Holiday.Family.Fun

The holidays have come and gone in the blink of an eye and are done for the year… unless you count my upcoming big-ish birthday.  It seemed like such a whirlwind between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but we enjoyed some great times together as a family.  We’re blessed to have most of our family nearby, and we’re thankful for the opportunity to see those that don’t live so close around this time of year. 

I don’t recall ever making a gingerbread house as a child, and it was great fun to do that on Thanksgiving Day at Tim’s parents’ home.  All the kids – big and small – gathered at the kitchen table to create their masterpieces.  It was quite the contest!  This is our “green” house that adorns the buffet in our dining room now. 

And some more shots of the gang showing off their work:

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And the winner was:

We all put money in a pot to participate in the contest, and the winner got to choose which charitable organization he or she wanted to donate the money to.  I’m not sure what organization Angel decided upon, but it was a great way to share our blessings with others at Thanksgiving.

While on the ginger bread theme, we had another grand time making ginger bread cookies with our niece and nephew (my brother’s kids).  A lesson learned, however: ginger bread cookie batter should not be made with whole wheat flour.  It just-so-happened to be the only flour I had in the house, but now I know it’s worth a jaunt to the grocery store!

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We took the annual excursion to get a Christmas Tree with my parents and my brother and his family the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Frysville Farms is a family-owned business that has great trees and good prices, plus the largest selection of poinsettias I’ve ever seen and a horse-drawn hay ride, with hot apple cider to warm you up at the end.  Unfortunately this year during our hay ride, we were taken right past the incinerator, which was full of plastic that they seemingly are burning.  Blech! Not only is this a huge disappointment for us, but may be cause for change of location next year.  Tim’s planning to write a letter to the company conveying our sadness and impetus for no longer being customers.  So here’s a series of photos from what may have been our last trip to this particular farm…

Despite the less-than-eco-friendly encounter, we enjoyed ourselves, and it helped us to get a little more into the spirit of things this season.  Never mind the fact that our tree, wreaths and swags sat on our front porch for several weeks afterwards… our house sure looks beautiful with it’s holiday touch now!

Bath time, bath time!

One of Sebastian’s favorite past-times is bath time.  Before bed each night, Sebbie signs “bath time” indicating it’s time to get the evening routine underway (and for some reason we always say “bath time, bath time” as part of the cue.  During his bath, he plays and plays and plays in the water, splashing, giggling, smiling and helping to wet and rinse his own hair.  It’s usually difficult to convince him that bath time is over and that it’s time to go to bed.  But he knows that when the water runs out, it’s time to get out of the tub.  One of his favorite Christmas toys was this addition – the red tug boat -  to his bath time toy collection… thanks to Aunt Traci, Uncle Steve and cousins, Isaac and Lauryn.  

I’m pretty certain they don’t come much cuter than this little guy!  And, Sebastian gained big points and lots of hugs, kisses and high-fives this week when he peed on his new potty – TWICE!  Tim might get his wish after all – only one child in diapers at a time!  I’m not holding my breath, but it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing! 

Sneak preview of the family Christmas photo…

Just a little bit of photo editing and look what we have – a lovely family, all bundled for the wintry, snowy (huh?) weather… hats included!  It really was cold, people!

Beach Trip

It seems a bit odd to be posting these photos now, when we were at the beach over 2 1/2 months ago, and it’s now getting blistery cold… but in an effort to forget about the temperature outside and my winter garb, as well as catch up a bit on posting, I thought I’d post away…! 

We spent a weekend in Ocean City, MD with our dear friends, Marvin & Dori.  It was beautiful mid-September weather, the temperature was in the 70’s, and we were thrilled to be hanging out in OC during “bike week!”  We didn’t know exactly what to expect, but it was a cultural experience, nonetheless.

Two preggers, two daddies, a super adorable toddler, lots of fantastic food, great company… what more could we ask for?!? 

Take a peak at some of my favorites from the get-away:

Still didn’t have a big enough belly to prevent me from carrying Sebbie in the Ergo on my front!  My, how things change in such a short period of time!

Nanny Dori & Sebastian watching the waves.

Loved, loved, loved to play in the sand!

Buried daddy!  Where’d his legs go?

  

Evening stroll on the boardwalk…

That baby ended up weighing almost 10 pounds!  I’m sure it had nothing to do with Thrasher’s fries (see below)…Holy French fries!  I’ve never seen such a thing in all my life… but boy, were they delicious!  Not sure who ate more – Sebastian or the pregnant mommies! 

One last walk on the beach before we loaded up the car and headed home, after a great weekend away.  It was time too apply aloe vera and drink lots of H2O, especially for the men-folk in the group! 

And after it was all said and done, I think we might go back for “bike week” again!  The price was right, and never mind the roaring motorcycle engines and too much leather for beach attire…!  It was a blessing to have a little escape and share a wonderful time with our friends!

Yummm!…Chocolate Chip pancakes

Saturdays are often the perfect time for a family breakfast of high fiber, whole grain pancakes. We start with a recipe in More With Less cookbook (p.74 – Apple Walnut pancakes) and then edit from there. Replace the white flower with spelt, oat bran & wheat germ. Use flaxseed oil for the oil or use 3 T of flax per 1 T of oil if you want extra fiber!

This particular day Kirsten had a hankerin’ for something sweet (not uncommon for the Johnsen Martins). So we added some chocolate chunks. I (daddy Tim) was trying to limit the chocolate in Seb’s pancakes --- b/c of the sugar & messyness---but some leaked thru. That’s why they make bibs :)

I’m a big boy!

Walking in daddy’s shoes!

And I am sooo cute!  Catch me if you can!

Catching up on stats and Sebastian-isms

It’s been forever and a day since I posted the stats for Sebastian’s well child visits.  Fortunately, now that he’s older, they are more spaced out, so I’m not that far behind in number of visits, just the number of months that have gone by.  Sebbie continues to love to visit his Dr. Donna and nurse Acnery (expert shot-giver), and he always does so well! 

This is Mr. Cutie Pie’s 1 year visit, where he weighed 21 lbs, 5 oz.  He apparently wanted to have his eyes checked, because he wouldn’t let go of the eye shield for the visual acuity exam. 

Here’s the 15 month visit, where he checked in at 23 lbs, 12 ozs. 

This time around he wasn’t willing to give up the snack cup, so we might have to calculate a couple of ounces less to account for the goldfish!

I’m beginning to feel like one of those moms who does a fantastic baby book for their 1st child, but all the others lose out on all the details of growth and development, because the daily ins and outs of life get in the way… except that it started happening around the time my 1st baby was just 9 months old!  There’s always the need to balance living life and writing about it, but since I don’t have a baby book, this blog is my record of all things Sebastian.

A few other details about Sebbie:

• He now has 4 1/2 teeth (he’s slow to grow ‘em, but they say they’re stronger teeth when they come in later?!?).
• He signs and/or understands about 15-20 words in American Sign Language – we’ll have to get a video up soon of some of his signs.
• He doesn’t just walk, but rather runs everywhere.
• One of his favorite things is bath-time, and he sometimes even asks for it when he first wakes up or when it’s the middle of the afternoon.
• He knows that mommy has a baby in her belly and gives hugs, kisses and gentle touches to the baby.
• He stopped nursing just before he turned 16 months – this was particularly hard for me, but probably a good thing for both of us, since it allows me to prepare for the next little one, and it allows Sebastian to be used to not nursing in preparation for his little sibling. This was a Sebastian-driven decision, which I suppose made it easier for me, as opposed to feeling like I needed to wean him.
• His favorite things to play with these days are his Weebles tree house (birthday gift from cousins Isaac and Lauryn), and his Melissa and Doug animal magnets and miniature puzzles.  These have provided hours and hours of entertainment!
• The sweetest things are his hugs and kisses for mommy, daddy and others, and most endearing is when he sees his cousin, Ryan (4 months older), they always embrace and share nuks!

We continue to count it such a joy and a blessing to parent this little charmer of a guy!  He has definitely begun to have his moments of terrible twos (who said it was OK for this to happen early?… temper tantrums at 16 months, really?!?), but he is still a happy camper for the most part, smiling and waving at all, flirting with the ladies all the time, and making our lives more complete. 

Visiting West Virginia

We had a fantastic long weekend visit to West Virginia over Labor Day weekend this year.  The weather was perfect, the company fantastic, and overall we had a super time away.  The drive was l-o-n-g, but Sebastian and pregnant mommy both did surprisingly well.  We were welcomed into the home of Cristy and her parents.  Our dear friend Cristy is living in Malawi, serving as the medical director at a large Seventh Day Adventist hospital, and she typically makes it home every summer for about 5-6 weeks of visiting.  She usually makes the trek to Lancaster to see us, but this year she asked if we would visit her parents’ home in WV, and we were thrilled to head south and west.  It was a blessing to get away, to be in a home full of lovin’, en joy the beautiful outdoors, and eat fabulous food! 

Here are some of my favorite shots from the weekend…

All of the gang (minus me, the photographer), hiking at a nearby park. 

The happy family of three plus a little extra JM growing inside…

We spent a whole day on the nearby lake, soaking up the Indian Summer sun, water-skiing (except for pregnant mamas and little toddlers)… Timmy picked up fast, after having not skied in probably 20 years. 

Cristy skied with glamour, grace and confidence, just as she completes most tasks:

And Steve was a sportster pro, doing all sorts of fancy tricks!

Sebastian was not so convinced about being in the water…

but he loved driving the big boat, and he took his job very seriously!

Donna and Sebbie bonded well, and she did a great job of shading his pale skin from the sun. 

We had a great time, all smiles!

Many, many thanks to Cristy, Donna and Steve for a lovely weekend in WV!  We’ll be back again… maybe with another little munchkin in tow next time!

Cristy, we love you bunches, miss you and hope you’re well!  One of these days we’ll share adventures in Malawi. 

Oh, they taste good!

Our little boy sure likes things sweet. You know those generic Cheerios called ‘Ohs’. He seemed so fine with those until he got a taste of animal crackers. Not sure why they call them crackers since they are really a cookie. But, if Seb is the authority on whether they are a cracker or cookie, we’ll have to go with cracker---he gives the cracker sign every time he wants some. It was the fastest he learned any of the signs—check out this video to see the ASL version… Seb’s is a bit more animated, but still need to catch it on video.

Back to the ‘Ohs’. I found a way to reintroduce them today. Being a stay at home dad this week it is time for some more experimentation. I decided to let him dunk his ‘Ohs’ in his yogurt after he initiated. Maybe he saw daddy dunk some tasty treats in his coffee [That’s right…I am a dunker!]. Sure it was messy and more to clean up. But, he did eat them and look at how much he was enjoying himself.

This self-feeding thing is messy. Of course, I had to think how anything I do the first few times is equally messy. As an adult I often don’t want to admit that. Though, seeing life through the eyes of a child helps me to offer an extra measure of grace to myself and others. Some extra grace, now we’re talkin’ sweet.

 

Pumpkin Patch

Fall seems to be upon us!  It was a perfect day in West Virginia for pumpkin patch pictures last Sunday.  The Shanks graciously shared their pumpkins with us and Seb went to town exploring all of the pumpkins – big and small – around.  There were some ginormous pumpkins around!  And Sebbie even got to bring one home = one happy camper!