Sleepless in Seattle

Thursday night was a night that reminded me how grateful I am to have children old enough to sleep through the night. However, this particular night there must have been a full moon.

11:21 PM --Miles: "I can't sleep." Back to bed. Snore, snore, snore.

12:43 AM --Boo and Zoe and their "playing" matches

2:17 AM --Lucy climbs into our bed where I try to sleep unsuccessfully

2:39 AM --Carry Lucy back to her bed

3:12 AM --Boo meowing incessantly

4:23 AM --Emily: "Mom! Feel how loose my tooth is!"

6:08 AM --Miles: "I still can't sleep. Wait...what's that noise?"

At this point I started to hear some kind of commotion in the girls' room. After Miles didn't exit their room I decided to investigate.

Mom: "Miles, get out of Lucy's bed."

Miles: "Why? She's not in it."

What? Where...? The night before I had threatened Lucy with staying home from her field trip if she didn't clean her closet the next morning. At who knows what hour, she decided to get out of bed and "surprise" me. Well done. I was surprised.

Mom: "Emily, were you able to go back to sleep after coming in my room at 4:30?"

Emily: "I tried but it's hard to sleep with Lucy in the closet singing, 'Everybody Wants to be a Rock Star!'"

Made up song for sure. You should hear the one she sings when she's alone in the bathroom.

Just an aside--Lucy just came to me and said, "Mom, I want to make a comet. We just need some ice and dust. The ice just needs to be rusty and a little bit dirty." No problem.

A Letter to the Expert

I found a sealed envelope on the couch a few days ago. It read "To: Bil Ni tha sieisgi". Yes, Lucy loves Bill Nye the Science Guy. She has been "in love" with him for about a year. She told us for quite a while that she wanted to marry him. Small age gap. Imagine her dismay when we found we had missed him by one week last time we went to Mount St. Helens.

In the envelope is a paper with a series of explanatory drawings with the words "To: Bil Ni. From: Lucy. I NEEDTOAX YOUSAM KWESHCHINS I See THA MOON GRODTHEN ET SHRIKTIWADRWASHAPANNG to tHAMOON iTKEPONDWNG THAT."

Translation: I need to ask you some questions. I see the moon growed then it shrinked. I wonder what's happening to the moon. It keeps on doing that.

Another Christmas

Was it just me or did Christmas Break fly by this year? I'm usually ready to send kids back to school come January but this year it was too fast. Then again, it is nice to get back into a routine.

This was the busiest December of my life. I was so busy doing other things I hardly got to my Christmas stuff. Wrapping up Reflections and getting the awards here on time put so many things on the back burner...like my Christmas cards. They're still there.

True to form, my children again preferred to make their own gifts for each other. I love that about them. Miles spent a whole afternoon making a calendar for the girls. Emily made a beautiful frame for Matt. Lucy gave Emily a snowflake garland--same thing as last year but she was just as excited.

Last summer my mom took Lucy and her cousin Mallory shopping to buy dress ups at the D.I. That could be a whole blog post in and of itself. Funny girls. Lucy picked out a pink shirt that she has worn a couple of times as a dress. A few days before Christmas Lucy placed a gift under the tree that she had wrapped for Matt and me. She was so excited for us to open it. It was her dress up shirt. I can't figure out why Matt hasn't worn it yet.

We were able to surprise Miles this year. He came down the stairs to see some mediocre presents from Santa. He was trying to be gracious but just as Matt pretended to quote him, you could tell he wanted to say, "Just what I never wanted." Then one of his presents under the tree started to ring.

Yep, we got him a cell phone. He kept saying, "I love you! I love you!"

So what kind of gift could we get for Emily when her brother is getting a cell phone? Go with sentiment. You can read about her gift here.

Lucy wanted a dress up wedding dress. Santa's elves worked feverishly to put sleeves on the prettiest dress found (with a little help--thanks Jamie!) and make a wedding veil. I made a bouquet of white roses to give her too. Lucy wore this dress for three days straight and she asks every Sunday if she can wear it to church.

Even Boo got into the gift giving. Well, at least the wrapping paper.

New Year's Eve was one of our favorites. Matt invited all the Young Men and Young Women to come over for a party. I love the youth! I love their energy. I love having them in our home. I think we should do it every year.

So all in all, it was a wonderful holiday season. Next year I hope to pull those Christmas cards off the back burner and actually send them.