Visiting "Bobo" and Celebrating the 1st Christmas of the Year

What a fun weekend!

We started on Friday by visiting COSI and going to Sesame Street's "The Body". It was so fun! Eric loved it of course, and loved seeing Elmo (Bobo). We played and until we dropped - almost literally. And it was great being back at COSI - I (Marisa) miss it so much!


Then Saturday Tim and I celebrated 'our' Christmas with Eric. We figured with two other Christmases coming up at the grandparents' houses, it might do good to spread the wealth around and not get Eric overwhelmed. It worked perfectly. We opened our stockings, had a giant breakfast and opened presents, just like we would on Christmas day. It was really great and I'm glad we did - Eric wanted to play with everything he got and didn't want to stop to open another gift. So...it took a while! Looks like Thursday will be a long day but we can't wait! Here are some of the pictures I took:

As we started down Sesame Street, Eric was a little afraid that

Oscar might pop out of the trash can

He soon got his smile back when he saw Elmo's World!

He then danced and clapped with Grover

In Mr. Hooper's Store he thought the scanner was a telephone. Hello?

Christmas morning (#1)! Eric loved the choo choo going around the tree - almost enough not to open the presents!

By the end of it all, we were all pooped - especially Bailey

Later that afternoon, Eric helped us make christmas cookies.

He did the decorating.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This is by far my favorite time of the year. Seriously! I listen to Christmas music as soon as it starts (which was before Thanksgiving this year). I love the smells of Christmas - pine trees, snow in the air, all the goodies baking. And despite all the cynicism of years past, I truly believe that everyone is a little happier in December. Who wouldn't be when a big jolly guy is about to drop presents off to you?? There are the Christmas parties where you get to see all of your old friends, catch up and do a lot of laughing. And of course at church you really get to think about the holiday season, listen to beautiful music and watch the kids perform a Christmas play. Yeah, this is the best time of the year - hope it is for you too!

Our dapper young man saying Merry Christmas!

This is one of Eric's very favorite things to do - play with the Russian nesting dolls that I got out for Christmas. He'll stack them, unstack them, move them, line them up....

We've been to a lot of holiday parties so far, and here are some of our favorite moments. This first is from the 'COSI girls' party. You can see that we were missing two of our girls, Ann & Jess!
Here are Eric and his buddy, Jacob Dean, posing for a picture in front of the Dean's tree. Apparently E wanted to show you where his ear is. The second one I stole from the Dean's website because it's just too cute. Yes, I need a new camera! (see The Dean Family to the right for more on baby Jake)

Last night we had our playgroup Christmas party and the kids all wore their holiday best. You can't really see Elyn in this picture, but you get the idea. They wouldn't all sit still long enough for me to get a picture. They were all cute as buttons and wore themselves out by the end of the evening!

Thanksgiving and Then Some

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Marisa & Eric got to go stay with the Ellis' for the whole week. It was a much needed week off and we can't wait to get back for Christmas to see the whole family again!

Eric gets ready for Thanksgiving wearing his Indian feathers Aunt Heather teaches Eric his first official piano lesson He was actually really good! Sign us up!

Then he found Papa Bill's hat - at least we know what he'll look
like as an older man
Marisa's wonderful friend Megan got to visit and meet Eric

On Thanksgiving Day, Eric and Ashton "posed" for this picture
We then tried to get Mama Jean with the great-grandkids,
but this was as close as we got!

Eric takes a break to read a book in his rocking chair

Saturday night, we headed up to Morgantown to celebrate the marriage

of our good friends, Renee and Todd (congrats guys!)

The reception location ranks high on the list as one of the coolest we've

been to - overlooking Mountaineer Field. Go 'eers!

Finally, when we got home, Eric had to try on his new Ugg boots from New Zealand.

Thanks Nana & Papa!

Visiting Baby Drew

Well, I'm happy to report that this week was much better than the last. Eric is still very cranky and not sleeping well, but we went to the dentist for the first time today, and Dr. Jeff says everything looks great....but it will still be a few days before all 4 molars are completely through. Until then, we're best friends with baby Tylenol! :)

Back to some pictures! Last weekend, we went to visit Jenny and Brian and meet their newest addition, Drew. I can't believe how fast he is growing! I think we waited too long to meet him because he's already growing up too fast! He's eating cereal, trying to sit in a tripod position and is quite the talker!

And of course, Chloe is the ever perfect big sister. She clearly adores baby Drew and helps out with him whenever she can. She is getting more beautiful every day and we couldn't believe how much she had grown in just the few short months since we last visited. We had a wonderful afternoon and can't wait to see the whole Harves clan again soon. Here are some shots of our day:

Drew in his high chair - so big!

Almost sitting!
Eric figured out the basketball hoop very fast - a phenom???? Chloe shows off her backpack

Brother and sister
Old friends

The growing families!

Tim & Marisa's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

In homage to one of my very favorite children's books...

Last week started with Daylight Savings Time. We were supposed to get an hour extra of sleep, but how do you explain that to a 1-year-old?
Our cable service was on the fritz so the cable guy came to look at it; 3 hours later we had a new cable line in our back yard, a new tv box and a new modem. The guy said we needed a lot more work, but he didn't have time to do it all.
We took Tim's car in for an oil change. $1500 later we had a new radiator and new brakes. And it still makes a noise.
Eric cut all 4 of his first-year molars in 2 weeks - 3 this week. This made for sleepless nights and very cranky days.
Tim's been working 10-12 hour days because he's in the banking industry and he has to. The phrase "Just be glad you have a job" has come up a lot this week.
We woke up Friday to a puddle of water in our kitchen coming from the bathroom upstairs. The plumbers said it was an easy fix, but an hour later it wasn't quite as easy as they thought.
Our computer has a virus. The tech guys say we'll need to figure out what's going on with the firewall. Firewall? I don't have time for a firewall, I need to get work done to pay for all of these bills!
Bailey ate a candy bar.
Tim hurt his back again.
It's cold and rainy out.

We think we'll move to Australia. (Hey! That's where Marisa's parents have been traveling for the last 3 weeks - maybe we'll run into them. Wait, we better not, we'd probably knock them over and send them to the hospital).

I guess everyone has weeks like this.


November is a time for giving thanks. Today, Tim and I are very thankful that this week is over!
If you haven't read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, I would strongly recommend it!

Pumpkins, Bats and....Monkeys?

It's been a busy week at the Schoening household! In anticipation of Halloween, we carved pumpkins last week, while Eric painted his. I must say, he's quite the picasso! Then Thursday was Halloween and Eric was the BEST bat ever! He walked on his own for most of the way, went right up to the houses and knew that he was supposed to put the candy in his bucket! It was a lot of fun.

Then this weekend we had the pleasure of having Grandma and Grandpa Schoening come visit. It was a very fun weekend and we spent most of the day Saturday at the zoo. Eric loved the animals, of course, but his favorite thing was getting his stuffed 'monkey' at the end. He will not let it leave his side and if he can't find it he says "oooh oooh oooh" like a monkey. It's hilarious! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful weekend!!

It's been a cold week so Eric has been wearing his new hat

from Audrey's mom - thanks, Steph!

Eric paints one of his two masterpieces
Ta-Dah! Our little bat ready to get some candy!
Eric and Daddy
We met up with our neighbors, Will and Jacob (Superman and Puppy) Eric with Aunt Heather With Grandma and Grandpa at the zoo
In front of the elephants - what fun!
Grandpa was letting Eric beat on the giant drum
Here is the now famous monkey - at least he didn't take it to dinner with us!

Fall is in the air

With Halloween right around the corner, we've been busy going to Halloween parties and the pumpkin patch. Here are some of our latest shots:

Here's Eric picking out his pumpkin.

Think he can lift it? You'd be surprised...

At Dublin's "Spooktacular" with friends Elyn and Audrey

The little bat

(Ask him how a bat goes and he flaps his wings!)

Going through the hay maze

Congratulations Wes & Aimee!

Last weekend Tim went to Chicago to celebrate the wedding of our good friend, Wes Sothen to Aimee (who is just as sweet as Wes - a great match!). Tim had a great time and loved to spend time with his old college buddies as well as some from Charleston. He also got to meet baby Braxton and stay with the Bonneviers (thanks guys!).

Tim with his 'little' brother, Ben Wes with his father and his new father-in-law Braxton is already 3 months old!