it's 3am and 3 days before Christmas...

I'm listening to the rain and watching old movies...not like the really good old ones, just the recent old ones. Just finished Maid in Manhattan - never seen it before...don't watch too much tv. Lance and I take turns putting the littles to bed. Tonight was my night to snuggle with the little pumpkin - she's a great snuggler that little one - and 4 1/2 hrs. later I woke up at 1am, still in her twin size bed. Now I'm fully awake...it's going to be a long day.But what I'm thinking about tonight is childhood innocence. That magic twinkle in littles' eyes. How they fully trust. How they love passionately. How they know how to squeeze every drop of fun out of a single ordinary moment and relish it wholeheartedly.And then my mind wanders sadly to the other side of the spectrum and I think about the children who have that innocence taken away from them, whether from unfortunate life conditions, sickness or through abuse and it just tears my heart apart. My prayer this Christmas is for littles everywhere. That they may feel God's everlasting love manifested here on earth through at least one caring adult. How great our world would be if every child had that chance!Tonight right before bedtime, I had a special surprise for the littles...their very own message directly from the jolly old fella in the North Pole {thanks PNP!}. They were SO excited!!They couldn't believe Santa had files with their picture and everything and knew about things like the ballet recital... and birthdays... and school!And then it was Hudson's turn...He was taking it all in... Until the elves put his "file" into the naughty or nice machine...And I think it scared him!!! Poor little thing! Even though he was on the NICE list, of course!Aah, such sweet memories!

And don't worry, he wasn't scarred for life or anything. We quickly switched over to {starfall}. Have you heard of starfall? It's an educational website for toddlers and preschoolers. A sweet mom in Grace's class told me about it just recently and she was right, Hudson loves it!

Oh, and the bathtub pics...shampoo + whirlpool jets = our very own "snow" fight! If only you could have heard their giggles! :)