Hallie turned 2!

 

It was a pretty rough birthday for Hallie. I scheduled her well child check for today because I also had a prenatal, so I knew she was getting shots. But on top of that one of her ears is bothering her, she has the viral junk our family has been battling for awhile which began to goop her eye, and she woke from nap with a fever. She was pretty grumpy there for awhile. But beautiful birthday cookies were quick to bring a smile to her face. I didn't feel like making or eating cake, and since we were not having a huge celebration, I opted to make cookies. I think everyone enjoyed them. My goal is to have a half-birthday celebration for Hallie (in June)in order to spread the joy of gifts over more of the year. Christmas is just a few days away!

Happy Birthday to Hallie!

Fischer Family Singers

So we won't be touring with the Von Trapps. Carson takes after his dad in the singing department, and the participation in "cheesy" movements department. After this church performance, I dared not bring my camera to the school program, but Carson did get up on stage with his class and reluctantly participated in the hand/arm motions, but nary a sound departed his lips. :)

Gingerbread Houses

 

 

 

 

I suppose this will become a new tradition, as this is our first year doing gingerbread houses. In the past Grandma Pam did this with the kids, but I didn't want to let her show me up this year. Maybe I can convince her to take it over again in the years to come! This is not my favorite project. Getting the wall pieces to stay up was very stressful and keeping Hallie from eating all the candy was frustrating. The houses now reside atop our cupboards! :)

Tree Decorating

 

 

 

 

We began the process of decorating our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. After discovering that a section of lights were out, a day was added to our decorating time frame as we tried to fix that problem. We were all happy when Aunt Mary came to get the kids and took them to the light parade and fireworks. When they got home the next day, the tree was ready to put on the ornaments!

Making Ornaments

 

 

We continued our annual tradition of making ornaments for gifts this year.

It's snow fun!

 

 

 

 

Our only family snow play day (so far). And it was so difficult for me to get my snow gear on and tie my boots, that I said it was officially my last time going outside this winter! We divided into two teams pulled by mom and dad and took a strenuous route. Needless to say, I was contracting!

The Mom Song

Rethinking Christmas

Count my blessings...

Yesterday I threw a little fit because I will be doing dishes by hand for 2 weeks. Our dishwasher began spewing water and I was forced to wake Matt from his nap to check it out. He found a split hose of some sort, which has to be ordered.

This morning I woke up feeling guilty about all the things I take for granted. Not just food and clothing and a warm place to sleep, but luxuries such as dishwashers. I now intend to use handwashing dishes as an opportunity to give thanks for the many blessings in my life.

It's so easy to ignore what I don't see every day, such as homelessness and starvation. But I've noticed a lot of ungratefulness in my own children lately and it has really distressed me. I try to explain to them how much they have and about others that don't, but I don't seem to get through. They have come to expect so much.

I have realized that I need to count my blessings more often and express gratitude so much more, vocally, for what God has given me. The only way to teach my children is to live it.

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts." 1 Chron. 16:8,9

Princess Sisters

Hallie now has taken to dressing up like a princess, or should I say being dressed up. Matt is pained by this new develpment in "daddy's girl." She idolizes Montana, that is clear to see. There has been less hair pulling lately and more collaboration.

Peelin' Potatoes

 

 

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner with the Fischer family due to the unfortunate circumstances that are keeping Matt's parents away all through the holidays and the trip they were supposed to take with us to Hawaii. The girls enjoyed peeling potatoes. Well, Montana got it down pretty good. Hallie just liked to stab the peeler through the potato and carry it around (I found one in the playroom later that day). Carson gave up after peeling his own skin.

One Silly Girl

 

 

 

This girl cracks me up on a regular basis with her little escapades and diversions. And she's very particular about things being "just so". This morning Matt wanted a bag to put some mandarin oranges in to take to school, so I set him up. Some time later in the morning Hallie was taking oranges out of the box and I said she could not have them (as she made a mess with one earlier). I quickly gave in and gave her one orange to hang on to. She then asked for a bag to put it in. Okay, I gave her a bag and she carried it around the rest of the morning, adding things to it along the way. She also wore a backpack all morning, because she saw her sister put one on at one point. Her communication skills are really flourishing and this is a fun age with her.

Moose

 

 

 

Hallie is thrilled whenever she sees a moose in the yard. She is always on the lookout and will often ask us where they are. The other day she was happily standing in the windowsill watching a moose in our yard and then squealed with delight when she noticed a second moose further off in the woods. There was some confusion early on with a moose and a cow which says "moo". But I think we've got that all worked out now. The moose are literally taking over our neighborhood! We counted 10 in the field nearby all at the same time, early in the morning. Carson is now nervous to walk the 1/8 mile from the end of the road to our house when the bus drops him off and twice has knocked on neighbors' doors asking for a ride.

Candy Hoarder

Hallie decided to bulk up her Halloween take by filling her bucket with our candy for handing out to trick or treaters.

Super Mario Crew

Mario, Princess Peach, and Toad

Hallie Girl

Interesting pose on the couch....asleep after a short night....couldn't make it to nap!

A bit underdressed in an apron, diaper, and socks. But after putting on winter coat and tennis shoes was ready to travel to Grandma's house.

Imitator

Hallie loves her brother and sister, and wants to be just like them. All day she asks, "where's Carson?" And if Tana's not around, "where's Tana?" Many times they humor her, but there are times when she is a nuisence to them in whatever they are doing and the end result is usually screaming. Hallie isn't just a sweet girl either, she will pull Tana's hair, or bite if she feels she is being treated injustly (not getting her way).

Finished Product

Pumpkin Carving

I'm a traditionalist, so even though pumpkin carving might not be the funnest (most fun?) thing in the world, I've made sure we've carved one every year since I've been married to continue a favorite childhood tradition. Of course, now that our children are multiple, we have to have multiple pumpkins. One of our pumpkins began to rot on the top. I think that's because the kids were standing on it? Anyways, we carved a couple of weeks before Halloween and put them out to freeze. Hallie enjoyed getting in on the action this year.

Cookie Decorating

I love baking and especially love eating the results, but I DO NOT love making cut out cookies, nor do I love eating them either. I hate having to roll the dough 50 times to get about 50 cookies. But, I would not be a good mother if I denied my children this favorite holiday past time and pretend to enjoy it. I do enjoy watching my children exercise and grow their generosity by sharing the fruits of their labor with neighbors and family. I should also add that Hallie made this cookie baking experience a bit difficult, as she has a major sweet tooth and kept snitching dough every time I turned my head. She took it right out from under me! I think she probably ate about 5 cookies' worth.

Jack-O-Lantern

Carson continues to grow up physically before our eyes. Here's a photo just after I pulled his 4th tooth for him. (That is something I didn't think I would be able to do, but when duty calls...) He had his second teeth cleaning (after that horrible incident of trying to do sealants) and went through it like a pro. I was truly amazed and couldn't stop showering him with praise and letting him know how proud I was.

First Snow

Carson spent two hours after school one day making this snow man. (Of course I wasn't bright enough to get out the camera until he was putting on the finishing touches.) I was really impressed with his dilligence and that he was strong enough to get up the middle and top pieces.

This is what the snow man looked like the next day after it rained all night!