Life has become a whirlwind. My normally quiet, schedule-less existence has vanished, presumably until January. My determination to avoid all errands (read: public humiliation) has dissolved because there is so much shopping to do. My normally mostly-tidy house looks like a tornado struck. It's all happy stuff, but I'm busier than usual, and I miss blogging! Until I have time for a proper Christmas post, I offer a few small status updates.
Below you see what Garry and I woke up to on Sunday morning. Gavin aspired to climb Mt. Dresser and it tipped over. He and Lexi were pinned under it for a time. There are no injuries to report, but most of the laundry you see on the floor remains right where it fell. It's been one of *those* weeks and I haven't gotten to all of the messes yet.
Our ear-infected children have taken a turn for the better. On Saturday night, both recovering kids slept through the night, which is a feat they haven't managed in weeks (or since). But the days are happier and their pain seems to have subsided. Lexi will visit an ENT tomorrow to discuss the surgical placement of tubes in her ears. The surgery could happen as early as next week. Zach has also returned to health, thank goodness, but Garry is battling a flu bug.
Christmas shopping is finally underway. Its commencement has not occurred so late in the season in many years -- possibly ever. I have my lists in my purse and in my head and in a handy dandy spreadsheet on the computer. I need to complete about 64 projects, many of which have this weekend as their deadline. I'm tired!
We are enjoying the darling advent my mother made for us. This, combined with a book we received from Garry's grandmother many years ago, creates a Christmas devotional that has (for now) replaced our morning Book of Mormon reading. We read from the Bible, discuss the birth of the Savior, and share a heart-warming Christmas story each day over breakfast. It is a lovely activity I hope will develop into a family tradition over the years.
When my kitchen is clean and a couple more projects are finished, I want to post pictures of our cheerful holiday decor, including our beautiful Christmas tree! Off I run....
So I haven't blogged in a while. Today I'm feeling inspired, so I'll catch up with the few photos I've taken in the last 10 days.
I am really trying to enjoy Gavin more. He can be quite charming when I am in the mood to be charmed. His remarkable speaking ability blows me away on a regular basis. He loves it when people sing to him, so I have started singing familiar songs and allowing him to fill in the blanks. I'm so impressed that he can do this. Gavin knows "I Love to See the Temple," "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," the ABC song, and many others. Gavin is still obsessed with "Yo Gabba Gabba" on TV. I freely admit to feeding this obsession because the time he spends watching that show is the ONLY time during the day that I can get anything done (and the only time he is not destroying the house like the Tasmanian Devil). Sadly, Gavin has a new ear infection that has made him miserable. We didn't catch it very early; I attributed his increased orneriness to being two. Oops.
On Saturday, Zachary constructed this birdhouse with Garry. The project fulfilled a scouting requirement for Zach's den. At his last scout meeting, Zachary apparently refused all leader assistance, which is why the entire project came home with him. It turned out to be a fun bonding project with Dad anyway. Zach plans to paint the birdhouse soon and fill it with bird seed when we get to Mesa.
The other morning Garry fixed waffles for breakfast. The boys were thrilled, since this Mama never cooks in the morning. Throughout the meal, however, we couldn't stop laughing. Gavin kept calling his food "awful" -- or so we thought. Really, he was saying "waffle" without the "w."
This girl is BUSY. She is a crawling machine, and, as you can see here, she is pulling herself up to things. She is quite delighted with her new skills, which she demonstrates at every possible opportunity. We are back to being vigilant with the stair gates and cupboard locks, but she still loves to be a little vacuum cleaner and raid the open dishwasher when no one is looking. Lexi's newfound mobility is wreaking havoc with her sleep pattern, as are the four teeth threatening to break through her top gum. There's never a dull moment with our eight-month-old!
