Word of 2013, and Day #30 of the December Photo Project

You can struggle against what you hear being whispered into your ear, or you can accept it peacefully, even if you might wish you were hearing something else.

My Word for 2012, Trust, came easily. I was happy to welcome it. Looking back, if I'd known how hard Trust would prove to be, I might have been more reluctant. But it was a good year, an important Word for my life, and much good came from it. 

During these last few weeks I've had ideas of what my Word could be for 2013. And then, in the midst of my pleasant musings, a conversation began in my mind. It was something like a prayer, something like my conscience, and something like soul-talk with God.

             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which of these Words I've laid out should I choose? I want it to be full of power, full of meaning! It needs to be an area of growth, and an area where I can explore what God created me to be. A Word to help refine my character. A Word that will --

Grace.

No, not that. Too generalized. Not what I need to focus on. Booooooring.

Grace, Lyssa.

What? I don't want that. I've got grace down already. I want to choose something else, something that will really bring change!

You already know Grace fully?

Um... well... no. But there are lots of other things I'd rather know more! 

You need Grace.

Sigh. That's true. I probably need to learn how to GIVE Grace also. 

Everyone needs Grace.

Are you saying that Grace is related to love? 

And gentleness. And compassion. 

Ugh. I'm not so good at those things. I was trying to stay away from those. Can't I save Grace for another year, when I maybe won't have a toddler around, or when I've built up my skin a bit tougher to the world first?

Grace comes best when it is undeserved.

I knew you were going to say that. Grace probably means working on patience, too. Another thing I lack. 

Grace covers many things.

I thought choosing a Word was supposed to be simple. You're making this hard. Now if I don't choose Grace, I'll feel secretly guilty all year. 

Why do you run away from Grace?

Because it makes me uncomfortable! I'm not Graceful, or Gracious, or Grace-giving. I'm clumsy, foot-in-mouth, judgmental, stubborn, and... stubborn. Lots of stubbornness. 

Looks like Grace is more needed than you thought.

Hmmm.

Grace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look out, 2013. Here Grace and I come. 

You can struggle against what you hear being whispered into your ear, or you can accept it peacefully. And even if you wish you were hearing something else, it might be exactly what you need. 

Meets Us Where We Are

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DPP, Day #29

Illness is no fun. Poor Harmony is just not her usual happy self. But sometimes fun times happen in the midst of sad sniffles and coughs and naps. Then mama can smile and grab her camera. In between sips of healing tea and running to blow my nose, of course. Bleh. 

Harmony's favorite toys right now are her wooden shapes that she can hold and knock together, a red wooden ball, and spoons/measuring cups. She's just getting to the stage where she likes knocking over towers that we build for her. 

We woke up this morning to a lovely dusting of snow, and I didn't get any pictures of that. Boo.

Hoping to feel better soon in time to welcome in the new year!

Playtime

Are they edible?

Hi, mama!

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DPP, Day #28

Trust. Who knew that so many challenges and blessings would be wrapped up in that tiny Word package?

Trust was my Word for 2012. And let me tell you... it permeated every area of my life.

I had to Trust that my students' families really meant it when they said they weren't quitting music lessons because of me. That I wasn't a terrible teacher, but the reason was their own busy schedule, their child's different interests, their teen's entry into high school.

I had to Trust that I would still be a good teacher even after I had to take off almost four months to adjust to life as a mother and recover from an awful illness.

I Trusted my body and intuition to have Harmony at home. No hospital, no OBGYN, no pain medications, no one present except Chris, my mom, and the midwife.

I Trusted my limits when I had to say "no" to people.

I had to Trust that even when I snapped at the ones I love the most they still cared about me.

I have to Trust that I'm doing what Chris and I feel is best for Harmony as we raise her, even when our parenting differs from friends and family around us.

I Trusted that even though I forgot to read my Bible, neglected my study time during hard weeks, fell asleep instead of praying, and worried more about what people thought than about what God thought... that God was still there. And He still knew me, loved me, and forgave.

That's what it really came down to: Trusting God.

As my dear friend Betty says, "do you Trust Him here? Do you Trust Him HERE?"

Every time I timidly answered, "Yes, Lord, I do trust you here. I believe. Please help my unbelief." Then another situation would arise where I'd have to learn more Trust.

The alternative is to Fear.

Plenty of that happened this year. The instant I stopped Trusting, Fear came creeping in, sometimes a tiny niggle of Fear, sometimes huge waves of I'm-drowning Fear, burying my rational thoughts and hindering everything I did. It was awful. But no matter how much I Feared, it didn't help anything. Worry only made things worse.

So Fear isn't just the opposite of Trust, it's what happens if I DON'T Trust.

Do I Trust God here?

Even when I don't feel in control of anything, or scary things happen, Fear doesn't have to be where I end up. I'd rather turn to Trust.

You've served me well, Word of 2012. Thank you, Lord, for bringing Trust into my life at a time when I really needed it. I'm even thankful for the hard times when I fell prey to Fear, because it showed me how much better is it when I Trust You.

Trust

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DPP, Day #27

A slow day of laundry, cleaning, playing with Harmony, and rest. That's about it.

Sometimes we just need a moment to step back and breathe, right? 

Starburst
Harmony's hand-made toy from grandma

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DPP, Day #26

While Christmas may be over, Harmony's excitement over her gifts is still new! You'll probably see more photos of her toys, because she loves them so much, and it makes me even more happy since they keep her occupied for longer than three seconds ; ) The bear in this picture is from Build-A-Bear, and was created for me and Harmony by my first lovely guitar teacher, Kelli, who has been in my life since I was eight years old. You can't see it here, but the bear has a flying guitar on its shirt, and if you squeeze its paw, it giggles!

Yesterday was my stepdad's birthday. We celebrated with him by playing board and card games, hanging out as a family, eating lots of leftovers from Christmas dinner, and having berry trifle. He's an awesome guy! So thankful he's in my life and Harmony's life as a wonderful grandpa.

Now it's time to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS that have been getting piled up for a week! We've spent most of our time at my folk's home, but now our own apartment needs some serious work. Hooray for a week and a half off of teaching!

Christmas Bear

Daddy and the Bug

Birthday Berry Trifle

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DPP, Day#25

Chris, being the thoughtful, sweet guy that he is, had my Christmas stocking all prepared for me first thing this morning, complete with a beautiful live rose at the top. I, being the extremely tired slacker, did not have his stocking ready at all. Fail. Too many late nights have taken their toll! But Chris once again forgave me and waited patiently for his stocking. Then we opened the gifts his family had sent us on our bed with Harmony. I have an awesome husband.

We spent the rest of the day with my family, opening gifts, playing games, singing carols, reading our advent book, talking with lovely friends on Chris's brand new iPad (a special gift from his folks; yay Facetime!), taking care of Harmony, cooking, and eating a delicious dinner of standing rib roast, au gratin potatoes, rolls, broccoli and cauliflower casserole, and bacon-wrapped green beans. Everyone was too stuffed for the berry trifle we'd planned as dessert!

Here is the recording we made of this year's favorite carol! I love how I awkwardly don't know what to do with my hands, and how Sean is posing like sasquatch at the end ; )  Enjoy our silliness! We had fun making the video.

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

Playing with New Toys

Favorite Stocking Stuffers

Joy to the World, the Savior Reigns

The Lord Has Come

Merry Christmas!

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DPP, Day #24

Today began with Chris at work early and Harmony a happy child as usual, while I groggily tried to wake up. We all had a lovely afternoon and evening with the rest of our family, preparing food for tomorrow, watching the Muppet's Christmas Carol, and opening our family gift: a board game called "Escape: The Curse of the Temple"! My family has always loved board games, especially Settlers of Catan, and other less well known ones such as Carcassan, Lost Cities, Pandemic, and Roll Through the Ages.

There are some really fun elements to this new game, like the ten minute limit, the CD soundtrack that times your game and adds intensity, the multiple levels of difficulty you can add (curses and treasures), and the fact that each player has to look out for the others, because if one person gets left behind, everyone loses the game.  Harmony watched us play from the comfort of her sling. It took us a little while to figure out how to play as a team! It is a very fast-paced, cooperative, fun game... unless everyone is shouting at once that they "need gold" : )

I'm playing mandolin with an acoustic guitarist and a violinist at a Christmas Eve service in a few hours. Our church doesn't have a service tonight, but I was invited to play at a different church, which is great! I'm excited to be getting back into mandolin. Hopefully there will be more of that in my near future!

Have a lovely Christmas Eve!

Games Together

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DPP, Day #23

Folks from my church went caroling in the neighborhood (my church is right smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood), so I put Harmony in the sling and enjoyed singing Christmas songs with everyone. People came out on their porches to listen to us. Afterwards, we all went over to a family's house for hot chocolate, treats, and fellowship. A beautiful night!

I lost a bet, though. My friend, Emmett, bet me that Harmony would fall asleep in the sling before the caroling was done. I said, "no way, she's way too excited, she loves music, she'll want to stay awake!" Lo and behold, she was out cold before we were half-way done. I only had a dollar in my pocket, but that dollar went to Emmett for winning the bet. Looks like he knows Harmony better than I do : P  And Emmett is only nine years old! Smart kid.

Caroling

Candles for Light

Follow the Light

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DPP, Day #22

How wonderful to spend the afternoon decorating a Christmas tree with my family! I'm so glad we were able to wait for my sister to be here so that we can carry on the tradition of decorating the tree together. We also set up the nativity scene, which was graced by Harmony's dragon. The dragon rides with her in her carseat everywhere; I don't know what the name of he/she is, because Harmony has not told us yet, but the dragon is a constant companion in our travels. My sister, Em, crocheted the dragon for Harmony.

We listened to the same Christmas music on CDs that we always have. We drank egg nog, like we always have. We'll also watch the Muppet's Christmas Carol, open a family present on Christmas Eve, and enjoy this beautiful time together. 

Come to Worship

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DPP, Day #21

Sometimes strange things happen. I now own a leather coat and an old film camera. Too long of a story to go into here, but the short version is this: abandoned possessions in a foreclosed home, found coat hung up in a closet, found camera in a box, the items were going to be thrown out anyway, and I asked to keep them instead. 

There is even film still in the camera. Should I get it developed? I'd really like to try using the camera! I wonder what pictures might have been taken with it? And the coat may look a bit cheesy on me (and too long) but I'm a big fan of it. I feel rather like I've joined the Browncoats.

If you don't know what that means, you have been deprived, and you should go watch the entire series of Firefly right away.

Browncoats Recruit

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DPP, Day #20

No matter how often I perform, no matter how friendly the audience, no matter how easy the music, I always get at least a few tiny butterflies in my stomach when I step onto a stage. Thank goodness for my first teacher, a wonderful lady back in Idaho, who patiently allowed me to play duets with her at gigs and coffee shops when I was very young, and stressed the importance of sight-reading! That's how we learn the best, I think: by following people who are willing to bring us along the same road they are walking. Today it was my turn to bring a student alongside the group of adult players at the open mic night and say, "hey, come sit here. We're going to play this music without any prior rehearsal or practice, do our best, and have fun." And you know what, we all sounded pretty good. Maybe someday he'll say the same thing to one of his students.

Another one of my students performed solos at the open mic. He played classical guitar and then sang two songs while accompanying himself on acoustic. I was happy to see his confidence, in spite of the nervousness. When a student plays with their heart, with genuine feeling coming through the notes, then that is the best gift a teacher can receive.

Guitar Together

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DPP, Day #19

My tiny Mininsky is six months old. Half a year. Oh my.

Wasn't it just a few days ago that she was peering curiously up at us from our sheltering arms? She was born a few hours ago, right? 

First Look at Daddy

At her well-baby appointment this morning, the doctor and nurse commented on how alert and happy Harmony was. Those are probably the two words I'd use to describe her, too. The diagnosis is: healthy, slight eczema, developmentally ahead in most areas, and undersized. She is in the seventh percentile for height, and her weight is low also, but considering that Chris and I have always been small people, that's really not a surprise. 

Almost all her pictures turn out fuzzy now because she doesn't stop moving! I have a feeling that crawling will be happening in the very near future. Harmony wiggles and rolls her way around the living room, getting frustrated at her limitations yet stubbornly trying again and again. 

Still can't believe that the Bug has been with us for half a year. Happy half-birthday, dear girl.

Half-Birthday Girl 

Camera, Please?

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DPP, Day #18

This is what my December looks like. My teaching schedule is not even on the calendar (teaching four days a week), nor is Chris's almost full time work schedule written down there (his work hours change every week and are kept on a different calendar)... this is just what our other commitments entail. At the beginning of December, I thought that I'd probably flounder and drown under the busyness of it all! Now, half-way done, I'm learning how to take time from the big picture of the day and find peace and joy in the little moments. 

Listening to silence in the car as Harmony naps after errands.

Dancing to Christmas music in the middle of afternoon chores.

Relaxing in the steam of a (brief) hot shower.

Seeing how many people I can get to smile at the grocery store when they see Harmony.

Taking a break from the umpteen loads of clean laundry that needs folded to say hello to a sweet neighbor.

Pausing whatever I'm doing to give my Bug another hug or kiss : )

And then, time seems to slow down, I laugh and remember how blessed I am, and my December doesn't look so crazy after all.

Days Full of Moments

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DPP, Day #17

Harmony wouldn't stay still for this picture, big surprise! So it wasn't a very clear shot. But this onesie was a Christmas gift from a student, and I just about died from the awesomeness. I actually have a tye-dyed t-shirt with a guitar on it like this, which used to be my sister's when she was about six years old, and I've been saving it ever since then for the possible someday daughter. I love tye-dye!

Chris and I would LOVE it if Harmony wanted to be a musician. I would be happy if Harmony wanted to play guitar, especially. But if she doesn't, then that is completely fine. I really mean that! We'd rather her find enjoyment in the activities she likes, because every child is different. Just because her parents are both musicians doesn't mean Harmony will want to be also, although she will certainly grow up around a lot of music. We will support Harmony as she discovers what her talents are and what she loves to do. 

Tie-dye Fun

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DPP, Day #16

My mom, friend H., and I began Susannah Conway's Unravelling the Year Ahead 2013 workbook together. Discussing the past highlights, challenges, strengths, and milestones of 2012 helped me see these past twelve months as part of the bigger picture. H. compared our lives to a tapestry, where we can often only see the underside of the work with a bunch of loose threads, crazy patterns, and seemingly random colors, but God can see the completed work on top. A beautiful picture. We didn't complete the workbook (it takes longer than the suggested hour to do, watch out!), so there will still be at least one more afternoon or evening devoted to it.

The three words I chose to describe 2012 are: Harmony, trust, and change. 

If you used three words to describe your year, what would they be?

Of course, all our talk and thinking needed sustenance, in the form of my mom's delectable skillet apple pie. And caramel lattes and hot chocolate and Christmas tea, made by my step-dad. Mmmmmm.

~ Pie and Pondering ~

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DPP, Day #15

How time flies. I'm thankful for all the moments that I share with family, friends, and friends who are practically family. My photo is of two lovely people who I've known for years, which is why I included one of the earlier pictures below. Their family has welcomed me and Chris (and now Harmony) into their lives; we've joined them for holidays, and had countless meals together. Every year that we celebrate A. and S.'s birthdays makes me grateful to know them.

It seems like just yesterday A. was shorter than me, barely coming up to my shoulder, learning how to juggle, attending concerts, playing in the same guitar ensemble, discussing books he was reading for school, getting his driver's license... and now he's in college, home for the holidays, and we're ice skating in celebration of his sister S.'s sixteenth birthday. 

I just attended a performance of the Nutcracker ballet where S. danced last week. She was beautiful on stage, so graceful. Thankful for these friends.

Family-Friends

4 1/2 Years Ago

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DPP, Day #14

This evening I was only able to keep on my feet because of this smile.

Her Smile

My guitar ensemble played at a children's hospital today. It broke my heart to see the tiny patients listening to our music. I was glad that we were able to provide a short bright spot for their day, and for the rest of the staff and doctors who paused long enough to hear a few Christmas pieces. Afterwards, I couldn't help but thank God for my healthy, strong little girl and pray for the children who were so sick that they couldn't even move from their hospital beds to hear us perform.

Then I went home and heard the news.

I ate dinner with my mom. We gave Harmony a bath. I held my beautiful daughter and cried for all the mothers whose arms are empty tonight. Then I tucked her safely into bed.

I can't even figure out how to express the sorrow I feel for those innocent children and their families.

So here are two thoughts written by others.

I remind myself often that God is outside of Time as we know it: One day, He will UN-fire the bullets, UN-stab the knives, dry all the tears, and remove Sorrow as if it never happened, leaving only the Guilt for those who committed the crimes. How He then chooses to deliver Justice to the criminals is His own sovereign will; we should all tremble at the thought of what He may choose to do, while praying for Mercy for any Soul that MAY - beyond all belief - still be rescued. May God have mercy on us all.
~ Greg K.

One of the great themes of the Hebrew Scriptures is that God identifies with the suffering. There are all these great texts that say things like this: If you oppress the poor, you oppress me. I am a husband to the widow. I am father to the fatherless. I think the texts are saying that God binds up His heart so closely with suffering people that He interprets any move against them as a move against Him. This is powerful stuff! But Christianity says that He goes even beyond that. Christians believe that Jesus, God's son, divinity became vulnerable to and involved in... suffering and death! He didn't come as a general or emperor. He came as a carpenter. He was born in a manger, no room in the inn.

But it is on the Cross that we see the ultimate wonder. On the cross we sufferers finally see, to our shock, that God now knows too what it is to lose a loved one in an unjust attack.
~ Tim Keller

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DPP, Day #13

I take pictures with my cell phone pretty often, mostly to send photos of Harmony to her loving but distant relatives across the states. The pictures aren't very high quality since I don't have a smart phone or Instagram. But they sometimes turn out very cute. Here are some of my favorites that were taken recently! Harmony is getting more and more fun to play with, as you can see : )

Also, I forgot to add to yesterday's post that after we put Harmony to bed, that doesn't necessarily mean she'll STAY asleep. Most of the time she wakes up quite a bit, not just right after we put her to bed, but all night long. Often it's night terrors, where she'll wake up crying instantly and need reassuring from me or Chris that everything is okay; recently, she's been teething, so we keep the Hyland's teething tablets handy. And sometimes she just wakes up because she thinks she's had enough sleep (like at six in the morning... ugh). She sleeps the least amount of any baby I've ever known. When she sleeps through the night someday, I just might explode from surprise and awe. 

Tomorrow is going to be super busy, so I'm hoping that I'll remember to take the camera out of the case! 

Daddy Playtime

Grandpa Playtime

Mama Playtime

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DPP, Day #12

Harmony refuses to go to sleep until I get home from teaching music lessons. This makes for some late nights for a very little girl! Fortunately, she's not as fussy as she used to be for Chris, who is usually watching her while I'm gone. Also, they often eat dinner at my folk's home, which makes them both happy because Harmony loves her grandma and grandpa, so I'll go over there as well when I finish teaching to eat a late dinner before we all go back to our own apartment. And in spite of these late nights, Harmony still insists on awakening around seven or seven thirty in the morning, maybe eight o'clock if she's really tired. I'm still crossing my fingers that maybe she'll turn into a night owl instead of an early bird...

So when I'm finished teaching, I drive home (or to my parents' house), sometimes eat a quick dinner depending on how tired Harmony is when I arrive, and then get Harmony ready for bed. We change her diaper, put on her pajamas, turn on her night light, and prepare the bed. We always read the book "Goodnight Moon" together. She nurses one last time, and then I turn out the lights and sing her three songs: a blessing, a prayer, and her favorite song.

The blessing is sung to the tune of Edelweiss. It's what my mom sang to me when I was little.

May the Lord, mighty Lord, bless and keep you forever

Grant you peace, perfect peace, faith in every endeavor

Lift up your eyes and you'll see His face and His grace forever

May the Lord, mighty Lord, bless and keep you forever

The prayer has five verses. Here is the first one:

All praise to Thee, my God, this night 

for all the blessings of the light.

Keep me, O keep me, King of Kings,

beneath Thine own almighty wings.

Harmony's favorite song is a Gregorian chant that Chris and I usually sing as a duet, but I often sing it to her alone. I'll post that one some other time : ) 

Goodnight, Moon

Sleepy Return Home

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DPP, Day #11

Despite going to downtown St. Louis, where there were lots of interesting buildings, I didn't take any pictures. It may have something to do with carrying a baby (in a sling) in the cold this morning, because we were there while Chris had some dental work done, and it was boring sitting in the waiting room. But my camera didn't make it into my freezing hand. So here are pictures of what is hanging on my wall in the kitchen and dining room. 

The tiny cross hanging next to the tapestry has the words of a song that was sung at our wedding. My stepdad, Sean, wrote the music and sang it for us. It was beautiful. Now we keep the cross ornament as a reminder. Here are the words:

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Irish Blessing

Postal Love

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DPP, Day #10

My little Bug is getting over her cold slowly, but it doesn't help that she is both teething and growing as well! Her little bottom teeth are through; I think her top ones won't be long to follow. And she's rapidly growing out of all her 3-6 month clothes into the 6-9 month outfits. We had a lovely time decorating with grandma and grandpa, though. Here are the end results of their work!

Christmas Stars
Decorating grandma's house

The Decorated Mantle

Rebecca's Shoes

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DPP, Day #9

It's been a relaxing, quiet day spent with family. Harmony has come down with the same cold that I had, and my mom is fighting sickness too. I'm still getting over that cough. We had our Sunday meal together, watched a movie, rested, and chatted. A peaceful end to the hectic weekend.

Harmony sat up for the first time today on her own. She acted like she's been doing it forever. It was sad to see her so grumpy with a runny nose, little cough, and tired eyes. Several naps were taken today, which is unusual for her. Hopefully she'll get better soon.

I guess I'll just publish my posts when I get the chance and not overstress about a specific time!

Hanging the Ornaments
Harmony and grandma decorating for Christmas 

First Time Sitting Up!
(blurry, but at least we got a picture)

Sunday Family Luncheon
Zuppa Tuscana, Cheesy Bread, and Kale-Quinoa Sweet Salad

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DPP, Day #8

Drag myself out of a warm bed. Teach make-up lessons all morning. Cook lunch for the family. Make a snack to share for a baby shower. Go to baby shower. Rush across town to the ensemble performance at a local mall. Feel super relieved that Harmony allows me to conduct the ensemble while wearing her in the sling! Change a poopy diaper while balancing Harmony on my lap in the front seat of the car. Grab dinner at Wendy's. Drive back across town to drop Harmony off with loving grandparents. Drive a loooooong way to see a dear friend dance in a performance of the Nutcracker ballet. Drive back late at night to pick up the sleeping baby. Come home to eat chicken pot pie leftovers with Chris.

My crazy, awesome life. 

And I'm going to start posting my picture of the day on the morning after, because it's getting too tough to post them every night before I go to bed!

Dancing the Nutcracker
Lovely friend in the blue dress

Conductor's Helper

Nutcracker #2

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DPP, Day #7

My mom makes the best food ever. Hands down, she creates some of the most tasty dishes that I have ever had the pleasure to eat. Today was no exception; she made quinoa patties that were to DIE for! I think I demolished seven of them. We had them for dinner last night, too, but the lunchtime patties were even better. One thing I really like about my mom is that she not only makes a recipe taste great, but she improves upon the original recipe, adding a new ingredient, more of an ingredient, extra spices, etc. She cooks with real food, fresh food whenever possible, and the result is healthy dishes that explode with flavor and deliciousness. Here is the recipe that she is making in this picture (she added a can of drained albacore tuna, used both grated carrot and grated zucchini, and extra spices; plus, she made a killer tzatziki sauce to go with it). 

The pomegranate seeds weren't involved in the recipe. They were just nearby because we were snacking on them. Aren't they beautiful? Like edible jewels.

We went to a local community night, which my stepdad was involved in, and my mom snapped a cute picture of Harmony and I. So here it is : )

Cooking With Real Food

Night Lights

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DPP, Day #6

Today is St. Nicholas's Day. We were given small gifts by Chris's family, so this morning we opened Harmony's present (a Christmas tree ornament) and put it in her shoe, as tradition holds. Why put it in the shoes? Well, we looked it up on the ever-clever internet, and supposedly it has to do with the locale that celebrates the Day of St. Nicholas, namely the German immigrants in various parts of the world, including St. Louis and Cincinnati. So it's a sweet little tradition that Harmony will hopefully remember more as she gets older. In light of St. Nicholas being a reminder of charity, we also want to have the tradition of helping others and/or giving gifts to others on this day, too.

And yes, Harmony's Robeez shoes are adorable. We just bought them lightly used at a local resale store for an amazing price. Today was her first day actually wearing them. Hopefully they'll fit for quite a while, since they're perfect for crawling and toddling.

Even though I usually post more pictures on the blog, this was really the only one taken today, and Chris was the one who took it! We were so busy running around town, cleaning the house, and preparing for this upcoming crazy weekend that the camera stayed in my purse most of the day. I need to remember to take it out more!

Pony in My Shoe

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DPP, Day #5

A lingering stuffy nose and slight cough are all that's left of the sickness. Today's picture is my morning cup of tea, which magically had a heart appear in the tea bag : )  Now that cooler weather is here, tea is once more all the rage around my home. I'll re-use a bag two or three times to get all the flavor out, adding a spoonful of local honey and a squeeze of fresh lemon to every cup. The honey has helped my allergies, and the lemon boosts my immune system with some vitamin C. 

Also, dance parties happen pretty often. Even while cooking dinner. Harmony likes them a lot. And we like Christmas music a lot. Put the two together, and we have dance parties to Christmas music!

Love In My Tea

Cooking Dinner with Christmas Music

Our Ensemble's First Performance

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