Quick 5

I think the Lord gave us a week of below zero weather so we would appreciate a winter full of 40 degree days.  I can live with this.

1.  Last weekend was the Christmas program and it was fantastic.  Every part.  Especially the girls' part, of course.  I fully expected Joya to get on stage and either a.) pick her nose or b.) stand there staring at the crowd of people.  She did neither.  She sang (as much as she could), she did the motions (as much as she could) and she filled in a bit of what she didn't know with free dance.  It was so cute.  Grammy and Grandad came on Saturday, and Uncle Nick, Aunt Jamie, Naomi, Oliver and Elisabeth surprised us by coming on Sunday.  Alaina was so happy to see all her family and sad to see them go.

2.  Bria is now crawling on hands and knees.  I thought she was going to follow in Joya's footsteps and army crawl until she walked, but she figured it out.  We block off the dining room with a pile of pillows, but that doesn't stop her.  She launches herself over the pile onto the greener pastures of the dirty tile floor with ease.  She's also showing signs of pulling up on things, which means I can no longer put her in a room and leave to do my own thing.  She needs hard core supervision. 

3.  Lo and behold, Alaina has learned how to whistle!  She thought she never would.  It's faint, but it's there, and with practice she'll be whistling very soon.  She's so excited about the skill that I almost forget how annoying it could turn out to be.

4.  We've been having fun with Jingles the Elf.  He's floated around the house a bit, and has proven to be a bit naughty.  He TP'd our Christmas tree one day and stole our stockings and hung up underwear instead.  Sometimes I have to wake the girls up in the morning and it's funny to see them go from a dead sleep to jumping out of bed shouting, "I have to go find Jingles!"  Our Jingles is not quite as creative as some of the elves you see on Pinterest, but the girls are having fun.

5.  This may not seem like a big deal to most, but it is to us: we got a new bedspread this week.  We've had the same one on our bed since we got married, and I thought that 9 1/2 years was a fine lifespan for one.  Thanks to some Christmas money from my grandparents and a well-timed sale, we found this gem.  I know it's a first world thing, but it really does make things seem fresh to have new things.

Hope your week is full of Christmas cheer!