A picture extravaganza. Featuring Abby sitting on sissy's potty, painting outside with brother Joshua; Our budding socialite, Daniel; Miss Rachael before church a couple weeks ago

It's been pretty hectic this week, so I'll catch everyone up on our Christmas. We had a pretty low -keyed holiday. We didn't have any family come, so it was all quiet with just us (and if you believe the 'quiet' part, I've got a bridge to sell you!). I guess I'll back up to the week before Christmas, when the kids were out of school and Deren was at work. We had a traffic jam of boxes in our front hallway, so I started opening (doing away with Rachael & Abby's playground in the process!). Rachael just loved the dress-up clothes she got from Grandma and Grandpa. Her favorite is a purple princess dress and matching hat. Jacob and Abby joined in on the fun. Jacob picked out a pair of heels that he is quite partial to. I'll say "Get your shoes so you can go outside, Jacob," and he'll come running with his pink & purple heels in hand! And for the record, I think it's really cute! If he was 20 yrs old and still partial to heels, I would be worried. But he's my big cutie for now.

We also finished putting together our "geo-dome" for the kids in the backyard, with Deren doing most the work. Jacob really enjoys climbing, so he likes it. The girls are still a bit little for it, but with daddy's boosting hand they are right there with big brother.

So on Christmas day we still had 2 boxes full of wrapped presents from Grandma and Grandpa, as well boxes from Mamaw and Papaw. Rachael got some more horses - about 15 in all. And, of course, she horded them all in a corner, and snarled at Abby every time she got in the vicinity. Deren & I got some neat electronic presents from his parents. I got a digital photo frame, which in theory is really nifty. But, so far Mr. Jacob refuses to let it cycle through the pictures and keeps turning it off. Deren got an ipod and a play station portable, so he's good to watch movies anytime anywhere. Just yesterday Jacob figured out that the small little ipod can play movies. Needless to say, it's currently hidden in my underwear drawer! That child would take it out for sure.

Soooooo, after all the unwrapping, Jacob figured out he didn't have any dvd's under the tree, and he started bawling and throwing fits. A pretty typical Christmas, all-in-all, wouldn't you say? With the kids tearing through their gifts and then crying because they didn't have more?! At least that's what I did when I was younger, and it's apparently coming back to haunt me!

Mr. Daniel update. Our little/big man turned 2 mos old 2 days ago!! Time sure is flying. He is turning into such a little cutie pie socialite. He smiles and cues quite a bit now. His other love (besides nursing) is his baby swing. The swing we have swings side to side or back and forth. He likes going side to side, with the music on and the mobile going - he's an all out kind of guy. The more noise the better, in fact. The other kids will be making such a ruckus, and Daniel will be asleep - happy as a clam. When the noise is gone and the swing stops, he is not happy. Speaking of which, the girls are down for a nap right now, and the boys are off watching movies, so it's quiet and Mr. Daniel is fussing at me, so that's all for now!

Presents?! Who wants presents?! The boxes will do!

I haven't been able to post pics in the past couple days. Maybe after Christmas.

We went to Christmas Eve services at the church this morning at 9:45. I had assumed that the nurseries would be closed, so we kept the girls with us. They had volunteers to watch the boys at the service, so they were fine. Can't say we got much out of the service. Abby was a wild woman. She wanted to run up and down the aisles. Deren finally took her out of the sanctuary, leaving me with Daniel and Rachael. Rachael collected all the pencils from the pew. I spent the rest of the services quieting Daniel and praying that Rachael wouldn't stab one of us with a sharp pencil. I nursed Daniel, and have a cover-up for when I'm in public. He's already getting fed up with it (no pun intended!). He will fling it off, or wiggle out of it. In another month or two I'm going to have to come up with another plan. Maybe he'll be the first to take a bottle, who knows.

I ran into a friend after the service. She was saying that her 4 yr old was acting up, so they left her in the nursery this a.m. What?? You mean the nursery was open? Whoops! Deren wasn't so thrilled with me. He was looking like he was going to pop and vessel trying to rein in Abby earlier. Again - "whoops!" Maybe next Christmas we'll get to pay attention - a lofty goal for parents with multiple toddlers, don't you think?

I'm supposed to be cooking dinner now, so I'll post more later. I'm roasting a chicken in the oven. Deren's mother taught me how to when she was here 2 mos ago. I was going to crock-pot it, but I forgot 3 mornings in a row! I have no attention span as of late. I put a bottle of ketchup in the cabinet with the dinner plates a couple days ago, and about lost my mind trying to find it. A bottle of ketchup is not something you can leave out and about with Abby and Joshua on the prowl!

The boys and Rachael are officially on Christmas break, until Jan 4th, so let the games begin. Deren called today about 3:30 to see how I was doing. He usually avoids calling me when the kids are all off school. He'll call and say "How's it going?" Response, "HOW DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING?!" So far today, though, I haven't hidden in the closet with some oreos yet (partly because we don't have any oreos in the house!). Besides, aren't they made with trans fats?? ..gotta go.. Little man is sooo intolerant of my computer time!

..just popping in to add a picture. Daniel is now 6 wks old. He has been colicky at night, so my computer time is limited. Well, come to think of it, he gets fussy whenever I'm on the computer. I think he and daddy got together and made a deal.. fuss whenever mommy tries to shop online.. Deren is quite pleased! I'm so in shock that Christmas is less than 2 wks away. I think I'm going to use the 'have a newborn' excuse, because I don't have anything done!

If you look close enough, Daniel has a little sleep grin on his face - precious boy!

We are passing around our next round of colds. We've had someone sick with a cold since mid October! ugh!

I'm trying to take off those pregnancy pounds. It looks like I have exercise buddies. The girls liked doing push ups, jumping jacks, and (pretend) jumping rope with me. Now if they could just swear off potato chips with me!

I'll end my Friday ramblings with a "Kids say the funniest things" segment, featuring Rachael Mae.

(yelling at the top of her lungs from her room) "MOMMY, I HAVE A POOPY. A STINKY, MOMMMY! GROSS! CHANGE MY POOPY DIAPER, MOMMY!"

(after putting up the Christmas tree) "Look Daniel, it's Christmas!"

(Wednesday and Thursday morning) "No school today, Mommy. Bus go to bed. Rachael stay home and watch movies!"