Knock on the door…
Wait a few seconds…
And, most likely, THIS is what you’ll see:
Wanna come over??
Original Overheard:
Noa has always been quite good with her words and rarely has words that she doesn’t say correctly. However, one thing that she consistently says wrong that I absolutely LOVE is when she is communicating excitement.
“Are you be-cited, Martha?” or “I’m be-cited!”
and when her emotion is in the extreme form:
“I’m be-SO-cited!”
I hope she never learns how to say it properly. Just kidding. Kinda.
Added Bonus:
A few moments ago, all three girls were laying on the playing mat and interacting so sweetly with each other – well, Martha and Noa were vying for Gloria’s smiles but it was a friendly competition. All of sudden I hear, in a singsong voice,
“Martha, you grab her feet and I’ll get her hands… c’mon Glo… here we go”
and I look up to see them poised to drag her across the room to her bouncy where they want her to sit.
And we had yet another talk about how Noa is not big enough to carry the baby quite yet.
And one more for good measure:
Noa: “Mommy, when Gloria learns how to crawl, will you get another baby in your belly?”
This kid doesn’t miss much and I guess has figured out the general pattern of things around here 
My biggest girl, BE-SO-CITED!
Almost every day Noa and I get into some kind of battle over clothing. Sometimes – rarely - it is a battle of the wills: What she wants to wear vs. what I want her to wear. Other times it is a battle to change or not to change She tries to convince me that she has valid reasons to change her clothes – like they are dirty, wet, uncomfortable, etc. There were a few times that I wondered if she had purposely had a potty mishap just so she could change her clothes. Our most common battle is using her and Martha’s clothing like toys. She LOVES to take their clothes out of their drawers and “pack” them, put them on dolls, and layer them over her already worn clothes. This has become a discipline matter because, as I have explained to her, it is inconsiderate and unkind to undo the hard work her mother does in cleaning, folding, and putting away her clothes. Furthermore, clothes are a provision from God, and I want her to learn to be a good steward of them and take care of them.
So, these are the waters we are treading right now. It is a daily thing (because – you guessed it - we get dressed every day), and I am trying to work it so it is not a battle every day. I think we have some good ways of dealing with it, but we still have some obedience issues.
Like this morning. The girls headed into their room to play after breakfast. It was entirely too quiet and I could have predicted what I would see when I went in. Sure enough, there were several things on the floor and this is what the girls looked like:
She even got Martha dressed!
So now, after being disciplined for taking out clothes without asking, she has to stay in what she chose to wear all day. sigh.
I guess I am thankful for this outlet of creativity… I just want to know how to instruct her well with it, and be consistent too.
Here’s another exhibit of her clothing craftiness – again – on her sister:
In Martha’s words, isn’t she, “boooo- foh” ?
Christmastime brings out a ton of emotions and desires in me. One of those is the nostalgia of baking all kinds of yummy-ness. My mom makes such great baked creations and I have some wonderful memories of baking christmassy treats and sharing them with others when we were growing up.
I wanted to share 2 of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes with you.
*Gingersnaps - from the “Joy of Cooking” cookbook. (I like this recipe because these “spice-y” cookies are so soft and chewy when they come out).
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Cream together: ¾ cup butter and 2 cups sugar
Stir in: 2 well-beaten eggs, ½ cup molasses, 2 tsp. vinegar
Sift and add: 3 ¾ cups flour, 1 ½ tsp. baking soda, 2-3 tsp. ginger, ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. cloves (or nutmeg)
Mix ingredients until blended. Form dough into ¾ – inch balls and bake on greased cookie sheets. Bake about 12 minutes or until the cookies develop the characteristic crinkled top. You can melt ½ marshmallows on top in the last 4 minutes of baking, or cool and ice with frosting. OR, you can just eat them plain, which is how we like them best.
*Sugar Cookies – this recipe has been in the family since the year my Grandma got married. I have yet to find a sugar cookie recipe I like as much.
Cream together: 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup sugar
Add: 2 eggs, 1 tbsp. milk, 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
Sift in: 2 1/2 cups four, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Chill dough in fridge at least 2 hours (I always make it at night and shill it overnight).
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough onto slightly floured surface with floured rolling pin. Cut out into cute shapes and place on ungreased cookie cheets. Bake about 8 minutes. Remove from tray immediately to cool on rack. Frost with your favorite icing – I suggest a buttercream icing as it makes the cookies so soft the longer is sits on them… YUM! Sprinkles make for added fun.
Along with these two favorites, I have ton more two favorite categories in my life right now. So, lest you think that everything in my life comes in threes these days – like little girls, carseats, matching clothes, etc. – here are some of my favorites in twos:
My 2 favorite big sisters in the whole world:
who are also my 2 favorite cookie bakers:
My 2 favorite little mini-mamas:
And my 2 favorite forward-facing sleeping beauties in the car:
These are my 2 favorite “Sound of Music” fanatics who ran over to the ipod when the soundtrack came on, hoping to see Maria and the children.
Check out these, my 2 favorite sets of piggytails:
I had my 2 favorite elves decorating my tree this year:
Oh, and there are these 2 favorite recent family photos:
I know they’re not perfect, but I’ve become less picky with every new face we’ve added
And here’s my 2 favorite recent Glo photos:
Well, maybe I have 3 favorites …
this was Gloria's birthday gift, made so lovingly by Grammy. Isn't it beautiful?!?!
… or 4 …
Ah, nevermind. So much for a themed post…
Now go try one of my favorite cookie recipes!
As I was putting Noa down to her nap today I was snuggling her tight and just enjoying being able to hold her.
SB: Oh Noa. Can you please stop growing up. I want you to stay my little girl forever.
Noa: (looking very concerned and a little panicked… as if I could really keep her from growing up) But MOMMY! If I don’t grow up I can’t be a mama and have my kids and you need to be my kids’ Baba.
** In response to a few comments on my last “Overheard…”, Martha is definitely NOT potty trained (so I can’t tell you how “I did it” ). I think that because Noa does it, she wants to sit on the potty, and she usually thinks to do it while I’m changing her diaper. So I let her and sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. After Noa took so long to train, I am not pushing anything at this point – I don’t have the time or patience or free hands at this stage of my life to potty train a 21-month old. Maybe next year…
After Martha went potty (which happens, sometimes, several times a day around here…)
Noa: Martha, tell me you went potty
Martha: Potty
Noa: (clapping her hands and in a voice of utter joy) OH! Good JOB, Martha! High five!!!
