On the Sixth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

six home appliances,
five countries (with family!) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

(ps: happy new year!! xoxo.)

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

five countries (with family!) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On The Fourth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Third Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

(Claire • Beth • Heather)

three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Second Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the First Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

a husband that loves his family!

Two Days

A few years ago my friend, Maureen, was in town during the Christmas holidays. I'm not sure how the subject came up but she started talking about what Mary must have been thinking and feeling with her due date fast approaching (since Christmas was just a few days away). I had always been so focused on Jesus' birth that I never really stopped to think about his poor Mom waddling around, not being able to sleep well, having to go to the bathroom every hour... all of this and more in a such a primitive world.

I found this pic of myself when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter... it was taken two days before she was born, two days before my world would change. And I think about what Mary must have been thinking today... two days before Jesus was born, two days before He came to change the world.

I still talk up the true meaning of Christmas to my kids - the birth of Jesus Christ - but as a mom, I will always be thinking of Mary and loving that I'm blessed to know a lil of what she was going thru.

Keeping It Real

I looked up today and realized what a complete mess I've been living in. I decided to take a quick pic so that when my hubby gets home (currently out of town interviewing in FL), he can see how much cleaning I've been up to! The point is to focus on the cleaning I've done, not the dirtying! :)

1. Blanket Lucia used for today's nap.
2. Blanket Isabella used last night, after waking up with a bad dream.
3. Blanket I used last night, when I fell asleep on the sofa.
4. Girls eating cereal for dinner... Frosted Flakes, not even the good cereal. Sigh.
5. Empty Diet Coke cup and milk bottles from last night's McDonald's dinner.
6. Half-full goldfish container so that Lucia can help herself.
7. This morning's pjs.
8. More evidence of last night's dinner from McDonald's.
9. Mail and school papers that were cleared of the coffee table so that we would have room to eat.
10. Toys, papers and still more McDonald leftovers.
11. Shoes that haven't made their way to the shoe basket - approx. 3 feet away!
12. Groceries and some items for tomorrow's school Christmas party that were purchased a few days ago.
13. See #10.
14. Canvases that I'm gonna paint for a dear friend - have been sitting there a long, long time.
15. Dirty sippy cup - has been sitting there an even LONGER time.

Little Shadows

A picture of Lucia and Maya playing under my desk - a favorite pastime. I don't get it since we are blessed to have a play room. Sometimes Lucia will sing to me or pull on Maya's ears but a lot of time, they just lay next to each other and wait patiently for me to finish what ever it is that I'm working on.

I love having little shadows... most of the time. :)

Before & After

Merry Chicken Nuggets!

I told my husband, during the Dallas/Thanksgiving break, that my resolution for the New Year would be to decorate for all the major holiday's. I said I would start with Christmas and so far, I am five days behind. At the time, I was thinking a lot about family, traditions and how I totally fail at creating memories for my kids.

Sometimes I feel that if I were to die tomorrow, all my kids would remember me by would be the chicken nuggets at McDonald's. Sigh. I can hear it now....

Lucia: "Remember the time we got chicken nuggets but they were too hot, so Mom had to cool them using the car's air conditioner?"

Isabella: "Yeah, that was funny! Or remember when she kept saying they were warm - not hot, so that she wouldn't have to cool them again? But then Papi grabbed them and held them up the car's A/C vents so they could cool off? Thank God Papi was there that day or we would have starved!"

Lucia: "That was funny! I miss Mom, no one can order chicken nuggets like she did!"

I know I do more for my kids than buy them chicken nuggets... there's always the near daily snowballs in the summer! :) So in the spirit of creating some fun memories, we are off to "Breakfast with Santa" at Isabella's school. It's much colder than I thought it would be when I first made these plans. Grrr. I wish we could just stay snuggled up on the sofa but since we went last year, I figured this might be a good memory to create for my girls - the yearly "Breakfast with Santa" day.

And who knows, we may just stop for chicken nuggets on the way home! :)