It snowed!  But you can’t tell now that we had any at all.  But there was snow for a few minutes, I promise.  We saw it out the window.

The girls felt like getting all cozy, so they wrapped up in their snuggly blankets (made by mama) and we threw open the windows and listened to the silent snow.

Pretty girls.

We planted trees in our yard!  So lovely.  They are bare-branched now, but come spring they will be full of leafy wonderfulness.

(Thank you, John and Steve, for helping us!)

So, it’s really cold here.  Whew.  Like don’t-want-to-go-outside cold.  Must be global warming. We are all glad that winter is short here.

There’s been some crazy sewing going on around here, to get ready for Christmas.

I thought, too, since I was so busy getting Christmas gift sewing done, I’d go ahead and make a pair of pajamas for each of the girls.  Pictures soon on those.  I am almost experiencing sewing burnout, but it has been really fun to make all these things.  Everything is turning out really well, which is so satisfying after working hard on it.  After the holidays, I am thinking I’ll try my hand at making some article of clothing for myself.  We’ll see about that…I’ve tried it before, with less-than-satisfactory results.  Live and learn, but sometimes keep trying?

Asher got a haircut.  He was getting really shaggy, so something needed to be done.  Scott tried the buzz-cut method, and I haven’t decided yet if we’ll do it again.  SuperCuts is looking pretty promising, but we’ll see.

He thought getting a haircut was a little funny, and ran commentary most of the time.  “Mmm!  Haircut! Oh!  Tickle tickle!  Hmm.  Uh-oh Mommy!  (seeing a piece of hair fall)  Haircut!”

Here’s an after.

What a cutie, huh?

More photos here.

Here is the promised post (mentioned here) and pictures from the side excursion on our trip North.  (Yes, North must be capitalized.  As must South.)  Our family had the wonderful privilege of spending a couple of days with my dear, dear friend Melissa.  I met Melissa in college, that first precarious year at Nyack, and we’ve been friends ever since.  She met a wonderful man after college, and he whisked her away to Germany where they now live, taking care of their precious baby Liam.

Isn’t he enchanting?

Asher was happy to have another boy around, although I imagine he’ll be a LOT happier when we next see them and Liam is a little older.  I asked Asher to go sit with Liam and tell him about motorcycles.

“Cycle.  Cycle man.  Motorcycles.  Vroom vroom.  Cycle.”  And Asher got up and went on his way.

Here’s the house where we stayed on our little vacation.  There was nothing little about the house, for sure.  It was a treat to stay in such a fancy place; that doesn’t happen to us very often!

We saw snow (!), found a secret pond and skipped river stones,

saw a rainbow,

got warm in front of the massive fireplace,

and explored the beautiful property (once a Christmas tree farm), finding a secret and bountiful apple tree along the way that supplied the dessert for that night.

Perfectly delightful.  We miss the Muhes.

Here is some link excitement.  Clickety click.

::Amy (one of my favorite blogs) writes a short post about what’s really going on in my day.  Pretty good and to the point.

::We can’t wait to see this.  Anyone want to bid on watching the children while we go out?  I heart Pixar, and this one looks like fun.

::I love this.  Ideas are forming, which is just my cup of tea.  We are planning on putting the girls in a “big girl room” after the holidays, and I am collecting ideas.

::Anyone heard of Blik?  A friend mentioned it to me, and I am resisting the temptation to browse their website for the rest of the day while the children run rampant.  Would this not be so fun for Asher’s room?

Happy Birthday, Asher!

Two years certainly has gone very quickly.  Everyone warned me it would, but we never understand until it happens to us.

You are a wonderful delight to our family, Asher.  We didn’t know what we’d be getting when we had a boy, but everything has turned out more perfect than we could have imagined with you.

We love your funny jokes, big hugs, slobbery-quiet kisses, snuggling moods…

and you love “dumptunks”, tractors, loaders, bulldozers, big rigs, and Mommy.

You have the most amazing brown eyes, the longest eyelashes we’ve ever seen, and a slightly rounded belly that makes you giggle when it’s poked.

You’re our “little man” and we love you so much.  Can’t wait to see what 2 brings.

A yellow rose on a rainy day.

Thank you all so much for your sympathy, and most of all for your prayers.  Losing a baby is something that breaks your heart indeed.

Tomorrow marks one week, and it feels a little like we are moving towards normal again.

Scott has just recently discovered Andrew Peterson, and although I haven’t heard much by (or about) him, this is a really great song and video.

Try the full-screen version if you can.

…and we returned home.  What a great trip we had!  We miss everyone already, and our time at home so far has been spent recounting all of our favorite things about our trip.

We sat and read books with special people…

Snuggled and giggled with Gramma Jane…

and Aunt Judi and Caitlyn…

horsed around with Uncle Chad…

played guitar…

did some exploring in the “tractor”…

enjoyed a popcorn-and-silly-show date with cousins…

among many other fun things.   Here are some more delicious treats, picked up on a special fabric-shopping trip with Aunt Gail.  It was like shopping for dessert!

These fabrics are destined to be Christmas gifts…

and these are set to be a quilt for Charlotte, started after the holidays.  (The girls will move into a sisters big-girl room, just the two of them, and I am thinking a fresh quilt for each would be appropriate.)

There was also some serious quilting going on up in PA while we were there…I made the quilt, but had it quilted by someone who really knew what she was doing!  It sure paid off.  This is a Christmas gift for some wonderful people.

More to come in a couple days about some side trips we took on our vacation, along with some pictures of a delicious baby!  Stay tuned!

Some parting shots…

So, here we are.  Nothing incredibly exciting has been going on around here…a lot of sitting, sipping ginger ale, sleeping, and trying to keep children entertained.  Thanks for your prayers…I feel like I’ve turned the tide and gotten over the worst of things.  Still a road ahead before I feel great, but we are on our way to better days!

On keeping the children entertained, never have I been more thankful that my girls love to write things in their “notebooks”…practicing bible-verse memorization, writing names, numbers, and pretty much anything they can think of.  I am also really appreciating the time I took several years ago to get some “older” toys and puzzles, when Ivy was still a baby. They have been using them a lot lately, and these have pretty much made up our schooltime right now.

Also these are great opportunities to learn contentment with a given task…we’ve worked on this a long time, but I always need a refresher.  Reminding them how to do this is good, too.

Ivy has really taken to writing lately, as part of her schooling for this year is writing letters.  She’s written down the verse we memorize for the week, and even a letter to her friend Meg, which we will mail to her this week. (She even included a poem we had memorized a while ago in the letter, which delighted her mommy and I’m sure will delight Meg’s mommy, too!)  Anyway, part of her learning to write and read, we’ve really been working on spelling.  She tries very hard, and loves to copy words out of books which I think helps a lot.  I found this on the table after some writing she did, and I’m proud…looks like she’s well on her way to a first novel.

This past Sunday afternoon, we spent the afternoon at a park in Cary with our friends.  What fun!  It was a gorgeous evening (c’mon, fall!), and the children were happy to run nonstop almost the whole time.  I tried to get pictures of moving targets.

We stopped by a little dock there and watched the ducks and fish lazily swim around, hoping for some food.

Ivy tried her hand at the camera and I thought she did pretty well.  Here are a couple pictures she got.

Ladybug was very patient, with children constantly wanting to pet her, and watching other dogs swim in the lake.

Here’s pretty Miss Emily…

And a picture of the photographer (me, usually) to boot!

This weekend we leave for a trip to go WAY up north, where the leaves are pretty and the temperatures are cold!  We can’t wait…it’ll be so great to see family, and let the children spend time with family they rarely get to see.

This post is for Scott.  (Hi honey!)  I am so thankful for him, and for all the ways that he serves our family.  Even though he does this all the time, it really stands out during the times I struggle with morning sickness during a pregnancy.  Clearly, the more children we have, the more work there is to do, and Scott always drops many personal interests during this time to help me and the children.

So, I was thinking about some of the things that he does to practically serve us, and I wanted to write them down.

::  clean up the kitchen after meals when I am unable to
::  train and spend time with the children

::  vacuum the floor
::  prepare dinner on countless evenings
::  pack your own lunch for work

::  take out the garbage
::  bathe the children in the evenings
::  work late at night, when everyone else is sleeping, so our evenings can be spent as a family

::  take the children to the park so I have some time alone at home
::  stop and pick up take-out for dinner on the way home from work
::  grocery shop for the week
::  work from home so I can take a nap

::  get the chidren up and feed them breakfast so I can sleep in
::  take a little person (or more than one!) with you when you run out on an errand
::  run to the grocery store when I crave something specific
::  take time on Saturdays, one of the only days you have to yourself, to play with the children and spend time with us

Of course, there are a million other things he does, but these are the things I could think of for a quick list.

I love you, Scott!  You are a blessing to me…thank you for sacrificing for us.

The girls were away at Grampa and Gramma’s this week, so Asher got Mommy and Daddy all to himself for a few days.

We had a nice week…Asher was a pleasure to spend the week with, although I think he misses his sisters.

(thanks for helping put the screen door in, Dad!)

Our neighbor was cleaning out her garage and found a fun toy that her little boy had outgrown.  Oh. Boy.

This is Asher’s “rockick”, and he just can’t get enough of it.  It sports buttons that make blast-off noises when pressed, which is a new thing (we don’t get many toys that make noise).

Posting may be a little light for the next couple weeks, maybe longer.  Although I am faring much better this pregnancy that with past pregnancies, many days are still difficult.  I am hoping to feel better soon, but until then, we may be quiet now and then.

We had a really nice time in the mountains, the biggest contributing factor being that it was 10-15 degrees cooler.  Yes, much nicer.

We went on a couple (child-friendly) hikes,

saw some gorgeous mountain ranges,

spent some time on the front porch swing,

played with friends,

giggled at cute babies,

and had a really relaxing, nice time.

In other exciting news, Asher has learned to feed himself!  He is such a big boy now, and we all think it’s great!