unidentified angel

There's no documentation here so you'll just have to take my word on this.

I grabbed the church bulletin this Sunday (after singing the 7:00 am Mass . . . NOT my favorite time to sing) and found this lovely photo of the recent Nativity Story production we did.

I happen to know one of those angels!

Audrey couldn't keep her eyes off of the Holy family the entire time she was sitting there.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

O Holy Night

I just wanted to quickly comment that Audrey and I took part in my church's Nativity Story a couple of weekends ago. I haven't posted in awhile and I just got these photos up . . . so there you have it.

I tried to get Audrey to sing in the children's choir, but she was much more interested in wearing an angel costume. In the end, I'm glad she made that choice. She was an adorable angel and got to sit near the baby Jesus in the manger. She was ecstatic!!

I sang a solo and dressed like a shepherd.

The strangest thing happened during the production. There was a loud CRASH during the singing of "O Holy Night." I was backstage so I didn't know what happened, but I thought perhaps one of the trees fell down. However, they kept singing so I figured everything must be fine.

I later discovered that the sanctuary candle had fallen and exploded! How very bizarre.

Jesus had left the building.

I turned to the mom who was holding our baby Jesus for the show and said, "I guess he's in charge now."

Cookies be damned!

I've been baking and eating too many cookies lately. I spent a good portion of my day on Sunday baking and decorating Christmas cookies with the girls. I only got three of the six things done that I wanted to make but I plan to squeeze the rest in this weekend.

But why?

Why do I tempt myself with this stuff?

In addition to baking, I've been cooking healthy meals at home lately. This is both an attempt to eat better and to save a little bit of money. Mostly to eat better.

And then I make cookies. Huh?

On Monday night, I made a scrumptious black bean soup filled with spices, veggies and lots of flavors. Last night was Moroccan chicken and lentils. BOTH nights I topped off my clean-eating dinners with cookies!!

And just now, I finished off my healthy lunch at work . . . I walked to the kitchen area to get some hot water for my sugar-free chai tea. And BAM! There were some gooey chocolate chip cookies sitting there calling out my name.

I can't win.

And I also can't resist.

My religious daughter

Audrey goes to religion class on Monday nights. In addition to making a stained glass ornament of the nativity scene last Monday, they also talked about different religions.

That discussion inspired this piece of artwork from Audrey.

Translation:

Hanukkah!
even though I don't celebrate Hanukkah
that one doesn't count (with an arrow pointing to the middle candle)

You better watch out . . .

I always knew that Curt would make a great Santa Claus!

It turns out I was right.

And I got to witness it first hand right beside him as Mrs. Claus (mind you, I have never had the remotest thoughts about portraying Mrs. Claus . . . I'm far too young for that, you know.)

But when Lucy Ann from CTN asked us about pretending to be the jolly old couple for their annual "Santa Live" broadcast, how could we resist?

We spent several hours in the studio last Thursday night taking calls (with the help of an extremely precocious 12-yr old Elf Graeme) from children in the greater Ann Arbor area.

Our first hour was a little tough due to some technical trouble in the control room. We never knew exactly WHO we were talking to since calls kept getting cut off. One of my favorite moments was when Curt asked "Caleb" if he had been a "good little boy this year" to which the caller sternly announced, "I'm a GIRL!" Oops. Santa put himself on the naughty list after that one.

Another memorable call came from twin girls who only wished their mother's cancer would go away for Christmas.

Sniff.

I wasn't prepared for that but Curt very eloquently handled it. That's why HE'S Santa!

In case you missed us, the CTN network will be replaying SANTA LIVE all day on Christmas Day.

I'll just have to keep my girls away from the television . . . or Channel 17 in any case. They have no idea just how special their Daddy is!!

A budding artist

Vivian was in the game room as usual when I picked her up from daycare yesterday. She was sprawled on the floor with a piece of paper and a purple crayon.

She jumped up when she saw me (as she usually does) and very loudly said, "Mommy, I made a face!"

And by George, she did!

This is a picture of Vivian's first-ever face. [A little scary, perhaps, but it IS a face.]

She proudly carried it downstairs and out to the car. She kept staring at it and making comments. She finally stated that it needed "some hair. We'll have to find a purple crayon."

I dug up a purple crayon so she could finish the hair when we arrived home. That's when Audrey added her little note to Vivian (in first-grade-teacher-style).

Good job, indeed!!

My little ham

We attended Audrey's 1st grade holiday concert last night. It was adorable.

I picked her up from after-care a little earlier than usual since I had to feed the family, clean up, get dressed up for the concert AND be back at the school before 6:40. These events are just not kind to working moms. Sigh.

I was extremely encouraged when she showed me the exact spot on the risers where she would be standing. Front and center! Whoo hoo! my pipsqueak will be easily spotted, I thought. She would also be playing the bells in the front row on stage right. [She told me she couldn't sing the song because it was a Hanukkah song . . . that's why she was playing the bells.] Okay, now I know EXACTLY where I'm going to sit when I get to school at 6:30. I knew I needed to get there early to get that seat.

Oiy.

If only it were that easy.

Long story short (and without blaming anyone, cough, Curt), we barely made it by the obligatory 6:40 and even then it was just Audrey and I. The rest of the family showed up minutes before the concert began. I didn't get my primo seat choice but I got in the 4th row so it wasn't a total loss. [The place was PACKED!]

Audrey was in the front row of the risers but somehow she managed to get behind a girl who was standing on the floor in front of her and wearing a big reindeer-antler-hat. WTF? Really? This girl was the only kid wearing a tall hat (they were all wearing elfin-type hats but I'm just sayin.)

Audrey didn't seem to care, though. She sang and danced her heart out in spite of the obstructed view we had. Curt and I kept switching seats so that he could get the best angle with the video camera. I think we were working as hard as Audrey was. Well, perhaps not. She was a total ham in between songs. Taking bows and making faces and doing that big-mouth-talking-thing that people do when they're trying to talk to you without actually being able to talk to you. She kept mouthing words to us. Things like "T E L L V I V I A N T O L O O K A T M E" or whatever.

I have to hand it to the music teacher at Estabrook. She put on a fantastic show with all of the 1st grade classes. I was very entertained and impressed with all of the kids.

Now if I can just teach Audrey to work her way downstage like a real diva we'll be all set.

Oh, what a not-so-beautiful mornin'!

Vivian has been a bit of a challenge lately. She's flexing her two-year old muscles and taking us on a great ride. Absolutely everything is about her, you know. We even get the pleasure of living in "Vivian's house."

She also has this thing about fighting sleep (which Curt says comes from me . . . but whatever.) Last night we got the girls tucked in a little later than usual but not ungodly late so we were cool. We sat down on the couch with our DVR and I was very surprised to hear Vivian's door open about an hour later. Actually, Curt heard it, I was in disbelief. She was still very much awake.

I tried soothing her to sleep but to no avail. Finally, I grabbed her blanket and brought her down to the couch. She can watch "Survivor" with us. (Yes, we're one of the few people in the world that still watch that show.)

She was still wide awake when the show was over around 11:00. I decided to go to bed with her until she fell asleep. I used to do that with Audrey all of the time at that age. Alas, Audrey is a MUCH different sleeper. She can fall asleep in the middle of a loud dance floor, I swear.

So, an hour later (it's midnight now) I finally emerge from Vivian's room successful. Whew. I'm tired and promptly go to bed with Curt (who managed to pry himself from the couch.)

I have no idea what time it was but I'm guessing it was 2 or 3 am when I hear wailing coming from Viv's room. She's been having lots of nightmares lately. Audrey did the same thing at this age. I guess their minds are working so hard and so fast all day long that it just explodes on them in their dreams. Once again, Vivian is dreaming about the Blue Boohbah. It's a recurring dream. Audrey used to dream about bees.

Vivian wanted "to go downstairs." Nope. We're sleeping. I choose to lie down with her (again) to try to soothe her back to sleep.

Vivian is a TERRIBLE co-sleeper! I hate sleeping with her, actually. She pokes and pinches and hugs and pulls my hair . . . whatever. She thinks it's a big game. I feel so sorry for her future husband. Even Audrey hates sleeping in the same room with her.

She sneezed and I had to get up to blow her nose. She sneezed again. I'm up again. I put Saline drops in her nose. "Where's my water?" "No, the blanket goes THIS way." "We're sleeping, mommy." (Excuse me? Uh. No. We're not.) Poke, poke, "I love you mommy." And so it continues.

I finally scuffle back to my bedroom at 5:00 am. My alarm is due to go off in 30 minutes for my work out. "F__ that" I say to myself and turn it off. I flop into bed (but not too hard cuz I have to be careful not to wake Curt up. It's true.)

I don't know what time it is but perhaps an hour goes by when Viv is wailing again. This time Curt gets up. I discover later that he never heard the earlier event. He had no idea that I was gone for hours last night. He actually made a joke about me not working out. ACK!!

All of this makes for a very grumpy Mommy this morning. I apologized to Audrey when I dropped her off at school. Her response, "Why were you so grumpy?" Was it that obvious? I texted Curt and apologized to him.

Vivian is damn lucky she's so cute.

Together in our hearts

Some close friends of ours recently informed us that they were getting divorced. My heart has been heavy with this news ever since.

And since their daughter is a good friend of Audrey's, we decided to talk about it with her. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is quite commonplace in Audrey's world. She knows lots of kids whose parents live in different houses. However, when she learned the news of our friends, she was definitely saddened.

But it also prompted her to say a very sweet thing. She started out by saying that she didn't ever want us to live in separate houses. (Which prompted a very tight hug from her Daddy.)

Then she said, "Even if we did live in separate houses, I'd still be able to see you. You know how? I could see you in my heart."

Can't top that!