Merry Christmas 2012

I'm not one to send newsy Christmas letters with the Christmas cards. For one, it's a feat of organization that I've actually gotten the kids to pose for a picture, then ordered the cards, picked them up and mailed them out. For another, I haven't had two minutes to sit down and compose a letter in the weeks leading up to the holidays. Have you noticed the lack of recent blog posts? It's been a few feverish weeks of getting ready for the big day - shopping, baking, more shopping, remembering to pick up gifts for teachers, trying to corral the kids to sit and write a card for their teachers, running out to pick up tights for the holiday dresses, convincing Devlin that he can wear too tight church shoes for one hour of his life, trying to remember who we forgot on the gift list - it's been nutty.
While it may already be 2013, here's my Christmas message:
Dear friends,
Hope everyone is well, healthy and mostly happy. We, on the other hand, after a mostly illness-free year, have been fighting through various colds, flus, sniffles and what not in December. Poor Quinn has had the worst of it.
But happy? After some discussion with my spouse, we have determined that we are indeed happy and content, or a tad delusional.
We started the year of 2012 off with a bang. The arrival of Quinn, our fourth child, in the last minutes of 2011 insured that we would definitely be awake to greet the new year. Alas, the same could not be said for ringing in 2013. Our entire household was asleep by 11pm.
The year flew by. Devlin scored a few goals in hockey and soccer. He joined a new hockey team in September, moved up a level and is now playing left wing. He  seems to have quite the imagination as evidenced by his drawings and creative writing at school.  Ceilidh learned to ride a two-wheeler. Her transition to grade one was a bit bumpy as many of her BFFs left for French immersion. But she's settled in nicely, and all of her school work comes home covered in doodles. Ceilidh is quite the avid reader these days. By Christmas, she was singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". Or perhaps I should say she was whistling it as the gap in front made it difficult for her to enunciate. Aisling started junior kindergarten and learned to spell her name, but has not yet mastered the "indoor" voice. All three started taking Tae Kwon Do this year with their dad, and Devlin and Ceilidh progressed to yellow belt recently. Devlin is in Cubs, while Ceilidh and Aisling are continuing with dance lessons. And then there's piano lessons for Devlin and Ceilidh.
Quinn, of course, made the most progress this year. He went from lying around, to rolling over, to sitting up, to the army/belly crawl in the summer, then crawling on his hands and knees in September. And in the last two weeks, he has started walking!  And while Ceilidh gave up two teeth to the Tooth Fairy, Quinn cut two more. I think the last count was 10 teeth. We're not sure though, as we're all hesitant to put our fingers into his mouth  - he's got quite the bite.
Mommy and Daddy are still in survival mode, feeling like we've completed ten marathons by day's end. One day, we'll be like other parents and enjoy a television show and a glass of wine after the kids go to sleep. One day, in the distant future. For now, we get our energy levels refilled as we share stories about our kids and laugh together at their antics.
For example:
Walking the kids to school one morning, Ceilidh noticed I was wearing new shoes. Why was I wearing new shoes for the mundane task of going to school? I explained I was trying to break them in. What did that mean? Making them more comfortable, and trying to stretch out the shoe.
"Like making them wider?" she asked.
"Sort of," I said.
"I'm learning all about wide and long at school," she stated proudly.
"Really? What's Daddy? Wide or long?" I queried.
"Mostly wide," she replied without missing a beat.

Then there was the night I got fed up with hearing my children use the word "hate". As in "I hate you/Devlin/Ceilidh/playing piano..." You get the picture. I'm sure we all use that word, but I really didn't want them using that word so easily.
After a challenging evening with Ceilidh that resulted with her screaming "I hate you" to a certain parent, I gathered up the three kids who could speak in understandable English. Both Daddy and I presented a united front as we lectured them on how much we detested hearing the word "hate" coming from them, and we issued a cease and desist order on that word. We also informed them the consequences of uttering that word would result in the loss of Xbox for a weekend.  Ceilidh and Devlin nodded their understanding, but Aisling? She came back, quite nonchalantly, with "What about the F-word? Do you like that word?"
While Daddy struggled mightily to keep a straight face, I glared evilly and said in my most authoritative voice that the "f-word" was most certainly not an allowable word in the house. I glared once more, then rushed to the safety of my room where both Daddy and I dissolved into giggles.

So, there you have it - what 2012 has been like in our household. I'm sure 2013 will be more of the same crazy stuff, and multiplied by the Mighty Quinn who will no doubt add his own brand of comments and quirks to the mix.

From our zoo to your's, Merry Belated Christmas and Best Wishes for the new year!