Christmas with 2 kids = more than twice as hectic!

We had our family Christmas a few days before we left for Cincy. I received the coveted Dyson Vaccuum that I have been desiring for a few years so I was pretty excited. I gave Joel a monogrammed shave bag and some new running shoes. We gave Joel III a 'latches board' and 2 things in his stocking - a $1 plastic snow globe and a $5 small firetruck. Judah didn't know it was Christmas so he didn't get anything. Here's a video of Joel opening the fire truck.



We have always traveled to our parents houses for Christmas. We don't mind the drive.. Most of Joel's family lives in the NW Ohio area and most of mine in Cincinnati. It is a great time to see everyone and celebrate. I enjoy it thoroughly. 2 years ago I was about to pop with Joel, and traveling to Cincy and Van Wert was a nice to get my mind off the fact that my feet weren't fitting into my shoes anymore. 1 year ago Joel III took his first steps in Cincy and it was pretty easy to cart him around from place to place. However, this year I never thought introducing just one more family member could increase the 'stuff' level by so much! The amount of diapers and Christmas presents alone would barely fit into my little Corolla with the 4 of us. The thought of then adding our luggage was laughable. So we reluctantly took the huge Moose to Cincy and Van Wert. Hm.. I guess it's time to get a minivan.

This brings me to another 'stuff' issue... TOYS. Joel and I have mixed feelings about toys. We have already decided to not do Santa Claus. We will wrap presents for our children, but they will know the gifts are from us. I love the fact that I can stay at home with my kids. However, a house has a ton less toys and is generally a more difficult environment for a 2 year old than, say, a day care center. Plus, in order to get anything done, the kid needs to entertain himself safely (and maybe even learn a thing or two). Hence the need for toys. The con side - toys take up space (this is my beef) and well lets face it, the good toys usually take up the most space. Joel's beef - more and more toys fuel the consumeristic lifestyle that we would like to discourage both in our own lives and in the lives of our children. Romans 13 speaks of this "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have" Even so, we knew that we at least needed a few trains and cars for Joel because apparently, rattles just won't do it for an almost 2 year old. So we are very grateful for the toys we received for the boys.
Here's a pic of Joel opening up one of his most favorite toys from Christmas - a train set from Gamma. He has been obsessed with his train set, magnadoodle, and matchbox motorcycle. (Side note to family members reading this blog - don't worry if he's not obsessed with your gift this week, I'm sure he will be next week.)




Here's Indy, Joel's cousin 1 year older than him opening a gift. A highlight in Cincy was attending the show Awaited which we attended last year. This year, we encouraged Joel III to watch the 'show' and he stayed attentive for the entire hour and 15 minute program!! He loved it. When we asked what his favorite part was he thought about it and said "Camel." This was a huge deal to us because normally after asking him a question like that he would reply, "part?" but instead, he actually answered the question with a word that he came up with on his own, and he answered it appropriately! go Joel III!


Here is a pic of the Awaited program put on by Crossroads church in Cincinnati. After Cincy, we woke up the sleeping babies, packed up the enormous amount of stuff we accumulated, drove through some scary snow, and dealt with a cranky boy in the back seat for the 2.5 hour drive to Van Wert. Joel was anxious to see his cousins and Gran and Grandad, I was anxious to take a nap.
Here's Joel with his Gran and Grandad and his closest cousin in age - Lizzie Spath.





Here's a pic of the aftermath of the Penton Christmas present opening extravaganza and a video. Above is Joel's sister's youngest child Kate Crummey, amidst some boxes, Emily's dog Gyver and some other presents in the background.

We had some quality time with our family especially Mike and Lindsey (engaged on Groskopf side) and Matt and Mollie (married with 2 little ones on Penton side) so that was really nice. But, wow, we were excited to return to 4507 Braithway st. I am hoping that next year will be a little more relaxing because we won't have a 3 month old sporadically waking up in the middle of the night, but I fear the relaxing days are over. ohwell. We had planned on another 3 day potty training fiasco, however Joel wound up having some serious diarrhea and green snot So I figured it wasn't the best time.