Our Family Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney TV with care

The gifts were all wrapped and ready to share

We all tucked in bed until morning arrived.  And no one could wake another til 7:45!

The girls, they made, the itinerary.  We’d start with the stockings to get us all merry.

Followed by cinnamon rolls gifted by Grandma.  They were delicious and a highlight for all!  We read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Jesus Storybook Bible.  I love the way it retells and paints new pictures in your mind.

The girls decided to start with the parents.  They could hardly wait to reveal their creations – a headband for dad, some bookmarks and earrings for mom, and coupons for baked goods and comfy pants, too!  Mom got dad a sweatshirt. Dad got mom a vacuum (she asked for it!).  Then, they got more – a framed print from Jason and a some weights for big lifting!

    

Then, came the time to for unwrapping fun as Ellie gave to Madison – a squishmellow, a shirt, and earrings!

Madison returned the favor with gifts well thought out and some crafted with care – a pig shirt, a pig lanyard, pig scrunchies, shirts, and a mug!

The parents remembered gifts for the girls (since this is the year they are too old for Santa) – for Ellie: some air pods, graphic novels, and an electric toothbrush; for Madison: a book, puzzle sorter trays, Beachwaver curling iron, and an electric toothbrush!

They thought they were done – they were happy, content.  But then Pepper discovered some more tucked behind the chair.

They unwrapped a surprise – the Nintendo Switch and some games – to play with and laugh with and entertain them some more. 

    

It was a fun Christmas of giving and receiving.  I appreciate the way the girls excitement to give is a big as their excitement to receive.  Hopefully, that will continue with them as they get older as well. We hope everyone had a good Christmas filled with memories and traditions (old and new). 

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Ellie had a fun multi-day birthday this year.  Prior to her birthday, Grandma and Grandpa took her and Madison out to Dairy Queen to celebrate their birthdays – food, dessert, and family!  Perfect.

    

On her birthday, she chose to eat out at BJs Brewhouse.  She even convinced us to splurge on a trio of pazookies – pie/cookie sundaes.  We opened our family gifts at this time.  She was especially excited about the promise of tickets to the Dude Perfect show… a favorite of hers to watch on YouTube.  She worked really hard to finish sewing her pig purse which was a gift from Jen and Arturo.  She did a great job completing this almost entirely on her own!

    

The day after her birthday, she had a sleepover party with a small group of her friends.  They came home after school and went home the next morning.  They had pizza, created some elaborate ice cream sundaes, opened gifts (LOTS of fidgets!), and played games.  They had a great night.

    

Finally, we had a family birthday party for her, Madison, and Sophie this past weekend.  It was a good night to be together despite the snow that slowed us down a bit.  We had some delicious burrito bowls, white Texas sheet cake, and chocolate revel bars.  Kids played; adults talked.  It was good.

Ellie you are growing into an amazing young lady.  You enjoy spending time with others – always up for hanging with your friends.  You continue to enjoy imaginative play, especially playing school.  You have a great sense of humor and and easy laugh.  We are proud of your resiliency with your diabetes and how you handle that with so much responsibility and acceptance even when we know it stinks.  We love to see you try new things like basketball! Keep yourself open to where God is leading you.  You will go amazing places!

Advent (Week 2)

Day 4. Make a paper craft…  This was a new activity this year.  We often do a craft, but we had not done something like this before.  We made paper snowflakes from paper lunch bags.  Here is website if you are interested. 

         

Day 5: Make something aromatic…Another new activity for this day.  We made stovetop potpourri.  The girls didn’t know what potpourri was so that was a learning experience.  But we ladies all pretty much like the smell.  Jeremy, I learned, doesn’t appreciate the smell of cinnamon-scented things.  It is on our stove and it is still fragrant.  I, personally, really like it.

Day 6: Christmas books at the library.  This one is always a treat.  I love finding picture books we have read and new ones that we haven’t seen before.  We come home and at least read 2 together.  The girls usually plow through them on their own later.

Day 7: Snowman Pancakes for Supper  This is a classic.  Jeremy happened to be out of town when this activity came up and chose to wait until he returned to do it.  Because, as they said, “Daddy always makes the best snowman.”  Gloria joined us for Sunday lunch for this one!  In the order they were created: Ellie, Madison, Gloria, Jeremy, (Madison’s weight loss snowman!), and Erin.

              

Day 8: Shop for and deliver gifts to the Humane Society.  This year we invited Grandma E to join us.  She had never been to the humane society, but we always think she should have an animal from there.  We first bought some things to donate using the money from their summer bake/garage sale. 

Then, we played with some animals.  Madison’s favorite was cat named Sugar.  Ellie loved a different cat.  We were overwhelmed in the cat room.  And there were some cute dogs – a whole litter of mini golden doodles that we couldn't play with because they had just been fixed.  But they were so cute!

         

Day 9: Shop for family Christmas gifts…. We went to Canton and braved the traffic.  We found gifts for the cousins on both sides.  The girls also have a lot of fun splitting up and shopping for each other.  We ate at an Asian-inspired restaurant called Bibipob.  It is so good!

Also on Day 10, Madison participated in the school spelling bee.  This is a big deal in that she has to spell in front of all the kids grades 5-8.  She did a great job speaking clearly and looking confident.  She got out (along with a slew of other kids) in round 8 with the word “benefitted.”  While it was disappointing to her, she also had a lot of fun and wants to participate next year.

    

Day 10: Make cut-out cookies… This is Madison’s favorite part of the cookie process.  Ellie likes this part too.  They always know when they see this on the calendar, the frosting comes soon!

Wayne County Fair … plus some.

… about a month late… (September 10-15)

On Saturday, I went to watch Sam and Lilli show their goats.  They went into this fair knowing their goats weren’t going to come home with big championship ribbons.  Lilli’s goat, Eddie, had some serious health problems right when they got him.  He worked through a lot of them, but he was just a little guy.  He barely made weight to show – needed to be 50 pounds; he weighed in at 52.  Sam’s goat, Russ, was a beauty, but so young.  They barely had him by the June 1st cut-off.  They needed about 2 more week or so before he would have been at his peak.  But some years are like that.  Eddie actually ended up placing 2nd in his weight class, which was awesome!  Russ was 6th or 7th, I think.  Sam and Lilli both did a good job doing what they do. 

              

While I was there, the girls were able to go on a school field trip to see the boat that Mrs. Grimm was on all summer with the Teacher-at-Sea program.  It was anchored in Lake Erie and was NOAA (I don’t know what those letters mean).  They had a great time touring the boat, seeing all the equipment, and learning what she did.

 

Jeremy was also busy on this Saturday.  He participated in the Velosano bike ride to raise money/awareness for cancer research.  He hadn’t done a long ride like that in awhile.  I was glad he could go.  He said he felt good after all his Peloton training!

We went back to the fair as a family on Sunday.  Ellie was getting a special award for her hard work on her dog project.  I think it felt really good to her to go forward and receive her big trophy! 

    

We took time to look at the 4-H booth – all art created by the club and all the posters of the kids’ projects.

    

And artwork from school.

         

Picked up some Lerch’s donuts before leaving

On Monday, we had a special appointment for Ellie in the morning (more on that in another post), but we went all afternoon and evening back to the fair.  The girls got to ride rides.  I am not sure if they will choose to do this next year.  Ellie isn’t a fan of a lot of them, and Madison would like to go with someone.  But they did do a few big rides (and I did one with Madison)

             

before moving to the kiddie rides.

         

Jeremy and Gloria met us there for supper before we headed to see the Zach Williams concert.  It was a great concert! 

         

Somewhere in all that, we were able to celebrate Jeremy’s birthday.  He had fair food for dinner and a little present party with decorations beforehand.  One gift he got was a helmet he got to use for his bike ride.  (Aren’t presents exciting when you get old?)