The big gun convo

Tonight while I was eating dinner with the girls, a segment came on the news about kids touching guns. I'm not sure we were ready for the convo. Maybe I should have read some child psychologist advice on what to say. Instead, I dove right in.

Me: cora, what are those things those boys are touching on tv?

(After a lot of clarification of which things...)

Cora: those are shooters!

Me: do we touch shooters? 

Cora: no. Only mommies touch shooters.

Me: mommy won't even touch a shooter! They're really dangerous. Do we talk about shooters at school.

Cora: no

Me: do we play like we have a shooter?

Cora: no

Me: why?

Cora: because they're bad!

Me: why are they bad?

Cora: they can make people dead!

(Clearly SOMEONE has broached this convo with her. I thought she was getting it).

Me: that's right! And we wouldn't be able to get you back, right? Until we go to heaven.

Cora: yeah, heaven's bad!

Me: no, heaven's good! I just don't want you to go there until you are a REALLy old lady!

Cora: yeah! You have to be a really old lady to shoot guns.

(I know. I should have known we were getting over her head.)

Me: ok. What do you do if you see a gun?

Cora: like if I see a gun up there on that shelf? 

Me: yes, like on that shelf.

Cora: I take it to a mommy.

Me: no you TELL a mommy.  You don't touch it.

Cora: we only touch it to take it to the garbage. 

Me: no you never touch it. You just go get the mommy and tell her.

(Realizing I'd gone too far I decided to talk about what she knows).

Me: Cora, if you See a gun and you go straight and tell a mommy, I'll buy you a new toy.

Cora: like a glitter coloring thingy?

Me: no, bigger, like a doll house.

Cora: like a big doll house?

Me: a whole jump castle for our yard. That's what I'll buy if you just tell a mommy if you see a gun.

Cora: or if Quinn just tells a mommy we'll get a jump house? With a slide down thingy? One that sings "rain rain go away!"?!?!

The morale of the story: please don't even have a toy gun in your house when we come over. If Cora sees it, and she  "tells a mommy", I just promised a jump castle.

Merry Christmas Day!

Santa came! 

The dollhouse was clearly a hit, and I'm not sure Cora was very into Santa and presents until she saw the doll house around the corner.

Once again, Santa brought a babystroller this year. It was the #1 thing Cora asked for; she was concerned that Santa brought her one last year, but didn't bring Quinny one, and Quinny needed her very own stroller.

Quinny agreed and was SO happy.

This was a big year for dress-up clothes.

And, Santa brought the girls a VERY popular high chair. 

There was too much fun, and too much wrapping paper, and too many hugs to get many pics. A great morning - I know that we only have a limited number of years of magical Christmas mornings. 

Here might be the best place to say this. 

I don't know what we did, or how we did it, but I was so pleased this year that Cora was WAY more excited about the Little Baby Jesus than she was Santa. I'm not even sure she cared much about Santa until the doll house arrived, but we had a lot of questions about Jesus, Jesus's mommy, etc. Maybe it's the Little People nativity that always comes out at Christmas, or the Little People nativity calendar that Grandma M. mailed her, or the pics from Grandma M and Mary Rutledge with great pics of the baby Jesus and the manger... but we were constantly fielding serious Jesus convos. We still are. We're still singing "The LIttle Lord Jesus" song (on repeat) every night before bed (as Cora says, It's still a little bit Christmas), and she announced the other day that she wanted to ride on a horse with Mary just like the Little Lord Jesus (we think she saw a statue when we were having dinner at a friend's house). 

I'm not bragging - I don't feel like we tried too hard to make her this pious. Currently the child is Jesus obsessed. 

Christmas Eve

We had so much fun Christmas Eve that I completely forgot to take pictures!

There is this one of Quinn napping with her tail end up in the air (notice Santa on her bottom).

And this one of Cora running before church to see if the Baby Jesus was in the manger (he was!). 

And then, this one of Bailey at our drop-in...

And Presley's grandparent's.

And this one of the very popular Caroline. 

Finally, one of Cora leaving cookies for Santa.

But otherwise, we got no pictures. We were too busy hosting. I always like to make note of who was there, and since I didn't get any pics and I have no clue where else I would write it down other than on a post-it to be lost forever... here it goes.

The Hermans (Dustin, Erin, Mackenzie, & Reagan)

The Funks (Dave, Sandy, Caroline, Colin, & Sam)

The Cantrells (Lance, Sara, Toby, Bailey, & Ariana)

The Blairs (Dad and Mom... ha!)

The Stropes (Phil, Jen, Thomas, & Charlie)

The Walkers (Doug and a friend)

The Brumbaughs (Dave, Anne, & Jocelyn)

The Merrits (and their whole party, too - which was so fun!)

The Slades (Liz with Taylor & Turner)

The Heichelbechs (Tim, Jenny, & Kate) and the Heichelbech grandparents

And... I think there may have been others. The kids had a blast, Caroline was a lifesaver (it was like we hired a babysitter - she wrangled all the kids into playtime), and we were in bed before we heard Santa's bells on the roof, so we didn't interrupt the Big Guy's schedule.

Christmas In Kentucky

I'm running a little late...

Christmas in Kentucky!

Once again this year, on the weekend before Christmas, we declared it Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Kentucky. Once again, It was nearly as fun as the old Christmas Eve tradition. Growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve dropping by several houses (a stop by the Trimble family gathering, then dinner at Grandma Iris's, then a stop by the Goble family gathering, and sometimes the Crum family gathering, and always by the Ellie and Arlen family gathering, and then out to Grandma Eb's house to open Christmas Eve presents). I think that's why I love the idea of hosting a drop-in on Christmas Eve, now that we've declared we stay home for Christmas.

The big WIN by having Christmas early is that a lot of the people that we used to see on our own Christmas Eve route now drop by the house while we're there pretending like it is Christmas Eve. That's a pretty big advantage.

So, here are the pics. Maybe out of order, because at this point, I'm just happy to clear 1200 pics (yes, 1200 pics) off of my phone. It was a busy fall, people. A very busy fall...

Our little elf.

With Catie Gullett. When Catie walked in, Quinn immediately attached to a baby doll she brought with her, then Cora became super possessive of Uncle Hadee (because clearly he is the most prized possession for any kid who comes in the house???). 

They had a great time playing together. 

Catie brought Cora a gown for her dolls that matched a gown she brought for Cora. A HUGE hit - this was her first gown like this. Of course, Hadee had to wear it.

Q with Catie's baby.

A Christmas Eve ride behind Papaw's tractor. 

OK, it's a lawn mower. Don't tell my kids. From the way Cora describes Papaw & Mia's house, Papaw is a farmer with a big barn and a lot of animals :)

Aunt Erin and Cora, making their annual gingerbread house (I'm calling it annual - Erin did it with the kids last year and was STILL willing to do it with the kids again this year. She's locked in forever now!).

Guess which house was Quinn's...

And, PRESENT time!

Uncle Shew sat down in the floor to open a present for the girl; I love how Quinn just tottered over and plopped down in his lap. They don't see Uncle Shew often enough, but when they do, he plays hard the whole time.

Baby Alive. Huge hit. The babies pee.

Dr. Quinn isn't too happy with her patients.

Cora letting Mary give her a pedicure.

Quinn NEVER lets us touch her feet, but since CORA was getting a pedicure, Quinn insisted on having one, too.

A Christmas Eve family pic. Posed behind the Craftsman tool. We take any moment of all 4 of us in one place we can get!

Landon got mom a new kitchen spigot for Christmas. Part of the gift was installing it. Yes - this took about 3 more hours than he expected... but he got it finished in time for breakfast the next day.

Clippity Clop horses from Aunt Bum.

Our little sugar-stuffed giggle box. 

Merry Kentucky Christmas Eve!

Birthday party

Cora set- up a birthday party.

"Dad, can you feed them? Cause they can't feed themselves? I have to go to the bathroom."

Poor kids without ketchup

We've been iced in for a whopping 24 hrs. We had the essentials for a snow day - milk, 3 eggs, bisquick, pancake syrup, coffee, hamburger, noodle shells. Plus our freezer is packed - I didn't even make a special trip to the store for the weather (Landon DID stop to buy 2 gallons of milk, Hershey chocolate syrup, a can of rotel to mix with velveeta in case he goes down the street to watch sports... The essentials). 

Last night for dinner, we had bison burgers,French fries, and baked beans... During dinner, we finished off the very very last of the ketchup and pickles in the house.

Fast forward to today. We sat down for leftovers at lunch plus some Mac and cheese (ultimate post-ice-play-) comfort food. Let's just say the lack of ketchup on our plates was noted by our resident noticer of things like missing ketchup.

Me: shall we say a quick prayer?

(Then drawn out dramatic sign of the cross from our children)

Landon: Dear God, We pray for all those people out in the cold today, and those people who do not have good food like we have, and as always, we pray for our friends down the street.

Cora: and all the people without ketchup, right?

(Right Cora Jane, all the people without ketchup)

Amen

There are moments when I have to dive under the table to keep from letting my children see me explode with laughter. That was definitely one of them.

 At first Cora was not happy to be outside because Quinn got the cute pink mittens and she had to wear a very small pair of adult gloves)

I can see why the bridges are closed. Look at the depth of ice on our mailbox and this was today at noon... We'd already broken the thicker layer off the top. The world was covered in ice today. 

It really could be years before we see snow on our roof again. I'm really liking this snow day but I wouldn't like a whole week of them!

Little Messals Unite!

It's become an annual thing - the Florida little Messals come to spend New Years Eve with the South Carolina little Messals. We love it!

A lot of time on bicycles...

Trying out slides...

And cuddling to watch some Disney Channel...

With a lot of awe and wonder...

Our annual New Years Eve (Eve?) trip to Sullivan's for lunch...

Everytime I am on Sullivan's at New Years, especially when it is warm enough to enjoy the island, I ALWAYS think of the trip Amy, Allison, Brynn, and I took to Sullivan's for New Years in 2003. It's officially been 10 years since that trip. 

A little stay-cation. As many times as we've been to Sullivan's, parked our car at Ft. Moultrie, and beached or jogged or visited the cannons (a hit with Cora), we'd never explored inside. It's free! The fort idea may or may not have been lost on the little Messals - we couldn't tell.

Fun, but also a little bit of a stressful place. There are a few sharp drop-offs. Quinn ALWAYS wants to be carried, except when there is potential danger to be had. Then she sniffs my concern and prefers to run free. Stinker.

(Below) - Quinn is doing a face I LOVE! She smiles real big and looks upward and to the side. Super cute - Super Quinn.

You can see Paul, Jen, and Coop up above (yes, that's a straight drop from where Coop is standing).

Cora, enjoying a winter trip to the beach.

We tried to get all little Messals together - Quinn was off distracted.

To my knowledge, the only pic of all 4 little Messals together was one of them in the bathtub. A great memory, but hardly one that is appropriate for the blog. Jen, Paul - any on your phone? Maybe we didn't capture it here, but we had a really great break together. A lot of dinners in. Some bike rides. A few shopping trips. No real plans. A lot of relaxation. We love the Florida Messals!!!