Josie says

The tv in the background: "Tell someone you love them..."

Me: Josie, can you tell someone you love them? Do you love your mama?
Josie: I love my mama!
Me: Who is your mama?
Josie: You're my mama!
Me: I get to be your mama??
Josie: I get a chocolate chip! (chocolate chips are used as incentive for potty related business around here)

We almost had a sweet moment there...



Sitting on the couch under a big blanket, talking to our lfb (little foster boy) - 
Josie: Get up here! Get up here on the couch so we can lay!

Hopefully she has innocent intentions! They are only three and two years old after all.



Hubby sneezes, a couple of feet away from Josie with his mouth covered....
Josie: Don't bless on me!
Hubby: I didn't.
Josie: Don't bless on me with that color.
Hubby: ??
A couple of minutes later...
Josie: So. Don't bless your color out! (while shaking her head)



At the dinner table, goofing around while she's supposed to be eating...
Josie: Where'd you go? Where are you, baddo (shadow)?? There you are! Are you on the table? Are you on the wall? Where'd you go, baddo?"
Hubby (to me): Earlier, she was asking her fingers what they are doing...
Josie (who of course heard what daddy said): Yeeeeeeeee!

Who knows...



Talking to her little teddy bear...
Josie: Did you go potty on the bed sweetheart? (I never call her sweetheart, it's usually just sweetie. She came up with that one on her own)
Josie: What do you want my sweetheart boy? I know you want to look at yourself on there. I have to go bring you to the potty.
Me: No, you can use a pretend potty in here.
Josie: But my bear has to go potty! She puts the bear on a toy table from her dollhouse. I will watch you go to sleep. I'm going to close the door. You cannot come in the bedroom, Mom. I'm going to open the door and go out. Meanwhile, the bear is sleeping on the table covered up with the huge afghan blanket we keep in the living room. He stays there for a good 20 minutes before she remembers him. She's not the most responsible mommy quite yet.

So what!

I haven't done a link up in foreverrrrr  so why not start the year out right?

I'm saying so what! if...

• All the cool kids are having a theme word instead of resolutions this year and I'm still just sticking with the good old "eat better and exercise" resolution that I have every year. Don't worry, I'm 1/1 so far. Off to a good start!
• Preschool starts tomorrow for our lfb (little foster boy) and I'm kind of excited to just have a quiet morning. One girl napping while the other one reads books to herself for most of it... I kind of love it.
• I've skipped over almost every single "year in review" blog post that I've come across because if I'm following you, I've already been reading all of it and don't need the review. Don't be expecting one over here, folks. It's not going to happen.
• I made the best menu plan this week and the kids don't even appreciate it. Tacos, hawaiian pizza, and meatloaf (I make a mean meatloaf, thank you mom for that recipe). I've been excited to be in the kitchen, which hasn't happened in months. (The no-kids-in-the-kitchen rule helps a wee bit.)
• The weather is ridiculously cold (the high has been a negative temp. negative, as in below zero.) and I'm not too upset at this point because I loooove my coffee and snuggling up on the couch with a blanket and a kid or two on my lap. It's so picturesque and honestly sometimes it really does play out as perfectly as I describe it.
• Christmas decorations are taunting me. Noooooooo.... I don't want to. I just don't want to.
• I stopped at my MIL's house to drop something off and completely biffed it as I got out of the vehicle. As I was falling (in slow motion, you know how it is), I positioned my body so I'd fall completely flat on my back instead of on my hands or bottom and it was the best decision ever. My puffy coat took the brunt of it and my back cracked in all the right places. Who needs a chiropractor? Just wear Uggs on a patch of ice and let the puffy coat do it's job. 

Linking up with Shannon over at Life after I Dew for . Check out the link for more!

Christmas 2013 Shenanigans and Family

Ahh Christmas. We spent it with my family. It was so great. Busy. Relaxing. Short. Long. All of the above. 

This trip was night and day different from our Thanksgiving weekend at the lake. We've had some time as a family in the past few weeks and that time has led to calmer children (and parents). We've worked very hard to keep the kids from being greedy this Christmas, and hopefully we can continue that even with all of the presents. They were definitely overwhelmed with all!the!shiny!new!things! they got and couldn't play with right away on Christmas eve night, but they were champs and recooped nicely. 

We also went to church on Christmas eve. We ended up getting there five minutes late (thinking we were early but the service time was different than what we had thought it was). It was super crowded and we were lucky to even get chairs so it was no surprise that we didn't end up sitting together. It worked out better this way, though, because the kids were all separated and therefore did not have the chance to distract each other. We all agreed after that God always works even when we aren't looking for it. It was a great surprise. I am thankful that the kids were able to experience a great service with wonder and little distraction. 

We ate too much and laughed a lot. We sang Christmas carols and put puzzles together. What can I say? My family is awesome. 

I got the most amazing gift ever. Hubby got me a Canon Rebel t3i camera. It's so fancy and I have no idea what I'm doing, but it's fun and I have time (ha!) to figure it out. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures I did manage to get. 

Hubby said, "The more ridiculous I look, the more you like me." It's true. The lovely bandana came with one of his gifts but I think it was better received than the gift itself!

Look at that bed head.

Playing with her sister's Christmas gift. First real smile I requested and actually received.
 

Audrey needed help with her stocking

Josie needs no help with her stocking.

Tape measure. Favorite stocking gift...?

My mama and sister

Sisters

Papa with Josie

  

My parents with Audrey

  

Matching outfits on Christmas Day

Oh, the torture...

We went into town to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. It was fun to see everyone!

My Grandpa, a true fighter. He's in a lot of pain but always has a smile and a hug for you. We love him so much.

  

This is what face I usually get when I ask her to smile for the camera. 

My mama and her mama. I so wish this wasn't blurry.

A glimpse at the chaos of one huge family all together...

 Cousins. All clumped together.

See the fun right behind her? She's a road block, that Grammy.

  

My grandma absolutely loves holding babies. I'm so glad Jo could sit still long enough for this moment to happen.

My twin cousin! Born on the same day (and year). We haven't had a birthday picture together in years.

And with that, Christmas is over! Well, not completely as we still have celebrating to be done with hubby's family. 

How was your Christmas? Leave me a comment with what you did/how you celebrated. I love hearing the stories... :)

Merry Christmas from the Deyle's!

I'm checking out of blogging until after Christmas, so here is our Christmas card sent to you virtually this year. :)

I pray you all are able to enjoy time with family and friends even though it is freezing outside. All the more cozy inside, right?

And of course, the reason we are celebrating in the first place:

Source - Isaiah 9:6

I love this scripture. Wonderful. Counselor. The Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. The PRINCE of PEACE.

Merry Christmas!

A quick one.

Busy weekend ahead! Tonight, my mom, sister, and I are going to the Blenders concert downtown while hubby and my dad do bed time. Shopping tomorrow, Santa's village, church, and good ole family time this weekend. And then, and then!! it's Christmas! 

We had a great week with a few bumps in the road along the way. I'm no perfect parent, and had a low point (that'll I'll keep to myself thankyouverymuch) that showed me yet again how desperately I need Jesus when it comes to this huge job called parenting. I learned that no matter how patient and loving I can be with a handful of behavioral issues, there will always be one thing that just pushes me over the edge. It is in that moment, that I need to cry out for help even more. It was so very humbling, but something I needed reminding of.

Don't you love vague messages like that? I'm sure your imagination is going nuts right now, picturing the absolute worst. Fear not, it was just a low point for me and no real harm was done. I know that my kiddos love me and have already (long since) forgiven me, and that we just move on even though I'm still a bit ashamed. It's that lovely side of parenting that most don't talk about but everyone experiences. 

Thankfully, the rest of the week has gone great. The older two kids are getting along smashingly. (I made up that word, you like?) For real, though. They play, they sing, they dance, they read, they play some more. I have had time to cook. I've only raised my voice because they are across the house and couldn't hear me otherwise. I've been calm, they've mirrored my calmness. It's been so, so good.

Audrey is a toddler now. It's so fun and yet my heart squeezes a little too much when I think of the fact that there is no baby in our house right now. She's not a baby. It's just crazy. She's walking, starting to talk, playing with the big kids. But seriously, she just plays by herself and wonders around, not needing my help much and just hanging out. She's just content. It's a fun thing to see, her exploring on her own, happy as a clam. 

Off to a play date! I'm so thankful for this little family of mine. Happy weekend, friends.

I'm loving...

I'm enjoying:

Josie is fascinated with reindeer. When we drive in the evenings, we are all about looking at Christmas lights and in particular, reindeer. From the back seat comes a sweet little voice saying, "I don't see the reindeer! We need to find more reindeer, mama!" It is a bonus to our light viewing adventures.

Seriously, the best I can get of her. But look how long her hair is getting!

Going to church with three kids has been less than enjoyable for us. The older two egg each other on and create problems one minute after the next. We get a short reprieve during the message when all three kids are in nursery/kid's class but then we have to endure the last two songs all together again before church is done. We know it is important to have the kids with us during the service and that we have to diligently teach them how to behave in church, so it's worth it, but man it's been hard. This week, though, was wonderful. They didn't yell (much), they didn't run away (much), we got to actually hear what the speakers were saying, and we could sing along to the songs without many interruptions. I was so impressed with them. I have no idea what was different or if they just finally figured it out, but it was fabulous.

We also ate out for the first time, just the five of us. Fast food, in and out as we were going to do a few errands (a brave feat also). It went great. I was so proud of them. We sat in the corner booth so that we could barricade the kids in, kept them busy eating their foods, took potty breaks, and people watched. It couldn't have gone better.

Playing too hard to smile for the camera

I went to the library last week with the lfb and we got loads of Christmas books to bring home. I think we might have brought over half of their total collection home with us. I made a point to not just get a bunch of Santa oriented books, and it's amazing how much easier it is for Josie to understand what Christmas is all about when what we are reading is Christ centered. I had been getting frustrated with how her view of Christmas revolved around Santa even though we didn't emphasize it. We aren't completely avoiding it but we aren't encouraging it either. The outside world does that enough for us. Now that we have been reading about it, talking about it in the car, and singing old sacred Christmas songs instead of just the catchy songs on the radio, it's improved a lot. I know that she's young and that she'll have time to learn about this in the future, but we don't need to start habits that we can "change later" when they are "old enough" for the real deal. Why not just start it off right?

We had oatmeal this morning for breakfast, something I haven't made in longer than I remember. Most of the time when I make it, it just turns out kind of blah. This time, I used milk instead of water, cinnamon, and more brown sugar than I usually do (I can be very skimpy at times). You guys. It was amazing. All the kids absolutely loved it and the clean up wasn't half bad. We'll be doing this again. Like tomorrow. And the next day.

While I'm a little busier this week with some evening commitments, the kids are staying home and their routines aren't going to be interrupted. I'm loving their regular schedules and the good behavior and sweet hearts shining through that occur when our days look like this.

What are you loving?

Rare glimpse of them playing together, right before Josie pushed Audrey over (gently, but with poor intention). Ahh, sisters.