As you can see, we are back in business with a new camera, and oh, do I * heart* my newest love. But THAT is a whole other post.
This Christmas was truly magical. The girls understood so much of it this year--the preparations, the gifts, the giving, the receiving, spending time with family, and celebrating His birth. They are also starting to make some connections about God, Jesus, heaven, life, and death, which is so interesting. They also are understanding emotions in ways I never thought possible for 3 year olds.
When watching the movie Up, they saw the mommy was sad and wanted to know where the baby was that they were preparing for. When I explained the baby died and went to heaven to be with Jesus, they understood why the mommy was sad..."because she didn't have her baby anymore." When the woman died in Up, Mia said, "She went to be with Jesus, right mommy? But the man is sad because he is all alone now." Then we talked about how people die and go to heaven, but they stay in your heart forever. We also talked about how death is forever, but that one day we will all be together again in heaven.
Juliana was very touched by the holiday ASPCA commercial. You know, the one with the Sarah McLachlan and all of the homeless, abused animals? Oh my. We can't even watch it around here anymore and if it comes on, we have to turn the TV off immediately. Juliana was brought to uncontrollable tears by that commercial, the very first time she saw it. All she could say over and over and over was, "But the doggies have no homes...they are so, so sad...they need me." We tried to console her, saying that the doggies would have homes very soon, but it did nothing. She cried and cried for hours, I kid you NOT. And for the next few weeks, anything that reminded her of the commercial, would ensue a bout of tears and the the saddest little broken voice repeating over and over, "But mommy, the doggies have no homes." Oh do I have an animal lover on my hands, BIG time.
As you can tell, the girls are such little people now. They have such grown up thoughts some times, it amazes me. We have their school photos and they even look like big girls now. Oh, so, so hard on the mommy heart. But I will say, I love the little people they are becoming. Of course, they have their moments...like when Mia has taken a whole jar of calendula cream and covered herself from head to toe, or when they have "painted" each other's fingernails with pink marker, or when they have written all over mommy's paperwork, the floor, the cabinets, and miscellaneous furniture (thank God for the magic eraser I tell ya'), or even when Juliana comes to me with poop in her hand saying, "Mommy, I have poop!" Yes, they have all of these moments and MORE, each and every day. I mean, what else would I be doing?
But seriously, these moments, while they drive us absolutely crazy and make us count to 10 a LOT, are sprinkled amidst so many other moments that melt your heart. Like when Juliana is falling asleep, rolls over, grabs my face in her hands, smiles, and says, "Mommy, I love you sooooo much," or when Mia wakes me up in the morning and proceeds to give me a 10 minute monologue about anything and everything, in the happiest of voice because the first thing she realized when she woke up was, "Yay! Mommy you get to stay home today!"
Oh, do I love these little girls so. :)
P.S. More pics to come tomorrow...I still have Christmas Day with our families, our ride on the North Pole Express, and the girls with their new "rides"...
