Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody! We hope you all have a great holiday and a wonderful time with friends and family. God's blessing and peace be with you as you celebrate this special time of year!

what we've been up to . .

Life has been going well. Last Friday we got a snowstorm. Jeremiah went to work for an hour and than came home and spent the rest of the day here. I think we got about a foot of snow. It was beautiful. Other than shoveling snow and staying warm, we haven't done to much. The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped and Ethan is excited:) Yesterday we spent the morning with Jeremiah's family and tomorrow they will be spending the day here. Friday we will head down to PA and spend several days with my family. It will be a good vacation!

Our snow Saturday morning. 

"Christmas Dance"

Ethan in the midst of telling me a story about a squirrel in the woods who heard a noise, but it was ok because it was just a tree chipper. 

Hans and his cave

Building a snow man this morning.

 

Such a happy snowman!

latest and greatest

Just some new pictures, that is all today.

The view from my kitchen window Saturday morning.

Brrrr!

Umm, Ethan was letting Hans eat his toes. Yeah, no further comment.

Christmas-ness

The other day Earon mentioned that our house is very "Christmas-y" and it is true! There is something about our house that just wants to be decorated and home-y for Christmas. It is really nice. The whole downstairs just feels so welcoming and jolly now that we have it all decorated for Christmas. 

(I don't remember what Ethan was talking about)

Our tree, which has now been "adjusted" after the death of 2 Christmas ornaments at the hands of Hans. All breakable ornaments are now (hopefully) out of his reach. 

Licking the Christmas cookie icing beaters. IS it possible to smile for the camera and eat icing off a beater? 

Don't ask, I don't remember:)

trimming the tree

I filled this past week with decorating, cleaning and cooking. We had a "department Christmas dinner" for the guys that work for Jeremiah on Friday night. It was fun. They came, we fed them steak, they stayed:) As I looked around the table at three 20-something guys I realized that my table will look a lot like this in 15 years or so. It was a comforting thought. We all enjoyed the evening. 

We got our Christmas tree on Wednesday. It was fun to take the boys along to pick it out. Children make the holidays fun. It reminds us of the joy to be found in simple things like bright lights and surprises and secrets and special things that only come out once a year. Hans says "what's that!" to every new piece of Christmas decoration he sees. Ethan was so excited about putting the tree up he was literally bouncing! We had so much fun and the tree was almost complete and needed very little tweaking when Ethan went to bed. 

no, this isn't Christmas morning, but it almost looks like it, doesn't it?:)

Hans did have to learn that the ornaments are not for eating!

Thanksgiving

Hello one and all! We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving day with Jeremiah's family and then traveled to spend the weekend with my family. Now we are all looking forward to Christmas and enjoying all of the fun that goes with it. 

Ethan trying out the winter garb.

And who is that coming out of the cupboard?

Ethan pretending to repair telephone wires. This is the outfit of a telephone line repair man. 

Hans reveling in his new found skill of crawling up on chairs.

While we were down for Thanksgiving, Dad got out one of his old Christmas presents to show the boys. When is turned on there are pistons that move up and down, a fan that spins and lights that come on. Hans was enthralled. 

but how does it taste?!?

Grandpa and Hans

This was a familiar view all weekend long. Hans would find Dad and tug on his finger to go for a walk and they would walk around and around and around the house. 

Lake Effect

We have been getting snow and it is lovely. We haven't had more than an inch actually accumulate at one time, but it is so lovely to watch it fall. In the last week I saw more snow than I did during the whole 5 years we lived in Virginia! Ethan's reaction the first morning he saw snow was great: "Daddy! They're flying around and chasing each other!" and we have happily watched them chase each other ever since. There have been breaks, it is sunny right now, but we have seen some each day this week. There is very little laying on the ground right now.

I figured it was time for a bit of an update. Jeremiah still enjoys his job very much and keeps plenty busy. He looks forward to Monday and is a little (appropriately little) sad to leave his projects and come home for the weekend. We are gradually working on projects around the house. Two children really inhibit the speed of accomplishing house projects. Right now we are working on painting the trim in our living room white (it was deep burgundy). 

Ethan and Hans are as busy as ever. Ethan still loves his diggers, tractors and tree trimmers. He likes to pretend he is a tree chipper when he is eating. He puts food in his mouth and sticks his arm out across the table as the chute that spits the chips into the truck. He has a VERY creative imagination. He has found a new joy in cutting and gluing paper. 

Hans is progressing towards walking. He will walk all over the house holding on to someones hand and occasionally he will take a step in between objects. He still a very happy little trooper. He is working on words too. He has his own version of a lot of words and he will work at imitating many different things. Nothing besides ma-ma and da-da is easy to recognize though. 

I am doing good. Bit by bit I am learning to know people. One of the moms from our church started a play group at her house and I have been going to that. It has been a great way to learn to know some of the other moms in our church. I am also remembering to value the great friends I have via phone and email. Thank you all for your friendship. It is a very valuable thing. I have started several crafty projects for the long winter months, but I fear they will be put on hold through the holiday season, which I intend to enjoy thoroughly and begin early!! i love our house and I am getting more attached to it as it feels more and more like home. It is a fun home and good place for raising a family. 

The view from my front window

wrestling and tickling!

Happenings

Hans, who continues to grow and learn but is not yet walking. 

Ethan got some play dough recently (thank you Sarah Sauder!) and he really enjoys it. 

We also got Ethan some paper and a scissors. He loves to cut things out and then glue them together, with supervision of course! This is a tractor trailer truck. 

Ethan with his creation.

Showing off his scissor skills. He is learning how to hold it in one hand to cut. I love the face!! 

Hans, who climbs up the stairs quite well (hence the gate) but does not know how to come back down, looking wistfully after some one who went up into the forbidden regions of the upstairs!! He will sit at the bottom and fuss sometimes when he has been left behind.