Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

I sat down to the computer on Christmas Eve to write some reflections, but after catching up on reading a few blogs it was suddenly time to get ready for church . . . and then Christmas was upon us. We had spent so much time and thought leading up to this day and suddenly it was here. We went to my parents and Josh and Sarah's church for Christmas Eve service. We filled a whole row and left one seat empty--Josh, Timothy, Sarah, Elisabeth, me (Laurel), John, Mom, Dad, and Nathaniel. Henry and Charlotte were in the nursery. Two years ago we also filled up a whole row, with no empty seats: Timothy in the nursery, Charlotte on Sarah's lap, and Tim and Kristen. The service was ripe with reminders of the sorrow that has occurred since we were there last, and the joy and peace that sustain us. "No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found . . ." and "Hail the heaven born prince of peace . ...

After exploring the farm Aunt Sarah and Charlotte settle down to some checkers. Henry and I take another Ox-cart ride around the house. Grandmere gets to some knitting. And Laurel and Grandmere spend some time studying, "The Frugal Housewife." Certainly in these uncertain economic times we can use all the tips that we can get.

Grandpere shows Henry how to use a close line. His attention was long enough for a brief lesson. The farm had a washing station set-out and a bunch of rags that required cleaning. The kids went right to work. Elisabeth exhibited her abilities as she stayed at the task long after everyone left, even coming back to it later in the day. Additionally, she was the only child not to get soaked from her efforts. Perhaps we need to go old school at home to get a little more help from Elisabeth. IT wasn't all work at the farm. There were plenty of toys to explore. I never knew what this one was called but Elisabeth had a great time inventing games to play with a stick and a ring. Everyone took part in the jump rope. As Laurel shows it can be great fun when everyone is laughing together.

Barrington Farms, at Washington-on-the-Brazos, is a living history farm. On approaching the farmhouse we were told, "touch whatever you like, except the china." They had toys, dress-ups, all sorts of stuff. Elisabeth quickly got into character, donned an apron and grabbed a broom. Also at the farm we were treated to an Ox-cart ride. There are 8 of us crammed into the Oxcart; Josh, Sarah, Laurel & I and all of our kids. The farm also included pigs (and some piglets), chickens, and some guineas. Prior to visiting the farm we went for a little hike with the kids (~1.5miles). Here Henry and Charlotte hold hands with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Josh, the rest of the adults are following behind. Timothy and Elisabeth were well in front giving each other stroller rides.

Gathering for Thanskgiving included a lot of really wonderful food. Much thanks to all who brought all delicious dishes (there were no non-delicious dishes). We enjoyed them on Thanksgiving day and then the next (see later post). Here Timothy and Elisabeth watch over the Turkey so wonderfully smoked by Uncle Josh. Ymmmm. We ended up eating a little late because the Turkey took longer than expected. However, it all worked out okay because with the kids in bed we got to enjoy a peaceful dinner-just adults.

After Laurel had begun making plans to decorate our Ike pile for the holidays the removal crew got back around to our street (I count about 10 weeks after the storm) to complete the removal. That was a happy happy day for me. I should get to repair the grass in the spring.

Fairy and Prince 3 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Elisabeth has planned out her costumes for the next few years. Next year she will be Ozma of Oz, and I can be Glinda the Good if I want to be. Henry can be the Tin Woodman or the Scarecrow. Daddy can be the Gnome King. The unfamiliar characters are from the 3rd book in the Oz series, Ozma of Oz. The Gnome King is a short, fat, gray creature. Daddy will need quite the costume. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozma_of_Oz When she is seven I think she'll be a witch. We'll have to think about that. She's been playing with pretend guns at home lately. I need to watch who she hangs out with. I don't quite get it. On the other hand, she spends a lot of time talking about all the ballets that we (as a family) are going to be in, and how she is designing the costumes.

Fairy and Prince 1 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Henry was very happy to pose for this picture--how novel. He loved having his shiny clothes put on. Elisabeth was the one who decided what his costume would be. She saw these pjs from Vietnam and said he could be a prince. I forgot to have him wear the crown! I think he felt very fancy. One of the "village centers"--shopping center--was having trick or treating, so we joined some friends for Mexican food and the kids (mostly Elisabeth) got to walk around collecting lots of chocolate. John is buying some of it from her. Henry got a duck and was mesmorized by "Puffy the Pinecone," The Woodlands mascot (does your town have a mascot?!) But after I stood in line to have his picture taken, he would have none of it. At the restaurant Henry was the best behaved he's ever been because he got to see a constant stream of dressed up kids (and adults) walking by. We got home just as the trick-or-tre...

kiddo dance party , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . This is from the wedding, but I just had to make sure you saw it. In an effort to satisfy Elisabeth's desire to attend the later reception, we had a little dance party for the kids. They went wild. But it wasn't enough for Elisabeth. She still wanted to attend the reception. "Mommy, I want to go to ALL the parts of the wedding!"

say "I love my mom!" , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Note Elisabeth's fashion sense. I read in a magazine that this is okay. It is quite fashionable (oops, the sweater is 2 years old, but she does love it!) And I just didn't have time to negotiate an outfit change.

DSC_0124 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens .

DSC_0116 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . I'm trying not to think about what's in that dirt that the goats have been walking in.

DSC_0115 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Henry enjoyed the goats too, but was a bit thrown off by the horns. Here he is pointing them out. Later, however, a 4 month old kid started following him, and Henry began running toward me with a panicked look on his face.

DSC_0110 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . It's her favorite part of the zoo, and here, the 7 Acre Wood in Conroe. She could sit with them for hours. These little kid is 4 months old. They were really cute.

DSC_0102 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Where'd the animals go?

DSC_0099 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . I don't know why it has become such an important tradition to photograph kids "at the pumpkin patch." Around here a pumpkin patch is an open space with pumpkins plopped down, if you're lucky. For Elisabeth's first few years, a pumpkin patch was at a church. Most kids don't even realize that they actually do grow in fields. Anyway, so here' s our take on the annual ritual.

Mom brings her children 2 perfectly ripe bananas. Elisabeth: Mom, (whine) I don't like bananas. Mom: Yes you do. Elisabeth: Okay. I'll eat it. Don't you wish it always worked that way?

flowergirl and mommy , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . So excited before the wedding. (all the pictures are on flickr now, so click the words above to see them)

After being the best ring bearer and flower girl ever in the wedding of Abigail and Mark, Elisabeth and Timothy were married later in the hotel room. More pictures to come. The natives are getting restless as I type.

Elisabeth and her friend Douwe. (face painting has sure changed since I was their age. And my mom didn't even let me have anything on my face! ) Henry loving the bounce house or whatever you call it. He fell all over the place and just laughed and laughed and got his teething toddler drool everywhere. Birthday girl with her favorite presents--American girl doll (now named JulieAnna) and dog (named Alice --from Alice in Wonderland). Enjoying a cool pop up book read by Grandmere. Note JulieAnna well placed. This is our pile--our pine tree that had to be cut down. Ooh, little mischief maker. Henry can reach farther onto the table now. Fortunately lentils and coffee beans are easily swept up (why were they there? long story) And a few fashion tips from Henry: underwear fits nicely over the head. Shirts make good hats.

DSC_0089 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . This is Elisabeth at her Flower Girl Birthday Party. Click on the "post" info to see more photos on flickr.

I'm just cleaning up from Elisabeth's party--her 5th birthday. Actually her big day is tomorrow, but she has obligations (already! piano and ballet) so today was her party with friends. She's been saying for nearly 6 months that she's going to have a flower girl birthday party. How does one think of these things? She will be a flower girl in a few weeks in my cousin's wedding. So then I had to figure out how to have a flower girl party. Thanks to my John's mom and some good friends, we pulled it off. I told Elisabeth I had 2 favorite parts (yes, my favorites come first). The preparation and anticipation was delightful. A few weeks ago we did some shopping (before the hurricane!) and then Elisabeth picked out games to play (not flower girl related). Today she was hanging streamers and putting pieces of streamers in chairs. She put a little candy dish on an end table and said, "It's just like Grandma Virginia's!" She had gotten some very special ...

The power returned at about 10:00PM Tuesday night. Lights turned on all over the house and hoots and hollers could be heard from across the neighborhood. We checked the news, updated our facebook sites and went back to bed. Because we had pretty much cleaned out our refrigerator we figured it was a good time to really get it cleaned. I checked the sprinkler system - it is functional (much to my relief) but we won't need it for awhile given all the rain that we have received. So through it all Elisabeth is still dancing - only now she has music from the stereo rather than just in her head. Laurel called the last few days our Hurrication but now that the power is back on we are into Hurriclean mode.

Our backyard after the storm had passed (around Sat. lunch time). You can see the one tree that we will loose; it is resting on a nearby oak tree and poised over our neighbor's house. We knew that it survivied much of the storm in that position (I first saw it at about 5AM) so hopefully it is stable. The tree guys will take care of it next week. Other than that our only damage is a window shade that was stained by a leak through the window. We were soon to learn that we made out pretty well. We soon found ourselves catching up the neighbors to see how everyone fared. Many homes had trees on top of them (see above) or across their yard (this one has already been cleared from the driveway). This particular house had two trees resting on it. It will be a few days before they will be cleared. Yes, we were fortunate. To add insult to injury the night after Ike there was a large thunderstorm that brought more water into these damaged homes. Another picture of our backyard after cleanup...

We were all up at 5 in the morning with Hurricane Ike still roaring outside. We still had power (until 6:20AM) so we got some coffee made and had a warm breakfast knowing that soon power would likely be out. You can see some of our hurricane preparations in this photo: all the china is down from the hutch and the furniture is moved toward the center of the room. We also took down any hanging pictures, made lots of ice, filled every container we could find with water, and protected any electronics we cared about. The eye of the storm came by our house at around 7AM Saturday morning. THe winds on either side of the eye were Hurricane 1 force being that we were only about 10 miles from the eye of Hurricane Ike. After the storm is just rained for hours. To pass the time we danced in the dining room that Saturday morning.

Whether climbing the Sleeping Bear Dunes, visiting a museum, or looking forward to the perfect rocks Laurel, Elisabeth, and Henry had fun with Auntie Kristen. It is always a special time when she joins us. This time found me working in Texas so I missed out. But everyone else had a great time.

With our own coffee maker in our cabin (the shed roof cabin) and some carefully stored breakfast materials we enjoyed many mornings on the beach before everyone else woke up in the morning. Playing on the beach with the toys and draft wood with the kids and a good cup of coffee (thank you Higher Grounds) was one of my most enjoyable moments. By the time the folks were getting up it was usually about time for Henry to take his morning nap. Here the big windows on the cabin proved detrimental as Henry could stand up and keep an eye on the activity in the area (and not sleep). So judiciously placed cardboard solved that and although he usually didn't like it he did get some sleep.

Collecting rock, whether on the shores of Lake Michigan or Superior was a constant activity for Elisabeth. We finally had to limit the number of rocks that came home. I think that we set the limit at 5 and let her pick. I believe that the rest stayed in Grandma and Grandpa's cottage for another time.