Gingerbread Houses

It must be Christmas. The girls decorated gingerbread houses for the first time today. We put them together yesterday. (They are super-easy kits from Bountiful Baskets with organic gingerbread and meringue powder included) Today, with the help of Dr. Ashley they got to decorate to their heart's content. Yes, there are a lot of pictures of the same thing but I had to make sure you saw them from almost every possible angle.

Two proud craftswomen

Meskerem (looking way to old) and her gingerbread house

Kidist (yes those are Swedish-inspired pjs) and her house

Even the backs got decorated

Going to bed has been a little tough tonight. I think they ate more and licked their fingers more than I realized. But then, I probably did too.

Library Christmas Party

 This last Wednesday was the Libray Christmas party. Santa Claus came and read a story and all the kids got their pictures taken with him. Then we all stuffed our faces with the goodies everyone brought. If I haven't said it before, I love our library children's program.

Kidist and Brody

Meskerem and Santa

Kidist and Santa

Both girls with Santa

Incidentally, I got berated by Santa because one of my children complained to him that there weren't any Barbie dolls under the Christmas tree last year. I told him he ought to know my feelings on Barbies by now. Besides my kids usually understand that Santa isn't real.

Family Photos

I had a friend from church come down and take pictures of me and the girls about a month ago. I am so pleased with how they turned out. You can check out Kerry's other work at her Blog and at the Tracy Moore Photography website. So here are a few for the rest of you to see. These were all taken at our local county museum. It was so nice to have a photographer come to us and take pictures where we were comfortable. It was also nice to get an outsider's perspective on me and my kids. My dad has taken some wonderful photos, but he is just a little biased.

The three of us.



Mommy and Kidist

I really like this one of just our legs together.

My tattoo with the reasons for it.

Meskerem and Mommy

Halloween 2011

I couldn't not post photos of our Halloween. The girls came to the office and we went straight from there to downtown where several businesses had their doors open and were generously handing out candy. The Chamber of Commerce even had hot chocolate and hot cider which were quite welcome given the dreary drippy skies we were experiencing. After we had hit most of the businesses, we stopped at the local pizza/sandwhich shop for a burger and pizza. That's when the skies opened and it rained pretty hard. Once we were done, it had stopped raining and we headed out again. It was quite nice to take them trick-or-treating in all the same places I went as a child. Some things in a small town really never change.

Happy princesses. Our pumpkins turned out pretty well too.

Dancing in the dark.

I was playing with my camera on a tripod and took this photo without a flash. The girls are sort of ghostly as they weren't sitting still while I took the picture.

Kidist's Birthday

So I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. Here are some photos from Kidist's birthday a few weeks ago. I was completely crazy and invited a whole passel of kids. They all had a blast playing outside, dropping clothespins into jars, pinning the tail on the donkey, and bobbing for apples. Kidist wanted a Mickey Mouse theme for her party so both boys and girls would feel comfortable at her party. Luckily I had several grown-ups who stayed to help. It all turned out well as you can see by the photos below.

Table full of children.

Playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." We used my mom's circa 1947 donkey.

Bobbing for apples.

Kidist with "Lizzie" from Papa and Ayat and wearing new hats from Dr. Ashley.

Happy mom and daughter and one cool Mickey Mouse cake (pretty proud of that one).

I have the best kids in the world!

I have to tell you all about what happened this evening so when my kids are driving me nuts you can remind me just how good they can be.
We had a long day yesterday. I started at 3AM with going to the hospital for an OB patient. She delivered and I was home by about 7:30. I tried to sleep, but that didn't happen. Then by 10 we were off for the day. We had library story hour; I had a CPT meeting; we went to Billings for shopping and out to dinner with friends. We got home so late, I put the girls to bed in their clothes (luckily they have comfy Lands' End dresses). Today, we were all recovering from a long day yesterday and not enough sleep. I felt completely wiped when I got home and the girls could tell. Meskerem said, "You're tired, Mommy. You go rest a little bit before you make supper. We're not hungry yet anyway." "Really?" I said. Kidist responded with, "Yes Mommy. You rest. Meskerem and I play together." So I went and laid down. Meskerem even came in to see if I needed her to take Dot out of the room. I aasked them to come get me when the clock said 6:30 or if my phone rang. At 6:45 I woke up. The girls were having so much fun playing together they didn't realize the time.
How many other moms have kids that will push their mom into her room and tell her to rest for a little bit? I know my kids are far from perfect, but tonight God reminded me just what a blessing they are.

What have you done with your life?

Earlier today I was talking with a friend about all the things she wants to do in the next few years. She is applying for the FBI and she's already a lawyer, but she is also working on Theology classes and wants to get an associates in auto mechanics. I laughingly said, "Gee, all I did was go to med school. What have I done with my life?" Then we looked over at the table where the girls were eating breakfast. They were holding hands and praying over their meal and thanking God for what He had given them. My friend said, "That is what you have done with your life and you should be incredibly proud." It just reminded me that I need to re-assess my definition of success. The speaker at church Saturday night said the same thing. I may only have two degrees (yes, I realize many have none), I may not always work enough to get a bonus; but hopefully my children will be able to remember having dinner together most evenings, cuddling in bed on Saturday and Sunday mornings andd having a mom present when she was needed most. I also hope that my patients will know that I truly care and that I will take the time I need to take care of them.
So success in my life can't be measured by my bank account, my house, my car or any other material things. Success will be when I stand before God and He says, "Well done. Thank you for caring for my children."