Post Christmas blues

This month for D and E encompassed Christmas.  Most of those pictures are in other posts.  

But then there is after Christmas too...

The kids have all asked multiple times when Christmas is coming again.  They were disappointed that Gussie had to leave and that the trees were taken down. Meanwhile, other activities have picked back up again...

David has basketball.  He has played his first two games scoring 1-2 baskets in each.  It is rather funny to watch though.  :)  He shoots quite nicely but he did not realize the dribbling was not optional.  The first game had him running all around the court with the ball in his arms, one time even trying to shove it into a teammates hands who did not want to take it from him.  :)  The second game was far better and now that he knows he must dribble, the traveling is mostly gone and replaced by the better "double dribble."  This is all new to David.  Even his jersey ended up backward the first week...  So proud of him though!

Elizabeth too has had her own time on the court.  While I work-out at the church gym, she has gotten to spend a lot of time running around with her class...too cold to go outside, they have ended up in the gym too.

Other moments this month have been full of singing and dancing, dress-up, reading, puzzles and legos.  

...as well as just the normal "irritate/love on the sibling" time.

And just a few quiet moments...

A lie is a lie

One of my children has always been super smart and far too clever for "their" own good. This child still wears diapers at night, and we have told her, she will get candy (the great motivator) when she keeps her diaper dry overnight since little sibling is getting a bit when she is potty training.

This morning, that child arrived in my room announcing she had kept her diaper dry!  I was hesitantly optimistic. When I asked her to show me, she pulled her pj pants down and I immediately noticed something suspicious. When I confronted her about telling a lie, at least she now understands the gravity of a lie and immediately recanted. You see, her diaper was on backwards!

Here is what happened...she took off wet diaper, putting it in the diaper pail. Then she took out a new, clean diaper and proceeded to diaper herself. Thus the evidence for her claim of a dry diaper. So clever it almost worked. I am thanking The Lord though for her misstep so we could really confront the issue at hand-- the lying. There has been progress because now the lying was quickly acknowledged but still present. As we grow in our pursuit to be more like Christ, we too must root out all lying for "God...does not lie" (numbers 23:19)

last night of lights

We went back to Prestonwood one more time (this time I enjoyed it more...see last post. :) )
Unfortunately by New Years Eve many of the lights were off, but we still captured a few magnificent ones including our favorite dancing lights/music house.  Of course, Santa was gone from the upper story window by this point...

First stop was a very lit up house M had seen in Terranova West.  And upon turning around we spotted these houses.  Absolutely incredible!  Still not sure how they got the lights way up in the trees?

Cypresswood mansion

In Prestonwood

The elf on the shelf street

The same dancing house lit up three different ways as the lights moved to the music.