The Suits Sisters

All I Want for Christmas is... 1. Jeans. And they're magic:: They fit like they're supposed to, stay up and stretch/shrink as needed through the years. Think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. 2. Thick cut bacon sizzling on the stove, that someone else is cooking, every morning in 2020 3. For Kent to organize the kitchen rubbermaid containers and lids (again) 4. A single day where none of my children ask for a piece of gum 5. A single day where I can eat a piece of gum without my children asking for a piece 6. For our library to announce they're doing away with late fees 7. My garage door to close on it's own 100% of the time 8. Markers and marker caps that mate for life in my house and are never separated by time or space 9.  The ability to snap my fingers and tidy my house a la Mary Poppins 10. World Peace

Making: Festive plans to see Christmas lights Cooking: "Cooking" seasoned pretzels, deviled eggs and a dessert for our church lunch today Drinking:  Coffee in a gingerbread girl cup  Reading:   Whiskey in a Teacup   Wanting:  Hair like Reese Witherspoon (and okay, her wardrobe too)   Looking:  At Taste of Home recipes  Eating:  Almonds for breakfast Wishing:  For a good balance between holiday activities and All is Calm before December 25th  Enjoying: Watching the girls get excited about Christmas, each in their own way Thinking: About wrapping presents, mailing packages and clearing off our dining room table   Celebrating:  All things Christmas  Loving:  Our Christmas tree   Hoping: My throat & voice are on the upward swing and not teetering on sickness  Needing: A break from first grade. Soon!   Listening:  To Liza whispering to Kent in the living room, Audrey coughing in bed  Feeling: The warm holiday fuzzies  Wearing:  Jammies an

TWO WEEKS, PEOPLE! TWO WEEKS. We are in the full Christmas swing over here which looks like a partially decorated Christmas tree, artificial wreaths lying on the floor (Possibly until December 25th?), Caris singing "Haste! Haste! To bring him laud" from all corners of the house. Then there's the 12 Days of Christmas book she found and has used to carol to different family members in different rooms of the house. Audrey saying, "Merry Christmas" ranks high up on the cutest things we've ever heard and today, during rest time, Liza jumped down the stairs yelling, "C'MON SAINT NICHOLAS!" while holding a sword and shield. Kent has been gentle and diligent to lead us in a daily advent reading (As opposed to me who would go all Chris Farley on them, "AW'RIGHT everybody sit down for advent reading or you're gonna be LIVIN' IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER) Could this be the first year that we read most  every day of advent? I hesitate to

On my first  blog I featured Sunday Snoozers and I thought I had carried it over to this blog, but I guess the only sleepers around here these days are babies and toddlers and I wouldn't touch a sleeping  toddler with a 10 foot pole (or snap a picture of them)  2 things you don't ever want to hear, much less on a Sunday morning.. (before church) "MOM AUDREY DROPPED A TOY POT IN THE TOILET AND GOT IT BACK OUT EWWWWW" (after church) "Mama? Can we craft with glitter today?"  "Queen of the Merpeople"

We had nine fun years with our puppy, Patch, before he died earlier this month. We packed a lot of life into those nine years and he took it all in stride.  He loved snuggling, sniffing too far in people's bottoms, treats, playing fetch, when Kent got home from work, always being near us, licking peanut butter jars, waiting by the highchair for dropped food and/or hand outs, Gigi, lying on the steps, lying on dirty sorted laundry piles, barking at the pool guy while living in Florida, eating tissues, etc. out of the trash can, riding in the car, taking walks and swimming in the lake.  He was a good boy and loved our family well  Thanks for the memories, Patches!!!

-Create or bake one item every week with the big girls -Make granola -Be a grace giver instead of a prosector, judge and juror like my friend Paul encourages me to do -Donate canned goods to the library thus erasing my current $3.40 fine -Move my hind parts in some form or fashion daily  most days: walk, bike , walk up and down my split level house multiple times returning stuff to its correct place -Read one book -Bake a thanksgiving dessert -Read about and explain the origin of Thanksgiving to the girls and sort out what's real and what I learned from watching Pocahontas  -Create a few Christmas school lesson plans for the girls -Get dressed up and attend The Nutcracker 

I feel the need to apologize for the following grainy/blurry pictures, but if you've been around long enough, you probably expect it winkyface   Do you feel like on the most fun days- holidays, birthdays, trips, the parenting is the hardest? Like WHATISHAPPENINGHERELET'SHAVEFUN. Deep breaths.  We had Wacky Day at our home school co op, CC, and I give full credit to Kent for the hair design and execution. Nicely done!  We stopped by Chick fil A on the way home to score free ice cream with our super hero costumes If you saw me, you may have thought I was leaning over and praying "God our father, God our father" in a sing song voice, but I was really praying a sincere but semi guilt ridden prayer that went something like, "Dear God, thank you for a daddy that works so we can split two chick fil a sandwiches instead of eating PBJs on stale bread at home. And for a mommy that remembers to pack costumes so we can change in the van and enjoy ice cream. P

1:15 AM Wake ups Flying together for the first time Overspending on airport breakfasts overlooking airport runways to fill hungry bellies Spending money from a generous couple at church People watching in the Denver airport The breathtaking mountains that line the Wyoming airport runway Airport bear spray rental Letting Kent navigate our entire trip in a rental car Not answering to Mama/Mom/Mommy for seven whole days Hot coffee and breakfast, every morning, in our ski lodge restaurant SNOW Stepping foot in Idaho and Montana Bison, elk, moose, pronghorn, chipmunks, bears God's creation Discovering Dornan's hidden, delicious deli sandwiches  A king sized bed Sleeping in Cable TV 2 sets of grandparents and an aunt willing to help watch our girls

Items Needed: -1 stick of butter softened on the counter, waiting to be spread on garlic bread for the church lunch -1 step stool -1 distracted mom Step 1  Wait until mom is upstairs getting ready, then push step stool from the dining room to the kitchen  Step 2 Unwrap the butter and start to spread it all over the counter. Be sure to get it in between every finger and on the back of both hands for an overall soft feeling Step 3 Enjoy your DIY hand cream until your older sister finds you and squeals on you

(Clipping finger nails after a bath)  Mommy: Don’t you   just  love being a kid? Liza: Well, no Mommy: What?! What do you want to be? Liza: A mermaid! Mommy:  Well YEAH Liza: When I grow up I want to be a mermaid Mommy: That’d be fun. I’d come visit you Liza: Well YEAH , you would go to the beach at some point  (Girls in playroom, Mom in kitchen)  Liza: Audrey, I'm so curious about this but did you know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins? Audrey: Yah Liza: Oh! So you already knew that  caught a fly found a home for it

Things I'm Doing Taking pictures of cute daughters in matching outfits because babies don't keep  Riding a bike (okay, rode a bike once) with my new two wheel bike rider! We were both equally as wobbly.   Running around on a Friday afternoon to Walmart (stuffed crust pizza) and the library (Tinkerbell movie) for a girls night while letting them wear whatever they want..brown shoes with princess socks, crocs that give you blisters and fake glasses.  Not cooking the ham but apparently Kent is.  This is what it looks like when I let Siri do the texting.   Attending church with 65 people. WHAT??  Praise + Disbelief + Panic all rolled up together in a big, friendly pastor's wife smile Other Things We're Doing... -Skip counting up to 8's -Singing songs about Pope Lee III -Picking up our toys every night -Letting Audrey explore potty training just for fun (please leave your favorite carpet cleaners in the comment section below) -Silentl

1. The birthday girl (tomorrow) pictured above 2. Audrey didn't cry when I dropped her off or picked her up from class today 3. Caris' odd class presentation, "This is my one legged barbie. And I named her Gertie. And we got her from a yard sale. I like to play with her and make her hop around" (And the parental sanctification that comes from hearing that and refraining from saying, "Pretty sure we didn't get it from a yard sale!!!") 4. A breeze today 5. Linen pants that feel suspiciously like pajama pants 6. New friends 7. A husband that will cook dinner while I run errands 8. Sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on a white hamburger bun toasted with a layer of butter. My waistline says no but my heart says yes 9. Chocolate creme Oreos (Get the heart cath ready) 10. Clean sheets