it's the most wonderful time of the year!

i love christmas and all that it brings. first and foremost, it's the time when we remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and why he came to this earth. leaving His throne in heaven to become a man, die a horrible death on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, and then rise again on the third day. don't forget the true meaning of christmas this year while enjoying the other wonders of the season!

the tree! i love christmas trees, especially real trees. i love going out and picking out the perfect tree, bringing it home, struggling to get it to stand just right, and the way it smells! we always seem to get a tree that's bigger than we thought once it enters our house. this doesn't make matt the happiest camper and has him thinking again about buying that artificial one. he only briefly spoke of it this year and then moved on to a plan next year for selecting a tree more size-appropriate for our house. personally, i don't think it's too big. yes, it's a little wide (you can only sit on one spot of the couch to see the t.v.) but it's pretty and looks great! i had so much fun decorating it too. molly helped a bit but couldn't figure out how to hang the ornaments and it was too prickly for her also. she did enjoy looking at all of the ornaments, especially hers!

the music! christmas music is music you can never tire of during the season. radio stations always seem to play the same songs over and over, day after day without a lot of variety. it drives me nuts! but, christmas music is okay. i love the catchy tunes that stick with you throughout the day.

decorations! along with the tree, i love decorating for christmas. i don't go all out and do my entire house, but my living room is full of the christmas spirit, especially snowman! i love snowman and have plenty that i can leave out through the month of january too!

presents! i love christmas shopping. finding the deals. fighting the crowds, wrapping the gifts, giving them. it's so much fun! this year, i'm almost done and it's just now december!

movies! christmas movies are the best. there are many classics i haven't seen that i plan to this year. white christmas is one. i know, it's hard to believe, but i've never seen it. i've got a blockbuster reusable coupon for 1.99 rentals anytime through the 17th and lots of free evenings to watch them.

family! can't forget family. i love spending time with family, catching up, reminiscing, laughing, and eating!

there's so much more - this is just a peek into the christmas i love. more to come as the season continues i'm sure!

parenting isn't easy but consistency helps!

molly has entered a stage where she does not want anything to interrupt her playing. all she wants to do is play or read books. lately, eating has been interfering with her playing and therefore she refuses to eat. anything. okay, maybe a bite or two but really, it's nothing. she will sit in her highchair, buck back like a bronco and say "play". i've told molly she can't play until she eats her food. now, i'm not a stickler about finishing everything on your plate, that's a poor eating habit to get into anyway. but, she does need to eat something. the other night for example, she ate 1/2 a banana and was done. didn't touch her sandwich. molly sat in the highchair that night for close to 45 minutes. it was hard not to give in and just let her get down and play but finally, she ate, played, and was a happy girl.

tonight we repeated this scenario but without the positive effects. molly refused to eat anything but a bite of her egg. she then just kept crying and saying play. i told her she wasn't playing until she ate her food. finally, after about 35 minutes i got her down and stuck her in the bath tub. now, i'm not a total meanie - she did get to play with her bath toys. but when she told me she was finished in the tub she started to cry again. i asked her why she was crying and she said "play". i then asked her why she didn't get to play and what she didn't do and she said, "eat". i don't think my punishment was too harsh for my almost 20 month old. she understood perfectly why she didn't get to play. the best part and really, the truest test came after she was out of the tub. i was cleaning off her tray and tidying up a bit and guess what, molly didn't touch her toys. i didn't even remind her. she just knew. after i finished up we read some books and now she's in bed without a fuss!

while the 35 minute stretch seemed to be much longer it was worth sticking to my guns. maybe tomorrow will be a better dinner experience. consistency can be a parent's best friend!

fun in the leaves

i love the way leaves look on the ground. if i had my way, no one would rake their leaves - they'd just stay on the ground. i mean, when it snows, we don't shovel the snow our of our yard - it's suppose to be there! just like the leaves when they fall off the tree. i know many people do not share my same philosophy (as in my husband). so saturday morning was clean up the leaves morning. molly and i worked on raking a big pile (just to jump in!). that's the only reason to rake leaves. we made a very large pile and then had lots of fun jumping in. the good news - matt ran out of time to pick them up so we've played in them today too! :)

sewing!

matt surprised me with a sewing machine today. it was supposed to wait until christmas but he said he wanted me to have it in case i wanted to make anything for the upcoming holidays! isn't he sweet!!! : ) when i got home from the awards ceremony at school he told me to go and look at what domino had done on our bed. i was scared to death thinking something was wrong with my cat. matt sensed my panic and assured me domino was just fine; it wasn't bad. i walked into our room and he told me to lift up the comforter - and there it was!

for those of you who know me well, in the past i've been nothing of a sewer, much less liking anything femine like sewing. scrapbooking was about as crafty as i would get. in fact, in middle school when i was forced to take home ec i did terrible on my sewing project. sure i got an A but my mom did most of the sewing because she got so tired of having to rip out all my seams! i've never sewed since.

when i started reading the instructions on how to thread the machine i thought it looked extremely complicated and doubted my abilities to do this easily. molly went down for her nap and i hunkered down on it. i got it right on the first try and sewed a straight line! (well, for the most part - i need some pins to hold the material still!) it was much easier than i thought.

my first project - an apron! i've been wanting one and get tired of grease splattering on my shirts. i always mean to buy one but never do so now, i'm going to make one! then i'm going to make molly a little one to wear when she cooks at her kitchen and helps me! if all turns out well, i'll post pictures. not sure how long this will all take.

genius????

so molly can spell her name! she's 19 months old and is spelling - crazy! we were playing with play-doh and i made the letter M. she looked at me and said M. then she said O. so i made an O. i asked what was next and she said L. i made two Ls and then asked what was next and she said Y! wow!!! i guess i should start saving for harvard now!

thrifty shopping

i'm not usually one to shop at thrift stores. it's not because i'm against them, used items, or anything like that. i just don't go very often. and usually, when i do go, i find nothing but junk and come out feeling like i need to take a shower in bleach! well, today i ventured into the little thrift store in town (it's disgusting but i thought, why not try it again). i'm glad i did because i got two things - one i'd been needing and the other just for fun. molly has been in need of a booster seat for our kitchen table. we don't use that table except for coloring with markers, painting, and play-doh so her booster/highchair is hooked to our dining room chair. molly usually sits on a pile of old sheets and blankets or stands in the chair. not safe, i know but i'm always right there. molly found it actually and sat down in it. she was thrilled to find a little chair. it looked clean enough and didn't have stains or cracks and was only $2. then i spotted the playschool busy ball toy that has a fan that blows the balls up a tube and they travel back down. molly's loved this toy in the past when we've been at friends' houses that have it and so i asked how much. they told me $.99! i said i'll take it! even if it didn't work with new batteries i wasn't going to lose any money. got it home, cleaned up and it works like a charm. the only thing wrong is that it is missing 2 of the 5 balls. oh well, 3 work great! while i was at wal-mart this afternoon i checked the price. currently, brand new it's on sale for $17 but usually sells for $24.97 and i got it for $.99! i know molly will soon not be interested in it at all but our new little one will get lots of use out of it.
so maybe i'll frequent the thrift stores a little more often. who knows when i'll get another great steal!

writing

molly has taken an interest in learning to write the letters M and O. she's recognized the letter O for some time now and can point it out on any page of a book. she does fairly well with the letter M also. molly can recognize her name when written, but then again, anything with the letter M is molly. she's been making these mountain type drawings lately and yesterday only made a "two-pointer" mountain. she stopped and looked at me and said, "molly!". so then we tried practicing. sometimes she gets it! we worked on writing the letter O also. it's quite creative and has many turns but she knows to go around in a circle. trouble is, she doesn't stop after creating one turn. it's very cute though and so intelligent i think for a 19 month old to be trying to write letters!