For Christmas the girls got a 7 pack of Disney Princess Barbies including: Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Mulan and Ariel… Much to my happiness I am gearing the girls up for American Girl Dolls! We have been subscribing to the AG magazine for about a year. It is really fun to watch the girls salivate over the dolls and accessories much the same way I did. I anticipated that the girls would choose a favorite doll. Below are Evelyn’s. Did I miss something?
All Aboard the Polar Express
As I contemplated what to share in this year’s letter I thought of dear Thumper from Walt Disney’s Bambi; “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say nothin’ at all”. Well, I suppose it hasn’t been that bad. We are indeed trying to find our silver lining.
June was our most eventful month this year. Bringing the long awaited, well earned graduation day from University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. We now have a very capable doctor in the house! Following graduation we promptly relocated to Cleveland, Ohio for additional medical training where Jef was accepting to a 3 year Family Medicine Residency Program.
Since our move we have cherished our time together as a family. Finding strength from each other and together finding additional strength from the Lord. This year has been one of those learning experiences. Why did I think we were perfected already?
Our girls are growing and helping us stay happy and positive. Mary Leigh turned 5 in September. She learned to ride a bike with “two big wheels and not the little ones” and managed a broken arm after a sloppy dismount. She’s become a BIG help at home. She enjoys sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor and vacuuming.
Princess Evelyn celebrated her 3rd birthday in June with some new friends at our new park. She is looking forward to joining Sunbeams in January. Evelyn loves her sister, Mary, and is often the Prince, or more recently, Joseph, in their play together. She likes helping Dad make pizza and tasting this or that in the kitchen.
Miss Louisa is our baby but such a big girl. We celebrated her 1st birthday in Nov. She entertains us with her laughing eyes, clapping hands, climbing arms and legs and running feet. A favorite busy activity is helping to throw away - whether it is trash or not.
Jef is really happy with work, except when he is in the hospital. He continues to fine-tune his bread baking accomplishments and rarely has a bad loaf. We enjoy homemade pizza regularly and other good treats like Chunky Monkey Waffles. He continues to find time for running and does a pretty good job supporting his stressed out wife. Oh, that’s me…
Sarah is still grateful to be a Mama, grateful to have a really awesome husband, and grateful for family and friends to support us. I’m learning more about Jesus and being a wife and mother. Learning patience, patience, (oh, I already said that?) happiness and the miracles of the Gospel.
Thanks to each of you for adding light to our lives! Merry Christmas and peace on earth.
Love,
The Groesbecks
This morning (why does it always happen when I am doing something good?) while reviewing my lesson for tomorrow, Mary got jiggy with the scissors. She had a nice feathered look on her right side. sigh. So as I held back the tears (sometimes not doing a very good job of it) I “fixed” Mary’s hair. She now dons a short bob. She thinks she is so cute and wants to go to all her friends’ homes to show off her new do!
Jef and I are as sad as can be. It is a bit severe.
Of course Evelyn wanted to join in the fun and so as to not encourage another display of independence at a later time, I trimmed her bags much to the disappointment of her father.
Pictures to come…
Things I’m happy about:
*Looking through loads of homeschool supplies and finding the best ones for my girls.
*Getting a new sling (THANK YOU Heather!!) It’s called the Sling Set. and it is the BESTEST. It is made of a perfectly stretchy material that kind of wraps around the baby.
*cleaning out the fist tank! (yes, it was short lived - Swimella and Memo didn’t live to see their post on the blog - Memo lived 3 days and Swimella made it 12). I am done with fish. I’d really like an OUTDOOR cat to take care of the rats, mice, chipmonks, ect.
*We found a doctor who does OMM and takes our insurance and is taking new patients and is a family doc. phew. covered.
Things I’m looking forward to:
*Jef’s birthday on Sat. and attending an Indian’s game with the family in his honor… I wonder how I can put his name up on the jumbo tron… humm. (ok, just looked into it - $50 for a personal message. Must be submitted 3 hr prior to game start time).
*Homeschooling the girls this year. Call me crazy but I think it will be fun.
*Setting up the kiddie pool - ours got left in Maine and I have been waiting for them to go on end of the season clearance - today was the day so I can’t wait to go “swim” tomorrow (and using Evelyn’s super cute new swimsuit - thanks Grandpa Larry!).
I have failed to keep this updated properly. I am so overwhelmed with the loss of my husband, moving to a new state/ward/house, ect, keeping up with the girls that this has fallen to the wayside.
We are keeping very busy. We love Ohio and the best part is how close we are to family. We really missed everyone during our years in Maine and love building relationships with our dear ones. We feel so at home in our new ward and that is so nice. We have all met good friends to love and support us.
Jef is so busy. Even during this “light” month we are finding it difficult to find meaningful time together as a family. There is just not enough time in the day or week to accomplish all that needs to be done. Rest assured we are all happy.
Mary is our sensitive girl. Jef was just remarking on her keen sense. Just look at how sweet she is.
Daddy came home so tired. He went up to change out of his doctor clothes and after a good several minutes I couldn’t place Mary. She is so sweet. I just love her little hand.
While I was down taking care of some laundry in the basement I started to hear the squeals of a child. At first I didn’t recognize that it was one of my own children. Then, I could tell it was Louisa. Since she cries all the time when I’m not holding her I was not alarmed. I guess when I didn’t recognize her cry I should have known something was different. I got upstairs (mind you I wasn’t gone for more than 5-6-7 minutes) and found that Evelyn was armed with kiddie scissors and Louisa had a scratch on her head. Yes, Mary promptly informed me who gave Louisa a hair cut.
Poor thing. I was annoyed. Evelyn had some thinking time and then Louisa, Mary and I ate breakfast. (Don’t worry Evelyn got to eat after she had a chance to think about cutting her sister’s hair). The scissors are now in thinking time until “school” starts next month.
Tragic. For the sake of those involved I did not take pictures.
Ok, I actually did take this one a few days following the event. Sorry for the not so good image. She is not that cooperative in general. 
While lamenting the loss of our “home” and contemplating our next steps (ok, ok I was feeling a little depressed - sheesh, twist my arm) I actually got off the computer and look into the Family Room where the girls are all playing (not together). My eyes rest upon Louisa who is now 6 months. She was doing the pre-crawl pushing off on her toes and actually propelling forward! Life goes on. It makes me happy. I love my family. We are so blessed.
Does this little guy not make your skin crawl? Agh. Mine does! So you are probably wondering why in the world a black ant has made it to the headline of one of our family posts. Well, the weather has turned warm and so that means out come the creatures, big black ants and all. Last summer we didn’t notice it too bad because we were out of town for 6 weeks.
So, the ants I think have residence somewheres around the bathroom because we mainly see them in there. Mary and Evelyn get freaked out when they head in to do their business only to be met by an ant. I have to agree that I am in no way anxious to set my bum on ant infested porcelin. Yes, they have been identified inside the bowl.
What do you do for Family Home Evening? I bet it’s something like: song, prayer, spiritual thought, lesson, treat, game, maybe a service project…
Well, tonight we made Funny Faces and had a blast! Which is your favorite?
This “no comment” thing I enabled on our site is, I gotta say, a bit of a drag. Isn’t that half the fun of a blog? To keep up with the friends and relations? So from hence forth, comments are back! Please, don’t everyone crowd at once, single file, please!
Well, friends and family, let’s start with something upbeat: The crocuses are bursting forth their color and it is a bit warmer here in Maine. I imagine soon the apple tree will be full of white blossoms. I’m eager to get my soft bottom outside for some much needed Vitamin D. And just as soon as I can get some new sneaks I will be out playing with the girls, riding a bike and I’d even like to be jogging.
The girls are just wonderful. Louisa is rolling over in both directions. She is working on her pincher grasp and has bright eyes and a happy smile. She makes my day. We introduced quinoa, but I have since decided to give her a little more time. She got about a 1/2 teaspoon down and had a mild interest. It did take her a few days to work out her next poop. Yes, from only a half teaspoon!
Mary has been very eager to get outside. She is constantly asking to go ride her bike. Evelyn is constantly asking for food, well, I guess Mary does that too, usually cookies. Why she thinks each new day is the day for cookies for breakfast… well, I guess it doesn’t hurt to try. She is looking forward to her upcoming dance recital. She enjoys her class and her teacher, Ms Danielle. How cute, she just asked her Daddy to go on a special date with her - he asked for a rain check, as he heads out the door soon.
Evelyn. well, she has been super sweet lately. It has been so refreshing! A song is always coming from her lips, usually three or four mixed together - you have to be on your toes to sing with her. We are working on the Articles of Faith and she is doing great! It is so fun to watch her excitement for learning.
Since arriving home from Ohio I have been extremely motivated to unclutter and pack. I haven’t gotten to the boxes yet, but the downsizing has begun and it feels great! We’re all happy to be back in Maine, this is home. Jef is great as usual. He’s hard to keep up with. His bread adventures are consistently successful. He is running, less often than he’d like, but manages to get out several times a week. On any given day he will tell you just how many more until graduation. He completed the 1oo push ups program! A huge congrats to him on his accomplishment!
