Good Things

After reading all the recent great blogs of my friends, and see some who blog every day, I have aspired to blog more often, even if it's a few lines. So here goes: My children are just WONDERFUL. They really are. Elijah has slept in his bed all night for the past two nights in a row!! I want to shout it from the rooftops! And you know what, it wasn't really anything we did, except maybe being consistent. Monday morning when I woke up, he still wasn't in the bed with me. I found him still in his bed, playing with this toes. I called John to share the good news. My phone was breaking up, and when I said Elijah was in his bed, John thought I said Elijah was dead!! He started freaking out on the phone! It's kind of funny now, but it wasn't then.

Last night we had our church Christmas supper. Elijah refused to take a nap yesterday (maybe because he is sleeping all night?) and Grace was snotty and grouchy. So I decided to get a babysitter. I think the last time John and I went anywhere without the kids was our anniversary in May (maybe one another time). The girl I asked to babysit has 5 younger brothers and sisters, and I felt completely comfortable with her. The kids did not miss a beat and had a ball. Her name is Danielle. This morning Elijah came in my room and asked me, "Where is Dorey?" Who knows why he is calling her the name of his favorite character on Nemo? He tried out a new phrase on me this morning when he did not want to eat his breakfast. When I tried some verbal persuasion with him, he put his hands out (he's very expressive with his hands) and said, "It's just the first day of my life!" I have no idea what that was supposed to mean but I thought it was pretty funny.

Grace is talking more every day! She started talking more when we were away at Thanksgiving and even more when my parents were visiting. Being around other people gives her reason to verbalize, I believe. Why talk when it's just Mom and Dad and Elijah? She is getting quite sassy and is putting a lot of power behind the word "No". She doesn't just say it, she emphasizes it! We are celebrating the holiday season quite educationally this year. I am using my nursery Sunday School class curriculum as a guide to teach them about the real reason of the season. We are going to buy a nativity scene today, and each Sunday we learn about a different part of the story. We are making a manger out of construction paper, cotton, and hay and will wait until Christmas morning to put baby Jesus in it. I am teaching them "Away In A Manger" with all the motions (I feel like Sis. Wiley) :). Grace is sooooo cute when she puts her little hands to her cheek and lays her head over for "lay down his sweet head". She can sing most of the words, too. She is great with tunes! I don't always know what she is saying, but I know the song because she sings the tune perfectly.

We are working on getting some good snapshots for Christmas cards, but it is so hard with those two! Hope to have our cards out soon so be watching the mail. I hope you don't mind me going on and on about my kids. They are 99% of my days so what else is there to write about? :)