Ahhh, sitting down with a cup of tea (in peace and quiet...I'm jinxing myself, I know) and thinking about what to post. (think, think, think)

Norah...Well, my newborn is no longer a newborn. I can't believe Norah is 5 months old already! She's really growing. She's rolling everywhere, enjoying her exersaucer and adores being entertained by Avy and the Linkster. She is quite the CHATTER by the way. She can talk and talk and talk. Is this a sign of things to come? Oh dear. =) Haven't started her on solids just yet. I'll wait until at least 6 months. She really doesn't have a big desire to. She watches us eat and is entertained by how we feed ourselves, but hasn't leaned in for a bite yet. She is teething like crazy now and it throws her off schedule, waking up in the middle of naps or the night. Ug. She sounds like she's in pain though, so I do feel bad for her. She and I have definately formed a unique bond. (We were talking about this just the other night.) I don't know what it is, but since Norah has been born, she has definately been a Mommy's girl, more so than Linc or Avonlea. Soemtimes, I could just eat her up she's so cute. I'm savoring every moment as you can probably guess. =)

Lincoln...This boy is tackling the potty sooner than I thought. Still working on it, but he tells us sometimes and we're quick to get him there. I must say that I was a bit uncomfortable telling him how to "point down", so I called Rob in the other night for reinforcement. =) He sits on the potty backwards so as to not miss. We're still working on colors with him. He can count to 10 and knows most of the ABC song, but as for colors, he only has orange down pat. He definately keeps me on my toes, little stinker. Gotta love him though. He takes so much energy out of both Rob and I. We really have to stay on him discipline-wise. I'm currently working on not warning him of discipline when he makes a bad choice. You know the line, "If you do this, son, you're going to..." (you fill in the blank) Giving discipline right there and then is how it is most effecitve and I'm working on that.

Avonlea...My firstborn is thriving with homeschooling. She's reading four letter words now and copying them well in her handwriting book. She loves to read and enjoys math. She's currently working on simple addition problems (1+1=2). She loves to use manipulatives for this too. The other day, we used apples. She likes it when I use marshmellows or cookies. =) We're learning about the Arctic this week. Went to the library yesterday and checked out books on the Arctic. So interesting. One thing I do have to say is that I personally enjoy learning as we go with homeschoolig. If the Lord leads us to homeschool into the later elementary years, doing units and projects are really going to be fun. While we were at the library yesterday, I saw some interesting books on Nigeria (where Rob and his family ministered while he was young) as well as China (where Avonlea's grandma is currently serving) and Mexico (where I would love to take our children some day and to learn the language). I wanted so badly to check out some of those books and start doing a small project on those countries, but I'll continue with simplicity until she's a few years older. She is VERY eager to learn new things though. Not to try new foods, bummer. She's my picky eater.

Rob and I...Have been enjoying some dates lately. Just being away from the kiddos in peace and quiet, decorating for Christmas (something we always enjoy doing) and vegging late at night together with a good tv show. We have been known to sit out by the bonfire with hot cocoa, chatting about the day's events. It's actually been cold enough to have a few bonfires lately. Hooray! This weekend, we're supposed to get another cold front, so maybe we'll have another bonfire.

We've been busy baking cookies (Monster cookies, Rob's favorite), wrapping presents, playing Christmas music, making hand-made Christmas cards and the list goes on. I'm trying to be creative with our gift-giving this year. Who needs another expensive gift that just sits around their house? Not I. I was thinking about doing something more personal this year. I checked out THIS website and found some incredible ideas. Be sure to check it out. One thing that I know I've thought about is to make people something that they would love to have the time to do, but don't. For instance, a transportable garden. Take a large pot and plant some different herbs or vegetable plants in it. Label the plants and put a cute bow around the pot. OR, I thought about making some already made Home Management Binders, holiday binders or some cookbook binders for some people. All things that some wish they could make, but haven't and would make a great gift. Anyway, that's what's going on in our neck of the woods this Tuesday.

What are some of your gift ideas for this year? Do share!!! I'd like to hear some creative ones or even just a classic that you do every year.