With time for one more stop

Since we flew in/out of Durham for our flight to Chicago, we had a two night stopover with the Durham Hawkins. It was wonderful to see how much Caitlin is growing and learning!! She's even doing "army crawl" now, so watch out - if she sees something nearby, she can make her way to it pretty quickly. Isn't she cute in her little floral bandana bib?

Don't get any ideas, Uncle Pete. We're Carolina Blue in this house!!

Since we were still in the 12 days of Christmas, we even had an afternoon to open stockings and exchange a few presents. It's very important to get Nutella in one's stocking. And in general to litter the living room with ribbons and papers and happy sounds.

And then the cousins came

We were SO glad that the Brink cousins came up from St Louis (after they spent Christmas with their family in Memphis) for the last two nights of our visit. We parents enjoyed seeing how much the cousins loved playing together, usually involving chasing, squealing, Legos and stuffed animals. And it was good for us adults to talk about life over the last year and what may be coming for 2018... with uncertainty for both of our families. Somehow we try to hold to hope and not worry about what is two or three steps ahead - but just take the challenges and process one thing at a time. (Sadly we didn't get a good family photo of everyone this time!! Argh!)

Nonna with Millie, Hawk and Elsie

Jim and Granddad took the oldest three over the the campus gym for a 'game' of soccer and run around the track. Boy it's cold out there!!! So glad we have a gym we can go to!

a fun morning at the Lego play-place

On our last afternoon some new snow began falling and everyone rushed out to play before it got dark. Perfect end to our trip!

Mattias did pretty well shoveling, too!

Christmas - in which all the adults...

...get their photo taken with the cute baby in striped pajamas!

And meanwhile the older two had a wonderful Christmas Day getting ALL the attention from their grandparents.

new re-usable sticker books!

 

After stockings, cinnamon rolls, presents, Christmas books, and more playtime with GI Joes, everyone was ready for some quiet.

Christmastime!

Christmas in Wheaton with Granddad and Nonna - what a wonderful time we had! It was our first Christmas there since Mattias was a baby (yes, that makes 4 Christmas visits where each of our 4 babies had their first Christmas there, so I think we know what to expect now with babies and Christmas celebrations...). One of the highlights was the beautiful snowfall we had on Christmas Eve, which was on Sunday. We were the only siblings/cousins in the house for Christmas this time (until the Brink cousins came for two nights at the end of our stay).

Of course Mom decorated the house so lovely  - every room of the house and even the bathrooms had cute Christmas decor and lights. The only exception was that she saved the tree until we arrived so we could decorate it with the boys. They loved going through the boxes and hanging up the ornaments. You could certainly spy which sections of the tree (at about knee level for the adults) had been thoroughly decorated by Timo and Mattias.

Most of the 9 days that we were in town were VERY cold (single digits temps) but thankfully Nonna pulled out lots of toys from the attic, so the boys stayed happy and busy indoors with the toy kitchen, micro machines, cars, old GI Joes and tanks, army figurines, muscle men, and lots of books. The first day, Timo kept repeating, "I'm so happy, I'm so happy" as he pulled out army guys and cars.

Mattias loved the kitchen and insisted on wearing the chef hat and serving us food on little plates and cups

Look who is sitting so well and pulling toys out of the box!

the GI Joes from Jim and Steve's childhood were a HIT (thank you, Mom, for saving these for 30 years!)

On Christmas Eve we went to the morning service at church, and then played outside in the snow. (Well, more accurately, the men played/worked outside; I went out for 5 minutes and then hurried back in for another cup of coffee.) Thankfully some friends loaned the boys snowpants and boots! What a peaceful, beautiful morning.

Timo shoveled snow with SUCH enjoyment! He worked for quite a while and pretty thoroughly cleared the sidewalk in the front and along the street. Later he told me, "See, I can do that now. You know why I'm so strong? Because I eat all the food you give me."

Church children's Christmas program

Sunday afternoon was the children's program of songs and verses at First Pres. The kids from age 5+ have been practicing on Sunday mornings with [children's director] Miss Courtney for about 6 weeks. This was Timo's first time to participate in a Christmas program in front of the church. And Mattias's first time to dress up as a shepherd! And baby Hawk, who hopefully as a shepherd will not scare away any of the sheep despite his nomenclature.

Jim and I were both smiling throughout the program because this church has unexpectedly become such a comfortable, welcoming, unassuming place for us since we started attending in the last few months. The boys are being cared for and are learning new things, particularly Timo - who had to practise some new confidence skills and get up in the front with the other kids. They performed one song on handbells and one song on 'tubes' (for lack of a proper musical term) and sung three Christmas hymns. After the handbells, Timo looked right at Jim and smiled and gave a thumbs-up. And the younger children all got to dress up as shepherds (boys) or angels (girls), thanks to a woman in the church who measured and sewed them all outfits.

Afterwards was a church potluck, with kids running around holding candy canes and adults chatting and all elbowing their way in to get one of the Baxley's chocolates from the dessert table (well, not really, but the Baxley's do have a chocolate shop in town and attend church here - and the chocolate is legitimately good).

Happy Christmas!

goofy boy who smiles at everyone!

Preparing for Christmas - Advent season

We all had a really fun time last weekend getting out the Christmas tree and decorations for the house. Surprisingly, Timo took the lead and was the most eager (and has since found very particular spots around the house where certain decorations are to be put; for example, yesterday he placed two stars in a new spot on a cabinet handle, and announced, "I'm going to put these here so they can remind us about baby Jesus whenever we look at them."). Though of course Mattias was also very excited to participate. It was fun to see him a year older and better able to handle the ornaments and take an interest in them. So far between us all we've only broken five ornaments. Not too bad.

A day or so before we had just found out that a rental house we were hoping for was taken by another rental (we were 2nd in line), so now that we know we aren't moving this month, it was time to get all the decorations out and enjoy them! True to years past, the boys have spent a lot of time every day since playing with the ornaments (particularly any figurines) and re-arranging decorations around the house.

"Another kiss from my big brother?!"

"Take  my picture with this snowman, Mommy."

Now he's ready to help open some boxes!

I didn't get a photo of these decorations, but we also put up our Advent garland (made by Jim's cousins, Wendy and Susie) with a miniature woolen mitten or hat for each day. This year I printed some verses to stick in them, and each day adds another part of the story of Jesus's birth. I also made two wreaths out of kudzu vine and greenery, and we have some candles on the table to light every Sunday for Advent. Now that we are attending First Presbyterian Church in Sylva, this is the first year in a long time that we've had an Advent wreath and more Christmas hymns during the Sunday services - and it's wonderful!! Also because now Timo is really paying attention in church, and this evening at supper he made sure we light our candles and had a great discussion about the meaning of the first two weeks.

Coming up in the next week we have a couple of Christmas parties with Jim's office and Timo's school, plus the kids' Christmas program at church next Sunday, and Timo's preschool program next Monday - so it's going to be a busy, festive time. And then next week we will be on our way to Wheaton for the break!

the next morning (hey, what are those pumpkins still doing over there?)

More Gieser fun

Yes, these Africans really were in Wheaton! How fun that we got to (very briefly) see Darlington & Hillary (in Wheaton to attend grad school for 2 years), and Mawethu & Lisa (on a road trip visiting friends).

SURPRISE!! Granddad had the most excellent idea to rent a bouncy house for 3 days - and thankfully their yard is big enough to hold it! The kids spent hours out there jumping, sliding, chasing, hiding, and even playing house in it. And then of course they all slept soundly at night after all that exercise.

Meanwhile, the dads could sit back and watch...

Fourth of July! Ready to head to the parade in their new red shirts and holding up Star Wars Pez candies from Nonna.

Whoever invented these new bouquet water balloons was brilliant! Hundreds of balloons fill up quickly and self-tie at the top, so every kid could have his/her own stash.

For supper on the 4th, Mom and Dad hosted all the extended family in town (cousins and 2nd cousins and aunt & uncle). It is so special to see them, especially since Jim grew up celebrating holidays with this extended family and now the next generation is getting to continue those relationships. I always wish we had more time to spend together!

We also had our family photos taken, but we don't have those back yet from the photographer to share. And of course there were other activities that we didn't get photos of, like: lunch and a visit on Wheaton campus; ladies shoe shopping trip; church; pizza night; walks around the neighborhood; and a trip to the Eye Clinic to pick out new glasses (it wouldn't be a Gieser reunion if someone wasn't getting their eyes checked!).

Thank you, Dad and Mom, for a wonderful reunion! Summertime at Granddad and Nonna's is the best!!