...LOL... you do all remember that show 'Where in the world is Carmen San Diego' right?.......anyways....

Man have we been busy! I can't even remember what we've done that I need to post about, jeez! But I will say that we've been the best kind of busy. We've spent time with so many people who are near and dear to us. I wish every season inspired people to open their lives to one another like Christmas does. So often we get caught up in doing life we forget to live it and fill it with all those we love. We loose contact, often forgetting to slow down and enjoy each other, and the blessings get lost in the hustle and bustle of it all. Well at least I know I'm guilty of that from time to time. I think that's why I've enjoyed the last few weeks so much. Instead of the normal holiday rush-Abby got sick and I was forced to slow it down, and realign my priorities. In the end I got everything done, and wrapped just the same. I just managed to keep my head on straight this year- eyes ever focused on the true meaning of this season... our sweet Savior.

Here is a super quick list of what's been going on in the land of the Vibats. Partially for you, mostly so I can remember what I want to blog about before I forget.

Little sang at CBS
We did Cookies with Nina.
Went on an few amazing light searches.
Went to/hosted a few fun parties
Jay and Big went to LHS
Little became an fashionable Iron Chef
Tiny and Faithy love

.....oh I'm sure there is more, looks like I'll be a busy blogger this week hu? .....busy, busy, busy.......but blessed, blessed, surely blessed.

Pause the music on my page first!

Hugs!

While Little was sick, I was overwhelmed, Big was enjoying his last week before Christmas break, and Jay was working Tiny was planning a monumental adventure filled weekend.

For those of you who have know us forever you know that our kids do things fast....usually. I always said I wanted a baby who enjoyed just that being a baby. Big could sit @4 months, and was walking before 9. Little sat @5, walked by 10. Then there is our sweet Tiny. My precious happy baby. She is my blessing. My child who is taking life slower, enjoying the process more, and in turn letting me savor her infancy longer. That was until this weekend.

I say that like she has just been laying around, but that is far from the case. She's been successfully navigating the living room for awhile now. Clinging to any little piece of paper like it was gold. Waiting for the perfect moment to stow it away in her mouth.Savoring every chomp on her wonderful fiber filled treasure before mommy or daddy foiled her plans and pirated it away from her yet again. So life has had it's adventuresome moments but this weekend was the true beginning of her emancipation from babyhood forever. This is a true accounting of the last 3 days events:

She began it by sitting up. Not on her own BUT not completely fighting the idea either. After 7.5 months she can balance while sitting. I believe that once she realized sitting wasn't evil, a veil of woolly eyed babiness lifted and she wanted to explore the scope of her domain. So she headed out to explore further, and discovered the kitchen. OH the joys, and noodles that brought! Who knew her ate was such a benevolent benefactor.

Once the noodles were devoured, she began seeking more adventure. She soon came across the great Mt. Front Entry. She was baffled and entranced by it. She had to conquer it. So she tried many a times from different angles until- yes, success! Up, down, up, down. Once she got the hang of it there was no stopping her from discovering the basket of shoes at the end of the rainbow. EUREKA! What other wonders does this place hold she thought.

All this exploring was tiring so she retired for the evening. Waking up bright eyed is her speciality. So with a HUGE grin and squeal she was ready to see what adventures lay ahead of her today in the land of the Vibats. Lucky for her her mommy was t-i-r-e-d this morning and decided it would be ok if she explored the room she shared with her sister for awhile instead of moving directly to the living room (boring!). The excitement was overwhelming. She had to see more, but wait there was a Huggies wipes ruin in her path. Our adventuress wasn't going to be stopped by Huggies. No, she wouldn't go around it either. She decided to try her hand with her new found climbing skills. So she wnt for it. Yes, success, but wait she wondered what can I do with these ten piggies my mommy is always kissing? So ever so slowly she went for it. One foot, then two and she was standing! She could survey the land and scan for paper so much better from this height. AMAZING!

The land of the Vibats may never be the same again. (I have video proof for the unbelievers that I will post ASAP)

I have realized that THIS is my go to word when life isn't going my way. I have a dear friend who favors 'seriously!', another who uses 'now?!', and one who says 'perfect'. I'm sure we all have our word of choice but mines gatta be REALLY. This week has been a really kind of week.

We had a great weekend, but come Monday I was sick. That's not so bad but by mid day I could tell the girls weren't themselves either. REALLY???!!!???? I thought. The week before Christmas? The week when I have soooOOOoo many unfinished projects, REALLY. Well lucky I got better by Tuesday, Tiny's just stuffed up now, but poor Little is a sick mess. She can't eat because what ever virus she caught has given her multiple canker sores, it's so sad. As you all know sick babies are clingy babies, so even as my heart is aching for her I find myself thinking Really?! could you get any heavier? could this be any sadder...really? So I'm miles behind in my Christmas prep because even if it is untimely my kids ALWAYS come first.

Then today Big came home from school and he lost another jacket!!! This will be his third big coat he's lost this year...REALLY???!!!!?????? This time someone took it from his cubby IN his classroom while he was at lunch. Trust me a phone call will be made tomorrow, but tonight I'm shaking my head and saying really?!?!?!?!... now only 1 week after purchasing it?....now when it's so cold it chills your bones?....now that he no longer has a uniform approved jacket to wear tomorrow... now when moneys so tight.....Really?!?!?!?!

Just when I was feeling bogged down with the negative Reallies, I began finding these, and more like them sprinkled around the house.


Some had been in their hiding places for days. In case you can't read it my very favorite emoish one reads: Tears of love fall into my heart. I love you. I mean really??!?!?!?! ....where does he come up with this stuff?...LOL...... Thank you God that he's so intuitive......I so needed these affirmations.

Really.

Well here are some Highlights from our tree trimming this year.

This year we decided it would be fun to start the tradition of stringing popcorn. Note to self: These sorts of activities are not as fun as they sound just yet with little. She started out being such a great helper. She would pass us whatever we needed. Then she got the fabulous idea that the popcorn belonged on the floor, and for good measure should be stomped to bits.Oh yes, that was so much more fun in here book. LOL. It of course frustrated Big when she got naughty so he gave up too... and lost his needle in the process. We'll just say it was slow going, a learning experience....and very tasty by Littles standards. Just today I had to tell her to stop eating the Christmas Tree....that girl.


I love how the popcorn makes our tree look so homey though! This year we left off all the glass ornaments. We just added lights, the popcorn garland, a few non breakable ornaments, and of course my beloved photo's. Another Christmas tradition we have is adding at least one new picture ornament to the tree every year. My goal is to someday have a tree filled with only the faces of my loved ones through the years. Oh that will be a happy day... I can see it now.....BEAUTIFUL!Little is obsessed with all things Miss-Miss. She loves fussing with the decor, looking at lights ( and yelling Ooohhhh wow NICE!), reading the stories, and searching out Santa. She's so much more animated then Big was at this age. This is one respect where she's reminding me of myself.

I don't have the time to write a full blog tonight but I wanted to share the pictures we got of the kids last week as we were preparing to trim our tree and deck our halls. I'll post about that later though...for now happy viewing!

In case you haven't noticed I love me some traditions! I love the way they make me feel connected to a bigger plan, I love how they bring loved ones closer- I just love them. One of our traditions every Christmas that Big starts asking about right away is cookies with Nina.

Since he was born we have made a point to get together with his godmother Perla and make Christmas cookies. She lets him pick what kind, what decorations, the works. It's a time where the focus is on truly enjoying each other and the process. the results haven't always been pretty, or tasty for that matter. But that's not really what mattered anyways because it has always been time well spent. They laugh, they bake and they bond. Here are some pictures from cookies with Nina circa 2005.


Can't you see the love and laughter getting baked in?

Oh yes, that is what traditions are made of.

Ok I'm SOOO very behind in posts! I have a list of things I want to share but I thought I'd start with something you Mommy's would appreciate, and get a good laugh from.

On my birthday we had a minor Christmas catastrophe...ok well that may be a bit dramatic but you'll understand where I'm coming from when you see the pictures.....

I was in the bathroom trying to get dolled up for my birthday. Jay was in charge of getting the girls dressed. I wanted to take pictures with them in these matching sweaters they have. (sweaters I might add that were hand-me-downs from different people at different times but happen to be the perfect sizes for the girls to match right now....I love when God does little things like that) Anyways, all was quiet...I should have know something had gone a rye....and I was taking my time, it was my birthday after all. Well when I was done I walked to the living room and saw this:


Oh yes, Little was using a plastic plate and scooping ashes out of the fireplace and dumping them everywhere! I mean everywhere, on Tiny's head, the couch, all over herself and my freshly cleaned living room. Both the girls were happily playing in the ashes as though it were a fresh snow fall. I yelled "what are you guys doing?" and they both looked at me with the 'I didn't do anything face' Now I didn't even know a 6 month old was capable of that look, but I assure you now that they are. I was faced with a laugh or cry moment. I chose to take pictures and laugh. Oh, the mischief of it all. Oh, the future schemes I have to look forward too from these girls. Oh, the sisterly comradery ....LOL. This is not to say that I didn't have a few choice words for my dear hubby. He swears he had just left them a moment before..hmmmm....it could very well be true knowing Little.....














He cleaned their clothes (and helped clean the living room AGAIN) for me and in the end I got these pictures before we left to get our Christmas tree, but I'll save that for another post.

Today was full of wonderful surprises and it's not even my birthday yet!


For starters, Little NEVER even tried to get into our bed until 6:45 this morning. It was fabulous! I woke up at 6;30 feeling refreshed for the first time in a long time. Hopefully the sweet dreams just keep on coming.

I also caught this picture of her and her new big girl bangs today. She just got them cut yesterday. Jay was so sad. He says she looks too big now. I just like seeing her face, but you all already know I'm a sucker for my babies faces.

Then tonight as I was getting ready to go to the Katina's concert at my church my hubby announced he would be joining me. Jay went to church with me!!!! I was so tickled about that that the music could have been awful and I wouldn't have cared. Score for me though because it was great! So uplifting, and up beat. Leah and Rowen joined us and we all got to sing and dance, and praise our maker. I loved it!

Just when I thought my birthday eve was over and couldn't get any better.. ..it did!

Right after we got home (and I mean we just walked in the garage 5 minutes before) our doorbell rings. We weren't expecting visitors....Jay opened the door (he said he was confused, so tell you sorry if he seemed weird LOL) and there was Nikki! My sweet friend brought me these birthday balloons and a card from her and Maritez. I was overwhelmed with joy. This simple act of birthday cheer and friendship made me feel so loved. So from the bottom of my mushy heart "THANKS LADIES!" and Nikki, nice call on the three balloons! You averted a near catastrophe by your sly planning. Not more then 2 seconds after the door closed they were already dividing and conquering...LOL....

...I love wonderfully surprising moments! What a great day and it's not even my birthday yet. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Christmas 2004 Big was working on learning his ABCs. Both on sight and their sounds. We had a ton of help in this task from the leap frog Letter Factory. Big was obsessed with watching it. As I've mentioned about a million and one times before he's always loved learning. As he learned to spot each letter and their sound we'd add it to our Christmas tree (this was Jay's great idea). Big loved it. he loved showing off his tree full of ABCs. Proudly walking everyone who came over to see his newest letter. It was fantastic! As Christmas turned to New Years our tree had a FULL and complete alphabet hanging from it. It was perfect. A visual reminder that an amazing little boy lived in the house. A boy who loved learning, and silliness, and the simple things like paper ABC's strung with yarn on a tree.