more christmas eve choir

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The first mass for Christmas was 4pm on Christmas Eve. We were supposed to be there 30 minutes before in order for the choir to have a quick practice. I thought that was enough time to get seats, but apparently most everyone thought the same because by the time we got to church people were already standing. We ended up separated but thankfully, the girls were able to sit in the choir area.

Children's Choir

J and K have joined our church's children's choir that began in mid-October. They practice for just a few minutes right before our mass starts so it's completely no pressure for the kids. This is the Christmas  Eve mass. We are a very proud!

Curious George in a church play

Curious George was part of a church play this weekend with 2 performances, Saturday night and Sunday morning. He enjoyed it, even though he barely knew half the words on the songs. But he sang them proudly. :) It's hard to miss him, he's always the one moving.

He woke up not feeling well on Sunday, but he still wanted to go. It's obvious on his face he wasn't quite himself, if holding his arms out when he saw me was any indication. He wanted Mommy.

Oh yeah, he also had the worst case of "Elvis legs". I just made that term up, but if you watch the videos, you'll know exactly what I mean.

You will also hear the girls in the background. The first couple of videos, Thing 1 wanted to go up in the stage and was a little upset. Then she wanted me to sing along.













Day 2 - very tired and not feeling well and coughing.

Easter Egg Hunt

The kids were able to participate in 2 Easter Egg hunts; at their grandparents' church and at Curious George's new school.

Thing 2 finds eggs with the help of a lovely young lady.

Thing 1 drops one of her egg while picking up another! Thankfully the boy handed it back to her.

Curious George was Mr. Speedy Gonzalez and was zipping through the grass gathering eggs.

Thing 1 looks for some more.

Time to count the eggs!

Thing 1 realizes that the eggs open and inspects what's inside. Nothing!?

Curious George wins a blue bunny rabbit for coming in 2nd for the most eggs. Notice his 'boy' construction basket.

Note Curious George's very very short hair. He was using a pair of child's scissors cutting up paper by himself when he calls out to me. "Mommy, I cut my hair!" I see him holding a few strands of hair and thought, phew. That's nothing. I wander through the dining room where he was doing his cutting and notice tons of hair on the floor. Oh my! I check to see his head and right on the top is an almost bald spot! Daddy 'tries' to fix it without a razor and let's just say that after 10 minutes, he had to rush to Walmart and get a clipper.

This is Thing 2 hunting for eggs at Curious George's new school.

Thing 1 hunts for eggs with Mommy while Curious George hunts by himself!

After being off school for a month, Curious George had too much energy and not much to do. While here at their Nana's and Papaw's house, Daddy and I have decided he needed to get back to school. We found a great pre-school by a local Baptist church that Curious George now attends 3 days a week for 3 1/2 hours. It's very different from his old school, but at least he is learning and having social time with new friends.

Chit-Chatty Thing 2

There has been a lot going on this past few days, with Curious George's party on Saturday and with us finally moving to their Nana's and Papaw's place on Tuesday. Life is very busy and there are a lot of photos/videos to share but just don't have time to do that.

But there is something I'd like to share with Miss Thing 2. She has been chatty this past few weeks. For the past couple of months, she loves to pretend to talk complete with gestures and facial expressions but of course, none of us understand her. In the past few weeks, she's been repeating words, use them regularly and pronounce them clearly. She started with the word "water", "apple", and others I can't seem to recall this very minute.

Yesterday, when I caught her doing something she shouldn't, I told her to stop. She didn't listen. I called her again and then she turned to me and said, "What?" I had to ask Daddy if I heard her correctly. I did. Then when she bumped her head one time, I went to her and asked if she had an owwie and if I needed to kiss it. She rubbed her head and replied, "head hurt, hurt." Her first string of two words!

This evening we went to a church dinner and while charming the folks, she went out to a few people (including me) and said, "what?" in a New Yorkan rudish way.

Chatty little monkey!

who would have thought the girls are more difficult alone than when they're together

Daddy wasn't feeling well on Sunday so only Big Bro and I were planning on going to church. Then I had an idea that I can take one of the girls with us to see how they will do alone. Also, partly because I took Thing 1 with me a while ago to the grocery store and I've been feeling guilty that Thing 2 never got her turn.

So with Big Bro and Thing 2 in tow, we headed to church. Big Bro was as good as a 3 year old can be with his coloring books and stickers. Thing 2 was great also, but in the 2nd half of the mass, she started fighting me to get to the floor. She was still a good little girl, but just more fidgety.

When we came home, Daddy said Thing 1 was a little more challenging than usual as well. Instead of playing by herself (like she and Thing 2 usually do), she just kept hanging around Daddy and climbing all over him. And according to Daddy, Thing 1 kept saying, "wan jo, wan jo."
When we put Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the floor, they didn't look at each other but they started playing very close to each other.

Very very interesting....

Oh, I almost forgot. On Saturday afternoon we went to a restaurant for my birthday dinner. But before we left, Big Bro kept saying, "we have to get a cake or we will miss Mommy's birthday!". When we were at the restaurant making our orders, Big Bro told the server that it was my birthday. Out of nowhere! Of course Daddy had a laugh and was amazed that he didn't even have to put him up to it.

So we got free dessert and a birthday song. My boy is soooo sweet. And contrary to what Daddy thinks, I did not get embarrassed. In fact, I enjoyed it.

Katie & Jojo's Baptism

Here are some photos from the girls' baptism. It was bright and early on a rainy Sunday morning. Even though I only got 5 hours of sleep the night before, I thought I handled things fairly well. And many thanks to my mother-in-law and father-in-law, things definitely went smoothly.

This is Jojo's water immersion. Surprisingly, the crying didn't start until she was on the water. (Do you see how Katie is watching the whole thing?)

Then it was Katie's turn to be immersed.
(The four people on the right side are the godparents.)

Finally, the girls are introduced to the community.

Notice that Jojo has socks on, and Katie doesn't. This is because I was the one who changed Jojo after her immersion, and Daddy changed Katie. :-)

This is after the mass. We make a lovely BIG family, don't we?

Behind us is the deacon who performed the baptism. He is the same person who baptized Matty as well.