The Year of CLEAN

You wouldn't think this title appropriate if you walked into our house tonight. Or anytime during a weekday. I'm not guaranteeing any increase in vacuuming events or dusting (heaven help me!) than any other year. However, the Guilds are on a mission to rid our basement and closets of CLUTTER! We have successfully cleaned and organized our large storage room in the basement with labeled rubbermaid tubs for all kinds of things.

The storage room was a big one for me because it meant I had to sort through, throw away, give away or recycle most of 15 boxes of teaching stuff. I love teaching. I hope to return to the occupation one day, but for now I do not need to save a binder from every semester of every course that I taught. I now have one box of stuff, a very precious jump drive of files, and few lab toys (that I couldn't part with) remaining in their designated area of the storage room.

Tonight was the office... and so we roll. Into a year with less clutter.

Odds and Ends

Random events from the holidays:

~ When we were celebrating Jesus' b'day with cupcakes, Jonathan grabbed the flame of one of the candles. A very memorable lesson! Each time he has seen a candle or fire at someone's house he says, "Fire is not to touch. Fire hurts us." Yes, my son, and you had to learn by doing. It was a small candle and the boy is just fine.

~ I realized I had been quite lax about letting Jonathan put on his pajamas at any point in the day when the following conversation occurred:

Me: "Jonathan, it's time to take off your pajamas and get dressed."

J: "Where are we going, Mom?"

Me: "Nowhere, it's just time to get dressed."

J: "But, we're not going anywhere, Mom."

~ Caleb is a one-little-man wrecking machine. Wrecking my house, that is. I've relaxed a LOT on the orderliness of my house since having the wee ones. The question remains: why do they pick up, move and drop items all over the house, all day long, without really playing with most of them??

Guild Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Jamie's family after his parents returned from Michigan. Caleb was very tired on this evening and decided to make an early exit to bed. To say that Jonathan had a good time with Sofie and Drew would be a drastic understatement. We hardly saw him when Sofie or Drew was available to play. They were very patient and exceedingly kind to play and play and then play some more.

We had such a wonderful time with family and friends in Iowa! I always wish that there was more time and that the trip wasn't quite so long to get there.

Christmas on the Roof

Mom and Dad built a room above the garage, and it is great! It's big, warm (thanks to a spiffy unit that heats and cools it), and perfect for a Christmas opening with small children.

A perfect bow for that forehead, Grampie!

We've been working on limiting Jonathan's fingers in the mouth, but obviously I was a little lax in my efforts this night.

Jake is a very busy little guy... he was all about dancing on this box.

Jonathan and Jamie slept in the room on the roof one night, and Caleb and I slept up there the next night. Caleb didn't seem to be all that thrilled about sleeping that night so the rest of the family was most appreciative that I quarantined his crying and fussing to the "roof" with me. He was in a mood and didn't seem to think the pack and play was a good idea. I did think that the pack and play was a good idea, and guess whose idea won? Yep: me. After two hours of fussing and fiddling.

Snow...

I stand firmly by my position that if it is going to be cold and winter must come: there should be lots of snow. We do not have snow very often where we live, and I miss it! We enjoyed a morning of sledding in Iowa with Abby and her family and all of us, minus Caleb (who was sleeping). Jonathan bailed after about three trips down the hill and started playing on the snow-covered playground so there are no photos of him :+)

Nate, Carla, and a very snow-covered Jacob

Abby and me: bundled up and ready

UNO and A Strange Medical Procedure

Grammie is always a willing participant to the whims of my three year old. Jonathan decided that Grammie needed to go to the hospital, and this involved covering her in books. It was unclear what the purpose of the books was to be, but he was quite excited about getting Grammie all fixed up at the hospital.

Jonathan enjoys playing UNO, and he was lucky enough to get to play with Grammie and Grampie while we visited. I think that Grampie won both times. Some things don't change. Dad never let us win, no matter how little we were. Wonder where we got our competitive nature from?

Gingerbread Baby

The week before Christmas (and our trip to IA) we made gingerbread men and gingerbread babies. The frosting was a big hit with Jonathan and his friends, Julianne and Erica. Jonathan's motto: "If a little is good, a lot is better!"



They were delicious and great fun (and long since eaten).