Saturday, January 7, 2012

Miscellaneous Info

Visitors!  December we were BLESSED with many visitors.  Of course, Scoot, our Elf on the Shelf, was here until Christmas day & Santa visited us on Christmas day, but we had real, live, human people in our home too!  Our first visitors were from PA.  The Horst family, Rich, Trudy, Dexter & Sheena, all made the trip here to TX to see us!  We were soooo excited to have them here.  Dan & I made the decision not to tell Eli & to surprise him at the airport.  So, on the 17th, Dan & Eli went to airport to pick them up.  I was at home because it just so happened to be the same evening we were hosting the main course for our church's youth group progressive dinner.  Eli was so excited when he saw them.  It was ironic, because Eli had been talking about Dexter prior to them coming & then...here he was in the flesh.  In any case, when they got here, Sis. Trudy immediately started helping us & within minutes of them being here, the youth started coming for the lasagna.  So...we had about 40-50 people in our home for about an hour.  It was fun, but I'm sure overwhelming for our guests.  (LOL)  While the Horst family was here, we had tons of fun.  Eli thoroughly enjoyed playing with all of them, Dan took them to the Holocaust Museum in Houston, we walked through some of our downtown "Memorial Hermann" area.  We enjoyed  great weather & loved our time together.  We visited NASA, Festival of Lights in Galveston, Rain Forest Cafe and just had fun relaxing at home.  It was so nice to have a great time together. Thank you to Rich, Trudy, Dexter & Sheena for visiting us.  Eli is asking when you are returning!  :-)

 Dexter, Eli & Sheena

Sis. Trudy, Eli & Bro. Rich (Up, Up)

Then, on Dec 30th, one of my childhood friends came to visit!  Shawna Zoladz.  Oh & wow, did we have fun.  This visit was more of a girl time trip, but we enjoyed family time too.  Shawna & I had so much fun shopping, playing games, brought in the new year and just had fun laughing. We enjoyed talking about the memories of times past & looking forward to lots of memories to be made.  Shawna, your visit was wonderful.  I am so thankful that you took the time to come & I'm looking forward to many more moments with you!

Shawna, Eli & Kylie

So, Nov & Dec also brought lots of fun on the family front.  Dan has still been working in the Houston area and he had a week off in Dec for us to enjoy time together.  We enjoyed time at Santa's Wonderland & purely enjoyed our time as a family. 

Elijah has been growing faster than I can keep up with in EVERY way.  One thing we did while on vacation was that we all had eye exams.  Turns out, our little man needed glasses.  I'm so thankful that we took him & he has been trying to get used to them.  Some days he does great wearing them & other days, well, not so much.  All in all, it is a new change that we are all getting used to.  Christmas was wonderful & Eli enjoyed each gift he received.  We had a great time watching him open & play with his new toys.  He was kept busy all day and continues to play with most of them.  Of course, at this point, he can't wait for Christmas to be here again & keeps asking if it is time for Santa to come.  Just through the eyes of a child.  Otherwise, Eli is doing well.  Being a normal kid, pushing limits, pushing buttons & mostly pushing mommy.  We are learning new ways to discipline and keeping the little active child busy.  I am hoping it will help me too.  We continue to be blessed with our little man.

Dan...as I mentioned earlier he has been working in Houston still.  We are thankful for this, but on the other hand, we are needing him to get some over time.  I know that ultimately God will take care of us.  So, in the meantime, he has been able to get some things accomplished around the house.  He is preparing a spot in our backyard to plant a garden.  One thing we missed last year was fresh produce.  So, we decided it is time.  I'm not sure how I feel about this when he goes away & I am left to weed it, but...we will give it a try.  Dan has also been enjoying his time home with Eli.  We have together, been facing the challenges head on & learning this path.  I am thankful for that.

Me...well, I am me.  I have LOTS to work on this year, including getting the weight that I put back on my body OFF.  It is a life long struggle for me, I know, but I know I am getting it off.  I am so blessed with a wonderful lady in my life who is going to work with me through this challenge!  I have been hanging out with my dear friend Julie & her kids so that Eli can have play dates & we have gotten to know our neighbor really well.  Angie joins us most evenings for dinner & it is great.  She took me to see the Nutcracker this year & it was my first time. I LOVED it!  Eli loves having Angie here & she has a Shih-Tzu as well, so Patches hangs out with us too & Kylie loves driving her nuts.  All in all, I'm having fun.  I'm living life.  I'm me. :)

One final thing...we made a big family decision...I will be homeschooling Elijah next year.  Yup.  Homeschooling.  Dan & I have been praying about this & struggling with what avenue to take & as a family we have decided to take this step.  I know this is going to come as a shock to some of you, but I appreciate your prayers as we enjoy this next phase in our life.  We will be joining an amazing support group system here & have many friends at our church that home school as well.  So, Lord willing, Eli will begin Kindergarten in the fall. I'm sure we will chat more about this in the coming months. 

Until next time...Happy 2012!