an expressive little one

My heart is going to be a little bit sad when this little three year old turns four. Three has been such a fun year for this girl. She certainly keeps us laughing!

three princesses

Evalina made these dresses for the girls for Christmas! I'm so glad that years of happy memories are in the making for these three. And next year, Tabitha will enjoy her big sisters and cousin Ellie even more. The good news for Benton is that his cousins and sister like tractors and getting dirty too.

Classic Christmas Day

You can thank Angie for folding my laundry while I upload pictures to the blog! The boys are out operating the chainsaw and driving Rodney's new tractor. Abigail is their beautiful assistant. Hannah is willingly participating in quiet time in my room while her two little sisters are soundly sleeping. Quiet is a rarity in this home, and I am very thankful that my mother in law is helping me keep up with my laundry so I can catch up on my blogging. It is a treat to have family here for the weekend.

...

Beautiful smiles, ladies! Miss Charis was intently watching her cousin.

 ...the joy of giving and receiving gifts!

Miss Tabitha wondering how she could get to the candy inside the plastic packaging...

The girls helped each other unwrap all of their gifts. It was always a collective effort.

"Thank you, Grandpa!"

This girl is getting so big! 

"Cheese!"

Color on Christmas Day

We had a very quiet and relaxing Christmas Day celebration with the Harms clan, which was exactly what I needed; grace lavishly poured upon our family at Christmas. Tabitha Grace, actually, threw up in the middle of the night early Christmas Eve Day, so we began our celebrations tired and a little bit on edge. Thankfully, it was probably just something that had not sat well with her little tummy and no one else came down with the stomach bug. With that behind us, I relished a healthy relaxing holiday.

 Opening stockings....

Quietly soaking it all in....

 
Grandpa was the supervising santa....

Tabitha pulled these M&Ms out of her stocking at the beginning of gift opening and didn't put her candy down the rest of the morning. She also toddled around the living room collecting all of the other candy gifts too!

Happy First Christmas, littlest one!

 Every year, the girls enjoy each others company even more.

Angie and Evalina cooked a delicious Christmas dinner, which is a busy enterprise with six little ones under foot.

...and a birthday cake to celebrate Jesus' birth. 

oh the sky

The day after Christmas was warm and beautiful. In the afternoon, we all spent some time enjoying the fresh, crisp air and the sky, oh the sky!

Having such a warm beautiful winter day was one of my favorite Christmas gifts.

Three Months

 Over Thanksgiving, we bought bunkbeds for the older two girls and moved Tabitha in with the older girls. Surprisingly, and I was surprised, the three have adjusted very well to sharing a room. Occasionally, it sounds like a loud slumber party in there, but generally, they do a good job sleeping and not waking each other up in the morning. And for maybe the only time in her life, Charis has her own room, and is consequently sleeping much better. She was waking up every hour or two over the holidays, which was quite exhausting for her mommy and daddy! Now she's back to just waking up once or twice. I am a much better wife and mom when I'm not up all hours of the night!


Charis has grown into her six month clothes and received several new warm clothes for Christmas. She's actually my only true winter baby, so we were thankful for some nice new warm clothes!

This girl is still super talkative and very easy going. At Bible Study, the other women often remark that, "she's such a good baby!" And she is, for which I am very thankful. She also smiles easily and sticks her tongue out all of the time. I think she's trying to taste the world.


And like the other girls, she has big blue eyes!

She's not a huge fan of the bumbo yet. Tolerate is a good word to use here. She doesn't, however, even tolerate tummy time and usually just spits out the contents of her stomach. It's good to have an alternative to babywearing and the swing. 

Charis Joy is (was) 2 months

Miss Charis Joy has the bluest eyes and a very expressive brow that furrows when she talks. Yes, she is quite talkative for a little one and often in the middle of the night. When she is awake in the night, she particularly enjoys long conversations. Better to have a happy awake child than an unhappy one, right?

I haven't been keeping up with your statistics little one. You saw the doctor a couple of weeks after you turned two months and you're right around average between the 50% and 60% (13#). I can tell by your clothes and diapers that I don't need to worry. You're happy. You're growing. You are loved. So loved, that when your sisters discovered I was taking pictures, they joined in the fun.

The rocking chair is starting to get a little bit crowded. And here I even captured Miss Charis smiling!