Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I totally edited the time stamp on this. But I intended to post it before the New Year, so I don't think the date it actually appears on the blog really matters.

We hope you all had a joyous holiday season! In an attempt to be frugal we only sent these out to select family members, with the intent to e-mail them to the rest of you. If you didn't get the e-mail, don't feel left out. No one else did either.

So here are our family's Christmas card and letter, as well as a birth announcement we made for Rhett (which was pretty much only sent to parents and grandparents).

Dear family and friends,

As another year comes to a close and we celebrate once again the birth of our Savior, our family is ever grateful for the blessings that we enjoy. This year has brought our family triumphs as well as challenges, and we have felt the Lord’s guidance and protection in all of them. Paul and Vicky both graduated from Brigham Young University feeling accomplished as well as relieved, and we moved our family to Bellingham, WA, for Paul’s first post-college job.

Two days after Paul and Benjamin left Provo, and four days before we all arrived in Bellingham together, our family was joined by Rhett Buehler Duersch on June 28, 2008. He arrived three weeks early, but was a welcome surprise! Rhett is a very happy baby who is loves his older brother tremendously and brings great amounts of added joy to our lives.

Benjamin is a feisty two-year-old who loves to repeat everything his mom and dad say but who, fortunately for us, has not done it too often in public yet. He is a great helper for Vicky, who feels blessed to stay at home and raise her two little boys, and is a sweet brother to Rhett. Benjamin loves to read books, sing songs, and play with basketballs.

We are grateful for all of you who have helped and supported us this year, as well as for old friends and new, and we wish you all the very best of things during this Christmas and the coming New Year.

Love,

Paul, Vicky, Benjamin & Rhett Duersch

We appreciated receiving cards and letters from many of our friends and family, and hope that you won't take it personally if you didn't receive them from us. It's amazing we got them out at all! We are grateful for you and hope you each find many blessings in the New Year!

Snow Day

With a few inches of fresh powder on the ground, we decided to let Benjamin tromp through the wintery wonderland of our back yard yesterday afternoon. He donned his almost-new, seven-dollars-from-Value-Villiage snowsuit that will probably fit him next year (yay!), finally found the thumb holes in his mittens after the bajillionth try, and off he went.



Paul took a moment to toss some snow around with Benjamin and pose for a picture next to the thermometer before he had to go back to work. He would much rather have spent the afternoon stomping through the snow with Benjamin.




While Rhett napped I took Paul's place in the back yard. I was really surprised at Benjamin's enthusiasm for our snowy activity. We stomped and tromped and even made snow angels. He was unfailingly thrilled every time I made a snow ball and gently placed it in his mittened hands, from which he would enthusiastically fling it to see the snow scatter in the air.



He probably would have stayed outside all afternoon despite rosy cheeks, runny nose, and the freezing wind that made his eyes water, but I managed to coax him inside with the promise of hot chocolate. I was too cold.

On another note, we went back to the pumpkin patch (which is now a Christmas tree patch) last weekend to cut down this handsome doug fir. (No pictures of that since the wind was blowing 40 mph and Benjamin was screaming. We didn't even bother taking the camera out of the car.) Paul and I strung it with some popcorn (which is slowly being munched by Benjamin) and put up our small collection of ornaments. Five days till Christmas and we're still working on putting up all our decorations and getting out our Christmas cards and such. And I just finished making Rhett's birth announcement. There's still a lot to do, but I suppose if it doesn't all get done "in time" it won't really make a difference. That's what I'm trying to tell myself, anyway.

First Snow

What is evergreen is now covered in white. This weekend we welcomed a wintry blast. Our neighbors to the north provided the extreme wind chill and the ocean to the west provided the moisture. Put them together and you get one cold storm.

Temperatures on Friday started in the 40's and by Saturday they were in the 20's with a wind chill factor dropping the temperature to 1 degree Fahrenheit. The news continues to report that this is now the coldest December since 1990.

So what did we do? Well, since this has been Paul's first open Saturday since October, we went to a tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree. Paul hung up the Christmas lights outside, covered the hose bibs, and worked on the car. After all that, we enjoyed some hot cocoa in our warm home.

This morning we were woken by phone calls that church was canceled, and there was ice on the windows of our house. As the temperatures continue to stay in the teens and single digits, we stay inside and enjoy our Mormon Tabernacle Christmas music. Maybe we'll have a white Christmas since the cold is here to stay and more snow is expected later this week.

Thankful

Although the Thanksgiving holiday has passed, I still want to share a few things that I've been thankful for these past few weeks.

I am thankful for beautiful flowers on gray days.
(And especially for the wonderful husband who gave them to me.)

I am thankful for a good helper around the house.

I am thankful for this rambunctious boy...

...and this wiggly baby.

And I'm thankful for so many other things that don't have pictures to go with them right now, like wonderful extended family members, a kind and diligent visiting teacher, the gospel of Jesus Christ and, again, my marriage to a wonderful, loving husband. Life is good!

Life, briefly

Benjamin makes sure all shoes are where they belong, even Mr. Potato Head's.

I read the boys some books.

Benjamin chats with 'Nene (Aunt Alene) on Dad's cell phone.

Paul and I share sleeping quarters with these two bed hogs.

Laundry still isn't folded.


The End.

Late Halloween Report

For some reason Halloween hasn't turned out like I planned the past two years. It's been all rush rush rush for us, and by the time the costumes are ready it's too late to do anything we planned! But, despite that, we had a fun Halloween week. We started Monday at Family Home Evening with decorating sugar cookies.

Best Sugar Cookie Recipe I Know Of

2/3 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to butter mixture along with vanilla. Sift flour and salt; gradually add to mixture. Chill (because the dough is super sticky and completely unmanageable if you don't). Roll on floured surface (dough will still be a little sticky) to about 1/8 inch thick (I usually do a little thicker), cut out, and bake on greased cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

They were a hit. Later in the week the boys and I enjoyed the cool fall weather by playing in the leaves out back.

Since my jack-o-lantern ideas are rather stale (my pumpkins have had the same face for the past 5 years or so, I think), I insisted that Paul carve the pumpkin.

We roasted the seeds for a tasty snack with some Worschestershire sauce, garlic, and salt. Yum!

Like I said, Halloween night was a bunch of rush rush rush. I was just finishing up Rhett's costume when Paul came home from work. Luckily our dinner was in the CrockPot ready to go. Benjamin had refused to nap and had been bouncing off the walls all day. He still seemed pretty energetic as we got ready to go to the candy-free Halloween carnival for the little kids in Bellingham, so I figured we'd make it through the night. Afterwards we planned to eat dinner then take him up and down our street for a little first-time trick-or-treating.

The carnival closed at 6:30, and we left our house at about 6:05. Paul and I briefly debated whether it was still worth going, and since I was so looking forward to taking Benjamin to a fun Halloween activity we decided to go for it. But not five minutes down the road I turned around to see Benjamin sound asleep in his car seat.

We went home.

While the boys slept Paul and I had our traditional chili-in-a-pumpkin dinner. Then we popped some corn and watched a movie on TV while trick-or-treaters visited our house.

Not the fun Halloween I had planned, but all together it wasn't bad. Hopefully I've learned my lesson about leaving the costumes till the last minute. And maybe I'll lower the bar so that things like tired kids don't leave me with a silly disappointed feeling when we don't complete my planned activities. At least next year it's on a Saturday.

(Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox)

Recent Happenings

Not much has been going on with us lately. We've had some beautiful fall weather in Bellingham, but the days are getting to be grayer (and wetter) so that means more days inside the house for me and the boys. It's not so bad yet since Benjamin is pretty content with helping me in the kitchen (he's great at helping to unload the dishwasher) and reading stories. A recent favorite is this library book:

Our ward recently had a chili dinner and Pinewood Derby. Paul raced a car that he made for the Construction Management program's Pinewood Derby a couple of years ago. He came away with second place and awards for "Most Aerodynamic" and "Best Wedge Shape," but the person who won first place only borrowed the car from someone else and didn't actually make it. And it was pink. So... you know what I'm saying? A lot of love went into the making of Paul's car, so I think his victory carries a little more weight. Not that I'm competitive.

Here's Paul's car ready to race (third from the left):


And here's Benjamin showing off the prize:

Benjamin is definitely "two," which is a statement that I hope speaks for itself. As I mentioned before, he loves reading books so we've been doing that a lot lately. It amazes me that he can sit through some lengthy stories and ask for them over and over again. Other things he's not so good at sitting through. Like shopping. Recently he's taken to demanding to sit in a "baby chair" when we go to the grocery store. That's those carts with a plastic baby seat for infants. If he sees one, he absolutely refuses to sit in another shopping cart.

Here's a recent shot of Benjamin putting toys away. I was pretty impressed with his idea to ride the Pooh car while pushing the shopping cart full of toys in order to get them both to the bedroom.

And this is the most recent picture we have of Rhett.

We may have already posted it but I didn't check before writing this. Dozens of people told us, after watching the billionth slide show of baby Benjamin pictures, that we'd never take nearly as many pictures of subsequent children. I never doubted the truthfulness of that prediction, and I'm glad I didn't because it's true.

Rhett is just as cute and lovable as any 4-month-old can be. I just love his babbling, and his smiles just melt my mama heart. As far as milestones go, he's been rolling over for a little while. I'm not really on top of milestones and such, but I'm sure the doctor will be when I take him in next week. Now, I'm not one to boast about my kids' percentiles because I just don't think it matters that much as long as they're normal and healthy. I've known some people whose babies were just small, and they worried enough about their babies' growth without having their friends boast about their 99th percentile chunks. And really, I'd rather my kids not be taller and, especially, heavier than 99% of their playmates. So I probably won't be posting any stats when we get them, no matter what they are. But I do want to share that Rhett, just shy of four months old, is wearing a 9-month sized outfit today. Although, with how they size baby clothes, that could mean very little. (Still, Paul is itching to sign Rhett up for BYU's football roster.)

That's all I have to say for now, since Benjamin has unpacked the contents of the camera case and is trying to plug things into the computer.

Proud Mama Moment

Benjamin said his first sentence today: "Dada goes fast."

He said it as Paul was pulling away in the car to go back to work after lunch. And no, he wasn't speeding.

He often puts multiple words together, but up until now I've never heard him say something grammatically correct. I know most people really don't care, but thanks for reading this anyway. Like I said, it's a proud mama moment.

(The picture is a couple of months old. We're still working on getting him to hold still long enough for a decent portrait.)

Harvest Fun

This past weekend we enjoyed a fall visit to Stoney Ridge Farm. It was a beautiful clear fall day. We went on a hay ride, picked a pumpkin, wandered through the apple orchard, Benjamin went on a kids train ride, we purchased apple cider, and had a good time.