Everything is "Magical"

We had a great thanksgiving! Hope you all did too.. Yeah, the ice storm was a bit of a ruiner, but thankfully both places I was at (Western OK, and Home) we didn't lose power.. so that was nice.. I did somehow get Food Poisoning the Tuesday before, and that was NOT cool.. Then Jordan had some sort of stomach bug on the Day after.. so we ended up staying in Western Ok from Wednesday to Saturday.. but it was fun.. the girls want to be out there all the time anyway.. 'Mommy? Go see Gigi? Pa? Joe? Pops & Grammy, Bear? Poppy?".. she names off everyone she knows out there.. So we had a fun time.. Mom put up 5 trees this year.. and the girls loved them. She made the mistake of putting breakable owl ornaments on one.. so of course Cross wanted to "Hode" them.. and you can imagine how that went..

This is a really fun time with them. Everything is magical.. without me even doing anything. These people who do 1235 Christmas Crafts, and spend every single day trying to 'create' magic.. MAKE. ME. TIRED.. "Oh Look everyone a Santa face pancake with apple cream pudding frosting hats!".. Ugh. I thought this was such an amazing read. QUIT MAKING EVERYTHING MAGICAL

"Think about the life of a modern day, Westernized child. Think back to when your children were new. What did they notice?

A fresh child will find magic in every ceiling fan. A baby will be fascinated by the light switch on the wall which, with a simple flick, brings the brightness of noonday in the dead of night.

Even adult humans 200 years ago would have found this miraculous! A child today can walk into a grocery store and see entire cases dedicated just to berries. Half a dozen varieties, flown in from around the country and world are stunningly displayed. We take this for granted as spoiled adults, but this is crazy! Most of the world lacks this ever present variety.The television, the hand held phone, the tablet- all with moving people trapped inside of them who appear and disappear at the swipe of your finger. Children recognize this technology for what it is- magic."

I am with the author of this article.. If you feel the need to do this for your child.. go ahead.. and I'll be proud for you, but I just don't have that kind of time.. Or those clever crafting skills apparently, lol.. I have seen this first hand when we take the girls to the farm, and maybe because I grew up on a farm, I feel this way.. but Hay bales are magical.. Just sitting there.. You can turn them into forts, jump and climb on them, roll down them, hide in them.. And its just a bale of Hay.. Some may feel the need to paint they hay bale, put reindeer ears on it, and add lights to it.. But.. Its still just as magical without all those things.

Here's something for you.. I remember one of the most 'magical' things in my childhood being what I called a Gymnastics Bar in the Barn.. I used to go out to it every day and hang from it.. spinning, twirling, doing dismounts, watching the pretend crowds cheer for me as the pretend judges awarded me "10"s... Guess what that bar was? A deer Carcass bar..

When the hunters would shoot a deer, they would bring it out to the barn to let it hang and the blood to drip from it.. Yeah, I know.. Gross.. but didn't really take away any of that magic for me!! Magic is Magic.. Especially if you have a great imagination.. Which I do.. and I think my girls do too.

We get so caught up in creating special things for ourselves and our kids that we miss the magic.. I remember thinking the Ipod was the coolest thing that ever happened.. My kids will grow up thinking music always just came with their phones! If you look around there are so many magical things this time of year.. you really don't have to create any if you don't want too, its there if we just look for it. So Do what you can.. but don't feel bad if you don't wake up and make Reindeer Shaped Cinnamon Roll.. If you have time to do those things, then YAY! But.. We can only do what we can do.. and shouldn't feel bad about the rest.

Speaking of Magical.. We went to 1Smart Cookie's "Cookies & Milk with Santa" event on Saturday.. It was so much fun. We thought it would be a nice place for the girls to take Santa Pics.. Well Cross was super excited.. She had talked about him for days and all the way there.. When we got there she said "OH! Santa!! HI SANTA!! and Introduced him to JA... And that was it.. She didn't want to sit by him, or take a pic with him.. Cille pretty much hated everything about him, so yet again, for the 2nd year in a Row, MJ and I are in the Santa pics.. But.. it was a super cute event.. Cookies were Delicious, and the girls enjoyed coloring pics and drinking chocolate milk.

Tonight we are going to the "Live Nativity" at Crossings. There will be a sugar cookie bar there, petting zoo, and then they are going to tell the story of Jesus. I love our Church so much. They have so many fabulous events to go to and take your kids to learn about Christmas. Tomorrow night we have small group. We have been learning about Advent. Tomorrow is "Peace".. It will be really good. 

In other news.. Cross is obsessed with her Monster PJ's these days.. She wants to wear them all day everyday.. if you put them in the dirty clothes.. she will get them out and say "No, I wear the Monsters".. I mean, there's a reason we call her Creepy Cross. Cille still hates me trying to take pictures of her.. But I can't help it. She's really pretty, so I still try.. This is how it always goes...

 She just hates it.. So there's that. I'm so excited about Christmas this year.. We did a wishlist for the girls to make life easier.. I remember when I was buying presents for peoples kids.. Man, what a jerk I was.. I probably bought them blocks and 355 things they didn't need.. but you just don't know until you have kids of your Own! So forgive me for that.. I did a wishlist of things I really thought the girls would love to make life easier.. So if you are wanting ideas, consider doing that for your relatives.. I think it is super helpful to me when they send me lists of what they want, or what their kids want. 

We will try to go look at Christmas lights this weekend.. When we see them Cross says "Look Sissy.. So PURRRDY".. lol.. She's also started saying her name "I Cwosslee Maaple".. if you ask her what Londyn's name is she will say "Sissy Maaple".. Londyn has learned all her colors, letters and numbers now.. she's very proud of herself.. She will sit in her bed at night chatting about all her colors.. Its super cute. Special thanks to Suzanne, her speech therapist, and to her Ipad Apps, Endless Alphabet, and Endless numbers for helping teach her those things! Oh.. and of course, Daniel Tiger.. 

You guys enjoy the holiday season!! 

Happy Birthday to ME..

Well another year.. another year older. My Birthday was last Saturday.. I did have a fun birthday though, thanks to MJ.. He booked a wine tour with VIP Limo's in OKC and for them to take us to Stroud and Chandler to taste some wines.. It was a lot of fun. Chantry, Brandon, Mom, Lauren, and Kristen all went.. 1st Stop was Stableridge.. It was good wine and we had a lot of fun.. but that was it! All the rest of them were closed.. I have since told VIP Limo, that a "TOUR" is more than one.. and that they should probably check and see if wineries are actually open before they offer them as a TOUR on their site.. But whatever.. We had a good time anyway.. MJ stayed home with the girls.. Why you ask? Well 1) He doesn't drink 2) He doesn't love Limos and 3) He doesn't really like my friends and I together in a limo anyway, so it all worked out!

After the few weeks I had.. I needed a wine tour.. Its been pretty stressful. One of my good friends, and girls from our small group ended up having to have a C-section for her baby at 29 weeks.. Which is a Micro Preemie.. The whole thing has been a rollercoaster from thinking she was going to have to be on bed rest, to being monitored in the hospital, to having to have her baby.. Thankfully she is at home now and doing ok.. but baby is still in the NICU, and it hasn't been easy.. Shortly after she was born she had a Stage 4 Brain bleed, (Which is a big deal) And was having some breathing issues, stomach issues, heart issues.. Which weren't AS big.. but when you are that premature EVERYTHING becomes a big deal quickly..They also got the diagnosis that she had Down Syndrome.

I have been up with her as much as I can and trying to offer whatever help I can, because my heart just breaks for her and her sweet family. We don't know what the Lord has planned for this sweet baby, but we know he DOES have a plan, and God is good in all things.. so we just have to wait and be patient. The complications could range from Mild to Severe.. and they really won't know until she gets a lot older.. so we just pray and lift them up, and try to be wherever they need to be, and to be supportive.

This whole experience has been surreal for me.. because when people get pregnant, NORMALLY everything is fine.. but you just never know. I mean I was building TWO lives at once.. I didn't even know my body was capable of doing that! With my friend, it was a failed Placenta.. but no one knows WHY it failed.. or if it would fail again.. or what you could do to prevent it from failing.. I mean its all just a crap shoot. I know women have babies everyday and its usually fine, but when things like this happen it just really puts it all into perspective.. its little lives you are creating and any one little thing could go wrong and change that life.. or change your life.. I have felt so bad for my friend because she is now mourning the loss of a child she 'thought' she was going to have.. Not to say she isn't thrilled with the one she has, because she is.. but no one ever wants to think about their babies having to grow up in a world where hardships are going to constantly follow them.. and we never know when hardships are going to happen.. Terrible things happen in this world every day. Its scary to think about having babies in it sometimes.. but we just have to trust that God has a plan for our babies and for us. .

In other news with the girls.. LL has started talking more.. she is saying new things everyday.. She and Cross have been doing this thing where they both go "ahh Ahh Choo!" and pretend to sneeze.. LL has had a cough so when she coughs Cross says 'You ok Sissy?".. and LL says "I Ok".. its pretty cute.. But something that is NOT cute is them yelling to see who can be the loudest. NOT cute. LL has also taken to having a blanket with her at night.. I am not mad about this.. because I still have my blanket at night.. so don't judge us.

Cross has been doing funny things.. She is obsessed with wearing her Boots that Gigi got her.. and she is obsessed with her Giant.. Her Giant is a Grim Reaper. Yes, I know.. I know.. We went to Walmart and she saw a 12ft inflated Grim reaper and started referring to him as her Giant.. She didn't want to leave the isle.. just stare and talk to him. When we went home she kept asking "To go see her Giant at the Giant store".. When Gigi came up for my birthday party she told Gigi she wanted to go see her Giant.. so of course Gigi took her back to Walmart and they bought the giant.. So now we have a giant, in a box, in the kitchen.. we are waiting to air him up until we move to our new house.. So right now she just visits him in his box, kisses him, and offers him food and water.. What can I say.. this kid is weird.. I know she is, but she's mine..and hilarious.. and has a soft heart for the Grim Reaper!