This is a very real picture of my girls. Jane is smiling for the camera, Brooklyn is crying and looking at me to hold her, and Maurie is quietly sucking her thumb and reaching for Brookyln’s hair to hold, as she always does. This, my friends, is the my life.

Hello I have written probably ten blog posts in my mind recently. I have ideas that I want to share, but then I don’t have the time to go through the writing process. Even now as I write, I should be doing a lot of other things, but I need a break off my feet, so I thought I would take this time to write.

How was your holiday season? We stayed here in Wisconsin and it was lovely! We went to several light shows around town and to a cool little Christmas town that is set up in Kaukauna, WI. We played games with friends one afternoon, ate lots of good food and did a lot of relaxing at home.

I read several books; I will be writing a separate post about the books. One of them I even had the time to read with Cody, which is a special treat for us and something we love to do together.

I also did a lot of projects around the house. Again, I will blog about that separately. See, I wrote a lot of blog posts in my mind. 😉

Cody did a few projects and helped me with mine. He read and spent a lot of time with the girls. We were able to do a lot of talking with each other about our goals and dreams. I loved it!

Jane played with her sisters well and enjoyed Christmas. She enjoyed playing with a friend one day over break. Jane missed school after awhile, or maybe I should say she missed her friends. She is reading now, and I have been so impressed with her progress. I can be hard on her sometimes, but I have loved observing her growing love of books. She received two new books for Christmas and she sat and “read” them just about everyday. I always enjoy reading with her. Jane is still the queen of make-believe and is very protective of her sisters. She is also very bossy with them and we are trying to find a balance between being helpful and being pushy. I know that she is this way partly because we expect so much of her so often.

Maurie loved having Jane home. We have been doing a lot of self-evaluation with Maurie and we have recognized that she is way too interested in watching TV. We are on our second day of no movies. I know that may sound really pathetic, but for both of us it has been a wonderfully liberating process. We both have learned that we can do our day without movies. I really wondered if I could. I don’t get as much done personally, but I have enjoyed Maurie more. We have read more books together, had our own version of conversations and played blocks and puzzles. Life has been more clear and light. Now I just have to make it a life habit vs. an experiment. Cody and I read something over break that helped us make the decision to limit entertainment in our home. I will share in the books review post.

Brooklyn didn’t know what was going on with Christmas, but she loved getting excited with everyone. Brooklyn has been walking for about four weeks now. She is full of bright energy and brings so much light to my life! She loves to pull laundry out of the baskets, drawers and anywhere else clothes are folded neatly. She loves the bath and is learning to splash and scream as loud as her sisters. =o Brooklyn eats and eats and eats some more. She is altogether my roundest baby and love love love her rolls. She has wild curly hair just like her older sisters did and she loves to be with mom. I have been noticing her getting older lately and it is so bitter sweet. I love the independence that it allows for both of us as she gets older, but I really like the baby stage and she is quickly leaving it behind. Her sisters call her Brookin and I call her anything endearing that I think of in the moment. I squeeze her and love on her as though she is my last baby…

I did not intend to make this an update of each person in our family, but I enjoyed thinking about each member of my family. It is really nice to have a written record of my family’s stages because things are moving faster than ever before.

I hope that you will take a minute to record how your Christmas was and how your family is doing, whether that is in a physical journal, a blog or whatever way you keep records. Remember that family history is passing on memories to your children too.

I will be writing more soon! Until then!

Lucy