{pretty, happy, funny, real}... the day-late, expanded version

I was going to do a {pretty, happy, funny, real} yesterday, but I didn't have time.  By the time this morning came I had accumulated more than just four pictures/thoughts to share.  So, here they are, in the random order they uploaded from my camera...

(Linking up at Like Mother, Like Daughter)
{pretty}

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Got the tree up.  Go us!

The ornament breakage count is climbing daily (we don't own ornaments that we care too much about anyway), and we have to hang the stockings up high on the tree so they won't get worn around the house as "socks" (they were dollar store stockings and not designed for heavy usage).

But the girls sure are excited about it, and watching their awestruck gazes at the lights never gets old.

{happy}

This is N's "cutie outfit" (so she called it) that she selected by herself, and put on by herself, before I even asked her to get dressed for school the other morning.  I let her wear it, even though the colors don't quite match, because I was so proud of her for being so responsible!  She emerged from her room saying, "I'm going to be warm and toasty because I'm wearing my sweatshirt and my vest!"  I mean really, would you have asked her to change clothes after that?

{happy}

Sweet new kicks!

Scored for free from M's co-worker (thank you!).  I guess he didn't like them.  These are $70-$80 shoes.  They are men's, but they fit me great and feel awesome running.  I've had some men's running shoes in the past and they always fit just as well, if not better, than women's.

I guess there's some advantage to having giant man feet, eh?  ;-}

{funny}

I let N and L each take a few pictures with my camera to keep them busy while I was getting dressed the other day.  Their photography skills proved to be artsy and cute!

L's picture of N

N's picture of L

L's cool extreme close up of her own PJs!

{funny}

Our outtakes from the family Christmas photo session (there were many more bad than good ones, as is always the case when you are photographing three small wiggly children):

To see the one that came out well, watch your mailboxes!!  :)

{real}

L selected this book from the library, of course because it had a train on the cover:

When I sat down with N and L before nap time the other day to read it, we discovered that it's actually a very sad story.  It's about a group of orphan children who are taken on a train from New York city to the west, in hopes of finding adoptive families.  The main character is a girl who hopes to find her mother, who had left her at the orphanage in New York before traveling west by herself.

The end of the book comes, and the girl does not find her mother, although she is adopted by another family.

N choked up a little when we got to the end of the book, and remarked, "But... she never found her Mommy."

I had to explain to her that some little boys and girls in the world don't have mommies and daddies, and that we're very lucky and blessed to be together.

As tough as that was to explain, it felt good in some strange way.  This Advent is the first time I've felt an urgent need to teach my girls how fortunate we are, and make them aware of the importance of giving, especially in this season where the general focus is on getting lots of presents for oneself.

I'm not saying that I want to destroy the fun or the magic of Christmas, but... well... I'm just thinking.  I could write an entire post with thoughts on that topic, but this thought is already too long, so I'll save that for later.

{funny}

And just so we don't end on a sad note, here's this:

I've been trying to get the girls to drink more liquids, so when I saw crazy straw cups on clearance at Target, I figured they would be just the thing.  Although there were many Santa, penguin, reindeer and snowman cup options, both N and L chose the Hanukkah cups.

Just thought that was kinda funny.

Happy weekending, everybody...