Ice Hockey, the Mountz Thanksgiving, and the Beginning of December

Friday morning we were able to sleep in for the first time in years. Well, sleep in is all relative now that Ellie is around and never sleeps past 8:00. But we didn't have to be at the hockey rink until 2:00, which was refreshing. Jon was out before I was awake and Ellie and I had a breakfast date with Cat at Dunkin Donuts. Ellie received her first free munchkin, and it was a hit.

My munchkin enjoying her munchkin

Cat and I chatted until 11:00 after which Ellie and I went to Mimi's house and hung out with the cousins. We went home for her nap and Jon came back for lunch. We ate then bundled up for the annual Stoltzfus Family Hockey Game.

Ellie hung out with Mimi, Aunt Carly, Brie, and her cousins while Jon and I played (a first for me in three years). Jon's team won and mine lost and I might have cause Uncle Daniel to fall down a few times but nobody was seriously injured and fun was had by all. We were pooped afterwards and Jon wanted to shower so we went home to clean up and eat dinner.

Following dinner we went over to Mimi and Pop's house to hang out with everyone. The boys did a pool tournament and the girls played Bang. Ellie slept for a while downstairs but woke up very sad! Jon took her home and I stayed behind and Kelly generously dropped me off on her way home around midnight.

Saturday morning we all went to Shady Maple to see Daniel eat $75 worth of food. Pops treated all of us (everyone was in attendance except for Jon). Jon stayed home and got a lot of work done, including cleaning up the entire kitchen and washing the floor. I think I'll hold on to him.

Ellie and I ate some pancakes, donuts, fruit, and hashbrowns. We ended up staying until the bitter end to see Daniel finish his breakfast with a bowl of ice cream. Everyone headed over to Good's Store but Ellie and I needed to get home because we had big things happening in the afternoon.

We took up two tables

Jay packing in the pounds

Piling on the Iyas 

Our family showed up at Nana and Pop-pop's house shortly after 12:00 with our mashed potatoes in hand. We ate appetizers and started dinner around 1:00. I always eat too many appetizers -- not a good thing to do before a Thanksgiving feast. Doug deep fried the turkey and we all sat in the dining room to eat.

Nap time coincided with dinner and Ellie woke up while we were playing games. We played a round of Ticket to Ride, which Jon won. Layla played with Ellie for a while but when she was too cranky to get happy we headed home, with leftover turkey and potatoes in hand.

The Mountz Family plus three foreign exchange students
 minus Pop-pop (who was taking the picture)

Ellie went to bed shortly after we came home but Jon and I stayed up. We didn't go to bed too late, though, since the next day was church.

Sunday morning we went to church and said good-bye to the Brust family. The Canche's had left Saturday afternoon. We stayed home and recovered in the afternoon. Since it was December first going out for our tree was on my mind. Instead of trying to tie something to our car and risk it falling off and us driving over it like somebody we know, we borrowed Doug's truck. Peter and Brittany buy their tree from a spot in between our two houses so we met up there and picked out our trees. I dropped Brittany off at home while the boys dropped off each tree. Ellie didn't really seemed phased by the men bringing a tree into the living room, she just pointed at them and watched from afar.

Our little tree

We didn't have church in the evening due to the holiday which was great. I decided to save the lights and ornaments until another day and just take it easy.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all typical days. I have piano lessons, Bible studies, and (of course) lunch at Grandma's. Ellie and I put the lights and ornaments on the tree, which she really enjoyed. I put ornaments that she could play with or that I don't care about down at her level and she periodically takes her favorites down and carries them around the house.

Helping put on the lights

Playing with her nativity from last year from
 Nana and Poppop

Thursday morning Ellie and I had an appointment at work for her to do a product test. Jon joined us for the testing and helped entice her to push the limits of the product with her weakness: food. She would use her words and signs to communicate, especially "more" and signing "please."The other engineers present (who were actually in charge of the products) were happy with her performance.

She saw this carseat on the display and
tried it out. Jon designed the big display thing
behind her last year.

We went home and I worked on some Christmas presents while she napped. We had small group in the evening and Ellie stayed with Doug and Donna while we met.

Friday morning Ellie and I had a tough time. I had to make a dessert for the evening and she hadn't been feeling well due to her boo problems. Kelly called before lunch and asked us to come hang out after naps and I was very happy to say yes! Corinne joined us and we worked on some sewing project. Mom even eventually joined the party. Josh seemed startled when he walked in at 5:20 and we were all still hanging out in his dining room. We tried to make a quick departure.

Ellie and I grabbed our dessert and packed a few diapers and met Jon at the DiAddezio's house for dinner. Another couple from our small group was also present and the six of us (plus six kids) enjoyed a delicious dinner with great company. We stayed until 9:15 when Ellie was about to melt down and the other kids were running around after eating the sugar drenched trifle we had for dessert.

Ellieisms:
Ellie has begun to say "Daddy" on a more regular basis. Driving in the car, hanging out in the house, and now when Jon is actually in the room.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Eve we spent time at Mimi and Pop's house. We being me and Ellie, since Jon was at work. We played and took advantage of the cousins being in town from Chicago and Texas.

I had rehearsal at the church by 6:00 so Jon came home from work a bit early and we ate a quick dinner before I gave a few directions for Ellie and went to church. He met up with us closer to 7:00, when the service began. Ryan Estes led it this year and I played for the hymns. The Thanksgiving Eve service is one of my favorite services of the year!

Afterwards Jon was hosting all of the brothers-in-law and Pops for steaks and vegetables. I brought Ellie home, fed her a snack, and put her to bed. Then I rushed back to Elverson to hang out with Mimi and the sisters. We chatted and played Settlers of Catan. I stayed in Elverson until the boys came back, and didn't get home until after 1:00.

Thanksgiving morning we started off with a nice and slow breakfast. I made some mashed potatoes while Jon hung out with Ellie. He probably did some work around the house, too. Ellie took an early nap and we woke her up at 12:45 to head over to Mom-mom's house.

This year 65+ people were in attendance at the Stoltzfus Family Thanksgiving. Ellie had a ball playing with all of her cousins and second cousins with Mom-mom's toys. Her personal favorite was the toy kitchen. The ramp makes her a little nervous...

Calla reading to her little cousin

Busy cooking in the kitchen

Jon went and played soccer with my cousins at Twin Valley and I remained and watched Ellie and caught up with my cousins. In 2014 seven new babies will be born to my cousins, so that helped give us a lot to talk about! We stayed until 5:00 or so when Jon came and picked us up and we went over to Mimi and Pop's house.

Mimi was hosting appetizers and desserts for the DeWalt family get together. Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Keith's family came. Some of the boys played pool and a game of Bang was happening a few times throughout the evening. Ellie went to bed in the basement but woke up abruptly (and sadly) so we took her home and put her to bed. We all slept well after all the food we ate!

The DeWalt great grandchildren

Leading up to Thanksgiving

Oh boy I am so far behind that I don't recall what we did over the weekend. I'm sure it involved cleaning and laundry, since the Brusts and Canches were coming into town and I knew I wouldn't do laundry while they were in town. I also went grocery shopping for the holiday meals.

Sunday we had church. The Iyas invited us and the Bradshaws over for lunch which was so much fun! We stopped by home to pick up our salad and refill Ellie's bottle with milk before heading over to Terre Hill. Corinne and Daniel had pizza and pudding for lunch and we ended up eating and talking well into the afternoon. We finally had to leave once Ellie was too tired to behave. We really enjoyed our time with them.

Ellie's favorite seat in the house

Ellie napped then we went to church in the evening. I was looking forward to Monday because Carly and her kids were arriving late Sunday night!

Monday morning Ellie and I were up and greeting Hunter Hall at 8:15. His mom had an all day job and we had agreed to keep him before we knew the Brusts were coming. Once he was here and Ellie was fed we packed into my car and headed to Mimi's house for a couple hours. Calla and Kelsey included Hunter into their craft-closet fun and Ellie played alongside of Jay. Once Carly found them pushing buttons on a baby swing with one hand and pushing the other away with the other.

At 11:30 we headed home for lunch and Ellie's nap. My friend dropped off her three year old son for me to watch while she was on a lunch date. The two boys played together then I put Hunter down for his nap and turned on a movie for Jordan to watch while I taught two piano lessons. Jordan's mom came by at 3:00 and Hunter's mom came at 4:15.

Jordan playing with Ellie

In the evening Jon and I went over to Mom's house for dinner (I think). I'm sure (if this is what we did) that it was fun and delicious.

Tuesday morning was a slow day getting started. The Canches had arrived overnight so we wanted to go see them at Mimi's. We finally made it over to Mom's house after 9:00 and played with the marbles and toys until lunch time. Grandma had all of us over for lunch. Ellie was tired and cranky so we didn't last long.

The girls looking for the Fentons

We went home for her nap since she needed to sleep well due to my piano lessons in the late afternoon. She went to Grandma and Grandpa's house while I taught and Jon picked her up. He made dinner and we ate together. I might have gone over to Mom's house after dinner but I just can't recall.

Trains