New Year's with the Groff's

We had the chance to go to PA for New Year's this year and visit with the entire Groff family. Gimmy and Pappy Groff flew Holly in from Montana as a Christmas gift and Gommy and the whole Mitchell family were there as well. We had lots of laughs, ate lots of food and played lots of games. We even survived a game of SPOONS without any major injuries, although Kristen did get quite a few scratches on her hands.

We're not quite sure if Emily will be a reindeer trainer, a monkey trainer, a princess, a nurse or an actress when she grows up, but one thing is for sure.....she will definitely be a Penn State fan.

Christmas with the Marshall's

This Christmas was a time for quite a few firsts in our family. First year Emily and I made a birthday cake for Jesus, first year to experience Christmas with the Beeter's and the Clay's via web cam and first year experiencing the Festival of Lights at Oglebay.

28 months old - Dec. 16

Meet Emily.....my shadow. Recently Emily has become much more curious of her surroundings and also of what everyone is doing. If you've not been asked, be aware, there might be a little toddler lurking around the corner ready to spring the question on you...."ud you doin?"

Her favorite "toys" these days are her hair "qwips" (clips) and any bank that she can dump out and then put money back in.

She has had a lot of fun spending time with her friend Micah who has shared his favorite movie with her....Madagascar. She's especially fond of jumping to the song "I like to move it, move it."

Thanksgiving 2008

This year we had the opportunity to spend a full week in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. Fun was had by all. We had many hours of laughter, lots of fun in the snow and lots of food.

While Pappy and Charlie were fishing on 20 Mile Creek, east of Erie, PA.... (this is Charlie's first steelhead) ....we were having fun playing with playdough.

Emily was introduced to a "big bed" while listening to Gimmy and Pappy read bedtime stories. Although she didn't consider this her real bed, it did give her a glimpse of what's to come.

Being goofy

Reading with Gimmy Preparing to go play in the snow

Emily enjoyed the snow and sledding a lot more this year than last year. After the first couple of times with Charlie or I in the sled, she wanted to go down by herself. While Charlie was building Emily an igloo, she decided to taste test some of the snow.

Then came the incident that brought laughter through the rest of the week. One particular sled ride with Emily and I was going well until we went out of control and ran smack dab into Gimmy's legs knocking her off her feet. She fell to the ground and ended up landing with her head in the igloo door. As we're all laughing we hear Emily start to cry and we think it's because she's concerned for Gimmy. As it turns out she's muttering amidst her crying "Gimmy broke my igloo". You can see Emily's not-so-happy face in this picture.

Family picture

In the loft with Cousin Sammy

Uncle Wally experiencing dress-up time

Elk at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort where Pappy works

Pappy showing Emily around Nemacolin

27 months old - Nov. 16

I am consistently amazed how such a pensive person could be wrapped up inside a little 2 year old's body. The things that come into Emily's mind and then out of her mouth sound very much like a child at times of course, but then can also sound so adult at times too. Emily and I were eating lunch one day and during a quiet moment I could tell she was thinking about something. She swallowed a bite of her peanut butter sandwich, folded her arms and said "how's yo day?" and waited until I responded. It didn't occur to me until later in the week that she picked that up from my daily question to Charlie as we sit around the dinner table.

Another humorous story....I recently started talking to Emily about having a "happy heart" during her grumpy or whiney moments since it worked so well with her cousin Jack. This past Sunday she was having a grumpy moment while getting ready for church. We proceeded downstairs for breakfast and I said we needed to find her "happy heart" and have a good attitude. I then bagged some Lucky Charms cereal for a little extra snack during the ride to church. Our ride was the normal Sunday drive listening to her favorite CD of Children's Hymns and chatting about who we were going to see at church. Then a pause in conversation.... Emily squeals with delight and says "Mommy, I found my happy heart" and proceeds to hold up one of the pink marshmellow hearts from her Lucky Charms cereal bag. Oh, what a great laugh we all had.

Since the weather is cold enough to freeze your nose hairs, we're back inside for picture time. I was told a certain blondy from Pennsylvania wore this nurse scrub outfit quite often as a child. Emily thanks you for passing it down.

Technology Savvy 2 year old

Strangly enough our 2 year old has mastered the skill of moving around the mouse in order to play her favorite computer game. Thank you Aunt Randa for the recommendation of this game.

Dress-up Time

Kristen and Jose invited us and the Schmidjell's to their Harvest Party/Trunk n Treat at Eastside Vineyard this past weekend. They had stories by the fire, butter churning, cookie decorating, balloon animals and toe-tapping music. Lots of fun was had by all.

What would we do without a pile of leaves in the Fall?

Not too sure what to think about the pile

Still a little unsure

Oh, I think I'll just go for it

This is actually a lot of fun

Even more fun to throw them

They make a nice headpiece...hmm

Kristen, you should consider leaves as your veil

Time to "clean" up my surroundings

Our Little Punkin'

Last week Mom took Emily and I on a Fall Leaf Viewing Adventure to Lancaster, OH. On our drive home we stopped by a little Pumpkin Farm. They had quite a bit to choose from and all purchases were on the honor system. We had a lot of fun and Emily really enjoyed walking in between the pumpkins.



I have a feeling Emily will surpass me in height.