedicures…

while Ayla napped…

Yesterday Brigg had his Christmas concert.  There’s really not much you can do with photos at an event like this.  So this is the best I got…

And Ayla did enjoy watching Lani’s toenails dry…

I love these children.  I love my family.  So looking forward to the days ahead and praying that I don’t get caught up in the madness.

Date Night…kind of

Well it’s as close as we’ve come to a date night in a long long time.  Last minute Christmas shopping with our 5 week-old daughter.  We got a coffee at Starbucks and a sandwich at Red Robin.  It was a quick trip up to the cities, but we enjoyed eachother and reconnected a little bit.  Paul was loving carrying Ayla all over Target and getting an unusual amount of attention from the girls.  He has decided that he and Ayla need to go out together more often!   I think this night concludes our Christmas shopping…done or not!  I’ve had it…which is very sad because I have done the majority of my shopping online!!  We are ready to be finished and just enjoy the rest of the holiday season!  Brigg’s Christmas concert is tomorrow afternoon and his Christmas Party is Friday.  We head out Friday and the festivities begin. So looking forward to spending time with family and just being together.  Thanks mom and dad for watching the “big kids” while Paul, Ayla and I had our date!!

Joseph’s Lullaby

Lyrics:

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You’ll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

Sunday night

The kids are in bed.  Paul is out with friends.  It is FREEZING out.  And I am snuggled under a blanket with my lap top and a pepperminut pattie (hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps).  All is well…

Bad Memory?

On 2 occasions today alone, Lani has blamed her blatant disobedience on “forgetting”.  She asked if she could have candy.  I said yes, but only ONE piece.  3 minutes later she comes up to me and says “I’m sorry mom.  I ate TWO pieces of candy.  I FORGOT!”  I just heard her call Brigg dumb and I said, “Lani!  Why would you say that?”  She said, “I FORGOT!”  I reply with, “What did you forget?”  She says, “Well, I thought ‘dumb” was a nice word.  But then I remembered it was a BAD word!”  Looks like we’ll need to work on her memory skills a little bit…

Ayla gets dedicated

Ayla got dedicated today in church.  We are so grateful that God chose us to call her ours…

oh…my heart

look at that little hand on her daddy’s face.  makes my heart want to explode!!

happy birthday, mom!

thanks for being so great!  i can only hope my kids and i have the same kind of relationship as  you do with us!  love you…