Love,
Jamie
Saturday, December 29, 2007
For Gramma Sue
Everybody seems to be in better spirits here in the French household! The antibiotics seem to have kicked in for Miss Sadie. Today I dressed her in one of her Christmas gifts and couldn't help but snap some shots for Gramma Sue who didn't get a chance to see her in her new outfit!
Love,
Jamie
Love,
Jamie
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!
We hope everyone had a wondrous Christmas! Ours was merry and mildly challenging at the same time. Let's just say this holiday required a sense of humor more than any I can remember!! From William throwing up within minutes of arriving at our family's house in PA to sleepless nights with a baby girl who, unbeknownst to us at the time, has an ear infection-- laughter was, indeed, the best medicine!
First, a heartfelt thank you to Rob's wonderful family for their patience with our tired and sick family. Yes, meltdowns were as numerous as ornaments on a Christmas tree, yet all the while everyone was extremely understanding, sympathetic, and helpful. That's what family is all about and we thank you guys very much!!
Now don't get me wrong, we had some wonderful times this Christmas, starting with our 'early Christmas' Friday morning. As expected, William loves his new four wheeler!! Here he is taking it for a spin and attempting some off-roading.
Sadie enjoyed playing with the ribbons and eating one of the goodies I put in their stockings.
The highlights of our time with Rob's family, for me, include watching Will and Sadie interact with their extended family, warm conversation with family members we don't see as often as we'd like, wrapping presents and catching up with Rob's sister Sarah (Thanks for your help, Sarah!), the spontaneous Christmas carol competition during Christmas eve dinner, the inspirational and tear-jerking Christmas eve service we almost missed but are so glad we attended, watching everyone open their gifts-- especially Rob's unique instrument from his brother Chris-- and ultimately just being together!
In the end, the sickness and lack of sleep got the best of us and we opted to leave a day early. After a twelve hour drive (It was supposed to take 7 hours without holiday traffic!) Will and Sadie were glad to sleep in their own beds as we all slept in to about 9AM! We went to the doctor's office this afternoon where they determined Will may have croup and Sadie, as mentioned above, has an ear infection. We're armed with antibiotics now and hopefully on the road to recovery!
Here are some pics of our Christmas with the French family in PA:
William models his new sweater handmade by his Gramma Sue! Isn't is fabulous?!
Sadie enjoying one of her gifts
William and Gramma Sue enjoy a quiet moment
Grandpa Bob-- a man of honor-- holding up his end of a lost bet!
Daddy playing his new 'mouth bow'
Sadie and Aunt Sarah
Will and Uncle Urch
Gramma Sue and Daddy watch as William opens one of his gifts on Christmas morning
Mommy and her gift, William!
William sharing a special moment with Cousin Ruthie
Our wonderful host even had time to snuggle with our little Sadie
To Dick and Janet-- thank you again for your hospitality! We appreciate you hosting us and the rest of the family this Christmas. Your hard work and generosity is appreciated!
To sum things up and to get to the heart of why we celebrate this holiday, I'm reminded of the story of Christ's birth. Things most certainly didn't go how Mary and Joseph had planned for the birth of God's perfect son, Jesus, and yet God was in control and glorified! While this life may not be perfect, sickness interrupts or hopes fail, God is in control and his Son is our only hope! AMEN.
Oh, one more quick thing. When we arrived home, I found that my new passport had arrived. Bahamas here I come! :):):)
Merry Christmas everyone!
First, a heartfelt thank you to Rob's wonderful family for their patience with our tired and sick family. Yes, meltdowns were as numerous as ornaments on a Christmas tree, yet all the while everyone was extremely understanding, sympathetic, and helpful. That's what family is all about and we thank you guys very much!!
Now don't get me wrong, we had some wonderful times this Christmas, starting with our 'early Christmas' Friday morning. As expected, William loves his new four wheeler!! Here he is taking it for a spin and attempting some off-roading.
Sadie enjoyed playing with the ribbons and eating one of the goodies I put in their stockings.
The highlights of our time with Rob's family, for me, include watching Will and Sadie interact with their extended family, warm conversation with family members we don't see as often as we'd like, wrapping presents and catching up with Rob's sister Sarah (Thanks for your help, Sarah!), the spontaneous Christmas carol competition during Christmas eve dinner, the inspirational and tear-jerking Christmas eve service we almost missed but are so glad we attended, watching everyone open their gifts-- especially Rob's unique instrument from his brother Chris-- and ultimately just being together!
In the end, the sickness and lack of sleep got the best of us and we opted to leave a day early. After a twelve hour drive (It was supposed to take 7 hours without holiday traffic!) Will and Sadie were glad to sleep in their own beds as we all slept in to about 9AM! We went to the doctor's office this afternoon where they determined Will may have croup and Sadie, as mentioned above, has an ear infection. We're armed with antibiotics now and hopefully on the road to recovery!
Here are some pics of our Christmas with the French family in PA:
William models his new sweater handmade by his Gramma Sue! Isn't is fabulous?!
Sadie enjoying one of her gifts
William and Gramma Sue enjoy a quiet moment
Grandpa Bob-- a man of honor-- holding up his end of a lost bet!
Daddy playing his new 'mouth bow'
Sadie and Aunt Sarah
Will and Uncle Urch
Gramma Sue and Daddy watch as William opens one of his gifts on Christmas morning
Mommy and her gift, William!
William sharing a special moment with Cousin Ruthie
Our wonderful host even had time to snuggle with our little Sadie
To Dick and Janet-- thank you again for your hospitality! We appreciate you hosting us and the rest of the family this Christmas. Your hard work and generosity is appreciated!
To sum things up and to get to the heart of why we celebrate this holiday, I'm reminded of the story of Christ's birth. Things most certainly didn't go how Mary and Joseph had planned for the birth of God's perfect son, Jesus, and yet God was in control and glorified! While this life may not be perfect, sickness interrupts or hopes fail, God is in control and his Son is our only hope! AMEN.
Oh, one more quick thing. When we arrived home, I found that my new passport had arrived. Bahamas here I come! :):):)
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Counting Down
Alright, so there are so many other things I need to be doing right now other than blogging-- but I had to take a minute to check in. The shopping is basically DONE! Whoo-hoo. I 'wrapped' up most of our Christmas shopping tonight. Rob has one more gift to buy and I have one or two smaller items that I might pick up...but I think it's safe to say we're nearly finished. Now let the wrapping paper roll- it's time to get that party started.
We're looking forward to our time with Rob's family over the 25th! Tomorrow morning we plan to have another early Christmas with Will and Sadie. It'll be a chance for us to have our own little family "Christmas morning experience" at home since we'll be out of town for the big day itself. I'm extremely excited for William to wake up to see one of his gifts-- a miniature motorized 4-wheeler! Rob put it together tonight, bless him! Will is going to LOVE it! We hope they have a great morning. Hopefully I'll be able to post a handful of pictures from the festivities.
Okay, I'm really procrastinating now... but I'll leave you with a couple fun pics I caught of Sadie and Will 'coloring' together this afternoon. Sadie tries so hard to do what her big brother is doing nowadays.
Hope y'all are doing well. :):)
Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it's off to wrap and clean I go!!
Love,
Jamie
We're looking forward to our time with Rob's family over the 25th! Tomorrow morning we plan to have another early Christmas with Will and Sadie. It'll be a chance for us to have our own little family "Christmas morning experience" at home since we'll be out of town for the big day itself. I'm extremely excited for William to wake up to see one of his gifts-- a miniature motorized 4-wheeler! Rob put it together tonight, bless him! Will is going to LOVE it! We hope they have a great morning. Hopefully I'll be able to post a handful of pictures from the festivities.
Okay, I'm really procrastinating now... but I'll leave you with a couple fun pics I caught of Sadie and Will 'coloring' together this afternoon. Sadie tries so hard to do what her big brother is doing nowadays.
Hope y'all are doing well. :):)
Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it's off to wrap and clean I go!!
Love,
Jamie
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Baby, It's Cold Outside!
Well, it may have 'cooled off' some in our neck of the woods and we got some much needed rain, but we didn't get this beautiful scene!! Yes, this is a peek outside my parent's house Saturday night. (Thanks for the pic, Mom!) Uh- can we say jealous!? They got about 8 inches of glistening snow this weekend. I'm not jealous, however, of having to get out and about in the stuff!! But, I'd take it in a heart beat. Who knows, maybe we'll see a white Christmas in PA!?
Monday, December 10, 2007
I Love Mondays
Why, you may ask? For the very simple reason that Pizza Hut offers a fabulous carry-out special at a price that I can't beat cooking at home... so I don't!!! Never mind the grease on the bottom of the crust! It's dinner. I don't have to plan, cook, or clean up a meal and I love it!!! So my belly's full and I've got a little extra time on my hands so what better thing to do than blog? Seriously, it's been too long!
Well, I'm still trying to get over missing my family, but the business of the holiday season has really helped that. This weekend was no exception. Friday evening we had the pleasure of having Rob's cousin Leslie and her husband Anson over for dinner. It was great to catch up and hear about their heart for hurting families. What a neat Christian couple they are! Thanks for joining us, guys. :)
Saturday proved to be interesting. It was the day of Rob's work Christmas party and we were pumped to have a night out together. The theme was denim and diamonds- which is kind of a wear whatever you want type of theme- and I had planned, since we don't get a night out very often, to dress to the "diamonds" extreme. Earlier that week I dropped off my royal blue cocktail dress at the dry cleaners, feeling really on top of things. Ha! Well, the week came to a close and I procrastinated picking it up at the cleaners. I planned to do some errands Saturday afternoon and thought, "Oh, I'll just pick of the dress then." Uh-huh, failing to remember that most dry cleaners close super early on Saturday. By the time I did remember it was too late. They were closed. So here we are just hours away from the big event and I have not a clue what I'm going to wear. Thankfully the theme of the night allowed for jeans! Long story short, I did manage to scrounge something together at the last minute and actually liked it! And, believe it or not, once we arrived at the party I was actually glad I had worn jeans instead of the dress!! It worked much better with the theme of the night. Go figure. Anyhow, we had a great night getting to know his work "family" a little better and danced the night away to the live band.
Sunday we enjoyed our church's annual Christmas party. William loved running around with the big kids and Sadie sang along with Mommy as I lead the group in some Christmas songs! Good times with the church fam.
This week we're getting ready to have some ladies from the church over for some cookies and coffee. Which leaves me with a question. Do you have a favorite Christmas cookie to share as I am getting ready to do some baking? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Finally, I thought I'd copy my friend Brittyne and give you a sneak peek at some of our Christmas pics. But before I do, here's the story behind the pictures:
As many of you know, William had a traumatic experience at a JC Penny portrait studio when he fell off the platform and landed on his back. Well, we've since become "Super Smiles" members at Sears but William is still traumatized by getting his pictures taken. It's actually almost humorous. I mean, for some little ones, it's the doctor's office, for me it was swimming pools (another story for another time), for William it's the portrait studio. But, silly me, I still have these high expectations when we go. Anyhow, this time around I had my Mom and Dad with me, so I thought we'd have success. Needless to say, once we got into the studio William melted and there was no turning back. Here are a couple you won't be seeing in your Christmas cards this season:
Mom's thoughts: The rocking horse is definitely is not working here... He's still crying!
Sadie's thoughts: Yep, not really feelin' the teddy bear.
William's thoughts: If they pull out a platform, I'm outta here!
Mom's thoughts: Maybe the large fake candy cane will work. Wait, at least he's not crying in this one.
Sadie's thoughts: Ahh! Help.
William's thoughts: Please tell me this is almost over!
Okay, here's a peek at one usable pic we got out of the event: My sweet little snowball! :)
(Again, these photos are courtesy of Sears. :))
Have a great week everyone. Here's to staying sane this holiday season! :)
Well, I'm still trying to get over missing my family, but the business of the holiday season has really helped that. This weekend was no exception. Friday evening we had the pleasure of having Rob's cousin Leslie and her husband Anson over for dinner. It was great to catch up and hear about their heart for hurting families. What a neat Christian couple they are! Thanks for joining us, guys. :)
Saturday proved to be interesting. It was the day of Rob's work Christmas party and we were pumped to have a night out together. The theme was denim and diamonds- which is kind of a wear whatever you want type of theme- and I had planned, since we don't get a night out very often, to dress to the "diamonds" extreme. Earlier that week I dropped off my royal blue cocktail dress at the dry cleaners, feeling really on top of things. Ha! Well, the week came to a close and I procrastinated picking it up at the cleaners. I planned to do some errands Saturday afternoon and thought, "Oh, I'll just pick of the dress then." Uh-huh, failing to remember that most dry cleaners close super early on Saturday. By the time I did remember it was too late. They were closed. So here we are just hours away from the big event and I have not a clue what I'm going to wear. Thankfully the theme of the night allowed for jeans! Long story short, I did manage to scrounge something together at the last minute and actually liked it! And, believe it or not, once we arrived at the party I was actually glad I had worn jeans instead of the dress!! It worked much better with the theme of the night. Go figure. Anyhow, we had a great night getting to know his work "family" a little better and danced the night away to the live band.
Sunday we enjoyed our church's annual Christmas party. William loved running around with the big kids and Sadie sang along with Mommy as I lead the group in some Christmas songs! Good times with the church fam.
This week we're getting ready to have some ladies from the church over for some cookies and coffee. Which leaves me with a question. Do you have a favorite Christmas cookie to share as I am getting ready to do some baking? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Finally, I thought I'd copy my friend Brittyne and give you a sneak peek at some of our Christmas pics. But before I do, here's the story behind the pictures:
As many of you know, William had a traumatic experience at a JC Penny portrait studio when he fell off the platform and landed on his back. Well, we've since become "Super Smiles" members at Sears but William is still traumatized by getting his pictures taken. It's actually almost humorous. I mean, for some little ones, it's the doctor's office, for me it was swimming pools (another story for another time), for William it's the portrait studio. But, silly me, I still have these high expectations when we go. Anyhow, this time around I had my Mom and Dad with me, so I thought we'd have success. Needless to say, once we got into the studio William melted and there was no turning back. Here are a couple you won't be seeing in your Christmas cards this season:
Mom's thoughts: The rocking horse is definitely is not working here... He's still crying!
Sadie's thoughts: Yep, not really feelin' the teddy bear.
William's thoughts: If they pull out a platform, I'm outta here!
Mom's thoughts: Maybe the large fake candy cane will work. Wait, at least he's not crying in this one.
Sadie's thoughts: Ahh! Help.
William's thoughts: Please tell me this is almost over!
Okay, here's a peek at one usable pic we got out of the event: My sweet little snowball! :)
(Again, these photos are courtesy of Sears. :))
Have a great week everyone. Here's to staying sane this holiday season! :)
Sunday, December 02, 2007
There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays
Yes, the holidays are in full swing at the French household. In fact, they have been for some time now! We put up our Christmas tree a few days before my family flew in for Thanksgiving, the earliest I've ever done it. I am loving it (speaking from a gal who can listen to Christmas music in July!). The reason we decked the halls so early is because we won't be spending Christmas with my family this year so we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving -and- Christmas during their stay. I know what you're thinking, are you crazy!?! Well, maybe, but it was a great time! Let's just say we crammed just about every holiday tradition you can think of in about 4 days: Turkey, Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, Christmas morning, baking cookies, getting Christmas pictures taken... Okay, I get tired thinking of it all- but even with the bustle of activity I think everyone managed to have a fantastic time!! The highlight was spending a long weekend of basically uninterrupted time together as a family. You -cannot- put a price on that! The following are some of my favorite pics from the Thankgiving/Early Christmas celebration with the Praechter clan! We miss you guys tons!!!
Turkey time!
MiMi giving a very curious Sadie a look at an ornament
I am in love with the set of matching personalized stockings my Mom and Dad got our family for Christmas! (Donna they look awesome!) Thanks for your help with the tree and mantle, Mom!
Sadie lookin' like a big girl on her new toy from MiMi and PaPa and stylin' in her new pink hat!
William getting not one, but two Cardinal hats! (Hmmm! There's no Sox/Cardinal rivalry here! ;)
William opening one of his favorite gifts: a tricycle!
My wild and crazy brother trying to stay awake when we went shopping early Friday morning!
It was cozy having everybody bunk at our house! Thank the Lord for inflatable air mattresses!
PaPa and Sadie having some fun!
Some sweet bonding time with Aunt Katie "Christmas" (William's nickname for Auntie Katie)
Chillin' with Uncle Matt
Thank you Mom, Dad, Katie, Jeff, and Matt for making the trip to our neck of the woods. WE LOVE YOU!
Turkey time!
MiMi giving a very curious Sadie a look at an ornament
I am in love with the set of matching personalized stockings my Mom and Dad got our family for Christmas! (Donna they look awesome!) Thanks for your help with the tree and mantle, Mom!
Sadie lookin' like a big girl on her new toy from MiMi and PaPa and stylin' in her new pink hat!
William getting not one, but two Cardinal hats! (Hmmm! There's no Sox/Cardinal rivalry here! ;)
William opening one of his favorite gifts: a tricycle!
My wild and crazy brother trying to stay awake when we went shopping early Friday morning!
It was cozy having everybody bunk at our house! Thank the Lord for inflatable air mattresses!
PaPa and Sadie having some fun!
Some sweet bonding time with Aunt Katie "Christmas" (William's nickname for Auntie Katie)
Chillin' with Uncle Matt
Thank you Mom, Dad, Katie, Jeff, and Matt for making the trip to our neck of the woods. WE LOVE YOU!
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