Spelling Tuesday

Another Christmas has come and gone! This year it was a little bit harder for me to give it my usual Martha Stewart presentation and style... lack of energy and motivation! But I think that both of our Christmas celebrations were very nice. Loralie had a great time. She is at such a fun age! Wednesday was "Lenz Family Christmas", and Caleb's family all drove down from Bolivar to eat and spoil Loralie and shower us all with gifts! Saturday was Christmas eve and we got dooded up and went to Church as a family. Loralie had major ants in her pants being in on the grown up service. She liked the music, but any talking on stage and she was totally not being a good listener! When we got home we had pizza in pajamas, made some cookies for santa and watched a Christmas movie. Loralie kept calling it "The Smolar Exmess" instead of the "Polar Express" and she kept asking if the boy's name was "Smolar" or "Exmess". Haha! She got...

Loralie got a gift certificate for a build-a-bear for her birthday, so today we went to make a present for Roman. She picked out a weiner dog who she named "Fiddlefart". That is her most favorite word right now and the more I resist the more she likes it, so I give up! When you squeeze Fiddlefarts paw Loralie's recorded voice says, "I love you baby brudder!". She also picked out a special fisherman outfit for him to wear! Now, the hard part will be getting her to actually give it to him...

Loralie has been attending dance class since October, and we got to watch her very first "performance" on Monday! I think it is probably the "teacher curse". After years of watching wiggly kids do all kinds of squirley things, you think to yourself, "No child of mine would ever act like that!" Ha ha. And then you watch a dance performance and reaslize you have the WILD KID! Hehe. But we love her and wouldn't have her any other way! Keep in mind, she is the youngest kid in her class. Some of them have been in there for two year already, and believe it or not, this is a MAJOR improvement from the first class that I watched! But needless to say, me, Caleb, and NeeNee found it terribly funny and, of course, adorable. I believe if you click on the links below you should be able to watch her perform! Dance Attempt 1 Dance Attempt 2

A week of December has already passed! Loralie and I are counting down the days! She mostly cares about Christmas, I am silently adding the extra week until Roman gets here! Each day we read a "Story of Christmas" tiny book which has Advent scripture... And then she gets to hang it on the tree... We are also doing "25 days of kindness". Each day we pick a card and do something kind for someone. Here is Loralie making treats for the neighbors... We are also still working hard on her preschool stuff. Look how well she can write her name all by herself!

Thanksgiving passed pretty uneventfully, except for when the oven broke in the middle of cooking the turkey (another story) and now we are in full blown Christmas mode! I have most of the presents wrapped and under the tree and the halls are decked! Just five more weeks until Roman gets here! Ready to be not pregnant (aka normal) again! Mom sold her house and will be officially moved in with us by tomorrow.

On this day set aside to Thank God for all that we have been blessed with, I would like to take a moment to tell Him all that I am thankful for. First of all, I am so thankful for God's grace, and mercies that are new every morning. I am thankful that God doesn't give up on me or get tired of forgiving me. I am thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus made so that I could have a relationship with him. I am thankful for my Godly husband. He is a real man. He takes care of his family. He pitches in at home. He does the "honey do's " without complaint (mostly). He is the love of my life and my best friend and I am thankful for each day that we get to spend together. I am thankful for that squirley , silly, squealy , energetic, funny, loving little girl that God has allowed me to be a mommy to. Loralie is the light of my life! She makes me laugh each and every day! I am thankful for my Mom, who shows me what a woman of God should be. She is my example and role model and...

Everyone should be a Super Fan of something! It is just fun to be able to be a little bit crazy fanatical about something that you love. For me, the only thing that has really gotten me pumped up over the years is... Books. That's right. I am totally a nerd. Particularly, I have loved reading series books since I was old enough to browse the chapter book section. In second grade it was the "Betsy" books, then came the Babysitters Club, then Sweet Valley high, and Narnia. When I was in college studying to be a teacher, I discovered Harry Potter (purely research, of course), and I would have to say that my biggest, nerdiest, super-fan moment thus far was driving to Wal-Mart at midnight when the last Harry Potter book came out and standing in a line that wrapped all the way around the store to buy it! There were people there wearing capes and elf ears and stuff! Not me of course, but I did read the entire first chapter while standing in line and finished the rest in the the ...

This weekend was opening day for deer hunters, I am told. Caleb managed to bag this bad boy first thing on Saturday morning while we were visiting his family in Bolivar. So if you eat any yummy summer sausage at our house this year, it will have come from this guy! Saturday evening my Mother in Law, Cher, and my sister in law, Michelle threw baby Roman an adorable Baby Bunting Baby shower! The food was delicious and the decorations were so cute! Grandma and Grandpa, dressed in their hunting garb for the party... Yum. No trip to Bolivar is ever complete without feeding the cows with Grandpa! And more fun on the farm!

These are just a few of my favorites...

I think there might be a rule that you aren't supposed to throw a baby shower for people's second babies, but my best friend Heather threw caution to the wind and hosted a fabulous baby "sprinkle" for me and Roman last night! Co-Host Julia offered her house for the shin dig, and Heather filled it with chocolate! It was a super fun girls night, with yummy treats and some super cute presents! I love my gal pals so much! The chocolate fountain... every pregnant girl's dream! I had to keep myself from sticking my face in... The Hostesses with the Mostestess, Heather and Julia And the whole gang! I love these girls!

Well, this week has been a whirlwind of Halloween fun! We have made several cute Halloween crafts this month to decorate the house with. Monday night, Loralie's dance class had a little mini-party. Here are the Tiny Tots, dressed for their Halloween parade (which was walking around in circles in the classroom.) Friday was the Library Story time Fall Party, and our first time wearing our Little Bo Peep costume. Loralie and Buddy Sophie (neither one of them that enthusiastic about getting their picture taken!) Saturday was the Halloween Bash at our church. There was free food, games, music, and trunk or treating. It was really fun, but there were a TON of people there! I am not a fan of lines! Here is my Little Bo Peep on the BIG DAY! She was so excited, she started asking me at about 8:15am if it was time to go trick or treating yet! She came up with the idea of being Little Bo Peep all by herself (there is a little bo peep on the Toy Story movies). I looked in every costume st...

We resumed homeschooling today after a long weekend, and my THREE year old had two major accomplishments. First, she was able to spell her first name perfectly several times! L-o-r-a-l-i-e!!!! Secondly, she drew this picture of Daddy which I think is her best human to date! Arms, legs, facial features... Genius!

Today we celebrated Loralie's 3rd birthday with a woodland fairy party! Here is the birthday girl in her fairy get-up! There is nothing cuter than little girls in tutus and wings! Loralie and Ada admiring each other's wings... The scene was set with a giant tree canopy that said "Welcome to Pixie Hallow" and lots of "wood-sey" stuff! The girls decorated "fairy houses", and then it was time for cake! Make a wish, and blow out the candles! Magic wands... and goodies galore! Loralie and Sophie strike a pose... Okay, just Loralie! Time to open presents! She got so many presents that she got bored in the middle of opening them and wanted to go play! Look at the great big fairies! The kids got to take home their very own Pixie Dust (which was actually Pixie Stix candy). When Loralie thought no one was looking we saw her try to sprinkle it on her head to make herself fly! Think Happy Thoughts! So Daddy had to help her wings work... At the end...