MPE Holiday Story Time!

We LoVe Merriman Park Elementary, where Avery and Julia will go to school!

At the beginning of December we got to attend the Holiday story time at the library with other preschoolers in the area. It was fun! We heard 3 different Holiday-themed stories and then got to participate in seasonal crafts with the other kiddos. After gulping down some Christmas cookies and Capri-Sun we all headed home to take naps. Fun morning!


Avery & Julia sit quietly and listen...


Craft time!



Not sure why she did this, but it made for a cute picture...

Hmmmm...

Well... I had to move past the "Christmas look" for the blog, but I don't have a lot of time to come up with a new look so this one will do for now.

Christmas and New Year's posts to come! ...We had SUCH a fun time in Sherman with my family over Christmas, and New Year's Eve was a blast too. I hope you all had fantastic holidays and can't wait to hear everyone's resolutions! Our New Year's Resolutions involve cleaning more and eating less. (Probably the most common two resolutions EVER, but oh well...)

Hugs & more later...

Here With Us

I love this song. It's by Joy Williams and it's a beautiful Christmas song that is reverent and worshipful in every way... It's called, "Here With Us." When I searched for the lyrics to post online, I found this video on YouTube that someone created with scenes from The Nativity Story (which I LOVE, but you already knew that) and I decided that I had to post this.

I want to wish you all a WONDERFUL time as you celebrate with family and friends. I hope that you will each find a quiet moment in the middle of the laughter and games, puzzles and presents, sweet treats and feasts, to really reflect on that first Christmas in Bethlehem... and the miracle that occurred in a stable... The birth of a baby boy... that world changed forever.

Love, hugs and a very Merry Christmas to all--

It's still a mystery to me
That the hands of God could be so small
How tiny fingers reaching in the night
Were the very hands that measured the sky

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Heaven's love reaching down to save the world
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Son of God, Servant King- Here with us
You're here with us

Still a mystery to me
How His infant eyes had seen the dawn of time
How His ears had heard an angels' symphony
But still Mary had to rock her Savior to sleep

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Heaven's love reaching down to save the world
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Son of God, Servant King- Here with us
You're here with us

Jesus the Christ born in Bethlehem
A baby born to save...to save the souls of man

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Heaven's love reaching down to save the world
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Son of God, Servant King- Here with us

Let it SNOW!!!

What a fun morning! We woke up to a world of white. This will not be impressive to any of our Minnesota, Kansas, Virginia or Indiana friends, but we thought it was pretty fun. It's rare to see flurries in our neighborhood, much less anything that actually sticks! Collin is on Christmas vacation already, so that made it even more fun to bundle up and go play!

He and Avery tackled the task of building our very own Snowman! Now, they say that everything is bigger in Texas, but I think snowmen may be the exception. He stands only about 8 inches tall, but he's a real live snowman in our front yard and we love him. We are SO pleased to introduce everyone to... "Frostito!" (He's Frosty's baby brother.)

Avery had fun! Julia and I were only out in it for a few minutes, but we enjoyed watching from the warm indoors. It's already starting to melt away and Frostito will be missed. (Unless I make room for him in the freezer, but that's not likely.) Happy Snow Day, all! I hope everyone is near a blanket and/or a cup of something warm to drink. :)

"Sprucing up" the Tree!

...I'm so punny!... :) Ok, I'll quit. I promise.

We FINALLY got an evening to decorate our little tree. We didn't get very far before bedtime routine began, but Avery really got into it this year! She got to hang her own "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament (with Dad's help because it's crystal and has to go at the top of the tree to stay out of reach) and she got to hang our Howie ornament that looks just like Howie, AND "Howie's First Christmas" ornament that's pewter and spells, "Woof!"

We played Christmas music and had Egg Nog (the kind from the store... not the real stuff) and just enjoyed Christmas for the first time as a family of four. We snapped some pictures that I can't believe I'm posting because I have definitely looked better, but eh... who cares? This was one of those, "I never quite got around to putting on make-up or brushing my hair" days. I'm sure all of you reading this have seen me at my best and worst anyways, and you love me still. :) And for that I am truly grateful.

Happy tree-trimming! Can't wait to see photos of your spruces too!

Creeeeping towards crawling...

(These were taken last week... She's actually crawled a bit since then! We're in for it now! Sorry for the blurry-ness. I was determined to take these with natural light and the shutter stays open longer... Bad for action shots. I wish Santa would bring me a fancy-shmancy DSLR for Christmas! Santa's pockets aren't quite that deep this year...)

Christmas in the Dark... err... Park!

I am SO behind on blogging! What better day to catch up on blog posts than a Snow Day, huh?? (...pictures of today's snow to come!...)

Last Sunday (over a week ago now) we invited Jen, Andrew and Drew in town for "Christmas in the Park," an event hosted by Park Cities Baptist where Avery goes to Mother's Day Out. We were enticed by the advertisements boasting "the Christmas story told with live animals," hot chocolate and cookies, crafts for the kiddos and other fun seasonal activities. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who thought this sounded like fun. It was PACKED! By the time we got there, about 20 minutes after it began, the live nativity was already over and the hot chocolate and cookies had been gobbled up by the crowd! :(

We still had fun hanging out with the Bossens, but next year we'll plan to be there early! (Jen got much better pictures than we did, so check out their blog...)


This is all we got to see of the animals... :(


This tree was AMAZING! It was in the neighborhood where we had to park. This picture doesn't do it justice... It was cool though.

Daddy's Girls...

"Does Collin ever wish he had had a son?" she asked me yesterday as I made a feeble attempt at putting Christmas lights on our crepe myrtle out front. Our across-the-street-neighbors' daughter was keeping the girls company (and keeping Avery from running into the street) and happened to ask our most commonly asked question now that we have two little girls.

The answer to this frequent question has been practiced many times over the past few months and still needs work, but it usually goes something like this:
"Well, Collin is one of 6 kids (2 girls and 4 boys) so with the 'big family' mind-set, I'm not sure if we're finished having kids... so he may have a son yet! ...I would love more kids, but I'm also very content with two so we'll just see what happens... etc., etc...."

That's the answer we give, honestly because we can't find words to describe the feeling of being so in love with two little girls that our hearts simply don't know how to miss the idea of a son. I'm not sure that will make sense to everyone, and therein lies the problem of trying to articulate a response to this question. But the honest truth of parenthood is that regardless of what you think you want to have, you become so wrapped up with the person you're blessed with that you wouldn't trade them for the world. (Now that I know will make sense... at least to the other Moms and Dads reading this.)

I wanted to show a couple of quick things that make it so easy for Collin not to have to spend time wishing one of these babies had been a boy. Maybe someday... but for now he'll just have to "settle" for this. ;) Talk about Daddy's Girls!... Precious.

Why I haven't called you back...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Tate!

We got to go celebrate Tate Arnold's 2nd Birthday on Saturday morning.

Tate was born on Christmas Day 2 years ago, and she and Avery are good buddies. (They had a little help in the fact that Tate's Mom, Lea, and I are good buddies too! Lea was one of my college roommates and was a bridesmaid in our wedding.) It took a while for Avery to warm up to the bounce house, but after a little cake and ice cream she was good to go! What a fun party!!

Happy Birthday, Tate! We love you!

All dolled up!...

Oh Christmas Tree...

We probably won't win any "Parents of the Year" awards for this one, but last night (in 30-something degree weather) we bundled the girls up and headed to Home Depot (past their bedtimes) to buy a Christmas tree!

It was a blast. Avery LOVED all the "Kissus Trees" and even spotted "Sinta Cwaaaas" while we were there. She had tons of fun, and poor Julia just kept looking at me like, "What on earth are we doing out here, Mom?!" Avery has a kids Christmas CD and sort of knows how to sing, "Oh Christmas Tree," but it sounds more like, "Oh Kissus Tree... ladaaawadaada waanches." Close enough. Christmas is so much fun...

We got a precious tree. Can't wait to decorate it! (Ok, sidenote about this tree we got... Since it was dark and cold, we sort of just got the first good-looking tree we saw in the size we were looking for. I didn't notice until we got it home and in the stand that it was muddy! So... and visualize this as you read... I actually wiped the tree down with baby wipes! It's true. Collin honestly looked at me like I was insane. Probably would have been smarter to hose it off, but hey... Wipes were less mess. Poor tree needed a bath!) :)

"I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love." -Linus Van Pelt, A Charlie Brown Christmas, 1965

Our day of Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful day of food, fun and family! It was our year to spend with Collin's family (we alternate) and we asked everyone to our house this year so that we didn't have to cart around so much baby gear! Just for one day we would have needed two high chairs, two portable beds for naps plus other supplies... not near as easy as just hosting! :)

Fortunately, we have some very serious chefs in the family who were kind enough to let me off the hook for preparing the meal. Our "fancy potluck" Thanksgiving Dinner was intensely yummy, and I didn't have to cook or clean the kitchen! It was all fantastic until that night when Collin came down with his Super-Bug... and you all know the details on that. Collin is one of 6 kids and represented here are only 3 of the 6 kiddos: One of his younger brothers, Jonathan, and his older brother, Josh with his wife, Melanie, and their 3-yr-old son, Ian. Mel's Mom, Judy, also celebrated with us, as did Collin's Aunt, Chloe, who is Janice's sister. And we all fit at one table! :) We missed Kendra and Erroll who are in Holland, Jordan and Mallory who celebrated with Mal's family this year, and Collin's younger sister, Kara, who celebrated with her boyfriend's family.

But we do have so much to thank God for this year. It's always wonderful to be provided with a day to surround ourselves with loved ones and count our blessings. It's also a super-fun day because it suddenly makes it okay to begin listening to Christmas music, and THAT makes me smile. Happy (late) Thanksgiving to all! Hope it was wonderful.


The Cousins playing together:

Fun in Austin!

Better late than never, right? :)

We had a BLAST celebrating Jen's Birthday in Austin on our way through town to San Antonio for our anniversary trip. This was the first time that all of us were at Mom & Dad's house overnight (2 nights) with all three of the Grandkids. It was a full house-- and it was wonderful.

Saturday night we got to go to Town Lake Park. (A project designed by TBG Partners, my employer before I became a stay-home Mom.) This project was done in the Austin office, so unfortunately I didn't get to work on it, but I know the people who designed it... so that counts, right?? :) A very impressive, successful design. Kudos, old friends! It makes me miss the world of Landscape Architecture on some level, but I do enjoy my current "employ" as well, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

Fun times with the Fam! ...You gotta love Austin...



Poor Drew!... He didn't have enough warm clothes, so he had to borrow "girly" clothes!! Blackmail pictures... I guess he didn't want his picture made in this outfit! :)



Happy Jules...


Ellisons...

**Collin Update**

Thank you all for asking about Collin! I never quite wrapped that one up on the blog and there were some lingering inquiries so I thought I'd take a second to post a note about him.

He is doing much better and actually went to work yesterday. He never quite got a diagnosis, but we're just glad that he reacted so well (and so quickly) to the antibiotics! He is feeling weak, but I'm sure that's because he really didn't eat anything for a few days.

Last night was the first time I had seen a little bit of his personality come back as he got on my laptop to check something else and noticed our blog was up and that he was a few posts behind in his reading. He glanced up from reading and said to me, jokingly, "So... 'Collin's in the ER' gets only two comments but the Baby Alarm Clock post gets four? ...great..."

He's back. :)

The Nativity Story

This movie will be a Poage Christmas family tradition from now on.

If you haven't seen it, you MUST... Incredible.

Hey, Santa...

Ok, it's official... I will be asking Santa to bring this to Avery this year, and hopefully it'll be a gift to us if she ends up sleeping a little later because of it. This is the "KID'Sleep wake up display" and it's European, so it must be good... right? ;)

The idea behind it is this: Haven't you ever been traveling and staying the night in a place where you didn't have a clock by the bed to tell what time it is? You wake up, and it's dark... Is it morning? Is it 3am? Has it been 4 minutes, or 4 hours since you closed your eyes?... Who knows? You can't tell what time it is. SO disorienting. So imagine being a 2-year-old who can't yet tell time. Similar effect.

For the past two nights, (or mornings, rather...) we've been awakened at 4am by the not-so-precious sounds of our 2-year-old saying, "Mommy!... Up! Up!" And if we ignore the call, she quickly turns to, "Daaaaa-deeeee!" (Yeah, she's no dummy.) To be fair, I know that I sort of "signed-up" for the early morning wake-up calls when I saw two precious pink lines on an important take-home test, but 4 o'clock for two mornings in a row on top of the lingering night feedings I'm still giving to Jules?!? Seriously? There isn't enough Starbucks in the world.

A few weeks ago, my sister said she had seen this gadget in a magazine that's supposed to operate as a picture timer/clock for kiddos and she told me about KID'Sleep. It's not an alarm clock, and in fact makes no sound (apparently) when changing from "sleep time" to "wake time." You (the parent) set the timer and it just provides the child with the ability to tell whether it's still time to sleep, or if it's okay to wake up. And bonus-- it doubles as a night light. Honestly, it's 45 Euro (CHOKE) and I don't care if it is as high-quality as something that comes in a Happy Meal if it buys me an extra 2 hours in the morning.

So, Santa... If you're reading... On your way through Switzerland this year could ya swing by and grab one of these for my kiddo? I'd greatly appreciate it.