New Camera and Sheldon Christmas

Merry Christmas!  We hope you had a joyous Christmas Day as we celebrated the birth of Christ!  The kids thoroughly enjoyed opening their presents and hanging out in their pajamas all morning...and I was thrilled to open up a new camera from Matt!  Thanks honey!  I love taking pictures, so I hope you think these pics are crystal clear and fabulous!  We had a wonderful Christmas morning with the kids, and then headed to my parents house for the Sheldon Christmas celebration.  We had a great time celebrating as usual...and ended the night with Poker...as usual.  Yummy food and drink and lots of laughs!

Drew and Matt

Sweet Molly

"Conducting" on Wii Music

Daddy and his baby girl

Stella

Rachel and Matt

Nona cuddling with Molly after an early nap wake-up

Me with my mom and sister Lissa

Peter and Sofia

Lissa and Keith

Me and my honey

Matt and Peter

My dad and Rachel

The kids testing out their new chairs from Nona

Grant and I

Grant is 5!

Today is Grant's actual birthday...December 23rd.  I can't believe that is was five years ago today that the Lord blessed us with a baby boy.  I was induced on my due date because of elevated liver enzymes and about eleven hours later, Grant arrived...at about 3 in the morning.  Matt spent Christmas Eve in the hospital chapel while I watched the service on TV.  We brought home our first child on Christmas Day.  It was a wonderful Christmas present!  And that began our journey of parenthood.  We've had a lot of ups and downs along the way, and we've learned a ton about being parents.  It's been amazing watching Grant change and grow over these past five years, and every day I'm fascinated with the charm and politeness he can display.  Of course, we've also had our frustrations and challenges, but this is still a learning process for us, and I'm sure it will be for some time to come.  He is an awesome little boy, and we thank God every day for the blessing he is to this family.  We love you Goose!  Happy Birthday!

Bounce Party

This week we had Grant's fifth birthday party!!  This was our first major birthday party for Grant and he had a great time.  We had it at Bounce Party and for an hour and a half, the kids bounced off the walls...literally.  Then it was time for pizza, cake and ice cream...none of which Grant can eat.  We'll have to do a better job with that the next time around.  It was a bit crazy towards the end, and it will probably be another five years before we do this again, but the kids seemed to have a great time.  Thanks to those who helped us celebrate!

And they're off!

Papa in the boxing ring

Kids attacking Papa

Molly trying out some bouncing

So excited for presents!

Happy Birthday Grant!

School Christmas Program

Grant did a great job at his school Christmas program this year.  Nona and Papa and Grammie and Grandpa came to see his awesome performance!

Before the performance

Grant with Molly after the performance

Grant with his "friend" Leeona...perhaps crush

Grammie and Grant

Here's some video of one of the songs they did.  Grant is in the first row, the second one in on the right...

Hit the Slopes!

Hi all, guest blogger Matt here.  Gee (that's what Molly calls him pronounced "gee" not "jee") and I went skiing at Cannonsburg Mountain last week.  We went a couple times last year, but this was his first time on his own skis.  Lesley didn't appreciate my $30 helmet investment, but I didn't want the little shusher getting away from me and taking a header into a snowmaker.  Anyway, thanks to our little harness contraption, we had a great time.  He is showing some promise and will be accompanying us on our trips out West in no time.

Practicing in the front yard

Grant posing in his gear

and again...

and again...

Great Grandparents Tour

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we figured it was a good time to take a great-grandparents tour!  Molly and Grant have seven great-grandparents, and we were blessed enough to see six of them over the holiday weekend.  It was a busy weekend driving around, but we are so happy that we could visit with all of them!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Sheldon

Four Generation picture with my parents

Molly and Grant goofing around at GG Hassenrik's House

Great Grandma and Grandpa Hassenrik

We did not get a picture of Great Grandma and Grandpa Gammicchia but did have a chance to see them.  And we get to see Great Grandma Jackson from time to time as she lives in Holland.  We are so very blessed to have all these people...for if it wasn't for them, none of us would be here!

Say "EEEEse"

Molly is usually very camera shy.  It takes a lot to get her to smile on command for any reason, but especially not in front of a camera.  Don't get me wrong, she loves to laugh and giggle if we're playing...she's just not a performer.  So when she learned how to cheese...or "eeeese", and smile, I just had to capture it.  Hopefully she'll keep it up.  

Fun with Hats

It's amazing to me the things that entertain us after we have had kids.  The other night we spent probably a half hour having fun with hats...wearing them forwards, wearing them backwards, pulling them down over our eyes and playing peekaboo, switching our hats.  It's amazing what makes us laugh these days.  

15 Month Update

Molly had her 15 month check up today and did very well with the doctor.  No squirming or crying...until the shots that is.  She is growing well and the doctor says she is right on track for everything.  Here are just a few updates on her life these days:

• 31 3/4 inches tall (85%)
• 22 pounds 12 oucnes for weight (50%)
• She has 11 teeth...still waiting for that last first-year molar to pop through.
• Was eating well until this week.  She is getting picky all of the sudden.  Perhaps she is getting teeth and doesn't want to eat right now.  She doesn't like to drink milk.  I'm lucky if I can 6 ounces in her a day.  She'll drink water from a cup, and water with a splash of juice, but doesn't care much for milk.  Cheese is her favorite.
• Still sleeps great.  She is mostly down to one nap, from 1-3.  If she does take a morning nap, it is very hard to get her to take an afternoon nap.  She goes down at about 7:15 and I usually get her out of bed at 7:15.  She does not cry when she wakes up, so it is hard to tell when she is actually up.  She just lays in her bed and waits for me.  That was so hard for me to believe at first since Grant NEVER did that.  So that has been a big change for us.  
• She is starting to show more fiesty-ness and will throw an occasional mini-fit.  I say mini-fit because they last all of about 1 minute.
• She babbles a lot and I think she really believes she is telling me something.  She'll say Mama...very directly, and then just babble a bunch of sounds in a questioning tone.  And then wait for an answer.  She doesn't care what the answer is, but she expects me to answer.  It's very cute.  She does say some actual words, which includes, mama, dada, ball, baby, done, cracker (cracka), cookie (cook-cook), night (ni-ni), bye, hi, nona, mimi (grammie), ba (bath), baba (bottle), papa, and some sounds that I  know represent things, like bee...means fruit for some reason, pa means up, ca I think is milk, wa means water, and so on.  She is starting to mimic the sounds of words I say, so that's fun too.
• She loves to walk around the house holding Grant's hand.  And they kind of sing while they do it.  She loves to sing La, la, la.  
• She plays pretty well independently and really enjoys having books read to her.  
• Diaper changes and changing clothes are her least favorite activity.  It's usually a struggle to get through it.
• She sleeps with her lovey still...a green frog mini-blanket.  She sucks her two fingers on her right hand and holds lovey up to her nose.  That thing gets so gross, so I had to buy another.
• Her hair is still super curly in the back, especially after baths, but kind of straight on the top, so we'll see what happens as it grows out.
• She has been pretty reserved and shy, but seems to be coming out of her shell a little bit more, and she is willing to give hugs and kisses more.
• We love to do high fives and knucks.  
• She loves her daddy and gets so excited to see him when he comes home.
• We call her Molly girl, Mouse, Mols, and Molly Bolly
• She has a very sweet heart, is a bit shy, and has a very cute laugh.  We love her gap-toothed smile and her quiet voice.  

Playing with Friends

Lately, we've been having some fun playing with friends.  Grant really enjoys having kids over to play, and its great for him to burn off some energy with other kids his age.  As I watch him play though, I'm learning more about his personality.  Nothing really new has come up, but I'm working on adjusting a few things.  Being a firstborn, he is quite bossy.  To put a better twist on it, I think he'll be a good leader someday!  We're working on letting the guests pick what games to play.  :)  Molly also seems to be doing okay playing side by side with kids her age too.  Everyone still seems to have a good time and we hope we can play more soon!

Caleb and Grant - friend from school

Taylor and Grant

Molly and Zach

Ava and Molly

Cousins Lily and Evy with Grant