Chuck

Something slightly miraculous has occurred in the life of Sassy.

She got a cat!

Well... sort of.

Technically, something miraculous happened for Brent and me because our tenant in the basement got a cat...

A glorious arrangement as far as we are concerned.

All of the fun and none of the responsibility!

None of the vet bills, none of the flea treatments, none of the litter scooping, none of our furniture clawed... just daily visits from a friendly, cuddly purr-beast.

And Sassy is over the moon.

He is a funny little critter. Adopted from a local vet, he has a great personality. Plays with the dog... tolerates much chasing love from the children, is friendly and eager to be scratched and loved.

I like him.

His name is Morris.

However, Chilli calls him Norris. She screams his name while running around the house chasing him in her sparkely purple boots.

"Nooooooorrissssssssss....  Noooooooooorrissssss.... Noooooorrissssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Brent and I started calling him Norris as well. However, last night we renamed him, "Chuck" for obvious reasons.

On a totally separate subject.  I have a question...

Does being pregnant make you more clumsy or are you just more aware of your clumsiness when massively prego?

I seem to drop everything I put my hands on.

I am sure I have always dropped toys, paper, utensils, etc... but now when something slips from my grasp, I literally have to decide if it is worth the energy to bend over and retrieve it.

That's pretty pathetic isn't it?

Yesterday the kids and I tidied up the play room and collected miscellaneous toys from around the house before dinner.

But after dinner, there was a reemergence of many items that had been prematurely tucked away for the night.

I committed fully to leaning over and picked up all the toys on the living room floor in one bend.

I'm sure you appreciate the mental picture of me bent over, waddling around the coffee table in the living room picking up (and certainly occasionally dropping) toys.

I figured I'd just get them all while I was down there.

Anyway, after my waddling lap was complete, this is what I had collected.

Ridiculous is it not?

I mean, hardly any of these items are even related!

Earmuffs.
Baby bottle.
Dog guitar.
Books.
Sippy cup.
Purple kitties.
Play mobile people.
Pencil sharpener.
Play dough squeezer component.
Etc...

And the quantity! How did they drag out this much miscellaneous crap in such a short span of time?

I mean, there are three of them and they do have varied interests, but I was just pretty impressed with the volume and variety. Children are amazing creatures are they not?

You know who else is amazing?

My husband.

He has taken to giving the gremlins piggy back rides - or as Mr. Jenkins refers to them - guinea pig back rides, up to bed each night.

Sometimes he manages to take all of them at the same time.

Insanity.

Maranda

Mmmm... Folgers

Brent and I escaped to Asheville, NC last week for a little "baby moon."

We have actually visited Asheville for the past 3 years during this time as he is off from work and in-laws are especially receptive to taking our darling gremlins for a couple of days.

Typically we use a day to do some goal planning and thinking about the upcoming year.

This year, not so much.

There was a lot of eating and some Hobbit watching... but mostly eating.

We spent one morning at a little coffee house in West Asheville and delighted in a very tasty latte (photo above) and some rose hip tea.

I am not even sure what the heck kind of coffee this was... but I think it was grown in a remote mountain in South America where it was then harvested by tiny, winged tree sprites who nurtured the beans for a period of time until they were old enough to be sun-dried on little fluffy pillows of dandelion puffs and raw, unbleached cotton.

Or something like that.

Anyway, the coffee was very tasty.

Though it was nothing compared to my Folgers (apparently roasted by evil ogres), which is currently re-heating in my microwave for the umpteenth time today.

It's okay... it's only 3 pm... surely I'll finish that cup before dinner.

Maranda

Classic Jenkins

I love the boy.

He makes me laugh...

and he's so pretty...

...and he is probably going to kill me one day for my postings on this blog.

Alas, I care not.

Especially since he typically affords me the most opportunities for spiritual growth on a regular basis.

Seriously... the tantrums can be epic.

However, recently, I have found him extra hilarious and I thought I would share of few glimpses into my life with Mr. Jenkins.

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While congratulating him on putting on his PJs (or as we refer to them... "jammers") all by himself the other night...

ME: Great job dressing yourself buddy!
JENKINS: No Mommy! I not dressin'...I jammerin'! I jammered myself!

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Tonight at the dinner table, Brent asked each of the children if they would share something that they were thankful to God for.

Sassy of course said, "cats"

Chilli bean screeched.

Mr. Jenkins said he was thankful that he was going to go to the fair tomorrow.

Nice try buddy.

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My sister got a great new camera for Christmas and has been taking some sweet photos over the past few weeks.

However, my favorite picture from Christmas would have to be the following, taken by yours truly on my handy cell phone.

Yes, that would be the Jenkins... in the buff... playing with his new tool bench bright and early Christmas morn.

You see, the boy was very excited about the Christmas gifts awaiting him and he could not be bothered with silly nuisances such as underwear and clothing following his morning trip to the potty.

Once again... he is going to kill me some day.

Once again... I care not.

Maranda

Advent-ure

I don't really think the following would technically qualify as an "adventure" per se, but I thought I was clever with the title.

So let's just go with it.

Okay?

Okay.

I thought I'd post another Advent activity from the past few weeks. Again... we really don't follow much of a specific plan... other than trying to make sure we are talking a lot about Jesus, having fun, and usually consuming some chocolate.

You know... the key essentials to life.

We typically light our advent candles and read from the Bible too... but we are working with some pretty short non-existent attention spans and I try to keep open flames out of reach under normal circumstances.

Anyway, a few nights back, we read from Luke 2 about the shepherds who came to visit the baby Jesus. The kids were unfamiliar with the shepherd role, as it is not too common place in our culture these days. It was fun to talk a little bit about shepherds, sheep, and ultimately the Good Shepherd.

Then things got silly.

Brent proceeded to show them the way that shepherds sometimes carried their sheep.

They thought it was awesome.

After carting them around on his shoulders for a bit he'd fling them on the couch and they'd kick their legs and "bleat" for him to pick them up again.

Lola did not so much enjoy this Advent activity.

She's more of a goat than a sheep anyway.

Maranda

Arduous journey

We went on a walk the other night.

We walk in our neighborhood from time to time, but this evening's walk was an improvised Advent activity as we read about Mary and Joseph making the long journey to Bethlehem.

As I mentioned... I can make pizza about Jesus... so making a walk around our neighborhood about an arduous journey to a stable with a very pregnant lady on a donkey is a piece of cake:

A loop around our neighborhood with 3 kids = arduous
Stable = playground
Very pregnant lady = me
Donkey = bad dog
And no, I didn't ride the dog... but she is a stubborn piece of work and quite comparable to a donkey I'm sure.

Anyway, Chilli bean provided much comic relief along our "arduous" journey.

See this?

I know not what it is. But it's probably something electric that you are not supposed to touch.

And this is of course why I turned around to see Chilli sitting upon it...

... announcing that she was going pee pee in the potty.

Awesome.

Because she tried to potty in our neighbors yard is a slow walker, she eventually was carried on daddy's shoulders for a while. However, she made it exceptionally challenging for Brent to walk.

I mean, sight is so over-rated.

See... I told you it was an arduous journey.

Maranda

Advent

We have been attempting to keep our focus on celebrating the story of Jesus this Advent season.

As you can imagine, we fail pretty regularly.

But being the super organized planner errrrr... being the awesome mom ummm... possessing the ability to somehow connect pizza to Jesus, we have definitely had some success celebrating the fast approaching birthday of Christ.

As you can imagine, not being a planner makes it challenging to conduct organized daily activities to celebrate the days and weeks of Advent, but thanks to some new perspective regarding this special season, we are definitely off to a more focused start.

I thought I might share a few of the things we have done so far in coming posts, but please, please, please know my heart is not to in any way brag or boast. Just because we have managed to conduct a few simple activities for 8 consecutive days in no way makes us more holy, more worthy or even more cool.

For years I have lived in a place of feeling inadequate about how our family doesn't do things right, or good enough, or with enough spiritual emphasis. I read too many blogs that make me feel little and condemned by the craftiness and creativity of others... I hope my blog is never such a place. Instead, I hope it is a place where you can come and feel encouraged that there is another goobery, flaky, hot-mess-of-a-wife-and-mother out there who can totally empathize with you and the fact that your son just dropped his pants and peed on the floral landscaping right in front of the large sanctuary windows during second service worship. Or, that your daughter may have in fact completely lost her mind over her inability to zip up her fleece. Or that you just arrived at the Target returns desk only to find that instead of the shirt and candle you were bringing back, you instead have in your bag: a sippy cup, a baby sock and two stuffed monkeys dressed in doll clothes and pipe-cleaner crowns.

Not that I would know about any of these things specifically. Ahem.

You and I both need to find a way to stop living in that place of feeling condemned by some expectation or burden that we should never place on ourselves anyway. Living like there is something we have to do in order to receive God's favor is just a flat out lie. Jesus did it all and I'm done with believing that I have earned more favor or more of his love because I made sugar cookies shaped like angels with my kids for Christmas.

Can I get an amen?!

We started our Avent celebration with an idea stolen from the Feminina Blog. The grandmother in this family hosts their children and grandchildren each Sunday for a festive Sabbath dinner. On the first Sunday of Advent, they light the candle, have a devotion shared by her pastor husband, and then she gives each of the 15 or so grandchildren a gift of Christmas PJs.

Obviously, I did not do the large scale home-cooked family dinner, but we did embrace the idea of a celebration and got the kids excited about a countdown to Jesus' birthday.

We lit the first candle in our Advent centerpiece...

...read a passage from the prophet Isaiah foretelling of the coming King.

Opened a clue from from our advent calendar and went on a treasure hunt for three wrapped PJ gifts hidden in the house.

Put on our jammers and then danced around like crazy animals on the guest bed.

Don't worry, Brent caught her.

And let me tell you, although it was fun... it wasn't perfect. And had I built up any unrealistic expectations for the evening I probably would have been pretty sad when Mr. Jenkins said he didn't like his PJs and refused to wear them.

Which he did.

But it's not about new pajamas. It's about a baby boy born in a manger on Christmas Day.

And we're going to try to learn as much about Him and God's redemptive plan set in place before the foundation of the world was laid.

And if we are not wearing our PJs for that...

Oh well.

Maranda

Multi-tasking

Just a quick note to let you know that I am still here... even though I can't seem to blog very often.

Also, in case you were wondering... someone is still not potty trained.

... but she enjoys sitting upon the potty...

... whilst coloring.

Because we multi-task here in the Curl house.

We also like to color on our faces.

Because, sometimes our cheeks get in the way when we are trying to eat markers.

Maranda