soundtrack

For the past several weeks, the soundtrack to my life has been a rotation of all the Christmas music I’ve amassed in the past few years.  The girls will ask to listen to it, too, and I noticed that they’ve actually learned a few new songs after hearing them so often.  We’re all ready for a change now.  It’s time to pack up the old CD’s and find a new playlist on the ol’ ipod.

Other than Christmas music, there has been another soundtrack constantly playing in the background for the past 2 weeks.

Jingle, jingle . . . jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle . . . . jingle . . .

With every step or slight movement of her head, Pendo has been announcing her presence.

Pendo really, really, really loved wearing jingle bells in her hair this month.  I was going to take them out after a week, but she begged to have them in a little longer.

Of course Rose asked for jingle bells, too.

Hers only lasted a couple of days, but that was enough.

On Christmas morning, Kait wanted some jingle bells, too.  Whenever I get to editing the pictures from Christmas, I hope to find one with her bells, too.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

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three days till the birthday bash

Whew!  December is rolling on, continuing to pick up speed.  No matter how much I’d like the days to slow down just a bit so I can catch up with many things (including alllllllllll the things I’d like to be blogging about), still December 25th comes ever closer.

All of our Christmas countdown calendars are telling me it’s only 3 days until the BIG day.

The snowflake/snowman countdown quietly beckons.

Mary is making her way around the advent wreath ever so slowly.  Almost there now, Mary.

The Kenyan advent calendar I got from Amani ya Juu is almost full.  All of the animals have taken their place, as well as the stars and the angels and even the wise men and shepherds.

Only the three last characters have yet to make their appearance.

It’s really coming.  In three days!

I’m ready.  The cookies are baked, the gifts are wrapped (OK, all except 2 but I’ll remedy that tonight), the suitcases are waiting to be packed, we’ve read many, many Christmas books, we’ve acted out the Christmas story, we’ve continued with all of our family Christmas traditions, we’ve traveled to WV to see my side of the family.  It’s almost here.

I’ve relished every special thing about this month, but my favorite thing again this year has been going through an Advent devotional every day with Kait.  I tried including the little girls this year, but they just don’t get it yet.  That’s ok.  It’s really nice to take some time each evening to think about the real meaning of this season.

Thank you for coming, Jesus.  Happy birthday from the Austin 5.

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the bus is back

What bus?

The Bethlehem Bus.

Last year when we brought out our Little People nativity set, Rose played and played and played with it.  Then she added in the bus.  I’m sure the real Mary would have appreciated a bus ride to Bethlehem rather than riding a donkey while being 9 months pregnant.

Maybe Rose “gets” that, but most likely she just likes putting things in cars or buses and driving them around.

After many hours of playtime with our Little People bus, it finally lost a wheel and had to retire to the Big Bus Garage (otherwise known as the garbage).   I found another little bus at a thrift shop a few days ago, and although it cannot carry as many passengers, it still does the trick.

Rose has narrowed it down to the most important players, in her mind.

Crammed in at the bottom is a little pink dog and a dog bed, then three people get some fresh air by riding in the sunroof . . . Mary, baby Jesus, and . . . a shepherd?  Yep.  Rose has tossed Joseph aside this year in favor of the shepherd who always carries a sheep in his arms.

So these three friends get a daily ride around our living room, and sometimes they end up at the inn keeper’s house.  Not the stable because that doesn’t have any doors you can open and close.

Here’s an ariel view as well.

It’s so funny to me how Rose plays with the nativity set in a completely different way than she did last year.  I know it shouldn’t surprise me.  She is a year older and does much more pretend play this year.

I just hope that the new little bus survives the next year so it can be around next December to help Mary arrive safely in Bethlehem once again.

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first of december

The first weekend of December was filled to the brim with traditions and celebrations.

First we put up our Christmas tree and each girl added the ornament that they chose for this year.

Then we had our annual Christmas campout where we light up the tree, blow up the big air mattress, watch a Christmas movie (or two depending on how long  you can stay awake), eat popcorn and other treats, and then we all sleep in the living room.

The next day we celebrated Pendo’s 2nd annual Adoption Day, the day she legally became an Austin.   On the actual day that this happened in Kenya, December 2, 2009, we celebrated by going out to dinner at our favorite mediterranean restaurant in Nairobi.  Now we just go out to a special place for pizza, one of Pendo’s favorite foods.

Sooooo thankful that we can celebrate this beautiful day each year!

This next picture is what you get when you ask a busy waitress to take your family picture.

Funny.   Not our best family photo, but it’s proof that we love celebrating Pendo’s addition to our family.

That evening Kait and Rose were invited to participate in a local holiday parade.  It was the warmest weather that we’ve ever experienced for this particular parade.  We actually stayed until the very end, which we NEVER do because it’s usually so cold.

I decided to leave my camera at home and rely on my phone to take some pictures.  Let’s just say I won’t do that again.  None of the pictures were any good.  Kait enjoyed walking with her Girl Scout troop, and Rose insisted on pulling her wagon instead of riding in it while we walked in the parade.

More celebrations to come.

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tea for two and soup for you

Wow.  December is flying by.  We have many traditions that we celebrate during this extra busy time of year, and I simply cannot keep up with editing pictures and blogging regularly.  Want to know a not-so-secret-secret? I usually take an hour or so each week to sit down, edit pictures, and write a few posts all at once.  So here I am saying I don’t have time to blog, and there will be a few posts in a row since I have some time to work on it this morning.

First of all, catching up from right before Thanksgiving  . . .

Pendo was invited to a friend’s house for a tea party.  Even though we have a house with three girls, this is the first official tea party that we’ve been invited to.  Pendo was really excited to get dressed up and go to A’s house.  A’s mom had kindly prepared some delicious muffins and had set a sweet little table for tea.  This was a first time for all of us.

Even the dog wanted to join in.  She is a girl, after all, and she did get her chance.

The little girls had such a fun time drinking their “tea” and hopping around the room.

Pendo particularly enjoyed the muffins and grapes.  Between bites she and A had lots of fun looking at all the toys and bouncing on the bed and dressing up the dog and then later building a fort on the couch.  They were having so much fun that I didn’t get a good picture of the two of them together.  I was trying not to use my camera’s flash, and all the pictures of them together are blurred a bit because of all the bouncing fun.  🙂

Pendo had a blast and can’t wait until her next invitation to a tea party.

Immediately after the tea party, we rushed back to Rose’s school for a Stone Soup celebration.  Rose’s class spent a few days reading some different versions of the Stone Soup story, and then each of them decided to bring a veggie to add to a big soup pot so they could make their own class “stone soup”.  The families were invited to come and share their soup.

Pendo preferred the crackers because stone soup has,  you know, vegetables.

Rose didn’t mind digging in to her stone soup.  Doing this with her class made her more willing to eat some veggies that she would normally try to avoid.   Maybe we’ll try this at home the next time we have soup.   Letting each little lady add their own ingredients might actually encourage them to eat it.  🙂

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almost there

Rose has been asking for us to help her stop sucking her thumb at night.  I wanted to make sure that she was really ready to give it up, and after she asked for help for the 4th time we made a chart.

She gets a sticker every nap time and night time that she doesn’t suck her thumb.  I remember hearing sometime in my life that it takes about a month to break or create a new habit, so we made her sticker chart accordingly.  30 days without sucking your thumb = a trip to Build A Bear!!

She’s almost there!

This picture is actually a couple of days old.  She’ll make her goal on Friday!!

With the exception of one night in the middle of the month, she gave up her thumb cold turkey.  She just decided she was going to do it, and she did.  Kait did the same thing at about the same time.   She also got to go to Build A Bear.  Seems to be great motivation for my girls.

Looks like Rose will be creating a new friend this weekend.  I’ll be surprised if it’s a bear.  She has big plans to add yet another dog to her stuffed dog collection.

Way to go, Rose!  Love that determination!

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happy update

I’m happy to report that the orthodontist’s office told us today that a replacement retainer is SO much less than we expected!!  Only about 5% of the original amount!  Yay!

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someday we’ll look back and laugh

We have been doing all kinds of fun holiday things the past few days, and soon I’ll post about them, but right now I’m going to tell you what happened today.  It’s a long story, so you might want to grab a snack and get comfortable.

A few weeks ago, Kait and I decided that it would be fun to go to a Michigan Women’s Basketball game.  This particular game was a Girl Scout event, and since it was on a Sunday (G’s busiest day of the week) it meant that we would need to bring the little girls along.  It was a bit of a decision because it meant skipping nap time, but I decided that I could handle the fallout that comes from an afternoon without naps.  Just this once.

We had a busy morning going to church, running home for lunch and to let the dog out, then back to Ann Arbor for basketball fun.  Part of the event included the chance to make some “swaps”–i.e. little crafty things that you can trade with other Girl Scouts if you’d like.  There were several different stations all around the outside of the arena, and Kait really enjoyed it.

Making swaps requires a little more fine motor skills than our little ones have right now, so they spent about 40 minutes hopping around, shaking their pom-pom, and watching other girls.  They were able to make one of the crafts on their own.  Check out the massive feathers on Rose’s shirt.  Of course she chose the biggest red feather she could find.

It seriously kept getting in the way when she tried to eat her soft pretzel and drink her water.

Here’s Pendo seeing how she would look as a blonde.

Well, after we had visited most of the swap stations, we headed into the arena to find our troop and watch some women’s basketball.

All was going fairly well (apart from the little girls being bored and shaking their pom poms too close to other people’s heads and having to be reminded several times not to kick the back of the chair in from of them) when IT happened.  I had just given Kait a candy cane that I had in my purse and was about to give Pendo her candy cane when Rose announced she needed to go to the bathroom.  Ok.  No problem.  We sat next to the aisle intentionally.  I took all of our girls and a couple of others from the troop, and we headed off to the bathroom.

Remember that Kait was eating her candy cane?  She invited Rose into the bathroom stall with her (this is a common thing in our family) so she could take one little girl and I could take the other one.  I soon heard Kait burst into a yell/cry.  Rose had flushed Kait’s retainer down the toilet.

Um.  Excuse me?  Did you say that Rose flushed your RETAINER down the toilet?

The retainer that cost as much as Daddy’s car?!?

(G doesn’t drive the nicest of cars, but still.  A retainer is. not. cheap.)

Kait was understandably VERY VERY upset.  Remember she was eating a candy cane?  She had wrapped her retainer in a napkin while eating her treat, and she asked Rose to hold it while she went to the bathroom.

The bathroom with the automatically flushing toilets.

Rose didn’t have any idea that the retainer was in the napkin.  In fact, Rose thought she was holding toilet paper that was clearly not needed, and she threw it in the toilet where it belonged.

That’s when the flush happened.

The automatic-there’s-no-way-you-can-stop-it-after-it-gets-going flushing toilet.

It’s gone.  If it hadn’t flushed automatically you better believe I would have put my hand into the toilet to take it out, but we didn’t have that option.

Needless to say, after that happened Kait and I were ready to go home.  Kait especially was too upset to try to enjoy the rest of the game.  As we left the arena, I had to laugh because all three of my girls were wailing or crying.  Kait was crying because she lost her retainer.  Rose was crying because she didn’t want to leave the game.  Pendo was crying because she had to wait longer to eat her candy cane.  (That and the fact that she skipped her nap.)

What a day.  I’m sure we will look back and laugh at all of this later.  Probably years after we’ve figured out how we’re going to afford to buy another retainer.

It is quite funny.  Just not today.

OK.  Maybe a little funny today.  Just a teeny-tiny bit.

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sisters, minus one

The same day I took some photos of baby B, I decided to try some with our girls, too.  Pendo was napping, so I only had the older two to pose and play with.

Our Rose adores and prefers everything red.

Rose currently adores her big sister and enjoys playing the way Kait prefers.  Most of the time they are great playmates.

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new little one

Some of our favorite friends welcomed their newest addition a couple of weeks ago.  I was really excited to be able to take some pictures of new baby B.  I’ll only going to post a sneak peek because I’m sure her mommy and daddy have plans to introduce her on an upcoming Christmas card.

Can you believe those precious little toes?!

Big sister was around for the photos, too, and she is sooo sweet to her new sister.

Congrats, friends!  Can’t wait to watch little B grow!

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