The Beginnings of Christmas

What a wonderful, exciting, fulfilling, and exhausting time of year! Between work, school, Christmas parties, school parties, Christmas concerts, shoveling snow, making goodies, making Christmas meals, going to church at midnight, and making more food...I get WORN OUT! But I wouldn't change anything about it. (I''ll just complain instead.) :)

 The girls entertained us during their Christmas concert this year. Jocelyn stood there and smiled the whole time. She was cute, but completely uncomfortable with participating. So she didn't. At all. In fact, she drew more attention to herself as "the little girl that wouldn't sing or dance" while all the other little kids really got into it. That's my Jocelyn.

Genevieve enjoyed her songs and has really started opening up in the last year or so. She even asked at our Christmas dinner if she could sing one of her songs to the whole family.

Christmas morning was enjoyed at our house opening gifts with the girls and having a yummy breakfast! Then we made our way to my parents house for the big day! Lots of kids, lots of presents, and entirely too much food! I am certainly blessed with an amazing family!

Some of the best gifts the girls received were a basketball, a remote control airplane, Hello Kitty galore, and believe it or not...a white board! It's amazing what amuses kids these days!

Unfortunately, Genevieve didn't get what she asked for..."A cell phone so that she can text Mikayla."

Round 2 with the McCoy family coming soon!

Smiley Jocelyn at her school concert

Christmas morning...seeing what Santa brought

The ever serious Genevieve

Humfeld Family-gotta love them all!

The expressive introvert

I love how this picture depicts which child of ours is the serious one and which is the goofy one.

Jocelyn. 

She has a personality that I can't figure out.

She is spunky, dramatic, and giggly. 

She prefers a British accent and is heard saying things like, "Well hello my darlin'!" or "Shall we play a game of Fancy Nancy?" or even "Would you care for some Tea and Crumpets?" 

(Ok, maybe not that last one.)

She speaks very dramatically with heart and character.

She requested a hair-do of sporadically placed buns across her head, each sprayed with pink, blue, and silver glitter paint for crazy hair day at school.

But take a picture of her?! Absolutely not! And don't stare at her either! She can't handle it. She'll break down and cry.

She could definitely be an actress...at an empty theater. 

So, after all my hard work of making their hair just perfect, I was unable to document it due to some extreme shyness. So, I took them to my mom's house. She can bribe her into almost anything. Jocelyn agreed to the picture as long as I was in it! Crazy dramatic girl!

She is like a ticking time bomb. She can be laughing so hard at one moment and within a matter of milliseconds, she can be hysterically crying in pain, usually something to do with her head or stomach, and usually unwarranted. She needs attention. But she doesn't want it. Confusing, I know. I still can't figure it out.

Oh, and Jocelyn can say her alphabet backwards...faster than she can forwards. Don't believe me? You're going to have to, because getting a video of her doing it would involve a visit from CPS. Just not worth it.

Genevieve isn't afraid of a close up!

My crazy girls and I on Crazy Hair Day!

School Pics

Genevieve, age 6, 1st Grade

Jocelyn, age 5, Kindergarten

I thought I should update all of my followers (if there are any of you still out there!)
The girls started this year off at a new school and are doing really well! We are so far, very pleased with their progress! Genevieve has really broken out of her shell this year. She has always been quite shy and reserved. She is now much more talkative and social. Don't get me wrong, she won't be a theatre or drama queen, but she can at least now answer you if you ask her how she is doing. :)

Jocelyn has finally adjusted to all-day Kindergarten. Those first couple weeks were a little tough for her. She would come home from school at 3:30 smiling ear to ear, talking about how much she loved school and then by 4:00 she would cry about the smallest thing. She was exhausted! She loves her teacher and only wants to please her! This morning I woke the girls up to get them ready for school. I excitedly told them that it was the last day of school before having 3 days of for the holiday weekend. In unison, they both got sad faces and whined "oh no!" That makes a mommy happy to hear!

Both girls had awesome seasons of soccer! It was fun to see them each week scoring goal after goal after goal! The coaches for each of their teams couldn't be more different. Jenna's was very hard on her and expected a huge amount. He was not a very "sympathetic" kind of guy, but rewarded her when he saw progress. She responded amazingly to this! We were a little nervous that she was going to cry at practice, but instead she would tell us how much she loved it! Maybe our parenting needs to resemble this? :) Jocelyn's coach is a mother and was very loving and caring. The season was more about having fun (at such a young age) which Jocelyn did, but she also got some skills out of it too!

Jenna is now going to be playing Basketball with some of the girls from her soccer team and will have the same coach. She has never touched a basketball so we weren't sure if she was going to be interested in it. She asked us if her soccer coach would be her basketball coach. When I told her that yes it would be, she lit up and is super excited! I guess that says a lot about his style of coaching!

Jenna is the ultimate of loving and caring sisters. She is also very giving. Anything Jocelyn wants, Jocelyn gets. They could want to watch 2 separate movies and Jenna will let Jocelyn decide. Same goes with any other activity. Jocelyn can pick the game, the book, etc. Unfortunately Jocelyn doesn't understand why mommy and daddy don't just give in either. Someone has to put their foot down!

Jocelyn has a strong love for reading. She strives to do well at whatever she does. If she is reading and messes up a word, she doesn't get frustrated but continues to try hard to figure it out. Once she gets it, she practices it over and over again. She also exceeds in math. In fact, her teacher emphasized her math abilities at her conference this week. She can count to 200 (probably more) and can quickly answer addition problems.

Both girls are looking forward to the upcoming winter skiing. Their daddy has engraved in their heads that Winter is the best season because of this! We are planning on spending many weekends up at White Pass this year as a family!

We have definitely been blessed with 2 very sweet and loving girls! 

2012 Central WA State Fair

Gone are the days when our kids knew nothing about any kind of fair. We used to be able to drive a scenic route, only to avoid passing by the giant Ferris Wheel, flashing bright lights, and catchy music, in hopes that the kids wouldn't ask to go. We would tell other parents to be quiet in front of our kids when they talked about taking their own children to the ridiculously over-priced, over-glamorized, and overly dirty and disgusting joint! And now, our kids are in a school that takes an ENTIRE DAY OFF of school, so that kids can go to the fair. They pass out entrance coupons as incentive for those that read a certain amount that month. We have no choice. We HAVE to take our kids to the fair. And we try and act like we enjoy it. :) The girls don't have to try so hard...they just LOVE IT!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Out of no where my 5 year old informed me that she was NOT going to be a policeman when she grows up. When I asked her why, she told me that they are bad people. I explained to her that the cops themselves are not bad people, but that they take care of the bad people, and that really, policeman are good. She said, "Well, a policeman pulled you over?" I clarified that she was right, he pulled me over because I was driving over the speed limit which was illegal and dangerous to us and other drivers. She said matter of factly, "So mom, are going to follow the directions of the road?"

***FYI, she is referring to an incident from years ago that she obviously remembers very clearly!

St. John the Baptist

Today, on August 29th, the church remembers the death of St. John the Baptist. Sam and I were explaining this biblical event to the girls at dinner tonight. Although we were trying to give them a serious understanding of what happened when St. John stood up to Herod, the girls showed their interest in the subject from a 5-6 year old point of view:

Us: St. John was beheaded...

Jocelyn: Macrina's Uncle John? (John my brother, Macrina my niece.)

Us: No, St. John the Baptist. 

Jocelyn: Today?

Us: No, a long time ago. Herod had him beheaded and then his head was served on a platter. 

Jenna: Did it bleed?

Us: Yes.

Jocelyn: IT DID?!

Us: St. John was standing up for what he believes...

Jenna: If  we do what God wants, will we get OUR heads cut off?

Us: No, you won't get your heads cut off.

Jenna: Did St. John go to heaven without his head?

Us: Yes, he did.

Jocelyn: But did his head go to heaven too?

We stopped the lesson at that point. :)

1st Day of School

We are starting the girls at a new school this year. Although they are beyond excited, mommy and daddy are a bit more nervous. OK, fine! Mommy is a bit more nervous.

I know they will do great. They are both very kind, respectful, and obedient girls. We talked with them about looking out for the person at school that looks sad, lonely, and left out and we encouraged them to be brave and be-friend/include that person. We encouraged them to treat all of the children like gifts from God, no matter how different they are. But now I am left wondering, what if the other children don't do the same for my precious girls?!

I have to trust that God will protect my babies! But who could be mean to these cute faces:

Wunder Woman Triathlon 2012

 

My first Triathlon experience was very exciting! I had a blast doing it and definitely plan on doing it again!

The time goal I set for this particular race was 1 hour, 30 minutes. My finish time was 1 hour 24 minutes so I was stoked! 

My stats: 

Overall: 141/500

My Age group:  26/90

The swim leg (1/4 mile) was 8 min, 33 secs. I placed 36th overall and 9th in my age group! This was my best leg.

The bike leg (10 miles) was 41 minutes, 27 secs.

The run leg (3 miles) was 29 minutes, 39 seconds.

A portion of the swimmers getting ready for their wave to start

Sam had to make an emergency visit to the bathroom with Jocelyn, so he was unable to get pictures of me during the swim. But we can pretend one of those people from a different wave is me right?

Just finished the bike leg, headed to my transition spot to prepare for the run

Here I am thinking, "Why did I try sprinting back there? I should have waited until I could actually see the finish line!"

And the finish!

I wouldn't have done this race if my friend Ruth hadn't convinced me to!

Trying to re-hydrate. The last 30 minutes of the race was HOT!

The girls were patient enough (although Daddy thinks this is debatable) to wait until the race was over to play in the lake

Jocelyn's Splinter

Sam and I enjoyed a night out last night without the kiddos. After returning home we asked the babysitter how it went. She explained how good they had been but then she started laughing and told us that Jocelyn had a tough time going to bed. Apparently, they had been in bed for awhile but Jocelyn came out complaining of some splinters in the bottom of her feet. Rebecca was able to get all of them out except for one stubborn one that was difficult to remove. Jocelyn grabbed her foot, stared at the splinter in the bottom of her foot and spoke to it. With a serious face she said, "Splinter, you need to let Rebecca get you out so that I can go to bed because it is way past my bed time!"

Summer 2012 Part 3!

Jocelyn turned 5 years old, and to celebrate, she spent the day in the car...driving south towards California. But we made up for it by going out to ice cream and bowling that evening.

We took 2 days to drive to Windsor (Santa Rosa area) to visit Sam's extended family. I was shocked to find out what good little travelers we have! I was secretly hoping they would be difficult so that I didn't appear to be the worst traveler. For those of you who know me well, know that car-sickness, irritability, and restlessness come quite easily when I am in the car for an extended period of time. And to be honest, I think I did pretty well! I only asked the infamous car questions "are we there yet?, how much longer?, and why does this take so long?" a handful of times. And I didn't get car sick at all except for a short time on what Sam describes as "the curviest rode he has ever been on" so you can't blame me! ;) 

While in California, we spent 2 separate days having family reunions with each of his parents sides of the family.

Family reunions can be both very exciting...

(Jocelyn bear hugging Grandpa Doerr)

and exhausting!

(Jenna, trying to fight off a headache)

Visiting Great-Grandpa McCoy's grave site with Great Grandma McCoy. What an amazingly strong woman she is!

 

 Jocelyn and Great Grandma McCoy in a serious game of tic-tac-toe

 

Taking in a scenic view in front of Mt. Shasta

Jocelyn with Grandpa McCoy

And with Grandma McCoy

 The girls relaxin' in the pool with Daddy

The view from our balcony. Not a bad way to relax each day!

Pony Rides!

Summer 2012 Part 2!

Sam, his brother Jon, and friend Vanessa completed the 204 mile bike ride from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR. What studs!

Here they are on the first day before the race began. None of them knew what they were getting into!

The girls anxiously waiting at the finish line for the arrival of their daddy

And while Sam was hard at work pedaling his way from one state to another, the girls and I got to play at Great Wolf Lodge.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures inside the giant water park. I guess we will have to go back to make some more memories. :)

Summer 2012 Part 1!

Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that we spent more days in hotels than in our own beds during the month of July. That's just how much we have traveled this month. But I have to say, I have enjoyed every minute of it! Well except for that one early early morning at the hotel in Seattle. That wasn't fun, bowing to the porcelain throne while stripped down to my skivies, with Sam in his bike attire waiting patiently outside the door for me to take him to the starting line of a race he has been training months for, and then to have the fire alarm go off, forcing us to evacuate. Yeah, I didn't enjoy that day, but the rest of the month made up for the stomach flu experience.

We did our annual trip to Lake Chelan with my family and as always, came home with a lot less energy, sunburned, and excited to plan next year's trip!

We spent a day at the water park

 

 

 

 

 

And some time on the beautiful lake

Yia Yia and her youngest grand-daughters

And what's better than Yoga on the Lake during your vacation? Pretty good form wouldn't you say? ;)