Waking up On Christmas Morning

The girls woke up this morning to find a very special present from Rudolph: a blinking red nose! And, of course, here is Leia Rose holding her special treasure from Russia. (Generally, Leia was disappointed that she didn't wake up, . . . in fact defeated is the right word. Annie was just upset that she "didn't remember it" which made her feel like she didn't go. Luckily, the magic of Christmas morning whisked those negative feelings far, far away!) Santa was oh-so-generous this year, . . . keeping with his tradition of "presents on the tree" as well as under. : )

Christmas Eve 2009

It was such a special and memorable Christmas Eve this year! First, it was breakfast strata at our house, . . . followed by our very first annual Christmas Eve Family Sing-A-Long around the Advent Wreath! It was so nice to share the special opening of the very last door of the Advent Calendar with both Oma and Papa, as well as April and Ben there to join us! Papa turned to me during the sing-a-long and exclaimed, "Lots of very special memories being made here today!" And as I was sitting there playing my guitar with the family singing around me, I knew that this had always been my biggest Christmas wish! Then it was off to Shoal Creek Farm again to pick out Oma's and Papa's Christmas Tree (better late than never, as a result of moving). Then it was on to Christmas Eve Mass, . . . where April was proud to see the girls wearing their flower girls dresses with a new homemade sash, . . . and accompanied by their matching American Girl dolls that she gave them! Then it was off to a wonderful Honey Baked Ham dinner at Oma's, . . . and then home to prepare. It wasn't long before the cookies were out, . . . and Santa paid us a visit! Looks like Santa tried to wake Leia to take her on his sleigh again this year, . . . the only difference was that Annie wanted to come, too! See the end of the post for the letter he wrote! : )

IT HAPPENED AGAIN! THIS TIME TO BOTH OF YOU! Annie for a short ride, leia for a long one. A sprinkle of stardust from the Christmas angel. A gift from Rudolph. A kiss from Mrs. Santa Claus. two snow-star cakes I made for you from the north pole snow. And we were home.
How you to do sleep so soundly!?! I whispered in your ear so that you both would be sure to remember our time together, but just in case you forget, I autographed your special snowman nightdresses. Maybe you can wear them next Christmas as well and think of me.
Leia, I am proud that you are treating your sister so kindly these days and for not judging Andrew. For these things I took you to a special place: Russia. I leaned over and told you where we were going and you mumbled a friend’s name: Kevin. Yes, I know little Kevin, adopted from Russia, very well. And to remember our trip there, Leia, I put my hand out of my sleigh to grab this special tiny doll for you to treasure. I have a friend in a toy shop there, close to where Kevin was born, and he was glad to oblige. Perhaps next year you can be awake enough to help me in yet another country.

Until then, the girls, . . . continue to honor Christ in your hearts each day! Saint Nicholas loves you, as does Jesus.

Christmas Letter 2009

December 2009
Dearest Family & Friends,

Despite the best of intentions in regards to personalizing the Christmas letter this year, I finally had to admit (with Nutcracker rehearsals looming) that it wasn’t going to happen. Translation: Noelle is happy, but busy (as always)!

Leia & Annie are two sisters who had a whirlwind summer complete with a week-long Disney trip (Annie’s first), an experience at Pine Crest Day Camp (nostalgic for Mamma), a visit with family up in Buffalo, NY, Amish friends in New Hope, OH, and BOTH Godmommies in Chapel Hill, a very patriotic and special visit to Lake Murray over the 4th, and a new pet rabbit (a Holland Lop named “Peri” short for “Periwinkle Macaroni”). Further, there was an October full of birthdays (with a Strawberry Shortcake & Star Wars party in the mix, with a very special birthday/Halloween visit from Leia’s friend, Shenan), a full six performances of the professional production of The Nutcraker through The Asheville Ballet (for which Leia played a lollipop and Annie played a gumdrop), with the highlights of the year being the news of a new cousin to arrive this summer (congratulations Aunt Cassie and Uncle Alan!), the grand experience of being the flower girls at Auntie April’s and Uncle Ben’s wedding, and the long wait for prayers finally answered: Oma & Papa sold their house in FL and moved to their dream home in NC! This of course neglects to mention the girls enjoying all the joys that each season brings in the Western NC mountains.

Leia Rose continues to enjoy her “job” of attending Immaculata Catholic School (where I am thrilled that she lives and works around the Capuchin Friars, daily getting a glimpse into true religious life of the Roman Catholic Church). This year Leia was a class winner for the Read-A-Thon , joined the cheerleading squad, has a true “boyfriend” named Logan Scott (whom we all adore), and continues to cite Religion as her very favorite subject (just below “lunch” and “recess”). On the negative side, Leia has also had her first experience with a class bully who challenges her to constantly ask “What would Jesus do?” and still has her usual issue with respect for her elders, . . . that’s our little independent Leia. If you ask Leia Rose what she wants to be when she grows up, . . . if she really thinks about it, she says something like this: “Well, I like to mix little powders and liquids together to make different things. . . . What job is that?” Hmmmm, do we see a future Organic Chemist in the making?  Leia’s favorite hobby continues to be making her famous “paper projects” (my favorite one being the “bunny house” that she made for Peri this year) followed by ballet as a close second (she danced ballet to “Once Upon a Dream” and tap to “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” in her recital).

Don’t get me wrong, though, Annie’s days are full, too! Every day we have “Learning is Fun” time (just like I used to with Leia) where Annie shows great expertise with numbers, shapes, & colors. I’ll admit that she’s just beginning to “get” the letters and still refers to all elements of time as “next year.” Just recently, Annie has begun drawing pictures that are truly distinguishable and has become fully potty/poopie-trained! Her favorite time of the week is her Tuesday playdate with her best friend Aubrie followed by her beloved Library Storytime. Meanwhile, Annie still is a kid who needs a lot of sleep and will take a multiple-hour nap when possible. And when it’s not possible, there is often a full-blown tantrum involved that cannot be extinguished unless she is left completely alone. Annie is now looking forward to finally leaving her crib for good this winter and beginning ballet class (because she was hooked by The Nutcracker).

Brian continues to enjoy both the work and the camaraderie associated with PharmAgra, a small organic chemistry lab. Business is booming, even in the midst of recession, so much so that Pharmagra has been able to hire many additional chemists. As for me, my girls are my life, . . . and I get no greater joy than parenting them as a stay-at-home Mom. When the girls are asleep, I am still teaching online (working with students all over the world) and, thanks to an absolutely fabulous promotion, have an added responsibility of being a managing editor (which basically means I am responsible for reviewing other teachers’ interactions with students and revoke or award pay bonuses as necessary). Ah, the power! 

In short, our Lord has blessed us with good friends and good family this year, . . . and we thank Him for all His abundant blessings! Especially, we’d like to thank Goddaddy Greg for his service to our country in Afghanistan this year, . . . and for all of our servicemen and women. God bless you all this Christmas!

Love, Noelle, Brian, Leia, & Annie

P.S. As always, the joys and challenges of parenting are accompanied nicely with a heck of a lot of laughter. Allow these laughs to be our Christmas gift to you:

• Leia (upon entering a cool café with an awesome metal sculpture): “I NEED to go and touch that metal thing!!!” Ha!
• Annie (with a cold): “My nose all spickley!” and later in the year “Mamma, my nose gots crumbles.”
• Leia: “No Mamma, it’s not a picture of a fence! It’s villi, you know, from our small intestine!” Ha!
• Leia (as she gets up from her chair at dinner again): “Mamma, I love you more than my food!”
• Annie: Calling the Disney princess Sleeping Beauty, “Sleeping Blue-dee.”
• Leia: “Mamma, I have something in my head, and I need you to tell me where I got it from. Ready? . . . Horizon wireless.” Ha!
• Annie: We did a “dinner game” that involved answering this question: “What is your favorite place to be?” We all agreed that it didn’t matter, as long as we were together. And then we asked, “Annie, where is your favorite place to be?’ Her answer, “I love you!”
• Annie: Watching the new president on TV, I asked, “Annie, do you know who that is?” Annie shook her head. “It’s our new president. It’s Barack Obama. Can you say ‘Barack Obama’?” Annie nodded and said, “Happy Mamma!” Ha! How ironic!
• Annie (while watching the “Lullaby League” from The Wizard of Oz): “Oh Mamma! Look at the mousies!” Ha!
• Leia (upon hearing me ask about her Valentine gifts): “Yes, I saw the Valentine candy Mamma, . . . and it’s a SAD amount!” Ha!
• Annie (upon requesting a stuffed animal to take to bed): “Mamma, I want to pick a FING!”
• Leia (after drawing a heart on Cael’s valentine): “Mamma, Cael is one of those rare boys who knows how to get a girl’s attention without being annoying.” Ha!
• Annie (upon realizing that Mamma didn’t have as much milk as she used to): “Can’t tip it up like a sippy cup, get more out.” Ha!
• Leia: “Mamma your nose smells so FRESH! And your breath smells like beans!”
• Leia Rose said, “I know! Let’s watch Aladdin!” Annie replied, “Watch a ladder! Yay!” Ha!
• Annie (upon singing the alphabet song): “A-B-C-D-E-‘S’-G H-‘R-A-A’-EN-EM-EN-O-P Q-R-S-‘D’-U-‘P’ W-‘S’-Y and ‘C.’”
• Annie (upon looking up at me during one of the last nursings before nap): “Mmmmmm, . . . FRESH!” Ha!
• Leia (upon hearing the expression “rumor has it”): “Who’s ‘Rumor’?” Ha!
• Annie (upon being forced to eat her first bite of cheesecake): “Want PLATE!” Ha!
• Annie (upon misunderstanding the concept of Mother’s Day): “Happy Murf’s Day, Mamma! I love you!”
• Annie (upon meeting our cousin Eric for the first time): “Eric, you look just like a chocolate bunny!” Ha!
• Annie (upon sucking on a strawberry): “Mamma! I suck!” Ha!
• Annie (upon being asked to give April and Ben some advice before marriage): “Buy chocolate!” Ha!
• Annie (upon wandering off at the playground): “Mamma, I’m just checkin’ out the boys.” Ha!
• Leia: “Watching Aladdin and Jasmine get married makes me daydream about Logan. I LOVE Logan! . . . but he’ll get more appetized about that kind of stuff when he gets older.” Ha!
• Leia (upon hearing Mrs. Canning ask for words that begin with “F”): “I know! ‘F’ is for . . . filament!”
• Leia: “Mmmm, I love the smell in the house right now. What is that smell? MEAT! The smell is MEAT! I LOVE the smell of meat! I'm going to be a doggy at dinner because doggies like meat!”
• Annie: “Mamma, why is Strawberry Shortcake’s snail friend ‘Escargot’? He pulls a cart, so why ‘Yes, Car, . . . GO!’?”
• Leia: When asked who was older, Leia replied, “Daddy must be older than Mamma because people who are older sleep more.” Ha!

Under the Mistletoe at Cracker Barrel

We had some very special things to give the Scotts this Christmas, so after the big snow was over, we all met at Cracker Barrel. Leia had created something very special for Logan this Christmas: a dentist bag! You see, Logan has a really hard time at the dentist. Leia wanted to do something to help with the fear, . . . so she thought maybe he would like the same kind of homemade kit I made for Leia and Annie. Leia came with me and we bought all of the items for it, . . . and even labeled the bag: "Logan's Dentist Bag. Love, Leia"

BUT, what Leia was most excited about was bringing this little mistletoe. She would prance around at home proclaiming, "I'm going to use this on Logan!" You see, the original plan was foiled by the snow, . . . we were supposed to have our first annual sing-a-long with friends. Leia and Logan were both depressed this didn't happen. Even Logan was going around school saying, "I am going to Leia's house, and I am going to kiss her under the mistletoe!" No problem, according to Leia, she just brought the mistletoe to Cracker Barrel! : )

The Big Snow 2009 (Day 4): Igloo Play & Snow Kitty

The Big Snow 2009 (Day 3): Snow Slides & Igloos

I just love this picture of Annie! . . . among others in her favorite position: relaxing in the snow. Exhausted by this point, the girls were content just sitting at the bottom of the hill (you can see the trash bag Leia used to slide inside of) munching away on snow. There was so much snow on our steps, Mamma got the idea to make a slide out of it. Fun! And then we made a REAL igloo, . . . big enough for both girls to sit and play inside. So strange, the blue light from within the igloo, the icy/earthy smell from inside . . . and the headache it was to hollow it out!

The Big Snow 2009 (Day 2): Hearts & Bunnies

I think that Leia's and Annie's very favorite thing about this day was Mamma making them "treasures": hearts out of snow, . . . that they would proceed to munch on. : ) It was also a special treat for Daddy to be at home today (it was Saturday), . . . and so we all helped to make a "Snow Bunny" at the girls' request! And, of course, there was more sledding, . . . and Leia Rose found her own way to go down the hill really fast and fun: on her bunnels!!! : ) (Of course there was the minor problem of snow getting in the legs of her snowsuit as a result.)