Cornelius Chronicles

Letter to Santa, as dictated to Mommy by Maeve Dear Santa, Can I ride on your reindeer? I want to stay up at night on Christmas.  Please say "Yes." Can I ride on your reindeer lots of times and then come back home? Love, Maeve Maeve 4yrs old: While staring at dinner: Maeve - "Mommy, I need different food.  My tummy is being grumpy and doesn't like this." While driving in the car and talking to Bekah about what ear plugs do -  Rebekah - "We use ear plugs to not hear things.  They make it so you can't hear." Maeve  - "Oh.  Loyd." Loyd - "What?" Maeve - "Xavier." Xavier - "What?" Maeve - "Mom." Mom - "What?" Maeve - "See Bekah, you don't need ear plugs to not hear things." Coming back from a fun birthday party for her friend -  Maeve to Mom - "Mom, I want all the days  to be my birthday.  All the days are my birthday, okay.  Say, 'Yes.'"

This year was Xavier's turn to entertain us in the annual Ferguson Elementary 1st Grade Christmas Choir Concert.  Xavier was super excited to share his fun holiday songs with us, wear cool sunglasses for his "Hip Hop Reindeer" number, and bring home some jingle bells from another song.  He was also one of the few children chosen to give a speaking part during the program.  We worked hard to practice it every day and made sure it was memorized for the big day.  Xavier did a great job - speaking loudly and clearly and remembering his whole part without any help or prompting.  We are very proud of our Mr. X.  Good job Xavier!

This year Rebekah made her elementary school's first Vex IQ Robotics team.  She and Dustin spent two days a week after school for several months meeting with her team mates and working on their robot for the December 3rd district wide competition.  It was the first year Rebekah's school offered the robotics club and they ended up with a respectable placing of 23rd out of 56 at the competition.  I'm so proud of all the hard work Rebekah put into her team and love that it was something she and Dustin could enjoy together.  Here's to the first of many years of robotics fun!  :)

 Sitting in the awesome fire truck Santa arrived in  Patiently waiting in line to meet Mr. Clause Yea!  Our big moment with Santa!  Rebekah was too embarrassed to show her face in the picture, so she disguised herself behind a copy of Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.  Owen asked to not stand by Santa, Maeve asked for a pink kitty purse, Xavier asked for a pair of binoculars, Loyd asked for never ending presents, and Rebekah refrained from making a gift request.  We love going each year to the Library's Holiday Open House and Holiday Celebration.  It's such a wonderful way to kick of the Christmas season with friends and family from all over the community in a place we love so much.  Yea for libraries and Christmas! 

  Owen has a hard time eating just one piece of chocolate a day.  He's getting quite creative finding ways to find more chocolate when we're not looking.  :)

..But we sure had fun!

Everybody loves waffle day!  Especially these two silly boys. :) After hours of making countless waffles and getting them ready to freeze, now we should have plenty of waffles to get us through early morning breakfasts for at least a couple of weeks.  :)

What a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We are so grateful for delicious smoked turkey (Thank you Dustin!), dinner with many good friends, and beautiful warm weather so we can play outside at the park, at the Space Center, and in the backyard with water balloons!  Such a great week to spend time together as a family and to celebrate our gratitude for all that the Lord blesses us with.  Happy Thanksgiving!   Look how tiny we are compared to the big NASA space shuttle and the jumbo jet they designed to transport it from California where it landed back to Florida where it launched!  Wow!

  Happiest of Birthdays to the most adorable two year old that I know and have the privilege to love!  Owen brings so much joy and happiness into our family.  His great big grins when he comes to tickle your tummy, his mischievous glint in his eye when he knows he's teasing you by snatching some clean laundry out off the bed and running with it down the hall giggling wildly the whole way, and the running, tackling hugs that always come your way when you first come back home from a trip to the store or a day at work or school.  Owen's shy attitude toward strangers is endearing as he quietly keeps to himself when meeting new people or going to new places.  He finds the greatest of joys and comforts at home, surrounded by his family. We love that when we ask Owen for kisses he dutifully presents us with the top of his head so that we might give him a kiss.  The house is filled with laughter and good cheer at the silly things Owen says as he begins to explore and develop his

Mason Jar Candles the kids helped to make and decorate for Halloween with. :)

  We were soooo lucky to have Grandma Phillips come for a 2 week visit this month.  We had so much fun spending time with our beloved Grandma P.  The boys couldn't get enough kisses, Maeve had to show her Grandma off to every person she met at church and around town, Owen learned that he had to keep a close eye on Grandma or she just might put his toy away when he isn't looking, and Rebekah loved being around Grandma and soaking up all that precious love that Grandma has for her grandchildren.  I just loved having 2 weeks of my mom all to myself.  I learned so much from her, felt so loved, got a lot of chores around the house done, and had my house cleaned to within an inch of it's life with our new Norwex cloths.  :D  When we took Grandma to the airport to return home to Utah there were many long faces in our home.  We would keep Grandma at our house forever if we could.  We love you Grandma Phillips thanks for coming Texas!  Thank you Grandpa Phillips for letting us hav