Change of Plans

I think for the first time in my life I'm doing "nothing" on Thanksgiving. Illness has reared it's head in this house. 

Note to self: have a Plan B meal in mind for future holidays. 

We had pancakes for Thanksgiving dinner.

In an attempt to salvage some tiny bit of "special" from the devastating news that we weren't going to Grandma's for turkey, stuffing, and pie,

I pulled out a table cloth and found some candles from our emergency box.

I dug deep in the recesses of a closet for some placemats,

set the table with plates, cups, forks, knives, AND spoons

and lit the candles.

The magic lasted for a good twenty minutes until they realized this was a sub-par replacement for the meal at Grandma's house.

They were kind enough to not say it out loud, though.

Only four more hours til I can start putting little ones to bed.

*sigh*

Happy Thanksgiving.

I'd Forgotten

We no longer use "regular" baby powder; I haven't for a few years.

Instead, I sprinkle some of this clay on a baby's bottom if there's a bit of redness. 

I didn't throw away the couple bottles  of powder we had because we sometimes use them for whitening calves for show at the fair.

Consequently, I'd forgotten how fun it is when a little person gets into a bottle of baby powder and sprinkles it EVERYWHERE in a room.

The last time a child did this, it was a joint effort between Nathaniel and Isaiah.  They closed the door of the bathroom and enjoyed squeezing the sides of the container and watching it *puff*  into the air.

This time it was the girls' bedroom.

When I started thinking, "Why does it smell like baby powder in this house???"

I walked down the hall and was met by this.....girl.

It's a difficult thing when a parent is torn between needing to admonish the behavior while stifling laughter (and taking naughty child's picture to document the event for posterity).

She Talks Big

Ruby got mad at Ivy and locked her out of their room. 

Standing outside the door, Ivy hollers near the doorknob, 

"RUBY! I have a bobby pin and I'm NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!!!!!"

Wordless Wednesday: Hi There

Terminology

Ruby:  "Mommy, do you know where Grandma is?  I called her home phone and her gone phone and she didn't answer either one!"

Twitchy Fingers

We're in that stage of toddler hair growth that just makes my scissor-happy fingers twitch.

I want to cut her bangs so bad  but I want them to grow out so I don't have to keep cutting bangs.

She pulls out anything we put in her hair.

Correction:  she leaves the pretties in her hair just long enough so that when she does pull them out, her hair stands up or sticks out all over the place and looks absolutely crazy.

And so for now we just say, "Elizabeth, fix your hair!" in a smiley voice and she swipes her hair out of her eyes.  The photographer for this picture did not do that prior to this shot.

A Belated Birthday Post

(I just realized I forgot to publish this post!  It was intended for Linnea's 13th birthday which was back in September.  
Better late than never?  I hope so.)

I wonder if I blinked; perhaps it happened when I wasn't looking--

but I was watching.  

It happened right in front of me, right before my eyes.

This daughter of mine with whom I endured terrible morning sickness, 

my first experience with the mind-numbing fatigue,

the barely-keeping-my-lunch-down nausea,

and which cast a pallor about my skin,

has grown from the tiniest of persons at conception 

to a thirteen year old young woman.

I watched nearly every minute of it.

But did I really see it?

I remember the late nights and the early mornings.

I remember how I imagined her in dresses and tights with the frills on the rump.

I clearly recall dressing her for Christmas when she was a year old.

She didn't want to wear the red velvet dress;

she stood on the changing table before me and shook her head.

I remember saying, "You will wear this to church."

I then thought to myself, or maybe said it out loud,

"this is the kind of conversation I expected when you're 15 years old,

not 15 months old."

I had visions of a lass clad in lovely play dresses with plaited hair.
I had to wait until Ruby for that to come to fruition.

I have watched her go from fighting with her brothers to
.......still fighting with her brothers.
She has always desperately wanted to keep up with them--
and keep up she has!

I do try to see her...
I see her try new things.  She's more confident than I ever was or probably ever will be.
I see her stand for and speak her convictions.  This makes me so very proud.
I see her love her sisters and brothers.
One of her favorite things to do is spend time with Dad
and I think that's great.
I'm no fun, but he can be when he wants to be. ;-)

I'm much larger than her so there is no sharing clothes,
but she will occasionally borrow a scarf or pair of shoes.

She's my go-to girl when we get ready for church or any other outing,
when I ask, "Does this look ok?" she'll give me an honest, yet kind, answer.

One of my absolute favorite things that I see is when we are with another family who has little ones.  She very often will offer to hold or carry their baby or toddler to give that mama's arms a break.  I typically have a few extras that can help me, so I happily loan her out. :)
I want her to be confident in her ability to care for children.
I don't know what her family will look like in her future, if she will marry or have children,
but I know without a doubt that she will have opportunity to use her training and experience in our family to be a blessing to another.

Happy 13th, my first daughter.
We love you.