Christmas - Finally

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday.  It started out in PA at our  house then we went to CT the Monday before Christmas and finally late on Christmas Eve we drove back to PA to Shawn's family's house.  It was a fun time to spend with family and friends enjoying the season.  The kids did really well traveling and sleeping which always makes the trip that much more fun.  We are truly blessed to get together with our immediate families and both of our extended families on a regular basis and especially at Christmas.  We were sad to say good-bye to our loved ones and pack away the tree for another year especially Symeon who loved the Christmas tree and still wonders where it went everyone once in awhile.

I think total they opened gifts 5 different times and I am pretty sure Symeon thinks every morning he wakes up there is a chance for additional presents. I had a hard time picking which pictures to use since we have so many but I hope the ones I chose show what a blessed Christmas we experienced this year. 

Christmas at our home in PA

At 8:40 we were all still waiting for Symeon to get up.  I guess he didn't realize it was Christmas morning.

About the time he woke up Marin was ready to go back to bed so we opened a few and then she slept while we played with Symeon's new toys.  It actually worked out really well.

 

 Marin loved this Elmo book we bought for Symeon

 

 Symeon loved this drum we bought for Marin

 

 Symeon's holy grail of gifts this Christmas a $10 plastic shopping cart.  We thought he would like it but we had no idea how much he would love it.  He plays with it so much I am glad we stood in line twice at Toys R Us to get it. 

 

Here he is on Christmas morning walking the halls with the cart.  During the next week he wanted the shopping cart to go everywhere with him.  We took it to the hair salon and the ladies loved it, we took it in the car wherever we went, he wanted it on the table while he ate but I drew the line, and finally at night when we were reading books before bed he wanted it in the chair with him and I was displaced to the floor to read.  Although we have stopped taking it everywhere with us he continues to use it everyday to pick up the mail, go to the kitchen to pick up eggs and milk, and to visit his friends around Paxton who love to put things in his cart.  He often comes back to our apartment with lots of loot from his walks around the building.

Christmas in CT

 Papaw and Austin

  

Austin with his butt bank and Clover with her name necklace

 

My Dad with a picture of his girls Angel and Sweet Thing

 

Symeon and Marin both loved the blocks their cousin's picked out

 

 

 My Dad both kids piggy banks and my mom puts their names on them.  It is a tradition we all have one so I was so happy that they both received one this year.  Marin was so cute in her Santa hat which lasted all of 10 seconds but we did manage to get a picture. 

 

Marin sporting the hat my Mom made her.  Symeon had a green one which they both wear all the time.

 

Our family picture in front of my Oma's tree.  I have a picture in front of this tree every since I was a baby.  It is fun to see how life has changed over all these years.  In the last several years I have gone from married to a family of four I am truly blessed.   

 

 

 My Oma and Marin helping her open her gift

 

My handsome cousin James and my beautiful Sister-in-law Traci

 

My wonderful cousin Joel and his lovely girlfriend Ashley

 

My family

 

 Austin - 9, Clover - 8, Symeon - 22 months, Marin 7 months

We like to have our kiddos close together in our family

 

All  the cousins, spouses, and kids

Across the back- my husband Shawn, my cousin Jesse, my cousin Joel, my cousin Travis, my cousin James,

my sister-in-law Traci in the purple, Marin and I in the middle, Austin- my brothers son, Clover- my brothers daughter, Symeon in the front my son, my brother Michael kneeling

 

 Travis with Marin

The ladies

me, my Mom, Traci, and Marin

Christmas in Telford

 

 Maya 10 months, Sam 2 1/2

Shawn and his Nana,  Nana and Marin, 3 generations

 

Managed Chaos

 

 These two are the best of buddies with matching Phillies hats and Flyers hockey sticks

 

Admiring the gift they gave Mom Mom which of course would be pictures of them

 

Outside in the snow.  Please don't fall over Symeon you won't be able to get up!

 

One of many quiet and relaxing meals with 4 kids under 2 needing to eat.  We decided there was always someone who was sleeping, eating, or just in a bad mood.  

 

 Symeon and Sam baking cookies with Mom Mom

 

Pop Pop and Marin, by this point Marin was done which you can read all over her face.  I wonder where she gets that from?  

 

 At the Delp family Christmas the kids and I spent quite a bit of time riding around in this make shift cart we found, singing songs, and generally entertaining ourselves.

I have finally finished my post for Christmas 09 and although it took me awhile it was nice to go through all the pictures we took and count our blessings once again.  There are so many people in the world who on a daily basis are lonely and desire to have a place called home where they are treasured and loved and as I finish this post I realize just how many places our family has to call home.  Being "home" was the best part of Christmas. 

Ok so a side note that keeps coming to my mind as I finish this post somewhere inside my Sunday school days keeping coming back to me and I don't think I mentioned the birth of Jesus quite enough in this Christmas post.  I asked Shawn about it and he laughed and said it was fine.  So to ease my Sunday school guilt issues here it is - "Jesus is the Reason for the Season"  

 

7 months a bit late

Well I am really late with Marin's seven month update but I figure better late than never.  The 6 to 7th month for Marin was very busy.  She has been crawling since she was 5 months old but she took it up a notch this month and became a speed crawler.  She puts her head down and bee lines for her destination which usually involves following Symeon somewhere.  She started eating tons of foods and she prefers real people food to baby food.  Symeon taught her to clap and she will do it if  you ask her.  She began climbing on everything, pulling anything down she can reach, pulling herself up to standing.  We had to lower her crib when I walked in and she was standing up at the rail and much to our amazement she has started letting go while standing.   We will look over and she will just be standing there, not holding on to anything and curling her little toes into the carpet for balance.  I looked back to see when Symeon began doing this since he was such an earlier walker and he started around 8 months so I wonder what it means that she is 2 months ahead of him on this skill.  Symeon took his first steps at 10 months so what does that mean Marin might take her first steps at 8 months???!!!! 

Marin has become much friendlier and social.  She is still tentative to go to folks but if you sit on the floor she will come right over to interact which is a huge step for her.  Her hair continues to fill in and she is just so cute.  She still laughs so easy and loves to mix things up.  In the morning I open Symeon's door and she crawls in to greet him.  They usually "talk" with each other and laugh it is so cute.  Marin continues to "tattle" on her brother should he do something she does not like and I am not watching.  She also protests with great vigor if you try to take something from her she really wants and if she is headed toward something she really wants there is little you can do to divert her from her goal.  It will be fun to see how her determined spirit will play out in her life.   

There are so many things I love about this age.  I love the way she stands and waits for you to come get her out of bed and when you do she smiles and laughs with such unabated joy and love for you.  I love how curious she is and how much she is exploring.  I love that she is finding some independence but she still loves to be held and snuggled.  I love that she loves all different types of food and she would rather feed herself than have you feed her.  I love how her face lights up when she sees Shawn or I and she will crawl toward either of us with such speed so we can scoop her up and love on her.  I love that she laughs really hard every time she sees running water.  I love that this month was the first time we found her playing in the toilet.  I love that we basically have to bathe her after every meal because eating is a full contact activity for Marin.  I love that she loves baths.  I love that she plays with me hand every time she nurse and even when she is asleep at night she will continue to rub my fingers.  I love the way she smells most of the time.  I love that when she sees you stacking up blocks where ever she is she comes a crawling and knocks them over with such force they go flying.  I love that she loves her glow baby.  I love that when she hears music she rocks back and forth like she is dancing.  I love the way she claps her chubby little hands.   I love the light in her eyes when she figures something new out or when she recognizes someone she adores like Symeon. 


Once again as this month passes we have truly enjoyed so much about Marin.  We feel so blessed to be watching her grow into such an amazing little person.  Our dear baby girl there is just so much about you that is spectacular!

While in CT in November my dear friend Lisa took some amazing pictures of Marin and I to mark her 6th month of life.  Here are a few of my favorites it was really hard to choose since there were so many great ones.  Lisa really captured Marin's spirit so enjoy this small glimpse into our amazing little girl's essence. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I pray the light in her soul will always be this palpable

Hershey Choclate

Since I have been in college I have been going to Hershey's Candy Lane to see the lights.  It is always lots of fun and since Symeon loves Christmas lights we decided to take him and Marin this year.  Now granted it did not start out great since Symeon did not take a nap that day and on the drive over he fell asleep so it took him the first hour we were there to wake up and it really was not to fun.  He wanted to be held and he wanted on rides then he cried on them.  But after the first hour he perked up and we had a great time.  He loved the lights, the rides, and the yummy snacks.  Marin was awesome she loved it all and took it all in with smiles and laughs.  She probably enjoyed the first hour the most out of all of us. 

One thing Shawn always reminds me when we do things like this is to have no expectations.  He is really good at this I am not quite so good at it.  Shawn is fine with whatever happens and most of the time I am as well but my optimistic spirit always makes me believe it will go well and sometimes that works out and sometimes it doesn't.  I must confess I had low expectations for this trip and they were exceeded.  Earlier times in our kids lives I would have had us all laughing on rides, hugging giant hershey bars, beautiful pictures of us all smiling with Santa, warm looks from my children of love and excitement, and finally when it was time to leave Shawn and I would each be snuggling a sleeping baby on our shoulder.  Currently my expectation is for them to be awake and even that is a bit high at times.  I have learned to adjust my expectations and see the beauty in the reality of what happens and I am finding that living in the reality of the moment helps me embrace the beauty of the experience instead of being disappointed by my unrealistic expectations.  I have even found every once in awhile what happens far exceeds any expectations I could have imagined.

Symeon and I on the carousel right before he began to cry.

Marin all bundled up enjoying the lights.

Symeon and Shawn after the ugly wake up time.

Shawn and his girl enjoying a snuggle.

Symeon loved this fire truck ride.

  Shawn is such a great Dad he rode it multiple times all squished and he was still smiling.

 

  

Symeon's First Christmas Program

I am a little behind for December since the kids and I returned from our Christmas travels with terrible colds so I have not been blogging.  Bear with me I as I work to cover December, Christmas, and the odd and ends pictures I want to post.  I will catch up especially since January is usually a slower activity month.

Symeon was in his first Christmas program as church and it was so cute.  He and his little friends from Sunday school were suppose to sing Away in a Manager but instead of singing they all stood there except one little girl who belted it out and saved the day.  I knew Symeon would not sing because he is a child of few words but he does love to perform so being on stage was really fun for him.  He cried once and that is when he had to leave and the stage because his program was over.  Here he is one of the cutest shepherd's ever known to grace the stage wearing red converse sneakers and a robe.

 Hanging out in the nursery waiting for the big moment

Micah the wiseman and Symeon the shepherd

or like Shawn said no real assigned roles more like small kids

in our best guess of biblical attire dress

Micah, Charlie, and Symeon still waiting.

  They all wanted their costumes on but then they had to wait for their time.

Charlie kept asking if it was time because he really did not not want to miss his time on the stage.

  I assured him multiple times that I would not let him miss it although I do think he doubted me.

 

Here is Symeon on stage he is holding Charlie's hand and he was by far the smallest kid to perform.

  He did really well and was just so cute.

 

Stall Techniques

Symeon has become a master at stalling.  When it is time to do something he does not like he suddenly is so thirsty he is going to pass out without a drink or he is so hungry he can't possibly take another step without consuming some food.

A great example is when it is time to go to bed.  He frantically looks around for something he needs to do before heading off to bed.  Tonight I was laughing so hard because when I said ok Symeon give Daddy loves it is time to go to bed he began to cry and went into his room and closed the door.  I thought well I guess he is going to bed.  A minute later he came out and went to the fridge saying he was hungry.  I am always a bit torn when it comes to denying him food because in general he does not say he is hungry unless he really is so we settled on him having a graham cracker which he could eat while we read books.  I think he used that minute alone in his room to think of the food idea.

Then when we were in his room reading books I told him I needed to put his "medicine" on his face which is lotion since this time of year his cheeks are chapped.   So as usual after I put it on him he wants me to put it on my face which I do but tonight he took it to another level and wanted lotion on the lamp and the chair and the fan.  I had to laugh he is getting good.

Then after "needing" about 20 drinks of water which I denied I put him in his bed where he proceeded to let me know that Cat his stuffed animal needed medicine on his face.  So I applied a little to cat's cheeks kissed Symeon and called it a night.  I can't imagine what else he will come  up with when he really starts talking but I am sure he will have me laughing like he did tonight.  I so appreciate his creative inventive spirit in all aspects of life even bedtime.