The Christmas Whirlwind

The Christmas whirlwind. To be fair, I love it. I love the crafts, the family time, the gift-giving, all of it!

The first snow was met with much joy!

And some tears...

As usual, the season starts off with the Guard Family Christmas party.



Molly decided at this point that she liked sleeping in a box. She slept in this box for nearly a month until the edges broke and it fell apart and mysteriously "disappeared."

And the ever-so-cute Sunday School play. Here's the girls with a buddy from Sunday School. They were lambs this year!

Molly....

So, our house is on the market. We don't know if it will sell, it's all in God's hands.

But, here's a post from facebook that I'd like to remember:

Getting ready for our first showing and Molly's pretend friend just made a mess in her bedroom. I sent the pretend friend home and Molly is cleaning her room. This is impossible.

Santa Picture 2013

Every year we do a Santa picture with the Domrese clan. At that time, we get our kids' pictures with Santa too. They look so grown up this year!

Heimlich Round 2

So, one day I was teaching kindergarten/first grade and I happened to be at the right (wrong) place at the right (wrong) time and had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on one of my first graders. It worked quickly and the kiddo was fine. But it was pretty scary and it took me a long time to calm down. I had the boys shortly after that and thus instituted the "No choking no puking" rule at our house.

Fast forward to last week. The kids are at awana. Thomas asks if he can eat the warhead (hard candy) he won at awana. I see him talking to another adult, he quickly turns away and she follows in horror. I walk over to him (quickly) and he starts mouthing, "I'M CHOKING!" with this look of panic on his face as he grabbed his throat and turned a deep shade of red/purple. Kids were gathering, so I pulled him in close with my arms around his waist and tried to listen real close for breathing. No air was coming in or out. So I did the Heimlich maneuver and pop! That candy came out. But when he sucked back in for air, it got stuck again. So one more maneuver and that candy went down. Holy crap. As I was doing it, all I could think was, "What if this doesn't work?" And yet, the maneuver has never failed me. It's consistently worked.

Pretty sure I've now done my share of choking and dislodging items from children. I'm not sure my heart can take that much adrenaline again. Sheesh! Thomas was pretty freaked out and wanted to go home immediately (where we snuggled), but all is good again.

Just a friendly reminder to know your moves. :)

The Small Moments

As this school year progresses, it occurs to me more and more frequently that the girls will be in full-time school next year and these are my final moments with them. I try to savor the moments as often as I can and really live in the moment.

We've been doing a lot of painting lately. So much fun!

 

Dance class. Aren't they darling? 

Painting with cousin Kierra.

                                    Playing outside. You can see Molly driving and Katie riding on the back.
                                    This did not end well when Molly hit the gas. But it was fun to see them all
                                    playing outside.

 

One of my current favorite moments. Molly doing Katie's makeup

before preschool. Isn't it adorable? Perhaps a glance into my future?

Tooth Be Gone!

Joshua has waited so long for this moment. A life-changing moment really. He lost his first tooth! He's 8 years old, and Thomas has lost 7 teeth. So this was an extra special moment. Plus, he looks so different without that tooth! What a big moment! No longer a little kid, now a big kid!

**Oh, and it's a crazy picture because he'd just finished his performance as a pirate and had facial hair drawn on him.

Peter Pan & The Picadilles

Joshua did a fall class at the Civ.ic Theat.er that concluded with a performance of Peter Pan & The Picadilles. He was cast as pirate #1. He always loves the classes and watching him perform is always fun! Here are a few pictures!