Twas the Weekend Before Christmas...

The weekend before Christmas seems so long ago yet it was just last week! Anyway, I have realized the secret to cleaning a house quickly and thoroughly before Christmas: have a home appraiser come. Jon has spent a couple weeks refinancing in hopes of a lower mortgage rate. This week called for the home appraisal so Jon and I woke up early to clean on Friday morning. Well, Jon woke up at 5:00 to clean and organize his shop, the basement, and then started on the upstairs. The appraiser comes and looks in all the rooms, closets, and outside. Reading up on what makes a good appraisal Jon really wanted to clean up and organize as much as possible. So I tried my best to tidy up my closet, room, and baby's room. I dusted and vacuumed after Jon left for work and waited around until he came back right before the appraiser. I then gave baby a bath before heading over to Mom's house to see what everyone was up to.
I realized that I needed to finish my Christmas shopping. When I arrived in Elverson Mom was already heading to the outlets and Katelyn, David, and Kelly were preparing to head out. Carly and Jonathan were staying back with the kids so I hung out and put Ellie down for a nap. Carly insisted that I could run to the grocery store while Ellie slept so I went out and came back and both Ellie and Clark had woken up so Carly and Jonathan had their hands full! Since I was in need of some Christmas presents Carly said it would be okay for me to head to the outlets with Ellie to pick up the gifts. Ellie sat patiently in her car seat for 2 1/2 hours as I drove, shopping, and dropped off everything at home. She is a doll.
For dinner Ellie and I headed home to meet up with Jon. We hadn't seen much of each other so I decided not to join the whole gang at Pops and Mimi's house for tacos and have dinner just the three of us. After dinner Jon invited the brothers-in-law and Omar over to play FIFA and I went over to Mimi and Pop's house to hang out with the kids and siblings. By the time I arrived the bedtime routine was starting so we really didn't do anything exciting before I headed home for the night.

Saturday morning we had a play date with some of our cousins and their kids at Mimi's. Holly and Kristen came with their kids along with the seven grandchildren made for quite a party. Mimi supplied us with hot tea, cookies, and fruit and we hung around all morning hearing about what has been going on in each others lives. I stayed around until dinner time when I headed home. Jon and I had dinner and I'm not sure what else we did. Basically I should write the blog sooner so I can remember what happened.

Sunday morning I had to be at church at 7:45 to rehearse with the orchestra for Sunday's service as well as for Christmas Eve. The choir then practiced, too. On Sunday's Jon really steps up and helps me get out the door. First, he helps wake me up (somehow an alarm just doesn't cut it). Then, he makes pancakes for breakfast. Lastly, he comes with me to church and drops me off at the door. Usually he doesn't even need to be there until church begins but this week he had to be there at 8:00, which worked out well. While I rehearsed with the orchestra he brought baby in and kept her entertained.
While we rehearsed with the choir I laid Ellie on the stage near my feet while we sang. She did very well until the last note of the last song when she started wailing. It gave everyone a good laugh.
After church was over the Canche's invited us over for pizza for lunch. Thank you, Canche's! It was great to not have to worry about preparing lunch since we had an evening of fun to focus on. Heading home after lunch Jon and I spent some time rehearsing his trombone piece for the program and I made spinach artichoke dip. We went back to Mom and Dad's at 5:00 for the concert where we ate lots of food, watched numerous musical acts, and opened gifts from Linda. Although Ellie did not sleep through the program in a bed she was content to hang out in Jon's arms. She likes to be a part of the action! We didn't get home until late and I didn't even stick around to clean up! Sorry, Mimi.


I know a picture-less post is a boring post but I feel as though I'll never catch up with the blog if I spend time on pictures! If I write about two or three days each night I should be caught up by the end of this week...no promises. Check out Carly and Katelyn's blogs for any pictures. Basically mine would be the same from a different angle.

Ellie's Cousins Come to Town & Happy Birthday, Aunt Katelyn!

On Wednesday we did not have Precepts so we took our time waking up and starting the day. I had two piano lessons to teach and one Christmas gift to make. I still have plans for making gifts for the little girls but I think they may just have to wait until birthdays. We will see.
I will just breeze over the laundry and cleaning and dinner because in the afternoon the Canche family arrived in Elverson. I was teaching lessons and Ellie went to sleep right as they were arriving and slept until after dinner, so we did not get to see them until 7:00. Jon was hosting prayer group so Ellie and I went to Mimi and Pop's just as the first person arrived at our house. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Haley and Emily and here are a few pictures we took of the "twins."

Baby Fest

After the Men's Prayer Group was over Ellie and I hung out with Jon for a bit before bedtime. Jon thought it'd be best to do a bit of crawling practice. Ellie just seemed confused.

Crawling practice with Daddy

TODAY was another slow start but unintentionally so. I wrapped Katelyn's birthday gift because today was her 27th birthday! David and Katelyn went out for breakfast so I did not feel super rushed getting over to Elverson. When we did arrive they were back and getting ready to head out to see The Hobbit. They took Emily with them but Haley hung around and eventually took a nap. Ellie and I also stayed in town besides at 1:00 when we picked up lunch for Jon at the deli and ate with him a late lunch since he had a long meeting from 11:00-1:00. Bad meeting time, in my opinion.
I went home to quickly throw together a green bean casserole for Katelyn's birthday dinner and when I went back to Mimi's the Brusts had arrived! Ellie was cranky in the car but seemed to enjoy being held by her Aunt Carly.

Cuddle time with Kelsey

Katelyn and David came back from the movie a little over an hour later so we all hung out trying to keep the chaos organized. Ellie had hardly slept all afternoon so I put her on Caleb's bed for a nap once it had gotten dark. She must have been tired because she fell right asleep and slept through dinner right until we had to leave for small group.
Josh and Jon arrived around 5:30 and dinner was served around 6:00. Mom made rice, chicken, and rolls and we all celebrated Katelyn's birthday. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for dessert which was a yummy chocolate mousse cake. Katelyn opened her presents and we left for Small Group, leaving Ellie behind with all the other cousins. Thank you all for watching her!
Katelyn has traveled far to see Ellie twice already! The first time was for Ellie's baptism in October and then now for Christmas. I suppose this trip technically isn't just for Ellie, but we won't tell baby that. Happy Birthday, Aunt Katelyn!

*Disclaimer* - I realize this is a pathetic post but I wanted to write a little bit and post pictures for Aunt Rin since I skipped yesterday!

Crying Baby Is Not Fun For Anyone!

Once again I stayed up late and Ellie woke up frequently - a bad habit for us both. Most of the times I could just pop her pacifier in but I still didn't wake up with Jon when he ate breakfast before work. We were up before 9:00 and we ate some breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen. I worked on addressing the Christmas cards and tried to plan ahead for meals and whatnot for the holiday. A slow day can be recognized when I cannot recall exactly what I did in the morning only ten hours later.
Ellie kept me on my toes when I put her down for her nap at 10:00 and she was still sleeping two hours later. Initially I was waiting for her to wake up to shower but I decided to risk her crying in order to be clean by the time Jon came home for lunch. We ate our leftover pork chops before Jon helped me get out the door because I had to be at Iron Mountains at 1:00.
Iron Mountains has moms come in to try out products. In this case I assembled a stroller and gave my opinion on the steps, directions, pictures with the directions, and general comments on the product. A lady from the office took care of Ellie so that I could focus on the task at hand. The woman, Kristy, said that she thinks Ellie is teething. Time will tell! The "job" took under an hour so we stopped in at Jon's office before heading back home.

Checking out his current project

At home I collected the Christmas cards to send and put Ellie down for a brief nap before we left for Elverson to teach Brooke her flute lesson. Aunt Carol watches Ellie when I bring her along and this week Ellie was not in a good mood. That baby just cried and cried. She was wailing so much that I ended up just holding her for the end of the lesson since she would calm down with me. I felt bad for Aunt Carol and hope it doesn't happen again. I dropped Brooke off at Linda Smith's to walk her dogs before heading over to Grandma and Grandpa's.
Grandma and Grandpa seemed excited to be able to watch Ellie while I was teaching my next lesson. Thinking ahead I brought a bottle since she had fussed during last week's lesson. Grandma and Grandpa said that she behaved well and Grandpa was holding her when I came in and she seemed so content! It's wonderful that she is able to spend time with her great grandparents. Before I left Grandma gave me two sticky buns for Jon and I to enjoy. Usually the people who watch the baby are treated, not the mother who left the baby!

Jon arrived home shortly after Ellie and I and we had leftovers from last night for dinner. Needing to be at his missions committee meeting early, Jon left at 6:15. While he was gone I started the laundry, made quiche, did the dishes, and worked on presents. Ellie went to bed before dinner and has only been up to eat twice since and didn't spend any time "playing." Either she's growing and will sleep a lot or I will have an early wake up call!

Ellieisms:
Ellie moves around a lot in her crib. This afternoon she was napping and suddenly started crying really hard and I went in and she had hit her head on her crib toy. When I had laid her down it was at least 10 inches away. From now on that toy will be at her feet when she sleeps.

A Foggy Day

After going to sleep late the last few nights and Ellie waking up a few times during the night, I was tired this morning and opted for sleeping in over eating breakfast with Jon. Ellie didn't wake up for the day until 9:30 and I had only woken up shortly before her. Sometimes it feels so good to sleep in! I know it won't be happening much longer so I will take advantage of my opportunities.
Kelly called in the morning telling us that we were invited to lunch at grandma's house. Before heading to Elverson Ellie and I prepared our crock pot dinner, cleaned the bathroom, finished clearing off the table from Donna's birthday dinner, and cleaned Ellie's room. I actually cleaned her room with the light on when I was trying to wake her up "naturally" to go for lunch. She didn't wake up so I went and practiced the piano until she began to stir.
Surprisingly it was still foggy at noon when we drove toward Elverson. A foggy, dreary day! Clark and Kelly had been at Grandma's house for an hour by the time we arrived. Ellie was in good spirits and was smiley and chatty. Setting out two different types of sugar cookies Grandma asked us to tell her which type was our favorite. Grandpa, Kelly, and I all voted for her traditional recipe. After Kelly and Clark went home Grandma offered to watch Ellie while I ran to Walmart to pick up a few items. Taking advantage of having an Ellie-free cart and stocked up on toilet paper and paper towels. It was great to run out quickly without baby. Grandma said I need to leave Ellie with her more often. Okay!
In the afternoon I spent some time catching up on emails and wrapping Jon's gifts. I also picked up the mail and our Christmas cards came in! Carly and Katelyn, you will probably be here before it makes it to you! Well, Katelyn most definitely.
I had my piano student at 5:00-5:30 and Caleb arrived right as the student left. I was behind in preparing dinner so Caleb graciously hung around while I started prepping the food. Mom and Dad came shortly after and Mom did a lot to help chop the peppers and tomatoes. I made Tomatillo chicken which is a Mexican dish that involves a bit of work since you construct basically your own burrito. Jon likes anything Mexican-ish and Caleb seemed to like it - so that worked! It was nice to hang out with everyone. We moved down to the family room in the basement and looked at a map of NYC since Caleb is going up there tomorrow. Hopefully we helped him out and didn't confuse him more as we all seemed to have different opinions on where to park, how to get into the city, etc.
After our company left (Mom wanted to go get a new cell phone at Verizon before the store closed) Jon spent time preparing for his meeting tomorrow and I started addressing the Christmas card envelopes.

Sorry for a picture-less post!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Ellie gave me a special treat Saturday morning when she woke up for the first time at 6:00 after going to sleep at 10:30. It was a wonderful treat! I actually celebrated by staying up and preparing breakfast and cleaning up the house a bit for my breakfast company. Catherine Baskin was in town for a wedding this weekend so I lined up a breakfast with Charlotte, Kelsey, Tara and Cat so we could all spend some time together and catch up. Kelsey and Charlotte brought their kids so there were five adults and three babies present. I made baked oatmeal, quiche, and had yogurt with fruit as well as coffee, tea, hot chocolate, orange juice, and peach juice (in honor of Corinne - holla!). Ellie went to sleep shortly after we took a few pictures of the babies hanging out.

breakfast. I know it's a pathetic picture but I didn't want to be too obvious

Ellie's might be that kid who ruins pictures with "funny" faces

They hung around until about noon. Fortunately it was a relatively easy cleanup so I did the dishes while Ellie napped then went took her and ran out to Target and the Reading Fairground Market for some ingredients for my Sunday dinner for Donna's birthday. We arrived home in time to make the mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, and start preparing the salad for Saturday night's Christmas party.
CEFC was hosting a Christmas party for the Vines and Branches sunday school and other people in that age group; singles and married couples college age up through their thirties. A ham was provided along with appetizers and various other things. We were told to come dressed up, with a side dish, and with a white elephant. Jon and I are not in the sunday school and therefore I wasn't quite sure of all the specifics but it was at Mom and Dad's house and was a lovely time. Mom's house is a great layout for parties. They had the dining room table fully extended as well as a folding table set up in the foyer and Mom and Dad still didn't have a spot to sit at - they sat in the family room. Ellie was a stinker and didn't want to miss out on the party. I tried to put her to sleep upstairs twice but she wouldn't have it. Plus, I didn't really want to spend my evening upstairs with a baby. I left her up there to hang out since she was just laying in her crib talking quietly to herself. She began to cry shortly into the white elephant game so Jon brought her down. Pops soon graciously took her and actually put her to sleep. He said that she took a long time to finally fall asleep because she would open her eyes every time someone downstairs would laugh or something that seemed exciting would happen. If I would have been thinking straight I would have used my cell phone as a noise machine but I can play the piano at home and she doesn't seem to mind. I suppose the key is that she is already asleep whenever I play.
We stayed until about 10:30 before heading home. Ellie had woken up so we thought it was time to leave. When we arrived home I spent almost two hours setting the table, cleaning up the kitchen, and making sure everything was ready for lunch after church.
Ellie, although she woke up a time or two when I popped her pacifier, slept another full night. After she  ate I went into the kitchen and made Donna's birthday cake - Too Much Chocolate Cake (Jon's choice, really). I went back to bed while it baked and Jon woke up to take a shower and I woke up after the cake was finished. Breakfast was easy because we ate leftovers from Saturday's breakfast and then I cleaned up the kitchen before we headed to church.
We were about 15 minutes late for church because I was running so late. When I walked past my Sunday school classroom I didn't see any empty seats so I took my time nursing Ellie and getting her to nursery. I never want to go into Sunday school late when the seats are full because a big deal is made with having to try to find another seat and making room. Katie Estes, who attends first service worship, came into the nursing room with Wyeth who was still trying to get over a cold and he was due for a nap. She couldn't keep him in the sermon since he was talking so I offered to hold him and get him to sleep so she could stay in the service. It really worked out and made me being late and not having room in Sunday school worth while.
After church we ran home and Jon fired up the grill while I threw the potatoes in the oven and put the corn on the stove. Peter and Brittany were also able to join us for lunch so there were eight of us. Ellie went to bed shortly after we arrived home and slept through dinner, dessert, and Doug, Donna, and Grandma's exit. They didn't see her at all! Peter and Omar hung around a bit longer to play a few rounds of FIFA so when Ellie woke up she helped me do the dishes. We left for choir practice on time but had to turn around because I forgot my flute and we had a rehearsal after choir practice for Christmas eve.
Instead of prayer meeting the elders held a meeting to talk about the building project. They are still just talking about the 1.5 million dollar project so we'll see if we ever can return to one service. Oh well. Ellie had an explosive diaper and I had left her diaper bag in the sanctuary but had a diaper so I cleaned her off and carried her in her blanket up for clean clothes. What a stinker.
Jon and I came home and ate some leftovers and then I utilized our Amazon Prime membership and watched Mission Impossible for the first time. Let's just say a lot of cassettes, large cellphones, and brief cases holding laptop computers were involved. If this post seems very jumbled and perhaps doesn't make much sense here or there, blame it on the movie. I'm not very good at watching while I type.

Ellie trying out the new paci again.
She didn't seem to care that it was different.

the table for Donna's birthday dinner 

Singing

Ellieisms:
The nursery volunteer after morning church told me Ellie was like a textbook baby. I left a bottle for her and said she likes to eat before she sleeps and apparently an hour later she gulped it down then fell asleep. I should never say she's a difficult baby because I agree with the nursery volunteer!

Clark Comes Over to Play

At the end of the year Jon always seems to have extra vacation days he needs to use up from work. This year is no exception. He decided to take a half day this afternoon. But first he started the day with his run in French Creek while I was woken up at 6:00 after Ellie slept seven and a half hours straight. She's growing up!
During the morning she seemed a bit off, though. She was harder for me to read and actually fussed once or twice for no obvious reason - quite untypical. But we survived. We spent some time dusting, sewing, and cleaning up. Jon came home and completed a list of tasks he had made up including mowing, putting lights on our outside tree, moving some boxes to the attic, and working on the trim in the bathroom.
Kelly was having company over this evening so I offered that she could drop Clark over here to hang out with me and Ellie in the afternoon. She decided that it would be nice to be baby free for a bit so he came over around 3:00. Clark was not happy when Kelly left so we took a walk down the basement up through the basement exterior steps back inside through the kitchen door. He stopped crying when we were in the basement watching Jon set up a fire in the fireplace.
Ellie had woken up right when Clark arrived so the three of us wrapped some gifts, watched cars drive by, and played with this random shoe car toy that was given to me. Clark was very pleasant and seemed comfortable walking all around. He took on the task of closing all of the doors in the house. He stayed busy! When Clark was helping me wrap gifts he never tried to unwrap them. I'm sure he doesn't remember unwrapping gifts ever and after Christmas he will know exactly what to do. Instead he worked on trying to write names on the gifts since he was watching me do that. We had a cookie and an apple as a snack. I actually started with the cookie and then decided to bring out the apple to help him forget about the cookies - didn't want to spoil his appetite. Ha. While we were eating Jon was in the kitchen and Clark kept a good three foot radius away from Jon. Josh came by on his way home from work to pick Clark up. The minute Clark saw his father he started crying. Don't try to pull the wool over our eyes, boy. We know you had fun.
I made a salad and wrapped two white elephant gifts for our activity this evening. Jon had asked his parents to watch Ellie while we went to a Christmas party at the house of Paul and Sarah Rus, who are in our small group. They had invited friends and family and we were the only friends from CEFC who could make it. They had made roast and egg noodles for dinner and everyone else brought sides or dessert. During the course of the evening Jon found out that her parents (he was talking to her mom) were missionaries in Mexico for 4 years and new the Pucketts. They were even sent by the same missions agency as Jon. Small world.
After the white elephant Jon called to check in on Ellie and we found out that she was having a hard night. So we said our goodbyes and heading over to relieve Nana, Poppop, and Omar. When we arrived she was crying in poor Omar's arms. Although she may not have seemed appreciative, I'm sure she loved hanging out in Elverson.

The kids hanging out.

Clark inspecting the vacuum. He was laying next to
it but I was too late with the camera.

Helping put on tape 

Writing names on the front of the gifts

Tummy time! 

Watching cars drive by

Watching her "TV"

Hanging out in the Bumbo

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

I apologize for my inconsistent blogging. Last night I wanted to go to bed at a decent hour so the blogging had to wait. So I will catch up now.
Wednesday was the usual routine with Precepts in the morning. I had to wake Ellie up and I was still 15 minutes late - the latest I have ever been. Mrs. Garner was out of town so Aunt Carol stepped up and taught us for our final study until the new year. Before the class began Jon was reading Ezekiel in his Bible reading plan and his comments did not make me very excited about studying the book but I have been pleasantly surprised on how much I have enjoyed the study. I was even tempted to grab Corinne's Bible geography book from her bedroom when I was up there the other day in order to have a better scope of the land. I held back.
Since I was in Elverson for the morning and needed to go grocery shopping in Morgantown Jon and I decided we should meet up for lunch. Precepts ends around 11:15 which was too early for Jon to take lunch (he said if he takes an early lunch the afternoon seems super long). Since I had some time to kill Ellie and I decided to do our grocery shopping before lunch. We arrived at Walmart around 11:40 and were walking to the car by 12:30. I was pleased since Ellie remained content in her seat the entire time and we even had a slow checkout lady.

Ellie surrounded by groceries.

Jon met us at AJ's and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch. Ellie was hungry by this point so I fed her the bit of bottle I had brought along to hold her off.

Looking at the pizza grease in disgust

 The two of us took the groceries home and I nursed before putting her down for a nap. Kelly offered to come by to watch her during Kaitlyn's piano lesson but her napping schedule was so off from our busy morning that she was set to sleep right through the piano lesson, which she did. I was surprised but pleased.
Between lessons I cleaned up the house and tried to plan out our weekend. We have a busy few days ahead of us so I wanted to make sure that I was prepared. Jon came home and we had spaghetti for dinner. He had signed up to host the men's prayer group so I pulled out the extra cookies from Monday night from the freezer after cleaning up the kitchen and headed to Bible Study.
This was also the last meeting for our evening Bible Study before January and Ellie decided to celebrate by staying awake the entire time. Peter was sick upstairs in his bed so I was hesitant to poke around to put Ellie to sleep in the cradle. I ended up trying to put her down but waited too long because she was overtired and did not want to go to sleep. If I time putting her down correctly she puts her head down and just sucks her pacifier until she falls asleep a few minutes later. This time she lifted her head up as far as she could over and over, dropping out her pacifier. After 15 minutes or so I brought her back downstairs and just held her. She was so very tired but she just didn't want to sleep. When we came home she went right to sleep once she was in her crib.

Today I had to make a meal for a family from our church who had a baby in September. Her due date was Christmas day so she was 3 months early and her son, Sammy, is still in the hospital. The husband works second shift and the mom spends most of the day at the hospital so they asked us to drop the meal off at 11:30. At least that's what the website said. I called her at 10:45 to see if that would work and she asked if I could come as soon as I could since she was about to leave for the hospital. I had called right as I was getting out of the shower so I quickly scrambled to get out the door. Fortunately Ellie was sleeping so my hands were free and I could focus on collecting the meal and getting ready to go. Waking Ellie up we drove the meal out and arrived around 11:15. We tried our best.
Since today was Mimi's birthday Kelly and I set up a lunch date with her at Cafe 110. We met there around 11:30 and enjoyed soup, salad, and a panini. Clark ate some crackers and fruit that Kelly brought along. Ellie sat in her car seat and just watched. We all split a large brownie with ice cream for dessert, including Clark. We didn't give him any until the end and he ate what was leftover. He couldn't see the plate because of the napkin holder so when Kelly stopped filling his fork he started hollering until Kelly gave him the plate and told him it was all gone. He really liked that brownie!
Ellie and I swung by the post office on our way home and then spent the afternoon hanging out at home. I finished one Christmas sewing project and started another. I realized that I need a few more materials and that I need to pick up the speed - I am not very quick with my sewing projects. Hopefully I will finish everything in time.
Jon came home and hung out with Ellie while I switched the laundry and then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Mom's birthday dinner. Grandma had ham, pineapple sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, lemon cheesecake pie, chocolate cake and ice cream for dinner. It was so delicious! Jon and I were grateful to have been invited and hung out until 9:30. I had put Ellie to sleep shortly after dinner began and we had to wake her up to go home. She was out! When we came home I put her back to sleep and then switched the laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. I feel as though I accomplish so much more in the evenings after Ellie is asleep for the night than I do during the day. Perhaps the motivation of going to bed is just what I need to be productive.

Ellieisms:
Ellie loves to smile! She was smiling after we woke her up to leave Grandma and Grandpa's as I changed her into her pajamas. I even got a decent picture of her on Grandma's lap smiling.

Our Christmas tree

Hanging out with Dad 

Great Grandma & Ellie

Ellie with the birthday girl 

Jon said we should take one without the bow. 

Look at that leg chub!

Christmas Cards

Monday was another rainy, dreary day. Winter is already getting old, in my opinion! Bring on the summer heat. In attempt to help winter pass by quickly, Ellie and I try to stay busy.
Jon went running and he said it was so foggy and dark that they had to run on the road instead of the pathways, even with the headlamp one of the men was wearing. I do not think I will ever be joining Jon on his morning runs. He made us some hot coffee and was off to work.
I had several cups of the tomato tortellini soup left over from Sunday lunch so I texted Mom and Kelly asking them to help me eat some of the leftovers. I then did some Bible study homework and finished up the dishes from our company. Kelly and Clark were first to arrive. Clark loves exploring and was happy when I left the nursery door open so he could go in and out freely. He kept himself well occupied. We prayed for our lunch and I took one bite before Ellie woke up. She is such a content baby so she just watched everyone eat from her perch on my lap. We spent some time discussing the Christmas program and other upcoming events as well as took a few pictures of Ellie for our Christmas card. Our company left around 1:30 so Ellie and I cleaned up the dishes and the house in anticipation for my piano students. My 3:30 student did not show up so when Ellie woke up around 4:00 I took a few more shots for the Christmas card. I have found that it is hard to take pictures of babies! Flattering angles are few and far between.
My 5:00 lesson came and I had just laid Ellie down for a nap as they were walking up to the door. I told Brenda that Ellie should sleep (even though she had only been awake an hour) and to perhaps just pop her pacifier a few times. After the 30 minutes she was asleep and Brenda was able to read her book.
Jon and I had a meeting with some financial advisors at 7:00 so I quickly marinated some chicken while Jon reviewed his information. He grilled it and I pulled out the salad and then made some chocolate chip cookies. We chopped up the chicken and put it on the salad. I actually just googled a lemon-rosemary recipe and it turned out very tasty. It's here if you're interested. It calls to make another spice blend but I just guessed how much it would be and it turned out fine.
Ellie woke up five minutes before 7:00 so I fed her right before the men arrived. She stayed awake for the entire meeting and even had an explosion diaper. I left to change her and ended up not only changing her outfit but rinsing her off in the tub. She was a mess! Both of the men have children (one was Mark DiAddezio) and didn't seem to mind. After our meeting Jon and I watched the very disappointing (as usual) episode of the Amazing Race.
TODAY we had a nice, slow morning. Ellie decided to revert back to her old lifestyle of waking up every two hours and did at least that during the night. For whatever reason Jon and I went to bed at 12:45 last night and I was awake at least 4 or 5 times between 12:45 and 8:30. It was crazy. I wonder if she didn't feel well or if I should have just been popping her pacifier. Hopefully she will do better tonight! Anyway, I turned down breakfast with Jon (even my iced coffee option) so that I could sleep. Ellie was up at 8:30 ready to start the day so I relented.
I spent a long time working on the Christmas card. Perhaps it is due to my indecisive personality but I had a hard time deciding on a card. I went to bed with one decision and I finally ordered a different card this evening. Hopefully they'll turn out.
At 12:00 we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch. Clark was stomping around showing off his shoes and Ellie was smiling at her Aunt Kelly every time Kelly would look her way. Mimi texted and asked for my assistance posting an item on ebay so after eating I went to her house. We took pictures of an oversized Phillies shirt and listed it since mom had a free 5-day listing on ebay. Hopefully it sells! If you know anyone who wears xxl and likes the Phillies, look on ebay for a wonderfully priced Ruiz tshirt.
I put Ellie down for a nap when I arrived at Mimi's so I worked on my Precepts study and hung out kicking the dust while she slept. 3:30 came and Ellie was still sleeping so I went to Stoltzfus' to teach Brooke her flute lesson. Because I usually bring Ellie with me and drop her off after Brooke's lesson at Grandma's, I was running late with the extra traveling. I had to wake Ellie up at Mimi's house and drop her off with Grandma, feeding her before I left. I was only 10 minutes late but my student's Mom said she understood. Hopefully it won't happen again for several weeks.
Picking Ellie up I ran home and made some rice and dressed in "festive attire." Jon and I were invited to the Bradshaw's (our new pastor's home) along with several others for a dinner party. It was a wonderful time! She had us eating with her silver and Christmas china. We had dropped Ellie off at Mimi and Pop's house for the evening so Jon and I had a relaxing night of fellowship. We had shrimp and chicken gumbo (on rice...hence the rice I had to make) along with some tasty drinks and a delicious cake for dessert. We stayed for 3 1/2 hours before heading out to pick up Ellie.
Mimi and Pops said that shortly after we dropped Ellie off she drank 4 oz of her bottle, gulping as though she was famished. She must be growing because I had fed her right before dropping her off.

Ellieisms:
Ellie is very smiley! She frequently gets bored when nobody is around but as soon as she gets eye contact with you and you smile, she's all gums.
Last night the two men were noting how attentive Ellie is - she even makes eye contact. During the entire meeting she was watching whoever was talking and even added in her own input occasionally.

Although I did not take pictures of our day, here are a few out takes from our Christmas card:

When she smiles she looks away. Not helpful

Trying some couch shots

The chair didn't work 

Full body. I needed a bigger blanket.

Weekend Roundup

I apologize for skipping out the last few nights on the blog. I will get you up to date!
Friday morning we had to get out the door around 8:30 because we had a play date with the Grosso's. Charlotte has two kids: Cameron, who turns three in March, and Hannah, who was born in late September. Charlotte had made chocolate muffins and had yogurt, orange juice, and pears. Cameron was very excited about the chocolate muffins but very graciously offered me one. He is such a sweet kid! He also knew all of his colors including pink, gray, and green. What really got to me was that he called Ellie "Miss Ellie." Charlotte told me at church on Sunday that when he woke up from his afternoon nap he asked where Miss Ellie was.

Giving Miss Ellie her pacifier

We spent the entire morning at the Grosso's house and went home for Ellie's nap and some lunch. Having written out my grocery list the day before I had planned to go to Walmart and Bb's. It was a gross, rainy day so following nap time I managed to pack up the car and stopping at Bb's and the bank. I didn't conjure the energy for Walmart so Ellie and I went home. Jon came home shortly thereafter and we ate dinner before heading down to the basement. Having a fire in the basement really draws us down there to hang out. Jon spent some time Christmas shopping on the computer while I worked on my Christmas gifts. We ended the evening browsing our new Amazon Prime membership, watching a few of the free TV shows.
CEFC hosted a Children's Christmas Party on Saturday morning from 9:15-12:15. I signed up to help with registration and wherever I was needed so Ellie and I needed to be at church at 8:30. We were a few minutes late but nobody seemed to notice. Jon stayed behind at home to work on the house. He drilled a hole in the wall behind the TV and pulled the wires through the wall into the closet behind the TV. It's a great set up because he installed electrical outlets in the closet and our internet connection is also in there. The wires go right through the hole to the TV so you cannot see them from the family room. Jon also raked leaves, trimmed hedges, organized the basement closet, and replenished our wood supply inside. At 10:00 he went to his Dad's to help chop down a tree.
Meanwhile, Ellie and I were helping register the children who came to the Christmas Party then we went and watched the Uganda room presentation. Corinne's video was wonderful and I think it was perfect for the room. Donna led the room and it was great to watch her lead the song from the video where they sing the song about worshiping with clapping, jumping, waving, and dancing.

Watching Corinne's video

Since plenty of helpers were at the Christmas Party Ellie and I left after peaking our heads into the other rooms. Jon arrived home around the same time so I went outside as he trimmed the hedges and I hung big silver Christmas balls on our tree in the front garden. I had bought six of them on super-Clearance in the fall so it was fun to finally put them to use!
At 1:45 Jon and I had planned to leave for an open house the Hanna's were having but Ellie had just fallen asleep 15 minutes before. Therefore we decided to let her sleep 45 minutes before transferring her to her car seat. The Hanna's moved into their new home this summer but apparently have had an open house every Christmas for their friends and family. I have never attended an open house like this but it was a lot of fun. They had homemade stromboli, which was delicious. A lot of family's with small children were in attendance so Ellie fit right in. We stayed for an hour and a half before heading home.
Since we needed to stop by Walmart to pick up a few items, we were a few minutes late to our evening event. Birdsboro held a "Christmas in Birdsboro" event in the center of town. We and the Bradshaws met up at Peter and Brittany's before all seven of us walked down to the town hall. I picture this even being the Birdsboro rendition of what Wheaton throws - a lot less activities, people, and money. Fortunately it was pleasant weather so we walked around before heading to the local pizza place for dinner. A craft show was being held next door in the town hall so we walked through and I picked up Linda Smith's Christmas present. The local bank was handing out hot chocolate and cookies and a Trolley would drive people from parking to the center of town. After the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 8:15 (which we missed - we heading back to Mountz's to warm up) they had a fireworks show which was very good.

In front of a craft

At dinner

Following the fireworks I put Ellie to sleep and then the boys played Settlers of Catan while the girls worked on our sewing projects. We had a good time but I wasn't very productive because Ellie woke up after a relatively brief nap so I was working on sewing while trying to keep her content. The Settlers game ended around 11:15 so we headed home shortly thereafter.

Watching me sew from the floor

Sunday morning arrived oh so early after our late night. We had planned on having the DiAddezio's for lunch so Jon told me he would vacuum and clean up the dishes if I took Ellie to church with me for worship practice. It sounded like a wonderful plan so Ellie hung out on the floor of the church by the stage while we went over the songs. I had woken her up to bring her to church so after practice I changed her before dropping her off at nursery. Clark and Ellie are in the same nursery until he turns 2 (I think) so it's a lot of fun when I go in there. He was scooting around when he was playing but would walk, too. We worked on finding his ears for a little bit when I went in after first service worship to feed Ellie. He found his ears a few times but usually pointed at his mouth when I asked him for his nose or ears. Clark was very busy the entire time playing with all of the toys.
After church we headed home and I made the tomato tortellini soup recipe from Mom along with garlic bread and grilled cheese. Nelah brought a salad and some cookies. Her children, Joseph (6) and Nina (4) are great. Joseph kept commenting on how he liked our house: he liked how much space we have and our decorations. It was too funny! They brought along some legos which occupied them while the adults talked in the kitchen. We moved downstairs where Jon had started a fire and sat on those couches. The kids soon came down and played with the toys for a long while. Last time they came Jon taught them how to play the kinect so we played that for quite a while. They ended up leaving right as we needed to head out the door for choir.
While Joseph was at our house he used the bathroom. As he walked in he asked why our bathroom is pink. We wonder the same thing, Joe.

Nina holding Ellie. Ellie was hungry (oops)

I like being predictable so we were our typical 10 minutes late for choir. Sorry Mimi! Ellie loaded her diaper on the way to church but I just put her on a blanket to watch Mimi until she became discontent. Then I changed her diaper and held her in my lap. Instead of church there was caroling but Jon and I decided to forego that option this year and we went to Doug and Donna's house after choir practice. I had Ellie in her Christmas dress and I kept my outfit on from morning church and had Jon change into a white shirt and red tie. Doug and Donna not only offered us dinner but they took several pictures of us in front of their Christmas tree. Jon and I decided to wrap Ellie up in the baby Jesus blanket Donna has and put her in the manger. She was a perfect fit!
After dinner we came home and Jon did some more Christmas shopping online. Expect big gifts from him!

Ellieisms:
Ellie drools a lot. While we were at the open house Jon had her draped over his arm and drool was streaming down and dripping off his arm.
This morning when Ellie woke up Jon went in to get her and he said she was so close to rolling over!

Ellie's sleeping position of choice

Cat nap before picture time

Chubby baby 

In the manger

Family shot