Christmas 2009--Part 1

Yia Yia and Ella in their pretty pink shirts

Pappou and Yia Yia with Mae.......Mae's mouth is purple......there's a very legitimate reason......it's called "Gentian Violet".......long story

Ella the Fairy Princess

Ready to open our presents......except Mae who'd rather just sleep through the whole thing

Part one of Christmas has come and gone. We spent Christmas Eve day in Columbus with Mimi and Papa Don, Yia Yia and Pappou, and Uncle Tim and Stephanie. We had a great day. Lunch was yummy and the presents were a hit. Personal favorites.........Mae: warmies (Uncle Tim did try to sneak in an "IU" onesie......Mae's already a Boilermaker.....sorry!); Ella: fairy and Cinderella dress up outfits tied for first followed closely by the Princess sleeping bag all courtesy of Uncle Tim and Stephanie; Nicholas: Legos and Knex (again, thank you Uncle Tim and Stephanie.......you rock); Lenn: One Year Bible from Mimi and Papa Don.....nice!; Me: My fleecy polar bear jammies followed closely by my new brown sweater. A fun day was had by all.



We spent Christmas Day at home having a (semi)leisurely day of presents and breakfast and play time. The kids were so fired up to discover that Santa had left them each a board game, he had eaten all but a couple bites of the cookies we left for him, and best of all (at least according to Nicholas), he left our family a Wii!!!!! Yippee!! I'd love to tell you that Niko was the most excited about the Wii but I feel I must confess that as I'm typing this, Lenn's and my bowling game is on hold. Lenn won the first set, I rocked the second round and now we'll duke it out for the outright bowling title. Talk about a good way to blow off some steam after a long day!!!

Mae is 3 months old!!! And our friends came to visit today.....

Mae and Alex.....new best friends

A couch-full! Mae, Niko, Isaac, Alex and Ella......my blue blanket backdrop did not cooperate but if you think I was going to halt the picture-taking to fix it.....you're mistaken! Gotta snap those pics while the kids are sitting still!!

Big brothers and baby sisters

Mae turned 3 months old today (well actually yesterday, the 21st.......that's when these pictures were taken). Anyway, she's starting to lose the newborn look and she looks like a full-fledged chubby baby. Time is flying. She's smiling and talking and watching us. Her siblings enjoy making her smile.

Our friends, the Biggerstaffs, came to visit us on Monday. Their son, Isaac, is 6 days older than Ella and their daughter, Alexandra, is 5 days older than Mae! Wow! We had a very fun and very busy visit with them. Nikki, the mommy, is a dear friend of mine from college. Matt, another Purdue grad and the daddy, helped us out in a big way with our electrical set-up for a Christmas present that is TBA.......as in, Santa will be bringing it and I will not elaborate at this point! A HUGE thanks to Matt b/c we would have had 2 very disappointed children on Christmas morning if Matt would not have saved the day. It's good to see Matt putting his electrical engineering degree to such good use!

Christmas Fashions Courtesy of Mimi Demas

All ready for church

Loving each other

Mommy even broke out the rhinestones so I could be "sparkly" like Ella

What a doll!

Mimi had fun shopping for holiday attire for our kiddos. We got them all dressed to the nines this morning for church. Rest assured, they were adorable but they were far from the only dolled up kiddos at church today!! It was fun to see all the little people in their Christmas gear.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. May God pour out his blessings on you this holiday season as we celebrate Jesus' birth.

Ella's Birthday Party

Ella's Princess birthday party feast

I was so thrilled that Mimi was able to come to Ella's party

Ella's Strawberry Swirl birthday cake with princess decorations......she helped pick out the cake, she helped decorate the cake, she taste tested the strawberries.......then she wouldn't eat any of the cake!!!

Ella opening her presents from Meemaw and Papa Carl while Grace and Gabbie (our neighbors) watch

Lovely ladies......Mimi and Mae

I'm doing all of this blogging while all my children are sleeping......all 3 of them were worn out by Ella's big party and then the terrible night of sleep that followed. Mae was up about every 2 hours grabbing her ear........doctor's appt is at 3:00 today. Ella woke up crying loudly at 12:45 and proceeded to vomit.......she's been fine but a spitfire ever since because it took her a long time to get back to sleep. We're thinking the food overload and stimulation overload of her party took its toll on her. Then Nicholas woke around 5 or 6 (don't know......Lenn handled this one by himself) with a huge leak in his bed......as in too much wee for the Good Nite to hold. So the kids are crashed and I should be but I kinda missed my window of opportunity.

Ella's party was lots of fun. Our neighbors, the Francis family, along with Meemaw and Papa Carl and Mimi Demas were all here for the festivities. Papa Don was sick yesterday and my super wonderful best ever husband and father-in-law drove to Columbus to pick up my mom and bring her to the party. Awesome!!! We had yummy food and good fellowship. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.....except Nala who was banished to the garage. Poor girl.

Ella Marie Turns 3!!

The Birthday Girl sitting in the van before preschool. Yes, she insisted upon wearing her Princess Tiara......she is a little princess, after all!

Ella opening her presents

Ella holding the awesome wooden giraffe puzzle that Niko and Papa Carl made

Ella's birthday was December 3. She's become such a big girl in a short amount of time. She became a big sister with the birth of Mae. She has become potty-trained within the last few weeks and moved up to her big girl bed as of her birthday when she received Princess Bedding! Oh my! We are observing a real inner tug-of-war with her as she is leaving babyhood behind and becoming a big girl. Sometimes she will act like a one-year-old and the next minute she's talking like she's a teenager! We're just trying to enjoy all the changes she's going through. She is a joy to be around and we love her so much.

Getting into the Christmas spirit!

Daddy, ever the photographer, snapping our picture from the 2nd floor hallway

Nicholas and Ella helping with the ornaments

Ella's preschool costume on 12/3/09


We decorated our Christmas tree a week ago and got some cute pictures of our kiddos. You don't see Mae in the photos because our photographer, Lenn, was wearing Mae while she slept in the Baby Bjorn. She was joining in with us in spirit. The kids were so cute as they unwrapped ornaments and helped hang them on the tree. I think we made it through the whole experience without breaking anything!

On Ella's birthday, Thursday Dec 3, her preschool class dressed up as Christmas trees. So sweet!

Thanksgiving Trip to Nappanee

Mae getting her first bath at Meemaw's......in the kitchen sink......a Detwiler baby tradition

Squeaky clean Mae Mae

Joined at the hip......Nicholas with his best buddy for the day, cousin Seth Homes

Getting to know each other.....Great Grandma Gladys and Mae

Our family with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Detwiler at the Detwiler family gathering

Pam, Cristina, Evelyn, Chet and Gladys Detwiler, Carl

Mae snoozing on Aunt Pam's shoulder......this was one of Mae's favorite places to be while we were in Nappanee!

Great Grandma Dorothy Anglemyer and Mae meeting for the first time

Nicholas and Aunt Jeanne Anglemyer

Ella loved this rocking chair at Aunt Charlene's house

Mae is 2 months old!!!

Daddy and Mae on 11/17 before our family Christmas pictures

Our 2 month old Mae Mae

Ella at 2 months is on the left and Mae is on the right. My pics of Niko at 2 months are on a disc in the safe upstairs......I'd love to compare all 3 babies.

Mae Mae smiles!!

Snoozin on her belly....I can't get enough of the little tucked up legs and bottom up in the air

Our little Mae is two months old as of Saturday, the 21st. She's cooing some and smiling lots. She's also becoming quite a chunk! At her dr's appt on Friday, she weighed 11lb 7.5 oz which meant that she had put on 2lb 7oz in one month. Yippee!! The chubby cheeks and belly make Mommy very happy considering it took her almost 4 weeks to get back to her birth weight.

Super fun day with friends

Shelly (left) and Cherise visiting with Mae

Ella helping Hope take off her shoes after playing outside. Then when the Hurleys were leaving and we couldn't find Hope's shoes, we realized that Ella had put them with all of our shoes in the shoe cubby. I love toddlers!! Sometimes they have such a sense of order.

Hope and Brock loving on Nala

Brock holding Mae

Cute girls holding hands

The whole gang.....you just know it's not possible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time!

On Sunday, November 15, our dear friends from college and their children came to visit us and to meet Baby Mae. Cherise and Brandon Hall with their boys Dylan, 7, and David, 5, drove from Romney (south of Lafayette) and Shelly and Mark Hurley with their children Claire, 8, Brock, 3 1/2, and Hope, 21 months drove from Rensselaer. We had such a great time and it was a housefull!!! All the kids did great together. Nicholas and Dylan and David were inseparable. I think they're friends for life even though Nicholas kept calling one of them "Daniel".....we're not exactly who he was referring to. Ella tried to take Hope under her wing but Hope was generally not interested. The kids were so cute and so busy. Mae coped well until around 8:00 when she had to meltdown for awhile. I can't say that I blame her. 8 kids is a lot of kids in one house!

Pilgrim Day!!

Today was pilgrim day in Ella's class at preschool. Ella walked out of class all decked out in her pilgrim collar and bonnet. She looked very cute. 3 weeks from today, she will turn 3 years old. Oh my. Where has the time gone?

Mae meets Yia-Yia and Pappou

Yia-Yia and Miss Mae meeting for the first time

Lovely ladies ages 6 weeks old to 92 years young

A picture says a thousand words

Niko and Pappou discussing history and world affairs

Ella playing Yia-Yia's piano

Ella and Pappou sharing a giggle

Mae with Mimi and Papa Don

On Saturday morning, we loaded up the troops and headed south to Columbus to visit with the Demas great-grandparents, affectionately called Yia-Yia and Pappou (Greek for Grandma and Grandpa). We had a wonderful visit at their home followed by lunch with Mimi and Papa Don and then a trip to a super fun park. It was a really great day. Mae and her siblings were in great spirits and I think it made Yia-Yia and Pappou's day to get to visit with our little people.