Time: flying and dragging

Is it possible for time to fly and drag at the same time?  There are ten more days until Christmas, I feel like I never get finished with what I need to in the day before it's time to crash, and I look at my kids and think: where has the time gone?  Meanwhile I am thinking, has Zane really only been gone just under 3 weeks??  It feels like FOREVER!  When is he coming HOME???  :)  Pathetic?  You bet!

Princess is doing so well in school and piano.  She just finished up her basketball season and really enjoyed it.  She was disappointed she didn't score a basket, but she was a great defender!  She is also involved with Girl Scouts and that has been a lot of fun.  She has mixed feelings about piano.  She doesn't like to learn how to sight read, and I'd love it if we could get her a Suzuki teacher to do the hear/play method (which she does really well when she allows me to show her how to play a song), but we have an awesome lady in our ward who is so great with her as a teacher and it's what we can do for now.  She is reading the Junie B books at school and I am really looking forward to her being home for a couple of weeks during Christmas!  Last night I was able to covertly record her reading one of our favorite books to the boys before bedtime.  It was a priceless and precious moment! 

Cowboy loves preschool!  I love the songs he learns and sings all the time at home.  Our favorite for Thanksgiving was "Gobble gobble, fat turkeys fat turkeys, Gobble gobble fat turkeys are we.  We're not made for living, we're made for Thanksgiving.  Gobble gobble fat turkeys are we!" (sung to Here We are Together).  Tonight he was singing, "I'm a little a snow man short and fat, here is my broomstick, here is my hat.  When the sun comes up see me melt, Oh no - now I'm a puddle."  (I'm a little teapot).  hahaha.  He is still quick to smile and hug (But NO kisses Mom!) and is still my little sugar hound.  His imagination is as rampant as ever, and he really likes to build with his Legos.

Brother Bear's vocabulary has expanded exponentially and it's almost sad to say goodbye to the baby era.  The other day he was playing with the train set and he said, "What uh heck?  Thas amazing!"  :)  His favorite thing to say right now is, "Mom - 'mere. Want to show you someping."  He loves to help with his baby brother and is such a little snuggle bug.  He can count almost to 10 by himself and loves to play or build "nose man!" (he says snow man for any playing in the snow).  He was sad when the snow melted and wants it to come back already.  :)  He still loves to help me make dinner and is my go-to guy for getting everyone drinks as he loves to play in the water.

Baby Boy is growing like a weed - a rather wide and chubby one.  :)  He is a roly poly oly and I LOVE his fat rolls.  We've had a hard time with his breathing for a while, so he is now a permanent part of my room (I moved all the furniture around and just put the crib in my room) although most of the time he ends up spending all night in bed with me.  He's been rolling from his back to his front, but just recently he figured out that he can roll over and over to get where he wants to go.  Oh dear for me!  Gone are the days of laying him down somewhere and having him stay.  He doesn't like sitting a whole lot, so I think he'll be happy to get his exersaucer for Christmas so he can stand and jump on his own.  He really is a well-tempered baby and I have been VERY blessed with such a sweet and calm boy.

As for me?  I am hanging in there.  We have been so blessed by good friends and neighbors, so it seems as though life is very easy, but there are definitely times I want to pull my hair out.  Thank goodness for a sweet mama who is willing to talk to me on the phone for a few minutes several times each day!  :)  I'm tired a lot - but what mom isn't?  And truly, for every bad or stressful occurrence, the Lord is right there to pour out a blessing immediately.  I'm so grateful.  Someone has adopted our family and is doing the 12 days of Christmas for us and that has been so fun!  The kids look forward to the doorbell ringing every night and wonder what is going to be waiting for us each day.  So to my anonymous benefactor, if you read my blog, thank you for making the holidays an even more special time for me and my children.  It has been so fun and precious - I am inspired to pay it forward to someone next year!

Hope everyone is enjoying all their festivities this year, and always remembering WHO is the reason for all the JOY.