Liberty begs to go outside, but she never manages to stick with that thought all the way through the task of putting on her socks and boots and coat and hat and gloves. She gets halfway ready and then decides she wants to do something else.

So we ran races today. We started at the front door, and I yelled, "On your mark, get set, GO!" The girls took off down the hallway, rounded the corner into their bedroom, jumped onto and off of Liberty's bed, then raced back down the hall to tag my hand at the front door. Liberty won every time, of course, until Mercy realized the flawed pattern. Then she began stopping short at the bedroom door and turning around to scuttle gleefully back down the hall, giggling for all she was worth while Liberty continued on into the bedroom and over the bed. Amazingly, Liberty still beat her most of the time in spite of the shortcut. Usually, because Mercy giggled so much that she couldn't keep her balance and she would nosedive into the carpet, thus enabling Liberty to leap over her and finish the race while Mercy attempted to get back up.

During clean-up time, I collected a few of Liberty's Sunday School papers and held an impromptu Bible class. We learned all about the wise men following a star to find Jesus, and we discussed what Christmas is all about. Liberty regurgitated the lesson to Daddy later in the day, and she even made up a part about what sound camels make.

After the Bible class, we took the couch cushions and tossed them into a random pattern on the floor. The three of us then jumped from cushion to cushion yelling "Call Max" at every landing. I'm not sure who "Max" is or why he needed to be called, but it was meaningful and entertaining to the two youngest members of our band, so... CHEERS!

It reminded me of how my brothers and sisters and I would run in crazy circles outside whenever it rained and yell, "Call the fire! Call the fire!" I think that originally was "Call the fire department!" (because lightning had struck our house and it was on fire) but somewhere in there, one of the littlest kids couldn't say department, and we all ended up saying what the littlest one was saying.

There's a rabbit trail for you.

So this has turned into a somewhat random post, and that's okay with me. I'm feeling rather random today.

Liberty begged to "cosser" (color) her abc's, so I printed out a paper full of the alphabet, and she attacked it with her markers. I'm not sure why, but every time we do this, she only colors the letter O. We practiced the alphabet, and Mercy joined in vigorously. Have I mentioned that Mercy talks up a storm, now? Unfortunately, she's rather hard to hear since Liberty's usually around.

About an hour into naptime, I heard a small Liberty voice sing-songing, "Mommy, I made a mess. Mommy, I made a mess. Mommy, I made a mess." Turns out, she found a tube of Desitin and smeared it all over the walls and the doors and the carpet and her clothes and her barbie. When I opened the door, she immediately said, "Mommy, I'm very sorry for making this mess, and I want to clean it up, please. Please may I have a towel, please." I gave her a few diaper wipes, and she cleaned up every bit.

The neighbor kids came over. We played outside in the snow for about an hour before retreating into our apartment to build a fort with blankets and cushions. We popped popcorn because Liberty is convinced that popcorn warms her fingers and hot chocolate warms her toes. (I perpetuated the first myth, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse started the second.)

Oh, speaking of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse -- we watched a lot of it while we were at Grandpa and Grandma's for Christmas -- Liberty has taken to randomly shouting out, "Kick! (quick!) Everybody say, 'Oh, Toodles!'" And then she points to the invisible Toodles who has just arrived, and she says with relief, "I'm so glad you're here!"

And finally when Daddy came home, we sloshed our way to Pizza Hut, where the sound system played bouncy oldies tunes, and our two girls chair-danced throughout the entire meal.

The End.