Friday, January 15, 2010

Happy New Year!

Hannah, snuggling up to me:
Oh, Mommy, you’re so lumpy!

The girls like to play Hungry Hippos. Hannah calls it “Hippomisspotamus.”

I asked the girls to put their shoes on, and Hannah complied first. She picked her brown Mary Jane shoes. Abby followed soon after but put two different shoes on. I scolded her, saying that she needed to wear two of the same shoes. “But HANNAH’S not!” On closer inspection, I realized that Hannah was wearing a pair of brown Mary Janes, but something looked strange. One was hers and one was Abby’s.

Since the weather has been so cold, we’ve set up a place for our dog to relax in the house. Since he’s usually an outdoor dog, the girls love it. One day, Goliath was resting, taking it all in. Mike said, “Abby, Goliath is doing a good job of just sitting there, isn’t he?” She replied, “Yeah, he’s just like Daddy.”

With the cold weather, the girls have been indoors much of the time, looking for things to do. They got some bubble gum flavored lip gloss for Christmas. (Thanks, Aunt Shelley!) Today, Hannah said, “Mom, do you want some lipstick?” As she gingerly put it on my lips, she mentioned. “It’s a little hairy. Abby just used it on Goliath.” (Thanks, Aunt Shelley!)

My best friend has lost her baby weight and needs some smaller clothes. Lately, I have not been using my smaller clothes, so I decided to mail them to her. I included some new cute undies as a fun surprise. (Yes, this is quite embarrassing, but it’s a necessary piece of the story.) I packaged the clothes up in the only thing I had available – a Duraflame box. Waiting in line at the post office, the postal workers spoke loudly about my particular box. They decided that it was unacceptable, because it clearly said that the package was flammable. (I always wrap my secretly flammable things in Duraflame boxes, don’t you?) They asked me to get out of line and repackage the items.
I walked over to their “for sale” boxes and ripped my explosive box open. Trying my best to be discrete, I transferred the clothes and undies to an un-sealed box. I got back in line, but they called me up to the front. I know that whenever I am in line for something, and someone behind me gets called to the front, I watch carefully to see what that person’s problem is. So with all eyes on me, I carried the box up to the front, and explained that it was not sealed. The postal worker decided that she could save me $.75 if we switch the contents to an even smaller box. I said, “Okay!” and lifted the box up off the counter. The clothing spilled out, and much to my horror, the unmentionables were laying on the counter for everyone to see.
I bet they wished they had let me use the Duraflame box!

Abby asked, “Mommy, is God funny?” I thought about it and decided that since we are made in His image, yes, he is funny. She asked, “A little funny, or a lot funny?” You know, I never learned this in church. We talked it over and came to the conclusion that if God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, He is also omnifunny. He’s the funniest guy we know!

Abby:
“Mom, did Hannah get run over by a car today? She looks a little flat.”

Friday, January 8, 2010

Good Bye 2009!

Some random December memories:

As Abby said goodbye to Santa, her hug pulled his beard off. I was prepared for a big talk, but she said nothing. About ten minutes later, she said, "You know, Mom, that wasn't the real Santa. I saw the elastic on his beard."



After we put up our tree, the girls kept rearranging the ornaments. They all ended up on the bottom two inches of the tree. Hannah decided to decorate the tree with her most prized possession, Mainkie.



We were so excited to have Grammy Pammy with us for a week.



The girls and I went to Toby and Shelley's house to meet Molly. The girls, Abby especially, were completely enamored with the little angel.



My dad went with us and graciously offered to watch all the kids so Shelley and I could go out. Knowing that they were in the best of care, I had no second thoughts until we got home. Scrolling through the camera, I saw a picture of my dad sitting on the couch, reading a book. Following that were about 25 nonsense pictures the girls had taken, including this one of Hannah's buns.



On Christmas Eve, snow began to fall. It covered the ground through Christmas. Our first white Christmas!



For at least a month, Mike kept commenting, "I hope it snows so I can bean someone with a snowball!" He repeated it so often, always inserting someone's name, that Hannah and Abby started saying it. When the snow finally fell, the three of them ran out and began gently tossing snowballs at one another. A little while later, I went out to join in the fun. Snowballs were gently lobbed on my back while I gathered enough snow for my own. I packed up my snowball in excitement, and whirled around quickly towards Mike. The snowball flew at him, hitting him square in the face. It would have been a great shot if I had meant to do it!



Abby's birthday present to her mom.



The only meltdown on Christmas morning involved the pig. We had bought each of the girls a large stuffed animal and hid it under their beds. There was a gift bag for each of them under the tree that included a message, "Look under your bed."

Hannah opened her bag first, and they both raced off to Hannah's room. When they pulled the pig out from its hiding place, Abby immediately cried, "I want one, too!"



We encouraged her to go find another gift under the tree, but the next one she opened, although a lovely one from her grandparents, was not a large pig. Sobbing, she ran to her room.

When we finally calmed her down, I asked her where Hannah had found her pig. "Under the bed," she choked out. I told her that maybe she should look under her bed, also. Her horse awaited, and the world was right again. (Notice how happy she looks here.)



Abby got a scooter, and Hannah received a tricycle. It was too cold for them to go outside, so we moved the cars out of the garage, and Abby rode both gifts around in there. Hannah was too cold to even do that.

I had a dream of a beautiful Christmas morning picture; the two of them on their new items. They would be posing perfectly and looking oh-so-happy. This is the picture that I got, instead.



Still in search of that perfect Christmas picture. . . .



Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!