Christmas shopping? Check.

Yep. All the Christmas shopping is done. Here comes the bad part....the rest are handmade gifts. Santa is just dying to come out of the closet at our house. All of our gifts are homemade and then Santa just inconsiderately (yes, he has a few kids on his list) buys all of his. I can't wait until the day where handmade can be extended to all of the gifts!

We keep things very simple at our house when it comes to gifts. All of the kids get a santa present (probably $25 or less), a pair of pj's and one present from us. Their stockings are filled with fun and inexpensive stuff. We started this after Rachel's first Christmas was pretty over the top, back when I didn't know that we would end up with six girls to give presents to. All I have to say now is "phew!". Can you imagine 6 x $100 presents? The real reason though? I don't like Christmas being wrapped up in get, get, get. I like the girls to be anchored and practical and as much as I am constantly fighting myself on this, I like to keep it simple. That and...how do we expect them to focus on the Christ's birth if we are focusing on presents the whole time?

What the girls asked for? So sweet.

Rachel: Something girly.

Autumn: a watch and a good book

Chloe: a cute outfit

Hannah: secretly asked for the giant horse at costco that I told her Santa could not fit in his sleigh OR our house. (it took 20 minutes to get her to tell me what she asked for because she was being sneaky....)

Elise: a Daisy train and a big percy (which I don't think exists so we are settling for daisy that I plan on finding SOMEWHERE over the next month)

Aren't those sweet things to ask for? What good girls. (minus the sneaky giant horse request. how many giant horses do we need in our house?)

lillyese

Dog: Moo-moo (which is Halmoni's dog's name, so of course all dogs should be called moo-moo, too)

Water: Dado

Mom: a lovely "mummy"

Train: choo choo

Candy: nanee (learned on Halloween, of course)

Baby: baby

Bye Bye: baby (with a wave to prevent too much confusion)

Fish: ish

Chicken: bock bock

Please: pease

Piggy Back Ride: back (with actions asking you to turn around and let her hop on)

Rachel: Dodol

Autumn: Anum

Hannah: Haaaannnnahhhh (calling for her just like mom and dad)

Today's new words are yiy-y (lilly), E-yise (Elise) and O-ee (Chloe). All of these words come compliments of Autumn, who taught her to put her arm out like superman and yell "Lilly!". And apparently, it worked.

My all time favorite thing for Lilly to say right now is when she calls for "mommy", looks me straight in the eyes and says "a boo ba dab a dub a. Da buda ba da bu da. Da buda bad a buda bada." She will continue on for sometime, telling me all of the secrets of her soul and meaning every bit of it. Ah, how I wish I knew what she was thinking. But I do know one thing. It is important and she wants me to know all about it. Sweet little Lilly.

my little photographer

As part of our revamp of school this year to help Autumn with her ADD, I let her choose a subject to add on to our schedule. Much to my delight, she chose photography. (awww!) She has taken temporary custody of my old camera (with the threat that if I see any sigh of mistreatment, it is taken away!) and has learned all about shooting in manual. We quickly discovered that it is the one subject that she needs to wear her glasses for!

The good side of this? When I discovered that I was lacking pictures of myself for a book I am making for Lilly, I asked her for a mini photo shoot. Unlike most pictures that the kids take, these were pretty in focus *and* the exposure was spot on. The whole time I was showing her the basics of photoshop, she kept asking if I would blog about her pictures. So here they are, dear sweet girly. Autumn, you are a rock star! I even think I will rehire you when I have lost a few.

blog black out

I don't know what to say. I am just not feeling the blog thing right now. It started when I was sick and I am having a hard time jumping back on the wagon. On a totally unrelated note? This no diet coke con vanilla is paying off. Two and half pounds of a pay off. As pointed out by my sister, this probably is pretty unrelated to the diet coke and more related to the mcdouble that I gravitated towards when picking up the diet coke con vanilla. Either way, I see it as a win win. It probably is also connected to the water I am constantly drinking to keep me from wanting diet coke. Yipee!

talk about dedication!

In a show of support for my husband (and maybe some very rash thinking), I have sworn off of my diet coke con vanilla as long as he eats with his right hand. I don't think my love can every be questioned again. And now? I am off to drink some water.

move on. nothing to see here.

I have nothing for you. Sorry. It has been such an uneventful week of sickness and blechness and all other forms of ness-es. I am trying to think of something valuable to share here and....nothing. Ok. Much pondering has brought up my new parenting idea that is about 10 years too late. (but genius, nonetheless.)

After sewing camp, all of the girls received lovely $10 gift cards for Joann's from the dear sewing camp ladies. I informed them that they couldn't use them until they sent their thank you notes and the cards have sat on our counter top ever since then. After a quick run to Joann's last week, the kids (and their desire to purchase half of the contents of the store) desire to use their gift cards was renewed and they ran home and all wrote and shipped off their little notes. So here is my new policy with gift receiving: You can't use the toy/present until you have sent off your thank you note. I think it is fabulous and can't wait to see it in effect this Christmas. (and every holiday there after)

Halloween in review

Halloween rundown at the Kangs:

Rachel: It just seems wrong to be stuck in bed on Halloween. When Hannah was sick on her birthday, we at least could reschedule her party. Can't really reschedule Trick or Treating, now, can you? Don't worry. She got all of Lilly's candy and a tax on everyone else's. (Although she assured me that it is the experience that matters!)

Autumn: Tried settling for Pippie to make her sick mom's life easier, but still was feeling a pull to the witchie side. Mom bucked up, took some meds and we cranked out her skirt. Overall, trick or treating was much better without braces as she could actually enjoy her favorite, Almond Joys. note: she gave some of her favorites and a full size to her sick sister...ahhhh

Chloe: The determined Little Red Riding Hood, who saw her sick mom and made her own dang skirt. I think she pulled the whole thing off rather well, as she looks just like I imagine Little Red. Well done, Chloe.

Hannah: Big surprise, eh? A horse? What?? But Hannah doesn't like horses! This costume makes Chris laugh hysterically every time he sees it. When she was given it a few months back, she wore it night and day, making Chris giggle every time she came in the room. In a funny little twist, our little horsey ended up getting a piggy back ride from a friend who was dressed up as a cowboy for most of the night. A horse riding a cowboy? Not right, I tell you.

Elise: Daisy. You know who that is, right? I didn't either. When asked what she wanted to be, she knew immediately. When I turned to the girls in confusion, they explained that Daisy is Elise's sort of alter-ego when they play house. She wears a certain blue dress and talks in a high pitched, sweet voice. Besides being amazed by the sweetness of it all, I was relieved that this really meant one thing. We already had the costume.

Lilly: First costume we pulled out of the box. Oh, I mean a dog. She liked the whole candy thing (big surprise) and had to make her hardest decision at the 1st house that had full sized candy bars. She had a lollipop in one hand. She thought. and thought. (Silly me thought she was deciding which one to get!) She handed me the lollipop and grabbed a candy bar with both hands. Yep. Two full sized candy bars. Smart girlie, eh?

First real Halloween? A success.

Gee, this was a long post. See what happens when I miss a week? You get blog throw up. And no pumpkin carving, as Autumn is still reminding me.