The Congdons: 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Multiple Postings-Check Them Out!!

So I did a bunch of different posts to catch everyone up on what we've been up to lately. On this blog, scroll down to Thanksgiving and work you way up (if you want to see everything).

I also update my craft blog about all the stuff Rob and I made for Christmas as gifts. If you want to check that out, the website is:

http://sarahcongdonscrafts.blogspot.com/

If you want to check them all out, start at Pre Thanksgiving Crafts and work your way up from there.

This will probably be the last post I do until Gwen and Georgia's birthdays in a couple of weeks (hence the birthday background) so enjoy!!

Christmas Day

Christmas day started off with us showing the girls their big Christmas present from us: their toy kitchen. Since it was already downstairs in the basement "apartment" where we are living at my parents, we didn't want to take it all the way upstairs just to show it to them and then bring it all the way downstairs again. They didn't care though. They were so happy to have a kitchen to cook and play and make their own food. It's good to know that our hard work was loved so much, even though it wasn't store bought.

We then went upstairs to do stockings with my family. The girls each got an assortment of toy food, pots & pans, and mixing items (measuring spoons & cups, ladles, stirring spoons, mixing bowls, etc.). They also got hair bows (I had fun explaining to Gwen how Santa knows how to make hairbows just like mommy) and new Nalgene bottles that matched their new pjs in their stockings along with the usual-orange, apple, candy, and bath stuff (shampoo, soap, lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, etc.).

Grace (yes, she's picking her nose....blah), my brother Jake (he's getting deployed to Afghanistan in a few weeks) and Georgia waiting to get to the stockings.

Georgia's first Christmas.

Gwen and Grace playing with their new toys.

Oh, and Robbie made this for my dad (I made things for family as well, but you can check them out on my other blog http://sarahcongdonscrafts.blogspot.com)

And then on we moved to opening presents. Robbie got a new playstation game, books, movies and sander (please note that we did have a limit for spending this year as usual so nothing expensive). I got a new makeup bag, socks, pj pants, and lots of books (which is just what I wanted...I am so happy!!). And the girls!! They got new sweaters, books, their first barbie dolls, baby doll diaper bags, baby doll diaper and wipe kits, and movies. Because Georgia is still considered a baby, she got other things: a sweater, books, an interactive baby book (sings and lights up), a musical mailbox, and other such baby toys. They also all got a new twin sized blanket for their beds. They had a blast opening everything and playing with everything. They also went to the toy store a few days letter to get bathtime disney princess dolls with some Christmas money they were given.

Gwen and her new blanket.

Grace and her new blanket.

Around lunch time we went down to Robbie's parents to spend part of Christmas day with them. Rob and I both got new cloths and towels, a movie and book for Rob and a new purse and book for me. Georgia got a soft baby doll, a stuffed panda bear, toy keys with noisy buttons, a teddy bear, books, and a light up musical doll. Grace got a puzzle, books, a vet pet set, a new headband, a disney princess doll, a new naptime blanket and a tinkerbell dressup box (and other things as well). Gwen got a glodoodle board, an art stamp set, a new headband, books, a disney princess doll, a new naptime blanket and a princess dressup box (and other things too). All three of the girls were also given a princess play tent. They really did well for themselves this year and they're having a blast with everything.

Grace and her new puzzle.

Georgia playing with Grace's puzzle.

Gwen and her new art stamping set.

Georgia and her new Teddy Bear.

Gwen in her new Princess cloths.

Grace and Gwen all dressed up.

Grace inside the princess tent.

We came home a few days later and they went straight for their toy kitchen, and barbies (of course). Thank you to all who thought of us this year, and for spending the Christmas season with us.

Playing in the kitchen.

Gwen and Grace with their Barbie dolls.

Georgia and her new toys.

Our Christmas Letter

This is the letter we sent out with our Christmas cards:

The Congdon Family Christmas Letter

November 2009

Once again we decided to continue with Sarah’s family tradition and write a Christmas letter. It was great fun for us last year and something we hope to continue doing through out the years as our family and lives change and grow. In this past year we have been given the opportunity many times to do something different with our lives and have been blessed so much…including an addition to the family, a move cross country from Idaho to Vermont and so much more!!

Robbie graduated from college in July-it felt like we were never going to get to that point! Thanks to the economy he did however have a hard time finding a job. This situation led us to move back to Vermont where Robbie was blessed to get a wonderful job with a construction company called J Hutchins doing excavation work and the main office is located only 15 minutes from where we live. He enjoys his job and we know that this is the job the Lord had in mind for us right now because he is receiving even more experience in a different field of the construction process and has a higher level job/responsibility than he would have with other companies as a new college graduate. Robbie also enjoyed the fishing season this year and is looking forward to going hunting this year and is now the 1^st counselor in the Young Men’s presidency in our ward. Robbie also has more time to spend with us and it’s been wonderful!!

Sarah has been busy busy busy with the kids. She continues to be a stay at home mom and absolutely loves it!! It does have its challenges and trials but it is teaching her more and more every day. She loves the special time with each of our girls and has fun doing art projects and teaching them new things. Sarah just received a calling to be on the Relief Society Board, helping with Enrichment. She has done this before and is looking forward to doing it again. When she can find any spare time Sarah has been learning how to use a sewing machine and continues scrapbooking, reading, crocheting, and many other craft/cooking projects. Sarah has really enjoyed learning new things and being able to make things for our family instead of us buying it in a store.

Gwenyth (Gwen) turned 3 in January. Boy is she getting big! She was finally potty trained in March, will start Sunbeams in January and 2 weeks later will turn 4. Crazy!! Gwen was lucky enough that we were able to find a preschool with openings right after we moved. Her preschool is through our local parks and recreation program and is awesome! She goes every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm and does amazing for them. They are constantly teaching the kids things but try really hard to let them be hands on and learn themselves. They even go on fieldtrips with their first being to a local apple orchard in the beginning of October. She is still a tiny little thing (the tiniest one in her preschool) but is learning so quickly about so many new things. She loves to help and pretend play and has such an outgoing personality-no one is a stranger!!

Grace turned 2 in July. She is just about the same size as Gwen now. She is only about 1 ½ inches smaller than Gwen but weighs almost a pound more. We are constantly asked if we have twins. Grace too is learning very quickly. She is constantly surprising us by how much she really does know. She is getting very familiar with her shapes, numbers and colors and we are trying to work on the alphabet too. The only thing that we are having a problem with lately is potty training. Like Gwen, she is just not understanding it completely yet. So we have stopped the serious potty training and moved on to her going when she feels like it. We are hoping that this will help when she decides she is finally ready. Grace loves going to nursery and playing with her friends and learning/hearing new stories and lessons. She has such a sweet, loving personality and is more introverted but still very friendly. Her favorite things to do are dance and cuddle-what a cutie!!

Georgia is the newest addition to our family. Georgia was born January 11^th 2009, a week and a half before she was due and the day before Gwen’s birthday. Seriously, we did not plan that. Georgia is now 10 months old and getting so big. She has three teeth (with three more about to push through her top gums) and loves baby food, but not more than a bottle. She loves her bottles. She has her own baby language and loves to talk all the time. She plays games, claps, smiles, waves and says bye, mama and dada. She can walk while holding both of your hands or along furniture by herself, but is hesitant to take any steps on her own. She will stand by herself for a few seconds, is building her strength and before we know it she will be walking!!

This has been a wonderful year for us filled with lots of exciting new things. We have had our trials as well but these experiences have brought us closer to one another and closer to the Lord. What a wonderful time of the year this is, to share our love of Christ with others and to feel his love for us. This gospel is such a wonderful blessing in our lives and we are so grateful to be a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We hope that as this next year passes our lives and yours will be filled with the love and spirit of our Heavenly Father and his beloved son, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!!

Before Christmas

On the 16th of December we got a really good snowstorm. Gwen has been bugging to go out and play in the snow and make a snowman, but there's never really been enough snow. Well, there was one day, but it wasn't the right kind of snow to make a snowman out of. This snowstorm wasn't the right kind of snow for a snowman either, but my sister Melissa offered to take the two older girls out to play in the snow. So I bundled them all up and sent them out. They were only out there for about half an hour before the girls started getting tired and cold and wanted to come in, but they had a lot of fun out in the snow with their "Aunt Mimi" and Georgia and I spent some nice quality time inside together.

Grace, Missy and Gwen

On the 23rd Jamie Long (a friend of my brother Matt, or Elder Sessions as he is now known as) came over with her sister Sam to make a bunch of Christmas cookies with my mom, Gwen and Grace. They made Christmas Wreaths, Applesauce, Christmas Trees, Snickerdoodles, and Norweigan Crowns (otherwise known as thumbprint cookies). The girls had so much fun for a while...and then Gwen started having pain in her ear. Rob took her to the nearest Urgent Care in the middle of Jamie and Sam's visit and came back saying that Gwen had been diagnosed with a severe ear infection. Joy. She's better now, and we have some good pictures to look back on and remember how much fun we had with them while they're off at school.

Jamie, Grace, Gwen and Sam

Christmas Eve we just relaxed most of the day. The girls got dressed in their matching Christmas shirts (see next post) and we didn't do anything too big. For dinner we had the normal Sessions Christmas Eve dinner: Chicken Crescent Rolls, Twice Baked Potatoes, Clam Chowder, Rolls, Green Beans and Corn. It was oh so yummy. After dinner we rolled out sugar cookie dough and the girls cut out cookies with my parents, us and my sister Melissa. We had some fun with flour as well.

Missy, Grace and Gwen

Gwen

Grace

While we waited for the cookies to bake, we played the traditional Christmas Bingo. Everyone gets a Christmas Bingo card, and we mark the pictures off as they are called with marshmallows. When you win you get a prize. Gwen and Grace both got mixing utensils (a preview of their big Christmas present) and Georgia got a bumble ball (one of those balls that vibrates and bounces on the floor). Rob got a nice flannel jacket and I got flannel pj pants. It was a lot of fun. Even my brother Jake joined in.

Having fun with Christmas Bingo.

After the cookies had cooled and bingo was over, we decorated the cookies. Even Rob did some cookies. Georgia amused herself by getting into the food closet while everyone else was busy. It has become one of her favorite things to do.

Papa (my dad), Gwen, Missy and Grace

Rob decorating a cookie.

What are you doing, Georgia?

After cleaning ourselves up after decorating cookies we let the girls open one present from us (a tradition in Rob's family). All three got cute new winter pjs, which they were thrilled to wear to bed. We then listen to Papa (my dad) read The Night Before Christmas. He tried to read it so the girls would understand it better, but Gwen kept letting him know that the words weren't rhyming, so he went back to reading it the correct way.

Papa, Gwen, Mommy and Grace.

Grace was the only one that was a stinker about going to sleep that night. She didn't fall asleep until close to 10:30. Finally though, she was asleep, Rob and I finished up Christmas presents and wrapping, and helped get ready for Santa's visit. : ) It was a fun day!!

Decorating The Christmas Tree

We decorated the Christmas tree the last day of November. The girls loved doing this last year, and they loved it even more this year. What fun it is to see their eyes light up and the joy they get out of something so simple. I tried explaining why we really celebrated Christmas, and the meaning behind presents and Christmas being the celebration of Christ's birth, but I don't think they understood much. It was still fun though and it made it even better that we got to do it with family this year.

Rob hanging the breakable ornaments up high.

Mommy and Georgia looking at the pretty tree.

Gwen and Grace decorating the tree.

Gwen and Grace waiting for some more ornaments to hang.

Gwen in her new Christmas shirt.

Grace in her new Christmas shirt.

Georgia in her new Christmas shirt.

Thanksgiving

So I'm finally posting pictures from Thanksgiving. We went to Robbie's grandma's house in Rochester, NY for Thanksgiving. It was a long drive there and back but it was fun for all of us and we really enjoyed our time there. So here's pictures from our trip.

Georgia and Mommy

Gwen and Grace playing with toys

Cousins: Behind the couch, left to right: Ryan (rob's younger brother), Robbie, Richie (rob's
older brother)
On the couch: Mark, Jeff, Erin, Mikayla and Zachary

Robbie's family: Behind the couch, left to right-Richie (oldest), Robbie, Ryan (youngest) On the couch-Marj (mom) and Georgia, Sarah (me) and Grace, Hillary (Ryan's
wife) and Gwen, Rich (dad)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Happy Birthday To Me...

Happy Birthday To Me...Happy Birthday to MEEEE...Happy Birthday To Me!!

Today, on the 22nd of December, at 12:10 am, I was born.

A big thank you to my wonderful, beautiful mother, who wanted to not only be a mom but chose to be my mom, and who went through so much to bring me into this world. I have always looked up to you because of your patience and love as a parent and continue to do so as I raise my own family. Thank you momma for being a wonderful mom and friend and for loving me so much.

Another big thank you to my handsome and amazing father, who has done so much to provide for me and my siblings and to show us a strong example of faith in the Lord and belief in the gospel. I have always strived to grow and achieve the amount of faith that you have and build my testimony to some day be as strong as yours. Thank you daddy for being a good friend and teacher and for all your love.

And finally, another big thank you to my incredible husband and sweet little girls, who make being in this life and celebrating another birthday (not that I'm all that old...at least, 26 doesn't seem all that old) so wonderful. I love my husband eternally and I am happy to celebrate another birthday with him. I love my babies so much and their smiles and joy at celebrating "mommies" birthday with me makes my heart soar.

I feel so blessed when I look back on the experiences I've had so far in life and when I count the many things, family and friends that I have been given in life. Thank you to all of those who helped raise me, who loved me no matter what, and who play such big parts in my life. You all have made my life so much richer and happier.

Happy Birthday to me!!

Oh, and by the way, I posted this at 12:10 am. : )

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Our Anniversary

Today is Rob's and my anniversary. We have now been married for 5 years. Crazy to think how fast the past five years has gone. It seems like not so long ago that Robbie showed up at my front door on Halloween night to propose to me, dressed up like a cowboy.

And taking pictures for our wedding announcements. My dad took some wonderful pictures and found some really good spots for us to take pictures around their home here in Vermont.

1 1/2 months later we were getting married. I can remember worrying about being late to the temple, and just nervous about the whole thing. What a wonderful ceremony it was, and how happy we both were. The Boston, MA temple is a beautiful temple and I'm so glad we chose to get married there (and taking pictures outside the temple in the middle of December wasn't even that bad).

Our reception the following night was awesome. So many friends and family helped us out, did us favors, and made things for us to use that night (including Robbie's high school friend Ricky's mom, Donna, and her mom who made a wonderful wedding cake for us in the shape of a castle to go along with our wedding announcements).

I can't imagine life without Robbie. He is my soul mate, my eternal companion, my true love. He knows me better than anyone, as I know him better than anyone. The past 5 years has not only taught us to include and trust the Lord in our lives and marriage more, but to trust each other as well. My love has grown so much for Robbie. He is a wonderful man, amazing father, and loving husband. He has done so much for us and for our family. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had decided to continue with my plans and send in my mission papers instead of praying about and marrying Robbie, and I just can't think of it. I am better, stronger, more understanding and loving because of him. I love you Robbie, and I can't wait to see what the coming years bring us. Happy Anniversary Love!!

Friday, December 11, 2009

11 Months Old!!

I want to do a whole family update as well as talk about Georgia, so here goes:

We are getting ready and excited for Christmas. Our little family, my parents, and my sister all spent a Family Home Evening decorating the Christmas tree. It was weird not to have my brothers there (one is in the MTC getting ready to leave for his mission to Taiwan, and the other is in training camp preparing to be deployed to Afghanistan early next month). The girls had a lot of fun though. They wanted to keep putting ornaments on the tree even when there were none left. Gwen kept putting ornaments on the same branch of the Christmas tree-I think my dad counted up to eleven before he stopped counting (Gwen did eventually move to another branch). It was a lot of fun and really helped us get excited for Christmas.

Robbie was laid off last week. The company he works for just doesn't have enough work during the winter to keep him on. We were pretty upset about it...I thought we had at least until Christmas before he would get laid off but no such luck. The day he got laid off my dad let us know about a company here in Vermont that was looking for someone immediately and Robbie sent in his resume. And he heard back from them that day, and had an interview set up for Tuesday. Well, they called Tuesday morning and canceled. They decided to fill the position with someone "in house." So now we're back to square one. While we worry about the future and money, it is so nice to have Robbie around during the day to help out with the girls, and the girls love having their daddy around to play with. It's also been nice because Robbie has taken over a project I was planning on doing for the girls for Christmas and did it for me (and once it's done, I'll post pictures...it looks awesome)!! We don't know what the Lord has in mind for us, but this experience is bringing us closer together and I am glad that we have more time together.

I have been so busy lately. I've wanted to blog about things, but it just takes so much time and time is not something I have much of lately. I bit off more than I can chew and decided that to help save us some money this year I was going to make most of the girls (and other family members) Christmas gifts. Again, I will post pictures as I finish them, but some of them will have to wait until after Christmas (don't want anyone knowing what they are getting ahead of time!!). So I have been hard at work since Thanksgiving and trying so hard to finish everything before Christmas (which seems so close now that it's only 2 weeks away). Between that and taking care of the girls I just don't have a lot of extra time. I have also been struggling a lot with our situation and why we continue to be unemployed and what we're supposed to be learning, or what the purpose behing all this is. But I have found more faith and hope through our experiences here and know that the Lord loves us, has been there with us through it all and has a plan for our family, whatever it may be.

Gwen is still enjoying preschool. Oh how she loves it!! Very rarely does she come home and say that she had a bad day or that something went wrong. I am going to do a post soon about her preschool and the artwork and the things that she learns. This week they've been learning about bears...black bears, brown bears, and of course...polar bears. Gwen came home on Thursday reciting this cute little poem to us over and over again, "I'm a little polar bear furry and white...I get a big fish and take a big bite...And then I get tired and go to sleep at night." So cute. She has also memorized the first verse of I Love To See The Temple and I Am A Child Of God and loves saying the prayer all the time. She got to participate in our wards Primary Program with the rest of the Senior Nursery for a couple of songs and she did so good!! She is getting so big so fast!

Grace is seriously as tall as Gwen now, and really outweighs her. She is still such a sweet and cuddly girl and I love getting hugs and kisses from her. Thanks to Gwen being gone 2 days of the week, she is really developing a strong relationship with Georgia. It is so cute to watch the two of them play together. Gracie can get Georgia giggling more than anyone else, including me. She is picking up on things so quickly too. She sings most of the words to I Love To See The Temple and I Am A Child Of God too but she loves to make up dance moves to music more than she loves singing. She recently learned how to cut with scissors, and the other night...she cut her own hair. Thankfully the chunk she cut off were little pieces grabbed from here and there, so the short strands are spread out all over her head and you can't really tell that she cut it. She is always into everything...but listens pretty well when I tell her no. Don't know what I'd do without my Gracie.

Georgia!! Wow, she's only a month away from being a year old. So weird!! It's even weirder now because she is really walking. She started taking steps the week before Thanksgiving, and about 1/2 a week to a week after Thanksgiving she finally got the hang of it and was walking like a pro. She's been trying so hard to run now and it's funny to watch. She has 7 teeth now (we're still waiting for that slow moving tooth on the bottom so she won't look lopsided any more), claps all the time, likes blowing spit bubbles (especially when she is upset) and is constantly learning new words. She says mama, dada, baby, papa, and ba (for bottle). She's doing really well with solid foods now so hopefully it won't be much of a transition when we stop giving her baby food. She is 21 pounds now (up one pound 10 ounces from last month), and 31 1/2 inches long (up 2 1/2 inches from last month). She's such a cutie and I'm so glad to have her!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Happy Birthday To The Love Of My Life

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful man-my husband Robbie. He turned 28 on the 25th of November, but since we were traveling for Thanksgiving, I was unable to dedicate a post just to him. So since we celebrated his birthday last night, I wanted to take a chance today and say Happy Birthday to my wonderful, sweet, amazing husband who does so much for me and our family. He is a hard worker but always finds time for us. He is an amazing father and loves his three little girls so much. He does everything he can to bring happiness and the spirit into our home and our lives. I am also so grateful to my mother in law for not only giving birth to such a wonderful man but grateful that she and my father in law raised such a sweet, helpful, and dedicated man who has become the best father and husband. I love Robbie so much and I am so grateful that the Lord answered my prayers and told me that he was to be my eternal companion. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. Happy Birthday sweetie...we all love you so much!!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Family Photos

So a couple of weeks ago we tried taking family photos...and they didn't turn out quite so good. We went to Spring Lake in Shrewsbury, VT (near Rutland) to take the pictures and 15 minutes after we got there we realized that Grace was missing one of her shoes. We looked for it every where but couldn't find it...I even thought that she or Gwen might have thrown it in the lake. So we took pictures as best we could, by ourselves, minus one shoe (it turned out that it was back at Rob's parents house...who knew?). These are the results.

This one would have been perfect if Georgia had just looked at the camera!! Ahh!!

In this one Grace is obviously missing a shoe and Gwen looks like she's high on something because she said she was cold and Georgia still isn't really looking at the camera. This didn't work out either.

And I really wanted some nice pictures. So Robbie gave into my bugging and said we could do pictures again this weekend. And we got some real good ones of our family (thanks to my dad helping out) and of the girls (a special thanks to my brother Jake for raking up a big pile of leaves to do some of the pictures with). We did the pictures in my parents back yard. Oh, and the photographer? Robbie!! He is amazing with his camera. He's got a nice, professional camera with two different sized tripods and a remote control so he can be in the picture, press a button on the remote and BAM-take a picture!!

We took a lot of good photos like this one (and others where Gwen and Grace are actually smiling)...

...but this is the one we finally picked out. We liked the personality coming from each of the girls in this photo (especially Grace's pirate eye...argh!!)

Gwen loved jumping in the leaves (and if you look really closely, you can see the scab on her forehead that she got at preschool as a result of her love of jumping).

Peekaboo...I see you!

Ahh...playing in the leaves!!

Grace by the outdoor fireplace.

Gwen and Grace loving the leaf pile!!

Playing in the leaf pile.

A nap before pictures would make anyone happy!!

I want the camera!!

Needless to say I am so very pleased!! Woo Hoo for family pictures!!

Oh, and I also updated my craft blog (http://sarahcongdonscrafts.blogspot.com) with photos of a couple things...including my homemade Christmas cards!! Woo Hoo again!!

The Congdons