This Week In Review

The days fly by so quickly that I forget to take the time to document the everyday hilarities that make up this wonderful life I am living. These growing up and discovering the world around us years makes for some great memories for a Mama who tries her best to forget the mundane fights over whose pretend cooking is prettier and tastier and the battles to maintain clean-ish bedrooms...or living rooms...

Y'all know you know what I'm talking about.  Scenes like this happen.  Embrace it.  Revel in it, even.  One day your house will be clean but there won't be sweet little feet running around and grubby little hands hugging your around the knees.

But let's not dwell on such things right now.  It'll just make us sad or nostalgic, depending on what phase of life you find yourself in.

We've spent the end of the week cycling through mild ailments: Sore throats, fevers, headaches, overly tired children.  Nothing major.  Thankfully, the strep test and flu test were negative, but there is no denying that some kind of laid back plague has descended upon the Freeman home.  There's not much to share concerning the last few days, but the beginning of the week had some laughs.  And a few things that I want to remember, too.

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I'm running around like a wild woman the other evening trying to get everyone and everything out the door in time for church.  I finally get everyone in the car and we're headed out of our neighborhood.  Sarah Grace, who was peeking over my shoulder out the front window, squealed a little and gasped, "Mama!  Is that the new punch buggy?"

"No, baby.  That's a Lexus."

Tell me this made somebody besides me giggle?

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Joshua built a fire for us one morning because cold has finally found the Southland.  I was working at not letting it die out when Daniel came over beside me and put his hands on his little knees, squatting a bit to peer at the fire.   

"Backup, baby, it's hot.  Hot!"  I warned him.

He looked at me and wandered off.  A few moments later he was back beside me with oven mitts on his hands.  We all had a belly laugh as he grinned and looked proud of himself.  Smart cookie, that one. 

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We're really enjoying our Advent readings this year.  The kids have rally been listening and they know the answers to the questions we are asking.  Just as importantly, they are asking some really good questions.  I love seeing the wheels turn and hearing a question at a seemingly random time the day after a reading.  We've been reading Ann's Jesse Tree book for several years now, and I love the simple, beautiful language she uses to relate complex thoughts to a particular passage.

This is our first year to not actually use the Jesse Tree ornaments (I can't find them!) but it hasn't detracted a bit.  In fact, I think it helps the kids to concentrate on the story rather than on whose turn it is to hang the ornament and picking a perfect spot on the tree for it.  I'm thinking maybe next year, we hang the day's ornament in the morning, dwelling on it as the day goes by, then do the reading that evening.  The older kids already relate the image to the story, and I love that they do that, so I want to give the younger children the opportunity to do the same. 

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It's December 15th.  I still only have a tree and a few scattered things about.  We did get the stockings hung, but not before our elf punked us. (I haven't redone my mantle since Spring and yes, it's making me a little zany.)

I know a lot of folks have issues with The Elf on the Shelf for one reason or another, but we love our Fuzzy Fizzbee.  My Mom gifted us with our elf four years ago, and we have enjoyed him so very much! 

Since we don't toe the Santa line,  the elf was never about flying away to Santa each night, but rather a fun game each day.  Each morning, the kids get up and race around to see who can find our elf first.  Sometimes he 'does something' overnight, but usually he's just hiding or hanging out somewhere. 

I love laying in my bed listening to the whispered giggles as they laugh at the elf peeking in on our frogs or the fort he built from pantry items. 

Despite my lack of preparation for Christmas and the fact that Santa is just a story that is fun to pretend, my kids are totally jazzed about the holiday season and all it has to offer.  Christmas light rides, hot chocolate, family gatherings, making ornaments for the tree, whatever.  To them, it's still magical. 

And the best part is that they understand the true 'magic' of the season.  The Baby born of a Virgin, the Holiness of this time of year that was set aside to celebrate His birth and the impact that perfect plan has on each of our lives.