More Christmas and December Tidings

What a month!  I absolutely love December and all the excitement Christmas brings.  It has snowed about seven times- four of which required plowing.  Gwendolyn and I snuck outside one morning while Lucie napped to build a snowman.  He was a trump supporter.   

 

 

 

The other week in between sickness, we took the girls sledding in the backyard.  Dan made these sleds out of some construction stuff he had.  Honestly, they worked better than store-bought sleds!

 

Last week, our children at the church had a Christmas program for the first time.  It was exiting to see visitors and regular attendees alike getting as excited as the kids were.  Gwendolyn was an angel. 

 

 

That evening, we threw a Christmas party for the people at church.  It was a lovely time of fellowship and food. 

 

We played some fun games! 

 

I was so thankful for everyone who came. 

 

When we decorated our house for Christmas, Gwendolyn and Lucie loved playing with the ornaments and train under the tree.

 

 

 

Gwendolyn has gotten into loving having her photo taken.  She will sit down beside the tree and say "Lucie, Lucie" and wait for me to bring Lucie over for a picture.

 

Here is a video of Dan with the girls, watching the train go around the tree.

 

 

 

Another Christmas tradition is to hang all of the Christmas cards we get on the white door in the hallway.  The girls enjoyed playing with tape while I hung them up.

 

 

On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed such a beautiful service at the church. 

We took a few photos before going over.

 

 

 

 

Then after coming home, we let Gwendolyn open one present. 

 

She was so excited about the new books she got! 

 

 

Christmas morning we woke up, ate waffles, and then read the Christmas story from Luke 2. 

 

Gwendolyn's aunt sent her a picnic basket with little plates and plastic food for Christmas.  She loves it and insists on us having a picnic at least twice a day. 

 

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and that if you don't hear from me before, you have a happy New Year!   

 

 

Christmas with the Shedd's

Merry Christmas!  I meant to post this about a week and a half ago.  However, our family came down with the dreaded sickness that's been going around this area.  I mentioned in my last post how Gwen had gotten pink eye, had croup, and so on....

well, Lucie got the cough, got a touch of pink eye, and then everything seemed to clear up and be back to normal for about three days.  Then Dan came down with what appeared to be a bad cold (I think it was actually the flu), fevers, aches, and chills.  He stayed in bed for about three days.  Gwen got the sickness too, had high fevers for 2 1/2 days and worried me sick...and then somehow  Dan got pink eye.  So he had to stay home from church the 15th with Gwendolyn while Lucie and I went to church.  I was shocked that I didn't get sick.  Usually I'm the first one to get sick.

 

Anyway, I think the dearth has passed over our home now though.  Gwen's back to normal, Dan is up and working again.  We had a lovely Christmas Day and AMAZING Christmas eve.  I hope you all did as well. 

I promised to post our Christmas photos.  Sorry they are late.

 

In these pictures, Gwen and Lucie were both crying because they'd be awaken from naps to take these.  Lucie didn't think much of her headband either...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did something different and put pictures on our Christmas cards this year.  Our December was busy with church events, gatherings, and some extra stuff we've added to our holiday schedule as well. 

We attended the annual tree lighting in Granville.  The theme this year was "Grinch-mas" which was different.  It was a freezing cold night and this was right between sicknesses.  Gwendolyn ate free cookies and drank dunkin donuts hot chocolate while we tried to stay warm.  I was able to snap this photo of Dan and Gwendolyn with the Grinch, AKA, the mayor of Granville.  I love that we have a mayor who really gets into Christmas.  He worked and prepared for months, decorating the whole town this year.  It looked spectacular. 

 

Another thing we added to our plate was ringing the Salvation Army bell in pricechopper.  Our local branch leader needed helpers and I thought it would be a nice way to give back to the community.  Often, people come to our church asking for us to help them pay their electric bill or get groceries.  While we can't do that with everyone who asks, we refer them to the Salvation army, because the funds raised at Christmas time go toward heating fuel vouchers and pricechopper grocery cards and such for folks who have those needs. 

 

I think we'll make it a regular December family tradition.  The people at Pricechopper were so nice to us too.  They gave us free hot chocolate.

 

 

 

I'll try to post again tomorrow with the rest of our December photos and news.  2020 is just around the corner and I find that so hard to believe!  I hope you all enjoy these last few days of 2019!

 

 

November News

Greetings, friends and readers!

 

     It's been a fun and semi-eventful last month.  Fall "ended" abruptly with the first appearance of snow on November 8th.  Since then, we've had weather in the teens and twenty's and snow covering the ground.  I had a nice birthday in November.  Dan got me a cake and ice cream and also took me out to eat. 

     Our church celebrated Thanksgiving with a special meal the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  That was nice. 

    

     Dan's truck has been out of commission since October 14th.  He had some work done on it the week prior and then it broke down.  The shop that worked on it still has it.  

     The pumpkins that were decorating the front of the church froze and then thawed out, so they were needing to be used.  I cooked them and blended and canned four of them (used all of my canning jars too!) and we've been enjoying pumpkin bread and pies. 

 

We made a whirlwind trip to Georgia for a few days in November.  Our flights were very late at night.  Lucie and I had fun taking pictures of Dan and Gwen, who were sleeping.

 

 

In the airport at 11PM, our children were wide awake and ready to go!

 

 

 

It was nice to see family and spend a little time with them.

 

 

For Thanksgiving, we were able to drive down to Pennsylvania to my family's.  I enjoyed seeing everyone and being able to attend church at the church I grew up going to.  While we were down there, we made a quick stop at B+B's, the Amish store.  We have recently gotten into eating oatmeal for breakfast each morning, so we bought lots of oatmeal and coffee. 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwendolyn is now 18 months old and is doing pretty good.  When we were down in PA, she contracted croup, as well as pink eye.  She is still recovering from the croup/cold/cough she has.  We had to take her to get eye drops for the pink eye. 

 

Lucinda ended up getting the pink eye as well, and the croup.  Hers seems much worse because she's smaller.  Our nights have been very rough lately.  I'm just praying that soon everything will be back to normal. 

 

I make different kinds of Christmas cookies each day.  I take care of the children, teach piano lessons, and plan church events.  Dan works a lot, and tries to get a deer before the season ends next Tuesday.  So far, we've only gotten one, and it was small.

 

Well, I hope to post again in the next few days here.  We had Christmas family photos taken, so I'll share them next time!

Hope you all are loving your December so far!   

Vacation 2019

Hello, fine readers!  I apologize profusely for my lack of posts.  I'm sure you can imagine I'm either very behind on my news and pictures or absolutely nothing has happened in our lives. 

 

It's definitely that I'm simply behind in my posting. 

More than a month and a half behind!

 

So hang on, here we go!

 

 

Back in March, we came across a ministry that partners with Wyndham resorts and hotels to offer Pastors and their families vacations for a discounted price.  At first it seemed to good to be true...but we went ahead and purchased the certificate.  As soon as we did that, we were able to choose from many locations in the US to go to for a week.  Since I wanted to go somewhere within a five hour drive, our options were much smaller.  We settled on going to the Pocono mountains. 

Of course part of this deal is that if you don't want to pay any more than the certificate amount, you have to go in the off-season (understandably). 

 

I searched for a place in the Poconos with a full kitchen, at least two bedrooms, and had a playground.  Those were my stipulations. 

 

This is the place!  We stayed at Shawnee Village, Depuy.  It is a (huge) resort with hundreds of units.  Because we went at the end of September, there were not many guests there.   

 

 

 

Similar to our honeymoon package we got four years ago, this resort had a preview session where they try to sell you a timeshare.  We weren't required to go to it because we were simply guests using the resort like a hotel.  However, we were told that if we went, it was a free breakfast for the family. 

Embarrassingly enough, we woke the girls up, dressed them and took them to this "free breakfast" intending to not spend a dime or sign our lives away. 

 

After being seated to wait for our rep to come whisk us away to a table where we'd be put thru the ringer, the lady at the head desk came over and asked us to fill out a form. 

On the form, they asked for our income...Dan left it blank. 

A man came up and said we had to fill that out, so Dan wrote in our income. 

That man asked if the number was correct, and Dan said "Yes"

That man looked embarrassed, left, and then came back with his supervisor who told us in hushed tones that she was sorry, we were not rich enough to have a timeshare with their resort. 

 

Dan and I, with our two babies, said sweetly, "Oh...well can we still have the free breakfast? We were told it was free if we came and our daughter hasn't eaten yet."

 

We were given breakfast, but were asked to eat outside. 

Looking back, it's super funny and we'll always laugh about it now.  At the moment, surrounded by scads of wealthy retired people, it was humiliating to be called out for being too poor and asked to eat in a segregated area. 

Anyway, all that to say, "Don't ever go to those preview things for a free breakfast."  There's no such thing as a free lunch!  :D  haha!

 

 

This was our living room area. 

 

Thinking that our vacation week was going to be crisp fall weather like we'd been having in upstate NY, I packed mostly long sleeve outfits and warm tights for the girls.  The first part of the week it was in the 80's and 90's though!  In the mornings, Gwen would wear her little sweater and walk in the yard. 

 

She loved the flashlight too.

 

Because we were staying with the resort, we could rent games and movies, and we were given a list of activities going on in the week as well.  We participated in a couples game to see which couple knew each other the best.  I went into that game really thinking we'd totally win.  Unfortunately, all of the questions were either inappropriate ones or ones about favorite TV shows and channels...neither of which apply to our marriage or relationship.  So we bombed that game! :D

 

Gwendolyn loved playing with connect four.

 

We explored the Delaware-Water gap.

 

And played on every playground we could find!

 

There was a "petting zoo" (even though you really couldn't pet any animals except a rabbit)

 

Saying "hi" to the bear

 

 

We drove up to a lookout spot and enjoyed eating a picnic lunch up there. 

 

We went on many hikes.

 

We walked the short walk to see Dingmans falls (2nd largest fall in PA)

 

 

They even had steps that took you the whole way to the top of the falls.  I enjoyed going to the top.  Gwen got tired of climbing after one or two flights.

 

We enjoyed visiting three different churches while we vacationed.  It's always encouraging to see other small ministries doing the same thing we do each week. 

 

On the day before our last day, we went to a corn maze.  We were the only people there (because it was a weekday)

Everything was military helicopter themed.

 

 

 

After completing the map, there was a puzzle to unscramble. 

 

After that, we went to eat at Cici's pizza.  I love Cici's, but we don't have anything like it near us in NY. 

On our last day, the resort had a campfire with s'mores.  It was fun to get to talk to a few other people with little kids at the resort. 

 

And that was our 2019 vacation! I am already looking forward to planning next years!  Even if a lot of the seasonal things weren't open, it was fun to get away for a week and spend time together not being rushed by daily life.  Gwendolyn was especially VERY happy to get home though.  When she got out of the van, she ran up to the front door and shouted "House house!"

 

 

Hope you all are doing well.  I will try to post about our next adventure sooner rather than later.  It seems that the only time I can make posts is early in the morning before the children wake up.  Have a fabulous weekend!