Balancing Bliss

Christmas....

it was a quiet Christmas here at the Sades and with very low expectations... i think it went as well as possible considering i got up 3x at night with baby and gav started getting up @ 4am trying to sneak to the tree... really? we stayed here... poppy came over to open presents and brian made french toast and maple sausage...mmmm. then it was just the 6 of us and a turkey in the oven for the day... very pleasant...

there was still some magic for gav...

and some posing that i totally give credit to his drama teacher for;

the loot;

santa brought the exact mp3 player that was left on a post it note on the computer... imagine that. right down to the sku#.

Eli Blu-

mr. electronics has taken to basket ball which lightens mommas heart. exercise. YES! so imagine her happiness when santa brought a hoop and glow in the dark ball so he can play at any time of day!

and in true Sade tradition... a JEEP... because at least 1 Sade kid has to carry on the tradition and be a 4th generation 'Jeeper' ... hopefully this planted a seed...

his most favorite gift was a bag of chips my sister gave him because i'm always a nag and tell him to stop eating chips at family get togethers... he jumped up and down and still carries it around... i seriously thought he was going to try to sleep with it!

Luci-

on Christmas eve we went to my mothers... who gave her a pillow pet... big deal this year... she named him 'buzzy'... and she hugged around his neck so that Santa would see in his 'magic globe' (thank you santa is coming to town movie) that she already got one so he could get her a CD player instead...

thank goodness he did... and it went so well with great grandmas taylor swift cd... which we have heard non-stop since...

she of course was most excited about the search a word on the back of the lifesaver book... wouldn't you know it? lifesavers and chips were the winners... sigh...

just get used to more pics of luci... it is what it is... she loves the camera and it loves her back...

the magic of childhood at it's best...

luci brought home a letter to santa from school ... on the back she wrote "and my baby sister mina wants a rattle" ... so santa had to change what he got her just days before Christmas...

i love how eli blu is diving for a gift in the background and is a total blur..

my gift this year?

                                                                                   and

Lord knows it wasn't my health! i am truly grateful to have my family together, a wonderful husband who does so much while i am down, healthy children,  my dad who goes beyond what he should for us, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives....  Merry Christmas.

 

protection...

so i had some really gross guy take photos from my blog and add them to a porn site of my children... i am absolutely sickened....

i need to make this blog private...

if you read this email me [email protected] and i will send you my new password... i will leave it open to read for 3 days to let everyone read this...

merry CHRISTmas...

                                   St. Luke 2:12

   And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

6wks old....

 

right now miss mina moon;

has started to smile

is sleeping in 3-4hr spurts

has baby acne :(

has chuuuuby cheeks

likes to be wheeled around the house by her siblings in the stroller

spits up as soon as you change her into a clean outfit

poops like nobody's business

did i mention starting to smile?!

normally i would say something like "it's going by too fast".... but this time...the time i should be that way more than ever because she is our last....i'm wishing the time away... sad but true ... i wish she was 6mo old already so we could put this horrific birth and even worse recovery behind us and feel healed and healthy.... i wish i was a bit more me so i could do more for my family and not fall apart by 4pm... 

how we adore that little baby of ours though ... she is bringing joy to all of us, just as i knew she would ... and how i love to dote on her...  kiss her little warm sweet smelling head ... baby talk to her ...  show her off .... making the most of being indoors cuddled up with my little baby during these winter months and looking forward to being in the sunshine of spring with my baby girl...

(thank you nat for the cutest holiday outfit ... she has made use out of it... she wore it Christmas shopping 2x and to a friends 1x... 2more days to go:)

lots of...

nappin'

scrappin'

and gamin'

 

tis' winter break

the reason...

this is the year....

this is the year that i would so just put up the nativity, say a nice prayer, and make a feast for the family... not one gift.. no crazy decorations...without 10 trips to target... without 30 little somethings for everyone in each class... and all the other hoopla... it's just exhausting... but then you have a moment like this;

it's not just a memory... it's a moment captured forever... how little she is... being held by daddy... the year mom let the kids decorate 'her tree'... the year we had a crying newborn until she focused in on the lights... the year we still had that OLD cat under the tree... captured forever...

now with that said... we got out the 3 stockings and we are putting away all the other decorations! i'm sending out premade Christmas cards and eating every plate of cookies brought to our door!

fred....

gaven jumped at the chance to be in the Christmas musical.... he had only been in school a few weeks when he joined the cast of 'scrooge the rock musical'.  those kids put their time in too, they go to school at 7:30am and come home at 6pm.  so proud of that boy....

they asked him if he had ever acted before and he replied "YES"... i said "really? when?" he rolled his eyes at me and said "mooommm, 2nd grade...the silver salmon" ....right... sorry about that, my bad. wink. he was given the role of Fred, scrooges nephew. he also took on many roles in chiors and such as time went on and other kids dropped out.  he even did solo's.... if i had to be up there i would throw up...he didn't get this acting bug from me! my stomach turned FOR him... he pulled it off...

                                    (catherine... why didn't i borrow your lens?!)

 

it was a pain in the butt getting him there, arranging rides, staying up till 10pm doing homework, looking for him after...etc but i am so proud of him for sticking with it... SO PROUD... i teared up everytime i clapped for him... he has found his niche`.

 

sissypants....

 i have called her that since she was a newborn... she will always be my sissypants... she still is @ 7 and will be @ 17...

and she will always be his baby girl... no matter if she is no longer the baby...

happy happy birthday sissypants...

gushing on the girls again...

this girl is 4wks old today... how did that happen? the above pic is titled 'piano fingers' in our computer drive...  no 4wk photo shoot since she got her mouth painted at the dr.'s today :(

this girl helped me make muddy buddies and then sat by the fire with mina and i. we ate bowls of them and shared a diet coke while watching snow white... i was in total awwe of sitting with my girls. plural. many years to come of mommy/daughter moments... total awwe of what is to come.

i knew she would be a great big sister but i had no idea HOW GREAT... she amazes me... she is reading an old old (literally...it's spine is falling off)  classic 'alice in wonderland' to mina in the dark...

well....one girl screaming for milk...another ready to read her bedtime story.... duty calls