Decorate Your Soul

Monthly Archives: December 2008

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This Gift Should Have Been Delivered with the Warning: Here’s a Fourth Kid to Take Care of!

December 30, 2008 – 8:38 pm

**Please pardon my bad attitude in advance- it was a rough go with this baby joining the family and the girls excitement to feed her all at once. Sigh.

***Warning, plastic baby without diaper on pictured below.

Christmas morning.

Ashleigh wished for a Baby Alive doll under the Christmas tree this year. Of course, I’m in the business of making little girl’s dreams come true, so I obliged and we bought her the doll.

“I want the one that potties, Mommy!”

Yea, the commercial didn’t tell me the diaper had to be securely fastened because even if it’s not, the baby still goes pee.

On my carpet.

On Christmas morning.

During the middle of present opening.

Gross.

It poops, too. But only if you feed it “food.” Luckily, we ran out of packets of “food” the day after Christmas (I’ll spare the #2 picture).

But she loves it so. All of them do. It’s like a family affair getting out the potty baby (Ash named her Snow White, but she’s still the potty baby) and feeding her. And helping her get on the toilet. All the girls gather around. And it really is like having a fourth child to take care of.

Except I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to feed her. She has an off button.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Birthday Party

December 28, 2008 – 12:32 pm

A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a small play date type birthday party for Lauren's 2nd birthday. I had this idea to theme it off a favorite children's story awhile ago, and we pulled it off spectacularly making this a simple and doable party for any parent!

It was really hard to find anything with mice and birthdays that weren't Disney related, so I swiped some mice from a coloring sheet and made it work for the invitations:

The Great American Cookies (the little places you see in malls across America) make super cookie birthday cakes:

Some pre-party decorations:

A couple of party games -

Pin the chocolate chip on the cookie (made out of grocery bags!):

Musical Cookies:

Lolo really enjoyed her cookie cake:

And opening presents:

While this was taking place, Lauren's friend Jackson was up playing in the girls' bedroom. All of a sudden we heard from his mom, "Um, can I get some help in here?" and brought poor Jackson out with a gouge taken out of the side of his face. Blood everywhere. This set forth a trip to the ER for Jack-Jack – little did we know how eventful an uneventful 2-year-old party would become. orr guy- we still aren't sure what got his cheek. His mama sent this photo and said we can now call these two buddies :

Lolo and Stitch. Of course.

Oh boy- we felt awful!

Post party fun:

Sarah arrived home from school and wanted to know all about the party:

Here's Elijah trying out Lauren's new Fancy Nancy tutu:

We didn't want to bog anyone down with another something down on the calendar to do in December, which might be more difficult the older Lauren gets, but this certainly worked out well this year

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (10)

Merry Christmas!

December 26, 2008 – 6:04 am

From our family to yours- I hope your Christmas was an absolute blessing and full of good memories!

…

On Christmas Eve, I overheard a (grumpy) man talk about his issues with "Christmas." He said it wasn't the commercialism or the shopping. He didn't even say what it was actually, but I had a feeling it had to do with Jesus, because my heart perked up and became immediately broken for his heart. God sent His son to this world so that we sinners may have eternal life if we so believed.

A free gift of salvation if we so believed. I don't see how you can lose out on this gift of believing in Him, in His will for your life, when He freely gives it. It doesn't mean that all things will be roses. OR even peaches. There will be struggles, but at least with Jesus, we can have peace in our heart that all will be taken care of.

If we so believe. God bless you this Christmas season, I pray that your heart will come to know Christ if it doesn't already (I really will pray for you!) and that you would never become a grumpy old man that doesn't believe in the spirit of the season.

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:10-11

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (6)

On the Night Before Christmas…

December 26, 2008 – 5:50 am

We enjoyed the company of a few other Air Force families that stayed in the area over the holidays awaiting the arrival of extended family, or taking off a few days after Christmas. The Andersons, Bernhards and Howards joined us for enchiladas and sides as we awaited the arrival of jolly old Saint Nick.

One of these days, I won't be lazy to get the tripod and take a group picture with me in it, but here are the adults after out meal:

(l-r: Mike H., Mike A., Kelly, Brian, Janelle, Bill, Andy, Susan) The kids enjoyed some quesadillas in the kitchen area and afterwards, the guys got their groove on with Guitar Hero. Mike was cracking us up as the singer- don't get me wrong- he just got into character, complete with Alabama accent! Then, Andy on the guitar and Bill playing drums. I think we heard a few Christmas wish lists being adjusted after this 'world tour.'

It was a unique and wonderful Christmas Eve for sure

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Two days until Christmas

December 23, 2008 – 7:52 pm

I can't be sure, but I think this book has been on my sidebar for about 5 weeks. Maybe six? It's embarrassing that I'm such a slow reader. I know it's that I'm so distracted. I have too many interests and I don't make reading a book and finishing it priority. But it's the truth.

So, when Andy read this book in about five minutes, and then its sequel in about two more minutes, I figured I better get my butt in gear before the next Book Club book snuck up on me to distract me from reading it. Of course, it snuck up on me…

Today, I took about an hour and read and read and almost finished this book everyone seems to be going cuckoo over. I borrowed the series from my neighbor Sam and as she handed them to me in November, I literally said, "I'll have them back in February."

I really wasn't kidding. So far, love the first book after page 297.

I chose this picture for our two days before Christmas shot since it represents two things:

1. Thankful that I'm not rushing around out in the cold shopping for anyone and

2. It's really, really cold here and we've been keeping busy inside for five weeks.

But who's counting?

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (9)

3 days until Christmas.

December 22, 2008 – 7:20 pm

The only thing I took a picture of today was the girls muffins for Muffin Tin Monday.

So, here is the Christmas themed muffin tin- the girls favorite seemed to be the gingerbread man made out of cocoa krispies. I made some with decorations but apparently wasn't mindful of getting him in a shot.

I'm really aware of how unhealthy this tin was for lunch, I'm going to make sure they eat like salad and broccoli tomorrow to balance out today's upside down food pyramid.

more notes:

The snowflake is a tortilla brushed with vegetable oil, baked for four minutes @ 400 degrees and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It was my favorite! The wreath at the bottom right was sent over in a yummy cookie plate from one of our neighbors. It's cereal with marshmallow goodness. The reindeer is a nutter butter cookie- we found that idea in Family Fun magazine last month.

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (5)

4 days until Christmas

December 21, 2008 – 8:26 pm

We braved the frigid cold (can I say frigid cold when the temperature is in single digits? WITH a wind chill factor? Okay, I think so!), and headed out to see Santa at the mall today. At least he picks warmspots to hang out in, right? I dressed the girls up in their pretty little dresses that I went bonkers over this year. We hardly waited in line at all and before I knew it, it was our turn. The older ones were all about meeting Santa (although, I think Sarah is already skeptical if he is the real deal or not). When it was their turn, I clicked this little shot.

And then Lauren fought tooth and nail to get out of the way of that fluffy guy with the big red suit and curly white beard. Oh man. It was a battle. We tried putting a bench in front to see if she would stay put there for a picture. Nope. Not having it. So, I did what any mom desperate for a picture of her kids with Santa for the grandmas would do.

I hopped into the picture and smiled.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. So far, my track record with visits to Santa had been every other year. Seeing how this year's experience fared, it will likely take me two years to recover again.

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (12)

5 days until Christmas. . .

December 20, 2008 – 9:05 pm

We swiped this awesome recipe off of Amy's blog and made some gingerbread cookies last night. Today, we decorated them. I have never done this, really, never, so it was fun to see how they would turn out. I have so many memories of my mom's girlfriend handing out really cutely decorated gingerbread cookies when I was little (oh, and ornaments!), that it was hard not to feel like a failure this go around. But I'm sure it takes some practice to make them perfectly pretty. I relaly put too much pressure on myself when I try new things, I tell you. But- the girls did a fine job, don't you think?

Sarah's cookies:

Ashleigh's cookies:

(who didn't somebody stop her from shaking out all the red hots??)

My personal favorite: Lauren's cookies. Notice she already took a small chunk out of the head? Yea. Two-year-olds don't wait to decorate to try the goods out…

Even the husbandly got into the decorating action!

Okay, so did I. But, I used a buttercream frosting recipe so the finished cookies actually can't be stacked. So. They're just hanging out on my counter right now.

Here's the Download Gingerbread Men for those interested… thanks, Amy!

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (6)

6 days till Christmas

December 20, 2008 – 8:37 pm

With all this fun mail coming from every which way of the country, the girls are having a wonderful December! And if the Christmas cards weren't enough to keep them happy, we had five deliveries of brown packages boxes on Friday to greet them at the door. They're like little elves around here, busy every minute putting things where they need to go to prepare for Christmas Day!

Andy commented looking under our tree: This ain't your ordinary Christmas!

We also had a sleepover on Friday night. We stayed up late (oh wait, I always stay up late!), brought out our sleeping bags, made gingerbread cookies, watched High School Musical and slept on the (awfully hard & flat) carpet. Lauren had to go up to her own crib, but the rest of us lasted the night. Good times, good times.

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Look Who’s TWO!

December 20, 2008 – 11:28 am

Surely it wasn't that long ago that Lauren came into our world, was it?

Most of the time this sweet girl gets a bad rep. When folks ask how it is having three kids, I am notorious for describing how we probably wouldn't have had a third if Lauren were the first or second child. She's just so ACTive. And curious. And she cries and likes to be held and and and… well, honestly, she gets into that darn Desitin. All. The. Time. Did I mention the syrup incident?

But. She cuddles after naptime. She is so smart- she is bursting with words and phrases. She has a little Scooby Doo voice inflection when talking- I love it. She's been my biggest signer and will communicate what she wants to no end. She loves to help out the snack baggies away, she knows where things get put away in the laundry room. She's really just a good helper, that one. Right now, she just loves her little baby… So much, that thing was almost in our own family photo this Christmas season. She prays with us, holds our hands, bows her head. She dances a mean little twirl. She just learned to jump OFF of the ground (be still my heart- she jumps now!) and she can play hide and go seek with her big sisters.

She loves her big sisters- she may not always be nice, but she just really loves hanging out with them. It's mostly mutual.

I don't know how I could even say we wouldn't have had more kids, because look at this sweet face. Doesn't she just melt your heart? I know, I know, she's my kid, of course I'm going to say she's the cutest thing ever.

But c'mon, she really is. Look at her at just 6 months old (I randomly found this file yesterday!):

Happy 2nd birthday, sweet Lauren. You bless us with your spirited and sweet personality. You make our family complete.

see last year's chair picture here.

By Susie Sincock | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (12)

Monthly Archives: December 2008

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