Christmas Journey

We decided to take 2 1/2 weeks and travel to PA and then Connecticut for Christmas.  It would be the first time that many of our family members saw Rhys in the flesh.  We drove through the night and arrived at my grandma’s house in PA just before a major ice/snow storm started.  Everyone did great on the trip including Rhys which is a miracle since we realized as we were leaving that the DVD players were not working.  We love driving through the night…less traffic and the kids sleep.  We stayed in PA for four days visiting family.  My dad drove up to spend a few days with us and so did my sister and her family.  We had an early Christmas dinner and all opened presents.  It was great to see Rhys playing with his little cousin, Luke.  My sister’s baby is just 2 weeks older than Rhys.  One of the highlights of our time in PA was personal visit from Santa Claus.  He showed up at Grandma’s front door. The kids were so excited that Santa came to see them.

After Santa’s visit the girls got to decorate sugar cookies with nana and open presents with Aunt Helen.  These were the most heavily frosted and sprinkled cookies I have ever seen!!

The excitement was only beginning.  Jessica and her family along with Grandma Whitlow and Papa showed up shortly after that.  We got to open presents with them and Luke met his cousins.  The girls loved all their gifts.  Ellie got a crocodile from Papa who she named Alligator.  I guess we will call him Al for short.  The most special part of the night was Victoria’s gift to Gabe and me.  She brought it home wrapped from Kindergarten and was so anxious for us to open it.  It was a beautiful pillow.  On the front she used her hands to make a wreath and on the back she used her foot to create an angel.  It is my favorite gift. I loved seeing her excitement in having something special to give to me.  It reminds you of what the season is really about.  

It was time to leave PA and head to Connecticut.  This trip was a lot scarier than our trip out to PA.  The kids were still excellent in the car and such troopers given no dvd players and the trip lasting 9 hours instead of 6 1/2.  There was a bad ice storm the night before we left so we were headed up the mountains in PA very, very slowly.  Gabe was slipping all over the road and we saw semi trucks that couldn’t even make it up the mountain.  It rained the whole way which is better than icing but the roads were horrible the whole way.  We are so thankful that we made it safely to Connecticut even if it did take longer.  We had an awesome stay in Connecticut.  We hadn’t been out there in 2 years so it was great to see Gabe’s family and for them to meet Rhys.  Gabe’s sister Amy lives in Connecticut and Sarah drove up from DC.  Even with all the issues that develop in being with family in tight quarters, it is so worth to spend the holidays with loved ones.  Victoria left cookies and milk for Santa.  She worked very hard on her note.  Santa even left her a note thanking her for the yummy cookies.  Now we know why he is such a big, jolly guy.  Santa brought Victoria a barbie with wings and ellie got the handy manny tool kit….just what they both asked for.  After opening all the presents which took forever we went to church. It was a beautiful service.  it is so nice to be able to go to church on Christmas and celebrate the real reason for Christmas.  It is so easy to forget about Jesus’ birth when you are surrounded by way too many presents.  One of the best gifts we got for Christmas were tickets to ride an old train to the North Pole.  We all (and I do mean all of us) dressed in our pj’s and santa hats to ride the train.  What a fun time.  Santa and Mrs. Claus both came on the train to say hello.  Victoria looked right up at Santa and said “thank you for my barbie with wings”.  It was the cutest.  Gabe and I took the kids to Mystic, CT to meet up with my roommate from college, Mary Beth and her husband Brad.  I am so glad we had the opportunity to see them even if it was only for a few hours.  Gabe and I also got to take advantage of having grandma babysit.  We went out with Amy and her fiancee, Shawn for New Year’s Eve.  It was so much fun dancing into 2009.  Unfortunately, our camera battery died so we don’t have many pictures from the train ride or our activities after that.  That is okay since this is definitely the longest blog I have ever written.  It was a long trip, though.  On New Year’s Day we started our journey back to WI via PA.  The drive went well and we arrived home safely ready to get back to all of our many activities.  

When we got home we still had the gifts from mom and dad to open.  These girls are going to think that Christmas lasts 3 weeks and they just get lots of gifts.  We will be changing that for next year.  

Do They Have A Conscience?

Recently Gabe and I found out that someone or some persons hacked into the main computer system of our bank.  They stole up to 50 customers credit card numbers and were using them in Illinois.  Unfortunately, Gabe and I were one of those fifty.  Thankfully, the bank’s fraud department contacted us to verify the charges.  I checked our voice messages the other night and heard this message to call the bank’s card processing department to verify charges immediately.  Gabe was already in bed so I called.  The customer service rep said that the charges were linked to Gabe’s card and she needed to speak to him.  I asked if it could wait.  She responded with the question, “has your husband been out of state today”.   When I told her no she told me to wake him immediately.  She explained that there were charges totalling $500 (which by the next day were up to $1,000) on our account from a Wal-Mart in Addison, IL.  After confirming that those were not purchases that we made, she deactivated our cards.  So now we start the process of getting new cards and filling out paperwork to dispute the charges and hopefully get our money back.  

That night I couldn’t sleep.  I was so sick to my stomach over the ordeal.  Obviously I am pissed about the $1,000 but what has me more upset is the fact that there are people out there with no regard for others.  Gabe works so hard for our money.  We budeted for Christmas and didn’t even spend near this amount on gifts for our family and friends.  Now someone has the audacity to take our money along with 49 other people’s money and spend it.  Does this person(s) have no conscience?  You know that people like this are in the world but when it hits so close to home, you feel so violated.  What makes me even sadder is that many of the customers of our bank have recently been laid off.  Several companies in the fox valley (like the rest of the US) have had major lay offs in the past couple of months.  Those could be some of the very same people that had their credit card numbers stolen.  I am just sick thinking about that.  It is sad.  

Rhys – 5 months old

I know that this is so cliche but it feels like just yesterday we were bringing this little baby home from the hospital and today he is 5 months old.  He is such a good baby.  All three of my kids have been awesome babies.  I am so thankful and feel completely blessed.  Of course, like every baby, he has his moments of fussiness.  He does love to be held a lot.  He is getting better at napping.  I can put him in his crib and he will talk himself to sleep.  He only naps for about an hour but that is getting better.  I am sure all of that will change when we head out east for Christmas.  That is what did it for Victoria.  She was thrown off her schedule when she was 6 months old and we travelled.  It took her another two years before she was sleeping through the night and taking decent naps.  I am going to try very hard this time to keep all three kids to their normal routine when we are travelling.  Anyhow, Rhys is a pretty content baby.  He loves when people talk to him.  He has the biggest, most adorable smile.  Today he was laying on the floor singing and chatting with me.  Still no rolling.  He tries hard but just can’t seem to manage to get his whole body over.  He will sit unsupported for a few minutes now.  He just loves grabbing for toys, hair, blankets and anything else that he can put in his mouth.  His newest trick is sticking his tounge out.  It is the funniest thing I have ever seen.  That’s my “Rhysie J”.    

Tree Decorating

I have gotten behind here, I know but I am trying to catch up.  With all of the holiday things we have been doing at church and at home, i haven’t found much time to sit down and write.  Last weekend we decided that we would get a real tree after all.  Gabe and I had been going back and forth for awhile since we aren’t going to be home for Christmas.  However, I was definitely missing having a tree up in the house and so was Gabe.  So, Gabe took the girls to pick out a Christmas tree.  When I got home from playing handbells at a local nursing home, there was the tree in front of our picture window.  The smell was wonderful.  Of course it irritated my allergies but I didn’t care.  It looked so beautiful.  We ate dinner and then started decorating the tree.  the girls helped Gabe wrapp around the lights and then the ribbon.  Then they tried very hard to help me with the poinsettia leaves but they couldn’t quite get the hang of fluffing them out.  After that we moved on to ornaments.  They were having so much fun putting them all over the tree.  Ellie loved for Gabe to pick her up so she could put the ornaments up high.  Victoria’s strategy was to clump ornaments together.  It was so much fun decorating.  I am so glad that we decided to get the tree and decorate it. Everyone got along and had a great time.  It was a fun family night and the tree looked so beautiful when we were done.  We just sat staring at it.  

Turkey Reflections

**Warning: Long blog with no pictures.  We seemed to forget our camera everywhere we went this weekend.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I finally have a chance to sit down and do a little “turkey day” reflecting.  We had a very quiet but wonderful Thanksgiving.  Gabe cooked a great meal that we shared with a special friend, Yang.  Yang is a junior at Lawrence University, a liberal arts college in Appleton.  He is from China.  Yang was matched with us as part of the Lawrence International Program.  They match international students with families in Appleton so the student has an adopted family while they are so far away from home.  It was so nice to share the day with him.  One of the many funny comments that Victoria made during the day was “do you want sticks to eat with or a fork?”  Yang got a kick out of that especially since the sticks that Victoria tried to give him were bbq skewers.  We ended the day by having friends over to eat dessert and peruse the Black Friday shopping ads.  Up until three years ago, I avoided the day and so did Gabe.  Then a friend of mine invited me along with her.  I was able to get all my Christmas shopping done on that one day and I was hooked.  We have it pretty nice here in Appleton, though.  Yes, there are still lines but the crowd is no where near the level of crowds in bigger cities.  People still push, people still run and there are still fights but nothing like I have heard about in other places.  We picked out the things we wanted and Gabe even decided to go this year.  He went in my place last year when I was experiencing horrible morning sickness.  I think he is officially hooked J!  It was great just to be with friends and have someone to talk to while we waited in several 30min to 1 hour lines.  On Saturday the whole family, including all three kids, made and served breakfast at the local emergency shelter.  I have served at the shelter before but this time really hit me.  It was probably because we had just spent a day stuffing our faces with food and then a day shopping for things that in all honest we really didn’t need.  Then we walk into this place and realize that these people don’t have food or homes.  It was so good to have the kids there and experience that.  They helped make and serve the food and even helped with dishes.  I was very proud of them.  It felt great to be able to give back.  On a lighter note, we ended the weekend with a Steeler victory over my husband’s beloved Patriots.  In the words of both of my daughters, “Go Steelers!”.  I hope that you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. 

Things I Am Thankful For:

1. My beautiful and healthy family
2. A house that has heat.
3. Food (even though I came to the realization this year that I don’t like Turkey and I don’t like Pumpkin pie.  I ate them just because it was the thing to do but with every bite I disliked them more and more.)
4. My husband’s job which of course provides for #2 and #3
5. Friends to share in the holidays with especially since our families are so far away

Rhys is 4 Months Old!

Our little baby is 4 months old.  It is so amazing to see him change and grow on a daily basis.  So, our little guy is not really so little.  He weighs 19lbs. 4 oz and is 26 1/2 in. long.  That puts him at the 98 percentile for weight and the 93 percentile for height.   Where did this boy come from.  To give you some perspective, this was how big Ellie was when she turned ONE!  This might explain why he is having so much trouble rolling over. He has managed to get himself from his stomach to his back once but he seems to have a lot of trouble getting his butt over….no jokes!!!  He is such a good natured baby.  He loves for people to talk to him and he will just sit there and smile and laugh.  I think he might be teething because he is constantly drooling and biting on things, including everyone’s fingers.  We are still getting up once during the night but he does go right back to sleep.  Unfortunately he will not take very long naps during the day.  Oh well….more time for us to sit and play with him.  I am including some pictures so you can see just how healthy he is.  

Yummy Rice Cereal!

The Dr. gave us the go ahead to start Rhys on rice cereal.  We were just waiting, though because Rhys didn’t seem to have an interest in eating.  That all changed on Tuesday night.  After dinner, I made mango smoothies for everyone.  I was holding Rhys and trying to drink my smoothie.  Rhys decided the smoothie looked good and opened his mouth and tried to grab the cup from me.  So, off Gabe went to purchase our first box of rice cereal.  Rhys wasn’t so sure of it at first but after a few spoonfuls he seemed to really enjoy it.  After he was all finished, he had a big smile on his face.  Gabe captured the momentous occasion on “film”.  

A Wonderful Day

Last Friday we had an amazing family day.  Victoria did not have school and Gabe decided to take a day of vacation.  He never takes vacation to stay home, we are always traveling but he had some extra days.  There were things, of course, that needed done around the house but we decided to have a nice morning together as a family.  Gabe made yummy belgian waffles with strawberries for breakfast.  They were so tasty.  Then we went to Neenah to my new favorite store, The Mom and Pop Place, for storytime.  Ellie, Rhys and I go there every Friday.  They read stories, do an art project and then play with all kinds of toys.  There is a little cafe so mom can enjoy a drink and snack.  It was fun to have Victoria and Gabe join us for this outing.  I think Ellie was a little confused why they were invading on her turf.  After storytime, we took a brisk walk across the foot bridge in Neenah.  The foot bridge was an old train bridge that went from Neenah to Menasha.  They converted it to a foot bridge.  It was really nice but very cold that morning.  We came home, had a quiet lunch and began the chores for the day while the kids napped.  I headed to Madison that night with all the youth for a youth convention.  As we were driving there I reflected on how truly blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.  I am so thankful that we took time to just hang out with one another and not worry about what needed to be done.  As always, here are some pics from the morning!+

Trick-or-Treat

What a fun night last night.  It was beautiful here in WI considering that it was the last day of October.  I think it got up in the 60’s yesterday.  I decided since it was so nice that Rhys should come out on our trick-or-treat adventure with us.  The girls could not wait to get out and start getting candy.  As a matter of fact, Ellie woke up yesterday and said, “I get candy!”.  She was slightly disappointed when I told her she had to wait until that night.  That turned into a bit of a lie since every place we went to yesterday handed her candy.  She was on a sugar high before the actual trick-or-treating even started.  At 4:00 we started out around the neighborhood.  I took the kids first.  That was Victoria’s idea.  She thought I should take them around half the neighborhood and then go home and feed Rhys while Gabe took them out.  She is always so concerned about Rhys eating.  It was a good plan, though.  I missed trick-or-treat time last year because I had class so I was excited to see them go from house to house.  They had an awesome time.  Victoria was a little shy about ringing the doorbells but once she understood that you could go to the doors that had lights on, she was fine.  Ellie had to run to keep up with Victoria.  She was moving slow trying to check out every piece of candy that she got.  I think Ellie’s favorite part of the night was handing out candy.  She got so excited once that she dropped all the candy on the ground.  Good thing for wrappers!!  It was such a fun night and everyone was exhausted.  Gabe took the girls up to bed around 8:30 and everyone fell asleep in our bed (Ellie was still wearing her costume).  I would say that was a good night!!! 

Rhys’ Baptism

Rhys was baptized on Sunday at St. Pius X catholic church here in Appleton.  It was such a nice day.  The whole weekend was awesome actually.  Gabe’s sister Sarah flew in from DC on Thursday.  She was here in time for Gabe and I to go out to a nice dinner.  We also had tickets to see the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa.  They were absolutely amazing!!!  My dad got in to town the next day.  The girls had so much fun with Auntie Sarah and Papa.  They were so sad to see them leave.  Ellie tried to go home with both of them.  Gabe’s dad and stepmom surprised us by coming in to town Saturday.  We went from thinking we weren’t going to have any family here to having several relatives.  What a blessing!  I know that Rhys will not remember the day but it was truly special that all these people could be a part of his special day.  Rhys’ godparents are Nikos and Kristin Efthimiou.  Gabe and Nikos met through soccer and became great friends.  We also had several of my church friends attend the baptism.  The catholic – methodist, mixed marriage has always been difficult.  It is always hard for me to baptize the kids at the catholic church and not have my pastor be involved.  I am so grateful to have a wonderful church family that is willing to attend the baptism. Deacon Rick even gave the Korb kids special tasks during the service.  Here are a few pictures from the big day.  And, yes, Rhys is wearing a “dress”.  This is the same baptismal gown that Victoria, Ellie and my nephew Luke wore.  My mom had her wedding dress made into a baptismal gown with coat and hat.  It means even more to us since she passed away.  She was still with us when Victoria was baptized so she did get to see the beautiful gown worn.  Now my dad has been driving it around the U.S. seeing all of his grandchildren baptized.  It is so special for my sister and I.  I feel like our mom is right there with us at the baptism.