Time for the tooth fairy to pay us a visit...no pun intended.

 I was helping Viv brush her teeth and her tooth was really wiggly. I don't do blood, teeth, or any bodily fluids. I am a terrible nurse in that regard, so I called in the reinforcements, thinking that dear ole dad could be the hero and pull it out. Viv decided she could do it by herself. There is NO WAY I could do something like that! But she did it! It was fairly impressive.

Bubbles

 

Viv loves to take a bath in the Jacuzzi tub with lots of bubbles. Hannah came to see what Viv was so excited about.  I stepped out of the bathroom for just a minute and this is what I came back to...

 Yep, apparently Hannah wanted to play in the bubbles too. :/

Santa Claus!

I'm not sure which of my children enjoy Santa the most. This year it was the 17 years old that was up first. She gathered Lauren and Joseph to go with her to wake up Vivian. Vivi is 5, so this was a really fun Christmas. When they woke her up, Hannah said, "Vivi, Santa came!" Vivian does NOT like to be woken up. So there was brief moment before she figured out what Hannah said that she was not happy about being yelled at, but then it "clicked" and she said, "Help me up!!!" They all came running into the den, all excited.

Here's to New Beginnings

It seems like it was just yesterday. It wasn’t a grandiose event; it was simple, elegant, beautiful and even a little painful, yet gloriously so. See, in order for this union to be happening; then that parting also happened and it left brokenness in its wake. And when you allow someone into your brokenness, it can be, take your breath away, excruciating, but then the healing begins, and it too can take your breath away, but in an awestruck, there is a miracle happening here, kind of way.  We both said, “Never again,” but low and behold, we said “I do” about almost a year ago, and what a year it has been.

There are no rule books for blending families. We have fumbled our way through, mostly through trial and error, if truth be told. And we have made a full year, full in the sense of full of laughter, tears, hugs, shouts, forgiveness, smiles, bumps, bruises, healing, and all the rest in between. It has been a year of stretching and molding into who we are as individuals and as a new family.  I like what we are becoming.