STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!

You may think I am addressing myself in an effort to loose the baby weight...although that would be good, I am actually addressing my second, who I affectionately call Little Bit.

It started with the serious call from my oldest,"Mommy!!! "O" is feeding the baby....

cookie dough!"

YES!!

Cookie Dough!!

She got the stand mixer bowl out of the fridge and was eating it in the living room. Yes she did somehow walk past me (I swear I am not negligent!) and had sweetly piled a handful of cookie dough on the rug in front of "J". I will admit it.

I freaked out.

I mean she is six months old. Salmonella and milk products are a lot scarier then. SO, no despite everyone asking, I did not get a picture of chocolate dribbling down my babies face or the fists full of mushy raw cookie dough.

Sigh.

Really I just heaved a big sigh thinking of it.

Yes, she had consequences.

No, it did not prevent another escapade.

Later she found the can of icing that had been hiding in the back of the fridge from

who knows when.

Yes, she had consequences.

No, it did not prevent another escapade.

I found her head in the fridge and asked in that Mommy threatening voice,"'O', Are you eating icing?!"

To which she replied, "NO! Mushrooms." She likes raw mushrooms, so I am OK with that. But as she closed the door she said, "I just dipping dem in icin..."

YUCK!

SO I look and sure enough there are little bits of black mushroom entrails in the icing can.

That was right before "K" came home. So we were through with escapades for the day.

But today we started over and this time I took pictures.

I came out from putting the baby down to "O" crying, "I got it in my eye, it hurts it hurts!!" So I rushed around the corner to find her in the pantry with the bag of Splenda tipped over. Yes it spilled all over her face. So I grabbed the camera on the way to the bathroom to wash out her eyes and off her face. She was hurting, but not enough to stop licking as much as she could off her mouth and wherever her tongue could reach!!

She did not like me taking her picture!

Yes, there were consequences.
Will it prevent another escapade, we will see...

Sisterly Love

I took this photo in the middle of the night last night, hence the off-centered aim!

I couldn't see where I was aiming!

The flash makes it look like its the middle of the day but it wasn't!

Aren't they sweet!

Aaahhh sisterly love!

Can I Do It?

I hear this question all the time, and if I am on top of things I say yes. If I am feeling rushed and not living in the moment I say no and something along the lines of "Please leave the kitchen (or where ever) so Mommy can get this done." And that is a lost teaching moment!

Annelise was cracking eggs into bowl, scrambling them in the frying pan by 18 months. She watered the yard with Daddy and helped with yard work...like really. She did.

Unfortunately, Olivia did not have the same experience. With the addition of another child I lived less in the moment and more in the future. By that I mean I was thinking of all the things that NEED to be done, of all the things I HADN'T done, instead of being there in that spot when she wanted to crack an egg, or wanted a hug, or needed a prayer said, or wanted to see if she could do it...

***Oh Lord, how much have we lost in all areas when we wast mind space thinking of what is to be done or hasn't been done...

Martha welcomed Him into her home.
She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word.
But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."
But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;
but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 38-42***

Although I have tried to foster independence in most areas of their lives: they dressed themselves and put their own shoes on by the time they were 2, they usually help in some way with all the cooking...so YAY I have done somethings right!!! There are many things I had intended to do as a young mother with just one, that have slipped to the wayside as 2 more came along...


But I have been re-inspired!


As many of you know, we plan to home school and I have been rereading about Maria Montessori and her education philosophy. One of her famous quotes is that a child says "Help me to do it myself".


I love it!

One of the first activities she advocates for young children are called practical life activities. What does that mean? Real life activities you would do in ... real life!


So as a mom who feels always behind, why do I not offer more "practical life" !?


Folding, washing tables, dusting, washing dishes, setting the table. These activities are introduced to toddlers in a Montessori environment.


Having work to do makes children feel like they are contributing to the family, and an important member because of it. These activities are often repeated over and over by the child because they have a need to master it, and the repetition helps build concentration in the meantime.


So the other day I set up a dish washing station right next to the kitchen. I have a dishpan full of warm soapy water, a smaller bowl of cold water to rinse and a towel to dry. They LOVE it! And I don't have to clean up their breakfast dishes!!

***Lord help me to sit at your feet, the only thing that is necessary, and not be distracted and worried about so many things. And when my children sit at my feet, help me to see that they are needing to be taught...and I can't teach them well unless I am at your feet!***

Can You Tell Who's Who?

Obviously the Date on the last one might give it away!

But the first one is Olivia, the second is Julia and the third is Annelise!

Don't we make cute babies!!!

Christmas Day 08

Merry Christmas!!
I am cramming it all into one post!! We kept it pretty low key this year and it was very refreshing! We started off Christmas Eve Day with making sugar cookies. It was great fun! The girls had such a blast, I will let the pictures speak for themselves!
We went to a local Episcopal Church for Christmas Eve service with a pagent. It was great to experience a liturgical service like the ones i was used to growing up, and Annelise and Olivia were enthralled with the children acting out the story!! And Of course they were thrilled to wear their gorgeous christmas dresses that Daddy bought for them. Dont they look gorgeous! Julia's outfit was given to me by a postal worker when I was mailing our Chrisatmas cards! She had been watching for a baby girl Julia's size to give the outfit to, isnt that amazing! I love how the Lord provides for even the little things!!!

Daddy Fox posting here!

On Christmas Eve, after trying to get the girls to go to sleep forever. Annelise woke up about 11PM and said to Steph, "Mommy, the first thing I am going to do I when I wake up on Christmas morning, is run in to see... ( Steph just knew she was going to say 'what Santa brought me') if Baby Jesus is in the manger." That was refreshing! (Steph here: It was just what I needed cause I had a little pit in my stomach when Annelise spent so much time making sure the cookies and carrots were just right for Santa! Does anyone else feel this way! I mean Santa isn't real!! Jesus IS!!!)

Although we chose to produce a light Christmas this year, my mother and brother blew in to town with a car full of gifts, and bought the girls a trampoline!! Yes, so for the first time ever on Christmas Eve, I spent it outside in the cold and dark, other than the floodlight, putting together a trampoline, which by the way, had way WAY more steps and parts than the one we had growing up!In the morning, as tradition, we came to the tree in the front room that has the manger under it, the girls were very excited to see that baby Jesus had arrived. (we keep him hidden until Christmas morning) We read the Christmas Story, this year only once. Last year we read it 5 times before we got to the presents. Then they wanted to see if Santa put anything in their stockings.

Here are the girls discovering that the cookies had been eaten and the carrots are gone!!

Now I have to say on this note that we already told Annelise the Santa was a real person in history and he did give children toys and so on, but he died as all men do, and now people just pretend that he is real and give gifts in his name etc etc, but that the real story about Christmas is Jesus. Well, she decided that she would believe in Santa anyway! Funny.
So our main gift this year, a kitchen, we bought on craigslist. We actually already had a wood kitchen that we bought from our neighbors behind us at their garage sale. The girls wanted a plastic kitchen like the one they have at the church. So we sold the wooden kitchen on craigslist for more than we paid for it and bought this plastic one which is almost brand new on craigslist.

Well our big gift was trumped by the trampoline of course. We asked the girls if they wanted to take MeeMaw out to get the eggs from the chickens and she walked out and didn't even notice it at first until she had almost walked all the way past it. Then it was surprise, shock, awe, and lets play!!! Thanks Uncle J and MeeMaw for the trampoline. We love the gift of being active!

It turned out to be a great day. My ham was good, the pies were good, everything turned out well and it was a beautiful day, actually maybe even a little on the hot side. It was a great Christmas! Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year!!!!!!

My Little Busy Body

Well those of you who know our family know that Olivia is my little busy body. Once she was able to crawl I would find her all over the house. It was quite a shock to my system sinse Annelise was always attatched to my hip, and would cry outside the shower curtain for me until she was at least three... But Olivia has never lacked in the area of adventure! Once she was 16 months old she'd climb the playground equipment with the big kiddos. She has climbed to the top of our upright piano, to the top of our counter height table (naked no less, digging through my purse). She climbed up to the spice cabinet while dinner was simmering (AAK!! heart attack!) and a million other stories! And for the record, most of these things happened in the 2 minutes I was putting away laundry or going to the restroom; I do supervise my children!!! The thing is, she is as sweet as pie. She always says "no thank you" and "yes. please" and gives kisses for no reason. She throws fits, but what 2 year old doesn't? But the latest Olivia spree is wearing me out! She has started marking. Marking the door jams, the cement floor, the pretty sewing desk kevin bought for my sewing closet, tables, chairs. Spanking don't scare her. Timeouts are effective for the afternoon, but forgottent he next day. I guess she has my artistic streak! But her latest marking episode was too much! I wish I had taken a picture, but I was too dumbfounded! Yes folks, she marked the baby. There were scribble marks on the balnket all around her head and one strong green mark on top of Julia's pretty little head. I knew I had something to fear when she was hiding as I walked in... But I couldnt help but laugh! I mean come on!... the baby!!!

Halloween

Well this year for the second year we've had our church LifeGroup meet at our house for Halloween. We roast marshmallos and hand out treat bags with tracts inside. It is alot of fun! Its the only time the whole year when we see and visit with all our neighbors, and its loads of fun! Unfortunatly we didnt get many pictures of the whole event but we did get some of the girls. Olivia decided to take her costume off...oh...20 seconds after she had it on so no pics of her in her costume!

here is our adorable little pumpkin! Olivia with her pumpkin shirt and new crooked smile that she does ALL the time!

Annelise as a beautiful princess! We borrowed this dress from a neighbor and Annelise added the veil herself!
This was our first year carving pumpkins and the girls had a blast! (Kevin did all the work!)

Fox Family Girls

Well my good friend Sarah did it again! She took some beautiful pictures for me to give Kevin as his birthday present. I know there is a ton, but I love them all! It was hard to pick which ones to post! The last picture is the one I gave kevin in a frame for his birthday.

Enjoy!

Haircuts and Harvest

Well I have been wanting to cut Annelise's hair for a while...she looks so cute with a bob! But she wanted to grow it long 'like mommy's' and how can I argue with that!!!

Well lucky for me she got gum in her hair and being as hairbrusshing is the torture of choice in our household, she was begging me to cut it out...so I said we will have to make it all match!!!! And we did. The tragic part to this story is that Olivia wanted hers cut too. If I were the one weilding the scissors I would have just trimmed it. But sinse I am unable to cut hair in a straight line, Kevin is the master haircutter, and he did exactly as Olivia wished. Of course she looks adorable but she was the one that let me do her hair! Waah! I wanted to cry but I'm already over it!

We harvested all the lima beans and the girls helped us empty the pods. We laughed at our "abundant" harvest, especially sinse you can buy a bag for .55 cents. But the girls had a ball!

Our Family

So I just had to show off these beautiful new photos of our family that we had taken. My dearest friend Sarah is a very talented photographer and she does it on the side for a very reasonable price (subtle plug there) So feel free to contact me if you live in my area and want some great pics taken!

OK on to the pics!!

Family of Foxes

The Cute Couple

Mama and her Girls

Sweet Annelise

Lovely OliviaI love this Picture!

Whole family walking off into the sunset!!

And of course I love this one of Daddy and one of his Girls, and the one he posted earlier.

Aren't these all beautiful! Thank you Sarah!!!!!

Our Fun Day

So going on a vacation isn't an option this summer, but we've had some Fun Days, and yesterday was one! We started off the day with a trip to I-HOP, mmm and I had way more than my pregnant belly should hold, but it was good! And the girls felt like it was such a treat!

Then we headed to Waco for a trip to the Children's Museum. Every Wed this summer they visit a different continent. Last time we went it was Africa and they had African Dancers. Annelise was gyrating for weeks! And now won't stop asking when we are going to Africa!

But this time we visited the continent of Australia. the first activity was playing The Moco the Gecko game. Geckos are called Mokos in Australia and they eat bugs (that's what the girls are doing here!)

They were able to see a Cocktail live (they are native to Australia) and Annelise wasn't even scared. They were totally in awe!

The most fun to me was seeing the Didgeridoo played. He had a slide show of all the beautiful faces of the Native Aborigine people. He talked a lot about how they were one with nature and honestly, my first reaction was that he was a little out in left field. But as he continued talking, I listen to him speaking about how all of nature has a rhythm and we just have to listen, because all of nature was created by the great mysteries. And although it all sounds a little new age, the truth is, our God is a mystery. He is unbelievably personal, and yet such a mystery. AND He did create all of earth to glorify him, if the rocks can cry out, then maybe all of creation does have a rhythm. Anyway, just my thoughts on the Didgeridoo dude. No pic of him cause we didn't have good seats to see, but we could hear and it was awesome!

We did some fun crafts then headed home for naps! It was our fun little day!

And for all of you who I am so sorry didn't know we were expecting, I had Kevin take a preggo pic of me this evening. So yeah, just a little pregnant! Please know that there were way too many of you than I'd like to admit that didn't know we were pregnant. After our loss last fall, I think we were just more reserved on sharing the news, and then it got to be so normal for us, we forgot we hadn't made any big announcement!

Well this is it for now!