Good-Bye 2009

Which also means good-bye to another year of my kid's lives.....and ours. I have the gray hair to prove it (thank you blonde highlights for covering it up), wrinkles (not so covered up) and creaky joints. Cooper has entered a great stage. He is talking more, understands consequences so he's listening much better and is so funny! I think he maybe the comic relief of this family. Yesterday, he put on Layla's winter hat and ran around the house saying "ahhhhhhhhh." He would not take the hat off and, as long as we kept laughing, he kept running. His favorite new expression is to pump his first in the air and yell, "YES" when he's done something good. He loves to color and "draw" and is so dang cute how he lowers his head so his eyes are right next to his paper. And my all time favorite...the way he grabs my cheeks with both hands and lays a big old kiss on my lips.

It's horribly painful to see this last year of Layla's life come to an end. She has officially moved from toddler to little girl. I am thankful to God for how he has made her and that we get to be her parents. I don't want to be the mom of little kids forever, but I also hate to know that the years that have past will never be again. She's a beautiful, sweet little girl who is so darn intuitive it kind of scares me at times!

On a high note..........Dave and I are enjoying every minute of being a family. God is so good, so gracious, so constant. We pray 2010 holds new adventures and many blessings to all!

Christmas 2009

Christmas is really about 3 things for us.....the birth of our savior, family and good food! Measuring by these three factors, 2009 was a great success. The weather made us change our plans slightly, but didn't really affect us much. Last year we started a tradition of having Christmas Eve morning be our Christmas morning. This gives us a whole day to play with new toys and just be a family. We then go to extended family on the real Christmas Day. This year I made beef tenderloin, shrimp stuffed baked potatoes, citrus and lettuce salad and a white chocolate raspberry torte for Jesus' happy birthday cake. YUMMY!

Our kids woke up on our Christmas morning to find a tent/house/2 tunnel combo in the living room. We filled the tent with their gifts and it was fun watching them haul them out before opening. Cooper freaked out about his barn and tractors and Layla was over the moon for her first American Girl Doll.

We then headed to Ames where we hunkered down for the next two days and celebrated Christmas with the Kellen side of the family at my brother Ben's house. We put together a big puzzle, which brought back great memories. We always worked on puzzles in the winter when I was growing up. Then the big boys decided to make a sledding luge in the front yard, who needs a sledding hill? The kids had to use a ladder to get to the top and spun down the spiral luge with great delight and a wipe-outs. It got more interesting when they broke out the water hose to make it more icy.

It was a great Christmas! We look forward to 3rd annual New Year's Eve party. We didn't set out to make it an annual event, but it has turned into that. This year it's a dinner party with just the adults! We will make prime rib and crab legs, watch the ISU bowl game, and stay up too late!

Stillness

I love the few minutes of stillness that occur each day when our family prays together. Cooper sweetly bows his head and loves to hold hands. He is adamant that no one let go until he is good and ready. Layla's prayer tonight........

"Thank you God for my family. Help us be good. Help Cooper (I'm not sure with what). Thanks for my pointer (a gift from her teachers). Help us do the things we should and love each other."

Amen little girl.

A Daughter's Intuition

There's this thing about my daughter that I find intriguing and frustrating. She always knows what she's talking about and she always has a point. Always. And, she always knows if I'm patronizing her. Always. So, if I don't know what she's talking about or understand what she's asking me, I can never blow her off with an "I don't know." Never. She will keep asking until she can sense that I fully understand her.

Today, while I'm doing about 5 projects all at the same time, she asks me, "What makes 25?" Okay....... So I ask her, "what do you mean?" She asks again, "What makes 25?" Okay...... So I answer, "25?" She quickly asks again, "What makes 25?" My reply? "A 2 and a 5?" And Layla comes back again, "No, what makes 25?"

Alright, I put all 5 projects down so we can get to the bottom of this question. Because I know, this will not stop until she feels we are on the same page. Then it occurs to me, is she talking about addition?

"Layla, are you trying to add things? Like what numbers equal 25? Like if we add them together"

"Yes mom! I've been thinking about what numbers add together and what colors I need to mix together to make purple"

As of today, the foundation of addition has been laid. She also surprised me the other night by counting to 100. Not without help, but she got the concept.

Now as for the color mixing.....I nixed her idea to bring buckets of paint in the house and just start mixing until we got purple.

Our First School Christmas Program

Wow, what a total blast Monday night was! Just before the big blizzard of the week, Layla had her first Christmas concert with her class. She was thrilled to wear something fancy and not plain (ICA wears uniforms of khaki pants and plain shirts, just not very fancy). She was dressed and ready in about 5 minutes as she had been thinking about just what to wear and how she wanted her hair. She is almost entirely in charge of picking her own hairdo and outfits, which is mostly out of control! However, I was pleasantly surprised that she picked something appropriate, although the bow on the top of the head wasn't my favorite! But, it was better than what she first purposed to me, which was bows all the way down the middle of her hair!

The performance was at a local church and when it was time for Layla to go with her class, she felt a bit hesitant. The whole thing was just out of her normal school routine. But, she was brave, she sang LOUD and was so amazed that so many people came to watch and clapped for her(well, her whole class).

Travel Not Advised......

So what did the Handsakers do during the "epic storm of 2009"? We traveled. It started with Daddy driving the last leg of his Kansas trip this morning. He was home from Bethany, MO by 9am. Then, we decided to drive to town for lunch. I mean really, how bad can 15 inches of snow, 40 mph winds and 5 degree temps really make the road?

The highlight of the day for the kids was getting in the tractor with Dave to clear the driveway. And, Layla enjoyed her first bowl of ice cream snow. Two very happy kids!

Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, the whole idea of a snow day has lost it's thrill!!!! I'm ready to get out and do something tomorrow!

Kellen Cousin Sleep Over

What fun we had this weekend having all 5 Kellen cousins at our house! Sam(6), Henry(5), Layla(4), Oscar(2) and Cooper (1). Here's the honest truth, these kids are easy......except for one....my youngest! The four oldest cousins play together so well. Cooper, well, he was mister destructo. He took their toys, wrestled them if they were on the ground, pushed his way in if he wanted to play and, well, ended up doing a lot of crying out of frustration! He'll get it one of these days.

I laughed listening to Sam, Henry and Layla talk, play and imagine. The biggest difference between Layla and her older, boy cousins. She talks constantly about what they are playing and the boys, they just play! I'm waiting for the day that Sam or Henry tells her it's time for a little less talk and a lot more action.

The funniest conversation........
"Layla, we have a papa whose a dairy farmer" (Henry)
"Yeah, we get to ride in his tractor." (Sam)
"And his skid loader, we get to scoop the cow poop." (Henry)
"You like scooping poop?" (Layla, with nose crinkled up)
"It's stinky." (Henry)
"No it's not, it's the smell of money." (Sam)

A Little Scuffle at School

I picked Layla up from school today, same routine as everyday. I drive up, teacher walks her to the car, she jumps in full of smiles and stories. As I was looking back at Mrs. Hall helping Layla into the back seat, there was a knock on my window. It was Mrs. McGrath. She wanted to let me know that while practicing their songs for their Christmas concert, a little boy hit Layla in the face.......on purpose. I will call this little boy "Johnny". Layla has stories about Johnny and how he "does not listen and is in trouble a lot."

Layla was happy and smiling when she got in the car, so I was curious about this incident. As we pulled away I asked her what happened. She said, "Mom, I was singing my song and 'Johnny' turned around and just hit me. I was like, did he just hit me? And Mrs. McGrath was mad, that's when I knew that yes, he really had hit me." And Layla chuckles. Layla is strong and tends to be a bit bossy at times, but she is very tender hearted. So, I was curious if she cried when she was hit. Her response...

"Well no mom, he didn't whack me, it was just a little hit. It didn't hurt."

I told her that I was proud of her for being so brave. What a great teaching opportunity this has been...for both of us. Inside, I felt like I had been whacked!

Layla reminded me of this great book we have, "How I Pray for My Friends." In the book, one of the ways Erik prays for his friends is when he prays for Todd. Todd can be mean and doesn't always do the right thing at school so Erik prays that Todd obeys and treats others better. So we are now praying for "Johnny". The truth is, when I'm not acting right, I hope others pray for me!