Praises

We didn't have to go anywhere this morning. I read Christmas books with the boys instead of rushing them into clothes.

I have a dog who works like a vaccum cleaner. Cheerios, Whales, maybe a few ritz here and there. I'm not sure what shape my house would be in without her!

Kind people who take pity on my daughter and drive her home from choir practice. She even made it home early enough that I could take a shower alone before going to church tonight...whoo hoo (it's the small things!)

Friendly church faces. I got the priveledge of serving a hundred and some of the best faces out there tonight. This was my first time to help serve dinner at the new church (remember, I've been avoiding the kitchen like the plague) I actually rather enjoyed it. shhh...don't tell anyone!

Chatting with friends. Seems like it's been a while since I've felt connected to some of my favorite people. I love seeing their smiling faces!

Snow, melting, snow falling. It's all so pretty.

My girls. Those ones who have other Mama's who are amazing enough to loan me their girls every now and then. I'm blessed to have them in my world and I hope they really know how much I mean that! I see you girls. I think you are pretty incredible and don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise!

Prayer. Feeling connected to others. A few moments of quiet in a noisy land.

Laughter. Hearing my kids giggle. I'm not sure there is a better sound in all the world!

Sitting down at the end of a day with all the little people in bed. Spending time with my mom even though she is so far away.

Mike being awake when I finish talkign with mom. Watching something silly on the DVR and talking before he heads off to bed and I stop in here. Ending the day talking with Mom and Mike with little people sleeping soundly makes me feel like all is well in the world.

Piping Virgins No More and Conversations with Dax

So, I forgot to take my camera to church with me this morning. When I googled "beautiful women decorating Christmas cookies" nothing with all those words materialized. What's up with that? I did find some pictures of the kind of cookie art we were doing...

Ok, so they didn't exactly look like that, maybe Lisa and Teresa had that kind of beauty down, but not all of us. Oh, there were some that have been doing this for years and their cookie art was quite lovely.

My very good friend, Sarah, and I are more the let your kids eat cheerios off the floor type. Don't get us wrong, we love beautiful things, we just don't really make fine cookie art a priority with the 8 kids between us and the massive piles of cheerios we must pick up, or the unknown objects we find ourselves fishing out of the toilet. But, today, that might just have changed.

Today we held in our hands, piping bags. Sarah made beautiful Christmas trees and I have to say my little blue mittens were cute enough to eat. Ok, lets be honest, they were all cute enough to eat. I might even go out and buy some cookie decorating supplies and give this a whirl with my kids...don't tell me, but, I'm guessing it will not be the same as decorating with all grown women. For now at least, I'm thinking about making a brave attempt. Lisa, I may be calling to borrow some cookie cutters....

Anyone local who wants to sample some of our handy work, this year's cookie sale starts Saturday morning at 9 at the church. It's almost always sold out very quickly...come early!

***********************************************************************************

Dax's best buddy, Max, was sick this morning. I was afraid this might be trouble. Max always picks Dax up for school. This seems to make for a much easier transition in the morning. I do the after school pick up and all is well. Today the extra morning time let us read some Christmas books and enjoy each other without rushing. This was really nice! I got Dax to school (only a few minutes late) and only once did he look at me and with a timid little face say, "I need Max, he can't be sick". He walked into school, stood at the edge of the carpet, a big smile crossed his face, he turned to me gave me a hug and a kiss and went on his merry way! Hip Hip hooray!

After school he was still happy. First thing he said when I picked him up was "Hi Mom, I wasn't mean today!" Should I be concerned about this?

In the car he said "I wasn't mean today, Momma!"

Me "Are you usually mean at school??"

Dax, confused, "No, I'm not mean at school, I mean sometimes I cry"

M "Ohhhh, you mean sad?"

D "Yeah, sad, sometimes I'm sad at school, but I was not sad at school today, not even a little!"

M "That is great, I love that you were happy! It makes me so happy!"

Finn "Happy Happy Happy"

D "Does it make you sad when I'm sad?"

M "yes, very sad, I like when you're happy!"

Finn "happy happy, so happy"

D "where did you and Finny go today?"

M "We went to church for a little while"

D "I want to go to church to see my friends!!"

M "You have so many more friends at school! You'll be at church a lot this week"

D "I like church better than school."

M "Why?"

D "School is Evil"

M "Who told you that??"

D "Not anyone, I talk to myself"

And there you have it. Do I blame the 10 year old for this? Sigh...it's preschool people, they play with play dough and sing songs, Evil?