Traveling with Abby

We took Abby to West Virginia for Christmas with my side of the family....and then took her to Pittsburgh for New Year's with the Woolley side of the family. She is such a good traveler - we take her just about everywhere we go. Abby loves to sit in the back seat like a person and look out the window!

Abby and Hannah are best buds when they travel together.

Abby likes to know where we are going - especially when we get close to a destination!

Before Hannah, Abby used to get the whole backseat and put her head on the armrest between the front seats....Hannah and the car seat has been a bit of an adjustment, but she still finds a way to get attention : )

We couldn't ask for a better dog! We love her!

New Camera!

I got a new camera for Christmas...so here are a few shots from an impromptu photo session with my favorite subject!!! Enjoy!

Jaidyn's Baptism

Jaidyn Renee Kowall (daughter of my cousin, Susan) is officially my first (and only) goddaughter!

Susan had asked me to be Jaidyn's godmother a few weeks ago....she told me that she wanted me to do it because I have had and continue to maintain a strong relationship with God, family, church, etc. and that she thought there couldn't be a better person for the role. She told me that teaching my child to pray and taking her to church was the type of example that she was proud I was setting with Hannah. It is really nice to know that I'm living out my faith in a noticeable way.

Of course, the biggest problem with me being a godparent in the Catholic church is that I stopped going to Catholic church and started going to church with Jon when we were seriously dating. Jon, after a previous Catholic girlfriend, RCIA classes, and hours of discussions with priests, just couldn't come to terms with some doctrinal issues and insisted that we attend church together - and not a Catholic one - if we were going to be serious. I agreed that it was important and so we found a church together and it's been a number of years since I'd been to Mass. I actually suggested to Susan that I just serve as a witness, since I wasn't really "qualified" (in the Church's eyes) for the role - she didn't like that idea and asked me to see what I could do. In the end, the place I used to attend still had me in the record books so we could provide appropriate documentation to the church. [Amazingly, I discovered that the reason you have to be a member of a parish to be a godparent dates back to the middle ages when Catholics were being persecuted -- the church required someone on the "inside" to vouch for (i.e., sponsor) you when getting baptized (at the time, baptisms were typically adults only)...which is where the rule developed.] During the Mass, my only role was to answer affirmatively that "yes" I will support the parents in raising Jaidyn as a Christian -- and I can certainly (and will) do that! While I do realize I don't technically fit the Church's requirements, I do take my role seriously and am praying for this little girl every day and want to do my part to help her grow in faith and come to love Jesus someday.

Jaidyn's baptism was on the "Feast of the Family" - a perfect day to celebrate a baptism because the baptism is all about parents and godparents affirming their desire to raise the child as a Christian and do all they can to support that. The homily was about the family's role in developing faith and how the church family plays an important role in that too. The church (and even the larger community) is to come alongside the natural family and assist them, support them, and help nurture children to grow in faith -- part of the "it takes a village" philosophy. We were told about how a family can really be anyone who shows you love, and as an example of that we heard about a home for orphans run by nuns that has been a "family" for children who otherwise wouldn't have one. I know that there have been many times when friends have served a very important role in my life - both as a child and an adult - and shown me love in numerous ways that made them like family. I hope that I can help nurture Jaidyn and show her love as she grows up so that she thinks of me as part of her family.

Me, Jaidyn & Susan before Mass

(minutes before Jaidyn ripped a giant piece of lace off the front of her dress - Jaidyn was wearing Susan's baptismal outfit and no one realized how easily 30-year-old lace tore...at least we got at least one picture of her in the outfit before she ripped it)

Julie & Jaidyn

Getting ready for the baptism

Jaidyn is baptised!! Welcome as a member of the Church!

(she did not like the water!)

The priest is telling us the water was cold!

(we didn't get Jaidyn's pouty-lip picture)

Listening to the priest tell Susan & Gary about their responsibility as parents

Parents & Godparents
(Gary's brother, Brian, is the godfather)

The Kowall Family with the priest

(I wanted to just use the close-up, but Gary's eyes were closed!)

Parents, take 2

Parents & Grandparents

John & Patty Frayte, Susan, Jaidyn & Gary Kowall, and Gloria & Sam Kowall

Fun at the Frayte's

We spent some time visiting my Aunt Patty & Uncle John while we were in PA....and since Grandma is living there now it certainly makes for "one stop shopping (visiting)". Since Grandma was a little tired after playing with Liam and needed a nap, we found a way to entertain ourselves for a while! Two toddlers in the house certainly creates a lot of commotion!

Daddy plays horsey...
...for Hannah and Liam

"TACKLE"

(Liam's favorite game - he showed Hannah how to do it)

Susan and Jaidyn came over for dinner....Hannah certainly LOVES babies.

She greeted Jaidyn with a kiss
me with Hannah and Jaidyn

Hannah was giving Jaidyn a big bear hug!

Visit with GG Catney

On Saturday we went to Pennsylvania to visit my Grandma Catney. She was so excited to have the little kids coming for a visit! Here's a picture of her with all of her great-grandchildren. Liam (almost 2), Jaidyn (6 months), and Hannah (almost 2)

It is a lot of fun that Karen, Susan and I are having our kids all at the same time - we're going through the same things and can be a resource for each other. When Mom and Aunt Patty started having kids, they had all of their kids really close together too and as a result we did TONS of things growing up with our cousins. I was born first, then 15 months later Karen arrived, 1 month later Susan was born, 2 years later came Daniel, and 1 year after that was Michael. The net result for Grandma was 5 grandkids in 5 years. There is a really cute picture of her holding all 5 of us on the couch, and if I can get a copy to get scanned, I'll add it in. Grandma now has managed to get 3 great-grandkids in 18 months, which is how she started out with the round of grandkids 30 years ago! I hope all of these cousins can grow up as friends too - even though I know it will be harder since we are a little (okay, a lot) more spread apart.

Sugar Cookies

Our last Christmas Day activity was making sugar cookies after dinner. The kids loved playing with the flour, dough, and sprinkles! (We decided that we had enough of a mess without making icing this time.) Here are a few of the pictures of Hannah and Liam.

Rolling the dough

At times Hannah wasn't really rolling her dough - just playing with it.

Hannah's first cookie

Liam and his cookie-cutter collection Grandma helps out

Hannah taste-tests the dough

Making cookies didn't hold Hannah's attention very long and after a while she was climbing the chair...once she put some sprinkles on her cookies, that is.

Liam was REALLY into the dough -- AND the sprinkles!
Liam wanted to eat the sprinkles one by one...

The finished product - Hannah was in charge of the red sprinkles.

We had flour everywhere after this fun project, so Karen and I took the kids up to take a bath. They had so much fun playing together today - what a great way to wrap up the day!

Well.....at least until bedtime....Hannah was off schedule a lot of the time during our trip to West Virginia and she made it really difficult for us. She usually runs to her crib or bed at home and demands to be put in bed and we walk away....and she's out. At my parents' house that wasn't the case - we had hours of wrestling and crying and tantrums. Christmas night about 10pm was when the straw broke the camel's (my) back -- after an hour+ of me trying to get her to stay into bed and go to sleep (for the 2nd time!), she pulled down her pants, took off her diaper, and showed it to me with a "look Mommy"....just as I thought she was almost ready to go to sleep. UGH! I took her down stairs and gave her to Jon with a "you deal with her" and "get her to sleep." Let's just say that it took him 2 minutes and she was out...I was less than thrilled. Thankfully we'll soon have her back on her normal routine at home.

It's SNOWING?!?!?!

To fully appreciate this story, you need to know that my mom has this friend who told my mom - years ago - about how one time when her grandkids were little she filled a kiddie swimming pool with rice and let them "swim" in their diapers in the house. Mom decided right then and there that she wanted to be that kind of a "fun" grandma.

Mom actually decided she was ready for grandkids years ago - I think Karen and I were each only engaged to the guys at the time. Mom held a little baby in the nursery at church and then called us and told us that she wasn't pressuring, but that when we were ready, she was ready -- she wasn't one of those women who didn't want to be a grandma or feel old -- she was all about it. Of course, I don't think she thought that Karen and I would supply her with her first two grandchildren in the span of 11 days....we're just trying to keep her on her toes.

After all of the Christmas presents were opened I asked mom for a box to put our gifts in to transport home. She brought in a giant computer box and told me that she thought it was empty, but might be full of packing peanuts. Well, it was full of peanuts. I poured some of them into a smaller box because I thought the kids might have fun with them....and then when I realized how much fun they'd have, I poured them all out (well that, and the fact that it wasn't my house!). If this was the only gift the kids got all day, they would have been totally satisfied. I had a hard time choosing pictures, so there are a lot!

Liam discovers that you can "squish" the peanuts. Liam and Hannah dive right in!

Hannah tries to collect them to carry them around

Examining the peanuts

She loved tossing them up in the air!

Just to give you an idea of the volume of the peanuts on the floor....
Liam played football in the peanuts!

Setting up the ball for a kickoff! Ah, Liam's new present has a good use -- he LOVED scooping up the peanuts and dumping them!
Grandpap Folger got into the fun and helped Liam with steering and dumping
Hannah took her turn on the tractor - she LOVED driving it!
Liam in the trailer with Hannah driving -- she was in this position quite a bit -- she loved to steer and Liam was really good about sharing with her.

Doesn't everyone make snow angels in the house?

Mom was so thrilled that the kids had so much fun. The peanuts were all over the floor, everyone's clothes, even the TV screen from the static! I figure there are some people out there who would cringe at the mess, but mom just laughed and got down on the floor to play with them -- Dad too. We bagged up the peanuts that we could scoop up with a broom and dustpan and then got out the vacuum cleaner for the rest. Granted, she'll probably still be finding peanuts in her house for months, but I have a feeling that she'll be smiling when she finds them.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning started out early at the Folger House. Apparently Liam got up around 5am (just like his Mommy used to do when she was little!), but Karen managed to keep him in bed (or at least in her room) until about 6. I had prepared a breakfast casserole and butterscotch cinnamon rolls the night before, so Mom put them in the oven for me in the morning and had everything out and ready for everyone to eat at 7am. Hannah actually slept in (probably because she was up late and didn't nap much on Christmas Eve), and I actually had to wake her up around 8am when we finally decided to open presents because everyone else was up and had eaten. I'm amazed that Liam lasted a whole two hours downstairs without ripping into the presents. He kept running into the family room squealing "presents" and then running back to us. He was all over those packages!

Liam and Hannah check out the packages

Aunt Karen tries to keep Liam from moving the presents from under the tree

Liam was really into opening presents. Hannah was into watching what Liam was doing. She really enjoyed passing gifts out to people, and would rip a gift open when encouraged, but there was just too much going on for her to focus on her own presents.

Grandma managed to get Hannah to sit still and open a present

...and then she took her gift to Uncle Brian to try out. To be honest, I think if we only got her one thing she would have been perfectly content.

The next round of gifts have a bit of a back-story.... My brother ordered Christmas presents for Hannah and Liam some time ago and according to mom was quite excited to get them. He had everything shipped to WV so he wouldn't have to figure out transportation. Dad had offered to assemble everything for him because he wasn't sure when he would make it home but Daniel said he wanted to do it. When he made it home from New York (via Pittsburgh for Steelers and Penguins games the week of Christmas), according to my dad he said "hello" and immediately went to the basement to assemble the gifts. Karen & I were forbidden to go in the canning cellar (apparently the storage location) and when Mom went to bed on Christmas Eve she asked Daniel how he was going to give the gifts and he told her that he'd figure something out.

What he did was wrap these giant gifts with wrapping paper. They were tucked into two separate corners of the room.... He got Hannah a play kitchen and he got Liam a riding tractor/end loader. They were the "hit gifts" of the day.

Both Hannah and Liam LOVED the play kitchen and were at it non-stop once it was opened. This kitchen isn't the type of kitchen I had as a kid....the frying pan sizzles when you put it on the burner & the pot "boils" -- it is really neat. Great job, Daniel!
They played so well together and were having so much fun that Liam had to be coaxed into opening his gift.... But once he opened it, he was really into it. It's so big that Grandma and Grandpap will have to make a delivery when they go to DC for Liam's birthday.

Hannah got a new wagon. We got everyone dressed and bundled up (after this picture) and I took them outside for a walk....one trip around the driveway and it started to rain -- Murphy's Law!

Abby definitely isn't our "baby" anymore...we didn't even get her a present. But, she opened one of Hannah's after Hannah lost interest : )

Of course, the adults at the house got some very nice gifts as well, but they really aren't worth photographing!! This was certainly a wonderful Christmas. We had a lot of fun sitting around talking, watching the kids play, and just enjoying each other's company (and lots of food too!). I really wish my sister and Brian lived closer so the kids could play together more often -- they were such a pair! Uncle Daniel spent a lot of time playing with his niece and nephew - I'm sure he wishes he got to see them more often. Of course my mom loved having all of us home (although as our families grow, the Folger house definitely starts to feel smaller than it did growing up....could also have something to do with the fact that Karen and I married some good-sized guys!) and getting to play with the kids - she loves being a grandma! Definitely a memorable time had by all.