My Christmas Present

My homemade gift this year was quilting stands that Derek made in his shop. He first brought in a "bird house" he had made out of sheet metal?! I said it was wonderful, but not too sure what he was thinking making a bird house out of sheet metal. Then after that presentation I went to get his present (the quilt) and he quickly set up my real present, the stands. I was relieved! He said he had to make something to through me off because I, just out of the blue, told him to make me quilting stands while he was at his shop working on my present a few days ago. I had no idea that's what he was doing! He had the girls help make them and paint them. I love how Erin and Morgan painted their own names on a post and then Derek put Shannon and Lauren's on too. I have been wanting these for a while, but never told Derek. He read my mind! I have such a neat husband who listens to the things I don't say. I love them!

Our new addition!

Derek and I gave the girls a black lab puppy for their Christmas present this year. The girls named him Sam and he is only 7 weeks old. He is so much fun and has actually been a very good puppy. He goes to the bathroom outside as long as we are on top of things and take him out to do his business. He doesn't bark much at all. He slept through the night the first night home, which I was not expecting. He is definitely a puppy though. He tries to bite the chairs in the kitchen so we put some of that dog repellent on them and I haven't seen him do it since. He has also learned, very quickly, who he can bully and who he can't. The girls aren't use to being around dogs and don't quite know how to tell him to back off when he nips and jumps up. We are continually "rescuing" Shannon and Morgan, but they are both getting much better at being around him. Right now the girls fight over who gets to walk him and I'm trying to enjoy this sense of responsibility they have now while it lasts. Erin has been very good at taking Sam out when he needs to go, and it's even been snowing and raining like crazy. But Sam is definitely Derek's dog. He loves Derek and follows him around everywhere. He even whimpers for him when he leaves the gated area or goes out of the room. We were out shoveling the snow tonight (not an easy job this time around) and Sam stayed right with Derek and tried to attack his shovel. If Derek calls him, he usually comes right away. If the girls or I call, it's a 50/50 chance he'll come. But a very cute addition.

Poor Lauren

Lauren got the scare of her life when Morgan accidentally left the fireplace in our living room on after I told her not to mess with the switch that turns it off and on. I heard a scream from Lauren while I was in the kitchen and it was not a scream of delite. She had placed her hand on the glass to support herself because it is a see through fireplace and she was looking through it. I was trying to run her hand under cool water, but she was fighting me the whole time. I got some burn cream and wrapped her hand in gauze to keep it clean and from her putting it into her mouth. Luckily she left it on, but kept trying to shake her hand off to get it to stop hurting. She cried for over an hour. I felt so bad. This is what it looked like the next morning. I didn't realize she had burnt her fingers so badly too. Poor thing!

Derek and I are convinced that Lauren gets the evening crazies just like any cat or elderly person in the hospital. Before I put her to bed, she likes to find any towel or piece of clothing the girls have left on the floor and drape it over her head. Then she crawls, full tilt, in any direction without the use of her eyes! Derek and I have had to stop her a number of times from running into corners or furniture. She also loves chasing her sisters around the house. Who needs a cat?

I finally finished Derek's Christmas present today, thanks to Kara, for letting me borrow her sewing machine since mine is broken! Derek has this blanket from his childhood that he loves, but never uses. He wanted me to mend it, but this blanket was beyond repairing so my mother in law gave me the idea to use the old blanket as the batting for the new blanket! So, I did! We are all making homemade gifts for each other in the family and this seemed the best idea for me. So I asked my friend Tammy to help me tie it, and I'm sorry Tammy, the thread count was so high it took us forever to finish it. It was so hard to pull the yarn through and some of the batting and fabric from the old blanket was being pulled through too. But it is done and, I think, looks ok! I left the colorful side of the old blanket facing up so you could see it through the white side (kind of like a shadow box). It's fun to see it now that it's done. It will definitely be a warm blanket. I took pictures of the old blanket so I could go back and make Derek a blanket much like his old one, but later on when I have a little more time (ha ha). I didn't display the really torn up parts of the blanket, but this gives you a small taste of what it was like.

Updates

Boy, I am awful at keeping this thing updated, but what can you do? We finally decorated the chirstmas tree (seeing as how it's been up for um... about a week or more!) Now the girls won't leave the tree alone. They like to rearrange the ornaments like I remember doing as a little girl; except they keep putting the breakable and chokable ones within Lauren's reach so I have to go back and rearrange it again! We went through Erin and Morgan's school made ornaments and it's fun to see how they have grown. I have so much fun recording my girls playing with their toys. Elise, you know how Tori was microwaving your baby Jesus from your nativity and how "licious" he was? Well, according to Shannon, our baby Jesus falls into boiling hot lava off of our living room table and gets saved by Prince Phillip and Aurora! What do you think of that? And I got it all on video! How great is that? We also got Lauren playing peek a boo at dinner when she was all covered in chili sauce; so naturally it ended up in her hair, eyes, ears, etc. I'm trying to teach her to nod her head yes because all she does is no. She's finding this very difficult unless she gets her whole body into it. Again, funny on video! We are also getting a black lab puppy for the girls for Christmas and they don't know it, so we thought. We still don't know for sure, but out of the blue Erin has become very adament about Santa bringing her a puppy for Chirstmas. Previously we have told the girls they can't have a dog until we move back to Morgan, but someone Derek knew asked if he wanted to do some trade work for one of his pure bred lab pups. Derek agreed, hence the Christmas puppy. Morgan keeps telling Erin that they can't have a puppy until we move, but Erin just says "I know, but I really want one" so we don't know what she knows if anything. Derek and I are still debating how to give the girls the puppy so if anyone has any great ideas we'd love to hear them!