Wrapping up 2011...a few more M&Misms

We just got home from a very long drive. The front room is an explosion of packages and suitcases. The back room looks pretty good. I'll stay back here and get these sayings recorded before the clock turns to 2012.

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Dad: "Mackenna, I love you...even if you whine."
Mackenna: "I still love you even if you chew your nails."
Dad: "Does that make us even?"
Mackenna: "Yes, very even."

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Upon arriving in Tennessee from Florida, at nighttime.

Mackenna: "Is this Tennessee?"
Me: "Yes, it is."
Mackenna: "It is dark in Tennessee. I can't see in Tennessee."


Micah: "Mom, the trees look different here."
Me: "Yes they do buddy. How are they different?"
Micah: "They are like branches trees."

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To Great Grandma Snyder:
Mackenna: "Grandma, your hands and skin are all krumply."

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Mackenna: "I want to sit by Audra at dinner. She is a genius."

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Me, Tucking the twins in bed: "I don't want you to get up until morning."
Micah: "Well, if Nana comes in and asks me if I want to get up and watch Curious George with Allison, then maybe I will get up."

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Shopping for some relatives for last minute Christmas gifts:
Micah: "Are Ashley and Cole both boys?"
Me: "No, one is a boy and one is a girl."
Micah: "Oh, so we need one beautiful gift and one cool gift."

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Waking up and seeing snow out the window:
Mackenna: "It snowed!!!! It's Christmas!!!!"

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Very triumphantly, Micah: "Dad, you were wrong. Dad, you were wrong."

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Getting ready to drive back to Florida:
Micah: "I know why it is a long way to Florida."
Dad: "Why?"
Micah: "Because we drove a long way to Indiana.

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After tattling about Micah coloring on table and after Daddy telling him to stop:
Mackenna:  "Thank you dad for dealing with his disobedience."

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Complaining about the snack I offered him, trying to convince me to give him another Lifesaver mint instead:
Micah: "I had Teddy Grahams before."
Me: "Yeah?"
(Micah smiles and pauses, realizes that his logic is breaking down, and decides to lie instead of being illogical in his reasoning.)
Micah: "I haven't had a circle thing before."
(Oh my)

Music Moves

We were driving home after Christmas shopping, listening to Christmas music, and a “fast” song came on. Micah starting shaking his hands really fast almost like he was playing a drum in the air. He stopped and said, “I like fast songs. I like fast songs because I can do my fast moves.” Then he resumed playing the air drum. Mackenna responded moving her arms slowly and gracefully back and forth and said, “I like beautiful songs because I can do my beautiful moves.” A little bit later, Silent Night came on, and Micah said, “Hey, it’s a beautiful song.” Mackenna immediately began her “beautiful moves”.

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

"Christmas is coming" is one of those songs that always runs through my mind as the big day gets closer. Not sure why. I have very distinct memories of me singing that song loudly outside my childhood church after a Christmas Eve service one year. I was so very excited for Christmas. I still am. And it is tomorrow! Yes, Christmas comes tomorrow in the Florida Sharbaugh household. We all are pretty excited. And since it is tomorrow, I figured I should probably record some of these quotes before they get lost in the flurry of what is to come.

- On Monday Mackenna exclaimed, "I'm so exkited to go to Indiana." (Aren't we all. Well, all of us except maybe Jocelyn.)

- After getting one shot on Tuesday, Mackenna yelled to the nurse happily, "I want another one."

- While making chocolate christmas chex candy on Tuesday, Mackenna told me, "I like tasting." Very true, the best part of cooking.

- Some day this week I came into the Florida room and both M and M were on the couch with dolls. I asked them if they wanted to watch a show. Micah told me, "we are. We are watching the beanstalk show with baby Micah and baby Mackenna." They were staring at a dark, empty screen. Easy entertainment I guess.

- The other day Mackenna told me, "Mommy, I like your hair. It is messed up."

- On Wednesday I asked Mackenna if she would still have fun in Indiana if there was no snow. She told me, "Oh, it will snow when I get there mommy."

- After nap the other day, I turned on a Charlie Brown show. Micah exclaimed, "It's Snoofy! We have Snoofy Doo! Now can I have some pants?"

- Micah: "I'm going to take a picture of my baby sister because I love her." A boy after my own heart!

- While Mackenna was talking on the plugged in cell phone to to daddy, "Daddy, you're hooked to the wall."

- While doing an art project the other day, Micah said this about the paint, "I'm mixing it up. I'm an artist." He then went ahead to say, "Let's just be done."

- When the 12 days of Christmas song came on the other day, Mackenna said, "It's the my true love gave to me song." Micah corrected her, "actually, it's called a pear tree song."

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Mackenna: "What are you doing mommy?"
Me: "I'm cleaning this junk off the stove."
Mackenna: "Do junk and truck rhyme?"
Me: "No, junk rhymes with trunk."
Mackenna, "Oh, what rhymes with truck?"
Me: "Duck, Muck."
Mackenna: (She went on to list quite a few more rhyming words for truck...including the one that we would have all preferred her to skip. We just moved on.)
Micah: "And Starbucks rhymes with trucks!"  (Again, a boy after my own heart.)

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Last night at dinner, Me: "Micah, please take your legos off the table."
Micah: "But I want to play with them."
Me: "You need to obey."
Micah, in his best pouting voice, thinking he was "winning" this argument: "Fine. I'm just going to eat. I'm not going to play with anything."

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Micah: "Can I go potty and then get some lipstick on?" (referring to his chapstick that he insists on calling lipstick)

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Me: "Mackenna, why did you mix your puzzle pieces with your Rice Krispies?"
Mackenna: "I was pretending to make a rocket pie."
At least it made sense to her.

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And for some nativity set memories:
- The Mater monster trucks had fun playing with their long lost nativity friends. (Reminding me of the year that the wisemen showed up at the manger riding on a circus train. The joys of having more than one Little People interchangeable toy set.)
- Some machine guns joined in on the fun.
- Mackenna pretended to have Mary tell Jesus, "stop doing that. I'll give you a correction."




That wonderful man above took our oldest two shopping for me last night. They had a pretty fun jam session in the car on the way there. I'll let him tell the story, hopefully.

A big day

Today, December 11th, was a pretty big day in the Sharbaugh household. Here are some thoughts and pictures.

- This morning, Jocelyn was publicly dedicated to the Lord, and we publicly committed ourselves to raise her in the way God has commanded us to. She is a real blessing. We know that she is on loan to us from God. He made her, she is his, and he has entrusted her to us to raise for his glory. It is good to be reminded of the truths and recenter my focus.





- It is hard to get a picture of three kids. They love her. We love her. They love being with her. However, pictures turn out better when the darling baby is my only subject.










- I got to hang out with Jocelyn all morning in church. I didn't hear much of either message, but I did get a lot of snuggles. I love her passed out, left arm out limp, head tilted back, dead to the world posture she takes on when she falls asleep cradled in my arms. I know these days of her snoozing with me are fleeting. It was nice to soak those up for a bit.

- She really is a smiler right after she eats. And I think she really likes me.



- The older two darlings had the chance to perform in our church's Christmas Program tonight. They were pretty excited about it. Couldn't wait to wear their Christmas clothes. (Mackenna was very excited to see her friends in their pretty dresses too.)







- I about cried as I watched them walk across the stage to get in place and sing. I just can't believe how big they are. I really wasn't sure if they would sing at all, but they both did. I love the way Mackenna says "glory" while she is singing. Micah didn't take his fingers out of his mouth the whole time, but he was singing if you looked really closely. I was proud of them tonight.





- I totally didn't take my eyes off my kids the whole time they were singing. (Of course I was looking at them through the viewfinder for part of the time, but still at them.) I didn't see any of the darling things that any other cute kid did from our church. I was transfixed by my own little angels. Motherhood is a strange and powerful thing.

- Jocelyn did great through the program. She stayed up front with us the whole time. Her brother and sister need to keep working on learning how to sit still. This is a lesson that we have maybe 20% taught, but I can't figure out how to make it 80% further.



- I walked around with Jocelyn outside tonight. The weather was beautiful - the temperature where you almost don't even feel a temperature. I enjoyed our moments; I sang "Silent Night" to her while I peeked in on my other loves reading "The Grinch." (Singing "Silent Night" to my baby brought to mind a wonderful memory I have of singing that song to my dad as I rode Space Mountain for the first time.)

- This is a beautiful sight to see through my window.

The goose is getting fat

Here are some more ways that we have been celebrating Christmas's fast approaching.

We made these cute little name snowmen to hang on the door. An easy, fun, even somewhat educational craft. I think we made it through this one with no panic attacks from our daughter. I wrote the letters of their name in pencil and they traced over it with marker. They really enjoyed handing them to me in order to hang on the wall. Mackenna thinks it is pretty cool that she gets to be so tall.





We also did this fairly failed craft:


I saw it on Pinterest. It was a mixture of half glue and half shaving cream - it was supposed to dry puffy. I think it might have worked better if they would have been willing to paint it on think. However, they wanted to smooth it out. She also got really frustrated when she didn't make it perfect. She wants her abilities to be higher than anyone else expects them to be, that is for sure. Needless to say, it looks a little more like a melted Florida snowman than anything else.

Tonight we made salt dough ornaments. We used the recipe from here. It was basically flour, salt, and water mixed and kneaded for quite a while. We did handprints for each of the kids and then they each got to cut out some cookie cutter shapes as well.





They looked like this after they were baked.



Tonight we painted the handprints. The twins painted the white and red parts of Santa. Curt added the faces and lines.









I like the way they turned out. You can see the three year old aspect to the art; I didn't want to take away from that. But the added lines and details make them something the kids will really be excited to have on the tree.

We had also done an extra handprint of Jocelyn, and Curt made this family ornament to celebrate our first Christmas as a family of five.



I love having an artist for a husband!

The best job in the world

The kids asked where daddy went yesterday. I told them that he went to work. The conversation somehow went to what would happen if I went to work also. I asked them if they would stay home by themselves. That was the end of it - I thought. Today, as Micah and I were taking a trip to Walmart, he turned to me and said, "I think if you and daddy both went to work, someone else would take care of us." I'm so thankful that I had the time to look him right in the eye, touch him, and say, "I'm so thankful that I get to stay home and take care of you. It is the best job in the world. I love being your mommy." I need to tell him more often.

Being their mom really is a blessing - getting to stay home with them is just the icing on the cake.

I get to see things like this:



And this:



And hold things like this:



And hear things like this:
"Thank you for the kiss mommy." (After I had kissed Micah's head while laying down with him during rest time. A nonsolicited thank you.)


And say things like this:
"Don't panic."
"Who has to go potty?"
"Don't pet Jocelyn."

A girl of two extremes

Is Jocelyn more like Micah or Mackenna?

Well, she looks like Micah in the mouth and chin, for sure. Especially when she is smiling or crying. However, she has a head size that is in a lower percentile than her weight, so that isn't like her brother. There is something different about Jocelyn's eyes than Micah's, but I can't quite figure out what and I'm not sure if it is because they are Mackenna's eyes or if it is something different.

She seems to be like Micah in her introvert/extrovert tendencies. She thrives on people talking to her, making eye contact with her, smiling at her. Mackenna was content to sit in the corner by herself; she still is (as long as she has her books).

However, she does seem to be more like Mackenna when it comes to extremes. She gets really really really angry sometimes. And she is really really happy sometimes. And we are talking ANGRY. Monday she spent most of the day screaming. Who knows if it was pain, general exhaustion, or a combination (we actually considered that she may have a broken bone that's how mad she was). Today, she was happy and content. She napped well (albeit, her afternoon nap was in a swing). She didn't scream. She ate well. Strange.





Here are some things that were the same in both days: She was adorable. She was loved. She slept well at night. That is something that she has been doing fantastically and consistently well with. (She has been sleeping from about 9:30 to 5:30. Blessed little girl.)

Getting back on the wagon

I have been waiting for a better post - so much to say. But it is probably best to just get some of this stuff out there.

Micah and Mackenna are as wonderful as ever. Mackenna is back to being extra emotional. We have some really really good days - she wakes up in a really great mood sometimes, she loves wearing jewelry, she loves going places, she loves reading new Christmas books. These are the days that I try and soak up to make up for the other days. Micah is mostly even keeled, except when he is running away from me in the grocery store or falling asleep during bedtime stories because he didn't nap.

Here are some things I have heard them say in the last month...

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Micah: "I love having a baby sister, mommy."

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Both of them have said this, recently: "I love my baby sister."

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Micah's standard Jocelyn comment: "She's so little."
Me: "But she's getting bigger, huh."
Micah: "But she's still little."
Good reminder, buddy. The only thing that would have made this cuter is if he would have preceeded this comment by saying one of his now characteristic "well, actually, mommy...."

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Micah: "I can only see that picture on facebook."

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Mackenna: "Let's play weebles."
Me: "Why don't you pick up the ponies first and then play weebles?"
Micah: "Okay. Why don't you take this and put away my yogurt and then I'll put away the ponies."

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(To me, after I successfully switched a transformer), Micah: "You did it mommy. See, you didn't need daddy."

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Micah: "Just walking along with all my stuff."

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Micah: "Let's go to the mall. That is one of my favorite places to go."

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Mackenna: "Mommy, your belly is so big because of all the food you ate."

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Jocelyn started crying during nap one day. The sound came through the monitor. I was in the middle of something, and I told Mackenna that I was going to get her in just a minute. She went over to the monitor speaker and started talking into it, saying, "It's okay Jocelyn. We're coming soon Jocelyn. It's okay sweetie."

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Micah, referring to this weird remote thing for a toy: "I'm going to keep all my work in my lunchbox and I'll put my stuff in my backpack."

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Micah, bringing back a blast from the past with the "when I get bigger comments": "When I get bigger, I can wear a Spiderman costume and get a really big Spiderman monster truck and drive it and not fall."

Mackenna: "When I get bigger I can wear an Ariel princess dress, and I can swim in the sea, and I will marry a human."

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Micah, to his parents: "But I don't want you to relax."

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Micah: "I'm tired of swimming, I want to sleep." (Music to mama's ears)

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It is crazy what they are learning. Micah is really starting to be able to sound out words and say what letter they start with. Of course, we still have some things to learn....

Micah: "C doesn't start with cat. They should have put a different picture on that letter card."

But they definitely think that learning is fun. He does stuff like this on his own...

Micah, eating his m&m's: "1,2,3,4,5" eat one "1,2,3,4" eat one "1,2,3"....

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When Micah gets in a one on one situation, he talks nonstop. Even in the potty. Like this "conversation" he had with me in a public restroom...

Micah: "I ate my food all gone. Well, there was some left, but it would have taken a long time to eat it all gone. I need a little place, that was a big plate."

I've been told that he also says things like "I'm working on some big poopies" and "there are 5 poopies in there" while with daddy in public restrooms!

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Mackenna, to me: "Will you think about what you got me for Christmas?"
Me: "Okay, I'm thinking."
Mackenna: "But your hand isn't on your chin."
Me: "What do you want me to get you for Christmas?"
Mackenna: "A princess, a princess dress, or a wheel."

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Me: "You can give Micah a gift to make him happy."
Mackenna: "And he can give me something to make me happy."

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Micah: "What is God? What does God look like?"
Mackenna: "God has a mustache and a beard."

Christmas is coming...

December and Christmas are in full swing around here. The kids are so excited! Christmas books, nativity scenes (sacrilegious role playing and all), and Christmas jammies (when it is "cold" enough to wear them).

We have started our advent countdown activities too.

We made nativity scenes, based on an idea from here. Curt cut out the pieces and the kids picked where they would go on the page and did most the gluing. (If I were to do this again, I would hot glue the candy canes on before we began. The Elmer's glue made the candy canes kind of dissolve.)

We also made this handprint Christmas tree from here. Micah and Mackenna contributed on the tree, and Jocelyn created the footprint tree trunk and handprint star. Budding little artist.



More to come...

(And probably some pictures of our decorated house...with my new camera!)