Recently in the East

Sparrow informed me she wants to marry Zeke (Mahnken) and live next door to Golden when she grows up (after I explained to her that she can't, in fact, marry Golden. Or Silas. Or Daddy.) O.o.

The girls started swimming lessons at the YMCA (one of their Christmas presents) and they are both loving it! They are in separate classes due to different ages, but the time coincides, so they are usually in adjoining lanes! LOL. I even managed to work out during their 2nd week, for like a whole 20 minutes, in the GYM! I don't remember the last time I was in a gym. Probably when I was pregnant with Sparrow. Or before I was married. It was short-lived, however. That evening I slipped on our den stairs, and broke my coccyx! OW! ...OK, it's not really broken. I was trying to quote Napoleon Dynamite. Anyways, my tailbone hit the other stair right on the corner. I lay there and wailed like a bebe. And then I just lay there some more. I had spilled a cup of milk all over and Sparrow had to run and get a cloth to get it off the carpet. And go find the arnica gel. She was very worried about me, and Silas cried to see that happen to his mama! Cried! Then I got a bit grumpy, I hate to admit, and made them clean the floor since I couldn't move (awful, but the mess was adding to my stress.) Finally Thomas arrived home from work and life went on. Slowly. Golden had fallen asleep on the couch after swimming and had missed the whole thing and my husband was so helpful, even washing the food processor of his own initiative! Now there is a good man for you! It was painful even sleeping that night, but several days and several prayers later, it is feeling soooooooooo much better.

This morning, in fact, based on what we "caught" at church last night from Kevin Dedmon, the girls both laid hands on me and said the sweetest prayers! Sparrow prayed for no more pain and for the presence of God to come--such sincere, big words, and Golden prayed in the Holy name of Jesus, it made me so glad. And I DID feel a little better, I told them I felt about 20% better, and Sparrow was SO excited, she cheered! Now THAT is the kind of enthusiasm we need for healing!

Silas knows all his colors (or almost all)--finally! He may have known them for a long time, but the gift of language is finally coming to him, so now we know it. =) He says "uhp-ul." for "purple. So cute. He still usually leaves out the beginning consonants and puts glottal stops in between syllables, but we can understand him, and it's adorable! It's finally taking off. He is at this point like the girls were around 18 months. Every day I catch him saying something new. He says "Addy" and "Ammy" without the middle stop, as well as "Angy," which, as everyone knows, means "daddy," "mommy," and "monkey." =) He LOVES books and I enjoy my special time with him before his nap every day, when we read some "boy" books together.

Pippa sprouted her first tooth on New Years' Day, after I'd been singing this to her over and over the day before:

On the last day of the year you were born
On the last day of the year you were born
Are you gonna get a tooth?
Are you gonna get a tooth,
On the last day of the year you were born?

The 2nd tooth also quickly followed. WOW. 9 months. AND with it came more of an interest in eating. No baby food for this one, though, she prefers cheese sandwiches! Loves 'em. Can't stand baby cereal. Though she does appreciate butternut squash, avocado, banana. Round about the 9th of January she also learned to clap her hands! I absolutely LOVE this baby stage. Every time she hears anyone say "Yay!" she claps her hands! Toothy, clappy, and chappy-cheeky.

Golden can write her own name! It seemed s huge different after just a few weeks! Now she knows all the letters and is even doing them curly-style, like her sister. O.o. She signed her name in all the Christmas thank-you cards! I guess my work here is done. =)


On the evening of the coccyx event, it snowed. Our first East Coast Snow!!! Of course, the children missed it cause they were sleeping in bed, and I missed it cause I was staring at a computer screen doing work for my contractor job with MDB Media--which I love. Nonetheless, the way we find out things in our own backyards nowadays is via the internet (alas, modern world!) and I realized it had snowed when I read someone's post on Facebook that night! Doh!!! I looked out the window, and sure enough! Hahahahahaha! I had a magical window moment all by myself at about 12:30 a.m. There were about 2 inches of snow on the grass. The snow was heavily preceded by rain (days worth) and also followed by rain, so the girls informed me the next day that it was "crunchy," but hey. It was SNOW! And their excitement the next morning was beautiful. "I KNEW it would snow!" Sparrow gushed. She said she had kept trying to wake Golden to tell her in the morning, but Golden kept mumbling that it was only "jackfrost," and didn't want to get up. Finally she was convinced to look, and then you can bet she was WIDE awake! I love those little snow fairies. Now let's have a foot or so! I want to see it come down and I want to say, as in "Despicable Me," *IT'S SO FLUFFY!* ...Though in that movie, she was referring to a unicorn. =) My magic will be snow.