Laura's newest word, among many, is "enough!" - letting us know when to stop pouring cereal or yogurt into her bowl. She really pays so much attention to everything that Daniel says and does...
I have very much enjoyed this friend of mine, Mary. What started as a volunteer position has become a friendship. I was kind of challenging myself to do something outside my comfort zone, since I would have naturally gravitated towards doing something with kids... But we clicked quickly, and although she went into hospital at one point with a blood clot in her lung, and very nearly died, she fought back and is now living at home again, with 24-hour care. And she's 96. She has an email address (that she really checks!), subscribes to Netflix, and told the doctors in hospital that although she didn't want to be revived or put on life support, she was really curious what was going to happen in the world and who was going to be the next U.S. President. Wow. I'm so glad to know her.
Before opening presents on Christ-
And then 8 grand-kids opened gifts! One opens a present while another changes clothes (proba-bly to wear something he got), presents are everywhere... and then there is Daniel, sucking his finger in the middle of it all. Classic really.
Q: How do 7 adults get away from 7 kids for a whole day in the middle of the holiday season?
And I do mean God. Really. This is a full body-to-the-floor tantrum. Laura has gotten some idea that this is the most appropriate way to react to something as simple as "Laura don't touch". If this was a video, the audio [by Laura] would go something like "No. No. NO. NO!!' - and so on and so forth. My parents are reading this with smug little smiles right now, but I also hope they're praying...
For some reason there is something particularly unique when 4 generations are all the same gender.
Do you remember when you made tents with these chairs? If so, you're not the kid anymore. That was my epiphany anyway... :)
One day he'll wonder why he was at the beach in his undies, and why we were compelled to take photos of it. Cause I'm the parent and I can.
"I want to be just like my Auntie Yayun [Sharon]"
Child friend-ships are so simple some-times. We are friends with their parents, so they are friends with each other. I know it doesn't always work out that easily, but with these kids, they are just friends and it works. This was our first of 2 days in Melbourne in early Dec - thanks Harry's and Mugg's for organising a great time.
The house was lovely, although it didn't matter that it was at the beach - it rained for 3 out of 4 days I was there, and I LOVED being indoors listening to it. One night the power even went out from 8pm till 2 or 3am, which made for a great excuse to read under the covers with a flashlight!! What else... I organized a lot of photos, read a parenting book, watched movies, drank coffee, prayed a lot, ate very little, but a high proportion of chocolate. (I was hardly hungry given that I was doing so little, and it was a huge luxury not to have mealtimes rule the day). I did a lot of Christmas shopping and took my time getting from place to place.