Surrounded by Love – Christmas 2007

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Wow, so much has happened this past week – let’s see if I can catch you up a bit. The highlights:
* We spent last weekend in State College with our dear friends Scott, Christine, Grace, Emmy and Phoebe

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emmie sled

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* You had breakfast on Christmas Eve’s Day with Daddy, Grandma and Papa Tatro.
* We decorated Christmas cookies for Auntie Judi, Uncle Jim and Santa Claus.

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Christmas cookies with mom

* After a late nap (maybe because of the frosting we ate?), we joined Martha & Delilah as well as Meg, Phil, Claire and Maeve for a FANTASTIC family Christmas Eve church service.

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* After church, we joined 24+ people at the Fonzi Christmas Eve party. Around 8:30pm, after leaving a plate of cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer, you snuggled up in CJ’s bedroom (that you now call “our room.”)

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fonzis party

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santa plate

* While you were sleeping, I sneaked out to sing with the Gospel choir for the midnight mass.
* The next morning, you started Judi and Jim’s day by jumping on their bed and announcing that it is “wake-up time!” We spent the morning together in our pj’s, opening presents, playing with them, and eating Christmas brunch. It was truly wonderful.

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* After a nap, we headed over to Hannah’s family’s extended family Christmas party where you met ALL kinds of new friends – friends of all ages. You played so hard, ate many cookies, and overall, just had a great time!
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lloyds food

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* The next day (12/26), we joined my friend Jim from the Gospel Choir and his two kids, Madeline (9) and Daniel (7) for breakfast and sledding. Again, an incredible day out in the sun and snow!! We all had a cup of hot chocolate (your first cup!) that we cooled down with snow. After tobagganing as a full group many times down a big hill and drinking hot chocolate, we had snowball fights and went on hikes. What a gorgeous day and wonderful time! After playing, you crashed at Jim and Carmen’s house. We had dinner with them and then came home and crashed again!

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*This morning you went swimming with Daddy, and after daycare, you and I went down to check out Daddy’s new home and go out to eat with him.

See? It has been an INCREDIBLY busy week in which we were TOTALLY SURROUNDED BY LOVE!!
Emanuel… God is with us! Through Grace and Emmie, Scott and Christine, Grandma and Papa, Mommi and Daddy, Delilah, Jeff and Martha, Jim and Judi, Laura and other work friends, Jim, Carmen, Madeline and Daniel…. Do you feel totally loved?!? Yeah, me too. Thanks God!

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Marlie and her Mom

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Marlie and her family have been such GREAT friends to us, especially these past couple of weeks when we needed a few extra hugs and laughs. Last Saturday, you and I joined Marlie and her Mom and Dad for a pancake breakfast with Santa and Ms. Claus at a local farm called Springdale Farm (you both have been there a number of times). Here are some pictures from our adventures!

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New Gymnastics

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We decided to give a new gymnastics place a try; your first day was December 6. Miss Kathy is your new teacher, and, at THIS school, I get to play with you!

We’re still adjusting a bit to the new structure, but you seem to be loving it!!

Here are a couple picture highlights… It was hard to take pictures while spotting you, but we’ll get some better ones soon… stay tuned…

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Words from “school”

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Growing

Checking in with your school to make sure you’re doing fine there, I asked your teacher to give me a report. This is what she wrote today:

As time has gone by, I’ve noticed that Maya has grown in so many ways. She loves being taught new things. She enjoys Circle Time and doing art projects. We worked on a “Me & Myself” theme. This project was a focus on herself and what she is able to do. During this time, Maya started potty training. She sings our song, “See what I can do all by myself” every time she goes potty. She is always so lovable that there is no way you can keep yourself from loving her. Her independence is growing. Maya loves to do things on her own. Dressing and cleaning up after herself are just some of the things she does on her own. He beautiful smile lights up the classroom every day. -Maritza

I agree with your teachers! I can SEE your growth EVERY day, and it is SO much fun. You and I have full conversations now. You love to help me do whatever it is that I’m working on – whether it’s cooking, cleaning, working on my computer, or taking a shower 😉 . You have the BIGGEST heart in ALL of the world. Lately, you have given me a TON of sweet kisses and words of encouragement! Today you sat behind me and rubbed my shoulders. Last week, at dinner, you took my face in your little hands and said, “Mama, you are so pretty!” Tonight while we were rocking to sleep, you leaned up and gently kissed my cheek about 7 times. What a sweet, lovable girl.

And you ARE doing so many things on your own. You can get dressed by yourself. You are going pee pee and (occasionally) poo poo on the potty. You decide every morning when it is “wake-up time” (sometimes, much to my chagrin); today declaring it so by turning on the light in my bedroom.

Other sweet things?
You refer to your big bed as your “cozy bed” and my bed as my “cozy bed,” while your toddler bed you call your “special bed.” You eat a number of butter and jelly sandwiches on wheat bread every morning. You LOVE to watch for the three “big trucks” (the garbage trucks) come every Thursday morning. The trash people even watch for you and wave to you! It’s very sweet. As I said, you LOVE snow! You love to eat snow… which has been somewhat problematic, as I have had to help you differentiate between “clean” snow from outside and dirty snow tracked in from the bottom of our shoes. You’ll often pick some off the floor and say, “Mama, was this on your shoe?” “Yes, Sweetie, don’t eat it.” When I leave your bedroom at night, you always grab a hold of me, look me straight in my eyes and say, “Mama, stay for ONE more song!” Even sometimes when music isn’t playing and you want me to stay, you’ll look me deep in the eyes and say, “Mama, stay for just ONE more song…” and of course, I do.
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We snuggle every morning and discuss whether or not it is “wake-up time” with many, many giggles. And we snuggle every night as we watch what our family still refers to as “P.T.” (instead of TV) and as we rock before bedtime. We chase each other around the house with ice packs, and we have a blast playing with playdough.

You are growing, and it is SO MUCH FUN!! I love you Peanut Butter!


Daddy’s Decision

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It’s crazy how life can change in a blink of an eye.

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And it certainly has for our little family. It’s now going to be primarily you and me kid…

And we are going to be GREAT!! Daddy has decided that he no longer wants to be married to me or live with us, so our wonderful little family is experiencing some great sadness. But, as you will learn, God works His most amazing miracles at times we might perceive to be hopeless. As Aunti Judi said, we will just redefine “family” to be much more inclusive. You will have many Aunti’s and Uncles – fascinating, grounded loving people who will expose you to the beauty and challenges of life…. Want some examples? Aunti Liz, Uncle Michael, Aunti Kankana (all three doc students of mine), Uncle Jim from Gospel Choir, Aunti Brenda from Gospel Choir, Aunti Susan (Hannah’s Mommy), and so many more. We will open our homes and hearts to those who need our love and those who want to love us.

Your Daddy promises to always love you and be a very important part of your life. (I’m sure you know that by now.) Don’t you worry for even a minute about that. I know you’re going to have many questions, and we’ll try to figure out those answers together as we grow – at this point I understand neither the questions nor the answers… But that is what faith is all about. We’re gonna go with that. Before you were born Jonathon from Gospel Choir said, “You can’t stop trustin’ Him now, Sister. You can’t stop trustin’ Him now.” This is just one more time when that advice could not be more important.

Just imagine all the amazing adventures in store for us!! Want to take dancing together? And maybe French? Want to row a gondola in Italy? Want to snorkel in Belize? River raft in Brazil? Whatever it is – it will be amazing – because it will be with you. I love you Peanut Butter. Thank you for bringing so much JOY to my life…. EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

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“Wait and Hope”


our first real snow

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You absolutely LOVE SNOW!! You love to eat it, make balls of it and throw them at me, make snow angels, and go for rides on your sled! Sunday night, we all went to our favorite park for some wonderful snow frolicking! How fun!

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Thursday night’s family fun

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Last Thursday night we headed out to our neighborhood’s winter holiday festival:

Fourteenth Annual
PARK AVENUE
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Thursday, November 29th, 2007
5 to 9 p.m.

After meeting Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Razorshark (a local icon), Blue, Frosty and Scooby-Doo, we headed down the street to share a pizza. While we were there, a friend of Daddy’s from work came in (Jason) with his wife Diana and their daughter Anabell. We invited them to sit with us. Anabell is just 2 years old. You did such a great job sharing your pizza and grapes with her… and then she shared her shells with you! Very nice.

We then walked down to meet Raggety-Ann who was making balloon animals and things for all the kids. Following the kids in front of us, you asked for a long sword… purple. How fun. And Santa’s elf gave you a big candy cane.

Then you and I headed across the street to our favorite candy store. They were giving out free samples, so we each had one… and, of course, we bought a few treats to bring home with us.

We had so much fun we hardly noticed that is was a blustery 33 degree day…

Here are a couple pictures:
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What a fun adventure!! I love you Peanut Butter!