Keeping Christ in Christmas

We haven't spent a lot of time preparing for Christmas this year.  In the past, the kids and I have gone through 4 weeks of Christmas-related Bible lessons and crafts by this time...not this year.  Something about moving half-way across the country (and perhaps the 70-degree weather) makes me feel like it couldn't possibly be the end of the year and the time to celebrate Jesus' birth.

We may not have gotten crafty and creative in our efforts to keep our kids' focus on the Lord this holiday season, but we did work hard on memorizing a scripture passage.  As a test, the kids recited their verses at the end of each week.  Here are two of our best takes.

Enjoy!

And yes, we do motivate through jelly beans around here!  :)

A Quick Post

It's New Year's Day and I'm wondering where Claude and the little tikes are. They went outside to move the car (thank you, Hartsdale winter parking restrictions) and haven't returned 30 minutes later. There must have been a snow plow sighting or something of the like.

This is, in fact, a very short post to keep this blog active. A more substantial update and hopefully a 2009 in review post will be coming soon. The blog tends to get put on the bottom of the priority list when things get hectic around here, and they've been hectic!

Why have they been hectic, you might ask. We moved - during Christmas week - with about 3 hour's notice of the actually starting day and time of our move. But it's probably not as crazy as it sounds.

The Lord provided a wonderful apartment, two buildings down the street from our previous residence. It's quite a bit larger, although still only one bedroom. The features include a giant hall closet, large enough to make a small study out of it we didn't have so much to store in there; a kitchen that is about three times the size of our last kitchen; a dishwasher!; a bigger dining area; a better layout in general; and the best part...

...NO DOWNSTAIRS NEIGHBORS! What a relief to allow Joshua and Hannah to run around freely this morning at 6am without the fear of disturbing others while they try to sleep in on a holiday!

So, that's the big news for the time being. As I said, another post will be coming to sum up the past year. It may be a while before that comes up. Now that we've moved in and gotten set up, I'm looking forward to starting a new pre-school term with Joshua and Hannah, so planning for that will most likely trump the blog posting. And with some new ideas and an every changing and growing philosophy on teaching the little guys, there is probably a bit more planning than I may have anticipated.

For the record, our new address is as follows:

The Chews Four
150 E Hartsdale Avenue Apt 1C
Hartsdale NY 10530


Ah, and this post is finished just in time to welcome back my little car movers. :) More posts coming soon!

Many blessings to you and yours in 2010!

The Christmas Story According to Joshua and Hannah

Joshua:
"I bring good news for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born outside; he is Christ the Lord outside!"

"We're celebrating with cake!"

Hannah:
"Beebee! BeeBee, DeeDee!"

We're glad that they understand, in their own unique ways, what the holiday is all about. Praise the Lord for sending us His Son, the greatest gift and symbol of His love to all of mankind!

June, July...where has the summer gone?

Here's the first part of the summer in a nutshell...

Family Vacation
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

We went swimming, drove through Amish farmland, visited Hershey's Chocolate World, but the highlight of our trip was the Strasburg Railroad. Above, Joshua is in a bit of shock as he sees a train straight from one of his favorite books rolling into the station right in front of his eyes! He seemed pretty serious the entire ride, but once we got back in the car all he could talk about was riding the steam train. Funny thing, though...Joshua couldn't see the whistle while we were riding the train, but what he could see were pastures full of cows. Each time he heard the whistle he said, "Cow. It's huge!"


Hannah's First Sign
"Praise the Lord!"



During a monthly visit to BJ's (for anyone not in the NY area, it's like Costco) Hannah started signing "Praise the Lord!" I'm sure she learned it from Joshua, but we had never prompted her to do it. So, naturally I was a bit surprised when our friend Rachel (who was pushing the cart at the time) said "Hannah, Praise the Lord!" Hannah has also said two words very clearly (but none since). One morning Claude heard her say, "Hannah" when he came to get her out of bed. And not long after, she looked me in the eye and said "Hi!"


Joshua's First Solo(ish) Cake
Milk Chocolate Cake, Age 23 months



Maybe it's because I bake so frequently...or perhaps it's because I like to eat baked goods. But whatever the reason, Joshua is quite the up and coming baker. He assists me in all aspects of baking, and recently has been delegated tasks to accomplish on his own. Here you see him mixing a Milk Chocolate Cake with a hand mixer. He did this entirely on his own. He even cleans up after himself. He is learning the names of common ingredients, how to measure them, and I'm just starting to read the recipes out loud to him. We'll see how he goes with this, but mixing a cake at 23 months of age seems pretty good to me! Of course, his favorite part is licking the beaters...


Potty Training 101, 201...
Saying Goodbye to the Diaper Days...Slowly, but Surely!



Yes, ladies and gentleman, we are potty training in the Chew household. Well, this is not traditional potty training. We've been putting Joshua on the potty since he was 9 months old and Hannah started as soon as she could sit up on her own (I think her first time was around 5-6 months). So, really we're just pushing things to a higher level and hopefully eliminating a few diapers with each stage. And yes, it really is the entire household being potty trained (those over 3-feet tall excluded). Joshua has taken Lulu, Talking Bear, Pooh Bear, Steam Roller, Fire Truck, and anything else he thinks of to the potty. "Lulu potty too!"


Father's Day 2009
Finger Painting, Family Photos, and Plenty of Fun



For Father's Day we had a BBQ with some friends. The kids finger/foot painted. Hannah thought it was a fantastic game and got as messy as she possibly could. And Joshua...



...Joshua had more fun cleaning up than actually making the mess.



We used to be able to take family photos on our own...self-portrait family photos. They no longer work (as seen in the first photo of this post). There are just too many factors, and mainly two very wriggly kids. Aside from some beautiful photos that a good friend took when Hannah was just a few weeks old, this is the first family photo since we grew to be The Chews 4. This is on Father's Day weekend, June 2009.


Sleep Schedules
Getting Our Z's...as many as we possibly can!



Sleep hasn't been the greatest issue for us as a family, especially since Joshua was born. There seem to be a million different factors all leading to one big problem...we're tired, all of us are tired! So, we've embarked on a sleep campaign that actually seems to be working. Maybe this is due in part to the fact that it is primarily Joshua/Hannah led. One night Joshua asked to go to bed earlier than he normally would. The next night it was a little earlier. And the next, and so on. This coupled with contemplating the theory that the more sleep an infant or toddler gets (during the day and at night) the less they wake throughout the night, the longer they can sleep in general, and the easier they go to bed. And this theory is proving to be true in our case. What an amazing feeling to have gone to bed at 10:30pm after having a good three hours of quiet time after the little guys are asleep. And Joshua and Hannah seem better for it as well. The price we pay...a 5:45am wake up call each morning! :)

Christmas!

Here's a quick look at Christmas with the Chew's. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.