It's my favorite time of year!

smart snap! : )

Christmas is in full swing over here.  It's so fun with Riley believing in Santa and Lyssi Lu getting so excited over the boxes that hold her gifts.  We may have let her play with her special things prior to wrapping them because Sister isn't going to remember anyways.  Her verdict for them is excitement and we are pretty excited for her to rip them open and actually play with them.  The tree has been up since Thanksgiving weekend and the stockings have been hung with care.  Our elf on the shelf has made another appearance this year and the craze regarding the elf is insane!  Last year our elf was thrown around and manhandled because Riley didn't quite get it.  This year after reading the book and watching the movie he is in awe of that elf.  Ours' is named Skippy and that beats Elfie from last year.  He has caused some trouble buts it's all in good fun and when I asked Riley Friday night what Skippy was going to report to Santa he replied: "that I am a good boy, that I eat good (he must be confused!), I play good and I help my Sister.  I answered back "will he tell Santa that you share?"  Riley: "Addually, I am still working on that one."  Ha!  The boy is certainly honest and that counts for something!

We went to a work party for D's company Saturday and we hired a real babysitter.  The kids were pretty stoked to see her and we enjoyed really good food and lots of laughs as the rest of the sales team has awesome wives.  D was nervous about leaving the kids after Friday night caused bags under our eyes.  Lyssi Lu got a non sleeping bug up her butt that I am guessing from her new found crawling ability and she was wide awake and pissed off about us trying to let her cry it out til 3:00 or later in the morn.  I seriously don't know how I stayed up all those nights with her because it was miserable and thank goodness she is back to sleeping through the night again!  Sister was exhausted Saturday and looking miserable.  She was a handful but after a great nap she was herself again and we are thankful for both kids being healthy before we leave on Thursday.

I cannot for the life of me remember why I thought I could leave the kids for 3 nights.  I was just giving Lyssi Lu a bath and I couldn't stop crying.  She was looking at me all sweet and smiley and I just can't imagine leaving her.  Will she understand that we are coming back?  Will she be good for her Nana's and Auntie Teetee?  Will Riley get all sad over Daddy being gone like he did last time D left for a night?  Good Lord, what were we thinking!?  I am missing out on the Sunday School program Saturday night and listening to the kids sing their 3 songs so proud and loud today made tears spring up.  They sing so sweetly and with all their hearts.  I am so bummed I will be missing it.  There is nothing better than seeing Christ through a child's heart and I am so lucky to be there in the mess of it as they proudly proclaim their faith.

Prayers for safe travel and for our kids to feel our love are going to be frequent and desperately repeated throughout the week.

Prayers to you and yours while you prepare for the Christmas celebrations and everything that comes with them.

My favorite new ornaments for this year...I got an A, R, and D...self explanatory and then an M because even I think of myself as just Mommy and not Lindsey anymore! : )

So excited to see the kid's names on the stockings soon!

Old faithful, red, silver, and a spattering of the favorite ornaments from past and present. 

Silly Skippy!

He tried to parachute into the stocking and missed a bit! ; )



I think that 4 strings of white lights on the tree is sufficient! ; ) and yes, I realize it got a little "light" bare towards the top! 

 I guess we will see on the flip side!