A Donkey and a Sheep of Unpredictability

I am happy to say that we have become more regular in our church attendance.  For awhile there, it was difficult to get to the 10 am service because it was in the middle of nap #1 for Eli.  Noah was a little hesitant about Sunday School, too - he would promise each Sunday that he was big enough to sit through the whole service and pay attention.  Well, that just didn't work.  He gave it a go, of course, but by the sermon he was squirming all over the pew and driving us (and the people around us) crazy.  

Advent seemed like a wonderful opportunity to embrace the season and get the boys involved in their first Epiphany Pageant.  They learned the story of Christmas through acting it out!  Brilliant, really - Noah started connecting all the dots about Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, the manger, and the carols we've been singing.  

Eli was cast appropriately as a Sheep of Unpredictability.  Isn't that great?  Perfect.  He and his companions were running all around the church during the rehearsals.  You can see that he had a little apprehension about the costume: 

Noah was pretty excited to be THE Donkey on his first venture into live theater.  After all, this was not just an animal - this was the donkey who walked with Mary and Joseph.  Noah went for realism during the rehearsals and walked on all fours.
He found that it was sort of uncomfortable and made his hands dirty.  The costume was a little hard to manage - we found out later that until this point, the Donkey had been played by a service dog.  Still makes me giggle out loud.

 The performance was on Epiphany - the 12th day after Christmas.  This timing was wonderful.  We had a little time to get through the busy end of  December and by January 6th (Epiphany 2013) we could take the time to really celebrate this miracle.  Noah did a stellar job and thanks to our practice, has O Come All Ye Faithful, We Three Kings, The Friendly Beasts and Go Tell it On the Mountain memorized and ready for next year.
Eli was unpredictable, for sure. I never would have predicted that he would get in front of the church and lay on his back.  That was a new one for me. This picture still makes me giggle.

From here on out, both Noah and Eli have been really great about Sunday School.  They have made new friends and found that going to church this way is much more interesting and fun for them.  They are both back with us by communion and get the best of both worlds.

On days that I have a few minutes and don't have anything that quickly comes to mind, I'll retrieve some of the stories and photos from the fall.  Amazing that Friday is Feb 1st!  How can that be?

Say hello to the new 6 year old

Oh my goodness?  Do you remember this?  It was cold - yup, almost as cold as it is today in Orono, ME.  We left the garage and the thermometer in the car said 10 degrees.  Not for long!  It was warm in the garage!  7, 4, 3, -3.   -3 is where we are at.  Brrrr.

 So this weekend we celebrated the 6th birthday of that little urchin - Mr. Noah W. Schaff.  First, a spaghetti dinner with 6 of his good buddies: Luis, Ben, Sam, Owen, little brother Eli and Lucas.

Then the Star Wars cake!  Thank you Auntie Lisa for the cake (and this photo!) 

I love Noah's expression - is he thinking about what to wish for?  Perhaps he can already can taste the cake?

Later on we celebrated with the family: Uncle Mark, Auntie Lisa, Uncle Ernie and Auntie Denise, Nana Paula and Grampa Steve, Mimi and Howard Keene, Mike, Mel, Emmy, Allie and Nurse Leslie, too!  What a celebration.  I didn't do a great job at getting photos that evening, but thank goodness Lisa snapped a few.  I like this one of Eli helping out (he loves blowing out the candles, too!)

Love this crazy wonderful boy.  He loves whipped cream (see pic) and asks for popcorn every night.  His favorite foods still include Yummy Orange Chicken (boneless buffalo wings from Geaghan's) Lobster Stew and baby shrimp.  

He is nuts about Star Wars right now, and is slightly obsessed with making it to the next "level" in his Star Wars video game.  Gene has the Wii hooked up in the basement and last night Noah was dressed in his Jedi Robe as he played.  

He is playing Rec Basketball and swimming on Tuesdays.  He has progressed in swimming a great deal.  A year ago at this time?  He was (at times) scared to go in the water.  Now he is jumping in the deep end, swimming and diving for rings at the bottom of the pool.  So cool what some practice and time will do.  

He continues Art lessons with Valerie Wallace.  He is so good, and just loves the time that he spends with her.  Check out his project for Dr. Martin Luther King Day: 

I can't get enough of this guy.  Here's to many more birthdays, Mr. Noah Wilfred Schaff.

knee deep in birthday season

January brings cold weather, a chance to put away the Christmas decorations...and pull OUT the birthday wrapping paper!  This family doesn't stop at New Year's, we keep rolling with
January 3 - Faith's birthday
January 7 - Lisa's birthday
January 17 - Noah's birthday

I'm not even counting Lisa's dad and sister-in-law  - they are January babies, too.  So as you can imagine, the month feels like one party after another.  Perhaps this is how we will make it through the sub-zero weather that has landed on Orono, Maine?

The view from our back porch

I asked for a low-profile birthday this year, and it was lovely.  We went out to dinner at Woodman's  and I enjoyed a Lemon Drop, a beer and the best hamburger a girl could ask for.  Auntie Lisa created this amazing Strawberry Lemon cake that was the perfect way for me to end the day.  Here we are (Eli is tons of cute, but check out Noah's face.  That is priceless)
My family couldn't help but shower me with gifts AND I got an ambush party at work, too.

Truth be told, we haven't been able to properly celebrate Lisa's birthday.  This is tragic and wrong, because she is the one who orchestrates most of OUR birthday celebrations.  We were able to slip her some flowers and homemade cards, but she's got a little pile of presents at our house still waiting for her.

She's making plans for Noah's kid party (will post pics later) that happens on Saturday.  You will notice that there is a Star Wars theme!  Noah just can't get enough of Star Wars these days.

Last night, we went to Governor's for Noah's traditional "On my actual birthday DAY" birthday and along with friend shrimps and pie, Noah got balloons and a big to-do.  Nice having friends (thank you Robert Jackson!) on staff.

And at school?  Oh, just like any other day.

Except sharing homemade chocolate chip cookies with all his friends and teaches.

Wearing the birthday crown.

Having a crowd of high school students from China sing "Happy Birthday" in Chinese.

Hand delivered bacon pizza from Pat's (thank you Auntie) at lunchtime.

Auntie Lisa, Owen and Noah on the first day of school

And a few more updates in pictures:

Another example of Noah's artwork.  He loves going to Art lessons every Monday with Valerie Wallace

Noah and Eli working at the kitchen table

Noah and Lisa outside of Penobscot Theater's performance of Annie

And perhaps the best for last?  Eli has been requesting to sit on the potty to pee!  Here he is in action.

Nice to be back and communicating with all of you, my friends.  Up next: report from the weekend birthday parties (yup, parties) and a look back at Christmas.

Unpacking

I had thought about New Year's Resolutions this year and I have two.
I'm already a little overwhelmed.
One, of course, is regular exercise.  I WILL get to that.
The second is to resurrect this wonderful blog.  I only looked at my last post and felt so overwhelmingly sad that I haven't kept up with it for a year.  So much has happened in this year, and I use it like an excuse (and of course it makes sense on one level) but these are the times to be taking note.  Remembering.  Processing.  Unpacking.

So all I can do is look forward.
I'll start small.  I will not expect myself to make up for a whole year, or to tell the story of a year in the next week.

Putting words and images on a piece of paper - or computer memory- are my treasures.  Even one year away, I look back and I am so grateful for the testament of where my head, heart and family was on that day.  It just goes so quickly. Imagine what I will feel 10, 20, 30 years from now.

The nutshell version of the year went something like this:

Noah turned 5.
I learned that my dear Upward Bound - my job and my professional passion - was defunded and I needed to find another job.
We went to Hilton Head, SC

6 Winterhaven Drive, Orono Maine 04473

We bought a house.
I started a new job as and Academic Advisor for first year students at UMaine.
Noah started elementary school.
Eli turned 2.

I am still unpacking.