Christmas Vacation … Recuperation

We are back home and trying to get back in the groove of things.  It is always bittersweet returning from vacations to visit our far-away family … so good to be home, but so sad to leave loved ones.

I am working on sorting through all the pictures from our trip, so I'll have those up shortly, but in the meantime...

I seem to be having a particularly hard time readjusting - yesterday, in an attempt to conquer the post-vacation Mt. Laundry, I overflowed the washing machine, sending soapy water all over the basement floor.  And today, I locked us out of the apartment.  Beautiful.

As a matter of fact, Benjamin has decided he's just gonna have to take care of some things himself…

Benjamin taking care of business … with a view of Mt. Laundry in the background

Even though his head got chopped off in this shot, it was just too sweet not to include :)

Merry Christmas to all!

In the midst of the parties, the fourteen dozen cookies, the music, the friends, the decorations, the gifts, and the celebrating Will's completion of his first semester in graduate school (YAY!!!), we are striving to find some quiet moments to contemplate the significance of what all this is about to begin with…

Emmanuel … God WITH us … humbling Himself to become like us in order to redeem us for Himself.  We are not alone.  He came HERE, walked this dirt and breathed this air, and the world will never be the same again … we will never be the same.

Wherever you are, may you find the true joy and peace that is found only in the presence of Emmanuel!

With much love, 

The Trautmans

In which we go stir-crazy, part 2

 So, our area of the country is setting all kinds of snow related records lately.  It's hard to keep track of them all, how many feet of snow we've gotten so far, or how many times I've fallen trying to get my snow boots off.

We have ventured out a little this week, and been reminded how grateful we are for salt, sand, and snowplows ... and for our neighbors who let us park a car in their driveway so we don't get plowed in!

Last week's big idea to make the snowed-in days more interesting was to get a big bowl of kitchen things for the Little Man to play with.  Thankfully, he loved it and continued playing with them for several days.  My to-do list for this week is much longer than the week, however, so Little Man was forced encouraged to come up with some creative ideas on his own...

Running around with bowls on our heads ... if this is what we're doing in mid-December, what exactly are we going to find ourselves doing come February?!?!

Christmas Tour

Hey y'all!  Come on in for a Christmas tour of our little nest!

The biggest Christmas tree we've ever had!

Here it is at night, with the lights glowing

The mantle decorated with stockings and the manger scene

Garland above the dining room windows

the dining room shelves even got a holiday facelift

And so did the computer table...

Dining room table centerpiece

Y'all come back now, ya hear?  :)

In which we go stir crazy...

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the [kitchen miscellany that won't kill or maim my toddler] is so delightful

and since we've no place to go

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

What happened to my baby boy?!?!

Just in the last two weeks, I feel like Benjamin has officially made the transition from baby to toddler and he is ALL BOY, let me tell you.

He has started throwing toys on the ground, then laughing this deep guttural laugh while flexing his arms... i keep trying to get it on video but haven't quite succeeded yet.

He got his first fat lip after a fall ... then got far more upset that he had to sit still for me to hold ice on it than he did about the fall itself.

He is constantly on the move, walking circles and circles around the house, and has discovered the joy of banging on things ... laundry baskets, doors, tables - you name it, he'll bang on it and think its the coolest thing ever.

And yet, after a nap, he still wants to cuddle in my lap for 15 or 20 minutes before he gets up and going ... he'll always be my baby boy!

I also love the way he lets his paci hang out the side of his mouth like it's a little green plastic cigar :)

My prayer for him lately has been from the last part of Isaiah 61:3, "They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."  I know he'll be all grown up all too soon, and our deepest hearts' desire is that he would be rooted as deep and able to stand as strong as a mighty oak - to the glory of the Lord!

So, it looks like ...

I'll be doing my Christmas shopping online today ...

and forego the trip to the mall I had considered making.  :)

Like walking into a real-live Hallmark Movie

While Aunt Mattie was here for Thanksgiving, we took advantage of a unique offering by a nearby town ... a Dickens Christmas Festival!  We braved the cold and wind to go and listen to carolers dressed in Dickens-era costumes, drink hot chocolate, and browse cutesy little shops and galleries.

Will asked me at one point if I felt like I had walked into the middle of a Hallmark movie, and really, how could you not feel like that?

Mattie and me with Scrooge

A group of carolers on the street-corner ... and Tiny Tim!

Benjamin stayed pretty warm ... and only pulled the mittens off a couple of times

Brass ensemble playing carols outside the shops ... see what I mean about being in a Hallmark movie?

A scene from A Christmas Carol taking place on the front lawn of the town hall

You could even borrow costumes for free!

Christmas carol sing-a-long at the park

Despite the numb feet and faces, I think this was one of my favorite Christmas activities ever!  What a great way to kick off the season!

Thanksgiving

I realize this Thanksgiving post is totally late, that most of you have moved on from the holiday, and that I've already uploaded our blog's Christmas decorations.  However, since we're still enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers :) I'm going to backtrack a little and write the Thanksgiving post that has been rolling around in my head since last Tuesday, but which I was too busy cleaning, shopping, and cooking to actually sit down and write!

We have so much to be grateful for ... we are surrounded by so many blessings, it's hard to even comprehend.  But here are some things I'm especially grateful for this year ...

- I'm grateful for holidays, for the sense of tradition and rhythm they give to life, for things to look forward to every year like homemade cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and wreaths on the door at Christmas.  I'm grateful for the opportunity that holidays give us to sit back and reflect on the year gone by - last Thanksgiving, Benjamin was 6 weeks old and he slept through the whole meal in his little bouncy seat.  This year, he sat in his little booster seat and ate sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and broccoli just like the rest of us - crazy!

- I'm so so so grateful for Benjamin.  I'm grateful for how his eyes crinkle when he smiles, for the little curl on the top of his head that sticks straight up in the air, for how he squeals when we tickle him.  I'm grateful that he's growing and healthy and learning to walk and talk.  I'm grateful for the precious mix of courage, curiosity, and caution that's coming out in his little personality.

- I'm profoundly grateful for the family of God, that even though we are so far away from Grandma and Nana and aunts and uncle and everyone else, we have real and true brothers and sisters just down the street from us.

- And I'm also grateful for planes and cars and blogs and facebook and free long-distance and all the other things that allow us to keep in touch with our family and friends scattered all over everywhere.  We had a marvelous time with Aunt Mattie, who flew from balmy Florida weather to snow and temps in the 20's to celebrate Thanksgiving with us ... and help us eat the 12 pound turkey! :)

As you can tell, Benjamin found his new best friend...

He keeps toddling to the guest room with this look on his face like, "I know she's gotta be in here somewhere!"

 So, Happy late Thanksgiving, everybody!

All Hallow's Eve

So, i think i'd better get the last holiday blogged about before the next one comes!  Plus, Will has commandeered our laptop for writing a paper over the Thanksgiving holiday, so i'd better get this post written before he wakes up!

(On a random note: graduate school has stolen my husband's opinion!  His brain is so tired from dealing formulas and radars and whatnot, that there's no energy left to give me an opinion on, say, Thanksgiving menu, Christmas card design, or holiday decorations.  I used to view it as a negative thing if he expressed an opinion different than mine on any of these "household" issues ... "What do you mean you want macaroni-and-cheese for Thanksgiving - don't you see all the starch on the menu already?" or "How can you prefer colored lights to white for the Christmas tree?  White lights are so much more classy!"  Now, his response to everything is a slightly exhausted, "It doesn't matter to me, sweetie, just do whatever you think."  And the ironic thing is that I really miss hearing his opinion :(

But anyway, we were in a quandary as to what to do for Halloween this year.  Benjamin is old enough to look really cute in one of those little costumes, but not quite able to appreciate trick-or-treating and such.    But, some sweet friends gave him an awesome costume for his birthday, and we decided to go visit his "Syracuse grandparents" - a dear couple from our church who love Benjamin (and us :).  Anyway, we had a lovely evening, with the cutest little lion you ever did see...

Just a little grin...

Though there are still several things to recap from the past month, I need to skip ahead for a minute and share this little gem ...

We went over to a friend's house yesterday for a little Christmas card photo shoot ... I am just in love with this picture, though it probably won't make the Christmas card :)

In case you're wondering what he's doing, Benjamin's very favorite game right now is peek-a-boo - he even knows how to go hide and pop out at you, or put a book in front of his face and then pull it away with the exact little grin on his face as in the picture above - its so precious how proud he is of himself!  but anyway, one his favorite ways to play peek-a-boo is pushing himself between Mommy or Daddy's knees, so that's what he's doing here.  Happy Monday all!

Enjoying the Fall

We have tried, in the midst of crazy-busy life, to enjoy the fall this year.  Last year, it seemed we missed quite a bit of it while we were in the midst of, ya know, having a newborn, not getting any sleep, and trying to figure out how to get pajamas on a wiggly infant or give him baths without drowning him.

Now that we have the pajamas and the baths well in hand (most evenings), we've done quite a few more fall-ish activities this year, and it has been so fun!  (Especially since it gives us some precious time with Daddy in the midst of his intense work/school schedule)  In addition to apple-picking, we had a campfire one evening with some dear friends.  (Though I know of some moms who have gone camping with a child in diapers, I am just not that brave, so we just stuck with an evening around the campfire and then came home to our comfy beds :)  It was chilly enough to make you want to drink hot cider and be close to the fire, but not so cold as to preclude Little Man's involvement...

Doesn't he look just thrilled to be there?  And isn't that hat the cutest thing you've ever seen?  Got it at a yard sale for like 50 cents!  In that second picture, it kinda looks like horns, but it doesn't look like that in real life ... but I digress...

We've taken lots of walks around our neighborhood and at area parks, just soaking up the colors of the fall leaves and those blue eyes ... uh, i mean blue skies :)

I love Fall, but it seems the most fleeting of the seasons ... the leaves fall so soon after they've changed color, and before you know it, the days have turned dreary, snowy, and really cold!  (It snowed on Halloween here ... yahoo).  A lesson in seizing the day, I suppose.  Hope you enjoyed your fall!

Birthday Fun, Part 2: The Party

Planning Benjamin's first birthday party was so much fun... I'm pretty sure I started thinking up ideas in July!  At first, I thought we'd invite lots of people, have music, food, games, etc ... maybe even make a craft with all the kids who would be there!

Yeah, I was totally out of control.  It was at that point that I remembered that my child doesn't like crowds.  When confronted with a large, noisy group of people, his MO is to curl up in a ball against my chest and peek out for the briefest of smiles when he's feeling particularly brave.  So, if this party was going to be any fun for Benjamin at all, then it was going to be small, and pretty low-key.  Nix the group craft. :)

But I printed cute invitations anyway!

I did attempt a couple of crafty ideas for decorating ... Here is the mantle in the living room (my favorite part)

and the cupcake toppers (which, I just have to point out, matched the invitations :)

I finally found a cupcake/frosting recipe which, while not being full of healthy things, was at least not completely full of awful things, and which Benjamin seemed to enjoy...

He also was a fan of the opening presents part, though, predictably, he was far more interested in the wrapping, ribbons, and packaging, than he was the actual contents. But it was sure fun to watch.

So, Benjamin's first birthday party was a resounding success.  He genuinely had fun with his sweet little friend who came - they looked at books, played with toys, and smeared icing everywhere :)  Will and I had a great time too, celebrating our first year as parents and the incredible gift that God has given us in this amazing little boy.

And so, we'll end this post with the lesson that Benjamin learned at his party ... 

BEWARE THE SUGAR SHOCK!

Birthday Fun!

Benjamin's birthday was just a hoot-and-a-half all the way around.  To start with, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Hannah made their first visit up to these Northernmost parts :)  Though their visit was short, we made the most of it and went apple-picking, Central New York's distinctive fall activity ... it was too much fun!

I'll take this one right here!

Plus, we came home with 20 pounds of the best-smelling apples I have ever ... well, smelled.  I was thinking of making apple butter, but we ended up just eating them all!

You mean there's more apples over there?  Maybe I want those instead...

The farm where we went apple picking also had pumpkins, animals, tractors, and all kinds of fun, so after picking our apples, we just lingered and enjoyed the gorgeous day...

And then, to top it all off, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Hannah gave Benjamin birthday gifts perfectly fitting their role as the Tennessee Uncle and Aunt ... a camo jacket and a pop-gun!

So, that was Benjamin's birthday ... his party was actually the next day, and I'm gonna have to save that for the next post, because remembering all this fun is making me tired.  Thanks so much for your visit, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Hannah!  What a wonderful memory of Benjamin's first birthday!