December

Lots of blessings have come our way this month. Many people who we love are carrying burdens--and to some extent we carry those too--but here at the Honeycutt homestead I'm happy to report that we have had an abundance of love and peace.

Well, we did murder a tree but, hey, that's what it was grown for, right??

(Ok, Home Depot's minions killed it for us, but we don't mind because nothing beats a live tree...).

Billy and I had plenty of help when it came to decorating the tree. Come to think of it, our elves have helped all month by continuously redecorating it.

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is taking walks after dinner to see Christmas lights. We bundle up for the fun of it and to get in the Christmas spirit, not because it's actually cold. (-:

The kids and I decorated a gingerbread house:

And the best part about Christmas is the Christmas music! We listen to Christmas tunes early and often around here, so the kids are starting to learn the words to many of the songs. John and David had fun pretending to play the music too.

Last Sunday, John and Havilah were in our Christmas play for one song with the other preschoolers.

John really got into it:

Havilah did not.

Today we enjoyed our first AZ family Christmas gathering, complete with lollipop making and the First Annual Talent Show. Hava sang "Away in a Manger" with two of her older cousins, Sophie and Haylie.

Christmas is alive and well here--we're looking forward to a festive, relaxing week!

Grandparents (x2)

We had two lovely family visits--first from Billy's parents, Mimi and Papa (in October), and then from my dad, Papa Dave (last week). It's always such a blessing to have family stay with us!

"Make a sad face..."

"Now make a happy face!"

All I want for Christmas...

Actually, he also wants a remote control car...but that doesn't fit the song now does it?

boy in a bucket

Today at lunch, there was a small contest and I'm afraid I was the loser. Here was the score:

High chair: negative 5 points

David's outfit: negative 10 points

Mama: negative 5 points

David: 50 points

Orange bucket and (outdoor!) faucet: 20 points, for the assist

Oh yeah, that noise in the middle of lunch (coming from the back regions of D. S.) should not have been ignored. But he had a blast cleaning up!

I love that boy, even when he stinks!

October (in pictures)

caught a picture of David throwing a ball:

love this one:

two kids in a Costco box:

a few things

Just a few thoughts:

* Tonight at dinner I told John that he gets to start speech therapy at the elementary school down the road. He will start going twice a week and he was genuinely excited. I decided to give it to him straight and I told him that it was speech therapy and that the therapist would work with him on his words and language. He said, "can I go in the morning?" with a smile--so I think he's looking forward to being back in the school setting.

* What I didn't anticipate with that exchange is that Havilah would feel left out. She wanted to go too, poor thing, but of course that can't happen. She looked into her bowl of food and started to cry to herself very softly. Then when I asked her what she was feeling, she tried to hide that she was crying. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she just turned three: her emotions and social awareness are so keen, more than I expect for someone who is so tiny.

* I took the older two to the doctor today for check ups. I promised "no shots!" but we left the doctor's office with no less than one urine analysis, two TB tests (which are shots), three vaccinations, two flu shots, and two orders for blood draws later this week. Oops...I hope they forgive me sometime this month.

* Fall is coming to the desert! It's still a million degrees during the day but I can OPEN MY WINDOWS in the mornings and take un-scorching walks after sunset!! I'm a little excited.

* Mimi and Papa are coming for a visit in one short month! Hooray for grandparent time!

* I've been working through this Bible study with a friend and finding it challenging and encouraging at the same time.

* David is full on walking and I swear that baby will start talking next week. He never stops jabbering! I guess he has to get with the program or get run over! (-:

~E

John is 5!

John is five years old...how is that possible? Weren't we just living in Floyd Light Apartments (loved that apartment...such sweet memories) with little chubby John learning to crawl around? No? Maybe he's zooming up and down the sloped sidewalks on his Razor (muttering "Whoah, that's awesome. Yeah, that's amazing" to himself), growing taller every day, and sometimes giving me a glimpse of what he'll be like at fifteen. And when I'm blogging about his fifteenth birthday...that will be the day.

Here's a story that illustrates a paradox with John: last week, we went to the doctor's office for Billy and the office is next door to the hospital. It was raining that afternoon and we had to park at the far end of the parking lot. John was thrilled to see that an elderly gentleman was driving a little shuttle cart around, taking folks to the front door. John said, "Mom, can I ask him for a ride?" I said yes so he ran toward the man yelling, "Can we get on? Can we ride?" The man was good humored and we climbed on for a ride. John commented on everything: the rain, the ride, the hospital.... Finally, the man asked John, "Are you a chatterbox?" to which John said "no" (and probably thought "a whatbox?"). The elderly man grinned and said "could have fooled me!"

My boy was accused of being a chatterbox! His speech disorder is still present, it's still obvious to anyone who talks to him for more than three minutes...but he's beating it. That kid loves to talk! He and Hava chatter all day. And though our mother/son conversations are limited by his vocabulary, we are starting to be able to talk together about his thoughts and ideas.

John loves to be active, spend time with his dad, cuddle, hear stories, ride his Razor and new bicycle, play with his siblings, help me cook, and go to library story time. And yes, Jenny is still loved. What a sweet (big!) boy!

Havilah is 3!

My darling baby girl is three years old! Wow...and three years old is such a fun age. She talks all the time--about everything--and keeps us (meaning Billy and I) quite entertained. Some of my favorite lines:

"John is almost five and then he'll be a handful."

"Can I go look in the mirror at my curls?"

"I'm not going to ever, ever do that again" (in reference to some injury...)

"Jesus made the people" (she says this several times a day, always out of the blue)

Havilah is potty trained (praise God!), loves (loves!) to play with John all day, is enthusiastic about food, is quite attached to her baby dolls, loves to hear stories, and oh my, oh my that girl can scream...sometimes out of happiness but usually out of frustration or anger. I must admit, I will not miss the screaming part of this age.

The crazy thing about the three year birthday is that it marks the end of the "crucial first three years." At three, 80 percent of "critical brain development" is complete. The foundation for her life has been completely laid and is now ready for her (and us) to build the house of her childhood and adulthood on. It's a scary concept, really, because it feels like a door has closed forever. And yet, it's exciting to be moving into a new stage of her life.

Havilah is a ray of sunshine in our home. She has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger and is definitely a mama's girl. One of my favorite things about Hava is that she is very enthusiastic about everything. I love that girl!

birthday boy

David Samuel is one!

He loved his birthday carrot cake! But he was not impressed with the ice cream; he threw it off his tray...weird baby.

He was methodical with his presents, slowly ripping off the paper and handing me each little piece.

And look who's beginning to walk!

Happy birthday D!