Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas was celebrated in a few different stages. The first was with my family the week before Christmas. We spent the whole day with my parents and brothers and their families. The cousins have a fun day playing and then opening gifts later in the evening. Troy and Teresa, and I hanging out during the morning.


This was the closest I got to a 'Christmas Eve' picture. It was a week early, but I never got to taking such a photo on the actual day.

Teresa opening her first gift.

On Christmas Eve, it was just me and the kids as Troy prepared for worship. We had a low key day, but did do a few fun things like make a gingerbread house and skype Grandma and Grandpa.

Hopefully a new Christmas Eve tradition...making a gingerbread house.

All dressed and ready to go to church on Christmas Eve.

Teresa was pretty good during the service, although she did get tired and decide to cry through the first half of her daddy's sermon! Luckily Troy had let me read it earlier. Timothy had a special role in the service. He got to help Troy hold the candle during the singing of Silent Night. I wish I had a picture of that--it was beautiful!

On Christmas morning we hung out as a family. We had a nice breakfast and did an advent/devotion time together. Eventually Timothy opened his gift which was one more train set! It was a great family time together!

In the afternoon we went to spend the night with Troy's mom. There were a few more presents and a great Christmas dinner.

Intent on opening a gift.

Our little Christmas package.

Christmas was definitely a blessed time filled with family , love, and joy.

5 Months

Teresa is 5 months old today. For fun, I thought I would post Timothy's 5 month picture. I was reflecting on the fact that he was 5 months when we moved to North Dakota. He is now 3! Wow, has it been that long already!

As you can see in the two pictures, one is very smiley and the other very serious. We continue to notice this difference between our two children. Teresa is also a bit more of a mover and a talker than Timothy. She is already scooting and pivoting when on her tummy and she babbles a lot!


Smiley or not, we have TWO great kids. Timothy adores his sister and always needs his picture taken with her!

The Year of the Train

We celebrated Timothy's 3rd birthday this week. He is into trains this year, so that was our theme. He had a small party with three friends on December 13th. We played two train games, read a train story, watched a train show and had ice cream sundaes.

On his actual birthday we were visiting the Twin Cities for a Christmas celebration with my family, so we took advantage of the location and planned a train ride for Timothy. We rode the light rail from Fort Snelling to the Mall of America. He enjoyed it (so his excitement after the fact reflected), but was rather serious during the experience as he took it all in.

At the mall, Timothy got to go on a few rides in the amusement park. Then we visited the Build-a-Bear store and he picked out a teddy bear with a little guidance from mom and dad. We shared a lunch of Thai food in the food court overlooking the amusement park.

Later in the evening, Timothy's cousins came for a little party. We played our train games again, shared a pizza dinner, and enjoyed a big train cookie. It was a fun day!

Opening a few gifts in the morning.

Waiting for the train to arrive.


Riding the train with mom and dad--looking very serious!

The big truck ride at the mall.

Zooming on cars with mom.


The bear named "Dog" before he was stuffed and dressed.

Thai food--he liked the really long noodles and the scenic view of the amusement park.

The big birthday cookie for a special 3 year old.

North Dakota Hot Rods

Today Troy experienced adrenaline. ...for reasons deemed weird by Floridans and Arizonans.

When we moved to Grand Forks 2 years ago, we inherited a snowblower. It was from Maria's grandparents. It was free, and so we were thankful. But it was also small. And it was finicky, whether due to Troy's clueless care of it (most likely) or simply old age. It was a good snowblower - at one time - but not for North Dakota (South Carolina, maybe). And so, as the snows fell upon us in heaps, and the temperatures dropped below -20F, and "Tiny" then decided on random mornings not to start, or to start and after 30 seconds kill, or to balk at any snow higher than 2.5 inches, Troy's thankfulness slowly waned.

For those of you who lived in climates farther south (which includes everywhere except Canada), you should realize that snowblowing happens at the darkest times of life: at 6am, when work beckons and so do kids; or at 9pm, after evening church meetings are done, and bones are sleepy. ...at these times the birds are not singing "zip-a-dee-doo-dah" outside while happy neighbors pass by. No, snowblowing happens after a big dump has brought subtle depression on the land, seasonal affective disorder is upping everyone's meds, daylight hours are less than 8 each day, everyone cowers inside from frostbite, and it's cold enough to freeze mucus before it leaves your nose. ...Yes, snowblowing happens at the darkest times known to humankind.

And so, "Tiny" is retiring. Rather than sport the cash for a tuneup for "Tiny," today Troy splurged instead at Lowe's on a snowblowing beast (208 cc, roughly 8hp), with his name on it (it's a Troy-bilt). Upon getting it home, Troy started it up with a pull, and cut a 6-foot path through the 16-inch drift alongside the driveway with as much effort as pressing a hot knife through butter. ...and Troy smiled.

Bring on the snow. The beast is ready. ...and Troy is much more OK with winter.

4 Months

It was the 4 month mark today for Teresa. Her most recent trick is grabbing her toys and holding on to them for extended periods. She is also practicing pulling out her pacifier and sucking her fingers instead much to my dismay! She loves her big brother and laughs at the games he plays with her. One of his favorites is swinging her really fast in the swing--thank goodness she is buckled in! She continues to be very strong with her neck and head on tummy time. No rolling over yet, but she come close from time to time. And of course the smiles are still coming as often as ever!

Timothy always wants to be a part of the photo shoot. As hard as I tried, I could not get either one to smile.

Waiting for Christmas

Yesterday we began the advent season with family devotions. We lit the candle on the advent wreath. Timothy chose to light the pink one first. We read a devotion and had a little activity to go with it. Timothy is definitely excited for Christmas to come. I know he will be all about the presents this year, but I find it refreshing that so far his anticipation of Christmas is linked with baby Jesus coming. I think this connection came from another tradition we are starting--preparing the manger for Jesus. Each time Timothy does something nice he gets to put hay in the manger. We want it to be ready for Jesus on Christmas with lots of soft hay. Timothy is excited to fill the manger and is learning that Christmas means Jesus is coming! I am glad that somehow through all that goes on during this season, that Timothy is learning that Jesus is central!

Siblings?

I have heard lots of comments about how much Teresa looks like Timothy. I have also heard some comments about how Teresa has her own look. The other day I had Teresa bundled in her car seat and it reminded me of a picture of Timothy. I know the bow gives it away, but what do you think, do they look alike? Timothy was perhaps a month younger in the photo too. Still cute pictures to compare!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween celebrations began last week for us. We had a cousins Halloween party with Grandma Rebecca. Timothy is the blue dinosaur in the back. Everyone dressed up and there were games, crafts and treats.

Teresa was a cat...she slept through the group picture.
On Friday we carved pumpkins. Timothy was more excited about this activity this year and actually helped scoop out some of the seeds. I carved Teresa's pumpkin and Timothy told Troy what shapes to carve for his pumpkin...oval eyes, diamond nose and a seed mouth!

We took Timothy trick or treating at a few church members homes and then to a couple homes in our neighborhood. He had lots of fun running up to the doors and Troy said he did good remembering his manners and saying 'thank you.'

When Timothy got home, he was excited to see his treats. He lined them up on the living room floor and kept asking if he could open them. After dinner, he got to choose one treat. He chose a chocolate sucker (from Widmans--a local candy store).

Here are the pumpkins all lit up.

We had a Halloween themed dinner. We had pumpkin shaped pizza (homemade--not Papa Murphy's!), and everything else orange--sweet potatoes, mandarin oranges, and finger jello.
It was a really fun day! At dinner Timothy said his favorite part was getting candy. At bed time he changed his mind and said his highlight of the day was the trick or treaters at the door. He was so excited every time the door bell rang. He got to hand out the treats. He wondered if more trick or treaters would come tomorrow!

3 Months old

Teresa turned three months old today. As the last post suggests, she is a pretty happy and smiley little girl. She loves to have people talk with her and give her attention. She is strong and can take tummy time for lengthy periods of time. She can withstand the constant "love" that her brother doles out by being in her face or holding onto her arms. She is learning to go to sleep on her own without rocking (although she is not always fond of being swaddled.) She is curious about her world and likes to be held up on your shoulder so she can take it all in. She does have a bit of fight in her which usually comes out when she is very tired. She wiggles and squirms and tries with everything in her not to succumb to sleep.

Recently people have asked if Teresa is an easy baby. I am not sure what "easy" means, but I suppose that may describe Teresa. Or perhaps she is "easy" because I am not so uptight with worry about every little thing! Either way, she is a delightful girl who's smile can melt your heart!!

All smiles and words

Teresa has amazed us with how smiley she is. She laughs when you sing "Patty Cake" and when Troy does his daddy dance with her. She was also very talkative today. We captured a little of both on video to share with those of you who are miss seeing her in person!

Sunday afternoon

Here is a glimpse of a Sunday afternoon at our house. The busy morning at church often tires Troy out. Today he tired to catch a quick cat nap with Teresa.
Timothy did not want to miss out on the action (or non-action), so he joined in. He really wasn't sleeping and only stayed down for about a minute, but it made for a cute picture!

What are we up to?

Raking leaves! Troy and Timothy filled a few pumpkin bags with leaves today. Timothy insisted on putting all the bags on our front step. Troy rearranged them a little after Timothy was in bed--we'll see if he notices tomorrow.


And learning to read! While the boys were raking, the girls were reading books. Teresa was quite interested in staring at the pictures. Already a book lover!

Celebrating Birthdays

This week we celebrated Troy's birthday. Since Timothy cannot stand having an unopened gift in the room for more than 5 minutes, the gift opening part of the day was over by 7:15 am. I don't think Timothy was impressed with the gifts, but Troy was pleased.

Once again this year I made a cheesecake for Troy. Timothy was excited to blow out the candle and enjoy a special treat. (The missing piece of the cheesecake went home with Troy's mom. She watched the kids while Troy and I went out for lunch.)

The other "birthday" this week was Teresa's two month birthday. Her two month appointment is not until the middle of next month, so no 'stats' yet. But be assured that she is a healthy girl! No concerns about her gaining weight and growing!!

When I was taking Teresa's two month pictures Timothy wanted a part of the action. I liked this picture that looks like Teresa is bopping Timothy's cheek.

ABC

Last fall with the flu scare, I started teaching Timothy to wash his hands. To get him to real scrub and get them clean, we began the ritual of scrubbing hands while we sang the ABCs. Now this is a part of the routine with every hand washing and he has started singing along. He sings along with a ABC magnet toy we have on the fridge.

(His singing is a little quiet as I had to stand a ways back so he would not notice and then stop and ask to see the video!)

Capturing a smile

Teresa has treated us to many smiles recently, but I find them very hard to capture on camera! These pictures are a case in point...

Almost smiling...the big open mouth.

Missed it again...looks like she is saying ahh at the doctor!

And we have success...one smiley girl!

Teresa Eliana....

...child of God.

Teresa was baptised this past weekend. Troy got to baptize her as he did with Timothy. Her sponsors are her Grandmothers. It was a special day and we pray God will bless our beautiful daughter.

Football fans!

Timothy and Teresa were all dressed up to support their team yesterday. (Neither of them actually saw the game, but they got into the spirit anyway.) Too bad the Vikings lost.