DECEMBER FUN

1. Cheyenne's 15th birthday. That girl is a mile-a-minute talker, she keeps us on our toes, and underneath everything, she has a huge heart and the potential to go absolutely anywhere she wants in life, by sheer will-power alone. She wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles birthday (ha!), so that's what she got. We ate out at Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then came back for cake, ice cream and presents with the family.

2. We had two of the cottages over at our house one Friday night in December, and it was nuts. Jam-packed with kids playing Wii, having a Just Dance tournament, playing Twister, playing Hide n Seek in the dark, playing board games, etc. It was SO much fun. We are amazed at how God has put us in this place with other wonderful house parents that we have quickly become good friends with. Our little community here continues to bond closer and closer together. The house moms here have also started rotating having lunches together, going out for coffee, taking walks together, etc., and the house dads all get together to play basketball on Tuesday nights in the gym. It's greatness.

3. When Dan and Vicky (Michael's parents) came to visit us over Christmas, Vicky brought her iPad. Our children's home has provided each cottage with an iPad, so Vicky showed me some wonderful apps, books, and educational programs to download. The boys spent a ridiculous amount of time with "Talking Larry." If you don't know what that is, look it up. I'm pretty sure you can download it to the iPhone as well.

4. A really awesome lady from Michael's school has her own cookie catering business on the side, and she offered to come decorate sugar cookies with us one afternoon when the kids were on Christmas Break. We had a ton of fun, and everybody decorated a sugar cookie for my mom's birthday celebration that night, where we all met up at Freebird's - yum!

5. My newest girl, Kat, is a sweet, precious 7th grade girl. She played the flute at her old school but didn't own an instrument (she had rented at her previous school). I played the flute for years and still had mine, which is in decent condition, so she signed up for band at her school and is using my old flute. She had her first concert in December, and we snapped a couple of pictures before we left. Isn't she adorable?!

6. I tried potty-training Jasper for a couple of days, and right away my suspicions were confirmed: my easy-going little boy is not bothered by messes or nastiness. This was clearly illustrated after a morning of discussing the advantages of being a big boy who uses the potty and gets to wear Thomas the Train underwear (he LOVES Thomas the Train), when he was standing in my bathroom talking to me, right next to his little potty, and proceeded to plop a turd on the floor mid-sentence. Yep. So I sat him on the little potty, talked to him about how that's where the stuff goes, and asked him if he needed to tee-tee. He says, "No," so I give him a book to look at for a couple of minutes to make sure and to bring the point home. Nothing happens. So I set the book down, and stand him up. He immediately begins to pee all over the floor, and the book sitting on the floor beneath him. Fabulous. I have concluded that neither he nor I are ready for him to be potty-trained, and he is still wearing diapers at the ripe old age of 2 years, 10 months. Judge me if you will :). This mama refuses to let bodily fluids stress her out.

P.S. I do not have pictures of this experience, for obvious reasons.

December was a whirlwind of fun and family. We are grateful to be where we are, thankful for the Lord's many blessings, and recognize the necessity and wonderful presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And now on to a new year right by His side!