To remember

Teresa loved the song "All through the night" when she was a tiny baby & when we sang it from one of her books a few months ago, she relatched onto it. Though we find her singing quite the variety of songs throughout the day, that's the one she always wants me to sing. It was new to me when she was born.

Sleep my child & peace attend thee

all through the night

Guardian angels God will send thee

all through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping

hill & vale in slumber steeping

I my loving vigil keeping

all through the night

My favorite part is when her little voice tries to stretch for the high notes... too cute! Last night as I was holding her in the rocking chair she just kept repeating the line "Guardian angels God will send thee". I want to remember her sweetness.

Still celebrating

I like to hold on to celebrating Christmas for just a little bit longer... we go until at least the feast of the Presentation on February 2nd. I'm especially glad of this since my friend Lori dropped a fabulous "mix CD" (so awesome!) of Christmas tunes on my doorstep just around Epiphany. We've been loving it. There's an instrumental version of "We Three Kings" that Teresa can't get enough of! Anyway, with all of this continual celebrating & singing the kids have been getting a tad creative with lyrics of some of the carols. Here are two of my most recent overheard faves:

Rebecca: I saved my pretzel for you, pa rum pa pum pum.

Teresa: On the 1st day of Christmas love gave me: 5 golden chickens! Ba da bum bum. (sound effects courtesy of the Muppets version.)

Joyful Noise #2

The next morning we were able to revel in some more joyful noise from Rebecca's preschool class. Here's Teresa anxiously awaiting the performance once again in the jolly presence of Green Grandpa & Grandma.

There are 20 kids in her combined class & they sang 1o adorable songs & recited one poem. We enjoyed plenty of actions, jingle bells, & enormous grins. At one point between songs Rebecca just yelled out, "I love you, Mommy!" Melt. My favorite song they sang was Happy Birthday to Jesus. You know the tune but I've never heard these lyrics before so I have to share.

On the first Christmas Day

from the Father above

came the little Lord Jesus

to show us God's Love.

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

We love you Lord Jesus

Happy birthday to you!Afterwards we ventured to the library for cookies with friends! Here's Anna again.

And precious Saya.When we were done, I bopped down to Andrew's room to check out his party. Looks like fun!

Green Grandma & Grandpa joined us for celebratory Chinese to kick off Christmas break. Thanks for a fun day!

Joyful Noise #1

Tuesday night was Andrew's Christmas program. Darren's parents came up to join in the fun. Teresa always sits so perfectly on Grandpa's lap... maybe we need to start going to Church with them every week! Andrew was really excited.

Rebecca was enjoying all of her preschool friends in the audience. Here she is with sweet Anna.

Each grade just sang one song on their own with a little bit of dialogue/acting between songs. It was the Nativity story but from the innkeeper's perspective. Very sweet. (Sorry, the lighting from across the Church is terrible! We really could see him there on the top row singing his little heart out.)

It's a short program which is nice for everyone. Afterwards we took some pictures & chatted with friends. Here is Andrew with his classmate "Gray Gray" as he likes to call him.

A Teresa Ditty

Head, shoulders, knees,& toes, knees & toes. Head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes.Eyes & ears
& mouth
& nose. Head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes!

Overheard

Rebecca was dancing down the hallway singing her original masterpiece,

"Wiiiiild bananaaaaa pickles...oh, wiiiiild bananaaaaa pickles..."

God Bless Them

Happy Veteran's Day!

I thank God for the brave men & women who have served our country in both war & peace; two of them being my father & father-in-law. Thank you for fighting for our freedom, ensuring our safety, & proudly defending our flag. Thank you to your families who have made so many sacrifices as well. May the Lord bless all of our true American heroes!

Here's Andrew & a few of the other classes singing at the Veteran's Day program today. (You can only see his hair peeking out from behind... oh well.) That many kids singing their little hearts out for such an important reason makes me want to both smile & cry. It's beautiful.
***

One easy way to support our troops is to support their families. My friend Lisa's husband is deployed & is great about alerting others to ways we can help. She introduced me to Operation Appreciation where you can write letters to spouses, children, siblings, & parents of our armed forces thanking them for their sacrifice. They do all the leg-work, you just need to write the letters. I'm hoping to do it with our GodTeens. Check it out here: http://www.bluestarfam.org/Programs/Operation_Appreciation

God bless & protect our troops!

God bless America!

A Talent for Lyrics

I love to sing & I always have. I sing in the car, in the shower, in the kitchen, outside, & though I'd rather not admit it, sometimes even along with the music in the grocery store. : P My love of singing does not equal a knowledge of lyrics however. Many times I've found out that I've been singing the wrong words for years.

Apparently, that gift is inherited. Rebecca loves to sing, too, but her choice of lyrics always makes me laugh. Sometimes she does it to be silly, other times I think she's just a victim of her genes. Here's what we were just singing before naptime...

I was guiding her through the alphabet song.

(Her lyrics are in CAPS.)

a, b... C, D... e, f... G... h, i, j, k, l, m... N, O, P... q, r... S... t,u... V... w... S... y and ... CARROT. Now I know my ... A, B, C... next time... DON'T TAKE MY SUNSHINE AWAY.

Then she sang her own rendition of

The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly:

'Nother old lady swallowed a duck, swallowed a chicken, swallowed a mustard, swallowed a elephant, swallowed a blue eye with some pink on it...