And the baby walks!

 

There's really not much cuter than seeing a baby finally take off. I'd say about Friday she decided to spit in the face of fear and just start walking. Now she's about 50/50 walking and crawling! Yee haw! She blew her brothers out of the water on this one by a few months.

 

We finally got to cross off one of the "fun Christmas" things on our list today--making Christmas cookies!

 

 

I wish I could just be a little bit more fun myself when we do this. It's not the mess that I have a problem with, I'm just too picky at how it's done. Don't roll the dough so thin, do the cutouts on the edges of the dough and not in the middle so we can get more shapes in, don't take them off the pan like that with the spatula because the cookie will break, don't dip the knife in different colored frostings so it will look nice, etc. I hope they just remember cookie making as fun and not as "disappointing the mama". It's something I am working on....

 

Speaking of mess, here's just a snapshot of the typical mess I come down to once the kids are all in bed. Maybe this one is slightly worse than normal but you get the idea. This is what happens when the papa works night shift and the mama runs food duty, bath/showers, and homework alone in the evenings. Oh, and yes, we are still eating off of a card table.

You really can't see the amount of flour or sprinkles on the floor. You just have to trust me.

Here's what I've gotten it to as we speak. All cleaned up except that mountain of dishes. Some people could never go to bed with that waiting for them. Somehow I manage....

 

But, I am not complaining. Honestly. Because I got to tuck all my kids into bed tonight. HUGE prayers and love going out to Connecticut. I just can't stop thinking about it. What would it have been like as a parent to drive to that school to see if you could find your kid? Oh my goodness. I keep thinking about all of the Christmas trees with presents wrapped under them for kids who will now never open them. The line that keeps running through my head is from one of the kids who lost a sibling and said, "Now I won't have anyone to play with". Gut wrenching.