Tag Archives: Christmas

December 25, 2016

This was one busy, action-packed, and awesome week! Our schedules were full of so many fun activities beginning with Griffin’s first ever preschool Christmas program on Wednesday. It is amazing to see so many young kids get up on the stage! We sat right along an aisle and saw Griffin walk in (all kids parade down the center aisle) but after he got on stage he was as far away as possible! There was literally standing room only this year – it was packed. So a bit past halfway through I got up and got a closer view of Griffin and I’m happy I did as we could only really see him through the heads of parents! Afterwards we enjoyed some cake prior to heading to lunch with the Bethune’s and Mom and Dad at First Watch.

Earlier in the morning (8 am actually!) before Griffin’s preschool program we had our 18 week detailed anatomy ultrasound at Riverside with Dr Retzke, the specialist. They look at all of the developing organs including the heart (and the chambers of the heart), the brain and the regions of the brain, stomach, spine, arms, legs, hands, feet, nose, mouth, lips, pretty much everything possible. We are very thankful that everything looked great. They told us the baby weighed 9 ounces (which is right where it should be) and looked really good. What a relief. They were also able to tell us the gender – it’s a BOY! Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers and check ins – we are grateful.

I should have taken some pics of our wrapping party with the finished results, but I forgot! But I did capture one of my big helper, Griffin. His favorite part this year was putting on the “stickers” aka gift tags. He was a great helper picking out the wrapping paper for each gift and then putting on the sticker 🙂

Thanks to Kevin we’ve broken out the “pregnancy pillow” from storage and given it a good washing. It is like a ginormous snake and Griffin loves to snuggle in it.
To kick off the weekend we attended the Howard’s annual Christmas Dinner Party with the Koehler’s, Assaf’s, Ackerman’s, and Yarbrough’s. It is always an evening full of laughter and sarcasm and of course the famous White Elephant gift exchange where the prized possession is the Christmas sweater. Unfortunately, we weren’t the winners this year as it went to none other than Chris Howard. The kids also do a white elephant exchange and this year Finn came home with a purple batman! Prior to the Howard’s party Kevin got home from a day of shopping and said we needed to “chat”. I thought something seemed up as he took his shoes off in the loft, where I was wrapping, and Lily was turning them upside down sniffing them. I asked him where he’d been and he just gave me a sort of sideways look and said that’s what we need to talk about. He went on to say that he had been out visiting breeders and picking out a puppy!! What?!?!?! This was the first I’d heard of it! We had talked about getting another dog someday since both Hailey and Cameron were gone but we never really put a time to it. About a week ago I texted Kevin the video of Finn asking for a puppy for Christmas and he took that to heart apparently! I was pretty ecstatic, honestly. Griffin was down for a nap so Kevin went on to tell me that the reason he brought it up (rather than making it a total surprise for both Finn and me) is that he went out looking for a chocolate female. When he visited one breeder they had 4 pups left from a litter of 10, one male and three female “chocolates” which were actually silver in color. He had seen pictures of them on the AKC website and the breeder had emailed him some and he thought the picture quality just wasn’t that great. However, when he arrived, the pups were actually silver/gray in color similar to a weimaraner. As it turns out the AKC only recognizes three colors (yellow, black, chocolate) so they are registered as chocolate but are silver in color. Kevin was on a mission for a girl and was playing and meeting the three girls, but he was continually drawn to the male pup who would play with him for a bit and then wonder off and just sit and look at him from afar. There was just something about him that Kevin really liked. Kevin also met the mom (who was about 60#) and the dad (a large 120 pound guy!) and loved the temperament of the dad. Upon talking with the breeder and sharing with her that we currently have a female white lab and used to have chocolate and black females too she suggested that if he was considering switching to a male dog that he may want to ask me and find out why I’d never had a male before. Hence the reason Kevin brought up that he was getting a puppy! He wanted to know if there was a reason why or what I thought about getting a boy. I was so excited I literally couldn’t help him choose – I’ve never had a boy dog (so how would I know if I wanted one or what it’s like instead of a girl) and I hadn’t met the pups nor the mom and dad so I didn’t feel like I had much insight to offer in regards to choosing a boy or girl. At that point he was upset that he’d even mentioned it to me and wished he hadn’t so it could be an all-around surprise. We compromised and I told him the surprise could be whether he chose a boy or girl.

The plan was that early the next morning, Christmas Eve, the pup would be delivered to our house between 7:45 and 8 am. That hour came early as we had been up until about 1 am the night before. It all worked out that Griffin was still sleeping when the breeder arrived with the pup. Kevin and Lily went out to meet her in the driveway and so Lily could greet the puppy. After a few minutes they headed inside and I went down to meet the pup and find out if it was a boy or girl – and it was a boy! A really cute boy who is gonna be huge! He has the biggest paws and forearms! For probably the first 10 minutes I just kept telling Kevin how big he is going to be! After a few minutes we wanted to go wake Finn up with the puppy. We were so excited! The puppy hadn’t ever done stairs before so I carried him up and into Griffin’s room and right to his bed where he sniffed and then licked Griffin’s face to wake him up. It was super cute and he was excited once he understood what was happening.

Within an hour of our new pup arriving we read the last verse for our Advent Calendar, Griffin put Baby Jesus up, and we loaded the car and headed to Mansfield for our annual Christmas Eve shopping, wrapping, and church services. Lily and the pup (still unnamed) spooned with each other on the way up. He slept the entire car ride and did great! The kiddos helped Grandma and Grandpa make strata on Christmas Eve in preparation for Christmas morning breakfast. They love being kitchen helpers!

It had been a very long day with no nap for Griffin (an not a regular night sleep the night prior) so he was beat by the time we arrived at church. Even though it was a 7 pm service, since it was candle-light part of the time Griffin actually fell asleep on my lap! He was out for a good 20 minutes and woke up for the candle-lighting at the end.
Here is our annual 2016 family photo courtesy of my sister. Check out our new addition, who has been named Brutus! And here we are Christmas morning once everyone was awake and the kiddos are amping up getting ready to go and see if Santa has come. Griffin discovered his gifts from Santa: a real glove, a real wood baseball bat, real balls, a catcher’s mask, bases, and a pogo stick. Whew, his sleigh was full I’m sure! Brutus was really calm the entire morning and basically slept at Kevin’s feet for long periods of time! Rowan was super excited about the sloth that Grandma and Grandpa gave him! We gave Rowan the OSU helmut and jersey/pants and Grandma and Grandpa gave Griffin an OSU helmut/jersey/pants – so they were twinsies! Here they are all sporting their new OSU gear. Since it was a rather “warm” Christmas Day all the kiddos, young and old, headed outside for a game of street hockey using the Bethune’s new hockey goal from Grandma and Grandpa!

And here are some pictures that Dad took – he captured everyone’s personalities and the chaos of the morning quite well 🙂 And after all of that gift opening, breakfast eating, and exercising the fellas were beat! We headed back home late afternoon on Christmas evening to go the Chad’s for Christie’s birthday dinner. Griffin fell asleep in the car on the way home, which was perfect timing, so he could regroup before the next social gathering. We quickly unpacked our car, brought up the dog crate from the basement, put it together, put Brutus in it – and left for the dinner party. Whew, on the go. It was a delicious dinner and Griffin enjoyed passing out all of the gifts for the kiddos. And that’s a wrap for Christmas Day 2016! Yet another late night bedtime!

December 27, 2015

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Seems like I can’t ever catch up – 2016 is already almost a month gone and I’m still working on Christmas pictures. But here goes! It was a nice holiday season – certainly lots of nice time spent with family and friends! December was super busy with something on the calendar almost every day. Fun things, of course. We headed over to chez Bethune for a cookie making party on our first day of school break for Griffin (and thankfully, it was a Monday so I wasn’t working!). Lots of fun was had making cut-out sugar cookies and frosting. There were sprinkles *everywhere* but the kiddos really had a fun time and the results were delish! And endless fun complete with dragon tails too. For Kevin’s birthday Griffin got him tickets to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 3D. We headed to Easton for some date night fun that included dinner and drinks at the theater. Kevin really enjoyed the show which made me happy. In all honestly the plot was kind of lost on me, not being a Star Wars follower, but it seemed pretty good!And a *huge* transition around our house this week too – Finn is moving on up and is now sleeping in a big boy bed! We were putting him to bed on Tuesday and and Kevin started looking at his crib and decided to take the front off. I was rather surprised (and sad to be honest) as I wasn’t at all prepared to do such a thing. We hadn’t even talked about doing it. But Finn was so excited he just kept saying “it is perfect!” and he had the biggest smile on his face. He laid down with his blankie and animals and we told him that he had to stay in his bed and call mommy or daddy when he woke up. He did just that. And for the next naps and nights of sleep he stayed right in his bed. He hasn’t missed his crib one bit. He loves his big boy bed and it was probably long overdue, but it was a sad night for me and I shed far too many tears than I would have ever thought! Griffin was really excited to open his gift from Sammy and Debbie. Sam was at his dad’s house so he wasn’t here when Finn opened it – but he just loved his Doctor dress up set! And he loved helping Debbie open her gift too. Next up was our Traditional Christmas Dinner party at the Howard’s. It is always a fun-filled night spent with friends. Each year Christie gives each person their ornament (it is always the same ornament for each person that is marked with your name and the first year it was put on the tree) to put on the tree. And there are so.many.kids! This year we snapped a couple group photos of the kids and adults. And then there is the famous gift exchange with the prized posession being the Christmas sweater that comes back year after year. This year’s winner was Jennifer Assaf and though she doesn’t look too excited in the photo – she assures us the sweater will travel well in 2016. Kevin was pretty happy about our take home from the gift exchange. He promptly set it up when we arrived home at 1 in the morning! The next morning was Christmas Eve so we woke up bright and early and completed our Advent calendar by putting Baby Jesus up and reading the last scripture verse. Finn really enjoyed our readings and being able to choose where to put the piece on the calendar each day! After our traditional day of Christmas shopping with Dad, Amy and I wrapped gifts and then the whole family headed to Christmas Eve services at Linden Road. We always enjoy the service and the candle light at the end. We were again successful in capturing family photos after church too.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun this year. All of the kids are at a fun age for opening gifts. So much so that sometimes (or fairly often to be honest!) the gifts didn’t always make it to the appropriate recipient before it was opened! Each of the kids had fun giving out the gifts and of course opening and playing with what they received. Santa did bring Griffin a very cool helicopter and a trumpet! They were the first things he found by his stocking (along with Abominable – which was another favorite) and he was pretty excited!

We took a bit of a break to have breakfast. Each of the kiddos helped Grandpa make our pancakes and Kevin made scrumptious mush! Finn wanted to be right the the whole time and he was helping protect everyone’s hands and keep them all “safe” from the heat of the griddle! One of our most favorite Christmas gifts was this nativity set that dad made for our family! Isn’t it just beautiful! Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and the three Wise Men each stand up on their own are and it’s just so unique, a one of a kind! Papa is using his new seedling watering mister! On Christmas evening we came back home, dropped off the dogs, and headed to Christy’s birthday dinner hosted by Jennifer at her new house. It was another fun and cozy evening with yummy food, fun friends, and goofy kids. On Saturday we headed to Enon for the Armstrong family Christmas at Cookie and Steve’s house. But first, a stop at Young’s for some Ice Cream! Griffin always enjoys playing with Ora and soaking in all the attention from Grandma, Grandpa, aunt’s, uncle’s, cousins, and such! After the extended family gathering we hung out at Brett and Missy’s house for awhile and opened gifts (and played with them too, lol!). Earlier in the week before Christmas, Debbie took Griffin downtown to the life-sized nativity. He really enjoyed being able to walk up to all of the animals and people. We love that he learns about Jesus and the story of Christmas not only with us and at school, but also through Debbie! <3.

December 28, 2014

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What a fun week we’ve had with all of our family, celebrating Christmas!

We were fortunate to have my parents and Kevin’s parents watch Finn for the first part of the week while Kevin and I worked and Debbie enjoyed some time with her family. I think everyone had fun with our little guy and I know that he certainly did based on all the smiles and chatter I heard. Mom snapped this cute photo above too.

We spent a couple of nights in Mansfield, including Christmas Eve and part of Christmas day. Time went really fast as it always seems to for me these days. Dad, Amy, and I went out for our annual tradition of Christmas Eve shopping and had lots of fun (all of the kids are saying bye to us through the window below). Later that evening we went to the Christmas Eve church service along with my parents, Amy, Andy, and the kids. Kevin snapped the super cute pic of Finn holding the candle at the end of the service 😉 Then we all gathered in front of the tree (and camera) for our annual family photos. That was quite a trip trying to get all of the kiddos to look up or at least sort of in the direction of the camera. But as always, Amy was able to snap some goodies! We all then headed to a short dessert party at the Dewald’s and then back home to get some shut-eye. We awoke Christmas morning and the kiddos had a bit of play time while the adults grabbed our coffee (or other beverages!). We enjoyed a nice slow pace of going through our Christmas stockings and then had a tasty brunch of sausage, bacon, mush, and eggs before opening our gifts. Griffin seemed to really enjoy everything and loved handing out gifts to everyone. He was an excellent helper.

Greta and Finn are enjoying some tea together, and exchanging some serious looks!
Kevin spent many hours setting up Dad’s new computer, transferring files, pictures, getting his email setup and so on. This image captures it all pretty well 🙂

And then he grabbed a cat-nap (er…dog nap?) before we headed back to Columbus to celebrate Christie’s birthday with a fabulous dinner prepared and hosted by the Ackermans. All of the kiddos opened their gifts too. Finn loved his glider soccer ball (I couldn’t get a non-fuzzy pic of him playing with it he was moving so fast) and his new tractor with farm animals!The next couple of days we laid low, relaxed at home, opened some gifts, and played with our new toys. And enjoyed lots of sweet treats (buckeyes in bed while watching sesame street!) – it is the holidays, right?! I basically lost my voice (or at least sounded ridiculous!) for a few days and Finn has had a runny nose off and on for a few days. We think he may be teething some as he has been more irritable then typical and he’s grabbing at his jaw and biting his fingers and playing with them in his mouth alot. But nothing poking through just yet. In any case, he certainly loves to play with his new “tools” and try to fix things. On Sunday we headed to celebrate the holidays with Kevin’s family. We enjoyed a nice lunch with the extended Armstrong family at Cookie and Steve’s. Griffin, however, preferred to play and didn’t eat 🙂 Here he is on the floor with Ora – they enjoyed kicking balls and running with balls for quite some time. And also a bit of fun while Finn played the part of bulldozer and kept plowing into Ora on the ground, albeit pretty gently. Then we headed to Brett and Missy’s to celebrate Christmas with them as well as Pat and Jim. I enjoyed far too many cookies while we all opened gifts together. And Griffin absolutely loved meeting and playing with Babou, Brett and Missy’s new dog. She’s a super cute 4 month old boxer/lab mix. Griffin giggled and ran around and received tons of wet kisses. On the way home he kept saying “Babou, nice doggie, bite” as Babou playfully nibbled at his fingers a couple times. It was cute to see him play with such an energetic pup. Sadly, we didn’t have our camera with us and I didn’t snap photos with my phone either – other than this one here, Grandma learning how to use Finn’s nerf gun that he received from Uncle Brett and Aunt Missy.