Room Swap!!

So this is the second afternoon that I have spent keeping very busy on my feet. Yesterday was making cut-out sugar cookies (most of which I sent to Aliza's school, and didn't even get to enjoy). And today was the big "room swap". Eben and Nora have swapped rooms and we officially have a girls room and a boy room. I've just put the girls to bed and have been in 3 times, all of which to keep Aliza from talking to Nora. I know its a lot to ask, because she always talks with Eben, but I just don't know how Nora will take it. Eben is very excited to have his own room, and yes, we are planning on painting it - at some point. That is definitely NOT a boy color. Poor kid :) Anyway, when I took on the task, I didn't realize it would take so much time. Basically I reworked all three rooms upstairs. Since we had extra space in the girls room, I moved the baby stuff from the playroom in there. Its set up like a little "house" and the girls really like it. I tried to get the rocking chair out of Eben's room to give him a little more space, but no matter how I worked it, it was not fitting out the door. Somehow we got it in! We must have taken the midget door off - its the only thing I can think of.

Tomorrow is pajama day. Eben gets to wear them to school and also gets to watch The Polar Express. We watched it as a family last week, so at least he knows what to expect. Our kids can always find something to be scared of, but all in all they did pretty well with it. Nora even sat through most of it on my lap. I was very surprised. The girls and I are heading to a Pancake and PJ's playdate, so we'll enjoy some relaxing clothing too :)

I'm so worn out from moving rooms around, yet a nice pile of dinner dishes is staring me down. Can't I just leave them til tomorrow? Jared made dinner, as I was still in the moving mood, and then he and Eben headed out to do some Christmas shopping. I told him I'd do the dishes later, but later doesn't sound any better than earlier did. As much as I dislike seeing dirty dishes waiting in the morning, I think that's what is going to happen.

*I can hear two little girls voices... aren't monitors great :) Hmmm, how long should I wait to go up. (sigh) It could be a long couple nights in the Van Haitsma home...

Enjoy the pics, especially the one with Eben's sprinkled cookies. Teenie Tiny cookies and an insane amount of sprinkles! My back was turned when he did that or I would have stopped him. Wowza!! How about a little cookie with those sprinkles!

Oh yeah, and say a little prayer for the next several bedtimes ;)

Michigan Trip

So here is a quick view of our trip to Michigan. We went home for Thanksgiving this year instead of Christmas to try to beat the weather. It worked. We had great traveling weather, and not too bad there either. We squeezed in Thanksgiving and Christmas with both sides of the family and even a joint birthday party for Lyvinia and Nora. It was very busy, but good, as always. I sure wish we lived closer to all of them! Coming home, it was weird to think that Christmas was still weeks away since it felt like it had come and gone. Now that we've decorated and brought out the Christmas CD's, it feels a little more like Christmas is coming. It will be very strange to wake up Christmas morning in CT. I have never been away from my family at Christmas, so it will be a new experience. I hope it don't get too sad. We are going to plan some fun events with the kids the week we all have off so we don't go crazy in our house! This will also be the first Christmas that we'll get to go to our church's Christmas Eve service. I'm looking forward to that. We also just saw something in the bulletin for a New Year's Eve Party for couples at the church, so I think we'll do that :) Its nice to have something set up for that already, so we don't just sit in our house wishing we had plans.

As an update from my last post, Nora hasn't really jumping on the "potty train" which is fine with me. Every once in awhile she'll ask, but she never goes. Eben had his first follow-up appointment for his tooth, or lack-there-of, and it went well. He'll get the spacer put in on the 17th. All is well :) Enjoy the pics!

Oh yeah, I should probably explain a picture for you - the one with pink all over Nora's face... While at my cousin Nicki's house, she explored the lipstick of Nicki's foreign exchange student. What you see is what she did. We hadn't heard from her in awhile, (which is kinda rare since she's often stuck to my side), so Jared and Nicki when searching. Let's just say they were very much in shock when they found her. What a rascal! And let me tell you, lipstick is very greasy, and certainly not the easiest thing to get out. Now you know ;)