From Mentor to Coach

Hey, Mom, do you mind?
I'm trying to give Matty some helpful pointers.



O.K., Buddy, this is how it goes...



Come on, Matty, this is serious stuff!



Got it?
Now, you just watch and learn!



Hand...knee...hand...knee...



That's all there is to crawling!



Now you try!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

It's been a Christmas tradition since Carrie and William were small.

Grandma Atkinson prepares bags with individually wrapped gifts inside for each of the kids. The gifts are labeled with the numbers 1-12. Each day the kids get to unwrap a gift with the last gift being unwrapped on Christmas Day.



Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Brian came over Sunday evening to deliver the bags so that the kids could open their first gift of the season--Christmas ornaments!

You know, little kids wake up earlier than big kids, so on Monday morning, Josh just sat looking at his second gift while waiting patiently for Carrie and William to get up.



Matthew had no idea what was going on. He was just happy to have something new to put in his mouth.



Look at these neat little bottles of Coke! Aren't they cute?

Matthew didn't get Coke. He got some Apple Juice that he drank for breakfast.

No...I didn't let the kids drink their Cokes for breakfast--I made them wait until after they ate their breakfast. :)

I won't even tell you when I let them eat their Day #4 chocolates.

It's Christmas, right?



Once again, a Christmas tradition that Joshua doesn't remember from last year, but boy is he catching on. It's only Day #5 and he knows that you must get up early AND wake everyone else up in order to open your gift.

I guess I could let him open his gift as soon as he wakes up, but it's just so much more fun to have them all open them together. And, the gifts are usually all the same or similar, so there's no way that Carrie and William would ever be surprised if I let Josh open his first.



Thank you, Grandma, for this very special Christmas tradition.
I can only guess how time consuming this must be--not only the shopping, but individually wrapping and labeling each gift.
Wow!
A great example of the sacrificial love that God has for us.

Mentoring at Its Best

Little Brother who needs the answers...



Big Brother who has all the answers...



The mentoring session went something like this...

"Matty, you are a son."
"I am a son."
"You are a boy."
"I am a boy."
"A son is a boy."



"Daddy is a son."
"Grampa is a son."



"Boys are sons."



Now class, time for review.
What are boys?

Christmas Fun Has Begun

It seems that every December there is an event that kicks off Christmas for us--anyway in my mind there is. For me, it's usually a different event every year that signals the start of the Christmas festivities.

This year, going up to my dad's house seemed to start it off for me. Maybe because of all the Christmas baking we did. Or maybe it was the shopping.

I think, though, that it may have been Joshua's anticipation. He's 3 this Christmas, so I don't really think that he has much memory of last Christmas. Everything is new to him again this year--and there is so much more recognition of what we're doing.

In other words, he's really "getting it."

So, here is a rundown of our weekend up north.

It began with the car ride. As the kids get older, the car rides become more bearable--and might I say...enjoyable! We haven't driven this far with Matthew yet because he really hasn't been a very good car rider.

To our relief, he is now...

and so is William.



Here's a picture of Paul, Matthew, Carrie, and Gilda waiting for the official "GO" to pass out the presents.



Then, of course, comes play time!




With a little teasing thrown in.



And what would a picture of Paul be without his infamous bunny ears?



Joshua has just gotten caught with his hand in Matthew's Gerber Puffs. The Banana Puffs are not safe when Joshua is around!


And the lighting of the candles.

That's my dad's younger brother sitting next to him...my Uncle Rick. I have to throw in the "younger" because Uncle Rick makes sure that he includes that whenever he can. He is said to resemble Kenny Rogers, the older version of Michael McDonald and Santa Claus.

I would say that he probably is most like Santa. In fact, I was talking to him on the phone one evening last week, giving him Christmas ideas for the kids, when Josh came up and sat beside me. I told him that he should go to the other room, but he said, "No." Immediately Uncle Rick said, "Tell him that you're talking to Santa and that he should be a good boy and listen to his mommy." I told him that and very quickly he sat up straight and stopped talking. I handed the phone to Josh and Uncle Rick gave the most impressive "Ho! Ho! Ho!" that I've ever heard. Josh talked to him for a minute and then ran into the family room.



I think Dad looks pretty dog-gone good!
Dog-gone. There's that word again. I think I tried to use it once before and wasn't sure how to spell it. Oh well.

Gilda put the candles away to be used on Dad's 86th birthday! :)
Of course, we couldn't just leave it at that. The big kids had to figure out that Paul and I would be 58 years old then.
Thanks.




And, of course, a little rest and relaxation!
Much needed after all that excitement.
And eating.

I didn't even get any pictures of the wonderful hometown Wooden Peel pizza that we look forward to when we visit!

It's the best pizza ever--owned by a local family and passed down to the next generation. It's right downtown by one of only two stoplights in town and made it a great place to hang out after high school football games. Many of my teenage memories include the Wooden Peel.



And what would Christmas be without a few Christmas memories.

This is the angel that was on top of our Christmas tree when I was a kid. Dad even decorates the tree with the same kind of big lights (although probably much more advanced) that we had when I was growing up. I think the ones that we used were called "Cool Brights" because just when a bulb would get really, really hot, it would shut off. These don't do that, but they look like the same kind.

I can't look at that Christmas angel without thinking of Mom. This was our 16th Christmas without her, but when Christmas comes, the memories and Christmas traditions I follow make her seem very near.



We ended our stay with a drive out into the country to see my Grandpa's farmland. He died in May of 2006 and the land was auctioned off at the end of that summer to his Amish neighbors and friends.

So really, the land is no longer Grandma and Grandpa Bellman's. The house that I remember has been taken down and replaced with a very big--and I say typical--Amish home. I'm happy about that. It is beautiful, and I'm sure that they will be able to do some of the repair to the farm that Grandpa couldn't keep up with anymore.



A quick apology to my brother Rob. He was there! Honest. I just think he must be a really good camera-dodger!

You just wait. I'll get you when you come down here for Christmas!

Great Expectations

Surely, I'm not the only one who over-plans.

O.K. I won't call you Surely.
Sorry, that's one of Paul's favorite chuckles.

It happens every time we plan to visit our family up north. I have all these things that I want to prepare, do, and get done before we go. There are goodies to prepare, there is Christmas and birthday shopping, laundry and packing to do, and the house-cleaning to get done.

On top of that, I make the off-handed comment that I'd like for us to be loaded and everyone in the truck by 10:00 AM.

Ya, right.
Does that EVER happen?
You know the answer.

It's now 7:00 AM.
Here's when I got up this morning in order to be ready to go...



Isn't that dumb?
I know that now. And I'll be feeling it later.

Well...so what's left?

Laundry?
Check!



Groceries?
Check!



Party Mix?
Check!



Carrie's yummy peanut butter fudge?
Check!



Christmas cookies?
Check!
Remind me to tell you all about making Christmas cookies this year.
These kids just keep on providing me with blogging material.



Dad's birthday cake?
Check!
By the way, did I mention that he will be 68 on December 17th?
And did I also mention that I double the batch of frosting for the cake so that it is nice and thick--and so that I can have the left-over that doesn't fit on the cake.
Yep. I learned that trick long ago.
I also learned to get up early to make the cake so that I don't have to share the left-over frosting.
Sorry kids. The early bird gets the worm.



Prepare and wrap Christmas and birthday presents?
Almost check!



A cup of coffee for me?
Check! Check! Check!
You can't blame me can you?



My sweetheart?
Not quite yet...but he's coming!



And most important?
A smile?
Check!

A Nativity Story

This is Joshua.



This is our Nativity.



Our Nativity was a gift from my cousin Stephanie and her husband Len several years ago. Len made the stable, and they started us out by giving us Joseph, Mary, and the Baby Jesus.

Stephanie wanted us to have this particular set because she remembered having them when she was growing up. What she loved about them was that they are very durable--which is important when you have young children. She remembered her little brother, Jon, hauling around the Baby Jesus in the backs of his toy trucks.

Through the years we have added a piece or two every year. One year the kids had lines in a play about a donkey and an ox. That year we bought the donkey and the ox. One year Carrie was an angel, so we added the angel.

In the past, I've always put the Nativity down on the floor where the kids can get to it to play with. But this year, I put it up on the table, thinking that it would be easier to see and get at--especially for Joshua.

Boy, was I ever right!

This year the Nativity has taken on a personality all its own.

Josh and I read a story about a crippled lamb named Joshua and an old cow named Abigail--you can see them standing behind the manger.

There is also a tall white duck that Joshua appropriately calls "Aflac" (located to the right of "Jophes").

And of course, there is "Baby Jejus."

I'm the mommy sheep over to the right standing behind the shepherd. Paul is the daddy sheep beside the shepherd.

And of course, what would a "barn" and the Holy Family be without their Hot Wheels?



And wouldn't it have been much more sensible for the Wise Men to just hitch a ride on the back of a Tonka tow truck?



Hey! Since the tow truck is already parked in front of the "barn," why not give the "Baby Jejus" a little slide down the back?

"Wheeeeee!"



Please don't think we're being sacrilegious.
Joshua is honestly learning the real, true meaning of Christmas.

And we can't help but enjoy the fun he's having.

Oh, and Steph, if you're reading this...you were right!
This set is extremely durable!

Date Night

Another date night has come and gone.
This time it was with William. This was our very first official "date night." We weren't sure what else to call it. Carrie and I had our GNO (Girls' Night Out). I guess we could get creative and think of a name for it, but we just called it our "date night."

We went round and round about where we would go. We would almost have it decided upon, and then I would say, "Or we could try..." That would send William thinking again.

Finally we decided upon Donatos. We've ordered their pizza a lot, but we've never gone into the restaurant to eat. We had lots of fun.

Isn't he a good-lookin' guy? I love those dimples! He's had them since day one.



If I'm looking a little peaked, it's because this was the first week that I was feeling better after having that dog-gone (I've never written that word--is it right?) stomach virus. I think William and I had to postpone our date night twice because of it. This made it a very anticipated event.



Here's a picture of William trying out our pepperoni pizza. Yummy!



And here's the shelf that hung over his side of the booth. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the jar of olive oil is very, very close to the edge.

Yikes!



After having dinner, we went to Wal-Mart--it's one of our favorite places. We did a little Christmas shopping.

I don't know why I didn't take any pictures at Wal-Mart. I guess we were just too serious about our shopping to stop and take any pictures.

I think that we all would say that the parent-child date night has been a really good thing. Paul and I even decided to get ourselves into the rotation. We went out and saw "Fireproof" a couple of weeks ago. Paul and Joshua have a date night next week--that will mean that we've all had a turn- and then we will take a Christmas vacation.

Christmas!
How many days did you say it is until Christmas?

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Don't you just love this time of year?!

What a great chance to get some really fun pictures.

This post is for my dad who has been waiting patiently for me to add something new to my blog. How could I disappoint him? After surviving for nearly 67 years without a computer, he has learned in the last year how to log onto my blog and visit his grandchildren in cyberspace. This is super-rewarding to me. It was with this purpose in mind that I started this blog.

I want to thank my friend Sheryl for these pictures. Our kids were having fun at a Christmas party on Friday when her son received a Santa Mr. Potato Head in the White Elephant gift exchange. As you can see, Josh and Matty had some fun with the beard and mouth.



Well...maybe not so much Matty, but Josh did.



Hard to believe that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away now.

November vaporized for me. I have not much recollection of the month at all--save Thanksgiving Day and the yummy food.

Matthew is calling..."Mamamamamamamama!"
I love it!