Busy-ness, Birthday, and Waiting on a Baby!

     As usual, life has been busy, busy, busy here in the Lipskoch household!  Since I blogged last, we have continued preparations for our new arrival, hired a new teacher for school to help while I'm "off-site,"  attended my cousin's wedding, welcomed the Traveling Grandparents, and celebrated Stitch's fourth birthday.  And those are just the out-of-the-ordinary things!  School, home life, church, and Scouts were all mixed in as well!  Oh, and don't forget those weekly doctors visits!

     I have been on "enforced" maternity leave this past week.  I say "enforced" because I wanted to keep busy as long as possible so I wouldn't go crazy just sitting and waiting for the big day.  But Hubby (who also happens to be my boss at work--so I had no chance of winning this one!!) insisted that I stay home until Baby shows up.  So I have been finding things to occupy my time--going on shopping trips for last-minute supplies, and trying to stay out of the school building.  I may have spent a few minutes over there yesterday though...

     This past weekend, we celebrated Stitch's fourth birthday with a family party.  It seems like two months ago I was blogging about his third birthday!  *Sigh...  He wanted to go on a trip to a local state park, but we had a cold snap last week (we even had SNOW), so we told him we would go there another time.  The only other thing he kept saying he wanted was "a chocolate cake AND brownies."  So, Mommy made the brownies and Uncle N's girlfriend made the chocolate cake.  So we had one happy little boy when it came to dessert time!  Of course, he got presents too, which was just even more exciting to him.  I knew the party was a success when he came to me later that night and said, "Mommy, my tummy kinda hurts."  To which I replied, "Well, that's probably because you had brownies, and chocolate cake, and some Hershey bar (one of his gifts).  You need to drink some water.  That will help your tummy feel better."  His answer was, "No, I think my tummy wants more chocolate.  That will help it feel better more!"  Even though it was his birthday, he did not manage to convince me that this was a wise course of action!

One happy guy--surrounded by his brownies and cake! 

It must have been great.... :) 

     Of course, among all this busy-ness, we are still waiting for our new baby.  These last few days always seem the longest.  I'm fairly certain that Stitch has half-convinced himself that the baby will never get here!  And I must admit, there are days I have the same feeling! As I have written before, waiting is not my strong suit.  And yet, God gives this time to all mothers...this time of waiting.  Maybe to give us a chance to draw close to Him as we approach a time in our life that is like no other--the welcoming of a gift that He has given.  A little soul to mold and show the example of Christ to.  A daunting challenge and precious responsibility.  So, this time of waiting is also a time of reflection.  A time to remind myself of the calling God has given me, and a time of prayer that He will help me as I face the joys and challenges I know are ahead.  A time once again to find the "Lego moments" God has placed in my path.  :)  

Family Fun at Christmas Time!

     Whew!  We are winding down a very busy holiday season here at our house!  This has been a crazier time than usual around here--and that's saying something!  With the Christmas festivities, school-break projects, doctor visits (for the upcoming arrival), and various other activities, we have been going what seems like non-stop for the past two weeks!

     Activities we have taken part in began early for us this December.  One of the first holiday activities we take part in is the local Christmas parade.  We have gotten involved in this through Scouting, and the boys look forward to being in the parade and throwing candy to the on-lookers!  (Mommy looks forward to getting rid of all the candy that has accumulated in the house!)  So, Daddy and the boys suited up and did the parade thing, and Mommy and Stitch watched with our friends on the sidelines!  (And collected yet more candy.  I told the boys that the only rule was that we come back with less candy than we brought--and we did! Yay!)  Here are a couple of pics from the parade...

Levi all bundled up and ready to watch the parade!

Here's your candy!  :)  

     Right after the Christmas parade, we headed over to Baby A's first birthday party!  It's hard to believe that just a year ago, she was fighting hard in the NICU to come home and be with her mommy and daddy!  The boys, especially Stitch, love their baby cousin, and she getting big enough now to enjoy them as well!  It was a fun birthday party--with one special announcement--Baby A is going to be a big sister!!  Her mommy helped her open this very special present to announce this happy news!  (Although, you can see from the corner of the picture that Baby A was more impressed with her other things!) 

A new baby is coming!  :)

     In the midst of all these fun activities, we still have to have school!  Although, it's not all work all the time!  The students worked hard in the first quarter and all of them made Honor Roll.  So, we planned a fun Honor Roll field trip to Chuck E. Cheese!  They all seemed to have a lot of fun, and earned lots of tickets for some fun prizes.  The only problem is--what are we going to come up with for the next one?? 

First-Born & Middle Biscuit playing a flying game.

Stitch concentrating on riding his police motorcycle!  

     After some other fun school activities, it was finally time for Christmas break!  The boys were looking forward to it, and so were Mommy and Daddy!  We were able to enjoy some get-togethers with extended family, and then it was time to gear up for the big day!  We enjoyed a lazy Christmas morning before packing up and heading to the grandparent's house for more celebrations. 

All dressed up and looking handsome!  (When I pulled Stitch's outfit out of the closet that morning, he took one look at it and said "Uh-uh, no way, I am NOT wearing that!  Mommy firmly convinced him otherwise!)

New Lego Wii game!

Middle Biscuit checking out his new Lego set!

Stitch's current favorite toy!  He had been eyeing this for a while in the store...he loves to play with these imaginext sets.

      The boys were excited about all their gifts, but they were probably the most thrilled about getting their Legos back.  A couple of months ago, Daddy decided to teach a lesson in taking care of our things, so he told the boys that he had to put all the Legos in his room, and they had to spend the next few weeks searching through the house and gathering any stray Legos they could find.  He gave them a nickel apiece for each one they brought to him.  When they had gone several weeks without finding any, he would begin working on a Lego shelf for all their Legos to live on, and they could have them back when the shelf was finished at Christmas time. 

     Well, they continued to find Legos all the way up until Christmas break, so Daddy built the shelf during the break and gave the boys back their Legos on Christmas day.  There are just a few more finishing touches to go before we install our finished project in the toy room.  The boys had to help build and paint the shelf as well.  Daddy hopes that this exercise will help them remember how much work goes into something, and not to be so careless that things are lost or broken.  When everything is set, I'll try to post some pics of the finished project! 

     While the guys were working on their project, Mommy had a big one of her own to tackle--getting the room ready for the new arrival!  Lots of things had to be rearranged, and all the gifts we received needed to be sorted and put away.  Let's just say it is a very big job, and it's not finished yet!  But I have made a good start, and hope to plug away at it in my spare (haha!) time before her arrival.  (Funny aside: I am having dreams now about the baby coming, and when it gets here it's a boy...and I'm freaking out because we have all these girly things ready to go! Although, technically, I guess we are prepared even if there were to be any surprises!)

     One of the last projects that we will work on a little at a time is the after Christmas thank-you notes.  I have a ton to write for the baby gifts received as well as the Christmas gifts.  I will be having the boys write them as well, for the gifts they received.  This is a tradition that has gone somewhat by the way-side, but I think it is still a great tool for teaching gratefulness for blessings received.  (Also, a little extra reading/writing practice never hurt anyone!)  Do any of you still do this with your kiddos? 

     Well, this post has been long, but I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our holiday season!  Happy 2013, and I hope you are looking forward to a brand new year filled with "Lego" moments!  :)