Lord, please don't let this little girl get hurt again

Abby has inherited my grace and agility.  Abby, I am sorry about that.  We were working on Christmas cards on Saturday morning.  I walked over to get the waffles out of the toaster.  When I was walking back, I watched as Abby simply fell out of the chair she was sitting in.  She just hit the floor.  It was not on purpose.  It surprised her as much as it surprised me.  She came up with a huge scrape on her nose.  It joins the bruise on her forehead she got the night before while wrestling with her brother.  Dang girl, you look like you got beat up. 

This is not Abby's first run in with injuries.  There was the infamous toenail that fell off when she hit it with a door.  Abby handled it with her own style, which eased the pain but did not stop the grossness. When her toe nail fell off, she put it in a sandwich baggy to show everyone.  We all had the same stomach churning reaction.  Then she asked me to paint her toenails, including the skin where the toe nail used to be so it would all "look good."  Yep, that was gross.  To Abby, it was awesome. 

I can't wait she will do with the headwounds.  She did ask me to write a note to her teacher this morning explaining what happened.  I asked her, why don't you just tell the teacher.  Abby let me know it would be better if there was a note.  The least I can do is give her (and her teacher a reason) to give her extra attention.

Thankful

It is hard to teach kids to be thankful. We talk about it and discuss it, but when it comes right down to it, they (we all) have it pretty good. Our house is warm and there are things we like to eat. The laundry is done and we have cable. Will did a paper at school of all the things he is grateful for. This reminds me that the basic things are good things and not to miss them.  This is so my boy:

To follow his example, here are the things I am grateful for this Thanksgiving.
1. I am thankful for 4 healthy, vivacious children that challenge and delight me.
2. I am thankful for disposable diapers.
3. I am thankful for maternity leave.
4. I am thankful that I remembered to thaw the turkey this year.
5. I am thankful for a husband who has funny stories and more patience than me.
6. I am thankful for a mom that doesn’t mind coming to my house to cook most of the thanksgiving meal.
7. I am thankful for mashed potatoes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas Card 2012

A big thank you to my friend Christy for taking pictures of us for our Christmas card.  Thanks to her, we only had to get dressed and walk down the street to take our pictures.  After  I washed everyone, (or forced people to shower...you know I am talking about you, Matt), convinced everyone that the clean matching clothes I picked out would not hurt them (this included Matt) and then squeezing my ownself into my only acceptable pair of jeans, I could not mentally be strong enough to get this whole crew out somewhere to take pictures. 

We ended up with some great pictures! These will be coming out in my Christmas cards.  But a blog is no good unless it has the outtakes. Bear with me as I must add commentary.

Matthew started the bad idea of bunny ears.  When I found out, my face changed from this happy smile to darkness so fast that I scared the kids.  Matt is used to it so it barely registered with him.

Here comes the sassy!  This is Abbys natural pose.

Oh Harper, I see you trying to get back to your old spot on my lap.  I should have told you that you would be giving it up to CC for at least a year.

I love this one!  Too bad Harper is wearing her Hello Kitty flip flops on a cold November morning.  Christy cropped those out for me for the final.

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Halloween 2012

It was a very exciting year of trick-or-treating for the Perryman family!  Matt came down with the stomach bug on Halloween day so he didn't get to go as Tiger this year.  He did offer it to me but I opted to go as a banana again (I AM ANNA BANANA!!).  Thank goodness Shay was here to help with the trick-or-treating rounds.

Our night started at 5:30 because I couldn't hold off the troops any longer. 

1. Harper went as a princess.  She had to be talked into a long sleeve shirt under her dress because it was 50 degrees.  Harper held her own at the start of the night by running after the big kids from house to house.  When it got dark, Harper began to ask the people handing out candy "are there monsters here?"  Each neighbor assured Harper there were no monsters but that didn't stop her from getting in the stroller and not getting out until we got home. 

2. Cecilia went as a skunk.  She slept the whole time. She did give up her stroller to Harper when it got dark but she continued to sleep while being held.

3. Will was a reluctant Ninja.  He let me know that I purchased his costume too big so he didn't want to wear it.  He changed his plan once the candy started flowing into his bucket.

4. Abby went as a diva.  That was the PERFECT costume for my little diva. 

This girl loves towels

Harper has always loved towels.  Since she has been able to talk, Harper could say "tow-el."  Her love for towels has not wained, even as she has grown into a remarkable young lady.  A side effect of Harper's towel love is that I find towels EVERY WHERE.  She sleeps with a towel.  She has towels at school.  She keeps one in the car.  My linen closet have towels stolen regularly.  We have purchased her special towels, but Harper is not discriminatory about her towels.  She just wants them all, they must be nubby and they have to be dry (don't give her a wet towel, not even a little).  When I walked around this morning, here are all the places I found discarded towels.

William and his sisters

William, along with me, was pretty surprised when Cecilia was a girl and not a boy.  We had let the gender be a surprise until the birth.  Here is the story he wrote.  The pictures is upside down so here is what is says: Hi, my name is Will.  I have 3 sisters.  I have 0 brothers. 

While he was not so excited at first, he is such a good big brother to CC. He loves to hold her and take care of her. Will and I have talked about that God has blessed him with not one, but three sisters. He gets to be a very special guy in our family.

Baby Cecilia Anne is here

We have number 4!  Cecilia Anne arrived on her due date, 9-20-2012, at 6pm.  She gave us a run for our money, trying to stay in when we all wanted her out.  My epideral wore off at the end of the delivery but I did survive (I do not regret the loud words I had for the doctor).  No matter how she made her entrance, I could not be happier with my newest family member.  William, Abigail, and Harper were thrilled to meet their little sister. 
Since having Cecilia I have learned:
1. My mom rocks.  She came up and cooked, cleaned and kept me sitting on the couch for a whole week.  I already knew my mom rocked, but it was a good reminder. 
2. My house is loud.  Cecilia is right at home in the noise.  She sleeps right through it all.
3. Harper was a really easy baby.  I guess I believed that Cecilia would be like that.  She is not.  Cecilia is not a bad baby, she just wants to stay up all night.  I want to sleep.
4. The kids are conspiring against my sleep.  Harper, Will and Abby woke me up at different times in the same night.
5. I am no longer pregnant however I don't want to give up my pregnancy eating habits.  I love chocolate cake.