Home Wrecker

This is what a home wrecker looks like:

Yes, she's unbelieveably cute, sweet beyond words, and just about as cuddly as a baby can be. But behind those blue eyes and curls is a tiny little hurricane that tears through my house each and every day, and leaves me feeling like I have been hit by a truck by the time she goes to bed.

I know all babies and toddlers get into things. I know that once they become mobile, you have chase them more. And I know that all little ones do their fair share of exploring, and as a result destroying. But, she's different. She's above the average. She's a gifted home wrecker.

Here's a sampling: at Christmas, all in one day, she smashed the "Cookies for Santa" plate that I received as a wedding gift, and that we've put out every Christmas since having kids, and a snow globe I've had for a long time. She's destroyed many picture frames...not by breaking the glass, but by turning them over and tearing the part that stands the frame up off. She broke countless Christmas ornaments. She empties her wipes box at least a couple times a week (why don't I keep it out of reach? I try! I don't always remember!). She has run down the hallway holding the toilet paper trailing behind her many, many times. She's eaten several of my makeup sponges, which is weird, I know, but I find them with little bite marks taken out of them. She empties the drawers in all of our rooms on a consistent basis. She's torn pages out of some of Mattie's favorite books (Poor Llama Llama!). And if I dare try to fold laundry and turn my back for a second, she comes along and smashes the piles down. I won't even mention the trash and the toilet....she loves to play in both.

And that's just a very short list. She is so different than Mattie was at the same age. Mattie would sit still and watch a tv show, or play with a toy, or color. And I do have memories of her making messes, but nothing, NOTHING like my little Presley. Presley never sits still! She is always into something. Always.

So she has earned the nick name Home Wrecker in our house. Not what you normally picture when you hear that, but it is exactly what she is.

Still, I think I'm gonna keep her...she's definitely worth the trouble. She earns my eternal adoration every time I ask her to give me love, and she lays her head on me and says "mamaaaaa".

Just Call Her "Cindy"

Mattie loves to pretend, loves dress up, loves all things princess, and like all little girls her age, she adores Cinderella. So a while back when she wanted to "play" Cinderella by doing chores around the house, I was all about that! This has now become a favorite "pretend" game of hers to play....she gets her apron on, puts her hair up, gets her her little bucket and rag, and scrubs my hardwoods. These pics were taken last week....I have actually started putting a little Lysol floor cleaner in her bucket instead of just water. Because if she's gonna be down there on her hands and knees scrubbing, why not let her actually clean them?


She actually loves for me to yell at her, things like "CINDERELLA!! You MISSED a spot!". or "CINDERELLA!! When you're done in the den, there's more spots in the kitchen!", or "HURRY UP, CINDERELLA...you're moving too slow!". And she says in a pitiful little voice, "Yes, step mother". If child services were to bust through my door during this game, I would go to jail, I'm sure...but she likes it!

This particular day, my floors really needed it...look at her go!

The little worker has had enough of the game...time to put on a princess dress!

Christmas 2010

Long overdue, but I still wanted to document!  This is the story of the 2010 Nash Family Christmas:

 

The best word to describe our entire Christmas season this year is magical.  It was such a happy and special time, and every, single thing about it was just perfect.  From the fact that I was able to be home with my girls the entire month of December, to the sweetness that was Mattie as “Mary” in her Christmas play at pre-school, to the feeling I got every time I listened to her recite Luke 2:8-11 which she memorized for said program, to the fact that my whole family was together on Christmas for the first time in several years…it was perfect!

 

This year we started the Elf on a Shelf tradition.  If you’re unfamiliar, google “Elf on a Shelf” and fill yourself in.  This was SO fun, and Mattie was the perfect age for the “magic” of this.  Mattie named him “Coco”, and he spent his last day in our home perched atop our tree.  One of the first things Mattie said after getting up Christmas morning was “Elfie’s not here!  I miss him!”.   I’ll admit, he’s creepy looking, but the kids, they love him!

 

Here’s what Santa left for our two little loves…a “real” easel for Mattie, along with the robe she had asked for, and a reading chair and some books for Presley:

 

Anytime Presley goes missing in our house, she can always be found in Mattie’s room in Mattie’s recliner next to her basket of books “reading”.  So she got a little chair for her room, along with some new reads.  But we still find her in Mattie’s room quite a bit.

 

All Mattie wanted from Santa was a bathrobe (or a “wobe” as she calls it)…seriously, it’s all she would say when you would ask her “What do you want Santa to bring?”!   So a robe she got, but Santa also surprised our little artist with a big girl easel and some new art supplies.  Big hit with her and she was so amazed that Santa would bring her something she loved but hadn’t even asked for.

 

Santa ate all the cookies left for him (her!):

 

 

This absolutely fascinated Mattie, and it did last year too…her face was priceless!

 

Little Miss Presley spent the entire month of December sneaking balls off the tree and bouncing them around (if they were shatterproof), and Christmas morning was no different…she took a break from opening presents to snatch some ornaments!

 

 

Mattie made eight wardrobe changes on Christmas day.  Between the robe, the new box of dress up clothes, and new American Girl outfit, she had to try it all…Cinderella was first, and this was about 20 minutes after getting up Christmas morning:

 

And she finally got her glass slippers!

 

This little mess loved opening presents!

Mattie showing off her “wobe” with her name on the back:

 

This is how Presley opened most of her gifts:

 

This pic was taken a few days after Christmas, but I had to include it because it just cracks me up.  Mattie got the Rapunzel wig from her Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, and I have already wasted more of my life than I care to admit combing out this wig.  We need a head-form to keep it on!

Here she is opening the Rapunzel dress from her Gigi and FreeFree…note the expression…big hit:

 

And her dolly got new clothes, but notice she is now wearing the Rapunzel dress…a wardrobe change was needed.    PK enjoying her chair:

 

This is just a pic of my girls taken a few days before Christmas in their little Christmas dresses I made them. 

And that was it!  Definitely going to be remembered as one of my favorite Christmases ever.  Is there a more fun age for your child to be at Christmas than 4?  I can’t imagine it, but I’m hoping it’s 5. 

Winter Wonderland

Last week, we got a little winter precipitation in our area, which is somewhat rare in South Arkansas. We were hoping for snow, but what we got was a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain, with a very minimal amount of snow mixed in. Still, we had two snow days at home because school was cancelled, and even Matthew got to stay home with us. We had a fun few days of playing, and we never lost power so it was even that much more enjoyable.

This little girl was SO excited, even though it technically wasn't snow. As soon as we got outside, she immediately lay down to make a snow angel, and got ice and sleet all in her boots, so we had to come in and change socks and boots within 1 minute of being outside:

Mattie in flight:

Throwing snowballs, or "sleetballs":


My snow angel:

Oops! Somebody's mom nailed them in the face with a snowball:


She was literally beside herself with joy to get to play in this...that's how rare winter precipitation is for us!:


Some winter prettiness:

SSMT: Verse 2

This is the second verse I've chosen to memorize as part of my 2011 challenge to myself to make scripture memory a priority:

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death." Philippians 3:10

I had a hard time picking this time because there were so many that I wanted to choose. I had to remind myself that I have the entire rest of the year to pick other verses. I actually selected Philippians 3:7-8 first, and even wrote it in my notebook, but tore it out and replaced it with this. This is one fits me exactly where I'm at right now.

Hello, New Year

I plan to do a Christmas recap sometime this week, and I plan to pay more attention to this blog in general in the new year. But for now, I wanted to write about the committment I'm making in 2011, in an effort to put it out there and make myself somewhat accountable.

For 2011, there are several things I want to do different or start new. And maybe I'll do some of them, and maybe I won't. But one thing I am committing myself to, and that I plan to see through to the end of the year (and hopefully forever) is scripture memory.

In the women's bible study I did at church this fall (Faithful, Abundant, True), I felt very convicted of this...that I should be making scripture memory a priority. Not just reading my Bible, and not just doing Bible Study, but that I should be taking my thoughts captive by meditating on certain scriptures and committing them to memory. I knew that Beth Moore was going to be starting her Siesta Scripture Memory Team again in January 2011, so I decided to wait until then and join up with that.

The way this memory team works is everyone commits to memorize 26 verses for the year, that's one every two weeks. And you pick your own verses, that way it's more personal to you and you're more likely to commit it to memory. I don't have all 26 verses picked out yet...I want to wait and see where God leads me in His Word this year, but the verse I picked for my first is the same one I put at the top of my post a few weeks ago:

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word. I will seek You with all of my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You." Psalm 119:9-11

I liked that the verse sums up why I'm doing this. My goal for this year is to seek Him with all my heart and in all I do. And I just typed the whole thing from memory, so hopefully I'm well on my way to having it permanantly memorized.

I'll put my new verse up here every two weeks just to keep myself accountable. And for the record, I did keep my 2010 resolution all year long without fail, so I'm hoping this will be a breeze too. Happy New Year, y'all!