Staying at home....

I think I could get used to this staying home business. We had a "cold" day today so no school, and Em and I got to hang out all day long and it was fabulous! She took 2 wonderful naps, I got quite a bit of cleaning done, and we got to play and read and listen to music and it has been great. I think I could do this everyday :) Lucky me--another cold day tomorrow and the MLK day Monday--Tuesday is going to be a really hard day!

More Christmas Pics

Well Emily's 1st Christmas is over...and boy did she make out nicely! We had Christmas with the Hilmans, Christmas with the Leaders and Christmas with the Kingmas. It was quite a month. Christmas with the Hilmans is in the previous post--here is Christmas with the Leaders and Kingmas.




Helping Daddy open a present at the Kingmas.



Her new American Girl doll---she was sooo excited and loves carrying her baby around.




Opening presents on Christmas Eve after church.




Chuck, Sarah and Emily after Christmas Eve service.

The promised pictures....

Here is a sampling of the last month in pictures...



Emily hanging out at O'Hare on our way to Nashville.



Yummy Thanksgiving dinner!



Thanksgiving with the Kingma's playing under the table with cousin Camden.



Helping to decorate the tree. We have learned that real is definitely the way to go--she very much leaves the prickly branches alone.



Emily opening her 1st Christmas present--she looks much more into it than she really was.



Emily meeting Santa for the 1st time.

These Hands....

Way back in July, Aunt J sent Mar and I this neat e-mail, that we decided would be a really cool thing to personal for our mom and gmas for Christmas. Well it is 2 days before Christmas and it is done :) It has been made so much more meaningful with gma Leader's passing a couple of weeks ago--a great memory to remember her by!

These hands.....
These Hands…
Helped me, as an infant, explore the new world before me
Braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor
As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer
Hold hope for a life barely begun
Are decorated with wedding bands as an expression of love for someone special
Were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold a newborn baby
Clapped with joy as children reached new milestones
Supported those same children as they grew to leave their own mark on the world
Hold children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren
Cooked meals to bring family and friends together to the table
Bless marriages and baptize babies
Teach and guide young children
Have been the comforting touch in a painful world
Provide an education to the pushed aside and forgotten
Expressed the thoughts of the heart through words of letters written
Have soothed, consoled, and healed the sick
Trembled and shook when they buried loved ones
Consoled neighbors and friends in times of need
Traveled the world and reached out to change lives
Sew tapestries in an artistic expression of love
Put food in my mouth and clothes on my back
Shook in fists of anger when I didn’t understand
Covered my face in times of fear and doubt
Have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bruised
On the days when not much of anything else works real well, hold me up, lay me down and again continue to fold in prayer
Are the marks of where I’ve been and the ruggedness of life
Have changed the world
These hands represent 287 years and hold stories of the past, experiences of the present and hope of the future.





The hands in the picture include Martha, me, our mom, our grandma Leader, our grandma Kingma and Emily....

Wow..am I behind

I've been a lousy blogger lately--life has been busy and I just haven't had time. That and there hasn't been a whole lot of excitement to blog about, and what excitement there has been I'd like to use pictures and they aren't on my computer yet. Yes I am full of excuses :)
Here's the cliff notes version--and hopefully there will be pictures to accompany it next week when I'm done with school.

Emily's 1st Thanksgiving at Aunt Hildy's--great time was had by all

We set up the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations

Gma Leader (my gma, Emily's great gma) passed away after a wonderful 96 years of life. Emily has been very fortunate to spend at least a day a week with her since my mom started babysitting in August. It was always a dream of mine for my children to meet their gma Leader, so we were very blessed that Em got to spend as much time with her as she did.

Emily has figured out how to stand up by herself without holding on to anything and is very proud of this accomplishment.

Emily had her 1st Christmas with the Hilman side of the family and had a fabulous time being passed around to everyone all day long--and got some fabulous presents!

We bought new, grown up living room furniture--that I can't wait to get delivered!! No more slits in the couches and missing cushion stuffing!!!

That's it for now--Christmas break starts Friday at 3:15--and we will have 2 weeks of no work :)

That's it for now--I promise to get pictures up soon!!

Nashville....

Emily has successfully made it to Nashville for the 1st time :) It was slightly dramatic getting here however. Thursday morning she woke up pretty snotty--the past 2 times she has been snotty it has been followed by ear infection, and I didn't really want a repeat of Ohio--so I asked my mom to take her in and get her checked before we left Thurs. afternoon. She seemed to feel fine--and I wasn't concerned--but wanted to play it safe. Mom got her in 1st thing and low and behold--not 1 but 2 ear infections!! Icko. The dr. was hesitant to let us even fly--but decided to let us go with lots of precautions and warnings about ruptured ear drums and such. She gave us a new antibiotic after the amoxiciallan reaction last time and a numbing ear drop to numb her before flying. So we're off--Em and I make it to the airport with plenty of time to hang out in the terminal--especially since our flight ended up delayed almost 30 min. Emily was perfectly content crawling around the terminal making new friends. We load the teeny tiny plane and get situated, and start down the runway. I pull out the bottle to get through take-off--she's eating and then the plane stops, and Em finishes the bottle. And then the pilot comes on to say that we are delayed at least 20 min. Woohoo--Em is squirmy wormy but we make do until we finally take-off and start bottle #2. We get up and Em falls asleep before finishing the bottle. She sleeps until we touch down in Chicago--no problem :) Delayed again in Chicago--but our friend Michelle was there--so we hung out with her until plane 2. Flight 2 uneventful--she falls asleep at the beginning of the descent to Nashville and sleeps until we get into the terminal. Chuck picks us up and off to the hotel.
Oh yeah--have I mentioned that the hotel had been telling Chuck all day that they were out of cribs, but working on finding us one. When we got there at 9:30 they still hadn't found one--so I went to the front desk with Em to ask about it. I was told that we were on a waiting list--but not to expect anything, so I simply asked what he suggested I do with Emily that night. He said hang on-made a phone call--and by golly--found us a crib.....hmmm.....
Em's 1st's this weekend--
1st plane trip
1st trip to Nashville
1st hotel stay
1st David Crowder concert (totally not impressed and almost fell asleep)
1st breakfast with Marko (one of the super high ups at YS)
We'll update more when we get back--hopefully with pictures!

Sleep??

Apparently Em has decided she's been too easy on us for 9 months and is now making us work a little harder. She didn't nap more than 1 1/2 hours yesterday--and then decided to stay up till 11 p.m. Ok--great--but then she woke up at 5:30 this morning--far too early!! Fortunately Chuck was able to give her a bottle and she went back to sleep--however by that point it was silly for me to go back to sleep--so I'm up for the duration. Maybe I'll be productive and get bottles washed before work??