Saturday, January 29, 2011
Happy 1st Birthday to our princess, Erin (feb 2010)
What a joy you are, Erin! You are a perfect little angel and we think youre the cutest little princess ever! You enjoy sharing a room with Conor. You love waking up (way too early) and seeing him! You go with the flo and are a happy go lucky kind of girl. thanks :0)You are my darling treasure. For your first birthday we went to the greenridge gym were you and Conor love to swim. We ate at Applebees for your birthday dinner and came home for cake and presents. We skyped your grandparents and aunties so they could see you on your special day. Everyone loves you and your nursery workers tell us such cute stories about you. You like to sing for them and you love the little tyke swings in there. You love to eat, play, have fun, read, sing. What can i say? youre perfect. I love you baby girl. Happy 1st Birthday!
Puggles
Conor and I loved going to Puggles together. Puggles is the 2 year old program for AWANA. I loved helping him learn to interact with his new friends and it was so much fun to see him learn and sing with his little 2 year old pals. Tomorrow night is Erin's first night in Puggles :) Our first winter here was cold and we had a lot of snow. Very unusual for Roanoke. Conor enjoyed playing in the snow though and James didnt have to shovel the driveway bc we didnt have one :) fun had by all!
Erin's second year of life in a nutshell (i def make a short story LONG)
It's Erin's birthday next sunday!!! I love birthdays :) It is your special day of the year so by all means - take advantage of it!
What has Erin been up to since my last post?
Well, for her first christmas we travelled to Acworth, GA to be with my brother Kevin's family. They enjoyed you so much erin! You were 10 months old and loved being cuddled :) You loved their dogs and would crawl around looking for them. On Christmas Eve we drove to Greenville, SC to be with my college friend Dayna and family. Dayna and I are like sisters and we have had many fights to prove it! We are lifers and love sharing our families with each other. We drove there hoping to go to their chirstmas eve service but we missed it due to traffic and conor's potty accident (note to self - put the two yr old in a pull up for road trips). Dayna had just had her third baby and her hubby Ben recently (like 2 wks prior) had surgery. Our christmas morning was sweet because the five children sat and heard the real meaning of Christmas and knew it was Jesus' birthday. I love that and think we families need to forget the tinsel and lights and focus on Christ ALOT more that we do during this special time of year! James and I put a few service projects in the kids christmas stockings for us to complete as a family during the folloing year which was very special to us. We took the kids to a near by nursing home and sang christmas carols. It was sweet. I will say trying to bring christmas cheer with 5 kids four years old and under was stressful bc of the meltdowns (conor, ahem!) But we atleast made them happy - to enjoy a peaceful christmas after our visit and make them chuckle at our efforts... it was fun and meaningful though and something i would like us to do more of. Keep in mind that we had just moved to our Virginia apartment less than two weeks before this road trip and that is what I blame for Conor's many melt downs and the fact that the poor child was only 2 years old. Our stress free Christmas had a little too much stress in it after all. Conor puked all over their couch AND wrote all over their playroom/guestroom wall (it took me four whole mr magic erasers to get rid of his handy work!) After destroying their beautiful home we headed back to GA to torment my brother's family for the new year celebration. Erin - what were you doing during all of this? being sweet, of course, just like your dear old daddy. You were the sweetest little angel. Conor? not so much!!! My childhood Pastor laughed at me when he met Conor and said "you can tell who that child's mother is" - ha ha... thats all i have to say :0) Conor got fire trucks for Christmas and Mickey mouse. Erin, you got Minnie Mouse. You still carry her around a year later so she was a winner :) So Christmas was a little crazy. I said this year would be different. It had different people in it and different states but still ended up crazy. Next year??? we are staying at home where the sign on my door says no stress allowed :)I will say, kids, that I am blessed to have you and love every moment we have together. Your mother is a bit of a nut job BUT I love you two dearly and your darling daddy. May God bless us with many happy memories together and may we enjoy many stress free christmas' to come. I love you Erin. Happy first Christmas with us (a year late!) Conor - you had a blast Christmas 2010 but I shall write about that in another post. Love you son!
What has Erin been up to since my last post?
Well, for her first christmas we travelled to Acworth, GA to be with my brother Kevin's family. They enjoyed you so much erin! You were 10 months old and loved being cuddled :) You loved their dogs and would crawl around looking for them. On Christmas Eve we drove to Greenville, SC to be with my college friend Dayna and family. Dayna and I are like sisters and we have had many fights to prove it! We are lifers and love sharing our families with each other. We drove there hoping to go to their chirstmas eve service but we missed it due to traffic and conor's potty accident (note to self - put the two yr old in a pull up for road trips). Dayna had just had her third baby and her hubby Ben recently (like 2 wks prior) had surgery. Our christmas morning was sweet because the five children sat and heard the real meaning of Christmas and knew it was Jesus' birthday. I love that and think we families need to forget the tinsel and lights and focus on Christ ALOT more that we do during this special time of year! James and I put a few service projects in the kids christmas stockings for us to complete as a family during the folloing year which was very special to us. We took the kids to a near by nursing home and sang christmas carols. It was sweet. I will say trying to bring christmas cheer with 5 kids four years old and under was stressful bc of the meltdowns (conor, ahem!) But we atleast made them happy - to enjoy a peaceful christmas after our visit and make them chuckle at our efforts... it was fun and meaningful though and something i would like us to do more of. Keep in mind that we had just moved to our Virginia apartment less than two weeks before this road trip and that is what I blame for Conor's many melt downs and the fact that the poor child was only 2 years old. Our stress free Christmas had a little too much stress in it after all. Conor puked all over their couch AND wrote all over their playroom/guestroom wall (it took me four whole mr magic erasers to get rid of his handy work!) After destroying their beautiful home we headed back to GA to torment my brother's family for the new year celebration. Erin - what were you doing during all of this? being sweet, of course, just like your dear old daddy. You were the sweetest little angel. Conor? not so much!!! My childhood Pastor laughed at me when he met Conor and said "you can tell who that child's mother is" - ha ha... thats all i have to say :0) Conor got fire trucks for Christmas and Mickey mouse. Erin, you got Minnie Mouse. You still carry her around a year later so she was a winner :) So Christmas was a little crazy. I said this year would be different. It had different people in it and different states but still ended up crazy. Next year??? we are staying at home where the sign on my door says no stress allowed :)I will say, kids, that I am blessed to have you and love every moment we have together. Your mother is a bit of a nut job BUT I love you two dearly and your darling daddy. May God bless us with many happy memories together and may we enjoy many stress free christmas' to come. I love you Erin. Happy first Christmas with us (a year late!) Conor - you had a blast Christmas 2010 but I shall write about that in another post. Love you son!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
It has been too long since my last update! Michiana to Virginia one last time.
Good Bye Granger House
My two brave babies
Erin Grace is turning two years old in less than two weeks and i feel the need to share on here what she and conor have been up to over the last year and two months! wow - sorry guys (conor and erin) for getting so behind! why did i stop updating? well, i blame facebook bc i can put my pics on there. And, to be honest, it's been a rough/busy year!
We happily moved from michiana (michigan, indiana) to work in a bigger church with a lot more staff and more wisdom/oppertunities to glean from. This church has a christian school so now our children get to attend there and i dont have to homeschool (big sigh of relief for everyone involved!) So we are happy to live in Roanoke, Va.
I have moved many times so why would this move be different? Well, i shared the birth of my children with my cbc friends and my first few years of marriage with them. They grew to be my family. I came to love (most of) them very much!
There was Jeannie and her family who loved my kids and would do anything for us and we would do anything for them! She watched my kids so much for me so i wouldnt go insane! She watched Conor for me while we were in the hospital having erin. She brought Conor to visit us which is a very special memory. She was the first one to share in our joy to see erin. I didnt want many visitors bc to me im in the hospital for a reason - leave me alone. But seeing Jeannie was like seeing family and a memory i cherish. My mam planned on being there for both births but each time the kiddos came early and mam missed it (i went into labor with conor while mam was flying from ireland. by the time she landed, conor was born!). So its a little lonely to birth a baby and have no family to share in the joy. Jeannie was my "family" and def cheered me up. One time conor was running in a restaurant. He fell and broke his front tooth. It was scary to see blood coming from his mouth. What did we do? we drove to Jeannie's to be reassured that everything was ok. Jeannie - an angel in disguise. That's how i see her.
I have sweet memories for so many from cbc. My mommy freinds (girls i was preg with and our kids shared their first memories together). Mary and Josh who we shared the youth group with. If we had any prob in the house or with our car - Josh fixed it and we would celebrate with pizza or chinese! Mary - this woman can do everything and can do it all well! A great friend with a heart larger than life. Mary H. who would come to my house and pray with me each monday. That woman kept me from depression and kept me seeing God's big picture manys a time. Ben and Bailey's family who thought our kids were rock stars and they made conor a special blanket before we left. That fire fighter blanket is on his bed and makes me think of that sweet family each night. There was so many old people! That might sound rude but wow - so much wisdom in one room!! I honestly had not been around older christians before. I came from Ireland where I did not know one Christian older than 50 so to have their influence was very special to me. So when I think of CBC, i think of the many blessings and the amazing learning oppertunity. I miss my friends. Conor misses his freinds too. He talks about Titus all the time. Maybe bc we lived with him for a week before we moved and maybe he thought that was his new life? I dont know but I do feel bad for him. A few times I have heard him mention other kids to be his best friend. Skylar, Trevor, Elijah and for that I am grateful.
I am making new friends and for that I am very thankful too. I had a couple that were like family but God has moved them away already (how rude!) jk :0) Bonding takes time and people that feel like family are a rare gem but Im open and know God has always provided and is in the midst of providing. I remember my first year at CBC. I walked into the church office where Hannah, Mary and Joy were talking. I walked out feeling so alone. My brother told me to give it a year and I would feel at home there. That was good advice and I have kept that in mind in this new State too. Sometimes I think it is very odd to live in a place where James and I have no blood family. But most times I feel honored and blessed to know my need for God. I need God for so many things because I cant ask family to jump in. James and I need each other so much more too. We make concious efforts for family fun time. We have many blessings here and i will tell you kids about it in the posts to come. Our new house, Conor's school, Conor and Erin's awesome ss teachers and wed night workers who love them very much. We are blessed.
Well, now that I have shared those precious memories (to me!), I am ready to go on. Ready to tell you what the kids have been up to over the last year! You prob already know but I want to document it so Conor and Erin can look back on their early days. Erin, you have been such a cute, fun addition to our family. We love you and are so proud of you and your big brother. You dont seem to miss CBC - you didnt skip a beat. You have Conor and thats all you need ;) I hope you two keep up your beautiful friendship. I tell Conor that daddy would take care of his little sister, ruthie, and make her happy too (so grandma and james tell me - i obviousally wasnt there). He loves being like daddy and loves his little sister.
Well, a year and two months later, here's to new beginnings!! I love my little family and I love the God who gave me you!
Erin Grace is turning two years old in less than two weeks and i feel the need to share on here what she and conor have been up to over the last year and two months! wow - sorry guys (conor and erin) for getting so behind! why did i stop updating? well, i blame facebook bc i can put my pics on there. And, to be honest, it's been a rough/busy year!
We happily moved from michiana (michigan, indiana) to work in a bigger church with a lot more staff and more wisdom/oppertunities to glean from. This church has a christian school so now our children get to attend there and i dont have to homeschool (big sigh of relief for everyone involved!) So we are happy to live in Roanoke, Va.
I have moved many times so why would this move be different? Well, i shared the birth of my children with my cbc friends and my first few years of marriage with them. They grew to be my family. I came to love (most of) them very much!
There was Jeannie and her family who loved my kids and would do anything for us and we would do anything for them! She watched my kids so much for me so i wouldnt go insane! She watched Conor for me while we were in the hospital having erin. She brought Conor to visit us which is a very special memory. She was the first one to share in our joy to see erin. I didnt want many visitors bc to me im in the hospital for a reason - leave me alone. But seeing Jeannie was like seeing family and a memory i cherish. My mam planned on being there for both births but each time the kiddos came early and mam missed it (i went into labor with conor while mam was flying from ireland. by the time she landed, conor was born!). So its a little lonely to birth a baby and have no family to share in the joy. Jeannie was my "family" and def cheered me up. One time conor was running in a restaurant. He fell and broke his front tooth. It was scary to see blood coming from his mouth. What did we do? we drove to Jeannie's to be reassured that everything was ok. Jeannie - an angel in disguise. That's how i see her.
I have sweet memories for so many from cbc. My mommy freinds (girls i was preg with and our kids shared their first memories together). Mary and Josh who we shared the youth group with. If we had any prob in the house or with our car - Josh fixed it and we would celebrate with pizza or chinese! Mary - this woman can do everything and can do it all well! A great friend with a heart larger than life. Mary H. who would come to my house and pray with me each monday. That woman kept me from depression and kept me seeing God's big picture manys a time. Ben and Bailey's family who thought our kids were rock stars and they made conor a special blanket before we left. That fire fighter blanket is on his bed and makes me think of that sweet family each night. There was so many old people! That might sound rude but wow - so much wisdom in one room!! I honestly had not been around older christians before. I came from Ireland where I did not know one Christian older than 50 so to have their influence was very special to me. So when I think of CBC, i think of the many blessings and the amazing learning oppertunity. I miss my friends. Conor misses his freinds too. He talks about Titus all the time. Maybe bc we lived with him for a week before we moved and maybe he thought that was his new life? I dont know but I do feel bad for him. A few times I have heard him mention other kids to be his best friend. Skylar, Trevor, Elijah and for that I am grateful.
I am making new friends and for that I am very thankful too. I had a couple that were like family but God has moved them away already (how rude!) jk :0) Bonding takes time and people that feel like family are a rare gem but Im open and know God has always provided and is in the midst of providing. I remember my first year at CBC. I walked into the church office where Hannah, Mary and Joy were talking. I walked out feeling so alone. My brother told me to give it a year and I would feel at home there. That was good advice and I have kept that in mind in this new State too. Sometimes I think it is very odd to live in a place where James and I have no blood family. But most times I feel honored and blessed to know my need for God. I need God for so many things because I cant ask family to jump in. James and I need each other so much more too. We make concious efforts for family fun time. We have many blessings here and i will tell you kids about it in the posts to come. Our new house, Conor's school, Conor and Erin's awesome ss teachers and wed night workers who love them very much. We are blessed.
Well, now that I have shared those precious memories (to me!), I am ready to go on. Ready to tell you what the kids have been up to over the last year! You prob already know but I want to document it so Conor and Erin can look back on their early days. Erin, you have been such a cute, fun addition to our family. We love you and are so proud of you and your big brother. You dont seem to miss CBC - you didnt skip a beat. You have Conor and thats all you need ;) I hope you two keep up your beautiful friendship. I tell Conor that daddy would take care of his little sister, ruthie, and make her happy too (so grandma and james tell me - i obviousally wasnt there). He loves being like daddy and loves his little sister.
Well, a year and two months later, here's to new beginnings!! I love my little family and I love the God who gave me you!
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