Merry Christmas!

If you ask Maclaren what the angel said, she'll tell you:
"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy!"

Wishing you blessings this Christmas as we celebrate the Good News of Great Joy.
Merry Christmas!

Cookies and Caroling

We love to bake lots of treats during the holidays.  Mama likes treats during the holidays ;)

This year, we made Grandma Burke's chocolate fudge, Rolo-pretzel treats, peppermint bark, white chocolate "Wintery Mix," pumpkin bread, gooey cinnamon rolls, and over 18 dozen family-recipe decorated Christmas cookies! 

It is wonderful to have so many helpers in the kitchen.  The kids are quite the experts at cookie decorating - they can ice and sprinkle 18 dozen in no time!

We carried on one of our favorite holiday traditions in our new neighborhood: caroling - delivering plates of cookies to our neighbors with a song!

"We wish you a Merry Christmas!"

Hair!

Hiwot has a new do: a twistie bob!

Keeping her latest signature of sparkly teal highlights, we redid her hair twisties and tried out a new style. 
A shorter length with thicker yarn twists (3 strands) was installed in record time: two days of work, taking only 6 hours total for fresh protective style - un-twisting, detangling, deep conditioning, hair trim, and new twists.  Whew! 
Keeping them shoulder length and utilizing organic sectioning enabled this style to be finishing quickly . . . along with mama's stubborn determination to finish over a weekend to allow plenty of time for Christmas projects ;)

I am thankful for Hiwot's patience and willingness to be a good sport.  (The shorter styling is my favorite!)

She's gorgeous!

Next time, after taking time between styles to leave her hair loose, we'll most likely return to her top choice: super long and thin twisties. 
And, someday, I'd like to try out melting the tips of her yarn twists for a cleaner, smoother, knot-free look.  We'll see!

Ballerina Girls

One of the greatest perks at our new dance studio is that I have the privilege to watch my girls in their classes each week.  It is such a joy to be able to peek in and see them in action!

Dabney's 3-year-old class held at the same time as Maegli and Hiwot's class.  While big sisters work on tap, jazz, and ballet for nearly 2-hours behind the curtain (they feel very big and special back there!), Dabney and her friends work on sashaying, tippy toes, round arms ("make a picture!", somersaults, and curtsying, always with lots of helpers and to a backdrop of fun music.  The teachers are all impressively patient and sweet, working with this fiesty group of little girls. 
Dabney loves it!
(she also loves the TWO pieces of candy she's awarded at the end of each class session!)

On another day, Maclaren gets to attend class with her 4-year-old friends.  These girls get to dance for an entire hour, working on tap, ballet, and tumbling. 

It truly is a pleasure to watch my girls at class.  I am so pleased the girls all enjoy dance so much, and I am thankful for their wonderful, fun, caring teachers, keeping it such a positive experience for them all! 

Brrr!

Playing with ice and covered in hot chocolate :)

(Dabney's unfocused eyes pre-glasses - sweet girl!)

Glasses

Three-year-old Dabney is seeing her world in a whole new way . . . sporting pretty pink glasses! 

As a newborn, Dabney had the cutest crossed-eyed face - most likely a result of her 5-week early arrival.  This seemed to correct itself as she grew, until at 2-1/2 we started noticing the drifting eye again.  This fall we were finally able to get her in to see an ophthalmologist - Dabney is extremely farsighted.  Our sweet girl had been crossing her eyes to try to see! 

With this new information, so many things with our girl make so much more sense: Our Girl Couldn't See!
squinting her eyes (nearly closing them) when was ask her to look at us (she was trying to see us!), turning to the side to try to look with only one eye, her tendency to run into things, trying to squish the "bugs" on our counter top (dark spots in the quartz), running from "bees" outside (when there are none to be seen), coloring not progressing past a scribble, making messes "helping" in the kitchen ;)

But it also makes us marvel at how beautifully she has adapted with her sight limitation - following directions wonderfully in dance class, knowing all her colors and shapes, turning the pages of books as we read, and developing such strong fine motor skills - she's quite impressive! 

Dabney has a +8.5 lens prescription in both eyes. 
The eye doctor told us she will need "coke bottle glasses"  - her strong prescription requires thick round lens that slightly magnifies her eyes.  

When her new glasses arrived, she was quiet, taking in the details of the world around her.  She was mesmerized by her face in the mirror - looking at and touching each tooth, pointing at and touching her eyelashes.  She ran her fingers along the counter top and looked at my face - really looked at my face for the first time.  In the van on the way home, she kept looking over the top of her frames, then through the lenses, comparing her view.  She walked slowly to the house, watching every step of her feet, pausing to look at the brick on the steps.  At home, she sat at the counter, studying and playing with the figures of our nativity set.  With a dry erase marker, she colored in islands on our wall map - moving her marker from island to island.

It's a whole new bright and beautiful world for her!  

*The adjustment to new glasses isn't easy for a little one.  The next morning, she was a little grumpy about wearing her new glasses, "They make me look funny."  We've already had one "They're gone!" scare - they were found under a couch cushion. 

We are so thankful for these glasses! 
(And thankful for flexible, tough frames :)

Closest Family

So thankful for a visit from Aunt Linda . . . and so thankful she's only a few hours away :)