Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Day... a Snow Day... and a Birthday!

We've been having a lot of fun around here, including a ukelele and guitar jam session (Claudia joined in the fun), and a daddy-daughter dance festival listening to the old LP's on the newly hooked up record player...
We had two snow storms right in a row this past weekend, and it made for some great sledding at the local Middle School. Sarah had a great time... until the inevitable snow sled/tube pile-up, and then the fun was pretty much over.
I just came inside from shoveling the last of the snowplow snow from the end of our driveway after the Nor'easter came through and dumped 16+ inches of snow on us last night. Our mailbox is almost completely buried in snow, and apparently a Nor'easter can stop the postal service (though not wind nor sleet nor dark of night can) because the mail carrier never came today - mostly because he wouldn't have been able to get to any of the mail boxes. School has been cancelled again tomorrow due to the slow road clean up - it is really a mess out there.
I have to say, though, that I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the snow plow drivers that have come by in the past few days... twice they stopped and made an extra effort to clear the end of my driveway as best they could. I imagine they felt sorry for me (a little old lady) out shoveling our huge driveway with our one tiny show shovel. Thanks Snowplow drivers!
On Monday, Sarah turned six! I can't believe she is so old. We are planning her (un) Birthday party for next weekend, but for her actual Birthday, we hosted the missionaries for dinner, and it was providential, because it turns out that one of the Elders had a Birthday on Sunday, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to both of them and they both blew out the candles. Sarah loved having the Elders here for her Birthday dinner, and was so excited all day long.
Happy Birthday Beautiful!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Merry Christmas...

We had a Holly Jolly Christmas complete with fresh carrots from the garden, homemade Polish noodles and pork chops made from Tim's Grandmom's recipe, a brisk Christmas Eve walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the luminaries, Christmas Eve pajamas, a makeshift re-enactment of the Nativity, and presents from Santa... who could ask for anything more?

Friday, December 24, 2010

Fageddi Pudding...

... on this Christmas Eve, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas...


We have been busy this December... making a special pop-up card for Daddy...

...decorating our sad Christmas tree that we dug up from the front yard...

...eating the delicious Tschudin Chocolates that Tim gave me for my birthday...

...and singing with the ECSC for our Holiday concert.
December has been wonderful so far, and we are all excited to celebrate Christmas tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Oh Frabjous Day!

Today, we appeared before a judge who declared our adoption of Claudia 'approved'. And, so, everything is final and we get to keep her forever! 'Callooh, Callay!' This is a huge step in the whole process, and we are glad that it is finally done.
In other November news, we started off the month with a trip to Chicago to help celebrate the wedding of Tim's brother, Alex, and his new bride Monika. It was the first time in five years that the whole family was together, so we made the most of it by spending lots of time together at the hotel pool, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Kohl Children's Museum. And a great time was had by all!
Sarah attended a delightful birthday party for her friend Vicki and even got to ride on a real live Unicorn! (Sarah claims it was just a horse wearing a hat, but it looked real to me)!
We were also greatly blessed to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in State College, PA at my brother Tyler's house. My brother, Geoff, and his family were also there from Ohio, as well as Jamie's brother and his family from DC. We had a wonderful time eating, bowling, and playing with so many cousins. Thanks Tyler and Jamie!!!!
All in all, we had a wonderful November!