Monday

If any of you watched Monday Night Football between New England and the Baltimore Ravens, you caught a glimpse of the miserable weather we've been having out here. Not only is it cold but there has been this biting cold wind that whips through one's body and attacks the bones. The kids have wanted to go outside and play because they see the sun and think "Oh, warm!" but it is NOT! My Monday started with watching two small boys in addition to my own - a 16 month old and his brother who is 3 months old. So, I had 4 children, 3 and under, and it was quite the challenge, especially for me. For those of you who know me well, you might be thinking right now that this is not possible...Tracie, who does not like small children, purposely taking on two more. But right now in my life I do not have a lot of opportunities to serve others because I have small children and a husband who is away a lot. Making dinners and watching peoples' children are the two things that I can do so I offered to watch my friend's children so she could have a few hours break (which as you can see from the ages of her children she desperately needs). Noah represents how I felt after the boys' mom picked them up. I was worn out!

Xander was a big help to me, playing with the 16 month old while I tried to get the 3 month old fed and to sleep as well as keep Noah happy.
Later, during quiet time, I went upstairs to check on Xander and as I was helping him take off his shoes, I noticed that his shoes as well as the bottom of his pants legs were wet. I asked him what had happened but he replied, "Nothing." Well, I'm no dummy and I know that water only comes from two places in the house: the kitchen and the bathroom. I went to the kids' bathroom but the door was locked, obviously not a good sign. When I got it opened I was greeted by wet towels on the floor that had been placed there by Xander to soak up all the water that had flooded from the toilet. I have to hand it to him, he at least tried to clean up the mess. I called him in to help me clean up the rest of the water and I calmly told him that when things like this happen he needs to come get me rather than try to hide it. (As if I'm not going to notice a locked bathroom...the thinking of a 3 year old!)
Monday night for our Family Home Evening Activity we had some neighbors over to watch a portion of the church Christmas movie "Joy to the World" and decorate gingerbread men. We had a lot of fun...I don't remember the last time I decorated gingerbread men. I remember my mom used to make homemade gingerbread men and the smell would permeate the whole house; it was so yummy! And we would decorate the men with white icing and add red hots to make their buttons. I'm not quite as good as my mom...our gingerbread men were prebaked but the kids didn't care and we had a great time with our neighbors.



Savannah was so excited to decorate gingerbread men...she had been asking me for at least a week as to when we were going to do it. She did a great job making a boy and a girl.

The little boy next to Noah is 5 months older...and they're the same size!