December 24th

It's here! It's here! Christmas eve is here!!

The first thing we had to do this morning was make cookies for Santa. . . after all, if Santa doesn't have any cookies to eat, he's not going to be very happy. (According to Lucy) And by all means, we need Santa to be happy so he can bring our Tinker Bell doll and My Little Pony coloring book! :)

Rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes

We baked our cookies and then let them cool. After lunch, it became quite obvious that we were WAY too wound up to settle ourselves down for a nap. I had made that mistake yesterday and she woke up from her nap even crankier than before. So we skipped nap and will just go to bed early to wait for Santa. Instead we ran to go pick up a little bit more milk (wouldn't want to run out of milk on Christmas Eve, right?) and then came back and decorated our cookies for Santa.

Tasting to make sure they are good

Did I mention she is a little wound up today? ;)

The kids have had lots of fun playing together. Lucy sang all of the Christmas songs that she knows to the boys this morning. They chimed in with noise quite often and all had a good time laughing together. It makes me excited for those fun times ahead as they get older and really begin to interact and play.

Right now, Michael is cooking Christmas dinner (I am in charge of breakfast) and Charlie and Alex are taking a little nap in their swings after their fun play time this afternoon. (Pictures coming up!) Lucy is in her room, cleaning it AGAIN. Yesterday we found a place for all her princesses, for all her ponies, and put away all her blocks and play food. By this afternoon, all of it was out in the middle of the floor again. . .got to have room for our new toys, so she's in her room playing cleaning now.

I picked up the camera while we played this afternoon. Here are some of my favorites. . .

Three happy Flacks

 Charlie and Lucy

Alex had wiggled away by then. . .

Two handsome dudes, if I say so myself!

Alex - I could just eat this little face up!

His "Cool" face

One can only guess what this conversation is about . . 

Lucy jumped in with her brothers for these. . . 

Now we're just waiting on Santa!! 

December 23rd

Can it really be true? Just two more days? The excitement at our house is overwhelming!

We got ready to go to church this morning. There was a brunch during Sunday school so we worked hard to get everyone ready to go by 9:30. (That means the getting ready process has to start at 6 in the morning. . . it is no easy feat to get everyone ready for church!) Lucy also decided this morning that she wanted Mommy to "put a curl" in her hair. We haven't tried that before, but she sat very still and let me curl it. We even put some hairspray in there too. However, she is cursed blessed with hair like her mom, so the curl had fallen out within five minutes. So here are my sweet little ones, dressed in their Christmas best!

Michael needed to take his white stole down to church so he would have it for Christmas Eve tomorrow. Lucy decided she wanted to dress like Daddy. (Pay no attention to the giant mess that is the living room behind her. . . we will have to do some cleaning tomorrow so that Santa will have a place to put his presents!)

We are so blessed to be at Salem United Methodist Church and were truly touched today by the love the congregation showed to our family. At the end of the service, they presented us with a monetary gift, which was more than enough in and of itself. But they didn't stop there. They also had a gift for Lucy with a stocking full of activities and a My Little Pony remote control car. This was one super-excited little girl!

It goes without saying that she has driven the car up and down the hall all afternoon. :) The generosity of our sweet church doesn't end there though. There was also a little red wagon for the boys and this giant Coca-Cola bear.

(Don't let the boys faces fool you - they were ready for a nap at this point! This evening, Lucy was moving the bear around the room and both boys were grinning and watching its every move!)

And all of this is more than we deserve. But then, they also told us that the boxes and boxes of items that were collecting under the Christmas tree at church were their gift to us. The boxes were filled with household items like paper towels, toilet paper, spaghetti noodles, diapers, wipes, baby food, muffin mix, and so much more. There was even a turkey for us in the freezer!

Words can't even begin to described how overwhelmingly blessed we are. We are so grateful for the love they have shown to our family and so thankful to be able to serve our Lord along side them. What a blessing each one of them is to us!

And then, here are a few pictures of Alex and the giant polar bear. Charlie finally calmed down to take a nap . . . just as Alex decided he was done with his nap! Oh well. . .

December 22nd

So here is how Lucy will find Zoey in the morning ...

December 21st

We woke up this morning to snow! Not much - just a slight dusting. It was pretty to look at though! As Lucy was leaving for school, we told her to stick out her tongue and catch some snowflakes. She replied, "It's too early. I never eat December snowflakes. I always wait until January." Apparently we have watched Charlie Brown's Christmas movie a few too many times! She changed her mind quickly though once she got outside.

 

 Other than the snow excitement, it has been a pretty simple day around here. Michael finished up his sermons and bulletins for the next few weeks. I put a dent in the mountain of never-ending laundry and the boys have played and slept. Alex was a little on the wiggly side tonight, so we pulled out the exer-saucer and let him try it out for about five minutes. He really seemed to enjoy himself and Lucy was all too happy to show him how everything worked. ;)

Charlie has been rolling all over the place so you have to watch out for him. . . if you walk away, he will be in new spot when you come back! I'm not quite sure I'm ready for these boys to have the ability to be mobile. . . 

December 20th

Can it really only be five days til Christmas? Time is flying by!!

Lucy has enjoyed spending her afternoon watching Christmas movies. . . Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Wee Sing Best Christmas . . . at least it's a change from My Little Pony and Blues Clues!

She also came home today with ornaments that she made at school. :)

Lately, I haven't posted a lot of news. After all, I really keep this blog up so that I will remember the things my children have done! ;) The boys are growing so quickly. As you saw in the video yesterday, they are beginning to interact with each other and they love when someone sits and talks to them one on one. They are happy babies. . . but they sure do have their moments! They both have been rolling all over the place and scooting on their backs around the floor. The other day, they moved their playmat from the middle of the floor to underneath the tree. For the past two mornings, Charlie has rolled himself onto his belly to sleep. He doesn't stick his butt up in the air the way Lucy used to though! And speaking of mornings, the boys have been sleeping from their 8 PM feeding until around 5:30 in the morning for the past 4 nights! I feel like a new person - it's amazing what sleep can do for you!!! ;)

Lucy is doing well. She has also been waking up around 5 or 5:30. . . I'm not sure if it's because she hears the rest of us stirring, but she always wants to look for Zoey. (Our elf) She is so excited about Christmas and it has been so much fun this year. I thought last year was great but her joy and excitement and wonder at everything is contagious. I'm trying so hard to freeze some of these memories in my memory because I want this stage of innocence and joy and wonder to last forever.

Oh, and a cute Lucy story I don't want to forget. We always have communion at church on the first Sunday of every month. Lucy had been in the nursery so she came up after I had already gone up. She looked at me and I nodded and she ran to take communion from her Daddy. She got her bread, dipped it in the cup and ate it. . . and then went and got in line with Mr. Wendell to get another piece of bread because she loves it so much. ;)

December 19th

No pictures today . . . Lucy had school and then went with her Daddy to go visit the shut-ins of our church. The boys and I spent the afternoon at the doctor's office. All of my children have terrible skin, but Charlie's eczema had gotten really bad. I didn't want to take him into the office because I don't want to be around all the sick kid germs right before Christmas, but it just wasn't getting better. So after a 2 1/2 hour excursion to the doctor's office, we have a new steroid cream. Hopefully, he will start to look better soon!

The above video was taken after the boys had been "chatting" for about 3 or 4 minutes. They are beginning to be aware of each other when they play and it's so cute to see them interact. It must be nice to have a built in best friend for life. :)

December 18th

So, this evening, Lucy was playing with Alex and they were laughing and having a good time. I picked up my camera to snap a couple pictures and it said my memory card was damaged and would no longer work. I have no idea how it got damaged between last night when I took pictures and this evening, but apparently it has. Fortunately, I found another one we had here this evening, so I'll be ready tomorrow. You'll just have to make due with pictures from a previous day!


I know, aren't they pitiful? They were dressed so cute the other day, but we got home from running errands and they had enough! I had gotten them out of their seat and was getting ready to feed them and they were just SCREAMING. . . so I snapped a photo! At least life here is never dull!

December 17th

Pappy brought up the rocking chairs he made for Charlie and Alex so tonight the kids put on their Christmas PJs for a picture. At first, it seemed as if we were just going to have to call it quits. Lucy decided she was going to turn into a diva . . .

But she pulled it together and we got some cute shots. I was worried about the boys sitting in their chairs, but they did amazingly well! Of course, Michael is off to one side and I have one hand out ready to catch the other one. . .

Two out of three smiling is pretty good. . .

I also took Lucy's picture by herself as well. We have taken her picture in the rocking chair every year so I wanted a chance to compare those as well.

6 months old

(Yes, those are the same PJs that Alex is wearing above!)

18 months old

2 years old

 And then we have this year's picture. . . I read a pin on Pinterest that talked about how to get children to give you natural smiles. It said that when you tell them to say cheese, you're not able to get them to smile with their eyes. They may have a smile on their face (however "cheesy" it is) but it doesn't reach their eyes. You can tell that in the first picture I took. .

 In the article, it suggested that you either show them the facial expression you wanted or else tell them to laugh. (There were lots of other ideas too which I store away for later!) So I tried that and I was pleased with the results . .  maybe we can be finished with those crazy smiles she's been giving lately! ;) And I love how you can see the smile in her eyes too because that's how she looks when she's happy.

Just too cute!

December 16th

Tonight was the kids program at church. Lucy was so excited that her Grammy and Poppa and Gramma and Pappy were coming to see her!

Lucy's "excited" face

The program started and I wasn't sure what was going to happen. She didn't look too thrilled to be up there ringing her bell. . . 

I was sure that she would get into it once they started singing Jingle Bells. She sang and played her bell but still was rather reserved (For Lucy, that is).

They got to Rudolph, which she loves to sing and was singing all afternoon. These cute antlers were passed out and Lucy was so distracted by them that she could barely remember to sing!

 Then we got to Carlie's song in the program, "I'm Getting Nothing For Christmas."

Lucy really got warmed up on this song - all the kids sing along on the words, "Somebody snitched on me." She started to add her own motions and got very dramatic on the chorus. . . hopefully I can get a copy of the video soon so that you can see. :)

And finally, we got to her favorite song, "Children Go Where I Send Thee." Well, Lucy decided to let loose and shout sing joyfully through the entire number. I think that the entire congregation was quite entertained.

Lucy, Brody, and Levi sang on the "Five for the Gospel Preachers" line. . . singing into the microphone was Lucy's favorite part of the evening!

The last number the kids sang was "Wonderful Counselor" along with the older ones. Apparently, Lucy thinks she is Willow Smith because she spent the whole song flipping her hair back and forth. ;)

 

It was a cute program overall and was enjoyed by all. I'm so thankful we're at a church with a great children's program!