It's the most wonderful time of the year

Don't let the picture fool you. This little guy was a holy terror on our trip to Abilene for Thanksgiving. In his defense, he did have an ear infection. But we had a great time with the Denneys and the Thompsons and Lydia's Thanksgiving Turkey wishes came true: indeed, there was a chocolate pie.

But we have moved on to Christmas and for the first time in our marriage

this happened in NOVEMEBER (insert fist pump). Mr. Anti-Clutter, "Take the Christmas Tree down as soon as we throw away the wrapping paper" (otherwise known as Kyle) caved and let us put up the tree the Sunday following Thanksgiving.

I'm gearing up for my one major mail-out a year, so our friend Marcus and his family joined us for dinner a few weeks ago and took some pictures of the Denneys for Christmas cards. Here's some good ones that did not make the cut:

If only my husband would behave like a normal human being, this would have been the one

I like this one too, but since I'm the only showing teeth...

My two favorite guys

And my best girl

Saving the actual Christmas card pic for it's grand reveal via the United States Postal Service (unless you live in my neighbor hood in which case I will save my $.44).

I always love the Christmas season, but this year has been especially fun as we started a new family tradition. We're going through a very simple family devotional (A Meaninful Christmas) each evening and Lydia's hanging a corresponding ornament on the tree (thanks Natalie and Jessica for our introduction to this tradition).

As soon as we put Hank to bed Lydia asks us to "join her in the living room with hot chocolate, if you please" and we spend 5 minutes talking about what we're really celebrating. Lydia is very excited about it, constantly asking if it's almost time for Hank to go to bed. She also likes to tell all of our visitors what each of the ornaments teaches about Christmas.

Seven days in and I'm totally sold on this tradition. I'm even planning on ordering 2 more of these devotionals and making ornaments for the kids when they grow up to share with their families...I realize I'm a freak. Maybe I'll just order the devotionals and wait a decade or 2 to make the ornaments:)

The bottom line is, I feel like we're really celebrating the birth of Jesus and building family memories with our kids. Ok, maybe Hank is not benefiting from it this year, but he'll be included once he stops trying to eat the ornaments and pine needles.

Halloween 2011

I really love Halloween, particularly now that Lydia loves it (though I think the candy is the strong motivator rather than the dressing up).

Am I terrible mother for selecting pictures that are most flattering of me and least flattering of my young son?

This year was the 2nd year we went to a neighborhood party/hayride to celebrate. Hank is such a fuss budget after 7, that we left early and and skipped the hayride. This would have been a terrible disappointment for Lydia had she not gotten to trick or treat with

the one and only Emma, neighbor extraordinaire!

Comanche is a little dead on Halloween, but I enjoyed sitting out in the front lawn with Kelly (Emma's mom) while Kyle and Jonathan marched the troops around the block. When they were finished I took Lydia up to Melrose, "the spooky street" to finish off the night. Now Lydia loves spooky stuff...

Not so in previous Halloweens, as shown above, where we had to leave Addi's birthday party because Lydia was freaked out by the adults in costumes. Luckily that year the Martins, and in particular

this fellow, saved the day!

Poor Hank did not even make it trick or treating to a couple of houses--he was right to bed after dinner.

Luckily he was hanging with Mr. Cooper and his girl Kate at dinner, so it wasn't a total loss for him.

I would like it noted that I now consider myself an awesome blogger as it has only been 5 weeks since my last entry and I have figured out how to embed photos within my actual entry (a skill I am clearly proud of as I felt it necessary to mention and I'm dragging out pictures from Halloween 3 years ago just to shove a photo in the text).

Other parenting wins since I last wrote:

 No, we didn't get the recording of Lydia's television premier (it was going to be $60), but our friend Crystal saw her on TV and took a shot of the screen. That's almost the same--ha ha.

And while it didn't happen, during the week following Lydia's 5th birthday, 

guess who buckled her own seatbelt on the way to the library today!

So with Halloween behind us, we're looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving. Lydia's hoping the Thanksgiving Turkey will bring us Chocolate Pie this year (me too). 

And evidently the City of Richardson has already moved on to Christmas, because we saw this behind the library today:

Take a good look at Santa's Village kids, because I'm pretty sure you'll only be seeing it during daylight:)

Lydia's birthday: A highlight of my personal failures as a mother:)

Today is Lydia's 5th birthday and this is unfortunately bringing to my attention some of my recent parenting fails:

1. I am a terrible blogger---I never do it.

2. So rarely do I blog that I first attempted to log into wordpress to write this blog. Note: I do not have a blog on wordpress. Evidently, I don't even know where my blog is housed:)

3. My now 5 year old still does not know how to buckle her seat belt (I received a gentle scolding from the Montessori school about "never doing for a child what the child can do for herself").

4. Kyle and I sent Lydia's picture in to a local TV station to have her birthday announced on TV (she really wants to be on TV)--we totally forgot about it and it aired this morning. AGGGGHHH

Now in my defense, I did make her a pretty rockin' birthday cake and she did have a great time at her birthday party.

I was sort of dreading the birthday party as the weather did not cooperate with a pool party. I was imagining 10 smallish children running wildly through my home dumping out  every box of toys and having to retrieve Polly Pocket shoes from Hank's nose. I spent my time between patients last Thursday planning party games so I could entertain the kids and avoid the above scenario. Lydia loved the games and got to show off her mad hula hooping skills, so we'll call that a win.

So about those failures... I am now resolved to: blog at least once a month (and remember where my blog is), teach my 5 year old to buckle her seatbelt by the end of the week, and forgive myself (and my husband who I'm trying to find a way to blame) for forgetting about Lydia's television premiere.

Clearly I don't Have a Handle on This

Well, I've figured out how to put pictures in the blog, but do they have to be so giant? One thing at a time:)

Too Much Time on my Hands

I've been wanting to start a family blog for about 4 years (right around the birth of Lydia).  Life has thrown several obstacles in my way:
1. I'm pretty sure I held Lydia for the entire duration of the first 6 months of her life
2. I'm pretty sure Lydia and I were in the same room together until she was 18 months old
3. Ever a glutton for punishment, I started PA school and promptly lost all free time
4. I just found out this week what a URL is (that's another way of saying "I can barely manage email")
5. Other people seem to put pictures on their blogs...I don't know how to do this (really this is #4, part B)

As is the nature of life, things change...numbers 1-3 are no longer obstacles, we're making progress on 4 (after all, I now know what a URL is--next step world domination), and I'm bound to figure out 5 (another way of saying "My husband understands computer things"). So now 36 weeks pregnant with a 4 year old who is able to entertain herself for at least an hour (until my assistance is required for a Polly Pocket wardrobe change), I find myself with a little too much time on my hands. I suspect this will change when I start working part-time post baby or just post baby, but until then I need something to keep me from ironing sheets (in all honesty, staring at a wall for 6 hours would keep me from ironing sheets).  So we'll see how this shakes out:)